Food banks and smokers?
 

is it right that people who use food banks are seen coming out smoking and wearing branded sporting label goods. One imagines that some are using drugs/alcohol too.,

How do you feel about this and the rise of the food bank?



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Wouldn't really bother me no

Doesn't bother me..

I also think your opening post is extremely stereotypical tbh, so because someone is at a food bank and wearing branded clothes you automatically assume they take drugs?

I think it's terrible that so many people in this country are having to turn to food banks but everyone deserves to eat regardless of what clothing brands they wear.

Fox news comes to the UK.

And what do you mean

I doubt that very much since it would mean they were smoking inside the actual food bank which would be illegal.

Don't much care tbh. And I imagine the amount of people like this are few and far between. I have never seen someone coming out of a foodbank smoking ...

The rise of the foodbank I find disgraceful in this day and age, but its nothing to do with the people using them. Its that that amount of people HAVE to use them because of benefit cuts, sanctions and low wages.

hey, think of it this way.... the more they smoke, the sooner they die. and the less time they spend on the dole.

(i'm a smoker)

You've been talking to Mrs Currie haven't you trumpet?... :laugh:

It bothers me somewhat,some of the people(not ALL) that plead poverty are well built,smoke have mobiles and all the modern day luxuries,times are hard for some but a bag of spuds,bread and milk is roughly the price of a pack of ciggies I think,i know this will not be a popular opinion,but its mine

Well she's just a miserable self centered bitch Kizzy:hugesmile:

Cigarettes are about £7 for twenty. If you're paying that much for twenty fags and pleading poverty, I'm afraid my compassion just plummeted to nil.

Perhaps we should have cigarette banks for people too poor to smoke because they're spending all their money on food?

You know, smokers are demonized at every corner these days, however without them our NHS would collapse and we would have a ridiculous amount of OAPs. They pay more tax than most people too.

Also the government seem to have shat themselves at the success of e-cigs in getting people to stop. As I have noticed them not being allowed to be used in certain places now..and its spreading too. Trying to discourage people from using them and go back to the ciggies, as they are outcasts anyway having to go outside to use them :joker:

The word "poverty" is bothersome. In the western world you hear about our "poverty" rates and then you see the people in poverty and they have iPhones, and ps4, and most of them are overweight. Not at all what most of us think of when we think of the word "poverty"

Many media sources and politicians exploit the word "poverty".

We imagine starving kids in Somalia when we hear the word "poverty". and they know it.

Smoking isn't a necessity like eating is. If you can't afford to eat you're in trouble... so people help you. But if you can afford to smoke, how can you expect other people to feed you? This isn't about the rights of smokers and the tax revenue tobacco brings in, it's about people supposedly too poor to feed themselves who can apparently afford to smoke cigarettes.

FoxNewsHD is on SkyHD


so yes

I dont quite understand how people on low wages/benefits afford ciggies tbh. Backy I can understand, as even when I was on 15 a day a £7 pack of backy would last me about 10 days

Valid Points
Kaz

poverty is an exploited word by politicians

Thankyou arista,I had my skid lid on ready:hugesmile:

You do know that you have to prove you need the foodbank voucher before you get one right? And you cant get anything from a foodbank without a voucher issued by the DWP/other government agency. They make you do an income and expenditure thing(IF you have income at that time), and if you smoke they do actually say to just buy food instead of fags (rightly so too). Not too sure where this has come from tbh, as it is certainly not common at all. Usually people only get the vouchers if they are on a sanction (ie. NO income), or have had some kind of crisis (losing wallet, need a crime number too) or are waiting for their benefits to be actually sorted out

And my post was just in general, I wasnt using it as an excuse for people to spend their money on fags then go to a foodbank :p

I would imagine that many, not all, who need foodbanks make bad choices re fiances and probably dont see any irony in spending £7 on tabs and then thinking F me I have no money for food now.

Ciggies are well expensive, but spuds and bread are not addictive... we know how hard it is to give up kaz, add to that depression and other social and economic factors and it might seem impossible?....
Exploitative companies like brighthouse enable those with nothing to have something, so they end up drowning in debt too.
Education for those who are in the cycle of poverty the children being raised in the hand to mouth households is still the best way I think, but I see characters like 'white dee' too and I think grrrrrrr! you're taking the piss!

Kiz... Being right since 2014 ;)
Take the shame liz :nono:

At the “no frills” end of the high street, near where William Hill neighbours Paddy Power, and a few doors away from Poundland, there stands an altogether glossier alternative.

Here, as suggested by the shop’s very name, BrightHouse, all is light and brilliancy.

The lush primary colours of the window ad announce “our biggest TV ever!” beneath depictions of brightly wrapped presents and the promise of “Christmas moments”.

The sales counter is approached via the massed ranks of ultra-high definition widescreen TVs, with the Ecobubble washing machines beyond.

nd yet when Nothoizile Kombe exits the store in Lewisham, south-east London, it becomes clear that all is not quite what it seems at BrightHouse – at least not for its customers.

“The rates they charge the poor,” she says, the feisty laughter not quite hiding her frustration, “are extortionate.”

The 25-year-old fast food worker, by her own admission “struggling” on the minimum wage, had asked about a mobile phone.

As she discovered, and as the BrightHouse autumn catalogue confirms, an Apple iPhone 7 Plus would cost her £1,277 with weekly payments of £24.57 spread over a year. Yet Apple is selling the exact same model for £769, or from £886 spread over two years – 30 per cent cheaper than at BrightHouse, with twice the time to repay.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a8048901.html

I agree to some of that Kizzy,but some people ARE bone idle and dont want to work and just take,take,take,those are the people I was referring to,addictions are terrible to break but if its a choice between that and food for your family I know what I would do.places like Brighthouse are places everyone should avoid there interest rates are obscene.

That would be jumping to conclusions.

What if a friend or family member gave them the clothes? Or any of the any other reasons they could have for wearing the clothes they do. Baseless assumptions don't get you anywhere.

thanks for your assumptions on the subject

[2]

This tbh

We know where they get the clothes .. that mate of fungi gets them :joker:

People are under the impression that you can just rock up to a food bank and get your weekly food when in actual fact most people actually get declined food vouchers.

Hilarious.

:joker: Now now Katie Hopkins.

and correct. :spin:

Not really. Everything I commented is right there in your OP.

food banks help a lot of people. I'm sure some abuse them but the greater good is more important than sneaky few,
but cigarettes has nothing to do with whether someone is poor not. if anything more people smoke who are poor than rich. you cant begrudge someone their vises. whatever gets you through the day.
also do you think those people buy cigs in shops lol .

The illegal cigarette trade is booming. People won't be paying full price for cigs and baccy, normally just a fraction of what they cost in the shops. And it's very addictive and if you're in a stressful situation I imagine 10x harder to give up. And like Vicky said, you need vouchers and referrals now, it's not just a free for all.

Ppeople seem to be under the impression that you culd just say 'ah I fancy a night in the pub instead of doing my food shopping..I will just swing by the foodbank tomorrow so I can get pissed tonight' when its really far from that...sometimes people in genuine need are turned down, so anyone who tries it on hasnt got a chance really :/

Well it's quite obvious the thread was started for a reaction, and the reaction was typical. Hopefully a few have been educated eh :pipe:

Looks like she has received an extremely large overdraft from the food bank....

No it doesn't bother me at all, usually people have to be referred to food banks and it is not just the unemployed that go, people who are working go too.
The food banks are also there for people who have fallen on hard times who may have bought those branded goods when things were going pretty good for them.

As for smoking, I agree they are costly, however I would not begrudge people cigarettes either, they may not have bought them,I don't smoke but if I did, I could likely have hundreds for the times I have been offered one from others.

That may be the only cigarette they have that day or it may not and they may have a pack of 20 too, it is not my business.
I don't fund the food banks, other than dropping a few items of groceries after shopping at the supermarket off to food bank organisers there.

I am not going to nitpick at people for smoking or having 'nice' clothes when I have no idea when they got them or how,they may have been even presents.

People sent to food banks usually have to be referred by charitable organisations or social services or some other organisation, they cannot just turn up and they can only be helped 3 to 5 times in any case I understand too.
I am just glad I am not in such an unfortunate position to have to use them and I only wish the very best for the people who are referred to them and that have to use them both now and in the future.

The fact anyone needs to is a disgrace in the UK and should be total shame to it's leaders too.