National Living Wage.

[Anna B]

Most work all the hours Gods sends because they want stuff they don't need.

 

I agree. But many things which are necessary seem to be getting further out of reach for more and more people too. Education, which was the traditional way of improving one's station in life, is now prohibitively expensive and leaves the student with a huge debt and no guarantee of a decent job. The NHS and Health services are in decline, but private healthcare is too expensive. And don't get me started on justice, which is out of reach for the common man in all but criminal cases. Housing, food, utilities, all rising in price and causing untold worry to a lot of people

 

This seems to me to be just the start of a chasm opening up between the very wealthy and the rest of us. As the trend in employment destabilises and becomes more contract, part time and 0 hours, I see it creeping inexorably up the social ranks and will eventually have submerged most of us. This generation may be the last to know full employment, pensions, stability and all that goes with it.

 

We will become no more than the serfs of the ruling classes.

 

---------- Post added 07-04-2016 at 19:42 ----------

 

Homelessness in Manchester has doubled in one year.

 

It's estimated that there are 80,000 homeless people sleeping rough at any one time and the figure is rising.

 

'Generation Homeless' 'Tonight' ITV 7.30pm

Edited April 7, 2016 by Anna B

[ECCOnoob]

What I find hard to reconcile is that as a baby boomer, as with Grandparents, and Parents who lived through the depression and wars, I'm used to things moving forward and improving with the passing of time. Life slowly getting better for people.

 

Now we seem to have gone into reverse. And there is no sign of it really improving, only getting worse. That's not me 'doom mongering' but looking at the facts. The world really has changed since the Global financial crisis of 2008. I said then that we would sink into third world status, and looking at the lives of some of the poor, disabled, old and unemployed, it's already here for some.

 

Anna sometimes you speak like a child. Grow up.

 

Get a clue of what REAL third world looks like. The poorest in this country are nowhere near.

 

EVERYONE in this country can walk into a hospital and get treated. EVERYONE in this country can walk into a shelter / hostel / homeless service or other organisation and be given a meal and somewhere to stay.

 

The disabled are given state money to live their lives. The jobless are given state money to provide basic standard of living until they find other work. The elderly are provided with care they need whether they can afford to pay for it or not. The breeders are given a minimum amount of state money for every child they choose to bring into the world.

 

The recession is not bringing the country to a third world nation. To suggest so is just ludicrous.

 

This is how the poor live in the third world.....

http://www.abcnewspoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Top-10-Most-Poorest-Countries-In-The-World-2015-Ethiopia.jpg

 

This is how the poor live in this country.....

http://images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/1/590x/secondary/63672.jpg

 

This is what street homeless looks like in the Third World....

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Street_Child,_Srimangal_Railway_Station.jpg

 

This is what street homeless looks like in this country....

http://www.hwns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/hwns-2015-medium-1539.jpg

[sutty27]

I agree. But many things which are necessary seem to be getting further out of reach for more and more people too. Education, which was the traditional way of improving one's station in life, is now prohibitively expensive and leaves the student with a huge debt and no guarantee of a decent job. The NHS and Health services are in decline, but private healthcare is too expensive. And don't get me started on justice, which is out of reach for the common man in all but criminal cases. Housing, food, utilities, all rising in price and causing untold worry to a lot of people

 

This seems to me to be just the start of a chasm opening up between the very wealthy and the rest of us. As the trend in employment destabilises and becomes more contract, part time and 0 hours, I see it creeping inexorably up the social ranks and will eventually have submerged most of us. This generation may be the last to know full employment, pensions, stability and all that goes with it.

 

We will become no more than the serfs of the ruling classes.

 

---------- Post added 07-04-2016 at 19:42 ----------

 

Homelessness in Manchester has doubled in one year.

 

It's estimated that there are 80,000 homeless people sleeping rough at any one time and the figure is rising.

 

'Generation Homeless' 'Tonight' ITV 7.30pm

 

How is something prohibitively expensive when you don't pay for it up front and only pay for it once you are earning enough money to make the repayments affordable.

[gomgeg]

I agree. But many things which are necessary seem to be getting further out of reach for more and more people too. Education, which was the traditional way of improving one's station in life, is now prohibitively expensive and leaves the student with a huge debt and no guarantee of a decent job. The NHS and Health services are in decline, but private healthcare is too expensive. And don't get me started on justice, which is out of reach for the common man in all but criminal cases. Housing, food, utilities, all rising in price and causing untold worry to a lot of people

 

This seems to me to be just the start of a chasm opening up between the very wealthy and the rest of us. As the trend in employment destabilises and becomes more contract, part time and 0 hours, I see it creeping inexorably up the social ranks and will eventually have submerged most of us. This generation may be the last to know full employment, pensions, stability and all that goes with it.

 

We will become no more than the serfs of the ruling classes.

 

---------- Post added 07-04-2016 at 19:42 ----------

 

Homelessness in Manchester has doubled in one year.

 

It's estimated that there are 80,000 homeless people sleeping rough at any one time and the figure is rising.

 

'Generation Homeless' 'Tonight' ITV 7.30pm

I'm sure your hearts in the right place but you are talking a load of rubbish.

We're pensioners living below the official poverty line, but can manage quite well with a bit of common sense budgeting. You talk about housing, food and utilities rising in price and causing misery, but haven't the government just reduced council house rents and inflation is very low certainly for food and utilities.

I also don't know anyone who has not been able to see a doctor or get an hospital appointment when urgent, prescriptions are free for pensioners and those on benefits, I hardly think that's a retrograde step.

As for homelessness, how do you expect hundreds of thousand homes to suddenly fill the gap caused by mass immigration to the UK?

There's more young people in higher education than ever before, and I agree that tuition fees should probably be abolished but I'll remind you that it was Labour that introduced them thus giving the Tories a free ride to increase them.

As for your assertion that we are becoming 'serfs' that's your best yet.

[*_ash_*]

I don't think you have a clue what life is like for some old and disabled people here.

 

In Rumania and China old people are respected. They may not have the NHS and carehomes, but they do have their families.

Here families are expected to work all hours God sends.

 

Just out of interest Anna, what did you teach (or specialise in) when you were a teacher?

 

 

 

 

 

edit: I didn't see this page, I was replying to 118, and I'd read 119 and 120.

Edited April 7, 2016 by *_ash_*

[Anna B]

Just out of interest Anna, what did you teach (or specialise in) when you were a teacher?

 

 

edit: I didn't see this page, I was replying to 118, and I'd read 119 and 120.

 

English.

 

The Chinese are now suffering from their 'one child' policy, which has skewed things somewhat. They are also discovering that full on careers and caring for dependent family are a difficult mix. Same as the rest of us.

 

However I was speaking from experience of a number of actual Chinese people I know who have a different attitude to their elderly. They regard them as the head of the family, wise and to be very much respected.

 

As for the third world thing, take a trip down Page Hall and some of the poorer areas of Sheffield. And give it 10 years.

[*_ash_*]

English.

 

Thank goodness.

 

 

As for the third world thing, take a trip down Page Hall and some of the poorer areas of Sheffield. And give it 10 years.

 

 

Go for a wander there, and imagine 10 years into the future?

[sutty27]

English.

 

The Chinese are now suffering from their 'one child' policy, which has skewed things somewhat. They are also discovering that full on careers and caring for dependent family are a difficult mix. Same as the rest of us.

 

However I was speaking from experience of a number of actual Chinese people I know who have a different attitude to their elderly. They regard them as the head of the family, wise and to be very much respected.

 

As for the third world thing, take a trip down Page Hall and some of the poorer areas of Sheffield. And give it 10 years.

 

The old people might be suffering but the younger generation will eventually benefit from it, without that policy the younger generation would have suffered more than they will now.

[gomgeg]

English.

 

The Chinese are now suffering from their 'one child' policy, which has skewed things somewhat. They are also discovering that full on careers and caring for dependent family are a difficult mix. Same as the rest of us.

 

However I was speaking from experience of a number of actual Chinese people I know who have a different attitude to their elderly. They regard them as the head of the family, wise and to be very much respected.

 

As for the third world thing, take a trip down Page Hall and some of the poorer areas of Sheffield. And give it 10 years.

Page Hall is populated by people from third world countries who were allowed to come here at taxpayers expense when the Labour Party opened UK borders and invited them here, so is it any wonder it's in the state it's in?

[Anna B]

I'm sure your hearts in the right place but you are talking a load of rubbish.

We're pensioners living below the official poverty line, but can manage quite well with a bit of common sense budgeting. You talk about housing, food and utilities rising in price and causing misery, but haven't the government just reduced council house rents and inflation is very low certainly for food and utilities.

I also don't know anyone who has not been able to see a doctor or get an hospital appointment when urgent, prescriptions are free for pensioners and those on benefits, I hardly think that's a retrograde step.

As for homelessness, how do you expect hundreds of thousand homes to suddenly fill the gap caused by mass immigration to the UK?

There's more young people in higher education than ever before, and I agree that tuition fees should probably be abolished but I'll remind you that it was Labour that introduced them thus giving the Tories a free ride to increase them.

As for your assertion that we are becoming 'serfs' that's your best yet.

 

With respect, I imagine your lives were pretty well set up before you retired, in that you already had a fully furnished home, etc.

But a young person is just starting out and their first concern is housing. Without a home they're pretty well stuffed for everything else.

There is a huge housing crisis at the moment, whatever the reason might be. and no signs of it improving any time soon. There is also a jobs crisis in spite of what the government might tell you. Without a job and a home you are pretty well set to shortly become a third world type statistic.

 

It is the young who are going to suffer most, not the established.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Anna B