Another point worth making is that, yes, some poor people make mistakes, anyone who’s been in a desperate situation knows that stress obviously does impact your decision making.
However, wealthy people make mistakes too, and they just declare bankruptcy, fire a few underlings or hide away at a luxury rehab hotel for a while.
It is not a level playing field.
5 Likes
Of course those who find themselves in poverty make poor decisions. It’s so much fucking harder to make good decisions in those circumstances, particularly if you do not have a strong educational background. The choices available that might make any profound difference (even incrementally) are so much more limited. It connects with what @Mascot referred to, the biggest cause of poverty is poverty. Generations are trapped in a cycle of deprivation.
8 Likes
The education system in the past was set up to breed the cannon fodder that was required for the factory’s…
Hey Ho, Thatcher comes along and does away with manufacturing etc etc etc…
and leaves a void where the overspill have nowhere to go…
For such an advanced country in the world stage…
The forward planning for the youth of tomorrow was/is absymal
2 Likes
Manufacturing had been in decline in the UK since the 60’s.
2 Likes
I was told it was vodka
Her war against the trade unions and her economic programme didn’t help it much either.
Not that Blair did anything to reverse any of it when given the chance
A Christmas plea (probably naive, but I’m feeling so inclined to write)…
If you are in a fortunate position to have a little something to spare, maybe you will be inspired to do something for someone else you might not have, ordinarily? Could be a charity that touches your heart or life experience. Could be an individual who you happen to notice. No song and dance. No fanfare. Just quiet compassion and generosity.
The problems around poverty are so enormous, so systemic and cyclical, that it can be disheartening to even begin to think about how to tackle it. So maybe, in whatever part of the world you find yourself, if the opportunity is there and you have the means, doing something generous and uplifting for someone else might be just the thing this Christmas?
I’m talking about human kindness and decency. And I reckon a lot of us can do something (if we are not, already).
Cheers!
2 Likes
Perhaps not, but it is important to put it into the correct perspective. Those policies were introduced at least in part because of the afore mentioned decline and the view that unions were playing a significant part of that.
And also her desire to pursue her agenda which included privatisation.
Perhaps her biggest failure in this was not putting in place viable plans to replace the lost industries? Communities were pretty much left to their own devices. More for me to read up on.
1 Like
I’m surprised they haven’t run away, I’m sure I would. 
Your probably in the same shit as your neighbours anyway so after a good moan, yes!
Fucking haves on have nots, fuck off!
No and I don’t.That’s not the point. A hungry child is the fault of the parents and to blame the government is frankly ludicrous.
If he could do it then, why not do it now?
Hogwash, my grandmother-in-law worked like a trojan doing 2 jobs to pay for her kids’ education and upbringing after her husband died. She wore her sister’s clogs as a child and worked in a mill, they had fuck all and NEVER resorted to crime (another bug bear of mine) Massive amounts of grit and determination and good honest hard work meant that she bought a house, helped her kids and was a fabulous example to me when I first met her. Made of granite and utterly spectacular. Poverty only causes poverty if you use it as an excuse.
I’ve always said Thatcher’s most disgusting policy was the sell off of council housing, through her ‘right to buy’ scheme.
That opinion might be influenced by the fact that at the time I was living in one, and experienced first hand the way that policy - in my opinion deliberately - divided and separated the kind of working class communities who’s solidarity through the miners strike had been so troublesome to her.
On a pure policy level, those houses were not hers to sell. They were the safety net that people in desperate circumstances needed, and many families were saved from destitution by being able to find council house. There was never any intention to replace the ones that were sold, and it’s led to where we are now - private housing associations ripping off residents and councils having to fork out huge costs to house desperate families. Ironically, according to a stat I saw something like 70% of the houses that were sold have ended up in the hands of private landlords, probably being rented back to the council at many times the cost than when they just owned them in the 70s and 80s.
1 Like
So all the hungry children in N.Korea, Afghanistan and many other countries are all the fault of the parents and not of their respective governments?
I do agree that the blame doesn’t always lie with the government, but it doesn’t always lie with the parents either.
1 Like
Well, proven true by far too many studies to mention.
Here’s the thing though. You’re talking from a victor’s perspective. For anyone who has managed to escape poverty, the temptation is always to view their own story as a defence of the status quo.
Whatever our own stories, the fact is that for every person who manages to escape poverty, alongside whatever grit, determination and intelligence they have, they are also the beneficiaries of a lot of luck. I guarantee you that for every story of someone who gosh darn rolled up their sleeves and grafted their way out of poverty, there are many more who work just as hard and get absolutely nowhere just because they didn’t get the breaks.
I’m some e who managed to get myself out of a lower working class existence to a position of relative middle class comfort. Did I work hard? Yes. Was I enormously lucky? Fuck yes.
Most of that ‘luck’ is simply family support. I was supported and encouraged to go to university. Cleverer lads than me were told it was simply not an option - I had quite a few mates at school who basically told that further education was not an option.
2 Likes
One parent allowing a child to die through neglect is not on the government. Millions living in poverty and having to be saved from going hungry by the actions of a footballer absolutely is.
4 Likes