I watched the first one , but it just made me angry .....especially the thieving guys !

ha!

im following you!

yeah, it was a bit rough wasnt it

wouldnt fancy walking down that street in the dark

not that its dangerous...but cos i might trip over a mattress...

 

 

I'm surprised they didn't realise they were going to be shown in a bad light by C4 - our government seem hell bent on encouraging programme after programme after programme to show anyone on benefits in a bad most of which seem to be on C4.

 

My slimming world advisor was supposed to take part in this as there were initially some Polish families going to be taking part (she's Polish obviously) and she was hired via Brasshouse Language centre to translate for them.  She confirms (although at first I had my doubts) that this whole thing was sold to these people, including her, as a programme about community spirit and the diversity of the people living on the road.  At no stage did they confirm it was to be a programme about benefits.  I have no reason to doubt what she says. The Polish people pulled out as I guess they had some sense, hence why she is not on it.

 

I haven't seen the programme only some clips advertising it.  The area is in a very deprived part of Birmingham, so I'm not surprised at how bad it looks.

 

What I will say and I have been slated for this elsewhere.  An area is only as good as the people who live in it, so the disgusting state of the street is down to them and the people that frequent it.  If they had any pride they would tidy it up.  Just because you're short of funds, doesn't mean you can't be clean and tidy but that seems to be a thing of the past these days - don't see many people proudly washing their front steps on a Monday 

 

And that's all I have to say on it 

 

 

Hmmmm...a bit thick that was!

shame on C4 though for making it seem that all claimants are like that!

i bet IDS was chuckling with glee

 

the street is about 2.5miles from me...people have been going there to take a 'selfie' next to the street sign!

I totally agree Pengy .....and as my mum used to say , soap and water cost nowt!  

pengy

 

What I will say and I have been slated for this elsewhere.  An area is only as good as the people who live in it, so the disgusting state of the street is down to them and the people that frequent it.  If they had any pride they would tidy it up.  Just because you're short of funds, doesn't mean you can't be clean and tidy but that seems to be a thing of the past these days - don't see many people proudly washing their front steps on a Monday 

 

i agree with that

the bad weather blew all stuff out recycling boxes last week & i couldnt expect the bin men to collect it

so after they left-i went out with black bags & picked all the rubbish up from outside about 5 houses

doesnt hurt to have a bit of pride in where you live

 

 

Anyone else think that white Dee was robbing that bloke she said she was helping 

 

I think there will be a lot of people on that street losing even more benefits after some of the things they admitted to

 

Apparently black Dee has been arrested

white dee 'the mother of the street'

 

i said to OH when i was watching it 'more like the nosey f**ker of the street'

every street in the world has one of them lol

I'm surprised more of them haven't been Aimee

I wouldn't be surprised if the JSA/IS/ESA claims of all these people were being re-evaluated as we speak 

 

I read that white Dee had been working for Birmingham City Council and had stolen money leading to her sacking and arrest - as she had children, she escaped with a non custodial sentence yet she tries to portray herself as a mother Teresa font of all knowledge persona 

they might be done yet!

we've only watched the 1st of 5 episodes

 

true 

yep,

from vunerable people the evening mail said

 

poor old fungi had better go & check how much money he's got left...

Can't say I'm surprised though! 

 

Agree Baz. 

 

It felt like they were almost 'proud' of their ability to thieve from shops (and the GBP who were sold what he told them were The Big Issue magazine, but they were not).

 

Then when caught breaking his ASBO one of them kicks off forcing the police to arrest him. What made me more angry was that he was out on the rob and lied to the police. He also has children. 

 

The problem with all this is that if the programme followed someone who worked stacking shelves, was law abiding and lived a normal routine life no one would watch.

 

 

That doesn't surprise me  I just got the feeling she was portraying herself as this person who trys to help but in reality was helping herself to their money 

So the premise of the thread is that C4 made a biased and deceitful representation of people on benefits, then the rest of thread is post about the  people shown in the program and berating them, even though we all seem to know that the program as biased and deceitful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if we will be seeing a series on tax-dodgers, or the growth of food-banks and homelessness in the U.K? I suspect not!

What I found most depressing about the whole thing was the 50p man. Imagine not having  enough money to buy a full packet of tea, so you bought a plastic cupful for 50p.

 

I'd like someone at the top to say 'hmmmm, this isn't a good quality of life for anyone. How about we educate, motivate, incentivate' (is that a word?!) ... or is it just easier to bung them all in the same street, throw a few bob at them each week and forget about them. 

 

 

This sort of programme is made to make your blood boil and it did. I only watched a bit of it, but at least it taught my household how to do a bit of shoplifting, if nothing else. Should it be banned? No, because we all have an *Off* switch and I don't condone censorhip in a country that is supposed to be free

Watched it today and one thing made me really angry. The woman who said "I'm not getting PAID what I'm due". PAID? She even admitted she'd never worked a day in her life. Call me old fashioned but you get paid when you earn it

 

I would like to see a program about the Lords - and all the handouts subsidies they recieve

Ooooh! Good post Machel 

me too and all MPs and Euro MPs

 

wouldn't it be nice if we had one of these programmes made where they follow a Job seeker around and watch how they try to find jobs that are unrealistic on universal job match, are zero contract hours or part time, or go to sign on and be sanctioned because the DWP was on strike the previous time and you couldn't sign on but they've withdrawn your benefit anyway or follow these people as they fulfill their agreements by walking to 30 shops/factories and hand in their CVs just to receive a rejection.  Wonder if they'd ever film someone on workfare? Never gonna happen because it's not sensational enough

Good point Pengy.  I work for a private training company that works alongside (not for) the JCP and it's amazing the amount of people that we get through our doors that really do genuinely want to work, and it's a damn shame the number of barriers put in their way  

 

 

or how the bankers are surviving on their massive bonuses, or Cameron's £90 hair trims..I think not. 3% claim Jobseekers, the rest goes to working people, disabled and pensioners. Well done channel 4 , great PR for the government, tar them all with the same brush   

I remember a 'customer' cos that's what we call them now not so long ago came in to see us before his induction......really not happy, the JCP sent me here, I don't want your help, all my contacts are in my head/phone blah, blah. He attended the induction ....and the six weeks jobsearch after it and virtually went skipping out the door cos he had a brilliant updated CV and knew the basics of using a computer. He couldn't wait to get back 

there are always going to be people that buck the system - t'was ever thus.  These programmes tend to focus on a very small amount of those people and make it seem like everyone is up to the same.

 

It's like housing benefit for instance, most of that is actually claimed by low paid earners.  Instead of asking why their wages are so low they have to claim benefits, they believe what this government want them to believe and turn on anyone else on benefits without realising that just because they work, they also claim benefits be it Housing benefits, tax credits or child benefits.

 

I also think there are some out there that forget we're all an accident or illness away from needing some support.  Lots of people have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and when their savings are gone, they have no option but to sign on.  One of the big problems is that any jobs that are out there tend to be zero hours contracts which might suit some people but are no good for most. If you don't take a job that's 0 hours you're sanctioned for not taking it so you end up with no benefits and those 0 jobs generally only give you a couple of hours a week if you're lucky or nothing at all!

 

Don't get me going on workfare either - the amount of people who've been let go from their jobs, had to sign on and then end up on workfare back at the place where they've been let go from.  Who wins?  The company (Poundland being one such place) as they get free labour in that they don't have to pay a salary and the government get to take these people off the unemployment list so can fiddle the figures.  Then when the placement is over (it's usually 6-12 months) they get sanctioned for not being successful in getting a position there despite knowing before they sent them there, there was never going to be a job in the first place 

 

 

Sproutalicious, I'm sure those that haven't ever thought of doing a CV or getting interview techniques would benefit greatly from your services. 

 

Where I think jobcentres fall down is that they don't offer any proper courses or skills to get people genuinely into work especially when the person is more qualified than the person who is supposed to be helping them   It's worse now with people who are on WRAG section of ESA - they can't find jobs for able-bodied people so how the hell are disabled people declared fit by Atossers supposed to get employment? 

Brilliant post Pengy, but I do have to differ with you on one thing   We do offer courses (albeit government funded) and it has got peeps into work...SIA (security and the like) and also forklift driving courses and stuff like that. Problem is.....a lot of unemployed peeps don't really want to do this sort of work......a lot of them just take/do the training to keep JCP off their backs, hence a big waste of money   

I don't disagree with you there sprout  there are always some that do that - I should have made it clearer in that I was mainly referring to people like say a civil engineer who has experience and degrees coming out of their backside but because they are 50 they are never offered anything to get them into a decent job (not necessarily in engineering) back to earning what they were before they were made redundant, although to be fair, most of them would probably jump at the chance to be a fork lift driver just to be earning a crust  

anyhoo I'm off to my bed so night night 

It's also because it doesn't fit the current government's  agenda of dismantling

'reforming' the welfare state in my opinion.  I notice that all the tv companies are very much trying to stay onside with the government at the moment.

I agree with Kaytee! Don't watch it.
For those who need to read about Tax eväzhe, bankers, bent business, honours for friends, and general high end corruption, a copy of Private Eye awaits you at all good High Street stationers.
The latest one is particularly good.

The irony is that our MPs probably would be a more representative subset of the British population if one or two of them had been done for assault or shoplifting or helped bankrupt a business but I somehow doubt that's the point the originator of the email was trying to make.
It's a fake ! From snopes.com and t'Grauniad. Been doing the rounds since 2006.

Private Eye also has a piece of CBB dialogue, which could never be aired on a family forum such as this.

 

 

you couldn't make it up 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u...lnk3%26pLid%3D236017

 

 

Reciting Shakespeare or doing an interpretive dance pretending to be a tree may not seem like standard practice when preparing to make a speech in politics, but not for some ministers, according to reports.

George Osborne and other Coalition Ministers apparently splashed out £10,000 of taxpayers’ money on acting lessons from one of Britain’s most exclusive drama schools.

According to the Daily Mail politicians are hoping to use acting techniques in the hope of turning prosaic monologues into dazzling oratorical performances.

Ministers apparently paid the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) for actors and voice experts in a bid to boost their performance.

According to Government credit card records, the Treasury last year paid for two sets of Rada courses – £1,541 in October and £1,500 in February – just days after the Chancellor warned of the need for further cuts.

The Department of Health, meanwhile, spent just over £3,500 for three courses in 2012 while the Cabinet Office ran up a £612 bill in December, 2012.

And the Department for International Development spent £2,370 on coaching in 2012/13.

Last night, a Government spokesman told the newspaper: "Civil servants need the right skills to perform at the highest level and deliver better, more efficient services for the public."

Mr Osborne infamously took voice-coaching from a £100-an-hour Harley Street expert to improve his own image when the Tories were in Opposition.

Labour councillor Mizan Chaudhury was also accused of wasting taxpayers' moneyafter paying £600 to take acting lessons so he could perform ceremonial duties more convincingly.

 

Never watched it

It's beneath me.

Was born in Jesmond don't you know.

 

Ok i saw a trailer.

If there ever was an argument for class distinction - this is it