Benefits street

[viagrafalls]

Anyone watching ?

Thanks for your support zizzo - most welcome. HC if you have nothing constructive to say maybe it is best to say nothing.

Scarlettsm you are doing a brilliant job in trying to show what lies beneath the surface of the benefit claimants and have far more patience than I do! This govt is evil as far as I am concerned. They make Margaret Thatcher look vaguely reasonable and I never thought such words would come from my lips!

The Bankers and their greed are responsible for the mess in the country and OK the Labour Party gave them their head instead of regulating them, and they also initiated privatisation: Foundation hospitals, Academies etc. BUT the way this govt is slashing the budgets of all public services and expecting them to improve service delivery on greatly depleted budgets is simply shocking. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and thousands more will do so in the coming years.

BUT so long as idiots who read the gutter press and the DM believe the country is in a mess because of benefit scroungers and their greed the govt will be delighted because that is what they want people to believe. The vast majority of the DWP budget (50%) is spent on state pensions, then a significant amount on people who are working but earn insufficient money to maintain a reasonable standard of living, and those workers on zero hours contracts, and who want more hours of work but are denied them, so need to be "topped-up" with benefits. A very small % of the budget (can't just think of the % off hand) goes on Job Seekers Allowance and other benefits.

I'd better stop or I will rant on and on............

I dont even know why i am replying again.....
Just because i dont agree with people taking the piss and being criminals doesnt mean i think the 'dole scum' for the state of the countries economy. I am not an idiot. But this thread is about benefits street not city bankers.

Grr cant preview on phone, but you get my gist.

Everyone seems to have a deserving poor and an underserving poor in their heads. I'm not like them even if I claim benefits etc. Or I'm claiming benefits but it's for a good reason. Because I really need them.

Actually, those people on Benefits St have good reasons too. They're hopeless. Virtually unemployable.They are as unemployable as someone who used to have a good job until they fell on hard times and couldn't get back up on their feet.

There is a Change petition asking for this to be taken off the television. I know you're not spoked to link to political petitions, but it should be fairly easy to find, if you were so inclined.......

I don't really have a problem with Channel 4 exploiting the adults on Benefit Street because the majority are clearly too lazy to get a job. My issue is the fact the kids faces are all clearly identifiable on the show. Its hardly their fault they were born into such appalling poverty, be it self-inflicted or otherwise. Whatever their social background, children must be protected.

I know where you're coming from, nomeansno, but if the parents have no problem with their children being featured, then that's enough consent needed for the producers.

I actually think it's a good thing that children are shown going about their daily life. It shows that not all children get given the same opportunities and it's not a level playing field. It shows the kind of aspirations and expectations these people relying on benefits grew up with themselves. It gives a fuller picture of our society and the root causes of deprivation.

By editing out children in this street, the programme would be more effective in the message that these problems begin and end in adulthood, and that the deprivation is the fault of "lazy adults", and that message is false.

My heart went out to that young couple - red hair - Tracy and Mark I think? Whatever they have done, they've got absolutely no chance of changing things as they stand. Mark's "job" as commission-only salesman for a charity is a joke. He would do better working on something like the bins, or something physical as he's so limited academically - I don't mean that as a bad thing, just an opinion based on what we saw.

Tracy is a different kettle of fish. I think she's probably quite bright, or bright enough to learn more. She seemed to be getting the idea about putting the children to bed with a bit of help from HV and that other lady. She doesn't even know what is possible for her and her family because she's clearly had no input herself. Of course she's going to live on benefits if she has no idea of her other options.

They should be supported every inch of the way, every hour of the day if need be until they are able to function properly. yes that would cost money, but leaving them to languish on benefits is a waste of money and a waste of their lives. It's not up to us to condemn them to that misery, they should be given a help up not left on the slippery downward slope. And as for their children - intervention NOW.

Commission-only jobs should be made illegal, if they aren't already. Same with zero-hour contracts.

I thought the same carabos

Becky seems quite a sweet girl, and Mark would be better off sweeping the streets or doing the bins, or something similar.

My own brother sweeps the streets for a living, and he's doing ok

I hope this is a turning point in general awareness and tolerance of these programmes. The whole notion of informed consent needs an overhaul- perhaps programme makers should be mandated to pay for assessors of and advocates for participants. Commissioners have a big part to play in this.

At first i disliked becky and mark but seeing them try for their kids really won me over...however fungis entraupenerial (sp) spirit....? Stealing and selling on, to pay for a drug and alcohol problem? Thats scummy. Would you admire him if he had come into your garden, stolen your bike and sold it on?
Dont get me wrong i know c4 has a lot to answer for but its not all editing and exploiting the vulnerable, black dee has just been charged for possession of crack cocaine and possession of amunition for a firearm.... i dont call that vulnerable, in fact it is making others vulnerable via guncrime in the long run.
White dee is just horrid, mocking mark because of a spelling mistake on his cv....at least he was trying to help his kids as opposed to dragging and screaming at them over a bicycle.

bloody hell, if I was on crack I would want a loaded gun as well, to keep the dealers at bay. It must be terrifying.

They dont have to find the rent... i agree a lot of them need support but blaming it all on bad editing is ridiculous, some people have no desire to help themselves and just act like this. Some people are just thieves and scammers. But most are not.

You would give him your bike to sell to buy drugs, why not cut out the middle man and kill him. And i meant she was supplying the drugs, why should we excuse this shit? fungi doesnt need to find rent it is paid for by the government.

Re exploitation. DD1 was stopped in the street and given a business card by some film makers along with the synopsis of a documentary they were casting.
The 'plot' was to follow a teenager the summer she lost her virginity. They asked her whether she had a boyfriend and what her plans were for the next few months. We googled the company- a genuine production company, but funnily enough she didn't call them.

That is absolutely vile, Helpyourself.

There must be regulatory bodies you could contact if you wanted to complain about the production company?

zizzo unbelievably it went ahead- here
I didn't watch it, perhaps it was responsibly done, but the casting certainly wasn't- literally on the street, 2 unaccompanied minors: 'hello are you a virgin, do you want to be in a film?'
DD2 thought it was very funny that she wasn't asked.