Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Politics

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

I think this benefit family need to take a long hard look at themselves

277 replies

HungryHelga · 01/02/2012 18:21

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16812185

£20 a week in the pub

£15 a week for Sky

£32 a week on mobile phones.

A large pouch of tobacco AND 200 fags, plus 24 cans of lager.

£30,284.80 a year in benefits

And this family thinks they are hard done by?

Ridiculous. The benefits system in this country is totally out of control.

OP posts:
Pandemoniaa · 01/02/2012 18:34

They'd better be organic feathers.

JaneMare · 01/02/2012 18:35

you ole cynic Hecate

surely not

Grin
yellowraincoat · 01/02/2012 18:37

So this one time I saw a benefit mum and she was in Sainsburys.

Couldn't believe it.

Let them eat Iceland.

AIBU?

ouryve · 01/02/2012 18:39

Flogging? Hanging? Shock

Stocks would be better. Have them on display in the town square for everyone to point and sneer and throw things at. Should be a pre-requisite for claiming benefits at all.

Of course, in this day and age, the stocks would have to be child friendly and wheelchair accessible.

kelly2000 · 01/02/2012 18:40

yellowrain,
when a parent goes to the bbc to say he has not worked for eleven years because there are no jobs in his particular field, that he spends a lot of money on ciggerettes, alcohol, mobiles, sky tv etc, but if his benefits are cut he will make a choice about feeding his family or letting them have heating, they are rather asking people to judge them. No-one forced him to go to the BBC and give them a list of what they spend their money on, and tell them that they are hard done by, and it is fair enough that people suggest he stops buying alcohol etc, and looks for work in a different field, rather than not feed his children if the benefits are cut.

KalSkirata · 01/02/2012 18:40

some people wont be happy until the workhouse is brought back. Do you know that one benefactor back in the early 1900's suggested charity paid for workhouse kids to have a week by the sea and people were bitching then about 'scum' getting something they werent.
People dont change.

Original poster
HungryHelga · 01/02/2012 18:44

I don't think people on benefits should be spending money on things like alcohol, tobacco, mobile phones and sky TV.

I think for too long we have given people the idea that people on benefits are entitled to a lifestyle equal to that of working people. I do not think they are. For this family to have not worked for over a decade and still be expecting to have luxuries is ridiculous IMO.

OP posts:
JaneMare · 01/02/2012 18:46

have you thought of voodoo, OP?

then maybe you'll have something to really vent your spleen at?

whackamole · 01/02/2012 18:46

Why are MNetter's not allowed to have an unfavourable opinion of people that abuse the welfare state for their own gain? Or those that blatantly take the piss out of it? (Sorry not sure which applies here as have not read the article).

It's not 'benefit bashing' at all. I claim benefits and our family would go totally under if I was not able to. But I carefully budget and don't believe that because I have to go without a contract iPhone and fags and booze they are not giving me enough.

Also, yes this is an article and maybe we have to take some of the details with a pinch of salt, but I'm pretty sure that almost everything everyone has an opinion on (that is about another human being) there is some factor that hasn't been taken into account.

So get off your soapboxes about benefit bashing and the children suffering. When we get down to brass tacks, this family earn more in benefits in a year than my family do on two salaries and benefits, so yes, I do judge.

KalSkirata · 01/02/2012 18:47

people on benefits get a fixed amount. Its no-one's business what they spend it on.
There's people on here who would like to see them wearing sackcloth.

TheVermiciousKnid · 01/02/2012 18:49

Helga, please go and eat something! Maybe you will be less angry if you are not so hungry all the time?

Salmotrutta · 01/02/2012 18:50

Grin@ Vermicious

GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 18:52

Helga. Do YOU claim any benefits?? Child benefit? Tax credits??

GypsyMoth · 01/02/2012 18:53

Do you buy wine? Have a mobile!?

Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern · 01/02/2012 18:56

Yes people on benefits shouldn't spend their money on luxuries like having a good time. They are second class citizens and should behave as such. Hmm

I think it is very very easy for the media to portray people exactly how they want to. They could cone into any of our homes take snippets of our lives and make us all loom exactly how they like. They are doing a great job of making a lot of people angry about those daring to claim benefits and it is exactly this time if media hype that makes a them and us situation Angry

countessbabycham · 01/02/2012 18:58

I'm sure they could cut down if they sent the kids to school with newspaper on their feet and a jacket potato in their pockets,hey,Helga?

KalSkirata · 01/02/2012 18:59

dd will never work. Should I start whipping her now?

yellowraincoat · 01/02/2012 19:00

But the family aren't abusing the system whackamole. And it makes no difference to you what they spend their money on.

They earn more than I do as well. But I'm not going to whinge about it cos it's their choice how they spend their money.

And no kelly2000, they're not asking people to judge them. No-one asks to be judged.

kelly2000 · 01/02/2012 19:00

kal,
It is up to them what they spend it on. But saying if they have to get the same as the average family of workers they will choose between providing heating or food for their children, rather than cutting back on alcohol, cigerettes etc, or looking for work in a different field is asking people to criticise. It seems that most people are happy for the workhouse, so long as it is the workers who are put in it to provide for those who do not work whilst they are able, but want to have a lifestyle that involves plenty of booze and fags. Why does being unemployed mean you are entitled to have more money than if you were working, and that it is unfair if you have to cut down on booze and fags rather than food for your children if the benefits are cut. Not being able to afford sky, alcohol, cigerettes is not destitution.

CervixWithASmile · 01/02/2012 19:00

I don't like the way this is phrased, but, it seems you can't comment at all about people claiming benefits that perhaps shouldn't.

Yes, there are plenty of deserving people. No, benefits relating to people that are disabled or carers should not be cut. But - there are cases where people should just sort themselves out and get a job. Or stop claiming if they have a job.

marriedinwhite · 01/02/2012 19:01

Look at this another way: we don't spend £32pw on mobile phones - it's more like £23pw, we don't have Sky, we don't smoke, we don't spend money in the pub. We have never claimed a benefit in our lives but we chose not to waste money on things that are unnecessary.

I'm afraid I'm going against the grain and I agree with the OP. Benefits should ensure children are warm and housed, children are well fed, parents have good parenting skills, etc., they should not ensure the parents have money to spend on luxuries such as alcohol, tobacco, mobile phones and sky. If that means benefits might not be paid in cash, then I think that is very fair.

If the parents want alcohol and tobacco, etc., then let them earn the money to pay for it.

yellowraincoat · 01/02/2012 19:01

KalSkirata, how old is she? It might be a good idea.

Please make sure you're not feeding her anything other than bread and water too. She may have a scraping of Tesco Value butter on Sundays.

CervixWithASmile · 01/02/2012 19:03

And, if this article is true, then I don't believe for a minute that he couldn't have got a job in the last 11 years. Just perhaps not one that would pay him what he's getting in benefits.

catgirl1976 · 01/02/2012 19:03

Leave the bastards

(alone)

OP get a hobby or something - it's really sad to see someone so interested in other people's lives. Yours must be so empty but I bet there is lots you could fill it with instead of attacking others.

Zumba is popular at the moment I believe.

yellowraincoat · 01/02/2012 19:03

I've looked at it in plenty of ways marriedinwhite. I don't really care what you spend your money. Benefits in this country aren't paid to those who are more virtuous than others.

Don't worry though, at least you can sit at home shining your halo and thinking how great you are.