Britain's Child Poverty

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....ving-poor-Africa.html

Also on last night's TV news they showed free food parcels being prepared, to hand out to 21st century Britain's hungry, we also heard of parents unable to buy new shoes for their children when their old ones wore out ect.

What is going off, why are some forced into such poverty in Britain's welfare state, while we still give cash to be spent on India's navy?

[mike11111]

ummmm is right , of course. This was one part of the thinking behind it. I remember that the mother had to claim the benefit, and it was quite a rigmarole to make the father the payee; this usually only happened in cases of desertion by the wife or divorce where the father was awarded custody. But what an indictment of men, to tar them all with the same brush. No doubt some men did squander the money intended for their children; thank God that in this enlightened age we do not see the unedifying sight of mothers p!ssing it up against the wall whilst the children sit in their buggies chewing a Gregg's sausage roll and guzzling a bottle of fizzy pop.

[daffy654]

Factor, you think £20.00 a week is enough to feed a child healthily? You must live somewhere where the food is very cheap.

[ummmm]

I think it does in some cases.

One of the families, single father, got into trouble when the benefits office messed up a claim. He borrowed money to cover it and that's how the vicious cycle begins.

One thing you will notice is the absence of luxury items. How many times have you read on here about people on benefits who have flat screen TV's and take two holidays a year? There were no luxuries for these people. One of the children got a haircut for his birthday!

[sandyRoe]

It was a bad day when we abandoned the concept of the deserving and the undeserving poor.

[mike11111]

Quite right, Sandy. Let us revive the Elizabethan concept of the "sturdy beggar", to be whipped at the cart's tail to the next village.

[daffy654]

Who would decide who was deserving then Sandy?

[dave50]

The more you have paid in, the more you can get out when in difficulty. That is the deserving and undeserving poor.

[factor-fiction]

daffy- I said if they get free school meals. But yes, £20 goes a long way on the market for fresh fruit and veg, pasta is not expensive, meat and fish from the market can go a long way. Porridge for breakfast is cheap and sets me up nicely for the day. It certainly pays for more than a piece of toast for breakfast.

[daffy654]

Factor, I live in a village that has no market that sells food, we do have a Thursday one that sells cheap clothes and tat. We have a Co-Op and a Morrison's (both expensive) and a really poor bus and train service to the nearest city. For someone like me (disabled mother of a disabled teen) it is shop locally or not at all. There is no way I could feed my son healthy meals for the cost of his child benefit!

[ummmm]

That's another thing the programme highlighted, Factor, how the parents dreaded the school holidays. Not because they have bored kids on their hands but because they have to find the extra money for the extra food.

[factor-fiction]

I'm the same now ummmm - when my son comes home from university he just eats non stop.
I am not surprised the TV programme showed no flat screen TVs though- I think programme makers have learnt that it spoils the effect.
I'd still like to see some figures.
I think there are lots of older people in a similar position- just a state pension, a property that's expensive to maintain, large heating bills and little left for food.

[abstibus]

My d had a summer job in a bank call centre. One of the people who called (a man) said he was waiting for his wages. The screen showed that he was not working, but on benefits.
She couldn't' find any record of wages on the screen, but read out the list of his benefits to him.
When she came to Child Benefit he said, 'Yes, that's my wages.'

[sandyRoe]

My comment about the deserving and undeserving poor was prompted by a memory of my own family. Years ago i learnt by accident that my sister made an evening meal for her husband and children but didn't eat anything herself. She seemed to live on tea and toast.
They neither drank or smoked and he had two jobs. I would have categorised them as deserving.
In contrast, you read stories in the papers now about people who have settled for a life on benefits and are complaining about the fact that their house isn't big enough for their ever increasing family family, or that they feel deprived because they haven't got the latest 50" plasma television.

[sandyRoe]

* one 'family' too many there ^

[anotheoldgit]

Many go on about finding it hard to manage, but still keep having children, which is unnecessary in this day of contraception.

Yes I know it takes 'two to tango' but in many cases the man is missing, but still these women continue get into yet more relationships and then go on to have more children.

It is not unusual these days for some children to have seen numerous dads come and go and that in turn leads to their siblings having different dads to them.

[MadFerret]

Seeing a list of what you can claim for and actually receiving that amount as a regular payment are two different things. There will be plenty going cold over the winter months again. I am unable to find links to the programme that was shown a few years back but this one shows how the cuts are hitting the sick.

Media URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lldrc/Panorama_Disabled_or_Faking_It/
Description:

[Duncer]

cub....what a load of crap. You think people chose sky sports and drink over feeding their kids?

Ummmm, the Spunkbucket family facing me chose Sky, nights at the club and lots of garish gear over feeding the kids properly. Perhaps not representative of all, but a fact nevertheless. They also have a TV nearly as big as mine. I know this because she often sits late at night with the curtains wide open, (makes a change from her legs), and all the lights on. Her scruffy progreny are often wandering about at ten at night, barely clad. As Sandy said, not fit to look after a dog.

[naomi24]

Whenever I see something about struggling families living in poor conditions they always seem to have small babies. Poverty doesn’t stop them breeding. If they’re that hard up, then they’re their own worst enemy.

[sandyRoe]

The one place that there is no poverty is between the sheets.

[Duncer]

I'm afraid to ask Mrs D, but I suspect she might disagree with you Sandy.