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Skint Britain Channel 4

13

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭goat2


    I watched the programme last night,
    My conclusion
    They never learned to budget, were chain smoking, ciggies cost a lot these days, a box would put dinner on the table for a couple people, it looked like alcohol was another factor,

    They had not thought of the rainy day scenario,
    Education is the key


  • Registered Users Posts: 933 ✭✭✭El_Bee


    Newsbeat wrote: »
    I think this programme is really good because it shows how bad things have got in this country. I think the problem lies with Labour. Corbyn isnt going to be prime minister. So what are people left with? The tories and no plan B for the voter. It is a horrible state of affairs right now.


    Which is weird, you would think poorer people would vote more to the left.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,942 ✭✭✭topper75


    If nothing was done for Hartlepool et al WHILE they WERE in the trading bloc - you can see the logic of **** it lets give the alternative a shot.

    There was a fair amount of commentary linking the Swindon car factory news with Brexit (even from some workers doing voxpop whilst leaving work).

    But the big obvious question was never asked: What did BEING in the union do for those car plant workers who lost their job in the past? Answer: SFA.


  • Registered Users Posts: 31,752 ✭✭✭✭gmisk


    Labour were in government from 1997-2010 and did very little if anything for the North of England, Wales or Scotland. NI possibly due to the GFA.
    I agree, but I think things have got even worse since then, did you watch the programme? The biggest focus was on the disaster for Hartlepool which universal credit has been, which the tories brought in, and labour want to scrap/reform.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,725 ✭✭✭lalababa


    LuasSimon wrote: »
    For someone on the dole in England where only for foodbanks many would starve to death , coming to this country and been on the dole in rural Ireland would be like winning the lotto!

    SSSHHHHHEEEESSSHHHTTT!!!:eek: That's all we need.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 9,381 ✭✭✭Yurt2


    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/b6dbf34e-c987-11e7-aa33-c63fdc9b8c6c

    Sh*t life syndrome.

    As other posters have said, parts of the UK have effectively been abandoned by the state. The NHS is the only thing keeping a veneer of dignity.

    To any economically right-wing people reading this thread: if you were born into a poor family circumstance in a place like Blackpool, the odds are you'd be welfare dependant too.


  • Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    El_Bee wrote: »
    Which is weird, you would think poorer people would vote more to the left.

    most do, but the seriously disillusioned/p!ssed off vote far right


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 36,787 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    gmisk wrote: »
    I agree, but I think things have got even worse since then, did you watch the programme? The biggest focus was on the disaster for Hartlepool which universal credit has been, which the tories brought in, and labour want to scrap/reform.

    Haven't seen it. I tend to eschew programmes I think might fall into the "Poverty porn" category.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,252 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    LuasSimon wrote: »
    Think the Birth rate for traveller women is 6.4 as against 1.8 for non traveller Irish so you they are the fastest growing part of the Irish population even if half of them are too lazy-refuse to fill in census forms.

    You catch a number of them in the wild, put a mark on their shell and release them. Then when you catch another random group you can estimate their number from how many are marked. I think that must be how they do it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,482 ✭✭✭Gimme A Pound


    Remember reading 12 to 15 years ago about a house for sale in Middlesborough going for £1,000. Various formerly industrialised regions of the midlands and across the north of England are in such a bad way that we cannot comprehend over here. And how could we when we never had an industrial revolution.

    Once those industries went to the wall, there was nothing to replace them. It wasn't just about a wage, it was about the local economy too, so the jobs just aren't there.

    The north-east and the black country (between Birmingham and Wolverhampton) are particularly shocking. Folks with pretty much nothing. Ditto parts of Wales as mentioned.

    A comparable region appears to be the US's "rust belt" - cities around the Great Lakes/not far from the Canadian border, including (among others) in Pennsylvania, New York state, Indiana, and particularly Ohio. Michigan too - the most famous rust belt city being Detroit. Places where there was once thriving industry (steel, automobiles) and now every bit of it and its legacy is gone, with nothing to replace it.

    I've read that heroin blights those regions of the UK too. And a really sad outcome for rust belt regions is the way heroin dependency stemmed from over prescription of opiate based pain relievers for industrial injuries in the steel mills etc. Now there's no industry, no money and people who became addicted to the pills are injecting.
    Idbatterim wrote: »
    Sorry this is rich Britain with a powerhouse economy ? Shows this kip up for the banana republic it is. Watch those spineless rats further inflate the welfare spend again this budget!

    Fifty percent marginal rate on the working poor. Propping up the off the wall welfare state !
    Huh? Do you even know what a banana republic is?


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  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 12,472 Mod ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    You can thank the Conservative party for this state of affairs. They dismantled much off the industrial base of England and Wales and brought in cut after cut in welfare.

    They truly despise the poor.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,482 ✭✭✭Gimme A Pound


    I'd say it's more nuanced than they despise the poor. I don't like when that's said about the Conservative party - it's populist, and that party is made up of all kinds of people.

    But yes, under Thatcher much of the industry went to the wall. It would have gone to the wall anyway though - it wasn't just down to Thatcher. But there did seem to be little or no strategy to replace it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,182 ✭✭✭✭fritzelly


    Problem with these types of programmes that C4 tend to navigagte towards is they choose those individuals who make the biggest impact on screen. Not the family who is managing to live on benefits. Take the previous show Benefits Britain - it was literally a farce.
    Only guy I had any sympathy for was the near on blind fella, the rest were and have always been scroungers. The woman who did a trial of a few hours in the local shop but when it came around to actually working had the misfortune of having to look after someone elses kid - seriously!


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,858 ✭✭✭Church on Tuesday


    Remember reading 12 to 15 years ago about a house for sale in Middlesborough going for £1,000. Various formerly industrialised regions of the midlands and across the north of England are in such a bad way that we cannot comprehend over here. And how could we when we never had an industrial revolution.

    Once those industries went to the wall, there was nothing to replace them. It wasn't just about a wage, it was about the local economy too, so the jobs just aren't there.

    The north-east and the black country (between Birmingham and Wolverhampton) are particularly shocking. Folks with pretty much nothing. Ditto parts of Wales as mentioned.

    A comparable region appears to be the US's "rust belt" - cities around the Great Lakes/not far from the Canadian border, including (among others) in Pennsylvania, New York state, Indiana, and particularly Ohio. Michigan too - the most famous rust belt city being Detroit. Places where there was once thriving industry (steel, automobiles) and now every bit of it and its legacy is gone, with nothing to replace it.

    I've read that heroin blights those regions of the UK too. And a really sad outcome for rust belt regions is the way heroin dependency stemmed from over prescription of opiate based pain relievers for industrial injuries in the steel mills etc. Now there's no industry, no money and people who became addicted to the pills are injecting.

    Huh? Do you even know what a banana republic is?

    Just out of a kind of curiosity, a lad I went to college with had relatives there and moved there after college which I thought was a kind of an odd move, is there much industry there at all? quality of life? furthest midlands I was was Stoke and I found that pretty grim.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭goat2


    My thinking is, that if they really wanted to work, they or someone in the family would move to a place where there is a better chance of employment

    They obviously do not know how to manage finances, since they had no backup plan in the event of no cash coming in for a period of time


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,015 ✭✭✭✭James Brown


    LuasSimon wrote: »
    Anyone watching this tonight , about people on the dole in Hartlepool in England and the change in dole payments to monthly . Social welfare in England is less than half what’s paid here and there’s also heavy sanctions for those not making serious efforts to get work . Most of those on the dole are penniless in his programme . Mad stuff

    As opposed to welfare Ireland where you can get 50-60000 on welfare if your from an Irish ethnic group with ten children !

    Ah there it is :)
    Keep voting for the FF/FG lads oversee the policies you don't like, sure it's all SF and PBP causing it all :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,934 ✭✭✭20Cent


    goat2 wrote: »
    My thinking is, that if they really wanted to work, they or someone in the family would move to a place where there is a better chance of employment

    They obviously do not know how to manage finances, since they had no backup plan in the event of no cash coming in for a period of time

    Moving isn't easy when you're broke. Social mobility probably plays a large part in it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,928 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    goat2 wrote: »
    My thinking is, that if they really wanted to work, they or someone in the family would move to a place where there is a better chance of employment

    the cash they get is tiny. they can barely afford to live never mind think about moving elsewhere. wherever they would move to already has competition for jobs which means the likely hood of them getting jobs elsewhere is quite small.
    goat2 wrote: »
    They obviously do not know how to manage finances, since they had no backup plan in the event of no cash coming in for a period of time

    in some cases, however mostly, no viable backup plan is availible to them.

    shut down alcohol action ireland now! end MUP today!



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭LuasSimon


    Ah there it is :)
    Keep voting for the FF/FG lads oversee the policies you don't like, sure it's all SF and PBP causing it all :)

    Think you’ll find Sinn Fein are the travellers party in this country .
    More worried about new houses and stables for travellers who never worked a day in their life’s rather than the people who work to pay their way .


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,834 ✭✭✭✭Idbatterim


    LuasSimon wrote: »
    Think you’ll find Sinn Fein are the travellers party in this country .
    More worried about new houses and stables for travellers who never worked a day in their life’s rather than the people who work to pay their way .

    yeah true. But in fairness FG arent too interested in those that pay their way either... or FF for that matter...


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  • Registered Users Posts: 39,466 ✭✭✭✭Boggles


    LuasSimon wrote: »
    Think you’ll find Sinn Fein are the travellers party in this country .
    More worried about new houses and stables for travellers who never worked a day in their life’s rather than the people who work to pay their way .

    Seems ligit.
    As Taoiseach I wish to now formally recognise Travellers as a distinct ethnic group within the Irish nation.

    It is a historic day for our Travellers and a proud day for Ireland.

    - Enda Kenny


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,934 ✭✭✭✭fin12


    Watched this show and the way they treat people over there on welfare is actually sick, that poor blind man on the phone, it was actually horrible watching, imagine sending someone a letter saying your payment is €5 for the month, what kind of sick f*ckers are they? And that opera music they play when they put u on hold is definitely some sort of sick joke.

    I might give out about Ireland sometimes cause of the housing crisis but I am so glad and lucky to be born here than that horrible f*cked up country, I can’t even imagine what the f*cks going to happen there after brexit.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,834 ✭✭✭✭Idbatterim


    “Watched this show and the way they treat people over there on welfare is actually sick, that poor blind man on the phone, it was actually horrible watching, imagine sending someone a letter saying your payment is €5 for the month, what kind of sick f*ckers are they? And that opera music they play when they put u on hold is definitely some sort of sick joke.

    I might give out about Ireland sometimes cause of the housing crisis but I am so glad and lucky to be born here than that horrible f*cked up country, I can’t even imagine what the f*cks going to happen there after Brexit “

    yeah it’s possibly a bit over the top over there. It’s the other extreme here. Sick of hearing all the left wing media here banging on about the poor unfortunates on welfare here. The spineless government throwing more at them every budget. The ignorance of those here who think the government aren’t robbing the tax payer blind to pay for this farce is pathetic. Any one care to guess what my German dad gets for his state pension ( based on what you pay in over there , a proper system) come on the apologists, make your guess ...


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭2011abc


    fin12 wrote: »
    Watched this show and the way they treat people over there on welfare is actually sick, that poor blind man on the phone, it was actually horrible watching, imagine sending someone a letter saying your payment is €5 for the month, what kind of sick f*ckers are they? And that opera music they play when they put u on hold is definitely some sort of sick joke.

    I might give out about Ireland sometimes cause of the housing crisis but I am so glad and lucky to be born here than that horrible f*cked up country, I can’t even imagine what the f*cks going to happen there after brexit.

    Haven’t seen this.Sounds like a real life ‘I ,Daniel Blake ‘ which was grim enough as ‘fiction’ .Sad ...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,482 ✭✭✭Gimme A Pound


    People use some right hyperbole about the UK. It's got problems but it's hardly a horrible ****ed up country. That's more a description of e.g. Venezuela.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭LuasSimon


    Idbatterim wrote: »
    “Watched this show and the way they treat people over there on welfare is actually sick, that poor blind man on the phone, it was actually horrible watching, imagine sending someone a letter saying your payment is €5 for the month, what kind of sick f*ckers are they? And that opera music they play when they put u on hold is definitely some sort of sick joke.

    I might give out about Ireland sometimes cause of the housing crisis but I am so glad and lucky to be born here than that horrible f*cked up country, I can’t even imagine what the f*cks going to happen there after Brexit “

    yeah it’s possibly a bit over the top over there. It’s the other extreme here. Sick of hearing all the left wing media here banging on about the poor unfortunates on welfare here. The spineless government throwing more at them every budget. The ignorance of those here who think the government aren’t robbing the tax payer blind to pay for this farce is pathetic. Any one care to guess what my German dad gets for his state pension ( based on what you pay in over there , a proper system) come on the apologists, make your guess ...

    I agree social welfare in UK is awfully low compared to Ireland where there is endless uncapped benefits no matter how many children you have and especially for those who never did a days work .
    Re your fathers german pension , assuming it’s 65 years of age I’ll guess 300 euro per week for one person ?


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,235 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    The poverty is so much worse than over here even in our worst areas

    Don't understand why they are not arriving here by the boatload to claim

    They can’t afford to pay for the boat. It’s a vicious circle.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,834 ✭✭✭✭Idbatterim


    LuasSimon wrote: »
    I agree social welfare in UK is awfully low compared to Ireland where there is endless uncapped benefits no matter how many children you have and especially for those who never did a days work .
    Re your fathers german pension , assuming it’s 65 years of age I’ll guess 300 euro per week for one person ?
    Eighty euro a week. It’s based on what you pay into the system. He moved over here in the early seventies, so had very little German contributions. It’s a fair system though in my opinion, you know where you stand from the start ...


  • Registered Users Posts: 23,372 ✭✭✭✭Kermit.de.frog


    Nothing like a bit of poverty porn to get the juices flowing of a Monday morning.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 540 ✭✭✭Solomon Pleasant


    Hartlepool was about 2:1 for leaving.

    They're disillusioned, they're impoverished, they don't see a future, they resent the perceived levels of immigration, and they took it out on their 'betters'.

    Calling people Hartlefools because they voted as they did, is condescending ignorance.

    They're not fools, and maybe if the EU had done a better job of convincing them that their lives were in any significant way better within it... the outcome might have been different.

    I can't understand why people here can't get it into their thick skulls - Brexit, for ordinary 'Leave' voters was never about +/- jobs.

    Jobs did play a role - it was a contributing factor. You are correct in that they're impoverished and don't see a future - a huge reason for that is their lack of employment opportunities.

    That, and racism.


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