For being fucked off with all the threads about what people on benefits should and should not do?

[conniedescending]

Apparently not have babies OR go on holiday for starters.

What is it with this obsession with what other people less fortunate are doing? I find it absolutely ludicrous that the so called tax payers are more annoyed at vulnerable people claiming benefits than they are at what the rich are actually doing.

Why is it the spotlight is not on the 'rich' people who tax evade left, right and center meaning there is less in the pot.....what about MPs expenses???? What about non-doms?

I find it ludicrous that people actually think the problem lies with people on benefits when it is the rich who are the abhorrent party in this debacle.

moondog and I did a house swap
it was great

(enid is worried about them finding her S&M dungeon I bet)

Enid-I holidayed in Norfolk a lot as a child arriving in Dad's old banger.

Have some great memories from those days and was such an adventure as a small child to stay in a caravan .

Would not hesitate to take my children on such a holiday,which we have done and they loved it.

lol zippi. (I was 29 when I first got on a plane)

I think there is a general expectation of, or even aspiration to, a much higher level of disposable income than there was when I was a child and a younger adult.

Dh used to go to North Wales from London to stay in freezing damp cottages

In the normal saloon car they had DH, his two sisters, his Mother and Father, his grandmother and a big smelly flatcoat.

Where on earth did they put the luggage???

CD, they probably took a fraction of the clothing etc that many of us take on holiday now.

Personally I'm never happy unless I see people who live in council houses being piss poor, feeding their children bread and dripping, dressing in potato sacks and lining their beds with copies of news of the world in order to keep warm when the icy wind is blowing through their broken windows and they've no money for the meter.

Oops, sorry wrong thread. Meant to put on the other benefit one. Will copy and paste.

Incredibly DW's family of 4 children plus mum & dad used to drive to holiday to Cornwall (from the midlands) when younger. Six of them in one car. They used to put the luggage packed flat in bin-bags!

We also lived in a small house and our holidays were a fortnight in a rainwashed caravan either beside or partially submerged in Derwentwater.
We went on National Express coaches for the first three years and then finally got a car.
LOL at Fio and the wind burn. We would return home pretty rosy from being lashed with hail etc

It's because when you receive state benefits, you become public property. It's like having a servant who you can disapprove of and order about because you give them somewhere to live and pay their wages.

I suppose we should be grateful that the English are naturally quite polite and reserved, because most of the people who think that way always exclude the actual human beings they personally know and speak to from this, they just mean, you know, those people who get talked about on message boards and Daily Mail letter pages.

No yanbu connie.

If benefits is such a good ride then why does anyone work?
such a great lifestyle, free house, holidays, fag, beer, council tax paid.

Why would anyone want to work...

When you have so little you learn to budget minute amounts to provide your kids with a break to compensate for all the other things you cannot do for them.

CD - Years ago, I got a £6000 loan from Barclays, based on my income of CTC and Child benefit. They wanted me to have more than that.

Your dad got caravan holidays... mine brought home a kitten as payment once. My mum was not amused

Boo to your uncle Fio , how mean

"We don't talk about that", I know what you mean Fio

Hear hear Connie.

I actually feel quite sorry for those who are so eaten up with anger and jealousy about how people less fortunate than they are, live. There must be something very wrong with their own contentment with their lives, for them to be quite so interested in other people's. I think it's the other side of the coin to people's voyeuristic interest in celebs lives as well - I'm sure there's some kind of connection.

@ LittleBella, I completely agree!

Ive only just skimmed through this tread (and the "other" one) and i have come to the same conclusion as LittleBella.

I'm off

Littlebella - I think you are absolutely right - I think a lot of people (NOT rich!) feel totally overwhelmed and bogged down in working long hours / horrible commuting time coupled with the stress of bills, cost of living etc., so they look at someone else's life (As I said before, I really don't think any one group is singled out - celebs / benefits etc, it doesn't matter) and just 'see' all the 'good' bits while ihnoring (sticking head in the sand!) at all the really, really terrible parts of it.

I personally can never understand how certain 'sections of society' can get so het up about the odd sensationalistic story about a family of 16 who live on £30K a year.... Really? Is that a good life???? That's £2K each. I know I wouldn't swap!!!

I'm sure there are some people who are quite bitter about life - but when you are stuck in a sh*tty commute for 4 hours a day and barely break even, I'm sure you have a lot of time to think about it....