I don't think anyone is actually cross with people taking advantage of the opportunities offered to them. It's more symptomatic of the massive problem the country and economy is in. We've somehow (Brexit, Covid, Ukraine, Iran, consecutive governments who have been either inept, corrupt or simply not fussed) got to a position where the cost of living for everyone has become so appalling that the number of people / families earning only slightly over UC eligibility has massively increased. Theresa (spelling?) May spoke about the "squeezed middle" and the "Just About Managing" a decade ago and things have only got worse. The proportion of people close to the UC line but eligible for nothing is now much larger. Those on benefits have, quite rightly, been protected a bit, but it's galling to then see more and more going to them when things are really tight to many, many people with no help at all. Those cheap tickets (and I know these are business decisions by companies, not the government) are being subsidised by more expensive tickets for everyone else, pushing more and more people out, like the pp mentioning an exhibition she and her dd can't afford to go to. A pp mentioned even giving out tickets to go bowling in the holidays...guess what we haven't done for the last 8 years due to £££! We've had to prioritise other things.
We seem to always be using the crude marker of UC eligibilty for everything, and everyone else gets nothing.
The support over oil prices is a great example - yes, UC claimants etc should not have to go without heating. They should get support. But we are all struggling, all in need of support to cope with excessive price rises, especially in rural areas where driving and oil heating are the only options. And profiteering is absolutely happening!!! Not only will we get zero help, we will be paying more to support others, even when skint ourselves. I read about an alternative way support is being rolled out in other countries, which seemed much fairer. Or HMRC could easily produce a list of households with income over eg £x thousand, which could be used to target support more fairly. Or companies could give the government a list of customers on oil and the government could chuck them a certain amount to deduct from those bills, with whatever limits.
Noone really minds the tickets, it's that all help only seems to go in one direction when we're all struggling, and that help is funded by us despite our own struggles. It's the perceived unfairness.Add it all together and it's no wonder there's a lot of resentment over £1 tickets etc.
I don't know what the answer is other than to somehow sort out the economy, get employers paying sensible wages and to get companies earning ££££££££ of profit to absorb some of the additional costs and be willing to only earn £££££ of profit for a while!