Benefit Street

[giveup]

Have just watched it,dont know what to think.Do people really live and behave like that. I have not led a sheltered life but Oh dear, I can't believe it.

[DrFilth]

naomi i agree 100% but do you not see how they add it up all and blame a few workshy and then the sick for this huge bill

think about those that have worked then become ill they are now treated as scumbags .

last year more than 3 workmates have died and they never reached their oap pension age

[naomi24]

I don't think there are just a few workshy. I think there are a lot of people who milk the system for all it's worth.

[pastafreak]

I'm watching on 4od now. I could cry for the Romanians. I hope those men who reported their 'employer' are safe.

[Baby_Sham]

Pasta, I thought the same.
You wonder what would of happened to them :-(

[pastafreak]

I noticed...and I hate saying this...but the immigrants on the street seemed far more resourceful and ambitious than the ' natives'. At least one of the Romanians found himself in work. Good on him.

[Baby_Sham]

Yes, absolutely! I said exactly the same thing.
They weren't getting any help from the government, yet they were trying their damned hardest to get work and provide for their children back home.
Shame on that employer who brought them here as, well, slaves.
I was surprised the police could do no more.

Really sad, though they seemed so positive and upbeat.
Brought a tear to my eye :-(

[sherrardk]

Naomi, whilst I agree that there are some who milk the system in some cases the system is just plain stupid. I could claim careers allowqnce because thing 2 has 'special needs' (he has a severe speech impairment, nothing 'major') and he could claim disability living allowance in his own right. It is plain wrong that this is the case, how many people are claiming this?

[naomi24]

Sherrard, I agree absolutely.

[Baby_Sham]

That's the problem here. The SYSTEM allows for this whole 'rinsing' situation. It's ridiculous.
It's all very well blaming the claimants, but maybe the government needs to sort the whole benefits system out firstly.

[naomi24]

Notwithstanding the fact that people should take responsibility for their own actions - there is no excuse for claiming money without proper entitlement - the government is attempting to sort it out - and what do we get? Howls of protest. Damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't.

[sherrardk]

Apparently I do have entitlement (if you go by the letter of the rules). However, whilst pre-school aged, thing 2 couldn't have gone to nursery (so I couldn't have worked) I wasn't planning on doing so anyway. I know of people who have pushed to get their children on the special needs register so that they can claim benefits, one even got her driving lessons paid for (well, I know through idle gossip). Not sure how much I could be 'entitled' to, wouldn't dream of trying to claim it and finding out.

[naomi24]

Sherrard, yes, that's what I understood. Unfortunately they're not all like you.

[ladybirder]

I hate that the State Pension is classed as a benefit now and the cost to the country is used to beat us pensioners around the head. I must be one of thousands who paid into the system for the whole of their working life but am now made to feel a drain on the country, by some people, for receiving my dues.

[bundleone]

All this programme does is stir up trouble and cause hate crime, a lot of it is exagerated for the cameras, in a lot of the aerial shots the street is clean and yes close up it's covered in litter, I think the mattresses the kids were playing on were put there for effect.

[ELVIS68]

It's just another C4 car crash tv barrel scraper.

Along with all the other tripe they dish up, Big Fat Gypsy weddings being one of them.

C4 have a knack for pissing off the working tax paying folk in this country by filming the ones that put nothing into it.