The shame of Austerity Britain

My world is lovely thank you. Mcem you are the one dishing out personal insults to posters that don't agree with your views.

Welshwife Thu 31-May-18 10:56:23
Contrary to what many believe the immigrants move to obtain better paid jobs - sometimes to return home having saved money for the family, and sometimes they spend it in U.K. They have come from poorer conditions and therefore their expectations are less than many U.K. people who by comparison have a ‘softer’ life.
That may come to an end Welshwife and not just because of Brexit.
One of the other reasons some people from Eastern Europe may not be so keen to come here to work is that, since joining the EU, conditions and prospects in countries such as Romania have improved and there is not the need to travel to the UK to work. Yesterday on tv I saw recruiters visiting Romania to try to recruit farm workers and having difficulty - one woman signed up as she had started building a house with the money she earned here and wanted to finish it. However, she was crying because it meant she had to leave her children behind.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that academic reasearch is viewed as left wing nonesense. Michael Gove, amongst others in his party, has often dismissed “experts” so why wouldn’t selfish, mean spirited and ill informed posters on gransnet follow his lead.

Yes- I saw that report too Jalima. I suppose though that it is Brexit which is making people who thought they were settled in U.K. think about returning to their native country. It would seem that many conditions and wages have deteriorated in the U.K. - there are lots of areas where there are no jobs other than minimum wage and many of them are now seasonal. Once these conditions get set it is difficult to know where to start to improve them as you are in a vicious circle.
I see that dear Nigel Lawson -such a supporter of Brexit - is applying for French Carte de Sejour. British people who are working etc and do not know what their position will be after Brexit are enraged by this action. I hope he can prove his income and has his tax returns and and other proof of residence!

I think the agents were trying to recruit seasonal workers, so perhaps they were not workers who lived here permanently and had gone home again.
I do hope that young woman gets her house finished!

If any govt ever anywhere had come up with a surefire way of successfully running the economy of a country that method would be copied everywhere. But no one ever has. All these economic theories are wonderful on paper but, somehow, when humans get involved then with all their greed, vanity, pomposity, overconfidence etc etc etc it all goes to pot.

* Nice* to know that nicenanny has a lovely life.
To hell with all those who don't, eh?
Mind is ok too, thank you, because I 've worked and saved and paid taxes due so that others can benefit.
Would just like you to know that I've no regrets about that.
I do regret that the mean-minded now think it's acceptable to display such selfish and cruel opinions.

I've worked all my life and paid my taxes too. Get over off your high horse mcem.

Oh dear! Shame some can’t conduct an intelligent discussion on here.
Get over off your high horse
I don’t understand what that means.

I take your point harmless.
No 'high horse' involved - simply trying to point out that in a decent society we pay our dues for an NHS free at time of need.
My sister works and pays her way all her life (sorry, public sector so up for criticism).
She, thankfully, has only needed NHS to help her to produce 2 wonderful children ( sorry all uni educated).
So she has more than paid her dues!
I don't know if I have or haven't used up my ni contributions (1 childbirth, 1 hysterectomy and the current hip op) but I think my sister is ok with having her contributions used for my op.

See how ludicrous it becomes when we start nit-picking ?
The greatest happiness of the greatest number isn't a bad starting point, is it?

The greatest happiness of the greatest number isn't a bad starting point, is it?
Good point mcem.

Yawn, carry on, ganging up now, how silly and childish.

So two people agree and it’s “ganging up”?

And how many 'ganged up' to be mean and nasty? I notice you have answered not a single one of my more relevant posts
Get over yourself nice nanny!
I'll just get on with taking advantage of the wonderful staff of NHS Scotland.

I hope your hip’s on the mend mcem.
We are so lucky to have the NHS but we have to protect it from underfunding and creeping privatisation.

Thank you mostly. Rarely have I been as aware of that thought as I am now.

Good grief. There are some very, very selfish and nasty old women posting on here. I hope that your smug self satisfied little lives implode on you one day. GN used to be a place for healthy debate and even a good heated one sometimes, but recently it has become a harbour for the narrow minded and bigoted and I am not sure I wish to be associated with it. But, if I, and others who think the same, back out, we will have lost to the ignorant and smug, so I shall stay a bit longer,bad luck.

You're right gill and if I thought the voice of reason would even be listened to, I 'd go on trying. However since I 'm scrounging from NHS Scotland because I was stupid enough to have an accident and clutter up a&e plus operating theatre and 2 different wards, I should just admit my failings and crawl off into a corner. After all I have let the country down in so many ways (See nicenanny 's post about left-wing scourges) Mea culpa!

Sorry beau's post /rant about everything left-wing!

I've just read all the posts in this thread and I'm actually feeling tearful at the sheer ignorance and/or indifference some posters have shown. I have spent time every day this week (and almost every week for the past three years) working with homeless people who are living on the streets.
Today I was with a middle-aged veteran with mental health problems who sat and cried across the table from me because he is so embarrassed at being in a situation where he is living on the streets and needs to accept help. I also spent time with another man of a similar age who has worked and paid taxes all his life whilst living with, and caring for, his elderly widowed mother; she died and her tenancy died with her. He refuses to apply for benefits even though he has health problems, instead he scours the town every day for odd jobs; he does not beg and has never smoked, nor does he take drugs and he is teetotal, yet he sleeps each night on a bench. If we didn't have 'care in the community' another of the people I work with would be being looked after in an institution, but instead has lost touch with reality and is left to wander the streets. None of these people have a phone, none of them beg, none of them 'deserve' to be living on the streets and none of them want to be homeless. All of them need someone to not only care, but to take action on their behalf.
Those are just three of this week's examples - the number of clients so far this year is already greater than the total number from last year. They come from all walks of life and backgrounds and listening to their stories is at best upsetting and at worst truly harrowing. I work closely with the local food bank (referral only) and they are seeing a huge increase in working families being unable to afford to feed their children.
I seriously urge anyone who hasn't seen it to watch the film, 'I, Daniel Blake'. It is a heartbreakingly true account of the spiral of despair that leads so many of my homeless clients to consider ending their lives.

Thank you grannya you've gone a long way to restoring my faith.

Good morning. It’s a relief to see posts from posters who have a more open, compassionate and positive approach to life than some of the selfish, negative and smug comments from some.

Hear, hear, Iam64 and mcem.
It is reassuring to read grannyactivist’s comments coming as they do from someone who actually has first hand experience of what she is talking about. Sad that there are others who are too ready to point the finger of blame, pull up the drawbridge and in whom the “milk of human kindness” seems to have dried up. What a legacy for our grandchildren

Would all those who dismiss experts, prefer to have their heart transplant done by a Personal trainer, or have the MOT on the car they drive their DGC in done by an upholsterer?

This selective dismissing of all experts who do not agree with the non-experts is very juvenile. I most connect those kind of comments with the younger members of Momentum. Do you remember some of our recently lost left wing enthusiasts who used to argue like this?

Perhaps all the more conservative posters on this thread are closet left-wingers, trying to flush out real right wingers by driving us rightwards.

Thank you for that long informative post GA -very sobering . It is awful to think that in this day and age we have people in the position of those you described.
You are a very strong as well as sympathetic person to be able to continue to do that work. Do you have access to services which can help these people or are they really just on their own?