In thinking that a couple living in a one bed flat with 2 kids should not have decided to get 2 dogs ?

[nevereatbrownsnow]

Am watching tower block of commons and really don't see the logic in this.

Both dogs are peeing everywhere, those children have no beds and there little playspace is saturated in dog urine.

Children deserve a bed at least and cleanish floors to play on, makes me feel

Seems selfish, they have little money and feeding two dogs of that size is not cheap.

Feel really sorry for the poor girl in temporary accomodation tho.

[junglist1]

It's not right that families are caged up in one room while single people have more bedrooms than they need. I don't care if they're old, what about the research that's been done showing poorer educational achievement among children living in one room??!! The effects on mental health for the whole family? Still never mind they're only shitty underclass brats

[nevereatbrownsnow]

There have been programes about benefit claiments doing well, finding jobs etc, they just don't get mentioned on ere.

And i'm as saddo with no social life who watches far, far too much tv

[TennisFan]

I watched this programme last night and was really shocked and disgusted.
Yes is was a hellish place to live, but plently of people on low income jobs dont have much money left over each week either.

Me and DH dont have a flash house, but we do have a massive morgage and huge loan from bank for work.

I had to get a TV last week from Currys and the man in the shop just said it was the worst pile of crap in the shop and not to buy it. FFS it was £129.00 and all we can afford.

I have friends who cant understand why we dont have Sky and Sky+ etc - we cant afford it thats why.

When something breaks in our house we try and fix it, or do without until we can get it.
I am slave to moneysavingexpert - and getting money off or coupons to get better value.

We cannot afford fancy after school activities for our DC and no way can we afford another DC or a dog or 2.

[MorrisZapp]

YANBU

It's a big problem in the area where I used to live - ie dogs used as status/ aggression symbols. The dogs were poorly cared for too, they'd just run about in the road, defecating at will while their owners sat indoors.

If people can't afford to provide for their children then they can't afford to own dogs.

I have a lifelong memory of watching a doc about poverty in which a young woman said (very genuinely) that her kids didn't have duvets as she couldn't afford to buy them. The kids slept under piles of clothes. And the woman chain smoked.

Yes, I do judge.

[nevereatbrownsnow]

IloveTIFFANY, because the children were crawling around in dog waste ?

Totally agree with you tennis fan, oh and to top it all we just got a court summons off the council tax grrrr

[StealthPolarBear]

ILT - really? The kids ahve no beds and the place is majorly unhygienic all the time!
I didn';t see the programme so if everyone on here is exaggerating, i apologise

[nevereatbrownsnow]

And it's because of people like that I can't eat brown snow

[JuJusDad]

amber - my main hint would be don't do it!!!

You'll need to show a good level of common sense, determination / bloody mindedness; know a bit about housing & anti social behaviour legislation.

Don't want to go hijacking this thread...

Bad news and extremes sell better than people just getting on with their lives.

[nevereatbrownsnow]

And it's because of people like that I can't eat brown snow

[pooexplosionsareimproving]

I don't think they were portrayed unfairly, the programme makers didn't make them up and they also showed other people who were not like the dog pair. I think it was a good cross section.
The problem here is that you want to pretend people like this don't exist,or that its all someone elses fault. Its like when someone comes alone with a thread slating "benefit lifestyles" and everybody jumps on them and says its all lies. We all know it isn't, just that its a tiny minority, but instead we all get incensed and irate.
Y'know what though, some people are just shits, whether they are on benefits, inadequately housed, living in a mansion or lotto winners. Most people are decent, hardworking, try their best with what they have types, but a small section of the population are just scummy fuckers, IMHO.

[GypsyMoth]

no,i saw a bed!! but no sheets....however,social services would really run round there if there was dog urine on the floor??

[izzybiz]

I was a bit surprised by the whole thing.
I was expecting a programme where people were genuinley suffering in inadequate housing and struggling on benefits.

One couple who had Mark Oaten staying with them, bought Pampers nappies, spent £42 on fags, and had a PC and internet access.

Another had a Dh who managed to pop out every evening to drink lager and smoke weed.

The other couple, had no cooker as they couldn't afford the £80 connection fee, the Dh still managed to find money to spend in the bookies every week.

And the single mum, lost her home due to rent arrears.

I have been a single mum, on benefits in a council flat.It is not a great deal of money, but it is enough if you budget accordingly. I have also gotten myself into rent arrears in the past, whilst trying to work and get off the benefits, it needs to go a very long way before you lose your home.

I suppose I just get a bit when people are pleading poverty and doing little to get themselves out of it.

Give up smoking, rehome dogs, give the bookies a miss etc. You owe your children that much surely?

[amber1979]

lol, ta JuJusDad - I'll bare all that in mind.

Will also stop hijacking. How rude of me.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

It's good that they showed a cross section of people on benefits and not just people like the dog piss pair.

Like I said I only saw snippets - the people ith the dogs and the loud scouser who had got evicted for rent arrears. You have to do something pretty bad to be evicted for rent arrears - it takes about 9 months to get someone out. Yet that woman was vitriolic about 'foreigners' getting council housing etc rather than looking at why she was evicted from her old place.

[nevereatbrownsnow]

The feckless parents had the bed (grumble mumble)

IloveTIFFANY, there is a differnce between a dog peeing on the floor and it being seen and cleaned up properly (not just a cursory wipe, and two dogs crapping everywhere and for the main part left.

[nevereatbrownsnow]

Difference

[pooexplosionsareimproving]

But thats reality for a lot of people in that situation. People here seem to forget that MN is not a represntative cross section from which to extrapolate.
There are people who are too ground down, too depressed and feeling hopeless, to be able to do anything about their situation. There are the people who have tried and failed to get out. There are the people whose circumstances truly don't allow them to do much to help themselves.
But there are also people who just don't give a fuck anyway, even for their own children.

[StealthPolarBear]

if the kids are regularly playing in dogs' piss (and waste??) then YES that is neglect IMO and putting them in danger of disease

[GypsyMoth]

well I dont do it (no dogs anyway) and YOU dont do it.....but some people let their dogs do it everywhere....not what i'm saying

social services dont address alot of things we would want them too....time,resources etc....what i'm saying is,is this a concern for them/would they act?? they see dire situations all the time,but cant put everything right or make people concerned

do they take kids into care for this??

[Chillohippi]

I was completely gobsmaked at the family that had £150 shopping budget for the week. DH and I both work and we are lucky if we have £60 a week shopping budget.
And I nearly sympathised with the family where the dad was an out of work chef...until I heard he had been out of work for 4 years, during which time they had another child and the mum was pregnant again.

[StealthPolarBear]

i don't know ILT, I would hope so -- not necessarily taking away, but involvement. if they';re not involved in dangerous situations then what should they get involved in?

[nevereatbrownsnow]

My dp was unemployed for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages, reproduction was the last thing on my mind!!

Or as my mum used to say (single mum with 4 kids working countless hours) If you don't want to work to feed em, don't breed em.!

I wonder if skihorse is one of the parents

[joanne34]

Didnt watch it;

So they didnt have beds for the kids ?

But they could afford 2 dogs ?

Hmmmmm...........

[Chillohippi]

The dogs didn't look too well fed either

That's an excellent saying, nevereatbrownsnow: If you don't want to work to feed 'em, don't breed 'em.If only more people would live by that.

[nevereatbrownsnow]

Its true, we double barreled our contraception !!

I think I have conception phobia, methinks it's not a bad phobia to have