The BBC's "Growing up poor". Poverty seen up close

daz378

How will your average person on benefit , cope with being responsible for their rent and bills, budgeting ? will we have mass evictions? extra bedroom tax, council tax, could we have riots by next august? as people are shaken out their entitlement attitude? on the other side the system is getting exceedingly reluctant to recognize genuine disability , or is it the thin end of the wedge "I need my mobile (iphone?)" but is happy to go to the food bank. infinite wants... finite resources

IveSeenTheLight

grizzly1911 wrote: »

There is one other key difference - this is not a business.

I understand but it was the principle I was referring to in reducing costs

IveSeenTheLight

daz378 wrote: »

How will your average person on benefit , cope with being responsible for their rent and bills, budgeting ? will we have mass evictions? extra bedroom tax, council tax, could we have riots by next august? as people are shaken out their entitlement attitude? on the other side the system is getting exceedingly reluctant to recognize genuine disability , or is it the thin end of the wedge "I need my mobile (iphone?)" but is happy to go to the food bank. infinite wants... finite resources

I thought disability would come into it but then I wondered about people such as: -

Stephen Hawkings
World famous Physicist/mathematician and author of A Short History of the Universe Stephen Hawkings is considered as the greatest scientist of the twentieth century after Einstein.
Rick Allen - Def Leppard Drummer

Albert Einstein
The Mathematician/Physicist who had a learning disability and did not speak until age 3. He had a very difficult time doing maths in school. It was also very hard for him to express himself through writing

Alexander Graham Bell
Had a learning disability

Stevie Wonder
American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century.[2] Blind since shortly after birth,[3] Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven,[2] and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.

David Blunkett (MP)
Is blind

Thomas Edison
Edison is the great inventor who had over 1,000 patents and his inventions are in various fields used in our daily life. In his early life he was thought to have a learning disability and he could not read till he was twelve and later he himself admitted that he became deaf after pulling up to a train car by his ears.

Rene Kirby - Rene Kirby (born February 27, 1955) is an American film and television actor. Kirby used spina bifida to his advantage when he played his role in shallow Hal, he was also in "Stuck on you" with Matt Damon. He is the living proof that you can lead a productive life even with disabilities.

Tanni Grey-Thompson
Tanni Carys Davina Grey-Thompson OBE - to give her full name and title - is the disabled athlete that most people instantly recognise (And all other disable paraolympians)

Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin is a stand-up comedian and an actress. Some of her films include A Dead Silence, My Party,A Hear No Evil, A Bridge to Silence, A Walker, and A Children of A Lesser God. In 1987, she captivated the world by winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in the film A Children of a Lesser God. Marlee Matlin became deaf in infancy due to Roseola infantum. However, deafness has not disabled her or her career.

Robin Williams
(Hollywood star) was diagnosed to be suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a child. He never refuses a role related to medicine e.g Awakenings, Patch Adams

Marla Runyan
One of the women representing the Unites States in the 1500 metre track event at the 2000 Olympics was Marla Runyan. The American runner finished seventh in her preliminary heat and rose to sixth in the semi finals to qualify for the finals. During the final race, Marla lost track of the major competitors. She finished in eighth position, 3.20 seconds behind the gold medal winner. In 1996, Marla set several track and field records at the Paralympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Following that success, Marla wanted to compete in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney -- even though she is legally blind. The 31-year-old runner has been diagnosed with Stargardt disease. This is a condition that leaves her with a limited ability to see what is in front of her. In Sydney, Marla became the first legally blind athlete to compete in an Olympics.

And many, many others.
These are great examples of successful people who excel in the face of adversity.

Maybe Anne Bradstreet sums it up well.

daz378

exceptional people that live on the right side of the bell curve in personal qualities , most people lie somewhere in the middle, education, empowerment policies may improve this. its a tough balance between those that need it and those that dont, yet have become comfortable on it . Yet we do need to balance the books or we spend half the defence budget on interest payments.

kabayiri

When you lose contact with a community it's very hard to rein it back in.

There are places in Liverpool and Manchester I have knowledge of and there is an ingrained culture that the state should be squeezed for anything you can get out of it. This hasn't happened over night, in some cases these places have had decades of limited opportunity.

It will take exceptionally large amounts of money to change things in these places; if they were failing businesses the parent corp would just shut the plant down and open up elsewhere.

A radical thought.

The_White_Horse

BACKFRMTHEEDGE wrote: »

Well that is a very christian way of viewing the world - I'm sure JC would be proud of you! I have to say, wouldn't it be great to have more christians in the world - like your dearself:)

He would be proud if he existed, which he doesn't - so its not much of an issue really.

Domfrizby

I feel sorry for that homeless kid at the end who wanted to join the army. Now they are shedding loads of jobs and most recruits will join the dole lines.

Maybe they should listen to Prince Harry and spend more time playing XBOX and Playstation then they can "take these ragheads out of the game! Just like Harry"

IveSeenTheLight

daz378 wrote: »

exceptional people that live on the right side of the bell curve in personal qualities , most people lie somewhere in the middle, education, empowerment policies may improve this. its a tough balance between those that need it and those that dont, yet have become comfortable on it . Yet we do need to balance the books or we spend half the defence budget on interest payments.

Exceptional people indeed and I can accept they are probably the elite (not the right word but you know what I mean) and not the average / below average.

I think that there are many exceptional non disabled people who help support these people with disabilities, whom many are willing to do so with little support.

I know if my children had been born with or develops a disabiity, I would do anything I could to enhance their life / condition for as long as possible.

I wouldn't consider retirement if it meant being able to provide more in later years.

I know of one woman with three children who's husband developed Multiple Sclerosis and essentially is now bed ridden and hooked up to various machines.

I don't think he can communicate any more.

She works full time, brings up the three children and cares for her husband, only occasionally receiving respite support (a couple of weeks a year)

She also organised various charity event to help him in his condition and now that it can no longer improve him, she continues to do so for other sufferes of MS.

A shining example of someone on probably the lower side of opportunities / education etc, yet still excelled in providing the best care and support that she could.

wotsthat

Domfrizby wrote: »

I feel sorry for that homeless kid at the end who wanted to join the army. Now they are shedding loads of jobs and most recruits will join the dole lines.

What's stopping him joining the army - they are still recruiting and will continue to do so.

Fighting wars is a young mans game. The army might be reducing in size but they'll be wanting to ensure the average age doesn't increase.

grizzly1911

wotsthat wrote: »

What's stopping him joining the army - they are still recruiting and will continue to do so.

Fighting wars is a young mans game. The army might be reducing in size but they'll be wanting to ensure the average age doesn't increase.

Or the average salary.


With the the losses in armed forces personnel does anyone have any figures on how the top brass, MOD and whitehall have been reduced in comparison?

On the news last night they suggest that we will have something like a quarter of the numbers we had in the 60s, post announced cuts(army only I think,Wiki suggests 50% across the forces to 6/12.).

Wiki also suggests we have the 4th biggest spend are our forces. Why do we need to spend this much?