Torches

Just a couple of things to add to my post above.

The first is that the grinding poverty of the time was directly due to the lack of a welfare state until after the war, so working families up and down the land went into poverty if work dried up. No work = no money.

The formation of the welfare state started to get to grips with the widespread poverty but obviously took some years for everyone to benefit.

That together with the slum clearance scheme and the building of council housing meant we were able to move to  a top floor council flat at Bexley Court in Bath Street fronting on to Cleethorpe Road with hot water, a kitchen and bathroom. Bliss!

There is no doubt poverty today, but nothing like the widespread scourge that previous generations endured thanks to the Labour government of the time who instigated the welfare state and slum clearance programme.

Back then, we had a government and, indeed, governments (including many Tory ones who continued with the welfare state reforms implemented by Labour for decades) who were interested in dealing with poverty and inequality. Those in charge over the last decade, however? They quite literally don't give a toss. Change definitions of poverty, cuts to benefits of the poorest including the sick and disabled, etc etc.

Here's the latest from the ONS:

https://twitter.com/ONS/status/1592775994624348160/photo/1

The poorest are being hit hardest by inflation, yet Hunt is going to tell us tomorrow that everyone is going to have to pay more tax to fill an arbitrary 'black hole' (which doesn't really exist) in the finances because the previous Tory government crapped the bed. We're in recession and their policy decisions are going to make sure it is deeper, longer and more punishing. The wealthy politicians and bankers making these choices won't be affected in the slightest. One less holiday to the Caribbean each year paid by a donor for the politicians, perhaps? Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey (who is absolutely flipping incompetent), wasn't even sure how much he earned when asked earlier this year. Over half a million plus near on 100K into a pension pot each year. MPC members (who decide interest rates) earn more than £150K per year - for a part-time role in addition to whatever they are paid in their regular day jobs. Jeremy Hunt is on £150K a year (and is worth millions). Those on the breadline, however...

Yeah, but what about the phone torches?

Quoted from pizzzza

Yeah, but what about the phone torches?

Bit daft, I think.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

The first is that the grinding poverty of the time was directly due to the lack of a welfare state until after the war, so working families up and down the land went into poverty if work dried up. No work = no money.

In other places in times gone by it was like this as well. People I've spoken to abroad had family members who started out with nothing but built up their business  through sheer hard work and ambition * huge respect* and the person in question was adopted as a young child due to his dad dying and his mother not being able to look after her 5 children . He was adopted by monks as a child and made to work hard  .Discipline and experiences often painful builds character.

Quoted from Rick12

He was adopted by monks as a child and made to work hard  .Discipline and experiences often painful builds character.

That’s terrible. Hope they didn’t suffer in silence?

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

That’s terrible. Hope they didn’t suffer in silence?

On the whole I think the experiences with the monks shaped him for the better.

As Rick12 pointed out, life was on the whole tougher back in the day.  However, I think we rode the storm better because we stuck together.   My dad was a fish dock lumper with three kids. We weren't really in poverty but we weren't well off.  The thing was, we had a back alley and all the neighbours shared stuff.  Why shell out for an expensive tool if it's sat on a shed shelf for most of the year?  The whole neighbourhood had something to lend others.  

Our house  was bloody freezing in the winter but at least the loo was inside.  We had a gas fire in the living room and it poured out heat for about a yard. We would all huddle around it.  The thing went on the blink during the winter of discontent, so it was dangerous to put it on.  We sat in the pitch black, wrapped in a mish mash of clothes.  My nan had an outdoor privy though, and if I stayed over at night , I'd just hold it in until the morning.

Quoted from Mayaman

As Rick12 pointed out, life was on the whole tougher back in the day.  However, I think we rode the storm better because we stuck together.   My dad was a fish dock lumper with three kids. We weren't really in poverty but we weren't well off.  The thing was, we had a back alley and all the neighbours shared stuff.  Why shell out for an expensive tool if it's sat on a shed shelf for most of the year?  The whole neighbourhood had something to lend others.  

Our house  was bloody freezing in the winter but at least the loo was inside.  We had a gas fire in the living room and it poured out heat for about a yard. We would all huddle around it.  The thing went on the blink during the winter of discontent, so it was dangerous to put it on.  We sat in the pitch black, wrapped in a mish mash of clothes.  My nan had an outdoor privy though, and if I stayed over at night , I'd just hold it in until the morning.

And this year people are crying poverty when it was 15C outside and they couldn't afford to have the heating on for 8 hours a day. We don't know how lucky we are and it boils my urine