Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

I’m rewatching the programme again because I didn’t see any expensive possessions in the homes of these despairing families ,so wondering if you have actually watched it .

Cambridge mum already fleeing abuse being penalised on her housing benefit because she was given one bedroom too many. Her daughter afraid Social Services might be brought in ?
Imagine the child’s worry and fear.

Danielle swatting for her GCSE’s in those cramped conditions , both parents falling ill with mental health issues and she worrying her dad might do away with himself ?
The pressures of homelessness and revising in cramped conditions taking it’s toll on her .

Then Rosie’s mum , penalised for working overtime on her 16 hr a week job topped up by Universal Credit .
Have you any idea what the latter is and the nightmare conditions fetching it in have brought about ?

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

Ever heard of latch key kids? Or about jobs that can be done such as taking in ironing for neighbours? Cleaning for neighbours? Child minding for neighbours even if not registered? Pub work? Putting a card in shop windows? Taking in a lodger? Set up a bit of open door nosh house. It's amazing how much "jungle stew" can be made with very little and put over a baked spud and sell to neighbours.

A couple of people a couple of streets away from where we lived before moving to Sale made booze. Made with mixed fruit, sugar, and a bit of baker's yeast which could be got free for the asking.

A few days and strain through - well anything really and !let your neighbors know and you'll shift a hell of a lot in very short time .

Even the remaining mixed fruit got sold afterwards.

For those that enjoy it (and it it didn't taste half bad!) a case of being pissed for pennies.

Illegal.? Certainly but needs must when the devil drives.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

Your perception of what you consider a 'necessity' will be different to that of today's society because you lived during a time where all this technology was not available. If we wanted to be in communication with someone, with either sent them letters on a daily/weekly basis or we went down the local telephone box and rang the person(s). Pace of life was slower back then. You were given time to get from A to B, you was given time to be at a certain place but now with everything being available at a touch of a bottom, everything has to be now now now. A mobile phone and the internet are now consider a 'necessity' by many life experts because that is how society has moved on. Schools require kids to use school apps on their mobile, a person can be hired and fired via social media. Anyone you need to speak to is instantly available no matter where they are. Street maps, transport timetables all available on phone apps. It's a totally different world for children today than it was in our days when we was kids.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

Council Tax, is the defining factor, the point between social peace and chaos.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

Can't pay it = Shit hits the fan.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

After all is said and done.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

I dunno, there was some grim days back then, not sure what difference it made.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

Looks like the good people of Yorkshire were more than moved ?
From Hull News
A message from Hull to the Cambridge Channel 4 family living on £5 per day.
Hundreds of people have offered support to a family in Hull who are living on just £5 per day.

Generous folk from across the city have come forward with offers of food, presents and cash for the family who appeared on Channel 4 documentary Growing Up Poor: Britain’s Breadline Kids on Monday.

The story of eight-year-old Courtney, her brother and mother, leaving their three-bedroom flat in Cambridge for a better life in Hull broke viewers hearts - and saw Hull Live inundated with messages from well-wishers.

Ch4 Dispatches programme detailed how the family had fled abuse - but delays in the Universal Credit system meant they had to wait one month for any payment to come through.

It left them with just £5 child tax credits per day to pay for food, electric, heating and other vital bills.

Since the show aired, hundreds of people have discussed how moved they were by the programme, with many offering to take the family food shopping for a Christmas meal, and also to buy the young children presents.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

This is one case that makes one think on who to vote for in the forthcoming election.
Things for the working man and woman will not change under a Tory government. We will still have poverty on a huge scale, There will still be food banks, There will still be hundreds of thousands of homeless. We will still throw money at those overseas countries instead of helping our own.
Or do we vote for Labour who will bankrupt the country within a very short time if they keep all their promises. Do we want a government run by a Communist, A terrorist sympathiser.
A PM who would disband our nuclear deterrent and leave us open to terrorist attacks from anywhere in the world and then invite them to a 'cup of tea on the terrace'
The choice is ours so which way will I vote? I am in a quandary at the moment.

Re: Dispatches,Ch4 tonight ,Growing Up Poor

I am not in a quandary BigBen ,I look at the leader of the Labour Pary and feel afraid .