Child Poverty

How do you know I was refering to a case? You don't know, don't tell me what I say is despicable. To tell people they are not entitled to a washing machine and shoes is despicable.

You are not actually running this site are you?

I’m not familiar with the “bird table” case which sounds heartbreaking and obviously so much more than poverty going on . Down right neglect and child abuse it seems too.

I don’t “do” religion Fennel but that passage is so true and as relevant today as it ever was .

How on earth people can come on here and claim things aren't as bad as they were in the past is deluded.

Read my posts oldbatty

The case you quote is well-known, a case of child abuse where the child died. To use that case of a child stealing bread from a bird table is despicable imo.
It was a sickening case.

Sorry that was not directed at you River

It seems that in spite of the Welfare State etc there are still many poor people, especially children.
Apologies to any anti religion, there's a prophesy:
"Deuteronomy 15:11 (BBE) For there will never be a time when there are no poor in the land; and so I give orders to you, Let your hand be open to your countrymen, to those who are poor and in need in your land."

Of course people have to get into debt to buy a cooker, washing machine etc. How else would they get one? Please don’t say you should go without . It is 2018 for goodness sake not 1918 !

The very fact that people are (apparently) getting into debt buying such things as new cookers and washing-machines says it all.

Oh, Baggs I can't believe you would say such a thing!

Would you really want a family going without a cooker and washing machine in this day and age, just because that's how it was in the past?

gillybob thanks so much for your post at 18.23 with your comments about 'relative poverty'. I was finding steam coming out of my ears at the suggestion that because children (rarely) walk to school barefoot, all is well. Baggs, I try to avoid personal criticism but honestly, your comments reminded me of the Three Yorkshiremen sketches by Monty Python. Luxury!
I'm late to this thread but it's restored my faith in gransnet posters because the vast majority of us can give first hand examples that knock the OP on the head.
I read Angela's Ashes years ago, when I was still working and face to face with real poverty on a daily basis. I still feel we're drifting back into the kind of social belief systems in some quarters, ie that we have deserving and undeserving poor. Tell that to the children arriving at school, who haven't eaten since their school dinner the previous day, who are smelly, cold and tired because their parents aren't coping/are addicted to drugs/alcohol or who are depressed and worn down by the poverty of their existence.
Some people must live special lives if they never see poverty in today's society.

Poverty is relative to the time and the place though. Some people would say that having a TV is a luxury ( well okay back in 1962 when I was born maybe it was ) but in 2018? I don’t think so . I get sick of hearing the same old “we didn’t even have central heating.....blah blah blah” well times have supposed to have moved on and children shouldn’t be living in cold, damp properties in a wealthy country in 2018 .

So when do you do your shift at the food bank? Toodle pip. Be sure to pm your chums won't you.

Now you're just being silly. Toodle pip.

India, a fine example. Make shoes out of tyres, prostitute yourself or be sold. Yes why not?

I'm not denying the existence of food banks, nor the need for them, batty. But when it comes to absolute poverty, people simply are better off now and not just here. Poverty is decreasing all over the world.

Actually bring back the walk in barefeet and the copper wash tub. Yes let's do that.

That's an interesting take on the 'good' side of poverty, EV. No pressure? Tell that to kids making a bare living on rubbish heaps in India.

There has always been keeping up with the Joneses.

Oh great kids have got shoes now. Little plastic dolly style sandals in the snow. Great. What a ridiculous statement. People are better off because they have shoes. Do you have food banks near you? Go along and spend a day and tell me people are better off.

Quantifiers for you then, batty. You don't see kids without shoes nowadays. e.g. (1) Where I live now people used to walk to church barefoot so that their only pair of footwear was clean to wear inside the church. In some cases they were walking over moorland.
e.g. (2) When my dad started school in a Yorkshire mining village in the early 1930s there were kids in his class who had no shoes.

The very fact that people are (apparently) getting into debt buying such things as new cookers and washing-machines says it all. One of my grans did the washing in a copper cauldron with a fire underneath it, the other washed everything by hand in her kitchen sink, including all the local Catholic priest's washing and altar cloths.

People here obviously think my figures are way too high or made up, but no-one has come up with alternative figures.

If anyone is interested in actual numbers feed a sample scenario of a poor parent into the benefit checker “entitledto”. Or look up benefits in gov.uk. You’ll probably be very surprised.

It's tough that's what I said, but if there was more money available who should we give it to, single parents, jobseekers,working families, the disabled, the mentally ill, pensioners, students, the list of we are a special case goes on. I don't think there ever was a time when single parents had "enough", maybe when Corbyn get elected it will change but I'm not holding my breath.

They were happier times in the past Baggs. No pressures whatsoever because there was nothing to get pressured up about. Nobody kept pace with anyone and we were happy with what little we had. Food was at a premium just after the war as we had ration books which were used wisely. We were fortunate to have an uncle who was a steward on the Cunard Line and when his ship docked at Liverpool we knew we were in for a treat.

More than 14 million people, including 4.5 million children, are living below the breadline, with more than half trapped in poverty for years, according to a new measure aimed at providing the most sophisticated analysis yet of material disadvantage in the UK.

Quantify " better off " please

No, it's not deluded. Things aren't as bad as in the past in general. Of course there will be cases where things are as bad but, in general, people are better off now.

They are indeed Old Batty.
However, if you haven't experienced real poverty nor haven't witnessed it , how can you possibly know?
As has been said previously, there are many living in their comfortable, affluent bubble.
I don't often get fired up on GN, but I'm upset at some of the perceptions on here.