Poverty In Britain.

[Georgiesmum]

With more and more food banks opening, how concerned are you about poverty in this country?

[B00]

only concerned if me or mine get that desperate

[ummmm]

A thread from a few years back

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Media-and-TV/Question1025826.html

[DJHawkes]

as long as there is a pound bakery in town noone will go hungry

[McMouse]

What is the definition of poverty?

[Georgiesmum]

People have different ideas about poverty. People that say they havent got enough money to feed themselves or their families i guess.

[themorrigan]

Vunerable people need educating in how to save money. Seriously, I was in a corner shop in a particularly 'poverty stricken' housing estate a few weeks ago and these two girls came in to buy lunch for themselves and 2 kids. They bought crisps pasties,pies and chocolate, cans of fizzy pop and the bill came to over £15. heard one girl say 'well this will do for their teas as well' For what they spent I could have fed our family for 3 days. Start teaching food economics at school and offer cookery courses for people on benefits, it would be a start.

[Brenden]

Watch the second part of Secrets of the workhouse, itv tonight 9 o'clock - that was poverty.

[themorrigan]

Brenden even 50 years ago people had far far less than they have now and did not describe themselves as poor. I've been doing my family tree and 3 generations ago families of 8 lived in 2 bedroom homes with outside toilets and no bathrooms. Now-a-days people think they are hard done by if they can't afford the newest gadget. Times change, mostly for the better though.

[ummmm]

Times have changed, Brenden.

themorrigan - just because you were in a 'poverty stricken area' doesn't mean the people you witnessed lived in poverty.

Anyone living in poverty, true poverty, wouldn't dream of buying their food from a corner shop.

[Georgiesmum]

Oh thats shocking Themorrigan! You can do a lot with a pound of mince!
Brendan, yes, Its an interesting series. Ive been watching it, But i do find the current need for food banks in the UK a worrying trend..

[ummmm]

Why is it shocking? H/she doesn't know how much they have in the bank!

[themorrigan]

Georgies mum I agree it was shocking and education is the key

[themorrigan]

Ummmmm although I of course did not know for sure if they were in poverty or not I could make a sensible judgement based on the fact they had just been to the PO counter in the corner of the shop and got their benefit cheques, so presumed they were on a low income. Two young girls with kids, dressed like chavs, local to the area, yes sorry, my mistake, they were more than likely nannies taking their rich little charges out in the 'hood to show them how the other half live.....or not.

[daffy654]

Benefit cheques? What decade are you living in?

[themorrigan]

daffy I've never been on benefits so don't know the right words. I suppose getting handed a wadge of 10' ers over the PO counter for doing bugger all is what you call it these days.

[New Judge]

The dictionary definition of poverty is “the state of being poor”. But of course “poor” is itself subjective and the UK defines poverty as having an income less than (I think) 60% of the average annual income. (This equates to about £13,800 pa, or £260 pw). This is hardly breadline level and, as themorrigan explains, most people today of no notion of what it is to be poor. I too have seen “hard pressed mums” feeding their children sausage rolls for “breakfast” (at about 11:00am) bought from the bakers at £2.50 a throw and have seen the same mums then toddle along to the nail bar to have a full set done for thirty quid.

Of course food banks are popular. If my local NatWest announced it was doling out £5 notes on Wednesdays and Fridays I might be tempted to wander down there myself. There is no widespread long term poverty in the UK (though I accept some people may hit hard times for a spell, often through no fault of their own, and they deserve help) but there is certainly a poverty of intellect when it comes to managing on what one has.

[Wharton]

Money is the cause of poverty.

[ummmm]

LOL @ themorrigan. Benefits gets paid into a bank account. The people you seen might just have a post office account and were withdrawing some money. Would you have said the same if they were at a cash point?

[ummmm]

NJ - How do you they were 'hard pressed mums'?

Looks to me that some people are so up themselves that they view anyone who doesn't dress the same as them as some sort of benefit scrounging scumbag.

Shocking attitude where you judge mothers and assume she puts her nails before her children.

[themorrigan]

Ummmm you say no one in real poverty would buy from a local corner shop -where the hell are they going to buy their food from then? I presume they are too poor to have a car, too poor to get a taxi to the local Aldi and by the time they'd paid for buses both ways they could probably have got what they wanted at the corner shop for the same price......