When is being skint ?

[Tuerto]

Circumstances caused by myself, we had to go through most of last winter without heating, without light's and with only one of the leccy socket circuits working, it was quite unpleasant and obviously hate to be like this permantly, have now sorted the heating, lights and the upstairs sockets now working, will finalise the the downstairs sockets during the holiday period which will release the next phase, this all started as we wanted to sort the lads Bedroom, now we are coming to the final improvements, he picks up the keys this week for the house he has taken a mortgage on but the positive is that we will definitely look to sell up once he is settled, I fancy one of the downstairs flats on the development just by the 3 arches bridge on the right hand side as you go down the hill, we will only need a smaller place to see us out to the box, else we will definitely move out of Cardiff.

I can't see you in one of those flats mate, you're way too young for that nonsense And there would be all the politics, residents committee etc, and they'd ban you from playing the guitar, **** that.... And they're all probably members of the Birchgrove Pub Friday club....Ahem......

[Maurice Swan]

If you don't have a phone, don't have netflix, didn't have technology growing up in the 1950s, maybe you should run some courses and give everyone the chance to turn out as great as you have!

Good idea....I graduated with a degree in Computer Programming....coming from a poor background...two up two down...no shower/bath except the tin bath on a Friday night that used to hang behind outside toilet that froze in winter...potty under the bed..... I don't need any lectures about 'not having...'

[Heathblue]

I can't see you in one of those flats mate, you're way too young for that nonsense And there would be all the politics, residents committee etc, and they'd ban you from playing the guitar, **** that.... And they're all probably members of the Birchgrove Pub Friday club....Ahem......

Just give me 10 mins with the old deers and the ideology of Q, I'd have them onside and fighting against the system and refusing any more jabs 😂

[Dorcus]

Good idea....I graduated with a degree in Computer Programming....coming from a poor background...two up two down...no shower/bath except the tin bath on a Friday night that used to hang behind outside toilet that froze in winter...potty under the bed..... I don't need any lectures about 'not having...'

But remember Mo you are one of life's lucky ones. Despite your background you obviously had the wherewithal to achieve a degree and I dare say you were not plagued by the blight of mental illness.

Many many more people do not have the capacity to be awarded high paying jobs and their humble abilities make them suitable for low paid, gruelling, soulless jobs little better than serfdom. Many others have had their lives wrecked by mental illness and personal misfortune. You were obviously lucky you were in control of your destiny.

[Eric Cartman]

Good idea....I graduated with a degree in Computer Programming....coming from a poor background...two up two down...no shower/bath except the tin bath on a Friday night that used to hang behind outside toilet that froze in winter...potty under the bed..... I don't need any lectures about 'not having...'

Paid off all your student loan yet?

[Eric Cartman]

But remember Mo you are one of life's lucky ones. Despite your background you obviously had the wherewithal to achieve a degree and I dare say you were not plagued by the blight of mental illness.

Many many more people do not have the capacity to be awarded high paying jobs and their humble abilities make them suitable for low paid, gruelling, soulless jobs little better than serfdom. Many others have had their lives wrecked by mental illness and personal misfortune. You were obviously lucky you were in control of your destiny.

Even if everybody was super motivated and had a 1500 iq, some people would have to do those jobs.

[jon1959]

Well....I for one does not have/use a mobile phone.....so ..60% have Netflix? I don't.....nor any other subscriptions.
Smoking....well if they prefer to do that than feed their family that is their choice isn't it?

...and NO it isn't sad that if they have to give up much of technology to not be poor...it is all relative...I never had technology when I was iup or early adult life...but did not consider myself poor..
Third world poverty is REAL...

I agree there are different levels of need - but the world (probably most of the world but certainly the western world) has changed in the past 20 years. It is much harder, takes much longer, and is generally more expensive to contact government, local government, potential employers, utilities, support organisations, health services and lots more if you don't have access to technology, or don't know how to use it.

A few decades ago public libraries were a source of access, but not now they are all closed down post 2010 or run by unpaid volunteers trying to keep the doors open.

Digital exclusion can be (not always but often) one measure of poverty!

[Taunton Blue Genie]

T.B.F TBG, your memoirs on here of your extensive carbon footprint gloriously detailing of your worldwide travels obviously unaware of the CO2 harm you were taking part in, Undoubtly you will have seen poverty on your travels, have you ever lived it ?

I'm not unaware of CO2 harm that flying entails. Ironically, travelling a few times a year has made me aware that forgoing my trips would represent the most miniscule drop in the ocean after seeing endless factories all round the world belching out an incredible amount of pollution, enormous fire pits that have been burning non-stop as far back as the 60s, gas wells that have been burning for decades and a lot else. That may sound like a cop-out but there you go.
(In the UK, I usually drive a one-litre car, not every day and my mileage is low).
As for poverty (and my champagne comment was obviously said in irony), yes, I have seen appalling poverty around the world and thank my lucky star that I was born in one of the richest countries around the world.
As for experiencing poverty myself, I was brought up only having hot meals on the weekend, not having the house heated and going to school with holes in the soles of my shoes.

[Heathblue]

I'm not unaware of CO2 harm that flying entails. Ironically, travelling a few times a year has made me aware that forgoing my trips would represent the most miniscule drop in the ocean after seeing endless factories all round the world belching out an incredible amount of pollution, enormous fire pits that have been burning non-stop as far back as the 60s, gas wells that have been burning for decades and a lot else. That may sound like a cop-out but there you go.
(In the UK, I usually drive a one-litre car, not every day and my mileage is low).
As for poverty (and my champagne comment was obviously said in irony), yes, I have seen appalling poverty around the world and thank my lucky star that I was born in one of the richest countries around the world.
As for experiencing poverty myself, I was brought up only having hot meals on the weekend, not having the house heated and going to school with holes in the soles of my shoes.

This is the 1st year since i came out of hospital 13 years ago this coming April, that I've not had a holiday, usually manage to get in two and some weekend breaks in mainland Europe, not skint yet !!! but it's been an unusual year for me for a variety of reasons and just haven't managed to work a holiday into the schedule. With my wife retiring we had planned for another trip down under but it hasn't been possible, the outlook at the moment i don't feel comfortable enough to think about holidays for next year so will just take one step at the time, I hope you realise i like taking the rise out of your travels but mean no harm and wish I was as well travelled, they do it to me and i just accept it , there is only one person on this message board i will never ever have a back and forth with, i accept all arrows aimed, and fire back it's the game.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

This is the 1st year since i came out of hospital 13 years ago this coming April, that I've not had a holiday, usually manage to get in two and some weekend breaks in mainland Europe, not skint yet !!! but it's been an unusual year for me for a variety of reasons and just haven't managed to work a holiday into the schedule. With my wife retiring we had planned for another trip down under but it hasn't been possible, the outlook at the moment i don't feel comfortable enough to think about holidays for next year so will just take one step at the time, I hope you realise i like taking the rise out of your travels but mean no harm and wish I was as well travelled, they do it to me and i just accept it , there is only one person on this message board i will never ever have a back and forth with, i accept all arrows aimed, and fire back it's the game.

May you have a cool Yule, old fruit

[Maurice Swan]

Paid off all your student loan yet?

I left school the first day I could when I turned 16 (1964).....5 'O' levels over two attempts.....hated it.....got a decent job a few weeks later.......some years later decided to study for Computer Programming as that seemed the future.....no student or other loans those days.....

[lardy]

I left school the first day I could when I turned 16 (1964).....5 'O' levels over two attempts.....hated it.....got a decent job a few weeks later.......some years later decided to study for Computer Programming as that seemed the future.....no student or other loans those days.....

I think that's Cartman's point. Things were different in those days than they are now. It's very unlikely that a 16 year old with 5 GCSEs would get a decent job nowadays a few weeks after leaving school. Unless your family is pretty wealthy, you're not getting a degree in computer programming without creating a debt.

When I was growing up, it was pretty normal for a family to be able to buy a home and a car, maybe two, on a single income - working for a job where you didn't need qualifications - and still bring up one, two or three kids. Not living extravagantly, but not struggling week to week. These are the big things that matter, being able to own rather than rent, that makes a big difference to your financial situation and the one passed on to your kids. There are more than double the number of rented households in the UK now than in 2000.

A luxury that everyone I knew back then had was a daily newspaper. If you buy the Sun Mon-Fri now, it's a pound a day (it was 35p in 2011, almost trebled in just over a decade). £20 a month on a newspaper? For comparison, Netflix, which you used an example of an extravagance, is £8 a month.

So while it's wonderful that you've had a wildly successful life, I don't think it's fair to compare your journey with people today, and blaming their finances on their lifestyle. The older I get, the more I appreciate that it's opportunity that helps you on the way, and opportunities are not given out equally.

[Gofer Blue]

I left school the first day I could when I turned 16 (1964).....5 'O' levels over two attempts.....hated it.....got a decent job a few weeks later.......some years later decided to study for Computer Programming as that seemed the future.....no student or other loans those days.....

I'm afraid I have to agree with the comments made by Lardy. Us baby-boomers are undoubtedly the lucky generation. We came along after WW2 during a time of reconstruction and great optimism for the future. We have never been "called up" into the armed forces nor had to fight in wars (unless we chose to go into the forces of course). I went to university and had a grant to do so. OK, back in the 60's it was only the princely sum of £300 p.a. but it was sufficient to provide board and lodgings and travel which was all it needed to do, as I had no fees to pay. After my degree I immediately walked into a job and although I have changed jobs several times I have never been out of work. I have always paid into a private pension scheme and so was able to retire early. We are not wealthy by any means but on the other hand we do not live extravagantly either so we can manage.

[Heathblue]

I'm afraid I have to agree with the comments made by Lardy. Us baby-boomers are undoubtedly the lucky generation. We came along after WW2 during a time of reconstruction and great optimism for the future. We have never been "called up" into the armed forces nor had to fight in wars (unless we chose to go into the forces of course). I went to university and had a grant to do so. OK, back in the 60's it was only the princely sum of £300 p.a. but it was sufficient to provide board and lodgings and travel which was all it needed to do, as I had no fees to pay. After my degree I immediately walked into a job and although I have changed jobs several times I have never been out of work. I have always paid into a private pension scheme and so was able to retire early. We are not wealthy by any means but on the other hand we do not live extravagantly either so we can manage.

Until he persons up and admits he got the Russian clusion wrong I'm not agreeing with him but he's not far off the money on this.

[blue sky]

You know what, I used to watch Cardiff RFC a lot in the eighties and quite often I’d go for a couple of pints in a pub close to the ground before a three o clock kickoff and whichever pub I went in at around 2 was pretty full.it would be the same if I met up after a City game with mates who’d playedparks football that afternoon and, at about 5.30 on a Saturday afternoon the pub would have a lot more people than I would have expected there - it’s always been like you say on a Saturday in my experience.

None of what you say had anything to do with what I said originally - all that I did was ask whether the penultimate Friday before Christmas was the right time to come to any conclusions about people spending more on booze than they were. I didn’t say Heathblue was wrong, I just wondered whether you’d get a truer picture at other times of the year.

I’ve been tea total for a good few years now, so I don’t get in pubs anywhere near as much as I did, but I do know that pubs, especially pubs in Wales, have been closing at record rates in recent years. If the next few years see pubs opening up again or new ones being built, then, in all likelihood, Heathblue would be right.

In 2010 in England and Wales there were 75000 licensed premises (pubs/bars, clubs and restaurants) and that figure was unchanged in 2022. What has changed was that in 2022 there were 9000 more licensed restaurants and 6000 fewer pubs/bars, and 3000 fewer clubs.

So people still go out and get pissed but many of them also eat while doing it nowadays.

Also there were in 2022 double the number of unlicensed restaurants/cafes and takeaways that existed in 2010.

All of this data is available on the UK government’s official data-query service at https://www.nomisweb.co.uk

[Eric Cartman]

I left school the first day I could when I turned 16 (1964).....5 'O' levels over two attempts.....hated it.....got a decent job a few weeks later.......some years later decided to study for Computer Programming as that seemed the future.....no student or other loans those days.....

Good choice of degree. The point is there are lots of little anchors holding people down these days as I'm sure there were then too, but because of the cost of housing now, it has far more of an effect.

Take student loan though. I earn roughly the UK median wage and I am barely touching the sides after interest. It is essentially an extra 9% income tax band that exists only for those who were conned into going to uni, I don't mind much because mine is a maintenance loan which I used to live it up (I was the year before loans for fees) but think of kids coming out over the past 10 or so years, the majority will never pay it off in this economy, but they will pay more than they borrowed...

Rarely have promises which were made to the 'boomer' generation been broken, promises to youngsters are thrown out the window constantly.

Take the principle that student loans are fine because it increases your earning potential and you won't start paying it off until you are earning a good whack and have financially benefitted from that degree. Well the threshold at which my additional 9% tax rate kicks in is roughly 22k, so a smidge above min wage...

Anyway, the point really was, try not to be that guy that says he walked to school barefoot in snow for 15 miles and everyone now is a softy. Every generation has structural advantages and disadvantages, some more than others.

[Maurice Swan]

I take your point and I do agree different times etc....but this has veered off what counts as poverty. I am just saying that there is very little REAL poverty in the uk compared to many peoples in third world countries who don't have even clean water, and literally live in shanties without it being their fault.

[Eric Cartman]

I take your point and I do agree different times etc....but this has veered off what counts as poverty. I am just saying that there is very little REAL poverty in the uk compared to many peoples in third world countries who don't have even clean water, and literally live in shanties without it being their fault.

Yeah it's true, my only worry is that people will use the truth for different purposes. There are plenty of people who want to downplay inequality and relative poverty in the UK for their own gain - I am talking here specifically about a vast majority of the extremely rich who take the working population for fools day in day out. Its important that the fact that poverty is even more pronounced and deep in other countries isn't used to downplay inequality in this country.

For example, say that due to sewage our water supply became a bit dodgy (not out of the realms of possibility although I acknowledge that our tap water is pretty good in this country), we really need to make sure we don't end up in a situation where 'drink up! some people don't even water!' is an acceptable response.

[Heathblue]

I've done my annual trip to Ponty tonight to spend a few hours with a few special people who had my back 12.5 years ago and IMO there was a distinct sign of a downturn in the economy.