Free Computer & Internet Access for Children aged 7-14 of Low Income Families

Enterprise_1701C

roh105 wrote: »

i like to sponge off the state jane,i also think they should give us that little bit extra each week to cover the cost of cigs and beer.............................get over yourself jane..bet youve always had it easy and on a plate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that was tongue in cheek, otherwise you should be rather ashamed of yourself.

As for having it easy, you could not be more wrong. I have not always had it easy, and indeed do not now.

About 17 years ago we came within 2 weeks of having our house reposessed, my husband had been made redundant a while before that and could not find another job. In the meantime he set up a business and tried desperately to get it going, and we made just enough money to survive. He then managed to get another job to avoid the repossession, and he was also working at his own business to try to build it for the future. We had been receiving benefits (no, I am not above asking for help when we NEED it) but obviously that stopped. I could not work because we had two young kids and any job I could get did not pay enough to pay the childminder (there was no help for that in those days).

We managed to claw our way out of tens of thousands of pounds debt, only for him to be made redundant again, so worked hard at own business and just had enough to get by on, and we managed to stay out of debt. He then got a shift job so he could work and run his own business, again trying to get it really going, rather than just ticking over. It is very hard to get a business going when you cannot afford to pay anyone to help you, and you have no real funds to finance things, and the last government did all it could to destroy small businesses and nearly managed it with ours.

We were doing really quite well - and then he was made redundant again. Since then we have been living off his business and my small wage (I work part-time in a minimum wage job to pay for food, council tax, water bills etc).

If I spend more than £40 on a weekly food shop I have overspent. Today I spent £20.

Wihout this site things would be very different.

As for smoking, I am very against it (especially when the taxpayer is funding it) because I watched my mother die, slowly, painfully, day by day. It took over a year for her to die from cancer that was not diagnosed in time. Painful memories from 29 years ago, she never saw my kids and I still miss her, even more now we have a grandchild due soon.

Enterprise_1701C

gentle_breeze wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from but how would you police something like that?

I was made redundent a year ago and my partner is disabled and has just been diagnosed with PTSD... I hate it.. I feel everyone looks down on me because I live in a council house and claim benefit. I have even lost friends since losing my job. we have been trying to scrape together the money to get my daughter her first computer as we had done with our eldest years ago and we were failing.

This scheme is wonderful for those who truely need help... I think anyone that has kids just to get benefit would be better off getting a job because boy oh boy work was soooo much easier than being a full time housewife, nanny, cook heheh..

:rotfl:

I wish I knew how this could be policed. I have one or two ideas - when online the computer has to send a certain amount of identifying information. Dell can identify their computers online so it must be fairly easy. If the serial number was tagged onto that then it could be seen that the computer was being used in the right household. The other idea I have would involve privacy issues though - remote access to the computers to check that the hard drive does not contain the "wrong" things, like various photos etc. This should not be a problem for school kids' computers but any parents with intentions on them would get very upset.

There are ways to police this, I just can't see why they did not build this in at the start.

mollylou

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I would also stop people on benefits from buying cigarettes

I've heard this comment before, and while I am totally against smoking, I think it is up to an individual what they spend their money on. I don't think it would be a very nice society to live in if there were laws about what different sections of society should be allowed spend their money on. This would just result in even more discrimination against the poor. Or do you think these laws about spending should extend to all sections of society? Should people who 'earn' their money be allowed to spend it on cigarettes and other harmful substances? And, arguably, it is those with more disposable income that have the potential to fund a lot more things that are potentially harmful to society. If you stop people on benefits from buying cigarettes, then you would also have to stop them from buying junk food and risking obesity - where does it end? I don't really like to think of the answer to that one. Also, my final point, remember that the government makes a lot of money out of smokers (either those on benefits or not) when you consider all the taxes it gets from smoking.

I realise we have gone completely off thread topic, and I apologise, I only popped in here to read any threads related to computers breaking down/going wrong, as my son's has done ... but I felt this comment required a response.

goggles123

I see that XMA have stop doing free printers as of the 20th May. so I would shop around mabe get from Positive IT as you get 2 gigs of RAM

mummyslittleboy

goggles123 wrote: »

I see that XMA have stop doing free printers as of the 20th May. so I would shop around mabe get from Positive IT as you get 2 gigs of RAM

I got my daughters laptop from positive IT and they were really helpful lovely laptop my daughters are both really pleased with it, I am glad i choose it especially as they are the only ones who seem to be doing the extra memory within the grant price.

mummyslittleboy

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

I know of a few, not "quite a few". Unfortunately I do not know their names. I have mentioned it to the school but they are reluctant to give any info or do anything about it as they are trying to avoid trouble with these parents.

What about writing to the home access scheme infoming them of what you know and telling them that you have informed the school but they seemed uninterested in this if you give them the schools details then maybe they could do something about it

Terence123 wrote: »

Hi there have just been looking on Ebay and one of these laptops is for sale on there anything anyone can do? I am not sure if I can put the item number or anything but the seller has said it has all the same software.Shame isn't it it is a good scheme

I have seen a couple now and keep reporting them to ebay I have even rung ebay about this but just got fobbed of. It is just going to spoil it for the rest of us who are genuinly grateful for this scheme.

Enterprise_1701C

mummyslittleboy wrote: »

What about writing to the home access scheme infoming them of what you know and telling them that you have informed the school but they seemed uninterested in this if you give them the schools details then maybe they could do something about it




I have seen a couple now and keep reporting them to ebay I have even rung ebay about this but just got fobbed of. It is just going to spoil it for the rest of us who are genuinly grateful for this scheme.

Good idea - why hadn't I thought of that! - will be done later. It is this sort of abuse of any scheme that spoils it for those genuinely in need.

mummyslittleboy

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

Good idea - why hadn't I thought of that! - will be done later. It is this sort of abuse of any scheme that spoils it for those genuinely in need.

I have to agree this sort of abuse does spoil it for others I have used this scheme and it has been such a great help to my girls they are now able to complete homework they are set and are able to do it at home without having to make a mad dash for the libruary before it shuts and I am sure that a lot of other familys feel the same as i do but there is always smeone who has to abuse the system.

CBo

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/24/becta_cut/Schemes going to be chopped by the sounds of it, no more free laptops

mummyslittleboy

CBo wrote: »

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/24/becta_cut/Schemes going to be chopped by the sounds of it, no more free laptops

Why does this not suprise me it's a pity as so many children will miss out on this oppertunity