I think I might be turning into a Tory

[samhs]

My first thought on watching this was "stop having bloomin' kids then.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8545443.stm?ls

I could understand a little more if they'd lost jobs and had to be rehoused following a repossession etc.

Anyway, carry on.

[Granty]

Exactly. Stop having kids, get a job and be thankful you have a roof over your head.

Harsh but fair.

[net-curtains]

It's a very big 'cupboard', big enough in fact for a bed and chest of drawers.

I remember trying to get onto the housing list when I lived in Essex, it was at least a 5 year wait but as a single person with no kids I was told I'd 'probably never be offered council accommodation'. This of course was when the Tories were in government. I gave up and ended up living in a van for a year. Despite having a full-time job (with the council, ironically) private accommodation was virtually non-existent and anything that was available was completely out of my price range. Of course if I'd found a partner, got her pregnant, and chucked in my job I'd have been housed immediately.

[yawner]

Thats them! The "plebs" I'd take the right to vote from!! 

[robwhizz]

This crap really winds me up. Me and the wife got on the property market young, scrimped and saved, worked hard over the years to buy a bigger house as we had more children. I pay for everything I have. I've worked all my life and paid my NI. Now I need some expensive medicine, but because of my postcode I can't have it.

And this t*at thinks he's owed a bigger house for not taking any responsibility in his life!! Oh, and a cupboard! My daughter's room wasn't much bigger than that in the old house.

/rant over

/sorry, carry on.

[net-curtains]

It's not just the free housing, money, maternity grants and whatnot that you can get when you're on benefits - there are so many other freebies and help available that it makes you look like an idiot for working.

For example, I stopped going to a local gym because it was full of smelly dossers having free sessions. Instead of trying to get fit they sat around on the equipment in their coats and boots so you couldn't use it, and smoked fags in the changing room. I was paying for this wonderful experience so stopped going once my subs ran out.

There's a bloke in town, "alcoholic", never worked, used to live in a flat above a friend. He'd go into town, get pissed, cause trouble, usual stuff. One day he flooded his flat (and my friends below), deliberately because, in his words, he 'wanted some new kit'. Social Services came round and completely re-kitted the flat - new carpets, furniture, curtains, appliances, telly etc. I remember him being really chuffed because he'd got the big expensive fridge he wanted, a Smeg if I remember rightly. As well as not paying for any of this he didn't even have to go and buy it, they came over with catalogues and he'd argue with them for the best he could get. The reason he hasn't worked for over 20 years? A 'bad knee'. He gets extra help because of his 'drink problem'. As he said to me, laughing, 'hardly a problem is it!'.

Like Rob we've scrimped and saved to have kids. My back went a few months back, and then the missus back looked like it might go too so we were worried about looking after the little one. We asked Social Services if there was any help available for us, as working parents, and were told that if my wife developed back problems as well the only help they could offer was to 'take the baby into care'. No-one popping over with catalogues for us then. When I visited the doctor for help with the pain and told him this he laughed, then when seeing my reaction said "I shouldn't laugh should I". Not if you want to keep your teeth doc.

There is a massive imbalance between services and available help for those on benefits, and for those people paying for them. I'm not against some of this help for people on benefits (a top of the range family sized fridge is a bit overkill for one single bloke though), I'd just  like to have the same help available when I need it. I don't want preferential treatment, just the same services available to those that don't work. At the moment that's not happening, and at some point something's going to give (my back again, probably).

/rant

[yawner]

as working parents, and were told that if my wife developed back problems as well the only help they could offer was to 'take the baby into care'.

flippin outrageous. The world really has gone mad. 

[Chris H]

as working parents, and were told that if my wife developed back problems as well the only help they could offer was to 'take the baby into care'.

flippin outrageous. The world really has gone mad. 

As a foster carer the nipper could end up with me!

[samhs]

And then, when you got him or her back they'd be a mini-god-botherer. See, it's the root of many social problems.



@ Chris
@ everyone else

[Matt]

Ive said it many times, I/my family would be much better off financially if I didnt work. How ironic that working 60+ hours a week I loose benifits and pay more tax to actually be worse off then when I was working my normal job! So you try to help yourself, but they punish you for it!

 

[civ]

Maybe she wouldn't get bullied if they just called it her bedroom, and didn't refer to it as a cupboard?

[Ben]

Maybe she wouldn't get bullied if they just called it her bedroom, and didn't refer to it as a cupboard?

Ah, the sensible option. Would never work