to wonder if mumsnet is a haven for very well off and slightly blinkered individuals.....?

[preparetobeflayed]

Obviously I have changed my name on this thread as I am prepared for the onslaught.....

Threads about Boden, how sad they are that their jumper from Boden has been pilling, 'oh woe is me my nanny has called in sick', 'I am hard up now the tax band has increased (although I am still earning £170,000....

Where are the rest of the population who reflect most of the parents I meet. I also wonder whether some people are able to look around and see what else is happening in the world....?

(Just having a bit of a rant about some of the other threads I guess......

I can honestly say that I have NEVER read a thread on MN about nannies. I've read plenty about living in Council Housing, tax credits, having to move back in with parents, having to live on meagre meagre budgets, bumsex ... Maybe the OP should stop lurking around the Nanny forums?

well, i am still gobsmacked at the amount of money people spend on cigarettes.... particularly those on lower incomes... shockingisnt a stronge enough word to express my amazement on what they choose to witter the ir money away on,
but the key word there is 'choice' they choose to do that. and its their choice, not mine. if they want to do that, then i dont have the rright to get arsey about it to them. just like if people choose to spend their hard earned income on a nanny or school fees,. (which in my non judgemental opinion are at least of some benfit..

all sorts of people, all sorts of problems

What pagwatch said.

It's all a matter of scale. When you have bigger problems those of other people seem smaller by comparison but they are still valid to that person. MN is not a problem competition, everyone's worries are valid. Just so happens that some people's worries don't seem worth worrying about to you, that's all!

pagwatch, very, very wise...well said

Actually I found it to be a fairly diverse bunch here....but I could do without some of the "Ugh, ASDA" comments.

Also the poster who proclaimed her's was an "Ecover Household", was quickly taken down several notches. So while some people may e wealthy round here, smugness isn't usually tolerated, which is a good thing.

Plus, any website where people make an effort to spell is fine by me.

and
I should apologise for my posts more often..
Ta!

preparetobeflayed - perhaps people are drawn to their own type and that's why you feel that MN is a haven for well off slightly blinkered individuals

So are you a WOSBI?
< a bit like a WAG but without the illiterate lump of a man beside her >

Well said kitbit! I can't stand this attitude of certain threads being more trivial than others therefore unworthy. I'm sure you could class 90% of threads on here are less trivial than another situation! If not then MN would be very depressing and a lot of the support would be lost.

reach4sky - I was nodding in agreement with your post right up until...'my own circle of high-earning professional Londoners.' Why not just say 'my own circle of friends/colleagues'?

I think this kind of thing might be what the OP is on about - I find it quite amusing really.

fair dues, I do think that reads badly. I guess I was just trying to say that whilst I come from the group that the op is having a go at, I erally appreciate getting an insight into how most people live! Most of us tend on the whole in rl to mis with "people like us" - whatever that means.

Very well said Pag.

Actually I think reach4sky was adding valuable factual information - and I agree with her post. the great thing about mumsnet is the insight into people's lives far beyond your own cosy circle, which I will freely admit in my case is not exactly diverse - 'middle class well meaning northern urbanites' is how I'd describe it!

elliott - you would agree, ensconced in your own 'cosy circle'

I find there is a certain type of MNetter that can't help but allude to what's great about them and their lives.

thedolly - what you see as 'alluding to what's great about them and their lives', I see as apologising for being middle class. Don't see why people shouldn't be allowed to specify their background/perspective.

I think the OP has missed the point of MN really. Yes, there is a place for debate on politics, philosophy, economics and all that stuff but it is also a place for chat and trivia.

Would you, OP, have been happier if the people talking about pilling had been shopping at Top Shop or Dottie P's and not Boden? Would you be happier if everybody MC went somewhere else? There is a hint of inverted snobbery about your post and that is no more attractive than the uninverted kind! (Is uninverted even a word!?)

Surely MN is a mix of people? It often surprises just what a mixed bunch we are. I often read the opinions of people I just wouldn't meet in RL. OK so sometimes I don't agree with them and think they are moaning about things that are trivial and in which I have little interest in or understanding but it takes all sorts.

YABU.

or perhaps that's just your interpretation of someone stating a fact.

thedolly, I was being factual about the fact that most of the people I know are broadly similar to myself. As was reach4sky. If you have a hugely diverse circle of friends, I'd say you are probably quite unusual.
I don't think the fact that I recognise that my social circle is limited in its diversity means I am not open minded.

And nor does it mean I am stating what's great about me and my life - unless you choose to see it that way.

Hear, hear, Pagwatch.

I come on MN to follow and sometimes join in animated discussions whether they be about pilling cardis/50% tax etc etc. But what I particularly appreciate is that I come across the type of chats I would sorely like to have in real life.

And I love the 'poncey' threads. I think it's a great shame that the g&t thread is now not on general display and has to be pulled down, so you don't get all those concerned parents (nutcases) fretting (boasting) about Persephone reading Harry Potter at age 5.

What's apologetic about the word 'cosy'? I think you've missed my point ChilliCrab - you too reach4sky.

Agree with doggiesayswolf that you don't have to be well off to be blinkered.

Does the OP mean that there are a lot of well off MNetters who also appear to be slightly blinkered?

Just a thought but perhaps it's the private school bubble thing.

Move to Norfolk - they all have nannies here.

I was quite shocked at how so many people from different walks of life could afford to have a nanny until I realised it was a term for grandmother.

hmm I think everyone, rich or poor, is entitled to discuss whatever they like, whenever they like...and if the conversation isn't another's cup of tea, a different one is only a click away.

What strikes me as funny is that it's apparently okay to criticise people for earning high salaries/liking to buy nice things with their money/discussing their childcare arrangements/shopping at M&S or Waitrose/having a particular type of cooking appliance or car/going on fab holidays...but you don't seem to see the people at the butt of those critcisms shouting disgust at others' lower wages/shopping at Morrison's/less substantial car/different holiday destinations.

Is there some moral highground in earning less money or something? Because I for one don't get it. I don't care how much money anyone earns, where they holiday (unless I'm suffering plain old jealousy ), where they shop blah blah blah.

none of my cosy circle locally are privately educated (nor send their kids privately).
the word 'cosy' was meant in a slightly self mocking sense. There can be cosy circles in all walks of life. Very few of us have truly diverse social circles in real life - the internet certainly widens them.

MN can be one of the most unblinkering places!

It's the place I hear the most povs that come from a different perspective than my own. Some people may well be blinkered, but it's their loss if they fail to gain from the huge range of experience available on MN.

Whining and wisdom come equally from all corners of life.