Benefits Street....the real scandal

I watched the Documentary last night, it is available on Channel 4 (Monday) for those with youview. It really is hard hitting but the residents do try to help each other. There was one scruffy guy who is an alcoholic but very enterprising.!!! He walked into a Store where The Big Issue is free and took some, stood by traffic lights and when they were Red, approached the cars asking Drivers to buy a copy ...he sold a few, enough to keep him in cans of beer for a while.  

When I was growing up times were hard after the War but everyone was in the same boat so I never felt deprived and Families coped, didin't beg in the street and alcoholics were a rarity, drug addiction even less . Has it been generous Benefits that has taken away the backbone of the Nation?

maybe the residentS SHOULD ORGANISE A STREET MARKET

Badboy wrote:maybe the residentS SHOULD ORGANISE A STREET MARKET

What have they got to sell though Badboy?

Labour has announced plane to toughen up on Benefits, especially targetting the young.They have announced that if a person is unemployed for two years he/she MUST take up a course or they cannot claim Benefits. Should have done this a long time ago .

THEY HAVE GOT 50P MAN.

Badboy wrote:THEY HAVE GOT 50P MAN.

I doubt they would have any buyers Badboy  

I did not watch this programme, I had to think of my blood pressure! However I saw a clip of it on the news tonight and the street itself was filthy. Split bin bags spilling rubbish everywhere. So does that go hand in hand with benefits? No respect for where they live. There are some people on benefits who deserve and need benefits but they do not live like pigs because of it. Then there are others who don't give a s***t about anything and just want to take the money without any intention of doing anything else. After all it is someone else's responsibility to clean up after them, isn't it ?

WATCHING IT AT THE MOMENT

WELFARE AND WILBERFORCE
By Will Heaven - JK is away Telegraph

Iain Duncan Smith compared his welfare reforms to the struggle to end slavery. Changes to the benefits system, he said today, are part of a "historic mission" to help people “break free” like William Wilberforce’s campaign to end the slave trade.

Instead of "disapproving" of people on benefits, the Work and Pensions Secretary said, we should blame politicians (i.e. Labour) for creating a failing welfare system that traps people in poverty.

Key quote: “As Conservatives, that is part of our party’s historic mission. Just look at Wilberforce and Shaftesbury: to put hope back where it has gone, to give people from chaotic lives security through hard work, helping families improve the quality of their own lives.”


Mr Duncan Smith, clearly, is still struggling hard to re-frame the national debate about welfare. He loathes the claimants-as-scroungers view put forward by some in his party, and says those stuck in welfare "ghettos" need to be "lifted up".


How does that all fit with the Chancellor's plans to cut £12 billion from welfare spending after the next election, which will undoubtedly hit the working poor? Short answer: It doesn't. Hence IDS's emotion-filled plea today: his welfare reforms, which he pursues which religious zeal, are under threat. And he knows it.

4 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED ON DRUGS CHARGES BECAUSE OF THE PROGRAMME.

Badboy wrote:4 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED ON DRUGS CHARGES BECAUSE OF THE PROGRAMME.

What.....the Residents Badboy??? What good is that going to to???

THESE ARE RESIDENTS OF THE STREET WHO FEARURED IN THE PROGRAMME.

Badboy wrote:THESE ARE RESIDENTS OF THE STREET WHO FEARURED IN THE PROGRAMME.

As if their lives are not miserable enough Badboy .

Panda they have been selling hard drugs!!! They deserve to be arrested imo

ARE SOME OF THE RESIDENTS ON BENEFITS AS HARDUP AS THEY SAY BECAUSE THEY ARE DRINKING ALCOHOL.

fuzeta wrote:Panda they have been selling hard drugs!!!  They deserve to be arrested imo

OMG I totally agree. Take away their drug money and they wouldn't be able to sit about all day smoking! Winds me up so much watching them.

Winds me up as well WJK. Cigarettes at about £8.00 a packet probably at least a pack a day plus alcohol. Rent paid rates paid so no worries there plus I expect they are on every benefit scam imaginable they must be experts at it. Get a bit of drug money in, helps with all the nice extras and wide screen TV's

Other people are working hard to keep a roof over their own heads and food on the table, they are taxed to high heaven and do not have a penny to spare. It is disgusting, it must make them want to give up the fight. This area was once occupied by respectable working class people. Anyone that genuinely cannot find work or are unable to work should have decent benefits. No one minds paying for that but this no. It has to be sorted and fast but what a job to sort it out!!!

Did you see the food the young couple got from the food bank? I wouldn't object if every time you saw them they didn't have a fag in their mouths. I dread to think how much it costs them a week in cigs!!

wjk wrote:Did you see the food the young couple got from the food bank? I wouldn't object if  every time you saw them they didn't have a fag in their mouths. I dread to think how much it costs them a week in cigs!!

Hi wjk, yes, I noticed that the 'food parcel' was more than adequate. The guy who was supposed to meet his Son lived like a Tramp and was past caring.
If these alcoholics don't want to help themselves by trying to kick the habit, there is not much can be done .How they manage to pay for their ciggies is a mystery, unless they are enterprising like the guy who took free copies of the Big Issue from a Store and sold some to people in their cars waiting for the lights to change.  

Panda wrote:

wjk wrote:Did you see the food the young couple got from the food bank? I wouldn't object if  every time you saw them they didn't have a fag in their mouths. I dread to think how much it costs them a week in cigs!!

Hi wjk, yes, I noticed that the 'food parcel'  was more than adequate. The guy who was supposed to meet his Son lived like a Tramp and was past caring.
If these alcoholics don't want to help themselves by trying to kick the habit, there is not much can be done .How they manage to pay for their ciggies is a mystery, unless they are enterprising like the guy who took free copies of the Big Issue from a Store and sold some to people in their cars waiting for the lights to change.  

They grow and sell drugs, Panda  
(Have a lovely holiday, don't get too sunburnt   )

wjk wrote:

Panda wrote:

wjk wrote:Did you see the food the young couple got from the food bank? I wouldn't object if  every time you saw them they didn't have a fag in their mouths. I dread to think how much it costs them a week in cigs!!

Hi wjk, yes, I noticed that the 'food parcel'  was more than adequate. The guy who was supposed to meet his Son lived like a Tramp and was past caring.
If these alcoholics don't want to help themselves by trying to kick the habit, there is not much can be done .How they manage to pay for their ciggies is a mystery, unless they are enterprising like the guy who took free copies of the Big Issue from a Store and sold some to people in their cars waiting for the lights to change.  

They grow and sell drugs, Panda  
(Have a lovely holiday, don't get too sunburnt   )

Thanks wjk , my flight is 9am, from Bristol, the train doesn't go to Bristol that early so i have to get a Coach at 2.45am to Bristol Temple Meads, then a Bus to the Airport....what a drag.!!!Anyway, the temperature is 19 degrees so that makes up for it. Do they grow drugs in Benefit Street??? The only one who is working and trying to do something positive is the Girl who wants to be a Model, very attractive, i think she will make it.

According to Badboy in his post from Saturday they are, Panda.
Yes, I think she would like to get out of there asap and make a life for herself and her kids. She was very attractive.

I'm so jealous, you are going to be WARM while we all freeze!! I wouldn't be surprised if we don't have snow while you're away.

wjk wrote:According to Badboy in his post from Saturday they are, Panda.
Yes, I think she would like to get out of there asap and make a life for herself and her kids. She was very attractive.

I'm so jealous, you are going to be WARM while we all freeze!! I wouldn't be surprised if we don't have snow while you're away.

Snow has been forecast wjk, but I do feel sorry for the people of Somerset and other areas for the flooding , it will take months to get back to some kind of normality.

Off topic, i am half watching a programme on Channel 4 about a little boy who has this massive Mole covering the whole of his back . Surgeons are just about to operate , very dangerous . fascinating....I hope the op succeeds.

THE MODEL ENDED UP IN A SANDWICH SHOP.

Well done to her badboy. She has got herself a job and earning her own money. I am a big believer in doing what job is available and not waiting around for your dream career whilst other people are paying for you. We always used to have to. Everybody would like a dream career but life is not like that, country would come to a standstill