Tower block of commons

SingleSue

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, that's an "on the dole" type of budget. Although my earnings are not often more than the equivalent of dole, so personally I stretch it out as long as I can between cuts (I tend to leave it until I really DO need it to be trimmed for a special reason). I have my hair trimmed and other stuff women do to their hair. My yearly actual budget is about £120/year, so £10/month. Shampoo/conditioner for home hair washing during 2009 was £2.

It's not £5/month and cut every month. That's £5 saved per month, with a trim every 2-3 months ... for the dole budget.

Mine is about £30 a year! Cut only once or twice a year and only when it desperately needs it.

In fact one year, it cost nothing...I didn't get it cut.

Must admit to spending more than you on shampoo though, the kids think it grows on trees and go slightly mad with it. :rotfl:

Lakelady_2

How anybody can live on benefits is beyond me. Things must have improved drastically. Twenty years ago when our daughter was two my husband was in and out of hospital for a year. Things were very very tough, I worked part time - his sickness benefit was £2 a week less than the dole. That was all we could get and I couldn`t believe we had so little to live on.
So I don`t want to be quick to criticise - who knows when those times may visit some of us again?

The_White_Horse

Mupette wrote: »

So how do you expect me to work, I'm in a wheelchair, housebound, have Fibromyalgia, MS and Uvitis, partially deaf....

I have had to give up work last year as i could no longer manage.. so please in your wisdom explain away.


What do think i should be allowed?

you're the sort of person who does deserve benefits, and if these leeching scum bags weren't bleeding us dry, you could have 250 a week rather than 64.

the benefits system should support those who fall on hard times - at a sufficient level to be of use - for a limited period, say 6 months, and it should care for those who genuinely cannot work (and i have seen some people in wheelchairs working, and I worked with a blind person - so it has to be really genuinely impossible and not just "its a bit difficult") for the whole of their lives at a reasonable level.

I don't see any reason why someone disadvantaged by genuine illness should not have sky tv or internet access.

I just don't like the leeching scum - who are the majority.

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

Must admit to spending more than you on shampoo though, the kids think it grows on trees and go slightly mad with it. :rotfl:

I buy good shampoo, I juse use it very carefully. I don't splash it out of the bottle, but pour it carefully, like liquid gold. However, in December 2008 I stumbled across a shelf of "end of line" bargains at the local pharmacy. Shampoo and conditioner at 50p/bottle (250ml I think) instead of £2.50. So I bought two of each. Still using that

Also, you don't have to wash your hair every day (in fact it makes it worse if you do), so I tend to wash mine every 4-5 days, which prevents it from being so dry, so I need less conditioner. Win:win.

As for the hair cutting, I have my hair cut for "work reasons", so interviews and temping where it would matter. If it's "just me" I'd do it less. I do feel scruffy in the workplace though as I am sometimes aware my hair trimming's getting a little slack.

whathavewedone

Graham if you vote for anyone but the Conservatives what you will get is 5 more years of Brown. Or 5 more years of Brown and Clegg.

I watched Tower Block of Commons for the first time last night (recorded it on Monday). I expected to feel a lot more sympathy for the people on it than I did. It's really bad that 4 people have to live in a one bedroom flat but why have they also got 2 dogs??

The woman Nadine Dorries was with who got evicted from her last council place because she couldn't agree on an arrears plan (eg she refused to pay a penny because it's really difficult to get evicted from a council flat) was vile. All that moaning but enough money to get her nails done, have plenty of booze and fags stocked up and the furnishings were quite expensive looking.

LOL at the woman with the teeth accusing Mark Oaten of spending "her" money on expenses.

Davesnave

whathavewedone wrote: »

Graham if you vote for anyone but the Conservatives what you will get is 5 more years of Brown. Or 5 more years of Brown and Clegg.

Poor Graham! It's all on your shoulders, son!:eek:

Mupette

The_White_Horse wrote: »

you're the sort of person who does deserve benefits, and if these leeching scum bags weren't bleeding us dry, you could have 250 a week rather than 64.

the benefits system should support those who fall on hard times - at a sufficient level to be of use - for a limited period, say 6 months, and it should care for those who genuinely cannot work (and i have seen some people in wheelchairs working, and I worked with a blind person - so it has to be really genuinely impossible and not just "its a bit difficult") for the whole of their lives at a reasonable level.

I don't see any reason why someone disadvantaged by genuine illness should not have sky tv or internet access.

I just don't like the leeching scum - who are the majority.

Sorry i got very angry at you, but you assumed all people on benefits were leeching scumbags, i wanted you to understand that this was wrong.. i've calmed down now, but just understand, just because someone is on benefits.. doesn't make them any lower than you.


I don't have sky tv, but then again i don't want it, it doesn't appeal to me to have that many tv channels if i don't watch them, i have the luxury of a freeview + box actually that was a birthday pressie which i love. Yes i do have the internet, it's my lifeline to the outside world and access to my internet food shopping for when i can't get out.

I would love to work, i really want to, but my memory is bad that i forget simple instructions within seconds of being given them. i have notepads all around me to remind me, sticky notes program so i have reminders on my desktop.

If i ever feel better than i do now, i want to try to get back to work, i know it will be hard because there are millions of people that need jobs that have no disabilities, and companies don't want the inconvenience of dealing with reasonable adjustments, even tho it's access to work who pay for the equipment.

I was disgusted by what i saw on this program, but to make this program viewable, they had to choose 'leeching scum bags' be a bit boring if it was people on the dole trying to get back to work, non drinkers/smokers, with no children or pets to care for, wouldn't be worth watching them would it.

for what its worth I've always believed that we shouldn't be breeding like rabbits, this planet isn't big enough to cope, i have the one child and one dog, child was conceived and born in wedlock but the marriage didn't survive. so yes i am a single mum now and have been for 10 years. but have worked most of that time, hated being on income support when my son was at school, relied heavily on childminders and after school clubs.

I live in a council maisonette, that looks just as bad as what you saw on the tv, council are lax on repairs, and i can't afford to decorate so i manage.
my carpet has seem better days, the walls are in need of fresh paint/wallpaper, but we cope with sugar wash every year instead. People do get stuck in a poverty trap and try to get out, I've had managers in the past tell me that because of the area i live in they assumed i was no good but gave me a chance and was surprised to see i wasn't what they expected, how many other managers/companies look at addresses of possible employees and think no they come from the wrong end of town?

Its not a question of getting out of the poverty trap and get a job you lazy bum, not as easy as that.

lilac_lady

"Graham_Devon-I'll have you know the last lot I voted for were labour!"


But they weren't really, were they Graham?

Kohoutek

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8510133.stm

Man who was previous convicted of benefit fraud on trial for £80,000 benefit fraud.

"60-year-old Abdul Rauf defrauded more than £80,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how Rauf admitted failing to declare a £200,000 property in Edinburgh on his application for income support. He subsequently received £650 a month in rent while he claimed the benefits between 2001 and 2006.

At the same time he was living in a £400,000 house in Glasgow's Maxwell Park area.

The conviction is Rauf's second for fraud - in 1996 he was given a four-year sentence for stealing nearly £60,000 in pension and benefit payments when he was a sub-post master at Tollcross in Edinburgh.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was "duty-bound" as a constituency MSP to make "reasonable representations" on behalf of 60-year-old Abdul Rauf"

Lucy_Lastic

Did anyone see last night's programme? Did anyone not cringe at the "rap" performance?
Will any good come from this programme?