Could you live on £35 a week? (Asylum related)

The adult could though, you go to the emergency dental clinic at an actual hospital. (Been there, done that, not fun)

Small example, but it will stop the pain. It won't do you nice porcelain crowns.

Sort of thing you probably only get to know about when you need to.

Can you please explain how other debts are more than paid? In what way exactly? I strongly disagree regarding our responsibilty towards Iraqis.

All these points aside, I don't kid myself that the fact I am living here in relative comfort and enjoy the massive freedoms of living in a politically and economically stable country is because I'm so flipping clever. The 'I'm alright Jack' attitude has never sat particularly well with me I'm afraid and I think if we stop to take the stick out of our backsides, a bit of empathy is quite a useful thing.

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been removed or

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been removed or not is

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been removed or not is now a

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been removed or not is now a moot

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been removed or not is now a moot point he has

They were left with strong modern nations. what they've done with them since is their own concern.

Like I said, we could reasonably charge them for the infrastructure we provided them with. Although I think calling it quits is probably best all round.

Likewise Iraq. Despot removed.... No charge.

Whether he should have been removed or not is now a moot point he has been.

From what Seraphina says (sorry, can't quote - puter playing up) - maybe pointing her in the direction of (and helping with the referral) CAB might help?

WHat about the infrastructure we bombed to fuck?

What about it?

ETA:- The infrastucture comment BTW was in relation to our former colonies. .

You don't think that maybe cancels out some of the work we did in providing them with infrastructure?

What strong modern nations? Examples please.

Iraq - we removed a despot - why exactly ONE? For the sake of the Iraqis? Really? How can you reduce such a complex situation to a one liner like that. I don't buy it and I don't think you really believe what you are saying. You have an idea of how you think things should be but you know the reality is a million miles away from that.

Even most Americans now accept the 'truth' behind the invasion of Iraq, so please, lets not go over this old ground again.

The former outposts of Empire were generally in good order when we left them. What's happened since is their own affair.

As for Iraq.... Whatever the cause or the right/wrong of the actual invasion, we have no greater responsibility than we have had at any time in the past to accomodate migrants, or indeed asylum seekers hailing from Iraq.

Excuse me but do you not realise that many Iraqi's have had to flee their homeland because of the changes the invasion brought about? Not just Sunni muslims but also Iraqi Christians and Jews suddenly became very vulnerable when the old order was taken out. Where do you suggest they go exactly? Why shouldn't the UK take some responsibility for that?

I really don't believe you have thought this through, and your black and white view of the worlds astounds me to the point that I really don't feel I can have any sensible or intelligent discussion with you. Not to mention that you still haven't named these modern nations we so kindly left behind, (although I suspect you could probably name quite a number which aren't doing quite so well).

Sierra Leone was considered one of if not actually the most affluent nation in Africa in 1961... How's that for starters?

We maintained our Empire well enough. Not our fault if the natives can't run the trains on time.

The UK always did take responsibility for asylum seekers, we just don't owe Iraq anything more than we owe anywhere else. Why would we?

I could live on £35 a week and have done so in the past. You can quite easily get shopping for a family of four in Lidls for that amount, and nappies and wipes are stupidly cheap - for sure they're not the best quality in the world but at least they're better than nothing. As my sister once said to me when she was living on that sort of amount with two kids to feed, 'it's amazing what you can do with mince' In fact I'd go so far as to say that if the women in questions gets milk vouchers and the baby is at the pre-weaning stage then the food bill would be less than that as she's only haivng to feed herself. She'd even have money left over to put aside for clothes etc.

I agree it's not something you'd not want to do long-term, but I'm assuming that once the asylum legalities has been completed and they have been accepted they can then go on to find work.

Well, I stand corrected, all this colonisation lark sounds quite attractive from where you are sitting ONE. We're probably ripe for a bit of old fashioned colonising ourselves right now given the shape of things, and if Jonny foreigner is up for having a bash at running our trains on time, then I'm game ?

Gosh, this thread kind of went off on a tangent. I suppose unsurprisingly.

to answer the original question - no, I couldn't live on that much with a family, but I'm going to have to.

When my statutory maternity pay runs out in Spring, we will only have 200 quid spare a month. when I say spare, that is after our mortgage and the majority of bills are paid. We will need to find 2 cars worth of petrol (yes I know, sounds a luxury but we live in the middle of nowhere with no public transport) all our food (family of 4, 2 children under 3) and all other living expenses for that.

As you can imagine, I'm terrified about how we'll manage and I'm going to have to try and find some kind of part time work, balancing this up against the childcare I'm going to need to find. I don't want to leave my children with anyone else - I feel they are my responsibility and I had them so I ought to look after them until they go to school. But I am not going to have the choice because my husband's job doesn't pay enough to keep us all.

I'm not whining - I worked blinking hard for years and we do have some savings. we get no help from the government because of what I've earned in previous years and also because his salary is about 1k over the threshold. (I think)

It's going to be tough and horrible, but that's the way it goes. We'll have to manage somehow.

I am not passing any kind of judgement btw. I like to think that genuine asylum seekers should be welcome here, as they also should be throughout the rest of the EU. What I think is poor is why other countries get to refuse people and the problem is their lack of 'hospitality' means a great strain on us. But people who are in need of asylum, who have probably worked v hard in their own countries to provide a decent life for their families, and who are persecuted, should be supported by richer, freer nations. I think that's only fair. If it were your sister, you'd want to feel she had an option to leave if her life was in danger and to expect a reasonable standard of living while she gets on her feet.

Lidl nappies and wipes are fine. Just as good as any other supermarket own brand IMHO.

Well I used to live on £35 a week no problem at all excluding rent, that was what I got for income support about 15 years ago and back then I was a smoker. Now however I'd struggle and if I had a baby, I don't think I'd have a hope in hell of managing on that.

*cough* inflation?!

Yes. Thats why I said it was about 15 years ago and that i'd struggle now.

Because we bombed it to fuck, as mentioned above.

There are a great many other countries that we didn't bomb to fuck, or indeed interfere with in any significant way. In those cases, there's no particularly good reason why Britain has any greater moral responsibility than it does for the citizens of Iraq, but we have a massive moral responsibility in that particular case. We invaded the country, we destroyed its infrastructure, we wrecked its economy, and we created the conditions for sectarian violence to explode. Therefore we have a moral responsibility for anyone whose lives are directly affected by said wreckage.

Not least because we were told over and over and over again that the purpose of the war was primarily humanitarian.

Replying to the OP.

No i don't think i could live on £35 a week for a baby as well as myself. I'm amazed at anyone who manages to exist on that tbh. And I'm guessing it is just existing.

I could live on £35 for one week, and probably two.

Its when someone has to live on that sort of money for a long time that makes life difficult. There would never be enough money for extras such as clothes, toiletries etc.

£35 is not enough for a mother and baby. Not long term.

When I worked in Asylum support (8 years ago, so I am out of touch) Each person got £35 when they were in Emergency Accom, irrespective of their age.

It did go down, but I do think she will be entitled to more for the child.

As for the getting here thing. I believe that a lot of people used to get here on lorries and not actually get out until arriving on british soil. They didnt even know where they were as they were travelling.

There is also a view that the quality of life is better here. There is also the fact that a lot of people will know relatives and friends who are here already. I think that means a lot come here.

Some people fly in. They save their money for years to afford the airfare, or borrow from family members. They "lose" their travel documents while on board so they cannot just be deported back.

It is very easy to confuse asylum seekers with people who just want a better quality of life. On the assumption that they are here because they fear for their lives at home, then I would assume having a safe home and a small amount of money is preferable to being in their home country.

Exactly. Just been looking at some entrants for a press photo of the year competition and were it not for reasons of sensitivity, I'd post the tragic photo of a dead child being carried out of his home having been killed by a US air strike. Tell me we don't owe his family.

I've seen that photograph Baron, it's tragic.

I've recently got in touch with a young cousin of mine who is living in Baghdad, she is 19. The majority of her teens have been spent in a war zone. She is very depressed. We have little idea just how bad things can get for some people. The lucky members of my Iraqi family managed to get out and they are now displaced across the globe, fortunately for them they didn't need to rely on anyone's charity but to have to leave everything behind them hasn't been easy.