... to feel angry about single mother of 11 getting new house built for her!!

Thanks Greatnan and Baubles

This bit in the article is a bit sad and scary:

When any section of society is demonised on irrational grounds we have to take that seriously, so I will complain to the Press Complaints Commission, and I hope you will too – even though, as Twitter helpfully pointed out, it's run by Paul Dacre, the editor in chief of the Daily Mail.

I'll be one of the ones complaining to the press complaints commission.

Having Paul Dacre as boss of the PCC is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

I've been posting on this on the Total Revulsion thread including Zoe Williams article but it disintegrated with the usual suspects yesterday so I gave up - heartened to find these comments. Just can't be bothered to go over the same ground that thinking media treatment of something is wrong means you condone/are not bothered about the behaviour itself.

Right on bluebell.

Interesting how this thread has morphed from the 11-children mum to the unspeakable Philpotts. When I was mooching around the news-stand in Reading station yesterday, the screaming headlines left me in no doubt that the tabloids meant us to make the connection. I heard AN Wilson on the radio this morning. His reasoning, connecting Philpott with the benefits system, was so flawed that I very nearly threw the radio through the window. This false logic is shamless...or shameful.

Yes, agree bluebell

The Daily Mail has never stooped so low as to connect the Philpotts' actions, and the tragic death of six children, with legitimate benefit claimants. I will also be complaining.

But sadly the connection is made and approved by so many and those of us that criticise it are clearly in favour of burning children to death - I'm not meaning to be flippant but that's basically what is being said. I know there are several members who rely on out of work benefits or have DC who do, I wonder how they feel about this demonising of 'Welfare UK' . The govt is getting ready for the next round now - attacks emerging on the minimum wage ( rember when it was brought in and the Tories said it would ruin us?) and apparently now there are plans to bring workers in to Job Centres to force them to earn more if they are getting credits. Meanwhile I am reading the Guardian this morning about the British ( what a proud word, makes me want to stand up and --throw up--sing the national anthem)Virgin Islands and hidden wealth and then there's the Spanidh Royal Family.... But at least there's good old Tutu to spread some light - remember how the right reviled him and all anti- apartheid people in the 80s - I remember protesting outside Barclays on the high street and being called a communist by Surrey well - heeled matrons. Oh dear this is a rant - should be in green ink

Strike through didn't work - too furious to be careful!!

www.pcc.org.uk/complaints/makingacomplaint.html

I will too

An Wilson is a upper middle class ( old classification system sorry) p** of the first order with the intellectual capacity of a gnat ( sorry gnats) who, of course, writes for that intellectually challenged organ of the gutter press, let's hear it for the DM. Oh dear we are now going to be accused of hijacking this thread !

You have every right to be angry - I am angry too.
When I posted about the DM printing pictures of men being executed, I was not inviting members to look at them (I didn't open the whole article myself). I merely wanted people to realise what a trashy, sensationalist rag it is. I stand by that belief.

The accent really didn't help did it, for those of us who are sensitive to these things.
Just because there is a "logical" connection (that the crime was provoked by his immoral approach to life in general and the benefits system in particular) does not mean it is ethical or responsible journalism. It is bad enough being unemployed and desperate to get a job, without being lumped together in a group with nasty abusive criminals.

You know what patriotism is, don't you, Bluebell?

I wish they hadn't made out that we all demonise the poor! This article seems to go too far for most of us but that is how the press works isn't it?

I would be very surprised if anyone had a problem with helping the genuine poor or needy, I don't know anyone who does.

How do they come up with the numbers of people who are genuinly in need and those who are not? Surely if the authorities knew how many people were cheating the system they would stop them? Like all cheats, some are discovered and some are not.

Movedalot - are you happy then for the status quo to continue? Do you not think that newspapers should be called to account when they print such horrendous articles?

'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'.

I quoted Dom Helda Camara on another thread, but it bears repeating.

If I give money to the poor they call me a saint; if I ask why the they are poor, they call me a communist.

I struggle to understand how children are categorised as genuine or not genuine poor. It is the children who need the benefit payments, which are not handouts, and are not paid according to whether they are deserving or not, but legitimately. Children need food, warmth and shelter, which the state can provide if their parents are not able to, for whatever reason. The way things are going, if it was up to the right and the DM, we would be putting women and children in workhouses.

Why can't they campaign for parents to be educated how to put their children's wellbeing first, instead of talking this utter tripe about Welfare UK?

Just heard a very insightful comment. When the millionaire who killed his wife and daughter and set fire to his house and outbuildings, there was no outcry about 'Millionaire Britain' from the DM.

Greatnan no, are you? I have no opinion on an article I didn't read. I leave it to others to comment on things they know nothing about.

I must confess to only skimming through this article on line this morning but wasn't it Anne Widdecombe who said that "the family lived a shameless lifestyle fuelled by the welfare system" .

After spending a week with the Philpott family she said that "the children were his meal ticket".

I agree with you whenim64 all children born into hardship are genuine cases deserving help. They did not ask to be born. I agree about the need for a campaign to educate parents in putting their children's welfare first but sadly those most in need of the education would probably be those least likely to attend the classes.

Too true gilly. I think many have tried to address these issues and all have failed. I don't have the answer to how to engage them.

Philpott may not be a product of the welfare system but he has certainly used it to further his own ends.

IMHO I really do think that he would not have had 17 children had he had to seriously financially provide for all of them - he just wouldn't!

This 'unemployed baker' with his anti-social, violent, domineering, and self-centred personality would no doubt have made his mark in other ways, but six innocent children might have been spared a dreadful death.

And was there not another similar man recently done for murder who also had 17 children, by a dozen or so women? He was I think only in his 20s/30s. There is no way he, or the girls queuing up to have his children, would have been so keen if they had to support them.

For me, the main issue is not the cost to the state, although it must be considerable, I'm more concerned about the lives most of these children live.

Yes Riverwalk but what is the answer? I agree the cost to the state is an issue but what can we do about it? Withholding benefits from large families will result in children being forced into deeper and deeper poverty and neglect. Once children are born they are born and it is our duty to provide for them. In an ideal world there would be a system in place to prevent people such as Mr Philpott continually fathering children in order to claim more in benefits, but we do not live in an ideal world and short of castration how can we stop it?