WriterChick

It's weird how every time I turn on the TV in the UK there are multiple programmes vilifying the people living on benefits, and every time I open a paper or turn on the news, it is a story, or two, or three, kicking off about the same thing... I don't know when you all were last here but food pantries have opened and people are being forced to leave their council flats because they cannot afford to pay more for an additional bedroom, and there are no other smaller council flats for them to move into. So they are becoming homeless.

So many people here use pay metres for gas and electric.

So many people live in homes with broken glass for windows, with wood over them.

So many people here live in cold water flats without any heat, covered in mould.

So many people are being arrested for stealing food.

So many people are afraid to answer their door because they haven't been able to afford their council tax.

So many people are eating expired food on clearance from Tesco, and wearing only Primark clothes.

So many people have holes in there winter coats.

SO MANY PEOPLE HERE ARE MISSING THEIR TEETH!!!

The UK is FAR from 'the land of plenty'.

Pulaski

That's almost entirely how I remember it (aside from the "room tax" issue, and the food pantries), and I've been gone 14 years. I believe it was probably always that way, nothing much has changed, other than media publicising the matter.

Michael

Cornelius Suttree

I do my part to help folks in poverty. My church is very involved in helping poverty here in south western North Carolina. Much of the poverty here is due to drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and the dying coal industry.

Remember, there are two kinds of safety nets. Those from the state, and those that are built by people who believe that it is their duty to help their fellow man. I live among the latter, and we greatly enjoy serving folks who have fallen on tough times. Not only does it make our community safer and less turbulent, but it allows us to practice Christ's teachings.

So while I have noticed more poverty, I have also been extremely amazed at the amount of good-hearted folks who come together voluntarily to help those in trouble find better ways of living.

If there is one thing I have learned from living in rural NC, it is that folks have a remarkable capacity to do good, even without compulsion.

scrubbedexpat091

Most people not living below the poverty line likely won't or don't live in the same communities within a city, so don't cross paths too often in a situation where one would become friends or know one another.

Go to any city where the impoverished live, most city's have sections where its nothing but poverty and you can see some pretty poor people.

I am in Canada, but go to Vancouver to the downtown east side, and the poverty is very visible, and one is not likely to be friends with anyone there unless you also live in the DTES.

We technically live below the poverty line for 2 people, we bring in about what a single person would bring in just around min. wage, but we can meet our basics most of the time, we just can't save anything for a rainy day or buy much outside of rent, food, insurance and gas.

Hotscot

"So many people have holes in there winter coats. blah, blah, blah...

SO MANY PEOPLE HERE ARE MISSING THEIR TEETH!!!

The UK is FAR from 'the land of plenty'.[/QUOTE]


Exactly how many? What's your source for the 'so many'? And why do you end up screaming in CAPS!!!?

And there's nothing wrong with clearance food...I buy that every week. It still has to be edible.

But your list doesn't sound particularly shocking.

Pulaski

So do I, when I find it. It was more predictable when I lived in London, and I used to regularly stop off in Sainsbury's, either after working late, or after a couple of pints on the way home. Long after the lower income shoppers and pensioners had gone home, late in the evening, Sainsbury's would regularly mark down bread, vegetables, and meat, including steaks for half price.

I always thought there was an irony to Sainsbury's selling things for full price during the day, and marking them down for the benefit of besuited professionals on the way home from the office or pub.

Michael

Safeway has some real good deals on out of date streak often 50% off but actually more since their computer system calculates the final price incorrectly. For example, the regular price of a steak may be $9.99 per pound but it may be on sale at $7.99 per pound with 50% off so the price should be $4.00 but the computer first calculates the 50% off on $9.99 which equals $5.00 and then it takes $2.00 off for the sale for a price of $3.00.

Pulaski

I bought some marked down bread rolls once that were heavily marked down, maybe 75% off, AND were BOGO half price, which was a fixed amount deducted from the price if you bought two packs. ..... The fixed deduction was greater than the marked down price of two packs, such that the net price for buying two packs was negative.

scrubbedexpat091

I wish the grocery stores around here did clearance on real food, occasionally they will put candy on clearance or other junk foods, but no real food. I asked once and meat goes into the trash as did produce, but bread, baked goods, cereals and other non-perishables goes to food banks.

WriterChick

I wasn't accusing anyone specific of not knowing what is happening here.

I wrote in all caps because It upsets me to see people without teeth and winter coats.

I realise there is nothing wrong with buying expired food, but it should be an option - and for many it is all they can afford.

I got upset because last night there was a programme on called Benefits St, or something, and I changed the channel because it was so mean and condescending, and then there was another programme on called Skint, which was even meaner, and even more depressing.

My list might not sound shocking to some, but to me it is really shocking. Collectively, it is all shocking.

They are cutting disabled people from benefits here and they are starving and dying.

This is not OK.

I was watching the show, and I thought to myself, 'My cats live in luxury compared to these people, and they are cats!'

It just upset me.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone here or imply anything about anyone on here.

I do admit that I live in a bit of a bubble. As I said, I do not personally know anyone here or in the USA who lives below the poverty line.

I work really hard, and I luckily earn good money, and we pay very, very high taxes here, and I'd like those collected funds to go to helping people in need. I do not mind paying the high taxes because I know this country helps people - single mothers, the disabled, jobseekers... If the government is cutting their funding, why am I paying so much in tax? What am I paying for? Cameron's dry-cleaning?

I know there are SOME who work the system, but that isn't a reason to punish everyone in need.

On the show, there was a single mother whose husband had died in an accident, and she lost their house, and she was living like an animal with her two kids. They had no water. Broken windows. A bucket for a toilet. It was so upsetting to see.

I was thinking of this chat, and so I did watch the shows for a few minutes, and it just really upset me. Sorry all.

xxoxooxooxox

veryfunny

Yes, I would agree with you but I commented on my experience in both countries, take for example not having health care, which is a basic right in my view, there are more people in the USA who do not have any form of health care, even when one takes into account the population difference. I would classify that as being poor.

veryfunny

WriterChick

Yes, the lack of health care thing in the USA is monstrous!

Hotscot

Really? That's shocking.
Who specifically has been starving?
Who has died because their benefits have been cut?
And did they exist solely on benefits before they died?

I really didn't know that people were dying due to benefit cuts...