Benefit Street on Channel 4

[Anonymous]

We are the new Victorians, but instead of having to physically venture into these "dreadful" places, we can watch and point from the comfort of our own homes.

In a nutshell.
Folk used to have to journey to Beckenham to see dysfunctional and unhinged folk in Bedlam - now they have cyber-asylums instead, so folk can tune in, tut tut to their partners at how superior we are, and be grateful that they aren't at the bottom of society's food chain.
When the camera crew are long gone, and the 'entertainment' value has been drained these folk will be left to survive as best they can.
And the camera crew will be frantically scouring the streets of Britain for an even more 'zany' street for cheap laughs at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.

Amen brother.

If they showed how things really are for a great deal of society, portrayed in the proper manner, there would be a national outcry. Mind you, being force fed a diet of The Sun, X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother suggests we probably wouldn't watch it anyway.

Our "establishment" must be laughing up their sleeves at us. There's always talk of revolution and change and it vary rarely, if ever, happens. They know we are apathetic and far too happy tugging our forelocks to dare rock the boat. Everything is geared to make you thankful for what you've got because anything else puts what we've got in jeopardy and thus puts us into protectionist mode.

Classic command and control and like fucking mugs we lap it up.

I love this country in the main, but there are times I fucking despise it.

 

[BigJimLittleJim]

These unemployed underclass people are nothing new, and my opinion is that if they were in work, then the wages they could earn would normally in our economy, be hardly sufficient to pay their rent etc.. never mind any left over for the luxuries, therefore they have given up any hope of climbing the social ladder.
If they lived in free housing, then they might well take up those minimum wage jobs, which lets face it, are the only available to the long term unemployed - and we're talking families here where the grandparents have never known anything other than the social, all the way to the latest set of sprogs.
To me, the cost of putting a roof over your heads is so high nowadays, it almost forces these people to remain dependant on the social, with the added threat of prosecution should they decide to do some cash in hand jobs - ridiculous that the only attempt at work is prosecuted rather than encouraged.
Maybe one day we'll get a visionary, strong government who will actually help the underclasses instead of demonising and prosecuting them.

 

[jakmoll]

I think that eliminating what you say will have an extremely negative effect on society. If you look at it in a philosophical sense, the chain of command just above the underbelly will become the next in line. Its apparent that people need to feel the comfort of someone below them, it has to be a natural trait that has lead to the furtherment of our poxy , selfish race.

It will eventually lead to people wandering around with wads of cash with nothing to do with their horrible, empty selfish lives.

Perhaps, you are right. But surely more must be done to convince kids they can get better than that and then they have a chance to move out of it, whilst some will inevitably fall back down the ladder. Many people do that already, I am not advocating we give everybody a cash surplus.

Like you say, maybe there are good look stories around. The 50p guy giving washing powder to the woman would make me shameful if I was in charge of this country's purse strings. And I also agree that their shouldn't be a cash bonanza, but if we are all in this together it would be easier if we met in the middle rather than the benefits system being demonized without actually creating any asperational jobs.

The 50p guy trying to make something of himself and showing kindness giving things away he could probably hardly afford to was heartwarming...However the reason that woman was struggling and had her benefits suspended was because they were fraudulently claiming £1500 a month in benefits !! Still smoking tho!

 

[Halfpenny]

These unemployed underclass people are nothing new, and my opinion is that if they were in work, then the wages they could earn would normally in our economy, be hardly sufficient to pay their rent etc.. never mind any left over for the luxuries, therefore they have given up any hope of climbing the social ladder.
If they lived in free housing, then they might well take up those minimum wage jobs, which lets face it, are the only available to the long term unemployed - and we're talking families here where the grandparents have never known anything other than the social, all the way to the latest set of sprogs.
To me, the cost of putting a roof over your heads is so high nowadays, it almost forces these people to remain dependant on the social, with the added threat of prosecution should they decide to do some cash in hand jobs - ridiculous that the only attempt at work is prosecuted rather than encouraged.
Maybe one day we'll get a visionary, strong government who will actually help the underclasses instead of demonising and prosecuting them.

The privatisation of the social housing stock has caused untold problems in that regard. The reason the housing benefit bill is so high is because there is very, very little cheap social housing available, forcing people to live in houses owned by private landlords with much higher rents. The next government, whoever they may be, needs to embark on a massive building programme for affordable homes, but not sell them off. The people we talk about clearly cannot afford to buy their own homes, and so selling them will only prolong the problem.

 

[Aphex]

These unemployed underclass people are nothing new, and my opinion is that if they were in work, then the wages they could earn would normally in our economy, be hardly sufficient to pay their rent etc.. never mind any left over for the luxuries, therefore they have given up any hope of climbing the social ladder.
If they lived in free housing, then they might well take up those minimum wage jobs, which lets face it, are the only available to the long term unemployed - and we're talking families here where the grandparents have never known anything other than the social, all the way to the latest set of sprogs.
To me, the cost of putting a roof over your heads is so high nowadays, it almost forces these people to remain dependant on the social, with the added threat of prosecution should they decide to do some cash in hand jobs - ridiculous that the only attempt at work is prosecuted rather than encouraged.
Maybe one day we'll get a visionary, strong government who will actually help the underclasses instead of demonising and prosecuting them.

Good post. I think the government needs to be more pragmatic with it's approach to the whole situation. There was a report from Holland yesterday about getting alcoholics to work for beer. Over here there would be outrage, but sometimes you simply have to accept that people are beyond other forms of help. It could even benefit them creating a network of support and give them a reason to actually get up in the morning.<br /><br />-- Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:50 am --<br /><br />

Perhaps, you are right. But surely more must be done to convince kids they can get better than that and then they have a chance to move out of it, whilst some will inevitably fall back down the ladder. Many people do that already, I am not advocating we give everybody a cash surplus.

Like you say, maybe there are good look stories around. The 50p guy giving washing powder to the woman would make me shameful if I was in charge of this country's purse strings. And I also agree that their shouldn't be a cash bonanza, but if we are all in this together it would be easier if we met in the middle rather than the benefits system being demonized without actually creating any asperational jobs.

The 50p guy trying to make something of himself and showing kindness giving things away he could probably hardly afford to was heartwarming...However the reason that woman was struggling and had her benefits suspended was because they were fraudulently claiming £1500 a month in benefits !! Still smoking tho!

Like other people have said, who is really ripping off the county? It certainly isn't the have nots.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

Perhaps, you are right. But surely more must be done to convince kids they can get better than that and then they have a chance to move out of it, whilst some will inevitably fall back down the ladder. Many people do that already, I am not advocating we give everybody a cash surplus.

Like you say, maybe there are good look stories around. The 50p guy giving washing powder to the woman would make me shameful if I was in charge of this country's purse strings. And I also agree that their shouldn't be a cash bonanza, but if we are all in this together it would be easier if we met in the middle rather than the benefits system being demonized without actually creating any asperational jobs.

The 50p guy trying to make something of himself and showing kindness giving things away he could probably hardly afford to was heartwarming...However the reason that woman was struggling and had her benefits suspended was because they were fraudulently claiming £1500 a month in benefits !! Still smoking tho!

I was wondering when some clown would point this out.
'Look at these poor folk - all on benefits, yet they can afford to smoke and drink'.
Of course they fucking do - if I had a God-awful life like these people then I would be mainlining crack into my fucking eyeballs to cope.
But then, that is all part of the not-so-subtle subtext of shite programmes like these - 'let's judge these folk, find them guilty of profligacy, and blame them for the mess they're in, rather than the selfish, uncaring society that spawned them'.
A simple conclusion for simple folk.

 

[Anonymous]

If you get the opportunity to re-watch it, Channel 4 news last night had a landlord from Maidstone called Fergus Wilson on regarding housing. He is kicking out tenants on housing benefit as they are the ones in arrears - as is his right as a private landlord (probably a separate debate altogether to this).

Anyway, the point is - watch his interview. A real eye opener.

*edit*

In fact, here it is…. not my post on youtube, so any slant/bias in the title or ensuing comments are not mine, just simply want you to have a watch of him and tell me what you think (from about 1m 10s onwards):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdRS8ghUo7o[/youtube]

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

If you get the opportunity to re-watch it, Channel 4 news last night had a landlord from Maidstone called Fergus Wilson on regarding housing. He is kicking out tenants on housing benefit as they are the ones in arrears - as is his right as a private landlord (probably a separate debate altogether to this).

Anyway, the point is - watch his interview. A real eye opener.

*edit*

In fact, here it is…. not my post on youtube, so any slant/bias in the title or ensuing comments are not mine, just simply want you to have a watch of him and tell me what you think (from about 1m 10s onwards):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdRS8ghUo7o[/youtube]

Personally I think the worst thing the government ever did was to pay housing benefit direct to the claimant, rather than it going directly to the landlord as was formerly the case.
A lot of folk in private rented accommodation have problems with substance misuse, alcoholism, debt to loan sharks, or a sad combination of all three.
So a cheque for £500 comes through the letterbox - is a heroin addict going to;

a) Put it in the bank to pay his landlord, or,
b) Pop round to his dealer?

Consequently, landlords won't touch such folk with a very long shitty stick.
This notwithstanding, Fergus Wilson is still an utter **** with the compassion of a breeze block, and I wouldn't lose any sleep if he was hit by a bus.

 

[Halfpenny]

If you get the opportunity to re-watch it, Channel 4 news last night had a landlord from Maidstone called Fergus Wilson on regarding housing. He is kicking out tenants on housing benefit as they are the ones in arrears - as is his right as a private landlord (probably a separate debate altogether to this).

Anyway, the point is - watch his interview. A real eye opener.

*edit*

In fact, here it is…. not my post on youtube, so any slant/bias in the title or ensuing comments are not mine, just simply want you to have a watch of him and tell me what you think (from about 1m 10s onwards):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdRS8ghUo7o[/youtube]

The worst part of that was Sajid Javid afterwards squirrelling out of it, having heard what would happen to people, using the usual rhetoric about blaming Labour, and deficits and spending without caring a jot about chucking thousands of families onto the street. Then he tries to say that the wealthiest are paying more tax than ever before, but still doesn't refer to the billions left uncollected by HMRC thanks to the tax avoidance of the same group.

The private landlord thing highlights exactly what I'm saying. It means vulnerable people are put even more at risk because they're forced into more expensive private accommodation. I would also agree that it was a mistake to pay housing benefit to the claimant rather than the landlord themselves.

 

[Anonymous]

I just wonder why people won't wake up and challenge stuff like this? What made my piss boil in addition to this (and I don't know if it is shown in that clip) was Clegg going on about George's new round of cuts.

With the greatest respect Nick, you get into bed with whores there's a very good chance you will cop a dose.

Your rhetoric is too little, too late. You sold out your party, your principles and the electorate when you had an opportunity to take an alternative route to try and force real change. Shame on you. You've proven you are no different from any of the self entitled, self interested gravy train riders.

Well done.