AIBU to be sad and shocked by this article?

[LittleDorrit]

Have just been reading this:

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/18/child-poverty-labour-eradicate-promise

and I am shocked by the conditions this family is living in, but in particular how little/what sort of food they are able to afford.

It's not so much an AIBU issue, but just wondered whether others in similarly difficult circumstances think this is typical, or whether the mother could try to buy other types of food (e.g. rice, lentils, etc.) or perhaps be able to afford to spend a bigger proportion of her budget on food... £20 is very little.

Newsnight now - ex Woolies worker who is surviving on £121 a fortnight for herself and two dcs. Someone who was working and is desperate to work but not getting anything. I have no idea how you can live on £60.50 a week.

MolliO - neither do I - but I'll ask DH next time I speak to him - that's all he'll get, no child benefit, no CTC to top up with, just council tax benefit. - eek!

just a quick hijack
faq, you linked me about the crisis loan the other day...well i spent over an hour again this morning trying to apply for one, only to be told again i cant apply as im not on benefits
ah well, i guess i'll go out busking or something

He doesn't have two children to support on that though does he? I can't imagine that at all. She is so demoralised and seems to have tried so hard to get work. Frankly I am more interested in her story than 'Louise'

Ckelpie!! ............there's possibly,maybe some truth in that last comment!! But I won't think about it too much!!

aww that's crap harley - don't know why they've said that to you as that website clearly says (well to me anyhow) that you don't need to be on benefits for a crisis loan.

MollieO - no he doesn't - but he does have to pay his housing costs, buy food, pay his bills, and buy food for the DS's when he has them.

I honest to god don't think I could survive even on my own on only £60 a week to cover absolutely everything except my council tax.

crisis loan criteria

Contact CAB tomorrow and get them to help you harley.

Oh FFS I have also been very depressed reading this thread. I am a single parent in a professional job, with exH paying maintenance and I am having problems financially esp at the end of the the month so how the hell do you expect Louise to cope.

I find raking thru using freecycle comments really ignorant.

I have found myself as budget gets tighter making worse food choices - ie going to Iceland sometimes. This is also due to time constraints.

And Yes I do use oven chips. But then I am from a fairly working class background where ddietary choices weren;t always the best.

I do look at some of the mums at school and think why arent you working etc but tbh I sometimes don't blame them for being on benefits - god I feel like just giving up sometimes and I do know how hard it is toget off them once you're on them.

I really hate the judgy judgy smug attitude from some people on this thread

Yet you are judging the mums at school........do you know them all? How do you know which ones are on benefit and which ones work part time?? !!

seashells, thanks, thats saying the same thing as the other site faq linked me to
aarrggghhhh this is driving me insane
i'll try cab

poor woman..that must be a difficult life...
I could not live on that little, no idea how she does it!

As for people criticising the photo not showing real poverty...teh subtitle only says poverty in britain, it doesn't actually say it's a picture of her home, does it...although, it neither says "models used" or such hting...so...not sure it automatically means it is...
but it didn't look that bad...not in a "how clean is your house"- kinda way anyway....lack of storage, etc...and small children, and so on....

As for people judging this poor woman....well...I think that is very sad....she is obviously trying her best, but is stuck in a shit situation....

and as for mentioning she doesn't even has a table...there is probably lack of space to blame for that...surely...

Maybe furniture was pushed out of the way to make room for photographer and journalist?

and that is very possible, too...

no not all of them Tiffany. But you misunderstood - its so easy to think why aren't you working but the reality is not as easy as that and my point was that sometimes even if you do work you aren't always that much better off.

I really dislike the attitude whereby people are raking over her finances when they have never been in that position.

But I am In Her position. I have 5 DC. And you don't get an increase in benefit just cos they get older. There's a massive difference between feeding a 3 year old and a 14 year old.........as I'm finding out!!! They eat tons as they get older.

I suspect alot of us are going over the finances to see of it can be done any better.......

Yes I rake over my own finances and haven't got much to last me to payday but I wouldn't like it if someone else was doing it for me tbh.

Maybe the journalist asked her to put her flat that way for his photo? After all they are not known for their integrity are they?

indeed...

scl.......you haven't put your finances in the guardian tho have you! If she puts it in the public domain then the public are doing no wrong in discussing it! Or am I missing the point in it being published? Is it not open for debate?

I read the article, wondered about starting a thread on here about it, I also saw a very smug picture of Fred Goodwin on another paper just before reading the article....

I can't understand why people waste their energy cruelly judging people living in poverty when quantitative easing is the solution when the banks and big business do such damage. Why do people grudge people a basic right to decent food and a reasonable standard of living?

I cannot understand how people can be expected to live in such poverty.

yaNbu LittleDorrit

I haven't even the patience to post properly on this thread (wankers you know who you are)

This family's case is deeply upsetting, and the mother deserves respect and admiration for keeping it together

I lived on the edge of this sort of life for a while - things were financially difficult, spiralling charges meant I ran into debt, and I worked several low pay, low skill jobs to get me through - with a similar weekly budget, similar co-workers and neighbours - I remember being very proud I could make a fiver last all week!
Ten years later I am well paid with a career in a challenging, secure profession, still training and progressing, with DS and a lovely supportive DP. It would be so easy to say - well I did all this by my bootstraps so you can too...

But - I was on my own, with no dependants, I mercifully had access to warm, dry, moderately equipped accomodation, I was studying and knew I was progressing along a path which would hopefully lead to better opportunities. Although financial support was lacking at the time I knew I had personal support from my family, and most importantly belief in myself, with the education and aspirations that had been instilled into me as a child, and the skills I needed to get jobs and access help.

I remember the grey-faced grinding depression of it all: sore feet from walking after standing all day to save bus fares, limited in time and ability to buy food due to distances/time/effort, having to borrow clothes for an interview, collapsing into bed as soon as you got in, no time to socialise, having to study in the gaps, and the contempt and judgement of others for my percived lumpenproletariat status. And the sense of security you got when you recived your money - it was all already spent really, ticked and compartmentalised away but that small achivement of managing each week really mattered.

I have respect for Louise in the article - she seems to be doing her best and in a difficult situation trying to get some skills and keep her kids clean, warm and fed. I dont think I could have managed with 2 kids to consider as well and little in the way of confidence, encouragement or aspiration. She deserves support and compassion - she obviously did not plan for things to happen this way but is hanging in there, micromanaging the situation each week, trying to climb out of debt, get education herself, make sure her kids get to school etc. I hope things improve for her as a result of this article.

I agree HMC. It is terrible - and I know that's simply a value judgement on my part - that people are so blinded by their own issues thay cannot see the real want and need of this family. Thank god we have someone like Brown in actualy, who, bloody difficult as it is, is genuinely commited to maintaining the welfare state for a modern age.

Seashells, whatever the crisis loan criteria, it is basically up to the discresion of the advisor you see. I was literally homeless at one point and was was refused a crisis loan. I was onlt ever in that degree of crisis once, was very young and vulnerable and after being turned down, was very lucky not to fall under the influence of someone who would have changed the path of my life forever - for the worse. Lucky, as it was pure luck, nothing to do with wits or intellegence.

And still for all the smug bitching and moaning not one person has come up with a suggestion as to anything practical we can do as individuals. Something I raised 20 some pages ago.

I plan to get in touch with SureStart and see what I can do and am also trying to find out if any charities run food banks or furniture/clothing banks in our area. I would much rather contribute to these efforts than freecycle which seems to bypass the most in need altogether.

Many of you should feel absolutely ashamed of yourselves. There but for the grace of god.