2015 post UK election discussion

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

This is a very, very interesting post.

I can't say how much I'd need to be earning if I had a family with three children, because I don't have three children. I can say that as a very recently-married man my wife and I have talked about having children in the future, and we've agreed that we need to save up a bit more first. We live in the southeast and gross about £50k pa between us. Obviously the drop in income that comes when the wife goes on maternity leave is a major concern.

well the highest paid job I've applied for was driving freight trains (didnt get anywhere with it though) and that was 47k but would be on 20k for the 1st 12 months during training. Conductor jobs have been 27k and havent got anywhere with them either (18k during training) and other rail jobs on 18k.
If I was to go back into engineering which I despised every second of when I was doing it, as a timeserved tradesman I'd be working rotating continental shifts for about 23k, so as you can see the income is way below what you are talking about and I'd be relying on tax credits so any cuts in them would reduce income. So as you can imagine without much effort required we are talking about a vast difference in income, can you imagine what your standard of living would be and how much your lives would be different if that was how much you had to live on ?
If the opportunity was there for me to earn more then I'd grab it with both hands and put everything into it but it isnt and we are living on less than that tbh, quite a bit less.

with engineering as well it was a rotating door of job for a short time then laid off, which is no good to anyone as you dont earn enough to put anything away and then end up on the dole again.

Being on rotating shifts with a family also makes it almost impossible for a wife/partner to work as well when you have 3 kids as your work days and nights are different every week. We dont squander what we have on ale & sky either, I never drink cos on call 24/7, we havent had a night out in years, everything we get goes on the kids really, we somehow manage a holiday every year but for as cheap as we possibly can and the only 'luxury' is the footy.

 

[Walken]

Hardly a profound point. Every majority government in decades has overseen constituency boundary alterations. Neither Labour nor the Tories have any moral standing to point the finger on this subject.

i didn't say they did, i was responding to a point about the losing party being laughable for its voters complaining about the system in defeat, which would have happened whoever left, but thanks for the patronising tone

 

[marty mcfly]

Hmm, I wouldn't say this happens with every socialist government.

As for the free market, that is also open to cronyism, as we have seen in the UK over the past 20 years.

Neither are perfect.

Name one? I wouldn't mind doing a bit of research to see how they solved that problem because its the very reason in a nutshell why I don't believe in socialism.

 

[daylightrobber]

Totally agree and forget all the rhetoric this is the difference between someone who votes left and and right wing.

Your probably right. Right wingers get their satisfaction from earning loads and left wingers realise that the only real reason for being is family.

 

[Tree13]

Strangely enough, if you had the kids you would work even harder and push your career further in order to provide for them. But as someone else on here said, don't leave it too late.........

And what's the difference between the approach you outline there, and the alternative of working harder and pushing your career further PRIOR to having children? To me, the only differences appear to be patience and prudence. I don't see how I could work harder and push my career more effectively AFTER becoming a parent AND spend the quality time i would want to spend with those same children. I get that not everyone has the same motivations, but I don't get how someone could simply fail to accept that my preferred approach is a valid one.

 

[The Esk]

Forgive my non-parent thinking, but isn't it somewhat less difficult to improve your financial situation BEFORE having kids than after?

I guess it depends upon your motivation, for me I only truly became incentivised to maximise my income earning potential when I knew no.1 was on the way.

Before that we were just enjoying ourselves, probably spending more than we earned to be honest.

 

[LouReedwalkonthewildside]

I suspect the Scottish would hold and win a new independence vote.

Was thinking that, but wouldn't the government have to give the okay for a second referendum?

 

[The Esk]

"Come on upstairs love"
"But it's a Tuesday night, are you going to make love to me in the week?"
"No love, I thought we could both calculate the gross income take away tax for our fiscal year"

Have you been bugging @Bruce Wayne 's house? lol

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

I did have a well paid job when we had the 1st 2 kids btw but got laid off and other jobs at the time where on about 50% of the pay, so we didn't have them when we couldnt afford them. The 3rd was unexpected, especially as she was on the pill at the time.

 

[daylightrobber]

I did have a well paid job when we had the 1st 2 kids btw but got laid off and other jobs at the time where on about 50% of the pay, so we didn't have them when we couldnt afford them. The 3rd was unexpected, especially as she was on the pill at the time.

Is that what she told you?

 

[marty mcfly]

Having kids can be one of the greatest incentives to improve one's financial status there is. (Of course, assuming you're in a position to do so)

At best your income grows, at worst you have the most wonderful gift there is in the world - it's really a win/win situation.

Which is why single parent families are so dangerous to society. The men don't then need to work to provide for them.

How you fix that issue I don't know however let's agree that it is a huge and growing issue.

 

[peteblue]

And what's the difference between the approach you outline there, and the alternative of working harder and pushing your career further PRIOR to having children? To me, the only differences appear to be patience and prudence. I don't see how I could work harder and push my career more effectively AFTER becoming a parent AND spend the quality time i would want to spend with those same children. I get that not everyone has the same motivations, but I don't get how someone could simply fail to accept that my preferred approach is a valid one.

It is valid, of course, and was not a criticism for taking a sensible approach. But having a child provides an incentive of it's own to push you on......

 

[Donald Twain]

Which is why single parent families are so dangerous to society.

I give up!

 

[Clint Planet]

Exactly, and Balls still cannot comprehend his own failings.......

Ed Balls is not a loveable man - I spent years hating his shadowy presence before he came into the light as an MP - but I'll always rather love him for the apparent way he'd constantly heckle Call Me Dave and Gideon just loud enough for them to hear it but just quiet enough for it not to be picked up by the House of Commons microphones.

Well in!

 

[daylightrobber]

Which is why single parent families are so dangerous to society. The men don't then need to work to provide for them.

How you fix that issue I don't know however let's agree that it is a huge and growing issue.

I think society is petrified. Of all the things dangerous to society I think this is quite a long way down the list.