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

[spottyzebrahasthelurgy]

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

What does tax go towards in 3rd world countries? Do they have national health care etc?

god knows - but we definitely paid it.

I guess the schools needed extra funding (although state schools had to be paid for I'm sure it can't have covered the cost of running them), teachers need paying, roads need maintaining (although most apart from the roads near the presidential palace were pretty shit lol), rubbish was collected (in most places), sewerage systems needed maintaining, train, gas/electric/water etc hadn't been privatised like here in the UK, at that time if you were poor and needed emergency care you could get it for free (although after care cost money and it's now non-existent there) but it was in the poorest hospitals, cemeteries were government run, so I guess the money to employ the civil service employees had to come from somewhere

just tried to do a quick google - but didn't find much (half asleep still so doesn't help) - but I was [shocked] to discover that the country I lived in last year put the highest taxation rate up to 60%

Yes, you are being totally unreasonable and must live in a particularly affluent and cushoined part of the country

so what is poverty in the UK then?

I think this has to be the most ignorant post I ahve read on MN for a long time.

And that is saying something.

Who is the OP? Are they a regular?

There are children in my dd's class who wear shoes with the heels trodden down because their parents can't afford to buy them new shoes that fit on their feet.

Also children who come into school hungry.

I'm shocked by the poverty I see all around me in my own community.

You are very naive.

People who live in poor neighbourhoods do live shorter lives. I used to live in a vert deprived town and every year a child starved to death, this was neglect but poverty was a contributory factor.

I have been penniless and unable to eat, dp kicked me out onto the streets could get no help from the state as he had lots of money. I had my child benefit.

Of course there is poverty in the UK
[thunk as head hit table]

There is poverty in the UK and it does have an affect on health / child mortality rates as thisa rticle explains

here

but it is not comparitable to the tragedy that occurs around the world.

UK life expectancy (is 79)
now this does go down to around 67 in the poorest areas in the UK.

but compare this to Bukina Faso where the average life expectancy is 52.

Mortality rates of under five's is Six in the UK, compared to 206 in Bukina Faso.

And the main reasons for the shorter life expectancy in Bukina Faso are shortage of food, clean water as well as treatable illness(if you have the medicine).

The main reasons for shorter life expectancy in the poor regions in the UK are diseases related to smoking, drinking and poor diet. (eating the wrong food type to too little.)

hardly comparitable.

I had to wear my mums old shoes to school (and got beaten up for it too) As a single mum in the Thatcher years (no decent benefits, no CTC) we sometimes went without food, never had new clothes and our uniforms came from charity shops.
We're not in that state now but the boys have shoes with holes in cos I can't afford any moe and I'm too afraid of bills to put the heating on.
But we're ok for food. We grow some at the allotment (although half our potato crop rotted as th cellar is so damp. I am well ticked off with that) and I buy cheap and filling.
But things are better now with benefits than they were when I was growing up. Which is why I don't want the Tories back!

I would say if you can't clothe your kids proerly, if you can't feed them properly, if you don't have a safe warm home to live in, if you lack home essentials such as an oven or a fridge because you can't afford them then I'd pretty much say you are living in poverty.

And yes, it happens in the UK.

Yes YABU. There is the difference between absolute and relative poverty to consider, but poverty in the UK most definitely exists.

I would say that I almost lived in absolute poverty, if I had not been taken in by the hospital and shelters. For a few months my ex refused to give me my bank card so my dd and I actually had no money to live on for about two months.

good grief, of course there is poverty in the UK. There are homeless people, people living way below the poverty line and struggling to make ends meet. This will only get worse as food prices and fuel prices continue to rise and credit becomes harder to come by. Yes, there are many, many examples of terrible poverty throughout the world, with issues that we don't have here, such as access to healthcare etc. But that does not negate the poverty that exists in our own country.

The concept of poverty changes

We did a training course about poverty and looked at 2 surveys on done in 1983 and one done in 2003.

They same question was asked something like: if you could not afford ----you could be considered poor. (not including food, access to clean water and shelter)

In 1983
proper shoes
A winter coat
heating
inside toilet
were in the top 10 (but not included in 2003)

In 2003
a car
TV
a holiday
had replaced the above.

at this thread.....

Just because people living in poverty in this country don't have swollen bellies, flies in thier eyes and rags for clothes doesn't mean they're not living in poverty. I think it's pretty ignorant to say there is no poverty in the UK when looking a bit further than your comfort zone you can clearly see there is.

YABVU

If poverty means you can't afford to have constant hot water, you can't afford decent fruit, you can't afford to do the weekly shop without having to count every penny, you struggle to pay for school dinners, you have to save for weeks just to buy the children winter coats and boots and you know you cannot afford to buy yourself one (and yes I know you can get them cheap in Primark etc) then yes poverty in the uk exists and I'm living it.

don't feel too sorry for me though. i ahve now got a job and we should be okay when i start getting paid next week.

YABU. Very. When I first split with xp I had a mortgage of £151 per week, obviously no HB due to having a mortgage, and was in receipt of a total of £96per week. Made up of £44 Tax credits (due to a major cock up by them I only got this small amount), £31 a week CB, and £11 a week IS (Only received this amount as I was supposed to be getting £50 a week from xp, but never did). But even taking the Maintenance into account, my total income per week would still have been less htan my housing costs. Even forgetting the mortgage (which fortuntely my mortgage company were understanding enough to let me not pay it while it was on the market) £96 a week still does not pay for gas, electricity, water, food & clothing.

SheSells I am sooo impressed with my "Primarni" £13 coat!

'They same question was asked something like: if you could not afford ----you could be considered poor. (not including food, access to clean water and shelter)

In 2003
a car
TV
a holiday
had replaced the above.'

well that puts us in poverty according to whatever thinktank came up with that one. I hardly think so.
Not being able to heat the house makes me feel poor. Being unable to afford a car and a holiday doesn't make me feel poor.

this isn't Africa, thankfully.

yes, there IS poverty here. especially and increasingly fuel poverty.

PLENTY of problems with homelessness and hidden homelessness.

ignorant op

'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.'

And this is a good thing?