Benefits Street

Yeah got to be trolling.

As for the people in this show, pretty much all of their potential contribution to society would be to get ground down and used as fertilizer or fish food.
As for trying to make the street look a mess for the show, I had a look on street view and it's a dump with the traditional sofa outside (actually 3 I counted)
 
Vonhelmet said:
I wonder when we're going to have a program vilifying pensioners. After all, they are far and away the biggest welfare claimants, and they give nothing back.
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I know quite a few pensioners and i'd say a big chuck of them are very well off due to hording money but live like homeless because they won't spend any of it.

My next door neighbour died 3 months ago, he was a classic horder and his 3 bed house was full in every room with useless tat because he wouldn't throw any of it away.

He died living in the corner of one room, he was 89. He only had 2 slices of bread with the cheapest ham you can buy for dinner everyday. He only warmed himself with a small electric heater. He died with £900k in the bank

He left all the money to a friend who will do the same thing with it, put it in the bank and not spend it, and she will die the same way because of it.
 
dowie said:
the state of the street itself just says it all... discarded mattresses, sofas etc... these people really aren't helping their situation.
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street should be spick and span with all those people at home all day to pick up litter / tidy the place
 
dowie said:
The difference is that the elderly, as a whole, have contributed significant amounts of income tax and national insurance payments.

Long term benefits claimants of working age are very much a net drain.
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Yes, the elderly have, by-en-large, contributed significantly to NI and tax over the years. But not to a 'pot with their name on it' as so many like to believe. The problem with our welfare state is that it needs a far larger supply of working, tax and NI paying people to cover those that are claiming - it is not a 'savings scheme' but more like a pyramid scheme...

Who paid for all those who suddenly got free medical care and other benefits when the welfare state was first introduced whom had not paid a penny in NI in their life? Those working (and paying) at the time. Therefore today's pensioners have paid for the care of their parents and grandparents and we are doing the same now. As others have said an ageing population makes this a ticking timebomb...

It should be made harder for employers to bring in immigrants to fill positions when there are people unemployed already in this country, but it should also be made MUCH harder to claim benefits in the medium to long term without GENIUNE medical need.
 
JonnyT said:
Yes, the elderly have, by-en-large, contributed significantly to NI and tax over the years. But not to a 'pot with their name on it' as so many like to believe. The problem with our welfare state is that it needs a far larger supply of working, tax and NI paying people to cover those that are claiming - it is not a 'savings scheme' but more like a pyramid scheme...
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Exactly. Pension funds are not ring fenced, and the system relies on there constantly being incoming funds to meet outgoing pension payments. However, the scheme was set up on the basis that people would work for 45 years and then be retired for 5 years or so. These days people work 45 years and are then retired for 15 years, and the rest. The maths was problematic to begin with, and now it's just ludicrous. And now the government is promising to keep increasing pension payments at a minimum of 2.5%... Where is that money going to come from?
 
Andrew_McP said:
I saw it as quite the opposite. He was making *massive* profits from vulnerable (or simply stupid) people, which put him in an entirely different category of lowlife.
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Even when he gave that couple a whole load of essentials for free because their benefits had been stopped? And then was saying he was thinking of lowering his prices for that street because of how little money they had?

dowie said:
at best he means well and was sort of making an effort (albeit a misplaced one) - in reality he should go and get an actual job
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Agreed, but how easy do you think it will be for him to get an "actual job" with no qualifications or employment history?

dowie said:
re: b) and c) he's not 'doing it legally' and its not of any real benefit to them even if they think it is

firstly its unlikely he's declaring any income from it, secondly there is no way that selling detergent, other chemicals in unmarked cups and carrying it about/storing it along side little cups with opened food products, tea bags etc... is in any way legal
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Well, I meant "legally" as opposed to selling drugs or going on the rob :p

dowie said:
lastly - he's not doing them any favours at all... buying a load of products from the pound shop, dividing each one up amongst several cups and selling them on at a ridiculous mark up is just going to cost these guys even more in the long run....
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You could say the same about any retailer anywhere? Everyone knows it's far cheaper to buy things in bulk, but for essentials that's not always an option unless you have the capital for it upfront.

A lot of the responses here are a very good indication of why these people get stuck in the system. They're vilified for being "scum" sat on their **** all day and yet if they try to make an effort they get shot down for it.
 
I had refused to have a tv license for the last year and a bit, friend got me one for Christmas and this was the first program I watched ..... I thought it was a joke at first but damn this was awfull stuff, still let em have their 15 minutes of fame cant believe they don't realise how stupid they make themselves look???
 
One of those shows that annoyed me so much I wanted to turn it off, but had to keep watching.

I loved the "Black Dee" who apparently couldn't afford £23 every fortnight to stay in her house, but sat there wearing a snapback and texting on an iPhone...
 
Anyone notice the number of bloody satalite dishes on the walls?

Bone idle people like them who reckon the world owes them something makes me sick. I'd have them all out doing community service for 30 hours a week in return for the benefits.

And that Fungi fella who reckons he is incapacitated but will do the odd jobs up for tinnies and rob magazines is ridiculous. He's not incapacitated just intoxicated.

Jabba The Hutt looks well bloody fed.
 
Storm3y said:
Anyone notice the number of bloody satalite dishes on the walls?
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My dad used to work in urban regeneration, like 20 years ago, and said that you could measure social deprivation by the number of satellite dishes on the walls and the amount of dog poo on the streets.
 
The problem with this is that Channel 4 have obviously selected the most extreme end of the spectrum because that makes good tv. A real "benefits street" would have much more diverse residents, most of whom may be on benefits by necessity rather than choice. For example, disabled/handicapped and so forth.

I would imagine C4 went to great lengths to find the "right" street which makes great sensationalist television, assist in portraying them in the most negative light and then congratulate themselves when social media lights up calling for the "stars" to be gassed/shot.

Half of people who are on benefits are actually in work, the programme claimed 2/3rd of the street claimed benefits therefore 1/3rd of the street are probably in work and claiming benefits. But you didn't see that when they are focusing on the shoplifter and so on.
 
Windle said:
The problem with this is that Channel 4 have obviously selected the most extreme end of the spectrum because that makes good tv. A real "benefits street" would have much more diverse residents, most of whom may be on benefits by necessity rather than choice. For example, disabled/handicapped and so forth.
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It doesn't mean its not an issue... I mean when the media pick examples of bankers getting ridiculous bonuses they are usually the very very few extreme examples... people right at the top - CEOs or very high up front office people else it wouldn't be a very interesting article.

The benefits street people are probably at the extreme end of the spectrum - obviously there are plenty of people living on benefits, or partly on benefits who you wouldn't know even received benefits unless they told you. However there are likely several similar streets in every town and city in the UK... there are certainly plenty of Fungi, white dee, black dee etc.. characters not too far from where I live. They might be at one end of the spectrum but they're not as uncommon as some people with rose tinted glasses like to claim.
 
The Daily Fail will print anything if it means selling more papers!

The usual drivel, some person is so embarrassed about being fat they loose 100stone overnight, childcare costs too much blah blah, benefit cheat this and that, always the people that run a sports club and claim sickness etc.

I also seem to remember there is a place that tops everything dreamed up for these benefit bashing shows! Cannot remember the name of it now but it was mentioned on this forum a few years back. The area is so bad that the road has not even been redone for decades and probably never will be.

Anyone notice if you head down the street, there is a ford transit with a cage on the back? No that is not for the residents (The Fail would really big that one up lol) If it is anything like the local council in my town, that vehicle is doing a local pickup of carp/rubbish. Would explain why the sofa's and odd bags of rubbish are hanging about possibly? Then again maybe its just somebody actually going to work lol, they caught wind the real camera's were coming sometime soon and bolted :D
 
dowie said:
The benefits street people are probably at the extreme end of the spectrum - obviously there are plenty of people living on benefits, or partly on benefits who you wouldn't know even received benefits unless they told you. However there are likely several similar streets in every town and city in the UK... there are certainly plenty of Fungi, white dee, black dee etc.. characters not too far from where I live. They might be at one end of the spectrum but they're not as uncommon as some people with rose tinted glasses like to claim.
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For sure, but it clear that they are boardcasting this just to get people to hate everyone on benefits, and thus cut benefits more. There are a lot of people who need it and won't survive without benefits, and slashing benefits won't make any really difference, nor will I see a drop in my tax or increase in health/education. Also it was said that if they went after all the tax the 1% avoid it would be an order of magnitude more.
 
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