Breeding and Feeding

I've been following a programme on television called 'Skint'.It is set in Scunthorpe on a rundown estate. The people the programme focuses on are as you might expect. In some ways I dislike myself for watching these people who have no money, living out their lives, interacting with family and friends, eating, drinking and breeding; which they do at an alarmingly early age. Yes, it's the old cliche, children having children. One girl in particular deeply affected me. She was sixteen and had had her baby daughter taken away from her. The baby-snatchers' as they are known on the estate, are the ones who have taken her baby. - the social workers in other words. This sixteen year old mother dresses as smartly as she can for her court appearance. She reasons that the judge will be persuaded by her smart apparel and will think that if the mother can do herself up nicely then she will  be able to dress her baby well and  so will rule that the sixteen year old mother should be trusted to take care of her baby and the two of them will restart their lives together. It was very hard not to feel sorry for her; really sorry for her.

The main family the programme features are strangely likeable.  There are two adults and seven children living in quite a small house. One of the children is a very young baby. Despite the rows and tensions, which are present in  most families, this family seem to genuinely care about each other.

The patriarch says that after working for more than twenty years at the steel factory which he can see from his house, which shut down and consequently made him redundant, he deserves a hand-out from the state. Nooooo! Not so! The truth is though, that a significant proportion of the population think this way.

If a person needs help from the state then they should have it. But this guy is quite young still, has his health and yet he has no intention of finding a job. It's exactly that attitude that annoys people. It is this sense of entitlement to take that to which you are not entitled that so angers people. This does not mean that you'll be voting for Nigel Farage and his UKIP gang, it just shows that you think taxpayers' money should be reserved for those who can't work.and for those who may not currently be in work but are trying to get a job. That's all.