How poor is poor?

Question to admin:- Is there any way one can cancel or terminate a thread one has started here when one regrets ever having asked the question because stupid, narrow-minded people drag it down to their infantile level and turn everything into a point-scoring exercise, abusing complete strangers in the process?

If so, could you please let me know how to do this and I will cancel this thread forthwith.

And just for your information, daphnedill, I never said that I do not believe the "typical" figure of less than £10k p.a. for the average freelancer. All I said was that I personally have never earned this in my 25+ years of freelancing. If you do, then you must be in the wrong business.

Subject closed.

Thanks for your reply, daphne. If child benefit and tax credit are factored in, that makes more sense to me. And of course I appreciate the higher costs associated with older children.

Older, as a fairly new poster I am often astonished at some of the nasty arrogant comments.I was upset at someone who sounded off to me at an innocent remark. I was cheered by a pm from another gnetter who told me not to worry as this person has a vicious tongue. I am tempted to enquire ' Oh dear, butlers day off is it? Servants having a lie in ' But as I am such a nice person I couldn't possibly

Glad I'm not the only one, grannylyn. This seems to be a characteristics that is particular to social networking / forums, i.e. strangers feel free to abuse and be nasty to other strangers, thinking it's not "real", just the Internet.
I don't really subscribe to that view and would not say anything "virtually" that I would not say to somebody's face. Probably an old-fashioned way of looking at things, but so be it.

Maybe a good subject for another thread - how nasty is nasty, and why?

I was actually, am actually upset at how bad it can get, surely to God it is a platform to share experience and hope. It seems to me that some people who share deeply personal and private things are asking for help as they have no-one.
They should not be shot down or trivialised. imo

Agreed Grannlynn for threads where support is needed or helpful suggestions, the last thing people need is an unpleasant answer.
In a political thread, more robust comment is expected. I am surprised at this thread though, which is really for our opinions on 'how poor is poor' and not for having a go at posters who don't agree with the answer!

Indeed

OlderNoWiser,

Was there any need for that personal comment?

You're quite right. I would never do what I do if I had to rely on my self-employed income to survive. Fortunately, I have other sources of income.

Nevertheless, it pays more than claiming Jobseekers Allowance and many unemployed people were 'encouraged' by the Jobcentre to become self-employed.

Many people registered as self-employed work part-time as couriers, party planners, hairdressers, etc., etc. Many of them are semi-retired or parents looking for a top up income.

Unfortunately, some people are looking to make a living out of self-employment, because there seems no alternative. When Universal Credit is introduced, they will be forced to abandon their businesses, unless they can get backing.

I must defend the food given out at food banks. If aligned with the Trussell Group, guidance will have been provided about the nutritional content of the selection of food given out. Plus, if requested, cooking guidance.

Oldernowiser, I am a normal person. Yes, I know people who are poor, someone who had to go to a foodbank because the family's benefits were stopped.

Is that an acceptable response, or do you want to stop all discussion of this very important subject?

I was surprised that it was put in chat, but put it down to you being a relative newcomer to gransnet.

It is not a subject that should be in chat, being very political in my opinion.
I presume I am allowed to have opinions on your chatty thread.

OldernoWiser You don't own a thread just because you started it, and nobody, other than GN, has the right to say "subject closed". The thread will come to an end when people stop contributing.

grannylynn65, It can be reassuring to get supportive pms but is it really necessary for you to repeat a critical comment made about another, albeit unidentified, poster and then to follow it up with sarcastic remarks?

pensionpat, I used to volunteer in a Trussell Trust foodbank, so I know what's in the packs. Each parcel has enough to feed a certain number of people for three days. They contain enough calories to avoid starvation and the food is safe, because it's nearly all processed. Eating like that for three days won't do anybody much harm, but if you look at the labels, the food has too much salt and sugar for long-term good health and lacks fibre, minerals and vitamins. The aim is to fill bellies cheaply, so it's very carbohydrate heavy.

The real problem is that people don't finish their foodbank parcel and start eating nutritious fresh food. They'll continue filling up on the cheapest food they can find. Many of the people who came to us didn't have a freezer, so buying frozen veg and bulk cooking wasn't an option. Many of them also had to be very careful about how much fuel they were using (either because bills hadn't been paid or they were on expensive prepaid schemes), so it was expensive to cook cheaper meats. Personally, I would have liked every poor family to have a slow cooker!

Other problems were that some people lived in bedsits and didn't even have proper cooking/storage facilities and others had learning difficulties, so found it very hard to plan balanced meals.

I agree with you to a point Daphne. The issues you describe are much wider than food banks, which do a really good job of feeding people during a short-term crisis. I am conscious that we are putting a band-aid on a broken arm.

Agreed!

In some ways I wish foodbanks didn't exist, because people think they're some kind of solution. I always have this image of people crawling around the lord's table waiting for a few crumbs to fall.

Sadly we need food banks or people will be subjected to hunger, I find a 'thank you' when handing over food to be distressing . Sick of hearing what a wealthy country we are when we have people in such poverty

Naughty Granny, wrist slap

Unnecessary again, grannylyn. Eloethan is trying to get the subject back on track. Ten pages on here and many of the comments are relevant, if not chatty.

This is poor. This is appalling. I would like to hear someone who agrees with the government justify this.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/06/dwp-bureaucracy-benefit-claimants-cruelty

I think there would be less nasty comments if gransnetters had to use their own names - and even location!

There aren't that many though...

Guess what my name is, BarbaraAbbs, and where I'm from.

Lyn
Perth

durhamjen yours is definitely a difficult one, I will have to give that some thought. Mine is the name of my last cat- I now live in NW London but originally come from Scotland, educated in Perthshire.

I do have more sympathy with people on benefits than I used to have as I spent 2 months on sickness benefit last year. I now know that it just takes an illness, accident etc and your income is gone, my savings went in a few weeks.so yes we need foodbanks, luckily I did not have to use one (as yet), Im back working now but I have the fear of poverty at the back of my mind all the time.

Im beginning to think that the examples we see of benefit claimants who have huge tv sets, buy lots of food/expensive luxury items that others strive to work for , must be defrauding the system. Like the female on tv recently who boasted that she took a bottle of water to the GP and in the waiting room she poured it down her front, telling the GP that she was incontinent, he referred her to a social worker etc and eventually she got lots of extra benefits to assist her with her incontinence.

I have no fear of giving out my name or location, Im rosie and live in Northumberland. A real Geordie lass.

i0.wp.com/voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/meme-poor-economy.jpg?w=529

Strange, that, Ethel. My husband never got extra benefits for his incontinence. He got legbags and catheters. Has the system changed for the better for incontinence sufferers?
You get benefits if you can prove that you need someone to help you get to the toilet in time, or to remind you to go to the toilet.
What was the programme?