Benefits Street

AndyBSG

Angelicdevil wrote: »

Watched last nights episode and I really feel for the Romanians. It shocked me how much my heart went out to them, if I'm honest!

In all honesty the Romanians on last nights episode scared me.

Seeing how they took everything that was thrown at them and still came out fighting makes you worry about the chances for workshy unemployed youth in this country.

That said, I don't resent them at all as it's exactly that sort of mentality and spirit the current generation here need to adopt.

zarf2007

J_i_m wrote: »

But there are plenty of jobs which require minimal skills. Stacking shelves for instance is hardly academically challenging, it might require a certain level of "common sense" but it certainly isn't medical science.

Heck.. We even have have "skilled" workers coming in from eastern Europe to do things such as strawberry picking because they can get better wages for unskilled jobs here than they can in their home countries for genuinely skilled jobs.

No one in Britain wants to do these "un skilled" jobs, but they still whinge that the foreigners come in and "steal our jobs" all the same.

And these programmes do target the extreme worst case minority to gain the maximum daily mail mob effect.

But it's the system which as equally guilty for creating this benefits culture.

However, the SME sized companies in this country encourage eastern european workers because they can pay below minimum wage which noone unless they share 14 to a house could afford to live off......everytime I hear the old argument of 'we need these workers for the economy' the reality is they create these slave labour type jobs to make themselves more wealthy.....

The issues in benefit street are a lot wider than a daily mail story, I have seen generations of families live on benefits because they could not be bothered to work.......as much as i dont like it when genuinely needy people are affected the system was out of control and needed to be checked.....however the current government need better safeguards in place for genuine claiments.

Angelicdevil

Vicky123 wrote: »

The residents on the street already knew what the Romanians had yet to learn that slave labour does not pay rent, heat and eat even with all of them sharing hence the need for benefits.
They were the second lot to pack up and try to get back home but that's not the message some people want to get over.
Half of nothing is still nothing and work ethic only happens if there is a liveable wage at the end, these Romanians were proof of the need for a welfare state and/or decent living wage.

Well that's not what I got from it at all! And quite frankly, IMO, this kind of comment is exactly what's wrong with many people in this country.

The Romanians needed work permits to gain decent employment, whilst they were denied that they did what they could to survive using their own employ instead of expecting the state to provide. Short term pain for long term gain!

Just to state before someone gets the wrong end of the stick.....I believe we should have a welfare system as a safety net for those who physically cannot work and therefore need to be supported and for those who hit hard times in the short term, NOT what we have now, a system that allows people to opt out of contributing to society when they're physically capable of contributing.

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Are you referring to the Romanian family who were berating the landlord because their electricity and gas were cut off as they hadn't paid the bills.

Yes I noticed that and thought perhaps there was a misunderstanding with the way (most) renting works over here. Seemed to me that they expected the gas/elec to be included in the rent as they constantly blamed the LL for not providing these things.

jk0

I felt sorry for the Romanians too.

Wonder how Fungi's restart inverview went?

Morglin

I had to laugh at the deluded old dear running around with her 'Britain in Bloom' entry forms trying to get those residents to enter......:rotfl::T

They can't even keep their houses clean, let alone do the gardening.:eek:

Did she think the split bin bags in the road were some sort of garden design statement?

Lin

[Deleted User]

I am a scrounger in most eyes. Been on benefits since 1999. Tried to work but couldn't get a job that would pay childcare.., and couldn't get childcare (phoned for three days solid even asking if they knew someone who could do childcare. Even moving didn't make any difference. Then it became obvious my older son had ASD. Spent 8 years trying to get the education system to work for him. Pulling my hair out at times, this was on top of the constant sleepless nights because he couldn't sleep. Moved 130 miles to put him in a better education system. That helped but he still needed a lot of one to one tutoring from me. But he got 7 GCSE;'s instead of the two he was expected to get. But I had to give up our secure council house. Now have an iffy private landlord who tries every trick in the book to avoid repairs, forced me to sign up to a two year contract. Local housing authority no help at all. But, once we moved and he was in another school he started sleeping most of the time (it wasn't my bad parenting as I'd constantly been told) it was the stress of the bullying from teachers and peers at the schools he'd been too. As soon as that was removed, he started sleeping more.

And at times, I was depressed and overwhelmed and my place didn't look tidy. I'd clear it up eventually, but not every day like I should have done.., at times.

Now it turns out my younder son has ASD too.., but I can't even get him diagnosed (school says GP needs to refer him, GP says School needs to). He goes into meltdown too.., my older son still gets night terrors and needs additional support, regardless of whether its there or not. If not, as is usually the case, the buck stops with me. And I accept that, I'm his mum, I really do do it with love, but it makes me a scrounger.

And my health has broken down. I have had one heart attack, have arthritis and asthma. Constantly tired. I worry constantly what is going to happen to my kids if anything happens to me. My youngest is only 7.

And yes I have a 47inch LED TV I got cheap through Amazon warehouse. It won't be replaced for many years.

My son had an 18th Birthday recently and I put everything I had trying to find a way to get him to a hotel and theatre show in the West End spending as little money as humanely possible but still wanted to show him life doesn't have to be the daily grind we know. Normally he gets a tiny thing for his Birthday but yes, this year I thought, no, whatever I have to do to give him something that removes him from this world of a constant struggle for food, paying bils etc, I'm going to do. But the day of his birthday I was so worn out and stressed I had angina all day.., gtn used frequently. Got through the day with gritted teeth so he'd have something to remember. It was worth it, even if he doesn't really understand. I felt he needed to know there was more out there than our lifestyle.

My older son is in College but he was NEET last year. I fought and I fought to find alternatives for him (Sixth Form turned out to be a disaster). Now he's in college doing exactly what he wants to do and hopefully has a future not defined by his challenges.


I may, by being on benefits have saved the 'country' hundreds of thousands of pounds because I've not given in/ But because of that, I am a scrounger. It does make it hard to look in the mirror. Years ago I was a workaholic, worked at least 18 hour days.., now I'm a scrounger in every accepted sense.

I'm lucky the little that is there is there, I don't know what would have happened to my children if there hadn't have been benefits at all. I've had to drop everything at times because of problems .., lost every job I had because of it (didn't know he had ASD then).

So don't judge everyone on benefits because of one TV programme .., or by stereotypical propoganda. There is a good proportion of us out there who are doing our best. I'd LOVE to have a job, stacking shelves.., but I probably can't do that and in spite of what you think, those jobs aren't around the corner.. in the past I have done every job going, including cleaning, shop work, up to and including office management but my choices as a single parent with kids with special needs are a bit more limited than it might seem and jobs aren't easy to find. And I have found jobs when everyone said there was a recession on in the past. But in spite of the way I have spoken, and in spite of how I feel about being a scrounger, I don't regret the choices I have made. There was no alternative.., and I have looked and looked for options.

silvercar

deannatrois, you have done what you have done in difficult circumstances. The problem is the many give the few a bad name.

I'm sure if you had been in that programme, you wouldn't have had a can of lager in one hand, a fag in the other and been mouthing off that you weren't left with enough money to feed your children.

Morglin

deannatrois wrote: »

I am a scrounger in most eyes. Been on benefits since 1999. Tried to work but couldn't get a job that would pay childcare.., and couldn't get childcare (phoned for three days solid even asking if they knew someone who could do childcare. Even moving didn't make any difference. Then it became obvious my older son had ASD. Spent 8 years trying to get the education system to work for him. Pulling my hair out at times, this was on top of the constant sleepless nights because he couldn't sleep. Moved 130 miles to put him in a better education system. That helped but he still needed a lot of one to one tutoring from me. But he got 7 GCSE;'s instead of the two he was expected to get. But I had to give up our secure council house. Now have an iffy private landlord who tries every trick in the book to avoid repairs, forced me to sign up to a two year contract. Local housing authority no help at all. But, once we moved and he was in another school he started sleeping most of the time (it wasn't my bad parenting as I'd constantly been told) it was the stress of the bullying from teachers and peers at the schools he'd been too. As soon as that was removed, he started sleeping more.

And at times, I was depressed and overwhelmed and my place didn't look tidy. I'd clear it up eventually, but not every day like I should have done.., at times.

Now it turns out my younder son has ASD too.., but I can't even get him diagnosed (school says GP needs to refer him, GP says School needs to). He goes into meltdown too.., my older son still gets night terrors and needs additional support, regardless of whether its there or not. If not, as is usually the case, the buck stops with me. And I accept that, I'm his mum, I really do do it with love, but it makes me a scrounger.

And my health has broken down. I have had one heart attack, have arthritis and asthma. Constantly tired. I worry constantly what is going to happen to my kids if anything happens to me. My youngest is only 7.

And yes I have a 47inch LED TV I got cheap through Amazon warehouse. It won't be replaced for many years.

My son had an 18th Birthday recently and I put everything I had trying to find a way to get him to a hotel and theatre show in the West End spending as little money as humanely possible but still wanted to show him life doesn't have to be the daily grind we know. Normally he gets a tiny thing for his Birthday but yes, this year I thought, no, whatever I have to do to give him something that removes him from this world of a constant struggle for food, paying bils etc, I'm going to do. But the day of his birthday I was so worn out and stressed I had angina all day.., gtn used frequently. Got through the day with gritted teeth so he'd have something to remember. It was worth it, even if he doesn't really understand. I felt he needed to know there was more out there than our lifestyle.

My older son is in College but he was NEET last year. I fought and I fought to find alternatives for him (Sixth Form turned out to be a disaster). Now he's in college doing exactly what he wants to do and hopefully has a future not defined by his challenges.


I may, by being on benefits have saved the 'country' hundreds of thousands of pounds because I've not given in/ But because of that, I am a scrounger. It does make it hard to look in the mirror. Years ago I was a workaholic, worked at least 18 hour days.., now I'm a scrounger in every accepted sense.

I'm lucky the little that is there is there, I don't know what would have happened to my children if there hadn't have been benefits at all. I've had to drop everything at times because of problems .., lost every job I had because of it (didn't know he had ASD then).

So don't judge everyone on benefits because of one TV programme .., or by stereotypical propoganda. There is a good proportion of us out there who are doing our best. I'd LOVE to have a job, stacking shelves.., but I probably can't do that and in spite of what you think, those jobs aren't around the corner.. in the past I have done every job going, including cleaning, shop work, up to and including office management but my choices as a single parent with kids with special needs are a bit more limited than it might seem and jobs aren't easy to find. And I have found jobs when everyone said there was a recession on in the past. But in spite of the way I have spoken, and in spite of how I feel about being a scrounger, I don't regret the choices I have made. There was no alternative.., and I have looked and looked for options.

Your post shows exactly why it's unwise to make assumptions about other people's lives - all have things going on that may not be clear on a superficial view.

I have no time for the assumption that 'poor means dirty', as this programme seems to suggest, because it doesn't, and I seriously could not live in the squalor that they do, even though I am disabled and it might be easier to let things go, at times.

But, this programme is carefully edited, as are most documentaries, and there may be many reasons why that street has ended up so full of what seems to be useless chavs.

What is depressing though, is that they will probably never work for a living, and be unconcerned about benefit caps and cuts, simply because they will name up the shortfall with stealing and dealing.:mad:

Instead of all the rhetoric about what they are going to do/might do/want to do with benefits, the government (any government) would be better employed trying to work out ways of dealing with these 'problem' families, so that it doesn't just cascade down yo the next generation.

Lin :wall:

Davesnave

Yesterday, a short visit I made to someone made me think.

She's an elderly lady, still very up-together mentally, married to a skilled chap who still does odd jobs for people. They own their own house, but that needs some structural repair.

Inside, my body thought it was cold. There was an open grate; set, but unlit. Looking around, I could see that this lady and gentleman had raised a couple of kids who'd gone to uni, and they were now pround grandparents, several times over.

Sitting down to chat, I noticed that the carpet was the same one I'd had second-hand from my parents in 1977! It still looked OK, if you like yellow swirls, that is.:rotfl:

The sofa wasn't giving much support. I judged that it too had come from the same era as the carpet. Indeed, everything in the room was pre 1980, with the exception of a DVD player and CRT telly.

Everywhere, there were books, jigsaws, scrabble and other games. It was all was a total hotch-potch, but not a speck of dirt anywhere.

I don't know the financial position of this couple, or why they have so little in the way of material comforts, but I'm fairly sure they're happy with the way things are and would have some ability to change them if they weren't. Cheerful and contented sums them up. They might be trapped in the 1970s, but it seems to be a good place for them

As I said, it made me think about words like 'deprivation.'

Lord_Baltimore

BillJones wrote: »

The people fiddling will tend to be the same ones that were on the original program. Bnakers will, in general, be on PAYE, so will be paying every pennny that they are supposed to. I'm not sure what precisely you;d like to see on TV about us, though, as the day would mainly be getting up at 5:30 for work, getting home about seven, cooking dinner, then sleeping.

Very little for anyone to get upset over, really.

A little defensive Bill but then you've evidently nothing to fear from a bit of investigative journalism eh?

Look, I'm sure you work very hard. It goes to show the inherent danger in generalisation which is what 'Benefits Street' did deliberately to skew mainstream public opinion against those who claim benefit.