K8-notlate

This has to be my biggest bugbear - the concept of the welfare state is fine when it goes to help those who cannot help themselves, but I refuse to pay for those that won't help themselves:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ed-celebs.html

The guy wants to be a tattooist - a tattooist??????

co durham boy

You couldn't actually make that up.....the kids names are cracking...!

kittycat1

Ok they where inspired for names for their children by Easteneders,Its almost Chavtastic its so bad!

I've seen enough of these stories to let it just go over my head as it wind same up too much! Sterilization is the word I'm thinking.

xxx

Mummyv

Chavs! But obviously they have money to spend on skin enhancements!!!

Hello.Kitty

lol - the "article" seems to make a bigger deal of the kids' names than the actual bit of "news". I can't quite make out if we're meant to get really angry or just poke fun at the chavs... maybe a bit of both... journalistic multi-tasking...

Anyhow, there's no way on God's earth that either of those two could earn enough just to stick those 6 children in childcare during the working week and before anyone says "well they shouldn't have had so many..."

/cry more

What would've happened before the welfare state? Eldest two would be made to work, probably at least one of them would have died before they got to age 5 and none of them would have been able to go to school (because they'd have to work to feed themselves).

The system's wrong... not the people within it. Even those who play the system.

kittycat1

Im all for child labour get the kids working if the parents won't- send em down the pits or up the chimneys ( joking- well sort of!)

Hello.Kitty

the thing is, the counters are too high for them at Maccie-D's...

Victor Meldrew

Totally agree, and then some...! (joking - NOT!)

Hello.Kitty

Well, what we could do, is all go back to Blighty and reintroduce the maid culture there, after all, we'd be doing these poor souls a favour by taking them away from the bad influence of their families and introducing them to the fortifying notion of a hard day's graft, cleaning out the coal-scuttle and sleeping on the kitchen floor... They'd also learn basic reading skills, at least insofar as the Task Rota goes...

zoukla

It would be no different to turning water into wine.... i am with you ...would love to see that happen.

Let's move closer to home.. some folks start by visiting their folks in homes and maybe even to providing care. Then it would be britain for the brits...

Where did it go wrong?

Hello.Kitty

to be honest, I can see that happening in the next 30 years. It's going to be a huge shock to the system, but it just can't go on the way it is.

The only problem is, as ever, where you draw the line.

In a "civilised" society, is it acceptable to let people die through poverty or lack of healthcare? Because that is what will happen for a couple of generations until people get their head around the idea that really, no-one apart from themselves is going to bail them out.

Are any Daily mail readers fully aware of the consequences of cutting benefits?

Even for this family of 8... if everything was cut from one day to the next, what would they do? It'd be cheapest for the mum to stay at home looking after the kids, rather than pay childcare for all 6 of them and the dad would only really be looking at a minimum wage job, paying £6 an hour... that's £11.5k household income a year. Take away £6k/yr for a cheap 2 bed house somewhere, and another £1k for Council tax... another £1.2k for utility bills... crikey... Ever tried feeding an clothing a family of 8 in the UK on £65 a week?

Desperate times would call for desperate measures.

K8-notlate

Primark, Lidl, TK Maxx, Matalan, it's possible - but most of this lot use their benefits to buy little Shakur, The Rock, Beyonce, Lady Gaga etc, designer brands, while hubby is decked out in the latest from Kappa, Burberry, Nike

Millhouse

how about people only having kids that they can afford?

Hello.Kitty

Door. Horse. Bolted.

Listen, I'm not saying it's right... in fact I'm as p*ssed at these stories as the next person, especially since I have a couple of friends whose partners walked out on them once bubs was born and have left them to fend for themselves. One has a full-time job and a part-time job to keep a roof over her head by doesn't get to see her little boy for about 14 hours a day. She doesn't get any benefits whatsoever. You know what? She would actually be financially better off reducing her hours to 16 a week and would then be able to claim everything under the sun... and she'd be able to actually be a part of her son's life.

I'm just saying that the flip side of reducing benefits is that we all need to accept the consequences - poorer people, less healthy people and a bigger gap between the Haves and the Have-nots.

Millhouse

correct, but these people were stupid for thinking that the good times would roll forever.

It's like the state pension - it will not be there when I want it, nor do I expect it to be, nor will I take it if it is.