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

[spottyzebrahasthelurgy]

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

I think Scotlands an extreme example tbh. Don't know quite what on earth's going on up there with the state having to step in and feed the children their breakfasts and lunches etc, but I do know that although families in the UK DO receive money to live on, the sad part is, the adults in the families decide how the money is spent, and don't always spend it on food for children

I don't think the OP was thinking the some parts of the UK aren't extremely poor , but when you see extreme poverty on the television etc. it can be hard to grasp I guess that you can define it with the same word. I guess it should really kind of be called third world poverty and first world povery or something. What's the second world by the way, I have always wondered...

well many of my (soon to be ex) in-laws live in poverty in Africa - but they're not starving to death and have a roof over their heads......

LadyofWaffle - I haven't been there either but work closely with those who are there.
Nothing is black and white and a whole variety of factors can and do cause people to 'sink'.
Options and choices aren't open to everyone unfortunately, and the opportunities available to you and I are completely alien to many.

of course people die from poverty in the UK - winter is fast approaching, and there will be many deaths (particularly among the elderly) caused by them being unable to afford to heat their home adequately resulting in illnesses which we kill them.

Wide screen T-fucking-V?
Now that pisses me off.
Why is it always assumed that those on benefits spend their money the wrong way, that they could be fine if they didn't have the bloody mythical TV?
My TV was given to me by a neighbour, I've always cooked from scratch, I make fab meals from value ingredients, we eat well, except for when I have gone hungry to pay bills. No, not hungry the way folk do in the third world but hungry all the same and not because I've had to pay my sky bill, I don't have sky.
Yes I have the internet but I've learned to use it so it saves me money. It's cheaper having it that not.

I'm so glad I work now, but it still saddens me that people on benefits are judged this way, like we all have a house full of gadgets and no food.

Seems such a circle... I guess if you grow up in UK poverty you sort of know no different and just don't ahve the knowledge (not in an IQ way, I mean facts) to get out of it. When DH and I met we both had nothing. DH had a car but it got written off so then we didn't even have that to get to work. But we crawled back from that, buying a £95 car from some wages, a deposit for a room from another weeks wages ... but maybe that's because that wasn't 'normal' to us. If it was, we probably would have not even thought about buying another car, getting accomadation etc. It seems we have some things in place in this country to combat poverty but something is missing somewhere somehow... I dunno, am totally waffling on - don't really know what I am on about!

everyone on benefits has a wide screen tv
tracksuits
drugs
guns
diddling benefits
have another house in portugal
sub letting council house

have three families 2 ofwhich they dont support - the other the taz payer supports

they also have great cars- new of course

Nothing out of the ordinary going on in Glasgow that you wouldn't find in other major UK inner cities Soultaken.
High unemployment, poor exam results, poor diet, etc, etc.

Cor that post sounded abit rude somehow! Not very good at getting things across!

FAQ, you definatly cannot argue that alot of elderely people will die as a direct result of poverty this winter.

Agreeing

• wasn't sure - 'tis late - I've only just got over a horrendous cold, and instead of sleeping I'm standing next to the computer ironing, and once I've finished that will be going up to make my bedroom look a little more respectable for viewers tomorrow (today?)

Oh dear, I should be doing housework too but have somehow become glued to the sofa. Lovely with kids isn't it, all the midnight housework!

oh I've been steadily ploughing through it all day lol

Oh, just me then that leaves it until they go to bed! Bed currently being my lap for DS2.

Hmmm, am hijacking thread here

Can see what you're getting at LadyOf.
You are right in that life is seen in a very different way if your life chances have been limited. Someone mentioned a good point earlier about loans etc and how those on low incomes require to borrow at huge interest rates. Same with cashing cheques (no bank account so have to use these organisations that take a commission.) If you need electrical goods (and these can be necessary kitchen goods - not simply big TVs!), you may have to go to a pay weekly place with huge mark ups.
Again, often low income families do not choose how to spend their money. That choice is made for them.

I'm a single parent. I have worked all my life, most recently in the commercial finance industry. Never on a fantastic wage and under the national average.
Due to the global financial crisis my company cannot continue as it is and I have been made redundant, I am signing on for the first time in my life.

I have small and previously manageable debts of no more than 8k.

Having been made redundant due to the economic crisis there is now no income in my household and my debts are unmanageable.

Correct me if I am wrong but it's feeling alot like poverty to me! They do say that the majority of british households are no more than 2 paychecks away from bankruptcy.
No shit Sherlock.

no I usually leave it until they've gone to bed - but as I've not been well it had been left for a few days (and wasn't really "on top" of it before then) -did a little during the day, then have been going almost constantly since 9pm lol

oh I agree about the loans/high interest rates.

I have a littlewoodsdirect account, it's has a ridiculously high APR (something like 30%) if my washing machine were to break - then I would possibly use my account to buy a new one.

Now I'm lucky, I can manage to make the "interest free" payments on my account (currently about £50 - for balance of approx £500), however if I was unable to make those high payments, and desperately needed a new washing machine then for the same balance I could pay a payment of £7 each month....

I can quite easily see how someone on a low income would open an account (very easy to open one don't think you need a good credit rating at all) buy their washing machine but only be able to pay that £7 a month, accruing massive amouns of interest - that would take years to pay off.

And shockingly - although I opened the account just so it was there, and I could treat myself to bigger things "now" and pay off interest free (I sit down and work out each purchase with a calculator to make sure I can make those payments) rather than waiting for 3 months to save up (as I'd probably end up spending that £50 or whatever on something else rather than saving it). The shocking part (sorry I'm waffling ) is that with an income made up entirely of benefits I was given a credit limit of £1000

Poverty---- It's all relative!!!
In places like Africa kids and adults do hard work and suffer in a way that is unthinkable and unreasonable to UK / Europeans, every day!
Does that mean that people in the UK do not struggle OR starve...... NO, of course not..
If a pensioner cannot afford to heat her home in the UK, then as far as we are concerned she lives in poverty.... AND she does !! Or a runaway that has no where to go , because the system does not include them and therefore is forced to live on the streets and beg or maybe starve. This is poverty, Just on a different level!! It happens and it shouldn't , because as a country we are rich.. So, this is unacceptable.. Third world countries do not have that option, so there for it is not an issue!!!

If you have never seen poverty in this country , then you should open your eyes and see that the dirty man that sits outside the shop begging for a few pence is not always because he is a drunk waster ( which is SOMTIMES the case) but maybe he has been failed by the system that "respectable" members of the UK live by!!
Poverty in every place in the world is at a different level and under different circumstances, you just have to open your eyes to see it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck off the lot of you.

Worry about your fucking ironing and debate the meaning of poverty while the rest of us fucking deal with it.

Fuckwits.

ermm excuse me???

was that directed to me??

Well some might say that running up an 8k debt , that you can't afford would make you a " fuckwit" !! It's all relative, and with the recent crisis , most people are in the same boat!!

I dont' want to go into my personal history too much - but I have lived in poverty (thankfully only for 4 months before I returned to the UK) in a 3rd world country. The only fond memories I have of that time were getting up every night (it was rainy season) when I was in the 1st trimester of DS1's pg putting buckets/pots/anything we could find under the 20 or so holes in the corrugated iron roof on our tiny cottage. (yes I know it's an odd thing to have "fond" memories of, but it was a lovely , if very small with leaky roof, cottage, the first place I'd ever been able to call "mine" - ok it was rented - but it was the first place I'd lived that wasn't under my parents roof or provided for me).

3yrs ago I was living in poverty - I could link you to the threads if you like where I was asking how to feed (and put nappies on a baby) for £10-15 a week - and it wasn't a one off living on that amount, it was for a long time.

And strangely - I wouldn't be up at this silly time in the morning trying to get my housework done if I wasn't again living in poverty - as I wouldn't be having to do the housework so that the viewers that come tomorrow can actually see the house - and not my housework.