Understanding disparity around us

Sea_Shell

Expotter said:

phillw said:

arnoldy said:
And if people have not got a slow cooker maybe that's a better thing for the foodbanks to hand out rather than pot noodles, breakfast bars etc.

Who is going to donate slow cookers to food banks?

Businesses could donate some, councils could also give some, or how about energy companies offer a subsidised one to their customers. I've seen some decent ones for £20. The point is practical help is what's required, not just finger wagging at the government or demands for even more benefits that would be spent in who knows what, if it is food it'd probably be McDonalds.

Give a man a fish and he can eat for one day.   Teach a man to fish....

DoublePolaroid

...and he'll stink for the rest of his life?

Shankers

Ksw3 said:

As someone who grew up in poverty and is now comfortable through opportunity and circumstance, a lot of these posts are quite upsetting. I drafted a few replies but ultimately felt it too upsetting to respond in depth.

The people you see out and about and shopping, I would say in most cases are people like me who are relatively comfortable and haven't been particularly affected by the budgets over the last few year and have benefitted through lockdown. Things will change soon and the number of people struggling will increase but I think for a long time the gap between the poorest and the majority of everyone else has been increasing. I think it will continue but there will be a greater number of people at the bottom. 

There was a big mental health affect on people through lockdown and I think we are still seeing the affect of people trying to find their way through that. For some people it is enjoying the things they missed for so long which require spending, for others it will be things that don't cost much at all as it is for me but this may change when people feel the pinch in winter and the decisions they make are adjusted. 

I grew up in poverty, too, but I don't find the posts upsetting. Everyone's different, and that's just the point of the posts you are finding upsetting: they're referring to a variety of reasons why people are poor. People are poor for different reasons and most posters here are acknowledging that. 

Everyone went through lockdown but not everyone is overspending now, for a lot of what you're referring to as the treats which people enjoy/missed are due to habits formed before lockdown.

It's a complex topic and that's why you're seeing the variety of opinions on this forum. If you don't like it, don't read it. 

Albermarle

Sea_Shell said:

Expotter said:

phillw said:

arnoldy said:
And if people have not got a slow cooker maybe that's a better thing for the foodbanks to hand out rather than pot noodles, breakfast bars etc.

Who is going to donate slow cookers to food banks?

Businesses could donate some, councils could also give some, or how about energy companies offer a subsidised one to their customers. I've seen some decent ones for £20. The point is practical help is what's required, not just finger wagging at the government or demands for even more benefits that would be spent in who knows what, if it is food it'd probably be McDonalds.

Give a man a fish and he can eat for one day.   Teach a man to fish....

and you can get rid of him for the whole weekend. 

Sea_Shell

Shankers said:

Ksw3 said:

As someone who grew up in poverty and is now comfortable through opportunity and circumstance, a lot of these posts are quite upsetting. I drafted a few replies but ultimately felt it too upsetting to respond in depth.

The people you see out and about and shopping, I would say in most cases are people like me who are relatively comfortable and haven't been particularly affected by the budgets over the last few year and have benefitted through lockdown. Things will change soon and the number of people struggling will increase but I think for a long time the gap between the poorest and the majority of everyone else has been increasing. I think it will continue but there will be a greater number of people at the bottom. 

There was a big mental health affect on people through lockdown and I think we are still seeing the affect of people trying to find their way through that. For some people it is enjoying the things they missed for so long which require spending, for others it will be things that don't cost much at all as it is for me but this may change when people feel the pinch in winter and the decisions they make are adjusted. 

I grew up in poverty, too, but I don't find the posts upsetting. Everyone's different, and that's just the point of the posts you are finding upsetting: they're referring to a variety of reasons why people are poor. People are poor for different reasons and most posters here are acknowledging that. 

Everyone went through lockdown but not everyone is overspending now, for a lot of what you're referring to as the treats which people enjoy/missed are due to habits formed before lockdown.

It's a complex topic and that's why you're seeing the variety of opinions on this forum. If you don't like it, don't read it. 

Quite.

We didn't miss out on much during lockdown, as much of what we couldn't do, we didn't do much of anyway!!😉

theoretica

Personally, I keep coming back to consumerism - on one level our society is built on it, and as someone mentioned above, giving people in poor communities more money can feed into the whole community, as they spend that money.  On the other level people personally need a huge amount of self control over their own consumerism - not spending more than we can afford, not spending money on one thing when we will need that money for something else essential later in the month.  Yet we are all bombarded with ads - very many of which are for things it is bad for our finances to buy, but designed to make us really want that thing, whatever it is, and so enhance dissatisfaction if we have the self control not to buy it.  Also, I find they are ugly and annoying... 

MACKEM99

Sea_Shell said:

Well, I'm not sure whether to be embarrassed or proud!!

I seem to have set myself up to be either a pillar of financial virtue, or to be shot down as living on another planet!!


Infamy, infamy they've all got it in for me!!


It's true, we haven't had a mortgage for over 15 years, but we don't have a roof full of solar panels 😉.  We drive a Vauxhall.

I'm not a "shopper" and we don't particularly enjoy eating out (tend to only eat out whilst on holiday) and have probably 5 takeaways a year!!

But then I didn't blink, dropping £150 for my new Garmin. 😎

You have 5 takeawys a year more than us. 

MACKEM99

zagfles said:

John464 said:

MACKEM99 sai

carrots 40p for 1kg. Spuds 30p per pound - shall I go on?

People at food banks turn them down because they can't afford the fuel to cook them
or the refrigeration for fresh food.
(leading to ignorant people saying they are being choosy)

Seriously? Carrots can be eaten raw, I do it all the time. How much do you think it costs to zap a potato in a microwave? Of course maybe the microwave is broken and they can't afford to fix it...

Because they have spent their benefits on scratch cards fags and games for the 3 x boxes in their house?

zagfles

theoretica said:

Personally, I keep coming back to consumerism - on one level our society is built on it, and as someone mentioned above, giving people in poor communities more money can feed into the whole community, as they spend that money.  On the other level people personally need a huge amount of self control over their own consumerism - not spending more than we can afford, not spending money on one thing when we will need that money for something else essential later in the month.  Yet we are all bombarded with ads - very many of which are for things it is bad for our finances to buy, but designed to make us really want that thing, whatever it is, and so enhance dissatisfaction if we have the self control not to buy it.  Also, I find they are ugly and annoying... 

I go by the general premise that the better the advert, the worse the product.

zagfles

MACKEM99 said:

zagfles said:

John464 said:

MACKEM99 sai

carrots 40p for 1kg. Spuds 30p per pound - shall I go on?

People at food banks turn them down because they can't afford the fuel to cook them
or the refrigeration for fresh food.
(leading to ignorant people saying they are being choosy)

Seriously? Carrots can be eaten raw, I do it all the time. How much do you think it costs to zap a potato in a microwave? Of course maybe the microwave is broken and they can't afford to fix it...

Because they have spent their benefits on scratch cards fags and games for the 3 x boxes in their house?

Aaarrrgh, this is turning into a Daily Mail vs Guardian thread!

Mind you I'm impressed this thread managed to get to page 13 before the Daily Mail was mentioned, it's usually up there on page 2 or 3