The fact you worked from aged 15 and managed to buy your own home and earn decent money at such a young age shows the different times you grew up in, yes you are too old to be making judgement on today's young people, you do realise some people were not in a position to work and save as young as you did?
I honestly can't stand people like you who sit there judging other people as if you are some sort of saint. How am I on a 'pity party'? I am entitled to government support with my children and I will take advantage of that. As said on here many times both my parents have good jobs especially my dad who is well off so I have plenty of family support.
Like I said, I don't know anyone my own age who owns their own home apart from one friend who's parents paid her deposit and was lucky enough to have a stable home throughout her life where her parents allowed her to live with them rent free till age 23 whilst she studied and got a job. Not everyone has this luxury, I didn't despite my family not being poor or in poverty. I know plenty of hardworking young people who can't even afford to rent and still live with their parents, let alone pay a deposit and buy a home.
Different times and it really is pathetic to us young people when older people try to make out its as easy to get a job now as it was 20 years ago, and make the ridiculous assumption we have as much clout in finding jobs as someone with over 20 years work experience. Even my mother says this and she also worked from aged 16.
The fact you worked from aged 15 and managed to buy your own home and earn decent money at such a young age shows the different times you grew up in, yes you are too old to be making judgement on today's young people, you do realise some people were not in a position to work and save as young as you did?
I honestly can't stand people like you who sit there judging other people as if you are some sort of saint. How am I on a 'pity party'? I am entitled to government support with my children and I will take advantage of that. As said on here many times both my parents have good jobs especially my dad who is well off so I have plenty of family support.
Like I said, I don't know anyone my own age who owns their own home apart from one friend who's parents paid her deposit and was lucky enough to have a stable home throughout her life where her parents allowed her to live with them rent free till age 23 whilst she studied and got a job. Not everyone has this luxury, I didn't despite my family not being poor or in poverty. I know plenty of hardworking young people who can't even afford to rent and still live with their parents, let alone pay a deposit and buy a home.
Different times and it really is pathetic to us young people when older people try to make out its as easy to get a job now as it was 20 years ago, and make the ridiculous assumption we have as much clout in finding jobs as someone with over 20 years work experience. Even my mother says this and she also worked from aged 16.
And the suggestion someone is lazy or seeking pity just because they don't own their own home at a really young age is just nasty, deluded and shows a total ivory tower mindset that ignores the issues in the lives of many people. You know nothing about being working class, you sound like a pathetic toff that thinks because they have a job etc they are some sort of superior being to people that don't.
Tbf I don't like living in my own home which is why we choose to live with family. Much cheaper living in my ohs multi generational council family home than wasting money on ridiculous high private rents as I did whilst working.
Like I said Pity Party - Economic cycles, high interest rates making housing very expensive for the young, early 90's high unemployment rates.
Oh moving across country to find jobs, living in a less than nice area so we could by 1st house etc.
However, my issue is with you is this glorious sense of entitlement. Also I did not rise to your bait about your escorting days, is because that is your choice - which you wear well, with your sense of entitlement.
Oh and I am no saint, not at all. I just don't expect everyone else to have to pay for MY child. If you think working hard and not expecting hand outs whilst vastly improving my and my child's standard of living makes me a toff - so be it.
Like I said Pity Party - Economic cycles, high interest rates making housing very expensive for the young, early 90's high unemployment rates.
Oh moving across country to find jobs, living in a less than nice area so we could by 1st house etc.
However, my issue is with you is this glorious sense of entitlement. Also I did not rise to your bait about your escorting days, is because that is your choice - which you wear well, with your sense of entitlement.
Oh and I am no saint, not at all. I just don't expect everyone else to have to pay for MY child. If you think working hard and not expecting hand outs whilst vastly improving my and my child's standard of living makes me a toff - so be it.
What? I explained that I worked as an escort for 3 years and paid taxes, therefore havnt sat around doing nothing. Don't see how that is baiting.
There's nothing entitled about it, aswell as you yet again ignoring the many times I said I'm currently studying. Again the situation is much worse for young people nowadays, I do have parents the same age as you who agree that getting a job and on the housing ladder was much easier twenty years ago.
Yes you are coming across high and mighty, basically stating you are better than people like me. You have no idea about my life and each person has just different opportunities handed to them. Maybe you should blame starving Africans for their predicament, after all many Africans have managed to build a good life for themselves, even moving to richer countries. They just must not have worked hard enough eh?
Just because someone doesn't have the same opportunities as you did so couldn't economically better themselves doesn't make them a lesser person, lazy or entitled.
The fact is jobs are hard to come by for alot of people especially ones that will enable you to buy a home and regardless of what you say I have been working and studying to the best of my ability given my circumstances throughout the years, how dare you attempt to judge me.
You seem to think I intend to never work, when iv not said that once.
Get real with your 'working hard' rhetoric, there's more to working hard than earning a lot of money. My child will have plenty of opportunities, my dad lives in florida, is well off and we will be going to disneyland in a few years, for example. I used to go when I was young. I have family with money and I never go without, neither will my child. I will just accept the government help I am entitled too. And yes I hope that does make you mad, as you sound horrible and I love winding up stuck up old crows
Like I said Pity Party - Economic cycles, high interest rates making housing very expensive for the young, early 90's high unemployment rates.
Oh moving across country to find jobs, living in a less than nice area so we could by 1st house etc.
However, my issue is with you is this glorious sense of entitlement. Also I did not rise to your bait about your escorting days, is because that is your choice - which you wear well, with your sense of entitlement.
Oh and I am no saint, not at all. I just don't expect everyone else to have to pay for MY child. If you think working hard and not expecting hand outs whilst vastly improving my and my child's standard of living makes me a toff - so be it.
I've got to stick up for Marvin's Mum here. People growing up in the 70's and 80's (especially during the Thatcher years) didn't have it easier than people today, despite what people might think.
I grew up on a rough council estate in north Manchester (in fact, I'll be very interested to see the next episode which features Manchester). I left school at 16 with virtually no qualifications, having truanted since I was 14. My mother encouraged me to go on the council list for a house but I refused as I knew it wasn't the life I wanted and that I would eventually buy my own.
I officially left school on the Friday and the following Monday, I started a job in an office in the city centre, on a Youth Training Scheme, for £23.50 a week (my weekly bus fare cost half of that), purely to get work experience. My best friend at school went on the dole 'to get what I'm entitled to for a year' and still lives in the council house she got when she had her first child, and started working this year in a shop after not working for a long time and only then in low paid and dead end jobs.
I did a further 2 YTS jobs after the initial 6 months ended and the experience I gained enabled me to get a permanent (low paid admittedly) office job. I've been lucky to be in continuous work since.
I bought my first house with my husband shortly after we married in 1988, aged 23. His parents still live in the council house he was brought up in, so we both come from the same background. Mortgage rates then were 15%.
I had a child in 2001, having saved for the whole of the year before so that I'd be able to afford the mortgage payments and bills while I was on maternity leave.
I am now divorced and every penny I earn goes on the mortgage and household bills, and my son. I get virtually nothing for my son off him but my house and child are my responsibility, not the state's.
My point is we all have life choices and not all of us had an easy start in life - I most certainly didn't, being brought up in a rough area and in a very volatile and aggressive single parent family environment. If I want things in life, it is my choice and my responsibility to pay for them. I had 1 child as I couldn't realistically afford more. I take responsibility for myself and don't expect the state to finance my lifestyle.
No-one is 'entitled' to anything (and I have to add my mother and stepfather are very much in that mindset and have lived off benefits since they were both in their 40's).
What? I explained that I worked as an escort for 3 years and paid taxes, therefore havnt sat around doing nothing. Don't see how that is baiting.
There's nothing entitled about it, aswell as you yet again ignoring the many times I said I'm currently studying. Again the situation is much worse for young people nowadays, I do have parents the same age as you who agree that getting a job and on the housing ladder was much easier twenty years ago.
Yes you are coming across high and mighty, basically stating you are better than people like me. You have no idea about my life and each person has just different opportunities handed to them. Maybe you should blame starving Africans for their predicament, after all many Africans have managed to build a good life for themselves, even moving to richer countries. They just must not have worked hard enough eh?
Just because someone doesn't have the same opportunities as you did so couldn't economically better themselves doesn't make them a lesser person, lazy or entitled.
The fact is jobs are hard to come by for alot of people especially ones that will enable you to buy a home and regardless of what you say I have been working and studying to the best of my ability given my circumstances throughout the years, how dare you attempt to judge me.
You seem to think I intend to never work, when iv not said that once.
Get real with your 'working hard' rhetoric, there's more to working hard than earning a lot of money. My child will have plenty of opportunities, my dad lives in florida, is well off and we will be going to disneyland in a few years, for example. I used to go when I was young. I have family with money and I never go without, neither will my child. I will just accept the government help I am entitled too. And yes I hope that does make you mad, as you sound horrible and I love winding up stuck up old crows
People in countries with no welfare state have their own battles to deal with, such as economic and social conditions that often prevent them from obtaining a basic education and possibly the chance to escape poverty.
My issue with you is that you go on about coming from a back ground that is not financially unstable (i.e. a well off dad and holidays in Florida), but are happy to claim everything you are entitled too.
The welfare state is there to catch and help the poorest in society, that is the good.
The bad is individuals who feel that despite less than humble backgrounds (back to the well off dad) they will claim cos they are entitled.
Now I am done and you will continue to be entitled.
How old are you? You do realise the cards are stacked against young people in this day and age, do we all not deserve kids because the economy and career prospects are in tatters at this point in our lives?
As stated I do not and am not intending on doing nothing, ive just finished a college course and will be starting another in about a month.
It's like when we hear people twice our age banging on about how easy it was to find work when they were young or even now, totally ignoring the state of the job market just as we are entering it and ignoring that a lot of older people have years of experience etc so find jobs easier.
I'm not about to waste my time getting into any sort of argument with you and besides, Marvin's Mum has already covered most of the ground already.
As has already been mentioned by other posters, it's the sense of entitlement that is sickening. I'm more than twice your age and have never earned enough to afford to have a dog, far less a baby.
And please don't imagine for a nanosecond that trying to find work at 50, with or without experience, is a walk in the park.
I've got to stick up for Marvin's Mum here. People growing up in the 70's and 80's (especially during the Thatcher years) didn't have it easier than people today, despite what people might think.
I grew up on a rough council estate in north Manchester (in fact, I'll be very interested to see the next episode which features Manchester). I left school at 16 with virtually no qualifications, having truanted since I was 14. My mother encouraged me to go on the council list for a house but I refused as I knew it wasn't the life I wanted and that I would eventually buy my own.
I officially left school on the Friday and the following Monday, I started a job in an office in the city centre, on a Youth Training Scheme, for £23.50 a week (my weekly bus fare cost half of that), purely to get work experience. My best friend at school went on the dole 'to get what I'm entitled to for a year' and still lives in the council house she got when she had her first child, and started working this year in a shop after not working for a long time and only then in low paid and dead end jobs.
I did a further 2 YTS jobs after the initial 6 months ended and the experience I gained enabled me to get a permanent (low paid admittedly) office job. I've been lucky to be in continuous work since.
I bought my first house with my husband shortly after we married in 1988, aged 23. His parents still live in the council house he was brought up in, so we both come from the same background. Mortgage rates then were 15%.
I had a child in 2001, having saved for the whole of the year before so that I'd be able to afford the mortgage payments and bills while I was on maternity leave.
I am now divorced and every penny I earn goes on the mortgage and household bills, and my son. I get virtually nothing for my son off him but my house and child are my responsibility, not the state's.
My point is we all have life choices and not all of us had an easy start in life - I most certainly didn't, being brought up in a rough area and in a very volatile and aggressive single parent family environment. If I want things in life, it is my choice and my responsibility to pay for them. I had 1 child as I couldn't realistically afford more. I take responsibility for myself and don't expect the state to finance my lifestyle.
No-one is 'entitled' to anything (and I have to add my mother and stepfather are very much in that mindset and have lived off benefits since they were both in their 40's).
Thanks for sharing your story, Valentine. It's a great post, and massive respect to you for overcoming adversity so courageously through sheer determination and hard work. You should feel very good about yourself. :cool::cool::)
The fact you worked from aged 15 and managed to buy your own home and earn decent money at such a young age shows the different times you grew up in,
.
If its relevant to the discussion, my oh and i bought our house at 22 years old. Another couple we know bought their first at 21, and at 24 another couple are renovating their house they bought a few months ago. Another single friend is currently looking at houses in his price range.
None of us earn a lot but weve all managed to get on the ladder. All these purchases were within the last five years so theres no argument that young people cant earn enough to get their own mortgage. Theres certainly no argument that we would all be better off popping out babies then working when we are in our thirties and then being in a position to buy a house.
If its relevant to the discussion, my oh and i bought our house at 22 years old. Another couple we know bought their first at 21, and at 24 another couple are renovating their house they bought a few months ago. Another single friend is currently looking at houses in his price range.
None of us earn a lot but weve all managed to get on the ladder. All these purchases were within the last five years so theres no argument that young people cant earn enough to get their own mortgage. Theres certainly no argument that we would all be better off popping out babies then working when we are in our thirties and then being in a position to buy a house.
That's your choice. Some of use would prefer to have affordable housing in the form of council housing, rather than work more to pay off a mortgage.
Thanks for sharing your story, Valentine. It's a great post, and massive respect to you for overcoming adversity so courageously through sheer determination and hard work. You should feel very good about yourself. :cool::cool::)
Thanks for that - I was expecting to get slagged off so I appreciate that
Well no need to tarnish everyone with the same brush.
There are people who work who commit crimes, does that make all workers bad?
Who's talking about people committing crimes and tarnishing everyone with the same brush? All I said was and I will spell it out...is that there are the people who genuinely cannot find work and deserve sympathy and there are the people who cannot be bothered/will not/consider that the state owes them a living so will not/ that annoy me.
That's your choice. Some of use would prefer to have affordable housing in the form of council housing, rather than work more to pay off a mortgage.
It was a response to the poster who claimed that anyone whos her age cant afford to get a mortgage no matter what they earn. I was just pointing out that it is possible for people her age to earn and have a mortgage.
Her argument was that young people cant get jobs so are better off having kids they cant afford, living in council houses and then getting jobs and houses when the kids are grown up.
Im not saying one is better than the other, just pointing out that its rubbish to say that all youngsters might as well breed asap because theres nothing else worthwhile for them to do,
I'm on the council housing register. Have bid on an unexciting 1 bedroomed flat that will require some redecoration. Currently 26th in the queue for it. Expect to be about 40th by the end of the bidding cycle. I think I'm in competition with benefit claimants downsizing from 2 & 3 bedroomed homes as a result of the 'spare room subsidy' as well as others.
I would gladly waive my Right To Buy if it meant getting a council tenancy.
The 83 yr old lady was well within her rights to turn down that flat - not really suitable at all for her.
Glad that Mike decided to move out of London. Shame he didn't consider it earlier. Shocked that one of the flats he bid on was £200 a week. :eek: That would get a privately rented house in my area, with plenty of room for his growing children.
As for the lady insisting on parking with the new flat, her priority should have been for her children to have plenty of space to study and to relax. Who knows? The children will probably do very well in their careers and buy their parents a house?
I've got to stick up for Marvin's Mum here. People growing up in the 70's and 80's (especially during the Thatcher years) didn't have it easier than people today, despite what people might think.
I grew up on a rough council estate in north Manchester (in fact, I'll be very interested to see the next episode which features Manchester). I left school at 16 with virtually no qualifications, having truanted since I was 14. My mother encouraged me to go on the council list for a house but I refused as I knew it wasn't the life I wanted and that I would eventually buy my own.
I officially left school on the Friday and the following Monday, I started a job in an office in the city centre, on a Youth Training Scheme, for £23.50 a week (my weekly bus fare cost half of that), purely to get work experience. My best friend at school went on the dole 'to get what I'm entitled to for a year' and still lives in the council house she got when she had her first child, and started working this year in a shop after not working for a long time and only then in low paid and dead end jobs.
I did a further 2 YTS jobs after the initial 6 months ended and the experience I gained enabled me to get a permanent (low paid admittedly) office job. I've been lucky to be in continuous work since.
I bought my first house with my husband shortly after we married in 1988, aged 23. His parents still live in the council house he was brought up in, so we both come from the same background. Mortgage rates then were 15%.
I had a child in 2001, having saved for the whole of the year before so that I'd be able to afford the mortgage payments and bills while I was on maternity leave.
I am now divorced and every penny I earn goes on the mortgage and household bills, and my son. I get virtually nothing for my son off him but my house and child are my responsibility, not the state's.
My point is we all have life choices and not all of us had an easy start in life - I most certainly didn't, being brought up in a rough area and in a very volatile and aggressive single parent family environment. If I want things in life, it is my choice and my responsibility to pay for them. I had 1 child as I couldn't realistically afford more. I take responsibility for myself and don't expect the state to finance my lifestyle.
No-one is 'entitled' to anything (and I have to add my mother and stepfather are very much in that mindset and have lived off benefits since they were both in their 40's).
Where did you live age 16? Let me guess, with your parents?
Some of us havnt had a permanent stable home from being 13 years old, doing what you did is practically impossible under these circumstances.
Again your using your own (life story, tbh) situation to tar everyone else. You arnt in a position to judge anyone.
And yes legally I am entitled to benefits, because I need them. Some people do, some people will always need them. It doesn't mean they are 'entitled', it means they are claiming the little help available to them.
I really hate privileged people moaning how bad off they are/were. You may have been financially not well off but it seems life was stable enough for you to hold down a job.
I have only just become stable in my life, from 13-19 I was all over the place through no fault of my own. It hasn't been possible for me to build up a career. I wish I could like my friend but she's had a lot of support and stability to achieve what she has. I do not consider myself lesser than her or entitled for being worse off than her.
I will have children when I want them, I'm hardly a homeless single teenager either. I WILL get government support and am not ashamed, I will make the most of it. As said, it's taken me this long to get a stable life and really know what job I want to do.
People in countries with no welfare state have their own battles to deal with, such as economic and social conditions that often prevent them from obtaining a basic education and possibly the chance to escape poverty.
My issue with you is that you go on about coming from a back ground that is not financially unstable (i.e. a well off dad and holidays in Florida), but are happy to claim everything you are entitled too.
The welfare state is there to catch and help the poorest in society, that is the good.
The bad is individuals who feel that despite less than humble backgrounds (back to the well off dad) they will claim cos they are entitled.
Now I am done and you will continue to be entitled.
I get financial support from my dad which is nothing to do with anyone else, it's called being there for your family. Despite my dad being well off he isn't even on the same side of the world.
Yes I am entitled, to jobseekers. Every person seeks to improve their own lives. Many rich people ruin and stand over others to get what they have yet are praised for it, yet you say I'm entitled for claiming a mere 56 pounds a week. Get real.
If anything I deserve the money due to how badly let down I was by the state, social services, criminal justice system etc when a child which contributed to me being unable to go to school or study, but I won't go into that.
It was a response to the poster who claimed that anyone whos her age cant afford to get a mortgage no matter what they earn. I was just pointing out that it is possible for people her age to earn and have a mortgage.
Her argument was that young people cant get jobs so are better off having kids they cant afford, living in council houses and then getting jobs and houses when the kids are grown up.
Im not saying one is better than the other, just pointing out that its rubbish to say that all youngsters might as well breed asap because theres nothing else worthwhile for them to do,
But it is the best choice for many, many young women. I know numerous girls my age who went to uni/college, worked crappy jobs, many have got so fed up of getting nowhere they have sacked it in and started a family. These are far from Jeremy kyle guests aswell.
Having a family and claiming benefits for the time being is the best choice for many of us right now, hopefully by the time our child rearing is done the economy and jobs market might have improved. In the meantime I'll study because it's the best thing to do in this situation.
If its relevant to the discussion, my oh and i bought our house at 22 years old. Another couple we know bought their first at 21, and at 24 another couple are renovating their house they bought a few months ago. Another single friend is currently looking at houses in his price range.
None of us earn a lot but weve all managed to get on the ladder. All these purchases were within the last five years so theres no argument that young people cant earn enough to get their own mortgage. Theres certainly no argument that we would all be better off popping out babies then working when we are in our thirties and then being in a position to buy a house.
I wonder how many of you had significant help from your parents, as I know no one my age who owns their own home other than one person whose parents pretty much bought it for her.
The fact is its not possible for most young people. Unemployment is rife where I live so maybe area has something to do with it?
I wonder how many of you had significant help from your parents, as I know no one my age who owns their own home other than one person whose parents pretty much bought it for her.
The fact is its not possible for most young people. Unemployment is rife where I live so maybe area has something to do with it?
Personally speaking my ohs parents contributed 0 as they are both unemployed and struggle to support themselves. My parents offered to help but my oh was insistant that we did it ourselves. Between us we saved £20k for a deposit over a few years.
My friends, i dont know. The single man earns quite a bit so is paying himself. The others claim to do it themselves but had the safety net of at least one parent who could help them out if they needed it.
Its difficult to get a job here but we all have at least a part time job, although nobody earns what anyone would consider a lot. Then again house prices here are quite cheap. You can get a 2 bed terraced house for around 60-70k whereas in the city youd pay easily triple that.
Personally speaking my ohs parents contributed 0 as they are both unemployed and struggle to support themselves. My parents offered to help but my oh was insistant that we did it ourselves. Between us we saved £20k for a deposit over a few years.
My friends, i dont know. The single man earns quite a bit so is paying himself. The others claim to do it themselves but had the safety net of at least one parent who could help them out if they needed it.
Its difficult to get a job here but we all have at least a part time job, although nobody earns what anyone would consider a lot. Then again house prices here are quite cheap. You can get a 2 bed terraced house for around 60-70k whereas in the city youd pay easily triple that.
How did you manage to save 20 grand, living at parents stable home rent free perhaps? Either that or you must be earning a decent amount.
Not everyone has that luxury, unfortunately. My friend worked full time for a few years and her parents still had to pay her deposit, she couldn't afford it herself. Tbf, I like an uncomplicated life so mortgages arnt for me.
It's not the 'can'ts' that annoy the hell out of me...it's the 'can't be bothereds'....
Where did I say once that I can't be bothered to work? I've said numerous times I fully intend on working after iv made use of my fertile years.
Again it comes down to the fact that if someone on benefits isn't ashamed of it, actually states they are entitled to it legally and don't see anything wrong with claiming it, they are lambasted as suddenly being unworthy of benefits, lazy and entitled.
It seems your only a genuine benefit claimant if your utterly ashamed of yourself and your self esteem is in the gutter because of it.
There's something quite sinister about that imo....
.....and that attitude is exactly why this country is in such a mess!:mad:
Why is it? Have you ever considered not everyone has working and having material possessions as their number one priority in life, despite extensive government brain washing?
They put so much emphasis on working and 'paying your way' because so much of workers money goes to line their pockets.
Some people consider family and relationships more important and make that their priority, not everyone wants to keep up with the Jones and having money doesn't make people happy. Not everyone wants to own their own home, spending half their life working to pay for it when they can't take it with them when they die.
Working is only beneficial if you like your job. You will not catch me slaving away all week in a job I hate, that's called keeping my pride in tact. Which is why I'm studying on benefits to do the job I do enjoy.
Comments
Excellent post.
Like I said Pity Party - Economic cycles, high interest rates making housing very expensive for the young, early 90's high unemployment rates.
Oh moving across country to find jobs, living in a less than nice area so we could by 1st house etc.
However, my issue is with you is this glorious sense of entitlement. Also I did not rise to your bait about your escorting days, is because that is your choice - which you wear well, with your sense of entitlement.
Oh and I am no saint, not at all. I just don't expect everyone else to have to pay for MY child. If you think working hard and not expecting hand outs whilst vastly improving my and my child's standard of living makes me a toff - so be it.
What? I explained that I worked as an escort for 3 years and paid taxes, therefore havnt sat around doing nothing. Don't see how that is baiting.
There's nothing entitled about it, aswell as you yet again ignoring the many times I said I'm currently studying. Again the situation is much worse for young people nowadays, I do have parents the same age as you who agree that getting a job and on the housing ladder was much easier twenty years ago.
Yes you are coming across high and mighty, basically stating you are better than people like me. You have no idea about my life and each person has just different opportunities handed to them. Maybe you should blame starving Africans for their predicament, after all many Africans have managed to build a good life for themselves, even moving to richer countries. They just must not have worked hard enough eh?
Just because someone doesn't have the same opportunities as you did so couldn't economically better themselves doesn't make them a lesser person, lazy or entitled.
The fact is jobs are hard to come by for alot of people especially ones that will enable you to buy a home and regardless of what you say I have been working and studying to the best of my ability given my circumstances throughout the years, how dare you attempt to judge me.
You seem to think I intend to never work, when iv not said that once.
Get real with your 'working hard' rhetoric, there's more to working hard than earning a lot of money. My child will have plenty of opportunities, my dad lives in florida, is well off and we will be going to disneyland in a few years, for example. I used to go when I was young. I have family with money and I never go without, neither will my child. I will just accept the government help I am entitled too. And yes I hope that does make you mad, as you sound horrible and I love winding up stuck up old crows
I've got to stick up for Marvin's Mum here. People growing up in the 70's and 80's (especially during the Thatcher years) didn't have it easier than people today, despite what people might think.
I grew up on a rough council estate in north Manchester (in fact, I'll be very interested to see the next episode which features Manchester). I left school at 16 with virtually no qualifications, having truanted since I was 14. My mother encouraged me to go on the council list for a house but I refused as I knew it wasn't the life I wanted and that I would eventually buy my own.
I officially left school on the Friday and the following Monday, I started a job in an office in the city centre, on a Youth Training Scheme, for £23.50 a week (my weekly bus fare cost half of that), purely to get work experience. My best friend at school went on the dole 'to get what I'm entitled to for a year' and still lives in the council house she got when she had her first child, and started working this year in a shop after not working for a long time and only then in low paid and dead end jobs.
I did a further 2 YTS jobs after the initial 6 months ended and the experience I gained enabled me to get a permanent (low paid admittedly) office job. I've been lucky to be in continuous work since.
I bought my first house with my husband shortly after we married in 1988, aged 23. His parents still live in the council house he was brought up in, so we both come from the same background. Mortgage rates then were 15%.
I had a child in 2001, having saved for the whole of the year before so that I'd be able to afford the mortgage payments and bills while I was on maternity leave.
I am now divorced and every penny I earn goes on the mortgage and household bills, and my son. I get virtually nothing for my son off him but my house and child are my responsibility, not the state's.
My point is we all have life choices and not all of us had an easy start in life - I most certainly didn't, being brought up in a rough area and in a very volatile and aggressive single parent family environment. If I want things in life, it is my choice and my responsibility to pay for them. I had 1 child as I couldn't realistically afford more. I take responsibility for myself and don't expect the state to finance my lifestyle.
No-one is 'entitled' to anything (and I have to add my mother and stepfather are very much in that mindset and have lived off benefits since they were both in their 40's).
People in countries with no welfare state have their own battles to deal with, such as economic and social conditions that often prevent them from obtaining a basic education and possibly the chance to escape poverty.
My issue with you is that you go on about coming from a back ground that is not financially unstable (i.e. a well off dad and holidays in Florida), but are happy to claim everything you are entitled too.
The welfare state is there to catch and help the poorest in society, that is the good.
The bad is individuals who feel that despite less than humble backgrounds (back to the well off dad) they will claim cos they are entitled.
Now I am done and you will continue to be entitled.
If they can't find a job, then they are entitled to benefits.
It's not the 'can'ts' that annoy the hell out of me...it's the 'can't be bothereds'....
I'm not about to waste my time getting into any sort of argument with you and besides, Marvin's Mum has already covered most of the ground already.
As has already been mentioned by other posters, it's the sense of entitlement that is sickening. I'm more than twice your age and have never earned enough to afford to have a dog, far less a baby.
And please don't imagine for a nanosecond that trying to find work at 50, with or without experience, is a walk in the park.
Thanks for sharing your story, Valentine. It's a great post, and massive respect to you for overcoming adversity so courageously through sheer determination and hard work. You should feel very good about yourself. :cool::cool::)
If its relevant to the discussion, my oh and i bought our house at 22 years old. Another couple we know bought their first at 21, and at 24 another couple are renovating their house they bought a few months ago. Another single friend is currently looking at houses in his price range.
None of us earn a lot but weve all managed to get on the ladder. All these purchases were within the last five years so theres no argument that young people cant earn enough to get their own mortgage. Theres certainly no argument that we would all be better off popping out babies then working when we are in our thirties and then being in a position to buy a house.
Well no need to tarnish everyone with the same brush.
There are people who work who commit crimes, does that make all workers bad?
That's your choice. Some of use would prefer to have affordable housing in the form of council housing, rather than work more to pay off a mortgage.
Thanks for that - I was expecting to get slagged off so I appreciate that
Who's talking about people committing crimes and tarnishing everyone with the same brush? All I said was and I will spell it out...is that there are the people who genuinely cannot find work and deserve sympathy and there are the people who cannot be bothered/will not/consider that the state owes them a living so will not/ that annoy me.
It was a response to the poster who claimed that anyone whos her age cant afford to get a mortgage no matter what they earn. I was just pointing out that it is possible for people her age to earn and have a mortgage.
Her argument was that young people cant get jobs so are better off having kids they cant afford, living in council houses and then getting jobs and houses when the kids are grown up.
Im not saying one is better than the other, just pointing out that its rubbish to say that all youngsters might as well breed asap because theres nothing else worthwhile for them to do,
I would gladly waive my Right To Buy if it meant getting a council tenancy.
The 83 yr old lady was well within her rights to turn down that flat - not really suitable at all for her.
Glad that Mike decided to move out of London. Shame he didn't consider it earlier. Shocked that one of the flats he bid on was £200 a week. :eek: That would get a privately rented house in my area, with plenty of room for his growing children.
As for the lady insisting on parking with the new flat, her priority should have been for her children to have plenty of space to study and to relax. Who knows? The children will probably do very well in their careers and buy their parents a house?
Where did you live age 16? Let me guess, with your parents?
Some of us havnt had a permanent stable home from being 13 years old, doing what you did is practically impossible under these circumstances.
Again your using your own (life story, tbh) situation to tar everyone else. You arnt in a position to judge anyone.
And yes legally I am entitled to benefits, because I need them. Some people do, some people will always need them. It doesn't mean they are 'entitled', it means they are claiming the little help available to them.
I really hate privileged people moaning how bad off they are/were. You may have been financially not well off but it seems life was stable enough for you to hold down a job.
I have only just become stable in my life, from 13-19 I was all over the place through no fault of my own. It hasn't been possible for me to build up a career. I wish I could like my friend but she's had a lot of support and stability to achieve what she has. I do not consider myself lesser than her or entitled for being worse off than her.
I will have children when I want them, I'm hardly a homeless single teenager either. I WILL get government support and am not ashamed, I will make the most of it. As said, it's taken me this long to get a stable life and really know what job I want to do.
I get financial support from my dad which is nothing to do with anyone else, it's called being there for your family. Despite my dad being well off he isn't even on the same side of the world.
Yes I am entitled, to jobseekers. Every person seeks to improve their own lives. Many rich people ruin and stand over others to get what they have yet are praised for it, yet you say I'm entitled for claiming a mere 56 pounds a week. Get real.
If anything I deserve the money due to how badly let down I was by the state, social services, criminal justice system etc when a child which contributed to me being unable to go to school or study, but I won't go into that.
But it is the best choice for many, many young women. I know numerous girls my age who went to uni/college, worked crappy jobs, many have got so fed up of getting nowhere they have sacked it in and started a family. These are far from Jeremy kyle guests aswell.
Having a family and claiming benefits for the time being is the best choice for many of us right now, hopefully by the time our child rearing is done the economy and jobs market might have improved. In the meantime I'll study because it's the best thing to do in this situation.
I wonder how many of you had significant help from your parents, as I know no one my age who owns their own home other than one person whose parents pretty much bought it for her.
The fact is its not possible for most young people. Unemployment is rife where I live so maybe area has something to do with it?
Personally speaking my ohs parents contributed 0 as they are both unemployed and struggle to support themselves. My parents offered to help but my oh was insistant that we did it ourselves. Between us we saved £20k for a deposit over a few years.
My friends, i dont know. The single man earns quite a bit so is paying himself. The others claim to do it themselves but had the safety net of at least one parent who could help them out if they needed it.
Its difficult to get a job here but we all have at least a part time job, although nobody earns what anyone would consider a lot. Then again house prices here are quite cheap. You can get a 2 bed terraced house for around 60-70k whereas in the city youd pay easily triple that.
How did you manage to save 20 grand, living at parents stable home rent free perhaps? Either that or you must be earning a decent amount.
Not everyone has that luxury, unfortunately. My friend worked full time for a few years and her parents still had to pay her deposit, she couldn't afford it herself. Tbf, I like an uncomplicated life so mortgages arnt for me.
.....and that attitude is exactly why this country is in such a mess!:mad:
Where did I say once that I can't be bothered to work? I've said numerous times I fully intend on working after iv made use of my fertile years.
Again it comes down to the fact that if someone on benefits isn't ashamed of it, actually states they are entitled to it legally and don't see anything wrong with claiming it, they are lambasted as suddenly being unworthy of benefits, lazy and entitled.
It seems your only a genuine benefit claimant if your utterly ashamed of yourself and your self esteem is in the gutter because of it.
There's something quite sinister about that imo....
Why is it? Have you ever considered not everyone has working and having material possessions as their number one priority in life, despite extensive government brain washing?
They put so much emphasis on working and 'paying your way' because so much of workers money goes to line their pockets.
Some people consider family and relationships more important and make that their priority, not everyone wants to keep up with the Jones and having money doesn't make people happy. Not everyone wants to own their own home, spending half their life working to pay for it when they can't take it with them when they die.
Working is only beneficial if you like your job. You will not catch me slaving away all week in a job I hate, that's called keeping my pride in tact. Which is why I'm studying on benefits to do the job I do enjoy.