that was pathetic wasn't it!

I don't know about anyone else, but the cafe was open at 10:20 pm the other night, what cafe is open that long?

I dont think thats what the poster meant at all... I think he/she was making the point that Heather might be better off on benefits and wasnt giving an opinion at all. your post seems quite rude...

You can work and be on benefits at the same time. Lone parents are given financial encouragement to return to the workplace.

And if the poster doesn't condone the claiming of benefits, are they not saying that it's wrong to claim? I, for one, took offence.

i think what they meant about benefits is those who are on it, that can't be bothered to get a job, or claim it illegally

Phil getting off with loads of women who are so far out of his league, they are practically a different species.

The whole 'Dawn falls in love with Phil' plot was ridiculous beyond belief, and can only have been conceived as a punishment for the actress giving away the 'Danielle death' storyline.

That isn't what was implied. It's unfair to tar everyone with the same brush. Benefits do not necessarily mean that a person is lazy. I had to claim benefits at sixteen because i was evicted by my parents, legally had to be in school, and had no other way of supporting myself. The welfare state is one of the best things about this country.

Indeed. I have a serious long term illness, and without the welfare state I have no idea where the hell I would be.

The fact that nobody's bricking it after the landlord of their local had his head caved in, there's a brutal murderer in their midst for heaven's sake!

The fact that the offspring of a murdered man can discuss it and throw in the odd accusation to all and sundry as though it was nothing worse than solving who had lost the tv remote.

Thankfully, I'm not speaking from experience and I know life has to go on, but they're taking it rather well!

The fact that no one really seemed too fussed about being in the pub when it re-opened. A man was brutally murdered in that very room, the killer still on the loose and not one single person is put off!

Heather. Darren. What?!

It's also amazing how despite very little evidence Masden is looking no further than the square for the killer. It could have been anyone in reality.

And who would leave their baby alone upstairs whilst working in a very noisy pub which would drown out noise from the monitor?

LOL!

I guess there's been so many murders over the years - but still, some people actively laugh and smile as they speculate as to who the killer is. Hmm, yes, funny.....

I wouldnt go into a pub where a man had been murdered just weeks before

Exactly! Ricky and Bianca even want their wedding reception in there for crying out loud!!

The loo is strictly a plot device for reveals.

e.g. bianca lets slip about dan sullivan affair to her mum,
or libby overhears heather and shirley talking about darren being george's father.

Absolutely.

I have worked consistently since I left school at 18, 20 years ago but since being made redundant last year have been unable to find work despite having good qualifications, work experience and applying for in excess of 50 jobs a week.

I hate having to claim benefits as I don't want to be a burden on society and the stygma attached to it, but finally I concluded that it is a system I have (happily) contributed to during my working life and it is now there when I need it (hopefully short term). I also have a couple of friends on long term disabiliy allowance and it has probably saved their lives. Long live the NHS and DSS. There is such a thing as society!

Anyway, personal rant aside, they should be exploring what help a single mother like Heather would get. Also, with the new economic crises I'd love another storyline like Arthurs in the 80s of a a decent, wanting to work person just not being able to find it. They touch on it with Billy but I think someone like Max would be a good example to reflect the current trend of 'high-flying' previously well earning near professtional types coming unstuck.

I would and plenty of others would.
If they're serving beer we'll go and drink it.
As long as it's not a pub where punters pull out guns and take shots at each other why not?
You should have seen a bit of BBC Four's Hop Skip and Jump.
Kids in the Gorbals saw a bloke get his throat slashed with an open razor.
Next day they were playing hopscotch in the chalk outline.

In real life I don't wouldn't expect anyone to pay any attention to Marsden and her grand standing in the Pub either.
People would just carry on drinking and ignore her, until she got bored and buggered off.

It's a pub not a nightclub it's not like it's ever 6 deep at the bar in the Vic with punters spilling out on to the pavement, either.
The monitor's got lights on the front too, when those lights start flashing someone either a punter or those behind the jump will notice.

The nonsense where Roxxy turns up the music for one night and all the young punters from the local area are suddenly interested in their Pub.

They do a Night Cafe too, they're open all night IIRC, not that anyone seems to have mentioned it for years.
If that Cafe was somewhere on a main road they could actually make money being open all night, once word gets round.

Somehow we are supposed to suspend reality and believe that Raccoon Roxy and Nosejob Ronnie are attractive.

On the odd occassion that Libby is allowed back from Oxford because she is not too busy studying (every other day) we have to suspend belief and somehow believe she is a human.

A young man was murdered at the pub I go to just over a year ago. After the SoCOs had finished it was back to normal.

To be fair, the police did know whodunnit and arrested him once they had traced him back to Germany. He is now doing life.

Good thread! I would bet good money on Kirkwood probably working on an Arthur Fowler-esque recession related scene now....!....maybe Max or some former high flyer being the victim if his car loot goes tits up with Bradley? The current people who've flirted with unemployment for a laughably short period of time in the show (Billy, Chelsea, Shirley, Stacey, Bradley- to name a few) have all got back on their feet in no time at all - suspension of belief big time! Then again I suppose EE producers would say "it';s not what you know it's who you know". Weird how no outsiders are given jobs there in the Square though, it's all internal! Totally unrealistic of course...

ugh - got posted twice. Sort it out DS! See next......!

The paradox re Phil Mitchell and the fact that some good looking, model-esque women have fallen for him in the past (Kathy Beale of old, Dawn, Sharon et al) is that it does actually happen in reality a lot more often than you'd think! As women have become more materialistic and image conscious than ever before nowadays, then they'd more happily go out with a bald, unassuming looking fellow 10 or even 20 years their senior in some cases if he had money - with the premise being that he makes them laugh - all the way to the bank probably! I know that's stereotyping a lot of women and indeed there are still a few old fashioned types (for varying reasons) out there like Manda or Heather.....but not many!! Janine Butcher eat your heart out..........!!

The police keeping Ian in custody when all they can do is hold him for 24 hours without proof.