This documentary made a huge impression on me as a 13 year old who had pretty much everything he wanted - a really valuable piece of programming. I’ve never forgotten it.
In real terms, the benefits were higher then than now. Adjusted for inflation, it would amount to £122, which is nowhere near what you'd get for JSA now. And he was able to go to a Newcastle game for what would be about a tenner in today's money (no chance today) and a few drinks in a pub which few people working for a low wage can afford now. Today is grimmer than then
You are correct in every way, people unfortunate to be stuck on benefits back in 1983 were actually better of than their equivalents today, tells a grim story in itself.
Also in the Republic of Ireland, the flat rate for being unemployed and over 25 is 232 Euros a week, (£197) in the UK, the unemployed element of UC is just under £98 a week...
And although they're talking about the stigma, it's nothing to the stigma today. Even a a seriously disabled person the stigma is grinding. And then, there were charities, there was a social fund, social housing, extensive public transport and people were kinder. COVID showed up how selfish and insular we've become, but as soon as it was over, nothing was changed.
The Tory Government of the 1980s raised unemployment benefit above the rate of inflation. They never made cuts to welfare. Many people don't know that, or like to pretend it isn't true.
remember watching this live on first airing. one good thing about it; it made me fall in love with Newcastle and I've never fallen out of love with the place since!
Credit to Matthew Parris for having the guts to do this and the integrity to honestly answer questions from the blokes in Newcastle as well as the presenter and to challenge is assumption and admit where his views were wrong. I remember this being broadcast. I was living in Newcastle in 1984 when this was filmed.
It's not the MPs wages.. it's all the directorships, the board management posts, the consultancy fees etc. that's what people are really angry about, and the Tories always seem to be the most excessive. Most people would consider the wages and expenses more than generous. I wouldn't mind being able to furnish a paid for second home from the John Lewis catalogue!
I was a student when I watched this on TV, my brother was 18 and unemployed and it summed up life for many people in the North of England at the time. It would be great/ depressing to see a 2022 version of this.
@@rumourhats You just blamed the local working class. I'm telling you Labour needs to take *some* responsibility too How did you get from that to 'it's always Labour's fault'
I was born in the 70s I remember those days. My dad had friends who would have been aged 45 to 55 roughly back then who never worked again, skilled men too.
Telling the camera that the unemployed should live a threadbare existence..he should have been in fear of walking the streets after that. Contemptible man. Unfortunately the attitude is widespread now. Even people who grew up poor have quickly forgotten what it was really like. And this was before universal credit, sanctions, caps on families, private companies with profits to make from meeting targets reducing benefits regardless of needs or legal entitlement. Things are far worse now,in the era of zero hours contracts, but the media and politicians have convinced the population that everyone on benefits is a drug using, benefits fiddling slut with more children than they can count.
@@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6tsMuch of what you say is so definitely true. At that time the blame was laid at Margaret Thatcher's door for her policies. All these years later how much worse things have become in all the same locations. We've had years of a labour government under Tony Blair and I didn't see a big difference. Can I through in a thought ? Once all the industries started to go - not just shipbuilding, coal, iron ,steel which employed a lot of people there was not alternative coming through - and in my opinion that's the real problem. If you can't sell your ships, or your steel, or your coal etc then the writing is on the wall. It's not just heavy industry though, what about clothing, and shoemaking etc. God only knows how things will ever improve but please don't let it be another war. Whole families devastated by the loss of a loved one. Please come back to me with your thoughts.
@@stewartgreig3272 my thoughts and experiences of the time is that you have pin pointed the exact problem. It certainly won't her votes, selling off all the national services(I watched my parents do very nicely as they bought shares in everything from BT to British Gas) , selling off the council housing and school fields, BUT...every good farmer every good shop keeper knows that you don't sell next year. Once she sold the infrastructure it was gone for good. Look at the totally unbelievable smear campaign that Murdoch ran against Corbyn for daring to cost up a meaningful way to buy the railways back. Something every Tory voter has wanted for decades. Once you hand over essential services like providing water or running children's homes to companies who are not only there to make a profit, but an INCREASING profit year after year,of course the country goes to the dogs. Then brutally destroying those industrial communities almost overnight, with an awful lot of shifty shenanigans,and to this day many still do not have anything to replace those holes was a crime against her own people. I drove across where the steelworks had been in Consett with my husband who had grown up there. I'd never sent it, but the shock. As far as the eye could see. Like Gaza, levelled to the ground. The high street in the town was deserted. My husband's nephew applying for a part time job in a pizza shop and over 400 other youngsters had applied. Absolutely wicked what she did to that generation. And we bear the legacy of that to this day. Of course some were able to drag themselves out and up. Did enough crappy courses at the job centre that eventually they got a break. But only on the understanding that most wouldn't. I don't think that we blame Thatcher anywhere near enough. Her snarling contempt for the poor, the vulnerable, the working classes, for those who put principles before profit has become a mantra for most of the greedy buggers seeking power ever since. It's not about right and left, it's about capitalism, grabbing as much as you can in the time that you have and ultimately about getting into positions of power in order to do that. Who was the last politician you heard who actually had a proper plan, a political stance, principles you can count on? Not someone who just responds to the front page of the mail, with emotive sound bites and crazy rubbish that's impossible for anyone who hasn't already decided to believe whatever they say however ridiculous,to even listen to never mind understand. The divisive era we are in, the aggression, the lack of reality, the total disregard for little things like facts, truth,law, knowledge or experience,I think can be traced straight back to her! So..my thoughts, mostly off the top of my head! I suspect that you have something different to say? What are your thoughts on the programme?
Stuart Prebble did a great job when he made this documentary in 1984. Accurate portrayal of Thatcher's Britain and my experiences of Newcastle. Excellent progression from Stuart's days at Newcastle University Students Union.
If hordes of people came and robbed them because they were starving to death because they stopped unemployment money they would be begging the government to give them the employment support money. 🇬🇧👍
At 19:10 minutes confirms that he and some other mp's formulate and push some policies based on no or little evidence or facts of real life . . . . to simply push for policies based on fears, prejudices and stereotypes and in general, 'what really ought to happen because we think so', or 'we know better' . . . . a meaningful comparison would be money not paid to HMRC because of tax loop holes and cost of unemployment benefits, for any perod in time, giving cost of one group of people compared to another
I remember seeing this at the time and it was all bullshit. He 'had no money' yet he was down the club watching well known comedian Bobby Thompson. That would have set him back at least a fiver and it wasn't mentioned. He also went to watch Newcastle play (against Huddersfield from memory) and stood in the Gallowgate, which was three and a half quid at the time. I was at the same match but I didn't see him. Lucky for him. The tory bastard.
23:15 : "I think what Maggie Thatcher should do, is take a look at us , and think that maybe we are honest, hard working people, and give us a ..". No. This show's clearly, that you don't understand your enemy. If you think these people care, then you really have no clue.
"it's just something that I've never seriously thought about" he says - yet you were happy to BLINDLY then, support policies to make these people's lives harder. Sickening and wicked. Tories don't seem to have changed either. What's your damn private school education worth, then?
Class documentary ,typical world in action excellence, rember watching this episode first time around as a young teenager. We mever learn do we.things are gonna get a whole lot tougher 2024 and onwards
people calling this guy scum bag and tory scum are missing the point. The man clearly didn't know any better but was willing to be proven wrong. Throughout the entire documentry he reflects that he was wrong and why he was wrong. People criticising him lack the ability to look into themselves and challenge there deepest prejudices in the way that he is doing. That's the problem. Too many people use stereotypes and not enougth are willing to challenge those stereotypes they have of others. And unlike most of the posters I know what I'm talking about because my family where unemployed in the eighties.
+Shane Gallagher - He didn't, he was comparing the honesty of two different politicians, though I would diasgree with Hitler being honest about what he was doing with the Jews. In that respect, Jimmy Savile was more honest about what he was up to.
Its the same thing, only one method is obivious. Iain Duncan Smith is killing masses of people who should be getting sickness benefits. Just because you don't hear about it in an establishment controlled press, does not mean that it is not happening.
An absolutely pointless exercise. He knows it is only going to last a week so he can just treat it as a game. You don't get the sense of desperation going over the same routine week after week without an end in sight. The only way this works is if he given a random 1 in 50 chance for it to end at the end of a week. See how cheerful that is.
I am a former tory voter. I have seen over the years the damage that tory governments have unleashed on the UK. It is a disgrace, particularly Thatcherism. I have never suffered thankfully, but I have seen the desperation left behind, and it continues .
I was on the dole for a few months in 1978 i got 14 pound every 2 weeks. Thank god my parents were still alive and i could live in a spare room. Without them i am in big trouble back then.
Eirug Sion Griffiths Hancock already said he couldn't live off what he expects everyone else to live off. Not that he was going to do anything about it.
Kelly Edey Fewer human rights, fewer workers' rights, fewer children's rights, etc. And we buy it all up encouraging them to continue with this business model. When you see those designer label leather bags - remember, a migrant worker processed that leather without anything protecting his eyes or skin from being splashed by the chemicals, his lungs being slowly poisoned by the fumes, no break to use the toilet so he has to pee into a bottle behind the machine processing the leather got those designer fashion houses and that every morning he turns up to work, he doesn't know if he'll leave with all his fingers. All those make-up and skincare products with mica in them? Mined by children who risk losing their eyesight due to the shards of rock, risk a slow but early death due to inhaling all that stuff because they don't have protective gear or being crushed alive in the dark underground because the cave collapsed on them. Those endless number of electronics we buy every single year (even fir school children, even buying multiples for one person, or for our house when we clearly have no physical disability) for no reason other than because it's new and the advert said it'll make us happier/cooler - people's lands are being destroyed, their rivers polluted, their countries put under inhumane sanctions or they're being bombed illegally. And used products are literally being dumped on poorer countries without their permission (because what are poor nations going to do to rich nations who's governments hide their actions, who's media hide their actions and who's people are too comfortable with their level of luxury to care or just ignorant) and since they don't have the equipment to harvest the precious metals safely, their only option is to burn it all forcing everyone to breathe in the toxic fumes that will destroy their lung, brains and possibly other organs their D.N.A. and fertility. While our cheap-as-chips chocolate is wiping out species and destroying the quality of the soil - what are rural people who live off land (rather than supermarkets) supposed to do with soil that doesn't grow anything when European and American businesses leave after sucking the life out of a once lively, diverse and self-sustaining forest? Even though t-shirts with "feminist", girl power" or something are made by women paid pennies for making hundreds of those products. Same for all those children's clothes. Labels only give the name of one of the countries involved in the making their products. Not even all the countries let alone all individual smaller businesses that were involved. We shouldn't be able to afford what we can on the money that we earn. We can only afford it because millions of innocent people, including children, are suffering and dying in our stead. Doesn't mean I think we should die. It means we should stand in solidarity with all workers and demand higher standards, higher pay, higher quality and bringing manufacturing jobs back here while curbing our unnecessarily excessive and damaging consumerism. We should never "their" rules from centuries ago where one poor person has to die for another to live. We need to bring that solidarity.
The dead hand of Thatcher runs all thru this film-my goodness, what a disaster she was for the ordinary working class and how many thousands of lives she ruined. She will not be missed
Sorry for the error in my post below, I meant "when he obviously didn't know what he was fucking talking about" lol. I was so angry my brain fell behind my hand speed lol
Paris is one of the better Tories (though to me that is damning with faint praise). I doubt any modern Tory would dare to publicly attempt a similar experiment, so credit is due there at least. This documentary amply illustrates how people who kvetch about luxury benefits haven't a clue.
He should not put himself up to take responsibility of helping to make policy when he obviously knew what he was fucking talking about. That is the trouble with middle and upper class people having power like this. No one should, it is other peoples lives they effect, and with this latest Torrie government many peoples deaths. Role on Labour, decency and humility in government again. We should make these people responsible in law for what they do, making dangerous policies that leave people and children depressed and sick. I remember this happening and how insulted my out of work friends felt when he did it. that bastard Ian Duncan Smith will never do it, he is what he appears a useless, power hungry near do well who married money and desperately wanted to impress and join that little band of public school boys we have recently suffered under
I remember my dad telling me when I was a chav in the 70’s “Nothing changes under the sun” what he meant was there’s nothing new, you make your own luck, the dole will keep you alive it ain’t luxurious.
'... a pretty meagre and a pretty threadbare existence. I acknowledge that and at the same time I believe that that is the right level....' says it all
I think back then it was important to get out to the pub or cafes. It's like a form of networking, you could hear about a job that way. If you stay at home I think you might miss out on opportunities. I am assuming this is pre internet.
Well it certainly looked like Mr Parris needed that pint or two. Fairplay to the guy for doing this, it's still not a real life test. Could he manage 6 months? He knows he's only doing it for a week.
Very well said from you ie 'its not a real life test'. It is so unreal to transplant an advantaged person (confidence, education, networks etc) to the endless shite of no hope; no past, no future. Its decades and generations of knowing theres a glass ceiling you cannot penetrate. But nothing is made of the fact it is impossible to accumulate any money for exceptional or occasional purchases in life, everything is the same cheap day to day minimum existance. No transport, always feeling substandard in poor clothing, your environment and associates pulling you down, trapping you in the cheapest world possible. Schools in my opinion need to get thinking fast and work out how to serve children better....... just an idea.
It's less actually, as it was frozen for several years during the Cameron-Osbourne austerity regime. With other benefits like housing allowance slashed alongside it.
And all of this was going on before the floodgates were opened to people from eastern Europe and the Third world. Therefore,facilitating more competition which drives wages down. Divide and conquer has been employed all along to subjugate the British working class into accepting their lot in life. Meanwhile the government of today is too concerned about keeping lazy arsed Africans and their hordes of offspring which is being legitimised by the Labour party who have abandoned their ideals in favour of economic immigrants. The final insult toward the British working class came in the guise of the Blair administrations thereby abandoning the Labour parties traditional voting block in favour of interlopers.......
What's. Change.. Since. 30th August 2020. In Many aspects... People are still being used as they were then. I recommend this Program for All... Beware.. What's Coming.. Very Sad to Say. Onwards and upwards, is best, i can Say. 💭👍💥🤺
@l. GOLDMANN unfortunately I can see by your logo that you use you are not fit comment we use sarcasm and lower forms of wit which may be out of your League as we do not chat the name USA USA USA we actually live in the real world and we can understand the difference between irony and say sarcasm it's you that we are really frightened of of the people that are allowed to vote and democracy with no intelligence
I remember watching this with my mum, she was cackling away at this fool. Now its unimaginable for an MP to lower themself to claim UC, cos they'd be broke within the day
One thing he said near the end, which I agree on and wish they would do today and that's mean testing and giving more money to those that need it more. I know it would mean more admin work for any government, but it is fairer. If someone has a lot of money in the bank and has a Lamborghini but becomes unemployed, they aren't going to need any dole money. If someone is always in debt, even when they work, they need a lot more then the standard rate of dole money. Obviously there is always going to be some that can't work for health problems, etc, who need dole money long term and those that play the system to stay on the dole, but can work. But means testing is the fairest way.
America gives money and food stamps. not enough money. however, you don't have to starve. because with food debit card, you can only buy food. if you don't budget well, you will run out of food at the end of the month, but it works out better with food card. I have never been on welfare, always had a job luckily. but I have known people who struggle to get by. I do not understand why more countries don't have food stamps. they keep people from starving.
I got home on a Sunday night at 14. I would usually be sent but was awol that day. My youngest of three sisters was sent to the chipshop for two fifty pence pieces for the electric metre. She asked for two fifties and was given two huge bags of chips. When I opened the front door to darkness and the smell of chippy chips. My old man worked but it was still rough.
This documentary made a huge impression on me as a 13 year old who had pretty much everything he wanted - a really valuable piece of programming. I’ve never forgotten it.
Just visiting to savour that intro music.
Agreed. Do you remember The world about us. Loved that too ua-cam.com/video/SsTV7eJ2aa8/v-deo.html
Thought it was just me.
I just done exactly the same! What an era.
Me too, this theme and the weekend world theme were timeless.
Yes remember it when UK was falling apart
In real terms, the benefits were higher then than now. Adjusted for inflation, it would amount to £122, which is nowhere near what you'd get for JSA now. And he was able to go to a Newcastle game for what would be about a tenner in today's money (no chance today) and a few drinks in a pub which few people working for a low wage can afford now. Today is grimmer than then
You are correct in every way, people unfortunate to be stuck on benefits back in 1983 were actually better of than their equivalents today, tells a grim story in itself.
Completely agree I didn’t like most of magies ideas but they have gone much further now than she did
Also in the Republic of Ireland, the flat rate for being unemployed and over 25 is 232 Euros a week, (£197) in the UK, the unemployed element of UC is just under £98 a week...
And although they're talking about the stigma, it's nothing to the stigma today. Even a a seriously disabled person the stigma is grinding. And then, there were charities, there was a social fund, social housing, extensive public transport and people were kinder. COVID showed up how selfish and insular we've become, but as soon as it was over, nothing was changed.
The Tory Government of the 1980s raised unemployment benefit above the rate of inflation. They never made cuts to welfare. Many people don't know that, or like to pretend it isn't true.
The intro music takes me back, not to a single decade but as far back as i can remember .
July 2024. My gosh, world in action. I remember the intro as a kid in the UK.
This sort of thing should be done more often on television - ideologies of both Left and Right exposed to the cold light of the real world.
Both lead to the same thing, Self service of their own interests.
That music signafied a documentary pending of depressing or scary material such as IRA bombings, 80s unemploymemt or poverty....memories lol
Adie Donoghue lndeed l grew up with this documentary.....the impending doom of the title music!
Not to mention, this was the year of the movie "Threads" on the telly
remember watching this live on first airing. one good thing about it; it made me fall in love with Newcastle and I've never fallen out of love with the place since!
Credit to Matthew Parris for having the guts to do this and the integrity to honestly answer questions from the blokes in Newcastle as well as the presenter and to challenge is assumption and admit where his views were wrong.
I remember this being broadcast. I was living in Newcastle in 1984 when this was filmed.
He didn't remember his lesson for long!
Tories talking about things they don't have any experience of....nothing has changed
Labour MPs and tory MPs all get paid the same wage and they both have parliamentary credit cards for the expenses gravy .
It's not the MPs wages.. it's all the directorships, the board management posts, the consultancy fees etc. that's what people are really angry about, and the Tories always seem to be the most excessive. Most people would consider the wages and expenses more than generous. I wouldn't mind being able to furnish a paid for second home from the John Lewis catalogue!
I was a student when I watched this on TV, my brother was 18 and unemployed and it summed up life for many people in the North of England at the time. It would be great/ depressing to see a 2022 version of this.
Except this time large parts of the North voted for its own poverty.
Labour has to take some of the responsibility for that, the way they have lost some of the trust of the working class there
@@michaelqdlap It's always Labour's fault, isn't it?
@@rumourhats You just blamed the local working class. I'm telling you Labour needs to take *some* responsibility too
How did you get from that to 'it's always Labour's fault'
@@michaelqdlap I don't recall Labour being on the ballot paper when it came to the referendum on our membership of the European Union.
Just the right amount of deprevation and suffering. Splendid.
I also wonder if any of the ladies musing about the unemployed and how they would prefer not to work were themselves employed
What he spent on entrance to the football and getting there and his half time drink wouldn’t even buy you the drink now.
I was born in the 70s I remember those days. My dad had friends who would have been aged 45 to 55 roughly back then who never worked again, skilled men too.
The withering contempt of the narrator is golden
Telling the camera that the unemployed should live a threadbare existence..he should have been in fear of walking the streets after that. Contemptible man. Unfortunately the attitude is widespread now. Even people who grew up poor have quickly forgotten what it was really like. And this was before universal credit, sanctions, caps on families, private companies with profits to make from meeting targets reducing benefits regardless of needs or legal entitlement. Things are far worse now,in the era of zero hours contracts, but the media and politicians have convinced the population that everyone on benefits is a drug using, benefits fiddling slut with more children than they can count.
@@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6tsMuch of what you say is so definitely true. At that time the blame was laid at Margaret Thatcher's door for her policies. All these years later how much worse things have become in all the same locations. We've had years of a labour government under Tony Blair and I didn't see a big difference.
Can I through in a thought ? Once all the industries started to go - not just shipbuilding, coal, iron ,steel which employed a lot of people there was not alternative coming through - and in my opinion that's the real problem. If you can't sell your ships, or your steel, or your coal etc then the writing is on the wall. It's not just heavy industry though, what about clothing, and shoemaking etc.
God only knows how things will ever improve but please don't let it be another war. Whole families devastated by the loss of a loved one.
Please come back to me with your thoughts.
@@stewartgreig3272 my thoughts and experiences of the time is that you have pin pointed the exact problem. It certainly won't her votes, selling off all the national services(I watched my parents do very nicely as they bought shares in everything from BT to British Gas) , selling off the council housing and school fields, BUT...every good farmer every good shop keeper knows that you don't sell next year. Once she sold the infrastructure it was gone for good. Look at the totally unbelievable smear campaign that Murdoch ran against Corbyn for daring to cost up a meaningful way to buy the railways back. Something every Tory voter has wanted for decades. Once you hand over essential services like providing water or running children's homes to companies who are not only there to make a profit, but an INCREASING profit year after year,of course the country goes to the dogs. Then brutally destroying those industrial communities almost overnight, with an awful lot of shifty shenanigans,and to this day many still do not have anything to replace those holes was a crime against her own people. I drove across where the steelworks had been in Consett with my husband who had grown up there. I'd never sent it, but the shock. As far as the eye could see. Like Gaza, levelled to the ground. The high street in the town was deserted. My husband's nephew applying for a part time job in a pizza shop and over 400 other youngsters had applied. Absolutely wicked what she did to that generation. And we bear the legacy of that to this day. Of course some were able to drag themselves out and up. Did enough crappy courses at the job centre that eventually they got a break. But only on the understanding that most wouldn't. I don't think that we blame Thatcher anywhere near enough. Her snarling contempt for the poor, the vulnerable, the working classes, for those who put principles before profit has become a mantra for most of the greedy buggers seeking power ever since. It's not about right and left, it's about capitalism, grabbing as much as you can in the time that you have and ultimately about getting into positions of power in order to do that. Who was the last politician you heard who actually had a proper plan, a political stance, principles you can count on? Not someone who just responds to the front page of the mail, with emotive sound bites and crazy rubbish that's impossible for anyone who hasn't already decided to believe whatever they say however ridiculous,to even listen to never mind understand. The divisive era we are in, the aggression, the lack of reality, the total disregard for little things like facts, truth,law, knowledge or experience,I think can be traced straight back to her! So..my thoughts, mostly off the top of my head! I suspect that you have something different to say? What are your thoughts on the programme?
I remember when everything was on coin meters as a kid in the 70s and wiping my arse with newspapers when we couldn't afford bogroll!
Happy days!
Plus for many the **** House was in the back yard 🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha. Funny as ! 😅😅
Stuart Prebble did a great job when he made this documentary in 1984. Accurate portrayal of Thatcher's Britain and my experiences of Newcastle. Excellent progression from Stuart's days at Newcastle University Students Union.
Memories of my childhood in Manchester. Often sat in darkness with candles when the electric ran out. No further incentive was needed
Candles, we never had candles, too expensive.
I feel your pain...I was the same..nothing like hunger to spur a person on in life, its the constant fear of history repeating itself...cheers
Colin Wilcox yes....I remember those days too!
I remember the candles for 3-4 days at a time, and I'm only talking early 70's,
Here here
I love that Geordie bloke with 3 kids who tells that Tory Pratt that he is out of touch!
I used to pick Harry up when I was a taxi driver. Great bloke.
Hazel Walsh indeed. I don’t believe Mr Paris was prepared for the argument he got. He had nothing.
The guy hasn't a clue!In London £26.00 odd quid needed a tenner then for 2 zone transport.
for him its over in a week
Nothing's changed..:(
Benefits too generous? There speaks someone who has never been on the dole.
He was on the dole for a week and just about managed to survive it.
Doubt you would last a week
No because they actually got of their ass and got a job
Did you miss the bit at the start where they said the shipworks had cut their number of employees in half? There were no jobs to go to
Hate the Tories,the real scum.
£2.50 to go to a top flight football match. And he got picked up in the pub.
Same old same old tories, even in 2019.
John M Scott They're culling the elderly and disabled in 2020.
Nothing changes with those bastards.
The Tory MP was open to having his mind changed and it was. He showed humanity and did well.
He did not have the balls to admit that he, like the other Tories who had tried. Failed on a grand scale!
He was trying not to admit he was wrong.
If hordes of people came and robbed them because they were starving to death because they stopped unemployment money they would be begging the government to give them the employment support money. 🇬🇧👍
In 2004 Matthew Parris returned to his theme here. He was more assertive that time and to good effect.
Matthew “If Heath was a Paedophile, I am an Aardvark” Parris ?
A great thatcher quote, a man on a bus is a failure, that's compassion
At 19:10 minutes confirms that he and some other mp's formulate and push some policies based on no or little evidence or facts of real life . . . . to simply push for policies based on fears, prejudices and stereotypes and in general, 'what really ought to happen because we think so', or 'we know better' . . . . a meaningful comparison would be money not paid to HMRC because of tax loop holes and cost of unemployment benefits, for any perod in time, giving cost of one group of people compared to another
I remember seeing this at the time and it was all bullshit. He 'had no money' yet he was down the club watching well known comedian Bobby Thompson. That would have set him back at least a fiver and it wasn't mentioned. He also went to watch Newcastle play (against Huddersfield from memory) and stood in the Gallowgate, which was three and a half quid at the time. I was at the same match but I didn't see him. Lucky for him. The tory bastard.
23:15 : "I think what Maggie Thatcher should do, is take a look at us , and think that maybe we are honest, hard working people, and give us a ..". No. This show's clearly, that you don't understand your enemy. If you think these people care, then you really have no clue.
Those Interchangeable Thatcher-esque swines at the beginning are still with us.
"it's just something that I've never seriously thought about" he says - yet you were happy to BLINDLY then, support policies to make these people's lives harder. Sickening and wicked. Tories don't seem to have changed either. What's your damn private school education worth, then?
A working class hero is something to be....
Class documentary ,typical world in action excellence, rember watching this episode first time around as a young teenager. We mever learn do we.things are gonna get a whole lot tougher 2024 and onwards
Let's face the reality of it, people like him never really understand, back to his wealthy life.
John M Scott Indeed they don't!
people calling this guy scum bag and tory scum are missing the point. The man clearly didn't know any better but was willing to be proven wrong. Throughout the entire documentry he reflects that he was wrong and why he was wrong. People criticising him lack the ability to look into themselves and challenge there deepest prejudices in the way that he is doing. That's the problem. Too many people use stereotypes and not enougth are willing to challenge those stereotypes they have of others. And unlike most of the posters I know what I'm talking about because my family where unemployed in the eighties.
21:22 - you've clearly not watched it all the way through
Shane Gallagher what an idiotic comment to make. What age are you? Don't compare unemployment to being in a concentration camp you fucking idiot.
Shane Gallagher Didn't learn a thing did you.
+Shane Gallagher - He didn't, he was comparing the honesty of two different politicians, though I would diasgree with Hitler being honest about what he was doing with the Jews. In that respect, Jimmy Savile was more honest about what he was up to.
Its the same thing, only one method is obivious. Iain Duncan Smith is killing masses of people who should be getting sickness benefits. Just because you don't hear about it in an establishment controlled press, does not mean that it is not happening.
Let this sink in. In 2024 we have masses of foodbanks all over Britain to help out - thats how bad life has become.
a must watch for all welfare economists! great documentary.
An absolutely pointless exercise. He knows it is only going to last a week so he can just treat it as a game. You don't get the sense of desperation going over the same routine week after week without an end in sight. The only way this works is if he given a random 1 in 50 chance for it to end at the end of a week. See how cheerful that is.
To be fair to him he clearly acknowledged that fact.
The radio satirical comedy show Week Ending did a spoof of this program by having an unemployed man living the life of a Tory MP
Excellent documentary, beautifully filmed.
I am a former tory voter. I have seen over the years the damage that tory governments have unleashed on the UK. It is a disgrace, particularly Thatcherism. I have never suffered thankfully, but I have seen the desperation left behind, and it continues .
Great upload.
im only here for the theme tune !
I was at that game, he was stood with us Huddersfield fans!!
Are you a Tory test.... do you complain more about the poorest getting something you're not, or do you complain more about obscene wealth inequality?
I’d love to see them live on UC .
he spent the final evening in a working men's club. How could he afford the membership if he was on £26 a week?
You don't have to be a member as people can sign you in for free.
I was on the dole for a few months in 1978 i got 14 pound every 2 weeks. Thank god my parents were still alive and i could live in a spare room. Without them i am in big trouble back then.
And the punishment continues
YOU'D NEVER GET A TORY DOING THAT NOW! Fair play Mr Parris.
Hi from Wales in Brexit Britain ✊
Parris shown in his real colours , the same with Conservative ladies.
My Dad bought his first house when he was 36 and had a good paid job and yes i live in surrey
They should try this with modern Tory government MP's, and see how they cope.
Eirug Sion Griffiths Hancock already said he couldn't live off what he expects everyone else to live off. Not that he was going to do anything about it.
Why did they export so many jobs overseas,that has caused so many problems. .
Kelly Edey Fewer human rights, fewer workers' rights, fewer children's rights, etc. And we buy it all up encouraging them to continue with this business model. When you see those designer label leather bags - remember, a migrant worker processed that leather without anything protecting his eyes or skin from being splashed by the chemicals, his lungs being slowly poisoned by the fumes, no break to use the toilet so he has to pee into a bottle behind the machine processing the leather got those designer fashion houses and that every morning he turns up to work, he doesn't know if he'll leave with all his fingers. All those make-up and skincare products with mica in them? Mined by children who risk losing their eyesight due to the shards of rock, risk a slow but early death due to inhaling all that stuff because they don't have protective gear or being crushed alive in the dark underground because the cave collapsed on them. Those endless number of electronics we buy every single year (even fir school children, even buying multiples for one person, or for our house when we clearly have no physical disability) for no reason other than because it's new and the advert said it'll make us happier/cooler - people's lands are being destroyed, their rivers polluted, their countries put under inhumane sanctions or they're being bombed illegally. And used products are literally being dumped on poorer countries without their permission (because what are poor nations going to do to rich nations who's governments hide their actions, who's media hide their actions and who's people are too comfortable with their level of luxury to care or just ignorant) and since they don't have the equipment to harvest the precious metals safely, their only option is to burn it all forcing everyone to breathe in the toxic fumes that will destroy their lung, brains and possibly other organs their D.N.A. and fertility. While our cheap-as-chips chocolate is wiping out species and destroying the quality of the soil - what are rural people who live off land (rather than supermarkets) supposed to do with soil that doesn't grow anything when European and American businesses leave after sucking the life out of a once lively, diverse and self-sustaining forest? Even though t-shirts with "feminist", girl power" or something are made by women paid pennies for making hundreds of those products. Same for all those children's clothes. Labels only give the name of one of the countries involved in the making their products. Not even all the countries let alone all individual smaller businesses that were involved.
We shouldn't be able to afford what we can on the money that we earn. We can only afford it because millions of innocent people, including children, are suffering and dying in our stead. Doesn't mean I think we should die. It means we should stand in solidarity with all workers and demand higher standards, higher pay, higher quality and bringing manufacturing jobs back here while curbing our unnecessarily excessive and damaging consumerism. We should never "their" rules from centuries ago where one poor person has to die for another to live. We need to bring that solidarity.
Only a Tory would think it is fine to accept a pint and THEN TAKE ANOTHER HALF PINT of some random in the pub
Hahaha. Totally stupid comment.
Typical tory ponce!!
Knew he was going back to Rich Town....Pointless
The dead hand of Thatcher runs all thru this film-my goodness, what a disaster she was for the ordinary working class and how many thousands of lives she ruined. She will not be missed
£26 pound a week? Although the value of £26 is different today than in the 80s, that’s still nothing and they say that’s enough?
I remember this vaguely at least he tried I think he was very honest
these old women have no clue as to modern living in Britain - what an absolute joke!!!
Mathew Parris went on to replace Brian Walden on Weekend World
The bugger's found the only Cockney stallholder on the Quayside
It’s going back to this in 2022 under the tories!
Wish this was still a regular. Not sure why it isn't!
ITV don't care for anything that isn't populist and formulaic nowadays, they wouldn't even countenance bringing this back.
Very good documentary. How the food prices have changed!
Sorry for the error in my post below, I meant "when he obviously didn't know what he was fucking talking about" lol. I was so angry my brain fell behind my hand speed lol
"[the North] is an enormous drain in terms of national resources" 6:18
Paris is one of the better Tories (though to me that is damning with faint praise). I doubt any modern Tory would dare to publicly attempt a similar experiment, so credit is due there at least. This documentary amply illustrates how people who kvetch about luxury benefits haven't a clue.
I remember this at time..we were all on dole at time...Funny it was years ago..
He should not put himself up to take responsibility of helping to make policy when he obviously knew what he was fucking talking about. That is the trouble with middle and upper class people having power like this. No one should, it is other peoples lives they effect, and with this latest Torrie government many peoples deaths. Role on Labour, decency and humility in government again. We should make these people responsible in law for what they do, making dangerous policies that leave people and children depressed and sick. I remember this happening and how insulted my out of work friends felt when he did it. that bastard Ian Duncan Smith will never do it, he is what he appears a useless, power hungry near do well who married money and desperately wanted to impress and join that little band of public school boys we have recently suffered under
These days you wouldn't be able to afford to rent a place to live.
He Failed and fooked off
8:02 Keegan
I remember my dad telling me when I was a chav in the 70’s “Nothing changes under the sun” what he meant was there’s nothing new, you make your own luck, the dole will keep you alive it ain’t luxurious.
There were no Chavs in the 70's,why take the piss?
@@a.m.armstrong8354 chav is short for chavvy which means kid, we speak the old school not this modern nonsense I’m not taking the anything
@@darbysabini4248 OK.
@@darbysabini4248 back in the day we all spoke like that innit
'... a pretty meagre and a pretty threadbare existence. I acknowledge that and at the same time I believe that that is the right level....' says it all
they should have made him walk beck from Newcastle
I think back then it was important to get out to the pub or cafes. It's like a form of networking, you could hear about a job that way.
If you stay at home I think you might miss out on opportunities.
I am assuming this is pre internet.
Well it certainly looked like Mr Parris needed that pint or two. Fairplay to the guy for doing this, it's still not a real life test. Could he manage 6 months? He knows he's only doing it for a week.
Very well said from you ie 'its not a real life test'. It is so unreal to transplant an advantaged person (confidence, education, networks etc) to the endless shite of no hope; no past, no future. Its decades and generations of knowing theres a glass ceiling you cannot penetrate. But nothing is made of the fact it is impossible to accumulate any money for exceptional or occasional purchases in life, everything is the same cheap day to day minimum existance. No transport, always feeling substandard in poor clothing, your environment and associates pulling you down, trapping you in the cheapest world possible. Schools in my opinion need to get thinking fast and work out how to serve children better....... just an idea.
2022 and nothing has changed
So he understands long term poverty can have psychological consequences.
I just looked it up, it appears that the unemployment benefit is exactly the same as then (adjusted for inflation).
That is scary. I live in Ireland and people here get €206 a week on unemployment. £175.80
It's less actually, as it was frozen for several years during the Cameron-Osbourne austerity regime. With other benefits like housing allowance slashed alongside it.
Precisely, l checked it also.
@@rachel.mcgowan Yes they did....whilst the govt claiming every "expense" thet can get there hands on.
It's grim when you only get wo' Bobby to make you feel better..
And all of this was going on before the floodgates were opened to people from eastern Europe and the Third world. Therefore,facilitating more competition which drives wages down. Divide and conquer has been employed all along to subjugate the British working class into accepting their lot in life. Meanwhile the government of today is too concerned about keeping lazy arsed Africans and their hordes of offspring which is being legitimised by the Labour party who have abandoned their ideals in favour of economic immigrants. The final insult toward the British working class came in the guise of the Blair administrations thereby abandoning the Labour parties traditional voting block in favour of interlopers.......
Beau Corr well said
People will shout racist but there is a conspiracy against the English people
Using the word 'uncomfortable' on the dole is so out of touch for this prat who lives a comfy life.
What's. Change.. Since.
30th August 2020.
In Many aspects... People are still being used as they were then.
I recommend this Program for All... Beware.. What's Coming.. Very Sad to Say.
Onwards and upwards, is best, i can Say. 💭👍💥🤺
You just know the guy that bought him the drinks wanted his nice posh bottom
Renton Sad Boy Do you he fancied a bit of rough then?
@@bernadettemurray1515 No the guy in the pub fancied a bit of posh soft boy bot bot action me thinks
Renton Sad Boy l knew precisely what you meant. ☺️
@l. GOLDMANN unfortunately I can see by your logo that you use you are not fit comment we use sarcasm and lower forms of wit which may be out of your League as we do not chat the name USA USA USA we actually live in the real world and we can understand the difference between irony and say sarcasm it's you that we are really frightened of of the people that are allowed to vote and democracy with no intelligence
Trump 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I remember watching this with my mum, she was cackling away at this fool. Now its unimaginable for an MP to lower themself to claim UC, cos they'd be broke within the day
One thing he said near the end, which I agree on and wish they would do today and that's mean testing and giving more money to those that need it more. I know it would mean more admin work for any government, but it is fairer. If someone has a lot of money in the bank and has a Lamborghini but becomes unemployed, they aren't going to need any dole money. If someone is always in debt, even when they work, they need a lot more then the standard rate of dole money. Obviously there is always going to be some that can't work for health problems, etc, who need dole money long term and those that play the system to stay on the dole, but can work. But means testing is the fairest way.
Can you upload season 7 episode 12? It's about Jerome Hoffman.
He's going home and a comfortable 1it will be
America gives money and food stamps. not enough money. however, you don't have to starve. because with food debit card, you can only buy food. if you don't budget well, you will run out of food at the end of the month, but it works out better with food card. I have never been on welfare, always had a job luckily. but I have known people who struggle to get by. I do not understand why more countries don't have food stamps. they keep people from starving.
curt lyons Because it doesn't work.
I remember this originally! As ever no concept of reality!
I like Jacob Rees Mogg, but it would make great TV to see him do a similar experiment.
He would send his butler to do it
8:54 big man loves more than a pint 😂
What year was this?
Stephen ryder 1984
Who's here looking for the interview with the serial killer Harold Shipman?
What about us?
I got home on a Sunday night at 14. I would usually be sent but was awol that day. My youngest of three sisters was sent to the chipshop for two fifty pence pieces for the electric metre. She asked for two fifties and was given two huge bags of chips. When I opened the front door to darkness and the smell of chippy chips. My old man worked but it was still rough.
This goes to show that the Tories haven't changed at all. Then why are they in power?
Pilchard pie and baked beans is unappetising? Come and try my wife’s cooking….