View Full Version : Poverty in the UK
JeMeSouviens
16-11-2018, 04:05 PM
Interesting (in a dismayed, sickening sort of a way) report from the UN:
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23881&LangID=E
Conclusion
The experience of the United Kingdom, especially since 2010, underscores the conclusion that poverty is a political choice. Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so. Resources were available to the Treasury at the last budget that could have transformed the situation of millions of people living in poverty, but the political choice was made to fund tax cuts for the wealthy instead.
It was a British philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, who memorably claimed that without a social contract, life outside society would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” The risk is that if current policies do not change, this is the direction in which low-income earners and the poor are headed. Loneliness rates have soared in recent years and life expectancy rates have stalled in the United Kingdom, with the latest statistics showing a sharp drop in the annual improvement that has been experienced every year since the records began, and an actual drop for certain groups.
The compassion and mutual concern that has long been part of the British tradition has been outsourced. At the same time many of the public places and institutions that previously brought communities together, such as libraries, community and recreation centers, and public parks, have been steadily dismantled or undermined. In its fiscal analyses, the Treasury and the Government constantly repeat the refrain that fiscal policy must “avoid burdening the next generation.” The message is that the debt burden must be paid off now. The problem is that the next generation’s prospects are already being grievously undermined by the systematic dismantling of social protection policies since 2010.
Chorley Hibee
16-11-2018, 05:02 PM
Absolutely disgusting, and the phrase "social re-engineering" couldn't be more apt.
With the Brexit mess though this report will be lucky to gain any air time at all.
SouthsideHarp_Bhoy
16-11-2018, 11:37 PM
Interesting (in a dismayed, sickening sort of a way) report from the UN:
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23881&LangID=E
It may or may not be true, but i dont think anyone claims that the debt burden must be paid off now.
I think what people have said, rightly or wrongly, is that we need to stop growing that debt burden by running a huge deficit.
Thats a slightly different thing imo.
RyeSloan
17-11-2018, 07:56 AM
Poverty and inequality are notoriously difficult to quantify and are subject to significant variation depending on what measures you use and of course what position you wish to take.
The rich have got richer and the poor hit the hardest is a popular narrative. And it may well be true on some measures yet the ONS states at the end of 2017:
"Households have more disposable income than at any time previously. However, compared with their pre-downturn levels the incomes of the poorest households have risen nearly two thousand pounds but the incomes of the richest are only now slightly higher. Overall, income inequality has slowly fallen over the last decade."
ronaldo7
17-11-2018, 07:29 PM
This could have played out on the Tories thread.
It's what they do.
There are always one or two quirky ways of justifying free-market thinking whenever sources like this point to evidence of gross inequalities.
The problem is that there are probably about thirty sources that confirm the stark truth.
Plus, sources that also take wealth inequality into account give a clearer picture.
Hibernia&Alba
19-11-2018, 01:52 PM
Fifth richest country on earth in 2018. Hey, weren't we promised the earth in 1979: neoliberalism would create a land of plenty for all? Forty years on and millions are still waiting for the trickledown to start to trickle.....
https://youtu.be/_DYNQEQwqcs
GreenLake
28-11-2018, 01:29 PM
Fifth richest country on earth in 2018. Hey, weren't we promised the earth in 1979: neoliberalism would create a land of plenty for all? Forty years on and millions are still waiting for the trickledown to start to trickle.....
https://youtu.be/_DYNQEQwqcs
Not even in the top 25.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-richest-countries-in-the-world-2018-5
IGRIGI
28-11-2018, 02:56 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
HUTCHYHIBBY
28-11-2018, 02:58 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
Or a Kodi box! 👍
Betty Boop
28-11-2018, 05:38 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
Everyone aye ?
Fife-Hibee
28-11-2018, 06:26 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
You think everyone has a 50 inch tv and a full sky subscription? :faf:
Future17
28-11-2018, 08:40 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
Wow. Your exposure to "everyone" must be pretty limited.
Fife-Hibee
28-11-2018, 09:12 PM
Wow. Your exposure to "everyone" must be pretty limited.
I'll say some farm in Dumfries somewhere.
Allant1981
29-11-2018, 06:02 AM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
I'll give you my address and come tell my Mrs that as I don't have either
Antifa Hibs
29-11-2018, 07:53 AM
IGRIGI wrote...
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
Try volunteering at some breakfast club or after school club in the countries most deprived housing areas then you'll see after 5 minutes how stupid you are/sound.
Hibernia&Alba
29-11-2018, 08:06 AM
Not even in the top 25.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-richest-countries-in-the-world-2018-5
That's by average income. By total GDP we are the fifth richest; we are also a much more unequal country than most. Our average income is dragged up by a small number of very high earners to a greater degree than most countries. Fifty per cent of those classified as being in poverty in the UK are in work, which is illustrative of how many very low paid jobs we have.
Stairway 2 7
29-11-2018, 12:35 PM
Is anyone that smokes regularly in poverty? Just wondering as I could feed my family healthy food for a few days for the price of 20 fags nowadays.
GreenLake
29-11-2018, 01:49 PM
That's by average income. By total GDP we are the fifth richest; we are also a much more unequal country than most. Our average income is dragged up by a small number of very high earners to a greater degree than most countries. Fifty per cent of those classified as being in poverty in the UK are in work, which is illustrative of how many very low paid jobs we have.
I shudder to think what it's going to get like when the economic downturn kicks in.
Bangkok Hibby
30-11-2018, 10:01 AM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
"Everyone"? Would it be fair to say "everyone" who holds your view is a Daily Mail reading Tory?
lyonhibs
03-12-2018, 10:02 AM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
Looking forward to you coming back on this thread to back that up with actual facts because the real life face of poverty in the UK does not abound with 50 inch tellies and SKY subscriptions.....
JeMeSouviens
03-12-2018, 02:16 PM
Just to really make sure those wounds are salted, the Tories have been sent out for photo-ops at food banks. No, this is not a parody. Words (apart from what a bunch of ****ing ***** **** faced ****witted ****ers) fail me. :rolleyes:
https://twitter.com/woodgnomology/status/1069191272999596032
Ryan69
03-12-2018, 02:49 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
Thats abit of a delusional view to have.
Once a year Lloyds Bank let us volunteer a day to help someone.
The other day me and two colleagues went to a food bank type place in Huddersfield. We helped them sort through so much food and make a difference. We were there for the whole day and seemed to help them.
It was an enjoyable day but all three of us walked away thinking, how can these things exist in the UK? It is so frustrating that some people don't have the funds for a tin of beans or an apple. So sad.
Scouse Hibee
03-12-2018, 08:23 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
To be fair most of the folk on the Can’t Pay programmes have the TV, pretty sure they only have the basic package though.
SHODAN
03-12-2018, 08:36 PM
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
I can afford neither and we're well above average household salary.
There, fought your groundless anecdote with an equally groundless anecdote. Can you provide hard facts now?
No matter how hard life gets everyone has the cash for a 50 inch widescreen and full Sky subscription.
FFS. My TV is only 42 inch!!!
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