Hungry Britain

I'm still in my PJs.....what does that make me? What a load of c**p you talk, cactus60. Offensive c**p at that. There, I've said it.

Gillybob Well said about "menial" tasks.

Think about the refuse collectors and sewage maintenance workers. Road maintenance workers, Toilet cleaners in towns and businesses. Supermarket floor sweepers, hospital cleaners. Order pickers in food warehouses. Drain cleaners.

Well you get the idea! These are the generally poorly paid "lowly" workers who really keep everything else functioning. They keep our society going from the bottom up.

I don't see your point Nelliemoser.

The lack of social housing is deplorable. But I guess the government realise that now and are at least trying to remedy the situation. Most new housing developments now have to include some housing association dwellings amongst the "upper crust" ones.

What exactly do you do when you go into people's homes, cactus?

Think about it before you condemn cactus.

There is a supermarket near an estate in Cardiff where women turn up in their PJs to shop having dropped off the kids at school. Any of you lot seen a shopper in Waitrose in pyjamas? I thought not.

All I can think of at the moment is the sketch with the Two Ronnies and John Cleese (I look down on him etc).

Wandering away from the OP.

Everyone may need a helping hand at some point in their lives, and there is obviously a blip in the system for the need for foodbanks to have arisen if the reason for them is a delay in benefits being paid. That needs addressing urgently. But is that the only reason and are they ALSO being used by people who 'play the system'? I know they have to be referred, but some people can be very good at manipulating the system. It cannot be denied that they exist.

Wait to be shot down in flames Rose.

I think all your remarks are from smug self satisfied people who have never had to worry about paying bills etc. At least Ive got pride that Ive always done the correct thing, never gone whinging for handouts. Always had a job, at one time I was a cleaner but I always held my head up and 'paid my way'. There is no use in talking to people like you lot.
Dragonfly, is your life perfect that you can criticise me, at least Ive said openly that my life has been a struggle are you respectable.
there are many people who think its a disgrace to sit around in jamas all day but if they kept in the house that would be there business, the ones I find hard to believe are the ones who go to my local supermarket on sundays in jama bottoms or who lounge on garden walls at lunchtime in jamas.
This is like talking to a brick wall, I have my standards and you lot seem to have few.

Keep dipping into this thread and then leaving hastily with steam pouring out of my ears. My daughter is a single mum with two children. She lost the house she and her ex bought because of their divorce. They didn't get very much at all for it when it was sold. She put a small sum aside for her daughters and the rest went on necessities to set up a new home - beds, sheets, kettle, iron, because she had nothing.

Working full time would not bring in enough for her to have a mortgage or pay rent in the area even if she could do it with two children to care for. She is highly trained and good at her job having experience in caring for young people with special needs.

To obtain housing benefit she had to drop her working hours to 16 and there is no option for increasing these on a reducing benefit scheme. The council say she is overpaying for her home but it is actually less than the going rate for homes in the area so she has to make up the extra. Hardly a month goes by without the council threatening to stop her benefits just because a change in them is anticipated. It is a continual roller coaster.

On top of this she crushed her foot in October and is now on SSP which is due to end at the end of the month. The hospital she attended completely misdiagnosed and after Christmas she was finally sent to see a foot specialist. Hopefully on the 20th of this month she MIGHT get a diagnosis but there will still need to be treatment of course. The company she works for have arranged for her to see their doctor today and I just hope she still has a job at the end of the day if not the whole b****y precarious pack of cards will come tumbling down.

We have contacted our local MP for help but he is proving worse than useless. It is an emergency. Yes there are people who need help desperately, food banks are necessary (obviously we won't let our daughter get to this). It is the Government and IDS who are bringing about this level of poverty.

It is very sad when marriages break up and the children have to suffer. I'm sure there was no way your daughter and her DH could have stayed together long enough to see the children looked after. Very sad.

Deb, your daughter is just the sort of person I mean who needs help, and urgently. I hope things work out for her and hope she gets the medical attention she needs. Thank goodness she has you.

The people I mean who 'play the system' are taking funds away from the people who need them.

Could the council find her a smaller home, perhaps even in a different area by arranging something with another local authority?

I've just been called at BITCH in a PM. Delightful.

Tell us who the poster is.

Never experienced debt, paying bills, worried about having enough food etc. etc. eh, Cactus? Hahahahahahaha must remember that one!

I speak as a council estate girl who grew up on one of the largest overspill estates in the country, who knows only too well the difficulties of managing on fresh air.

So what EXACTLY do you do when you go into people's homes? You still haven't explained.

Name and shame.

Report it to GNHQ, Dragon. There's no need for that.

Look back through the thread and it'll be obvious who it is.

Like (sensible) when says, report it to HQ.

I agree.

Rise above it Dragonfly1 we are all entitled to an opinion on GN the problem is that some people think "their opinion" is the only one that counts.

If someone has to resort to sending nasty messages then who is really "the bitch" ?

It is sad Jingle and was totally impossible for them to stay together. Unfortunately if my daughter were to move from the area she would lose her support system (family) so not be able to work at all. Also her ex lives nearby and sees his children, likes their schools etc. So wouldn't agree to a move even if DD would. Thanks for your thoughts and ideas though .

Do think you should report that PM Dragonfly

Not only their opinion, gillybob but their own experience.

beginning to think this should be called 'Harpiesnet not Gransnet lol

Back to the food banks. I was very surprised to learn from the man who ran the food bank in last night's programme that people who are referred can only access it three times a year so that they don't become dependent on it.