Council moves chavs into £200k new builds

melancholly

PasturesNew wrote: »

I am currently not working (no benefits whatsoever, self-supporting from STR pot) and I won't go temping. I did sign up for a couple of agencies and they fell all over themselves over my CV/skills. They'd never seen anything like me before. e.g. for typing I exceeded their top/record typing speed ever recorded in their office before by about 30wpm. Then they said "we pay £6/hour". So I figure I'll leave those jobs for people that "need" them, I don't.

£6/hour isn't a lot. As a mature adult. In many areas that would hardly cover the rent/basic bills.

It's easy to take an item out of context for comment. Maybe it's geography/opportunity that's the problem.

well you're in an entirely different situation to BB though! when it's your first job you can't afford to be picky really, and a job you don't like as a stepping stone to something better is the way to go, rather than waiting for a great job when you first start. that's what is so silly about his situation - there is always some work you can do if you're prepared to do it. some temping work can be hideous (i still shudder at some of the jobs i did in the holidays as an undergrad student), but at that age it was put up and shut up, or have no money! i completely understand that there are differences at other stages in life, but there are far too many people graduating these days who think that they should be able to step into the ideal job from day one!!

have you looked at things like invigilating in local schools? easy money - not a full time job, obviously, but they tend to want more 'mature' people to do it! it's some nice bonus money at this time of year which can keep things ticking over.

AliceBanned

It's a shame that we live in a society which by and large values money and "status" above all else. People in social housing would not be stereotyped in this manner if we didn't. I have lived in social housing for years and had the worst of all possible neighbours, including nightly raves and threats on my life which resulted in my neighbour's imprisonment, and lived in justified fear of retaliation from his gang of friends. I am a single female living alone, and had them trying to kick my door down in the early hours whilst off their heads, on several occasions. The police came to reinforce my door. I did my best to resolve matters for the sake of what I knew was right and proper behaviour, and of course for myself, as a matter of principle. I didn't see why i should have to pay extortionate rents that I couldn't afford, just because lunatics were nearby and I had ended up through misfortune living in a sink estate. I eventually got the person evicted and Shelter got involved and got me moved out, but it was two years of hell and danger.

I must say that not one person backed me up, wanted to get involved or cared about the extreme distress I went through in fighting this battle alone. Perhaps there is something wrong if communities cannot get together to beat anti-social behaviour as a unit, instead they just give up and complain about "chavs".

I agree that it is difficult living with anti-social behaviour, but it is by no means always perpetrated by council tenants.

For those who are complaining now about having "chavs" as neighbours when they have bought expensive homes, who voted for Margaret Thatcher, who sold off and destroyed "affordable" housing in the first place? It is coming back to bite, unless that is you are really well off and can afford to live in a gated community.

Pont

I think the question here isn't about good, decent people, who for a variety of reasons, live in social housing, but of the no-hopers who are dumped in social housing. Our estate, until about 3 years ago was full of honest hard-working people. Then the HA is their wisdom housed a drug addicted, mad, ex-con here. What a change! We no longer see children outside playing, nobody chats over garden fences anymore, gardens are overgrown (mine included) because we no longer venture outside our homes. As soon as I get home from work I go straight inside, lock the door and draw the curtains, no longer venturing outside all because of 1 bad tenant living next door to me and my children.
To add to the thread I've got a 2:1 (English and History), got a job within a week of graduating, probably due to being very pro-active, and am now teaching full-time. However, without house prices crashing I haven't got a hope in hell of buying a property. Btw, I didn't get any financial support whilst studying for my degree but had to work my way through.
Additionally, I am a 'single parent' but my children aren't lazy, drug addicted or have ever been in any kind of trouble. My eldest child is leaving school this year, a year early, to start A levels as she is predicted to gain 12 A*s and As at GCSE level this May/June. My youngest child is equally predicted to do very well.
I really don't think we can be termed as underclass!

Benefits_Blagger

monkeybutler wrote: »

@Benefits blagger

The problem is that your degree, as a third, is pretty much worthless, doesn't matter where it's from. I'm afraid that if those people from "joke universities" with "joke degrees" obtained a 2/2 or higher then their degrees are much better than yours, leading one to wonder who actually has the "joke degree"...

Out of interest what did you study?

trust me, i have tried to rectify my situation, in fact I even went back to do a masters degree which i paid for out of my own pocket. I finished top of my course with a distinction beating all of those recent graduates with 1sts and 2:1 (but from unis lower down in the food chain), in some cases by a good 20%+

however my fellow students all found jobs within months, i only had the one interview with nearly every employer putting my application on the reject pile because of the "third" despite me wiping the floor with all the people with 1st's and 2:1's when i done the same degree as them as i was on a level playing field

a big problem is that degrees from different unis are not comparable, could anyone seriously say that someone going to an ex poly with 2 E's A-level who then obtains a 1st is better than someone with a 2:1 from oxbridge?

as for my subject, I done theoretical physics. again hardly fair comparing me with someone with a "media studies" degree from dump like salford

MissMoneypenny

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

however my fellow students all found jobs within months, i only had the one interview with nearly every employer putting my application on the reject pile because of the "third"

Right. So you got a third and you can't change that. So you won't get into one of those "good degree from a good university" jobs, straight away. Look at getting in lower down the line and work then your way up. When you get into a job, they only tend to go by what your last job was, so you hopefully won't have to use your degree for work once you are in.

If you keep living on benefits you might find yourself unemployable.

What line of work would you like to work in?

eva16006159

m00m00 wrote: »

the vast majority of people who live in social housing are perfectly fine people who are a credit to their local community.

unfortunately it only takes a very small amount of 'scum' to make an area very unpleasant for the majority

What a load of rubbish! If they were a credit to their community they would make some economic contibution. They dont they just create a burden on tax payers and thank them by engaging in petty crime, bringing down the tone of the area and looking like scum.

Moan about my comment as much as you want but at the end of the day, barring a very very small number of exceptions its true and you all know it!

MissMoneypenny

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

a big problem is that degrees from different unis are not comparable, could anyone seriously say that someone going to an ex poly with 2 E's A-level who then obtains a 1st is better than someone with a 2:1 from oxbridge?

A 2:1 is a good degree. So that is a good degree from a good university. Employers ask graduates for their A level grades too and also look at what subjects they took.

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

as for my subject, I done theoretical physics. again hardly fair comparing me with someone with a "media studies" degree from dump like salford

:rotfl:My daughter did both of those subjects. A degree in physics and then a PG in Media (because she needed for the law side of things, after "sexed up document" fiasco).

CheeseCat

I do find it hard to believe that after ten years you cannot find any job, anywhere BB.

After uni I found it hard to get a graduate type job because I had the degree but loads of jobs wanted experience too - I had to work for Royal Mail doing 12 hour night shifts (NOT my ideal job) to get by while I applied for anything and everything.

I applied for over 60 jobs before I got my first interview, a 6 month admin job - which I got, and now 2 years and 2 jobs later I work in the same department but in a job related to my degree.

I am not saying I am perfect (I still don't earn what universities would like to say you will earn coming out of your degree!) but I am at least working in the right field now.

I think anyone with enough perseverence and the attitude that they don't want to fall into the most wonderful graduate job can get work - you just may need to start off doing something thats not perfect or ideal but it looks alot better on your CV that you've been working and haven't had 10 years unemployed.

Benefits_Blagger

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Right. So you got a third and you can't change that. So you won't get into one of those "good degree from a good university" jobs, straight away. Look at getting in lower down the line and work then your way up. When you get into a job, they only tend to go by what your last job was, so you hopefully won't have to use your degree for work once you are in.

If you keep living on benefits you might find yourself unemployable.

What line of work would you like to work in?

I know i wont get the "good degree from good university" jobs, as obviously they will goto people with 1st's and 2:1's from either my own or simliar good universites. so i need to look further down.

but when i do, i am now competing against 1st and 2:1's from the ex-polys and nearly every employer now has a blanket 2:1 or above cut-off rule.

i then look even further down, to the basic jobs with the aim of trying to "work my way up", but then i dont even get looked at full stop as they think i will leave the job very quickly.

my main gripe is that the expansion of the higher education system has devalued what i and others have done. one could argue that i should have worked harder when i done my original degree which is fair enough, but someone has to get a third, it would be a poor degree if everyone got the top grade.

but likewise if it were possible, tommorow, i could goto many universities lower down the league tables, not attend any lectures, and sit the final exams and come out a mark of around 90% and hence a first.

how is that fair that i could do a degree at a different institution in a different time frame and come out better than someone more academically gifted who has studied elsewhere and in a different period ?

Benefits_Blagger

Pont wrote: »

To add to the thread I've got a 2:1 (English and History), got a job within a week of graduating, probably due to being very pro-active, and am now teaching full-time. However, without house prices crashing I haven't got a hope in hell of buying a property. Btw, I didn't get any financial support whilst studying for my degree but had to work my way through.
!

another good example of living in gordon browns miracle economy and labours idea of social justice. in this country people are no longer rewarded for their ability, but instead to whom and when they were born.

what does it feel like to have done all that hard work, get a good job and still not afford a home and society still consider you as part of the "underclass"

pretty !!!!!! isnt it ? and people wonder why others give up.