Ten things unheard of when I grew up .

[Evans Electric]

Kicking the new year off with some trivia.

10 things no one  was experiencing . 

1.    Unemployment . 

2.    Wide spread benefits .  ( Whole families drawing benefits etc)

3.   Homeless people on the streets.

4.   Food Kitchens.

5.  Commercial television.

6.  Motorways.

7.  Cellphones.

8.  Computers.

9.  The EU.

10.  VAT    

 

[ProDave]

Things must have been different in Brum. Or your glasses have a rose tint.

We did have unemployment, remember when it hit 3 million? Remember the 3 day week, rolling power cuts? regular all out strikes? The closed shop? Demarcation?

Benefits?  Well I do remember "The Dole" and the queue outside the labour exchange. Granted we didn't have all these silly "in work" benefits.

Homeless / beggers were  on the streets of Oxford when I was a boy.

ITV started when I was a boy, in glorious 405 line monochrome on a television the size of a house that had a screen like a goldfish bowl that took 10 minites to warm up.

I remember the M40 being built.

Celphones?  You were lucky to have one landline, and that was a rented phone, hard wired to a point usually in the hall. I remember the "freedom" of being allowed to install your own wiring and sockets and buy a phone rather than rent it.

The EU and VAT less said the better.

 

[Geoff1946]

Well, number five and upwards are obviously technical developments, but from what I've read I think there has always been poverty and homelessness. 

Perhaps it wasn't as visible as nowadays, but that's largely due to the media. 

 

[Evans Electric]

Things must have been different in Brum. Or your glasses have a rose tint.

Or could be I'm older than you Dave   

Benefits?  Well I do remember "The Dole" and the queue outside the labour exchange.

Not when I was a child and when I left school , I never heard of anyone unable to get a job .  The Birmingham Mail was a broadsheet & had pages  & pages of Situations  Vacant .    I was "on the tools"  in the late '60s  & loads of jobs in there including  Electricians ,  many contractors  & lots of industrial maintenance  Sparks required.

ITV started when I was a boy, in glorious 405 line monochrome on a television the size of a house that had a screen like a goldfish bowl that took 10 minites to warm up.

You'll remember  The Adventures of Robin Hood  then ? 

but from what I've read I think there has always been poverty and homelessness. 

Well yes, there were a very few , say , disturbed people in the city centre  but not loads of young folk begging .  

 

[Murdoch]

Due to the way the benefits work now, people do choose not to work “as it’s not worth it”

reduce benefits it’s over the extended duration of unemployment and at some point work will pay.

countless people have come to the UK and have found work ..... says it all really

 

[Tony S]

Due to the way the benefits work now, people do choose not to work “as it’s not worth it”

reduce benefits it’s over the extended duration of unemployment and at some point work will pay.

countless people have come to the UK and have found work ..... says it all really

I’m disabled and therefore unable to work, two nervous breakdowns due to over work. For 40 years I paid my dues to the government. What are your views on that?

There’s something odd about the electrical trade, why do so many end up going loopy?

 

[phil d]

It annoys me that they say we haven,t enough money for older people but we've got money to pay school leavers to sit on their backsides and do nothing, I'm sick to death of people who've never worked, and have no intention of working being better off than those  who do work.

 

[Evans Electric]

countless people have come to the UK and have found work ..... says it all really

Thats a good point .

 

[Evans Electric]

It annoys me that they say we haven,t enough money for older people but we've got money to pay school leavers to sit on their backsides and do nothing, I'm sick to death of people who've never worked, and have no intention of working being better off than those  who do work.

It has become a life choice  it would seem .    

Nephew on the wife's side  left school  , never worked since .   He did two weeks with us  once , we had 16 new masionettes to  wire .  Thats all he ever did .   Now about 26  , on benefit , two kids , council flat in Yam-Yam land ...does begger all .   

 

[Murdoch]

I’m disabled and therefore unable to work, two nervous breakdowns due to over work. For 40 years I paid my dues to the government. What are your views on that?

There’s something odd about the electrical trade, why do so many end up going loopy?

Where in my post did I say ANYTHING about disabled people?

i didn’t ....... so why bring it up?

 

[Tony S]

Because I’m claiming benefits and therefore a drain on the nations coffers.

Out of work by choice, is a different matter. It shouldn’t be lumped together with people that have paid their dues in to the system but unfortunately can’t return to work.

 

[rapparee]

Because I’m claiming benefits and therefore a drain on the nations coffers.

Out of work by choice, is a different matter. It shouldn’t be lumped together with people that have paid their dues in to the system but unfortunately can’t return to work.

In fairness Murdoch's original post was aimed at people who choose not to work, not those who can't work. 

Well that's the way I read it anyway.

 

[Tony S]

OK, I stand corrected.

Sorry.

 

[Evans Electric]

OK, I stand corrected.

Sorry.

Respect .       I too was not referring to disabled folk  .   Nor the genuine guy who has been made redundant say ,  and I accept there are areas where  a mine or steelworks is closed down  and theres  nothing else , nowhere to go .    Your skills are suddenly not needed ,   no good moving down the Brum or London and saying  " Aye up  me Duck ..any work for t 'miner ?"    

 

[Murdoch]

In fairness Murdoch's original post was aimed at people who choose not to work, not those who can't work. 

Well that's the way I read it anyway.

hit, nail and head spring to mind .....

 

[Zeespark]

I am unfortunately out of work right now, due to a fall in 2004 I literally smashed My ankle, once out of plaster I was given some physio to get Me out of the physios door. Fast forward to July 2018, I found out that I am having sporadic ankle and hip pain. This was due to the physio I had received in 2004, they hadnt taught Me to walk properly during My physio time there. Since ****** knows when, I have been suffering from mild to medium depression and I have found out in the last 2 years or so that I am on the low end of the Autistic spectrum and I am Type 2 Diabetic. Due to being off and signing on the sick, I have to have an assessment by the DWP on the 9th of this month. The mad thing is, I actually want to get back to work, I want to get Myself sorted, but it seems that when I get back on My feet, dust off My knees and look up at the world, a wrecking ball puts Me on My backside again.

Andy Guinness

 

[Tony S]

Andy, I spent years of being a tennis ball bouncing back and forth between DWP departments. Eventually they gave up trying to get me back in to employment, that’s when the fun and games really started. Two court cases along with all the bloody paperwork knocked the stuffing out of me.

I will say this, “don’t give up”. If you want help, PM me.

 

[Zeespark]

Thanks Tony, its nice to know that someone 'gets' Me, I have Aspergers Syndrome (found out about in 1944) so I have only a few acquaintances outside of this forum. Its a lot easier for Me to speak to you guys and girls than what it is for Me to chat face to face. I almost had a melt down at a wedding in 2003, I am just now realising what has caused it for the most part.

Andy Guinness

 

[Murdoch]

So unless anybody can correct me try this piece of Government stupidity ...........

My daughter is going to university this year, as conscientious parents, we both work and pay taxes, and live under the same roof ............ meaning both of our incomes are assessed ...... and we fall in the highest band so making our contribution large

another kid, with divorced parents, living with the "poorer" parent, gets the maximum out of the state and the parental contribution will be small or nothing - the other parent could be a multi millionaire .......... but there income is ignored .................... how stupid is that. 

 

[binky]

It would be easier to reduce University places to the 5%-10% of the brightest and best and make it free again than run the current system where so many young people just aquire a large debt on a course that isn't truly vocational.