The point-scoring Socialists tell us that there are millions of children living in dire poverty in the UK, and of course it's all the fault of the Tories. Well, I for one haven't seen any sign of poverty anywhere, but I suppose I'll have to believe them.
What I have seen, however, is constant proof of people receiving extremely large amounts of benefits. The couple below are typical of how generous the benefits system in the UK can be. Even our very well paid train drivers don't earn that sort of money. One can understand why so many people paddle across the sea to settle here, and why so many people don't bother to get a job. £84,000 pa for doing nothing is pretty good going.
If our hard-working nurses get the pay rise they demand and deserve, they will go to around £46,000 pa. Still £38,000 less than this fellow (below) on his £84,000 hand-out. (Of course, he may not be typical; some may receive more, some less)
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I do wish this couple had asked someone for 'advice', which I'm sure would have been given willingly.
First, they would have been advised NOT to have 35 dogs; one or two is plenty. Seven children is probably a tad too many as well. They should also have been advised to pay someone to keep their home as clean as possible, and reasonably tidy. They could certainly have afforded it.
Then we come to finance. They should have been taught the basics of home-budgeting; how to feed the family well on £1,000 a month, and save the other £6,000 a month for holidays, flash cars, and yet more tattoos.
This way they would have continued their luxurious life-style, stayed out of jail, and had plenty of cash left over for cocaine, beer, and other frivolities. What's wrong with these people!!!
DISCLAIMER: I do know that people live hand to mouth; they do everywhere. And whilst we continue to hear stories about people such as those above, it makes my blood boil.
Frustrating isn't it!! Are you sure those figures are correct? They are outbreeding the responsible people unfortunately lol
ReplyDeleteSadly, they are correct, and the couple got sent to prison for 'neglect and mistreatment'. Whether or not their £84,000 benefits will continue after their release is another question.
DeleteI'm guessing part of that 84,000 pounds is extra allowances for children, such as they do here, but it seems to me that even with seven children, they should have been able to take better care of them, their home and the dogs. I found a google converter and the 84,000 converts to roughly 149, 000 Australian dollars, about 125,000 MORE than my income. Of course I don't have children living with me, so there are no extras allowed.
ReplyDeleteWho in their right mind has 25 dogs as well as all those children?
Exactly, and all that money to make sure they were all looked after properly. I am simply astounded by the benefits system here.
DeleteRiver, that is the whole point: People like that are NOT "in their right mind". They are mentally ill. In the States, and possibly elsewhere, hoarding of any kind (say, 35 dogs dead and alive if starved) counts as OCD, mental illness. Also, does it ever occur to anyone that some people have few brain cells to rub together?
DeleteWhat I'd like to know, leaving Cro's outrage at the £7,000/mth benefit (really?) aside, where is society in all this? Where are the neighbours (thirty five dogs and seven children can hardly go unnoticed) in all this? Where are the kids' schools, their teachers in all this? Where is anyone? Other than the gutter press when it's too late, too late.
U
Dear Ursula, I know that you always like to side with the illogical, but have you ever actually lived next door to a 'Neighbour from Hell'? You cannot talk to these people, your life would be made even worse. And why is called the 'Gutter Press' when a newspaper tells the truth?
DeleteWell, yes, I do talk "to these people". I make it my business to help when I get a whiff of despair (not because I want to go to heaven, secure a saintship or otherwise bathe in what comes natural to me). My help is of a practical nature. Letters to be written, forms to be filled, job applications to be polished, phone calls to be made, tissues at hand, a shoulder. I baby sit when push comes to shove. What I believe to be underestimated how some people are so crushed by their circumstances they can't help themselves. It's all too much. A kind of stupor sets in. And what do you know: There they go. Down the drain. Unless someone puts the plug down pretty damn quick and helps them to at least float. Please let us all remind ourselves what the original concept of the "welfare" state was supposed to be. And remember, "we are all in it together". HA! Pull the other one.
DeleteI just so wish there were more empathy, more compassion for the plight of others. Even, or maybe particularly, for "the neighbours from hell".
U
Well said, U
DeleteReading your reply tells me that you obviously haven't lived next door to one. If you'd offered this bloke a shoulder to cry on, he'd probably slit your throat. Naivety is a wonderful thing.
DeleteThe fact is that the welfare system was embraced so much in Britain from the outset that looking out for each other, neighbours there for everthing, helping each other, all but disappeared overnight and people went on the "social" as it was called and so it has evolved ever since. We don't help each other, we just tell them to claim some benefit, the government will help you.
DeleteIf you read YP's comment below, you will see why. He tells us that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation claim that 1 in 5 of the UK population live in poverty, meaning that 14.5 Million people are on the bread line. Of course not many people believe this tripe, but there are people who do, and I imagine they all wear red rosettes at election time.
DeleteCovid and the two year lock down situation, furlough, unemployment, shift in attitudes in certain types of work has put the number on universal credit up and unemployment up. There should be a getting back to work campaign right now with help on the ground such as reduction in red tape for would be employees, help to employment agencies to raise profile of centres for getting a job, Job Centres for all, and generallya push to getting people to work and having a good work ethic. Remember the slogan Labour isn't Working? It is crazy that we have more on universal credit than ever before and more unfilled job vacancies than ever before. It makes no sense.
DeleteAny benefit system that pays more than could be earned from a minimum wage job is fundamentally flawed - benefits should be a safety net and not a lifestyle choice. Housing benefit is another one not fit for purpose - if you cannot afford the accomodation go somewhere cheaper, (whether renting or buying) that was what people of my generation had to do.
ReplyDeletePeople have become so used to being molly-coddled, and they always want more. In the old Russia (so beloved by the Socialists) if you left a job you were paid two weeks wages to tide you over, then you had to find a job. The state always found you something to do, and gangs of street cleaners were everywhere. Communist streets were spotless!
DeleteWill, "housing benefit is another one not fit for purpose". Is that so? Even the innkeeper had a heart and let the dislodged shelter in the barn. Anyway, see you under the bridge when YOUR umbrella is blown away.
DeleteU
Ursula, I have first-hand knowledge of appalling misuse of 'housing benefits'. The fact that I've kept my mouth shut makes me part of the problem, but I have been obliged to look the other way.
DeleteMay I remind you, Cro, that the State Pension counts as a benefit. One, I take it, you do avail yourself of. And no doubt you won't have sneered at this year's energy allowance for people over a certain age. Or the fact that the NHS is free. And, and, and. All whilst having the security of your own roof over your head, and blessed with children who, by the sounds of their earning power, wouldn't leave you cold and starving.
ReplyDeleteAs to poverty YOU don't see: Well, poverty (the shame of it) tends to be lived out behind closed doors. And don't forget a lot of humans imitate the three monkeys. What they don't see, don't hear, don't smell doesn't exist, does it?
U
I am simply telling the truth. I don't see 'poverty'. I may see people who have less than others, but never confuse this with 'poverty'. If you wish to see true 'poverty' go to India, Africa, etc, where people have NOTHING.
DeleteBy the way, a State Pension is not a benefit, it is an insurance policy payout that people have paid for. And no, I don't have one.
DeleteDepends who you are talking to: Some factions see the State Pension as a right (not least because it is financed via NI contributions which no one in employment can escape) whilst others say it's a non-means-tested benefit (gov.uk's definition). I believe what you are referring to as "an insurance policy payout" are work pensions/private pensions. Such as, say, teachers like YP will benefit from. Someone like Rachel most likely having invested in a private pension apart from property.
DeleteThat you are unlikely to draw a State Pension, Cro, only occurred to me after I'd send my previous comment. You won't have accumulated enough NI contributions in England and France combined to qualify for one; the plight of the self employed (though you can make voluntary contributions to end up with a pittance). Who knows how you finance your old age but imagine you didn't have a state pension or, vastly preferable, income from lettings, a private pension, whatever ... Are you seriously telling me you wouldn't apply for "benefits" if you were gnawing on your last piece of sourdough; even mice fleeing the empty kitchen?
Other than that, sigh, I am looking forward to the day when you will concede a point I make rather than being whole sale dismissive.
U
I have to presume that you are serious when you side with scroungers, etc, and not just trying to annoy everyone, so I have to remain dismissive of all your beliefs so far. I would never stoop as low.
DeleteThey're telling us now that a very high proportion of Muslim women/families in the U.K are on State Benefits...in the high 80%, and with an average of 5 children per family.
DeleteBut for me, the Holy Grail of questions is that for all those families concerned and who have contributed NOTHING into the U.K Treasury, will they be eligible for The State Pension or even Pension Credit?
I don't think they should be. But if our Government does allow it then they are more stupid and careless than I ever thought.
A Pension is a payback from a lifetime of employment in the U.K.
Sadly you are right on all counts. We do have a wonderful benefits system in the UK, but it's being abused on a massive scale. Everyone knows this is true (apart from Ursula), but no-one seems prepared to tackle it.
DeleteThe matter that is worse than this.
ReplyDeletePeople in work receiving benefits. This far outstrips those without work on benefits.
The government subsidising low wage employers, who are not often small struggling businesses.
Pensioners on pension credit because the UK pension is so low.
There are anomalies throughout the system, but when I see things like the above, it makes me sick.
DeleteI may be a lifelong socialist but I am not a "point scoring" one. What makes my blood boil is the amount of poverty remaining in Britain after twelve years of Tory rule. According to The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, "More than one in five of the UK population (22%) are in poverty – 14.5 million people. Of these, 8.1 million are working-age adults, 4.3 million are children and 2.1 million are pensioners."
ReplyDeleteI quite expect the Joseph Rowntree people would consider me to be in poverty as well, but I shan't be claiming benefits.
DeleteI'd love to see what their idea of poverty is.
DeleteI think that J.R. works out 'in poverty' as those under an average wage.
DeleteI was suprised that the woman got a suspended sentence and was Banned from owning a dog for five years.
I'd thought that they both had prison sentences, but it doesn't surprise me.
DeleteRe YP quoting the Joseph Rowntree Foundation figures for poverty, as i recall their definition of poverty was in relation to average earnings, and as a consequence behaves anomalously in when we go into recessions - poverty on their definition can fall significantly during recessions as average earnings are depressed. It is not a fit measure of poverty - that requires an absolute measure geared to what is needed to actually live on.
DeleteIncidentally, the original article related to a couple with many children, all of whom counted for increasing benefit levels. I think that this is wrong - I support child benefit for the first two children, but not for any after that - you breed them, you feed them.
The old idea of a girl leaving school pregnant to claim housing, then producing more and more children to claim huge amounts of benefits should end. It has become a joke.
DeleteToday, there is no shortage of jobs at all levels. Anyone that wants to work, can choose to work. Work ethic needs to improve everywhere. Also, individuals must live within their means. I'm told, being on the public dole runs in families and continues for generations to come. This unhealthy cycle needs to be broken.
ReplyDeleteMulti-generational benefit claimant families are certainly a feature of some areas in places that I have lived. I think that introducing time limits to benefits is needed to address this problem so that failure to take any kind of employment carries significant financial penalties.
DeleteAs I wrote about the old Soviet Russia above. They were given two weeks wages (by their employer) then had to find a job.
DeleteI would say only this: to take what is very likely a relatively rare occurrence and use it as an example to condemn the system as a whole is unfair.
ReplyDeleteSadly Debbie, this is not a rare occurrence as we all know only too well. Over 40,000 illegal immigrants have arrived on our shores already this year to take advantage of our very generous system. They haven't come for the climate or friendliness of the natives. It's OK to ignore the truth, but it won't go away.
DeleteHousing needs to be addressed. Recent news coverage of a boy dying from the effects of a damp house tells me there is poverty. However there are many people who are hopeless with money and have a vast sense of entitlement- including some benefits claimants and also compensation claimants who receive a nice windfall as a reward for not looking where they are putting thei feet and failing to remain upright....
ReplyDeleteOften people who have worked and meet with hard times have great difficulty navigating our benefits system,
And it riles me that it appears to be the norm for people in work to have multiple jobs just to afford the basics ( especially if working multiple jobs does not afford them a foot on the property ladder )
Looking at the cost of renting a place to live one can almost understand the temptation of having multiple kids rather than working. Sort out housing ( i.e really affordable and not damp) and cheap transport and then tell people to get to work and no benefits other than short term unless they are ill or disabled. ( obviously many people in the latter category can work it the right type of work is available)
ReplyDeleteBad housing, poor education, and a lack of basic financial planning are often clumped together as 'poverty', but poverty is a totally different thing. It has become a 'war cry' for the left to annoy the right. Of course it won't go away, and could well become a 'war cry' for the right to bash the left!
DeleteUrsula; I have tried to talk to people and help, but no longer. I got tired of being shown the door and told to mind my own f***ing business.
ReplyDeleteUrsula lives in some bizarre left-wing world of her own. Hardly ever have I seen her write anything logical.
Delete