to think there is no such thing as poverty in the uk?

[spottyzebrahasthelurgy]

i mean no one is really starving to death are they?

define poverty

Ahh, but the definiton of poverty changes. To some experts it's not having a holiday, to others it's not having a dishwasher, to others it's living off a wage lower than the national average. It's pathetic. Poverty should be no home, no money to buy food. The homeless in the UK spring to mind.

Is that your definition of poverty then?

Is that what poverty means to you? You can't be living in poverty unless you're starving to death?

Get a grip.

The statistics on those living on oir below the poverty line are disgraceful for a 1st world, developed country like the UK.

Can I suggest you check some of these statistics before posting such ridiculous shite.

Yes but if you look at the developing world, then even people on benefits are better off then some of these people. I know being on benefits is hard but I couldn't imagine being unable to afford food so I can see where spotty is coming from.

"Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom.

Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways (for a collection of readings, see Poems and Personal Accounts of Poverty). Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action for the poor and the wealthy alike a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities"

wiki on poverty Depends on whether you are talking about absolute poverty or relative poverty.

people do starve to death in the UK.

Nearly all of them children.

And I don't think they come from affluent families. They come from poor, ignorant uneducated lazy immoral underclass families.

I can recall not very long ago at all when a 3 year old girl was found starved to death and living in squalor above a pub somewhere.

And another case where children were removed from school to be home educated and one of those children, an 8 year old girl, starved to death.

And that's just two recent cases.

YABU.

Poverty is being cold, poverty is eating any food that fills you up, poverty is sharing lukewarm bathwater twice a week, poverty is, well lots of other things, most of which those in other countries that we see on TV (parts of Africa, India, S America) would be very grateful for.
Really didn't help me when I was not sleeping, barely eating and terrified though.
Sure, I woud have been housed, of course I wouldn't have had to walk ten miles for water but I don't live in the third world, I live here and I need my DD to fit into society here.

Surely that's neglect rather than poverty?

Some facts for you. Especially interesting are the ones on health and child mortality rates in the UK.

Here's 2 key facts:

'Health inequalities associated with class, income or deprivation are pervasive and can be found in all aspects of health, from infant death to the risk of mental ill-health. The limited information on progress over time (infant death, low birthweight) shows no sign that they are shrinking.
Scotland has by far the highest proportion of premature deaths for both men and women'.

'Children from manual social backgrounds are 1½ times more likely to die as infants than children from non-manual social backgrounds.'

NEWSFLASH: people die as a direct result of poverty in the UK, you don't have to live in the 3rd world for that to happen.

I don't think a lack of an eduation or child neglect is the same as poverty. In the UK we have a benefits system. Income support is designed to give families money for the basics, not luxuries. The way they spend this money is down to each family, if they choose the wide screen TV over food then this is wrong. In African countries there is no welfare benefits. If they loose their job or become ill then they starve. There are no shops to buy food, no way to grow it. There's a huge difference.

yes in it's original sense it's neglect. My point is that those children didn't come from affluent families, they came from poor families. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that poverty was indirectly responsible for them starving to death.

I do think that people die as an indirect result of poverty in the UK though...

I mean come on you lot, how many barristers/surgeons children get starved to death by their parents?

But then is the attitude caused by the poverty, or the poverty by the attitude...

Good question.

If I had to guess, I'd say the poverty was caused by the attitude (in these cases, I don't mean people who are temporarily poor due to ill health/job loss etc)

Yes there is poverty in this country. Wow Thatcher's babies are out in force

Good example relating to Scotland published recently.
Two areas of Glasgow 9 miles apart. Life expectancy for men differed by some 30 years. Is this not an example of poverty affecting life expectancy in the UK?

Phantom - The way families spend money is not necessarily individual choice. Gas and electricity companies charge higher tariffs for those on pre-paid metres (more often than not these families are on low incomes)
Small independent local shops charge more for products than out of town supermarkets (not easily accessed by those without transport).

There is such a thing as poverty in the UK. It's well documented and affects nearly a fifth of the population.

If the OP wanted a discussion on the differences between the definition of poverty in the UK and the poverty experienced by people in Africa then she should have said that.

To say there's no such thing as poverty because no one is starving to death is facile and completely inaccurate.

It's just some people can live on the very minimum and still cope very well, but others just sink somehow. I dunno, I have never really been there maybe if you grow up very deprived you do have a whole different outlook on life...

There's plenty of poverty in the sense of having to skip a few meals and eat cheap rather than healthy food. The biggest problem for poor people is having no 'rainy day money' so even a minor emergency such as DC losing or outgrowing school shoes, a broken window or a sudden summons to go and see a dying grandparent 200 miles away can land them in debt. And if you are poor and need to borrow money, the only places you can borrow it from who will either lend to the poor or give out the money straight away tend to charge very high interest rates (and be terrifying to visit, as I have found out) So the debt escalates, and you start cutting back on everything non-essential to pay the debt and the rent and get some food in, but poverty doesn't make for a very varied or helthy diet...