Posted February 4, 200817 yr I now find myself watching lots of thought-provoking documentaries and Dispatches always seems to be reporting on the important topical issues mainly on this [c**p] country, so I thought it'd be an idea to start a thread for discussion on the issues it presents :D
February 4, 200817 yr Author Channel 4, 8pm, Monday 4th February: Heat or Eat: The Pensioners' Dilemma Dispatches has discovered that the Government, despite its promises, is failing the elderly across Britain. With energy prices soaring, its provision to make sure that they're warm and properly cared for in winter is becoming more and more inadequate. At the same time it is impoverishing the elderly and their families, who increasingly have to pay for basic social services. Dispatches reveals what life is like for elderly men and women forced to live on today's state pension and deal with the complexities of the government's means-tested benefits to keep body and soul together.
February 4, 200817 yr Author This is really scary and disgusting. The fact that money is being provided for people coming into the country and the recent revelation that 2/3 on benefits aren't even entitled to them is disgusting when the elderly people in our society, whom are likely to have lived in the country much of their lives are living in such poor conditions :(
February 5, 200817 yr i didnt see it, so i cant really comment. im not sure that pensioners are that bad off.... and i dont know the facts about what immigrants get to 'start up', ive heard of large hand outs but i cant substanciate this.
February 5, 200817 yr Author i didnt see it, so i cant really comment. im not sure that pensioners are that bad off Look out for a repeat on More4. It really is heartbreaking what the people featured went through. The conditions they were living in were awful and they kept having bills sent through and letters threatening legal action from energy suppliers. Quite a few of them were literally making the choice on a day-to-day basis whether to eat or have heating :(
February 6, 200817 yr Channel 4, 8pm, Monday 4th February: Heat or Eat: The Pensioners' Dilemma Dispatches has discovered that the Government, despite its promises, is failing the elderly across Britain. With energy prices soaring, its provision to make sure that they're warm and properly cared for in winter is becoming more and more inadequate. At the same time it is impoverishing the elderly and their families, who increasingly have to pay for basic social services. Dispatches reveals what life is like for elderly men and women forced to live on today's state pension and deal with the complexities of the government's means-tested benefits to keep body and soul together. This has been going on since the days of Thatcher though mate, it's nowt new... But that still doesn't make it any more acceptable or any less disgusting.. The fukkin so-called "Labour" party were supposed to sort things like this out (this is why people bloody voted for them back in '97.... <_<, we did NOT vote for them to run around declaring war on Third World countries or take bungs from millionaires who could then buy influence or peerages, we had enough of that with the bloody Tories... <_< <_< ), they've done nothing but betray the working classes and the pensioners of this country time and time again... "Dispatches" is an entirely honourable programme, one of the best documentary series out there (far better than the compromised joke "Panorama" has become in the Post-Hutton atmosphere...), it's always gotten to the nitty gritty, hard facts of an issue, and it doesn't give a toss who the Govt of the day is, they've been equally critical of the Tories, of Labour, of the Lib Dems too.... I salute C4 for this series, they're the one TV channel in this country that seems to still have some balls....
February 7, 200817 yr Rob... on what planet were you when you had the idea "pensioners aren't that badly off"?
February 7, 200817 yr Rob... on what planet were you when you had the idea "pensioners aren't that badly off"? 60% of my customers are pensioners russ.... have been for 18 years.... i dont think anyone can generalise that ALL pensioners have to make a choice between food/heat... the ones i know certainly dont.
February 7, 200817 yr 60% of my customers are pensioners russ.... have been for 18 years.... i dont think anyone can generalise that ALL pensioners have to make a choice between food/heat... the ones i know certainly dont. Well, these pensioners are clearly those lucky enough to have company pension schemes that haven't gone belly up or have had funds syphoned off by crooked "financial consultants" to fukk knows where, so I imagine they are comfortably off.... This is certainly not the experience of the majority of pensioners in this country.. It certainly aint the experience for my mum and stepdad who are both pensioners, and are hardly well off.... They dont all live in the leafy luxury of middle-class suburbia like your customers....
February 8, 200817 yr Well, these pensioners are clearly those lucky enough to have company pension schemes that haven't gone belly up or have had funds syphoned off by crooked "financial consultants" to fukk knows where, so I imagine they are comfortably off.... This is certainly not the experience of the majority of pensioners in this country.. It certainly aint the experience for my mum and stepdad who are both pensioners, and are hardly well off.... They dont all live in the leafy luxury of middle-class suburbia like your customers.... thats very presumptuous of you! my customers are nearly ALL normal , ordinary, working class people who live in council houses as well as modest private ones. and just HOW did these 'poor' pensioners end up being so poor?... did they squander money instead of taking out a pension?... ok, im sure some are victims of life, im sure some are responsible for their own plight. im also sure that the vast MAJORITY of pensioners do NOT have to make the choice between heat and eat. the state pension is.... £60 summut? a week, sorry but i can live on that! plus all the extras they get... tv licences, bus fares, prescriptions, heating allowances, council tax reductions...
February 8, 200817 yr and just HOW did these 'poor' pensioners end up being so poor?... did they squander money instead of taking out a pension?... ok, im sure some are victims of life, im sure some are responsible for their own plight. im also sure that the vast MAJORITY of pensioners do NOT have to make the choice between heat and eat. the state pension is.... £60 summut? a week, sorry but i can live on that! plus all the extras they get... tv licences, bus fares, prescriptions, heating allowances, council tax reductions... For someone who dislikes them so much, you sure do spout a load of crypto-Tory drivel sometimes mate, you really do... This is just a latest example and it totally fails to take into account the quite literally MILLIONS of people who have been contributing to company pension schemes for the past 20 or 30 years and are now reaching retirement age have found a serious black hole in the fund through their company mismanaging the fund, and they wont be getting anything like what they were promised... To even attempt to excuse that or to imply that it is somehow their fault really is shameful.. These people had every expectation of receiving a decent company pension and now their companies reward their loyalty by doing this to them... Disgusting.. Okay, maybe it might not be to the extremes of having to choose between food and heating, but they are finding themselves considerably less well off than they were led to believe they would be...
February 8, 200817 yr For someone who dislikes them so much, you sure do spout a load of crypto-Tory drivel sometimes mate, you really do... This is just a latest example and it totally fails to take into account the quite literally MILLIONS of people who have been contributing to company pension schemes for the past 20 or 30 years and are now reaching retirement age have found a serious black hole in the fund through their company mismanaging the fund, and they wont be getting anything like what they were promised... To even attempt to excuse that or to imply that it is somehow their fault really is shameful.. These people had every expectation of receiving a decent company pension and now their companies reward their loyalty by doing this to them... Disgusting.. Okay, maybe it might not be to the extremes of having to choose between food and heating, but they are finding themselves considerably less well off than they were led to believe they would be... im not talking 'crypto tory drivel' at all.. im telling it how i see it, someone who DEALS with many pensioners on a regular basis. then you go on about future hardships that may mean some people are not as well off as they were lead to believe... but thats speculation and even YOU admit its not a case of 'food or fuel' which is what the threads about! :lol:
February 8, 200817 yr I think there are probably quite a few pensioners who aren't getting the benefits they're entitled to, some through pride, and others may not be aware of what they could get and have no one to help them find out. The forms themselves are often so damn complicated too ^_^
February 10, 200817 yr . then you go on about future hardships that may mean some people are not as well off as they were lead to believe... but thats speculation There's no "speculation" about it.. It's a fact... Millions of people will be adversely affected... I presume you deal with more or less the same pensioners on a regular sort of basis... Repeat customers? I would argue that the pensioners you speak of are by no means typical of the majority who do face economic hardships to some degree or other...
February 11, 200817 yr There's no "speculation" about it.. It's a fact... Millions of people will be adversely affected... I presume you deal with more or less the same pensioners on a regular sort of basis... Repeat customers? I would argue that the pensioners you speak of are by no means typical of the majority who do face economic hardships to some degree or other... yep, repete, long term.... ordinary people who worked in the local factories, ordinary pensioners, not well off but not exactly on the poverty line. im not sure where the notion that pensioners are living in poverty comes from.... the majority certainly dont.
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