Professor Green, living in poverty.

[anonymous-user]

sidicks said:

We've demonstrated above that someone on £18k is doing much more than 'just surviving'.

One bloke living in a flat on his own.

How about two kids becuase his Mrs is dead/fked off to suck the cock of someone richer?

Had to give up his job in accounts and now can only find this or got made redundant as his firm got taken over.

We can add on some benefits but it's not much return for an honest day's work is it?

He's living in Hereford remember so not exactly got a heaving metropolis to look for work in.

[anonymous-user]

otolith said:

If you want to stop people impoverishing themselves by having children they can't afford to raise, you will need to put some pretty illiberal impositions on them.

If the kids came before the poverty, is that OK or not?

[anonymous-user]

PistonBroker said:

It was a very distressing programme.

My wife was happily shouting at the TV, but I couldn't help but take a step back and wonder how we fix it.

I was shocked when Tyler whipped an iPhone out. It was sad to see that his mother wasn't making any attempt to keep the place clean. I guess depression? I had a paper round at his age which would be something more than nothing. But then I was born middle-class and lived in the country so I can't even understand their struggles.

What really hit me was the 10yo girl. She reminded me of my own 10yo daughter and it was sad to see how she seemed just as intelligent and well-mannered. But what's going to become of her? We can blame the parents, but that doesn't fix the problem.

All very sad and rooted in our education system I think. I'm sure school attempted to teach those mothers algebra when all they really needed was basic money management skills etc.

The top bits were my first thoughts and I don't know how we fix it, it was harsh on that poor 10yo kid being moved from house to house and not knowing where she will be and having no stability and using a shared 'stinking' kitchen,
I grew up in a council house after being moved out in the late 60's slum clearances, also being left 'dumped' on the dss counter once as my parents both working couldn't afford to feed me and my sister over the weekend, I also started paper rounds at the age of 11 etc and am doing OK at the moment but it seems a bit desperate in a country of this standing that there were parents in tears on the programme that were worried they would lose their children due to poverty.

SystemParanoia said:

sidicks said:

BigMon said:

Indeed.
The point I was making (and that seems, somewhat bizarrely, to have been missed) was that it seems that a lot of people posting here earn far more than £18K a year (given their admittance of detached houses and Porsches) yet are insistent on telling everyone how easy it is to live on that salary!

I wonder what else they don't have experience of that they can tell us about?

Who said it was easy? People said it was doable, and it clearly is.

Those same people also say they should do training and better themselves so they can earn more and be like them.

But with the figures shown on this thread, its not affordable to do that, not by a long shot; At the grunt level, employers wont pay for people to train as they can just get another grunt instead... its cheaper.

that's why its VERY difficult to rise out of being in such a position and you just end up bouncing sideways from job to job not making any progress in life.

There's not much to say really some people get it how harsh and difficult it must be, especially for the children who have no control over their parents choices and those on here who seem to think '"i'm all right jack, fook everyone else" telling them what to do from their ivory tower.

[anonymous-user]

cqueen said:

Not at all, I'm saying hammer those that have EXCESSIVE income. By all means, have a nice house, nice car, send the kids to private school etc. But once we're talking £250k+ then you should have to contribute more.

You make it sound like I'm some envious little cretin. I have no desire to be rich, I'd have nothing to spend it on, doesn't interest me.

More than the £2k/week in income tax/NI a 250k earner already pays?.

How much do you think the top 1% contribute in tax already? What about the top 0.1%?

What do you think happens when you make punitive tax demands on people, even those fascist Beatles left the country and wrote a song about it. I think the Stones did as well.

What is your version of excessive? Should Alan Sugar give over 75% of his earnings? Martin Sorrell - defo a 98% candidate surely....

[anonymous-user]

sidicks said:

I can't see that anyone has said any such thing.

Regardless, what do you do to help such people (or do you just suggests that 'other people' should pay more tax?).

As well as paying tens of thousand in tax, I work with a charity that helps people in this kind of scenario and I give more than 10% of my gross earnings to charity. You?

I'm in the fortunate or unfortunate position at the moment depending how you look at it to be paying little tax.
I drive my car around taking groups of elderley people shopping and socialising since the local community minibus gave up the ghost. I also do volunteer driving for another small local charity taking infirm/etc people to hospital/medical appointments etc in my vehicle a few days of the week and on the side work on the local town council trying to improve things around here for the locals, ie play areas and other community stuff, that's about it. I'll have to put more effort in