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Original poster

Breadline kids

62 replies

ny20005 · 12/02/2018 21:59

This programme is absolutely heartbreaking 😩

Those poor kids & mums 😢😢😢😢

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 12/02/2018 22:01

A reality for many, many people.

Original poster
ny20005 · 12/02/2018 22:11

I know 😢

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 12/02/2018 22:14

We live in a poor council, though, so it's pretty standard not to have phones and gadgets and such.

expatinscotland · 12/02/2018 22:17

Universal Credit is absolute shit.

purpleme12 · 12/02/2018 22:19

What channel was this on? I don't remember seeing this

MyDcAreMarvel · 12/02/2018 22:20

Is it a repeat ?

expatinscotland · 12/02/2018 22:22

BBC Scotland. Featured 4 lone parent families - in Dumfries, Glasgow, Glenrothes and Aberdeen - all below the breadline.

MyDcAreMarvel · 12/02/2018 22:30

Thank you , found it on iplayer.

Original poster
ny20005 · 12/02/2018 22:47

I felt for all of them but mostly for the poor family in limbo with no visa status to work. That poor wee boy desperate for school dinners & his application was denied twice 😩

OP posts:
MrsJayy · 13/02/2018 09:20

The no status family were just stuck weren't they ?could do nothing I cheered when Johnny got his free school dinners. The glasgow mum looked done in was a heartbreaking programme Glenrothes boy pissed be off with his 80 quid trainers Angry

expatinscotland · 13/02/2018 11:50

'Glenrothes boy pissed be off with his 80 quid trainers '

The mother mollycoddled him far too much. Hopefully enough girls his age are being brought up not to put up with someone like this as a boyfriend or partner. FFS, the ma there making his pieces and lunch. He did FA at home. Then her daughter was coming back to loaf off ma, too, even though she had no room and couldn't afford it.

MrsJayy · 13/02/2018 13:34

Totally spoiled expat It really was her own fault if I was down the co op getting 5p rolls and my dcs rocked in with designer gear words would be had ,mum felt guilty though so she will continue to pander. I couldn't understand what was happening withthe Dd and her course and rent was all a bit vague

expatinscotland · 13/02/2018 13:42

'I couldn't understand what was happening withthe Dd and her course and rent was all a bit vague'

Yeah, I didn't get that. All the sudden she couldn't afford it? Eh, she was 22-years-old! Get another flatmate/loan! It would be dead stupid to jack in your course so close to finishing to move out to Fife to Ma's hoose where you get your pieces packed and your dinner cooked.

And not a father who was paying maintenance in sight.

MrsJayy · 13/02/2018 13:48

Mum was talking about the council and rent but as a student there wouldn't be getting housing benefit for a student nurse sounded iffy tbh. Aye not 1 dad in sight

FannyWisdom · 13/02/2018 13:52

Cheers for the heads up, will watch this afternoon.

Original poster
ny20005 · 13/02/2018 13:58

I felt for the boy buying £80 trainers - having had nothing his whole life, I can see why he wanted a nice pair when he started working.

However not loads of pairs & while only handing up £40 digs money to cover food & board

OP posts:
MrsJayy · 13/02/2018 14:04

It was his attitude that got to me I get he didn't have trainers I get he probably got teased at school for nothaving the right gear but what I don't believe is he had shoes falling off his feet his mother being as she was wouldn't have let that happen

beepbeeprichie · 13/02/2018 14:55

Just watched this. Absolutely bloody heartbreaking. I felt so sorry for the family from Dumfries. What an awful position. Wtf is the government playing at? Encouraging people to come and work and then leaving them in limbo like that?! Why give people with a family, who want to build a better life and contribute to society, a visa and as soon as it’s finished leave them in limbo like that?

MyDcAreMarvel · 13/02/2018 15:18

I think the family were illegal immigrants, which is why there were no free school dinners.

CraftyGin · 13/02/2018 15:23

Just finished watching this.

TBH, I didn’t find it heartbreaking. It was normal life for us in the 70s - eeking out recipes, watering down Fairy Liquid. We didn’t think ourselves to “be on the breadline”, but nothing was wasted, and we kept our clothes well past their usefulness.

The “trainer boy” could have been my brother, who had a made-to-measure shiny suit when he first started working.

I think what the programme shows is that how the standard of living has risen for everyone over the last few decades.

I would also say that most echelons of society are living on the brink. If anything goes wrong, they are doomed - Theresa May’s “Just about managing”.

Original poster
ny20005 · 13/02/2018 16:43

@CraftyGin we're not in the 70's now & no one should be skipping meals to make sure kids have something to eat

It's just really sad 😔

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 13/02/2018 16:58

Yeah, I was alive in the 70s, too, and my dad was born during the Great Depression. We're in our late 40s and early 80s respectively, things have changed! Imagine that! I suppose someone from the 20s could come and say, 'Well, in the 20s we lived much worse.' Someone always has to come on and use 40-50+ years ago as a yardstick to measure the race to the bottom and minimise that fact that, despite being a rich nation who should have moved on from this type of poverty, we haven't.

We're not in the 70s anymore. Imagine that!

ItsAllABitStrangeReally · 13/02/2018 17:00

The lady who has a child with Autism won't be one a tiny income.

She'll get enhanced tax credits, plus he must get at least medium rate DLA plus carers of £62 a week and an income support top up of £40 plus child benefit.......most of her rent and council tax will be paid......I thought they were a poor example of a family on the breadline.

My friend on basic benefits for herself and 1 child, trying to scrape money together for all bills and living expenses out of around £150 a week is what I class as impoverished. She couldn't even afford to boil a kettle to fill her daughter's hot water bottle last week :/ All her money she saved when she worked and from her redundancy went on a deposit for a new house because she couldn't make the rent on her old one.

CraftyGin · 13/02/2018 17:05

The thing is, the 70s were glory days to be a child. I don’t have bad memories.

The fact that we didn’t waste anything is quite in vogue in Mumsnet.

In the absolute sense, the families features are not that badly off. In the relative sense, well, someone has to be below average.

expatinscotland · 13/02/2018 17:13

'The thing is, the 70s were glory days to be a child. I don’t have bad memories. '

The thing is: a) it's not the fucking 70s anymore and b) there were not glory days to be a child for all people. Plenty of us, myself included, found it pretty shit. Glad times have moved on. Don't expect things to be like they were 40+ years ago. Time doesn't work like that Hmm.

'In the absolute sense, the families features are not that badly off. In the relative sense, well, someone has to be below average.'

Face, palm. The one family had NO income at all. They were completely reliant on charity.

The lady who has a child with Autism won't be one a tiny income.

'She'll get enhanced tax credits, plus he must get at least medium rate DLA plus carers of £62 a week and an income support top up of £40 plus child benefit.......most of her rent and council tax will be paid......I thought they were a poor example of a family on the breadline. '

We have no idea of that. It's entirely possible he's on low-rate. Or that she is in a Universal Credit area.

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