to think that some items/services are luxurious and you should not claim poverty whilst simultaneously watching sky and tapping around on the old broadband.

[QueenHerod]

I am getting peeved with hearing how awful their lives are now they have to cut back to eating smart price carrots in a tin etc meanwhile they are subscribed to things that I would not consider a necessity.

Like sky tv and broadband etc.

AIBU?

I've never had sky, but I use broadband for so many things I couldn't manage without it.

The government is about to give out vouchers to help and encourage people to get broadband/computers so they regard it as a necessity.

Maybe it should be Sky and hot water? You can probably manage without hot water if you're poor.

Poor people should go without something. Where's the satisfaction in having money if you don't have anyone to look down on.

twas ever thus

the poor in victorian times were berated for drinking beer

if you are not well off, you are not allowed to have any luxury, however small, and have to be some sort of self denying person who does not waste one penny on anything other than those things that are utterly necessary

i remember in that lovely book ,' a tree grows in brooklyn' one of the children throws away a cup of milk and a relative is annoyed, but his mother is ok with it, as she knows that for the child, being able to waste something , even a cup of milk, makes them feel less excluded, less poor, less hard done to...

i think sky tv , you could live without, but internet is vital, there are other things other than Mn you can use it for

Have you ever asked how much their essential bills are? Maybe their rent or mortgage is costing them alot as well.

What on Earth are smartprice carrots?

lulumama how dare you suggest such a thing, why don't you know MN is the life of the internet LOL. Sorry have had a wee tipple since is my wee mums birthday today but hey ho shes not well so had to come home. LOL.

I have tried to help them budget but they keep subscribing to stuff.
I will carry on feeding them as long as I feel they need it as they are family and that is that.
I thought I wasn't being totally unreasonable to be peeved a little bit about them moaning (not about feeding them) but obv IABU
I will take my food round to theirs next week and eat it watching their sky

I mean surely carrots cost pennies anyway?

No fucking way are British people going to bed hungry.
No way.

scottishmummy, do you hover all day to pounce on anyone who fails to live up to your high moral standards?
Virtually every post I see of yours comes across as way more judgemental than whatever nonsense the OP is spouting
FWIW OP I'd be pissed off like you in a similar situation but if they feel broadband and sky are more important than fresh carrots then good luck to them

Yes YABU.

As Anna says, in the internet age broadband is a necessity not a luxury.

As for posh TV's, how d'you know they bought it? I've just been given a TV by friends who've bought themselves a new one, and my DS has a playstation given to him by his uncle.

It's all about priorities. There is nothing wrong with canned carrots, they are tinned immediately on harvesting and probably retain as much nutritional value as the ones which have been transported and sold as "fresh". I've no idea what they taste like, but the idea that they're evil is idiotic. If people are prepared to cut down on certain items in order to pay for others, whether that be SkyTV, broadband, petrol, lipstick, whatever, ffs why are you the effing jury on whether they should or not.

I am growing increasingly irritated by these mean-minded "why don't the poor behave the way I think they should" threads. People used to be ashamed of being so vulgar as to come across like a Victorian charity board member.

OOh lulumama I was kidding you know dinna be insulted now PSML. [tipsy emoticon]

I know tis a bit shocking that people are going to bed hungry here because they have luxuries like that when there are children being starved on purpose by some of the bastards in this country and others as well as some in other countries can't afford to eat or have neccessaties never mind luxuries poor people

Broadband replaces post, newspapers, magazines, counselling etc.

Oh sorry the poor shouldn't be reading, gathering information, educating themselves or seeking online support, should they.

It wasn't just beer the poor didn't need. The means test meant that if you only had 6 people in your household, you were only allowed 6 plates, 6 chairs, 6 coats, 6 pairs of shoes etc. Everything else had to be sold. Perish the thought that you might have guests. Too poor to have friends.

Some of you are as mean as the people who administered the poor law. You make me sick, tbh.

Bella could you please specify who you mean [paranoid emoticon]

I may result to text talk to make it a bit easier for myself LOL am finding words increasingly difficult to navigate around this evening LOL.

mrsshackleton you recall my posts enough to comment?funny i cant recall any of yours

now deep breath and r-e-l-a-x all that vitriol can be good for you, doll

Read it LittleBella, I dd not say they have a new TV. they have subscribed to sky hd and other stuff and I am feeding them at the end of each month as they have not budgeted enough to cover food and are moaning at me in hinting ways that they will have to eat smartprice carrots etc.
Nobody said carrots are evil if they are of the tinned kind either.
They do however taste like shit.
I have not judged their spending until it has impacted on my own.
They earn more than I do so not sure how you think I am judging them as poor and not behaving how I think they should tbh.
Please read thread.

o, i know mamadiva.. or i would have slapped you round teh chops!!

snurk @ doll, SM

I agree that it's all about choices and we all have different priorities in terms of what we spend our money on - but I've said before, no-one is truly poor if they can afford to have broadband, etc.

I read this article last weekend about someone's MIL in Romania during really tough times and it makes our moans about the "credit crunch" seem pathetic in comparison...

When DH took a great dip in earnings after 911 we cut back and Sky was the first thing to go....now that he's doing well we have it in every room and the garden, no books r tinned vegetables in this house bloody luxuries!!!

Woo lulumama.

Mutt what have I done? ARGH oh no see look what youv'e done now

got 1.5kg carrotts in sainsbury for 50p bargain!just made carrot and coriander soup

My computer is my business.

Everyone has different priorities. For us, internet and tv are the last to go on the list (internet = no business for me... and no MN, tv = we have to talk to our children - wtf is that all about??)

But if it was that or not pay essential bills like gas, electric, rent, food etc, it would be gone in an instant.

I budget food etc obsessively to be able to keep my internet and tv

Actually now there's a point does anyon eknow how a poor sod like me can get out of contracts?