Family life on benefits

[L3nny]

The issue here though is so much bigger than the fact that this guy could be a lazy, workshy, good for nothing.

This guy is never going to be earning 55k, 90% of the population will never earn 55k a year. So really what incentive is there for anyone in a situation like this to get a job?

There was a bit in it that included 'shows' what does that mean? They also said that they had to buy school books, the only time you have to buy school books is if you are at an independent school, maybe with that sort of income they are. My kids are at state school and their books may be scruffy, but they still have all the information in them (my eldest brought home a Latin text book last week that was first lent out in 1989!)

Scum, the end. How the **** can you not get a job in ten years? bet he's doing loads of voluntary work with all that time on his hands, **** me ten years off work and he's not sick, un ****ing believable, and Bi Polar, it's not a life long illness, all i can say is the end is coming for people like this, will take some time, but their bubble will burst.

Originally Posted by andrewsmith

This

Last time I was on I applied for around 120 jobs in 12 weeks around Christmas and the Dole said I was "applying for too many"

Greedy b'stard

Ahhh, picture the setting, the poor family crowded into their little living room, shivering in the cold. But then someone has a great idea, lets put the sky TV on, break out some lager and smoke some fags but then the mobile phones start ringing and there a blazing row over what to watch so they head off to bed to produce some more mouths to feed...

Thank goodness the BBC mod didn't block that one.

[Bri w]

Maybe the Lords and Bishops, + the nays in the Commons, need to get out there and find out what the average man in the street really has to get by on to survive. The average man in the street has to fund getting to and from work too.

[dizzyblonde]

I'm going to play a little devils advocate.

I don't smoke, and very rarely drink. I haven't seen any person other than family for three weeks, I don't work, I stay at home with my baby, do household duties, play secretary and general dogsbody etc.

Now...I have two bikes sat in a shed doing nowt, as I don't have the time. They are my pleasure for when the time is there. They cost me tax, insurance and other things when desired, they're owned outright.

My OH has a motorcyle, and we have a car, both owned outright. The car guzzles petrol at a rate of knots, but we can't afford to get rid and buy a new one so it stays. Its justified as hes crippled in one leg, so when he can't go to work on the bike....which is his pleasure in life....hes usually in the car, to keep the pain low. He rarely drinks, doesn't smoke, and only goes to work....we have a very tiny social life, we aren't exactly well off, bills paid, not much left.


Moving onto the point.

There have been those who have dared to tell us, to either get rid of the car, or me get rid of my bikes....as they are not necessary....so we will be better off.
isn't it a human right to have something that pleasures us in life......even if it happens to be a packet of fags and some beer? After all, they have a lot of kids, an overcrowded house, no car etc etc. I don't advocate smoking and drinking, BUT.....if its your only pleasure, be it a bad one....


Who are you lot to be sanctamonious about it?


Would any of you have the cheek to tell them to their face? Doubt it. If you did you'd get the same reaction as those who have had the cheek to tell me what to do with my life. So they are on benefits, rightly or wrongly, you don't have any right to say they aren't allowed any pleasure.

As for bipolar not being a life long illness.......mental illness in any form is life long, just because someone looks like they have it under control doesn't mean it won't come back. IIRC being bipolar is very difficult to control.

[Luckypants]

The big difference is Dizzy, your pleasures are paid for by working for them. The family in the example are 'given' our tax pounds to fund these pleasures and luxury items. At a time when the public finances are stretched to breaking, excessive welfare payments should be looked at and trimmed. IMHO the equivalent of a £45K salary is excessive welfare.

Yes I would tell this family so to their faces.

[dizzyblonde]

Paid for or not, benefits or not, people are allowed to have something to do. As I said, I don't advocate smoking, to me theres no harm in drinking a little......the bloke applies for jobs in a place where they are apparently scarce.

Public finances are stretched, the media picks and choose which examples to use, so the public can go on a witch hunt.

Society is starting to act like a pack of dogs, and I find it shameful. While I don't agree with certain aspects of their lives, I don't think it fair to be calling people scum, because they smoke, or drink, or have 7 kids, or bipolar or anything else that happens to be stereotypically brought forward for the media to throw to the wolves of the public.....to show a justifiable image for cropping benefits.

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

Who are you lot to be sanctamonious about it?

I think the raw fact of it is that, these things are a luxury. A choice made which consumes some of your income.

The term "i cannot afford..." is too easily spouted, in truth the statement should be "My income is funding other vices, which I prioritise over the thing in question"

If you're (not you personally you understand, I am here refering to those who this article reflects). Anyway if you're going to complain about not having enough money following these proposed cuts.
Despite spending in a week on supplies what I spend in a three.
Buying smokes and booze
Sky movies, broadband subscriptions
How ever many mobile phones
£20 a week for entertainment

Then the simple fact of the matter is your benfits are more than they should be, the harsh truth is that your situation does not provide the provision to support these luxuires.
When these people are sleeping in one room, eating cold sausuage and beans then they're in a pickle and I wouldnt support a cut to thier benifits. Alas this isnt the case, this Raymond charactor obviously feels hard done by and has put himself forward as a victim... He's not a victim of anything other than misfortune and bone idleness.