Food banks - what is the real story
Discussion
BoRED S2upid said:
Oh and the couple who had to have £700 work done on their car im sorry but what car needs £700 work done on it? i've never had a £700 bill in my life, what did it need a new engine or something? surley scrap it and get a £500 banger.
What complete b
ks.I spent about that on a vehicle that apart from some suspension bushes the cost was basically consumable and regular maintenance. The car is probably only worth about double that bill. But owned by us from new, fsh and low mileage. The overwhelming consensus on here was to spend the money and look after it rather than buying something unknown.
Mobile Chicane said:
Negative Creep said:
madbadger said:
Hoofy said:
new tyres
I have spent £500 on 4 tyres too. It's not 'work that needed doing' it is a consumable. 
g3org3y said:
Blue Cat said:
I think the problem is that there is a lot of illusion of wealth today, for example it is cheaper and easier to buy a new car on a finance deal than try to save up to buy a good second hand car.
It is cheaper to have new phone contract with a new phone than buying an older phone with a pay as you go contract.
It is easier to get a new TV, washing machine, computer on a high interest forever deal than trying to get the money together to buy second hand.
A lot of people live month by month and an unexpected bill will cripple them. The problem is that these type of people are not newsworthy. It is the feckless and attention seekers (the Jeremy Kyle types) which you will see in the papers as these feed into people's prejudices about the poor.
The middle class man who loses his job, faces losing him home, doesn't qualify for benefits - well you will only hear about him when he jumps off a building
Good post is good. It is cheaper to have new phone contract with a new phone than buying an older phone with a pay as you go contract.
It is easier to get a new TV, washing machine, computer on a high interest forever deal than trying to get the money together to buy second hand.
A lot of people live month by month and an unexpected bill will cripple them. The problem is that these type of people are not newsworthy. It is the feckless and attention seekers (the Jeremy Kyle types) which you will see in the papers as these feed into people's prejudices about the poor.
The middle class man who loses his job, faces losing him home, doesn't qualify for benefits - well you will only hear about him when he jumps off a building
Most people will have a mate who'll give them an old phone for free and PAYG sims are free (or if billy no mates £10 gets you a cheap or secondhand phone these days) Don't see why a contract is essential when you can be talking for less than a monthly payment?
good brand CRT TV's are given away for free on freecycle, washing machines and other domestic electricals can be got on ebay or gumtree for cheap. And anyway TV's and computers ARE NOT ESSENTIAL if your only access to them is via high cost credit.
I'm pretty not yet decided on the whole food bank issue at the mo but your (blue cat) defence of people with these kinds of spending habits/attitudes to the things they feel they deserve plays right into the the hands of the argument that they (the food banks) are a symptom of people being plain stupid/reckless/greedy.
hairyben said:
g3org3y said:
Blue Cat said:
I think the problem is that there is a lot of illusion of wealth today, for example it is cheaper and easier to buy a new car on a finance deal than try to save up to buy a good second hand car.
It is cheaper to have new phone contract with a new phone than buying an older phone with a pay as you go contract.
It is easier to get a new TV, washing machine, computer on a high interest forever deal than trying to get the money together to buy second hand.
A lot of people live month by month and an unexpected bill will cripple them. The problem is that these type of people are not newsworthy. It is the feckless and attention seekers (the Jeremy Kyle types) which you will see in the papers as these feed into people's prejudices about the poor.
The middle class man who loses his job, faces losing him home, doesn't qualify for benefits - well you will only hear about him when he jumps off a building
Good post is good. It is cheaper to have new phone contract with a new phone than buying an older phone with a pay as you go contract.
It is easier to get a new TV, washing machine, computer on a high interest forever deal than trying to get the money together to buy second hand.
A lot of people live month by month and an unexpected bill will cripple them. The problem is that these type of people are not newsworthy. It is the feckless and attention seekers (the Jeremy Kyle types) which you will see in the papers as these feed into people's prejudices about the poor.
The middle class man who loses his job, faces losing him home, doesn't qualify for benefits - well you will only hear about him when he jumps off a building
Most people will have a mate who'll give them an old phone for free and PAYG sims are free (or if billy no mates £10 gets you a cheap or secondhand phone these days) Don't see why a contract is essential when you can be talking for less than a monthly payment?
good brand CRT TV's are given away for free on freecycle, washing machines and other domestic electricals can be got on ebay or gumtree for cheap. And anyway TV's and computers ARE NOT ESSENTIAL if your only access to them is via high cost credit.
I'm pretty not yet decided on the whole food bank issue at the mo but your (blue cat) defence of people with these kinds of spending habits/attitudes to the things they feel they deserve plays right into the the hands of the argument that they (the food banks) are a symptom of people being plain stupid/reckless/greedy.
I am talking about the lower/middle class who work and want to have good things in their lives and why shouldn't they - we should work to live not live to work. But these days people don't have a buffer and if you lose your job, get sick, suffer a problem it can become a big issue very quickly and these people find out that the wonderful pay everything benefits which PH love to talk about just doesn't exist for them. For example I have a woman contacted me whose husband had just lost his job and because she had a very low paying part time job they didn't get any benefits - suddenly they are down £2,500 each month, she was desperate.
Don't have kids and your house is repossessed, you don't get help from the council and unless you have friends or family you will be homeless.
I know people who have sold everything to have money to pay bills, when you have spend 20 years working and in a few months everything is gone, it is heartbreaking.
Also a lot of people don't know about Gumtree or Freecycle
But people like this, hide their poverty, they have pride and that's why it is easy to think that the poor deserve ehat they get because you only see the worse kind
dfen5 said:
Pothole said:
dfen5 said:
Let them give out vegetables and fruit
How, exactly?All the local councils should get talking with any restaurants & supermarkets that throw away food at the end of the day. Use it for opening up one of those 'pay what you feel' type restaurants.
Also, I remember as part of a social experiement there was one supermarket that sells food at hugely discounted prices to people only on low income/benifits?
Rovinghawk said:
10 Pence Short said:
. It is also a matter of fact that you can't judge someone's cash flow now by their possessions.
If they're going hungry then I wouldn't see a problem with them having to trade their iPhone & 42" TV for cheaper versions. Once those items are gone I'd see more reason for subsidising them.We've all gone soft in the head. :wall:
I make referrals into food banks quite often there are a few around where I work.
It’s perhaps worth mentioning that all food banks are not the same, they all have different ‘qualifying criteria’ and some will only give a family a certain number of food parcels as they believe anything over six week builds dependency.
The size of the parcels are also different, some give a 48hr supply and others give a week, it just depends on how they are set up.
Our local food bank often rings up to pass on any overstock, last week for example they bought over a few boxes of ready made sandwiches and they were taken out to families we know who are on tight budgets.
Peoples attitudes to food banks amuse me, I dropped a food parcel off to a family who had been flooded out of their home. It wasn’t a referral I had made but it was on my way home so I said I would do it. As I dropped it off the family insisted that because I had brought them a gift they had to give me something in return. Turns out their gift to me was some shortbread biscuit things which I am 99% certain where in the food parcel. I accepted and brought them home where they sat in the cupboard for a week or so until so “friends” came over and we got them out to eat. When I told them they had come from a food bank they nearly choked and it was akin to a scene from Little Britain!
It’s perhaps worth mentioning that all food banks are not the same, they all have different ‘qualifying criteria’ and some will only give a family a certain number of food parcels as they believe anything over six week builds dependency.
The size of the parcels are also different, some give a 48hr supply and others give a week, it just depends on how they are set up.
Our local food bank often rings up to pass on any overstock, last week for example they bought over a few boxes of ready made sandwiches and they were taken out to families we know who are on tight budgets.
Peoples attitudes to food banks amuse me, I dropped a food parcel off to a family who had been flooded out of their home. It wasn’t a referral I had made but it was on my way home so I said I would do it. As I dropped it off the family insisted that because I had brought them a gift they had to give me something in return. Turns out their gift to me was some shortbread biscuit things which I am 99% certain where in the food parcel. I accepted and brought them home where they sat in the cupboard for a week or so until so “friends” came over and we got them out to eat. When I told them they had come from a food bank they nearly choked and it was akin to a scene from Little Britain!
ambuletz said:
dfen5 said:
Pothole said:
dfen5 said:
Let them give out vegetables and fruit
How, exactly?The truly impoverished don't buy take-aways at £10 a go. Or anything remotely 'healthy'.
They buy value teabags and biscuits, and have rotten teeth as a result.
I've seen it, many times. Mostly old people, who no doubt are far too proud to visit a food bank, or are either ignorant of its existence.
Went to Asda today and there was people collecting for a foodbank. Saw a few people walk out placing cans etc in a smallish basket they had so doing their good deed for the day.
My first thought that out at the back of the store was probably a couple of skips brimming with stuff....funny old world we live in.
My first thought that out at the back of the store was probably a couple of skips brimming with stuff....funny old world we live in.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff