The jobless are no shirking scroungers – you try living on £65.45 a week

PasturesNew

carolt wrote: »

Maybe. Or maybe you underestimate it? Because I don't drive I do experience the realities of public transport everywhere I go. It can be frustrating, but is rarely impossible. You just have to get out of the mindset of being able to order your time as you wish, and accept that you're going to have to fit in with what is available. For example, I currently get the only direct quick bus per day to where I'm working (there are slow buses too, but I'd never get there in time...). Knowing there's only 1 bus is a good motivator not to be late. On the way home, I get the slow bus, or failing that, if I'm running late, a cab.

If needs must, it's doable.

This is a lifestyle that's alien to me and my experiences. Often there's one bus - and you hope it does come as the next one's not for 1-2 hours. Cabs are horrendously expensive and often hard to find. Normal people don't take cabs to get to/from work. It could take half a day's pay just to sit in rush hour traffic on a comfy seat.

I've probably taken about six cabs in my whole life ... at the insistence of others. The only time I have ever chosen to take one myself was when I had a train to catch to London and I couldn't miss it, so booked a taxi to go the 3 miles as it was Sunday morning and there weren't any local trains and there was only one bus, which I couldn't guarantee would turn up. Less than 3 miles, it cost £10.

carolt

custardy wrote: »

well im speaking from experience of running an ebay business from a private let, and getting grief from the landlord
what are you basing it on?

Likewise, and no grief.

PasturesNew

jamespir wrote: »

i think it should be raised as essential costs are more than the amount it is now

but not so that it becomes cushy

Raising it won't help though, it'll just put the cost of things up as more people can afford them. It'd lead to inflation. What's needed is other top up benefits to be reduced, so they're not so cushy, so £65 doesn't look so bleak.

PasturesNew

There was a thread here the other month where a tenant had been told off by their landlord for their own possessions - accused of running an ebay business from their rented place. Was that you custardy, or some other person?

custardy

PasturesNew wrote: »

There was a thread here the other month where a tenant had been told off by their landlord for their own possessions - accused of running an ebay business from their rented place. Was that you custardy, or some other person?

lol no
i dont rent anymore,was my last place. which in all fairness was a tiny box of a 1 bed flat
even with a little stock the place looked filled to the rafters!

jamespmg44

Should be quite simple - given in a form of a debit card for the claiment to use however said debit card cannot be used to buy booze or cigs.

PasturesNew

jamespmg44 wrote: »

Should be quite simple - given in a form of a debit card for the claiment to use however said debit card cannot be used to buy booze or cigs.

What you do then though is get a mate to buy the cigs/booze and you pay for their groceries or other 'valid stuff'. Or, your mate in the local Spar will ring the goods up for you on the wrong button when the boss isn't about.

jamespmg44

PasturesNew wrote: »

What you do then though is get a mate to buy the cigs/booze and you pay for their groceries or other 'valid stuff'. Or, your mate in the local Spar will ring the goods up for you on the wrong button when the boss isn't about.

But if £65 a week isn't enough to live on - how could they afford to pay for their mates groceries?

If they can't trust the Spar, do what the Swede's do for booze and set up a Bolandesbreget equivalen which is government controlled and make sure they can only buy food/household essentials.

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

Maybe. Or maybe you underestimate it? Because I don't drive I do experience the realities of public transport everywhere I go. It can be frustrating, but is rarely impossible. You just have to get out of the mindset of being able to order your time as you wish, and accept that you're going to have to fit in with what is available. For example, I currently get the only direct quick bus per day to where I'm working (there are slow buses too, but I'd never get there in time...). Knowing there's only 1 bus is a good motivator not to be late. On the way home, I get the slow bus, or failing that, if I'm running late, a cab.

If needs must, it's doable.

No, here its not. In winter their a taxis for state school kids, not bus, and when dh was here as a non driver, we experienced it first hand.

edit\; I would guess as a non driver, the bus was something you looked into before renting there? In many cases this is a sensible and sane thing to do...when looking for new accomodation...to choose somewhere on a bus route..its the situations when you aren't moving with life changes etc that things are different I guess. No household with no driver but a family would choose to live here I think. ot healthy people could cycle, that is sure.

PasturesNew

jamespmg44 wrote: »

If they can't trust the Spar, do what the Swede's do for booze and set up a Bolandesbreget equivalen which is government controlled and make sure they can only buy food/household essentials.

Which you then swap for booze/fags.

Don't forget there are two types:
- those on JSA looking for a job
- those on JSA who can spell job but aren't sure what one is and won't be looking for one.

It's the second group that are after the fags/booze, so they're often making money flogging duty free fags and dealing small quantities of drugs. They can probably swap a teenth for a pack or so of fags.