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.
There should be a companion documentary where a working-class person spends a week in a country mansion and receives; Westminster's land-owners subsidies, and EU agricultural subsidies. Watch their struggle.
deadsouls72 you mentioned 2 classes of people there, the working class, and them who have a comfortable life, What about the people who have no choice but to claim benefits, I am one of them, with mental issues and arthritis which is a degenerative illness, so I'm getting worse, not better, there's a lot of us, people forget, or just look down on us, as scroungers,I can't talk for everyone, there is some who scam the system, there's workers who scam the timesheets, and there's the uppers"haves" who scam the taxes, but us on the DWP always get missed, or forgot, or looked down at, there's cheats and scammers in all walks of life, anyway, Sorry for rattling on, I just think we get forgot about too much, like all the suicides that aren't mentioned,or are forgot about, because a claim wasn't processed correctly. Or shame in having to claim
@@StephenGeoghan I think you misunderstood my comment. I was drawing attention to the fact that millionaire land owners receive no strings attached subsidies from the state, and also EU _"agricultural"_ subsidies. They are the real welfare scroungers. The Conservative Party de-industrialised entire towns, people who ended up unemployed are not to blame.
@@deadsouls72 I understand you better now with that last comment, yh they are the worst of a bad lot, I'd say, at last in the UK things are starting to look different, the Conservative party and the Labour Party wasn't looking too good on the "brexit vote" "last month, Neil Farage and the green party beat them both I think, this country could change for the good of the people who have suffered for decades,if it stayed like that for a general vote, Esther Mcvey running for the prime position, her and IDS caused so many suicides that have been hushed up because its a "" legal manslaughter "they're getting away with, and the dwp system is a shambles, and there's so many suicides, and the foodbanks and free handouts people have to beg for in England," "supposedly one of the wealthiest countries, empires, in the world" ", if your born on a Council estate in the last 30-40years its a battle to make a decent life for yourself, if your born in Chelsea or Harrogate or born into money you'll never know the feeling of going hungry, or your electric meter has run out for 2 days till you get paid,there's just 2 big a gap between the haves and the have nots. And it's only getting worse unless this changes very soon
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!
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...
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'
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.
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.
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.
There was a second part of this documentary. One of the unemployed people that Matthew Parris met in Newcastle gave a speech to a group of Conservatives.
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
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
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. 🇬🇧👍
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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 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.
He did. He went back and met some of the people he met then. He had stayed in touch with them. At least he tried to see what life was like. In all honesty irrespective of which party is in power once the main source of worthwhile employment leaves an area in this case shipbuilding, things start to get bad. It's a downward spiral.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
@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
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.
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
There should be a companion documentary where a working-class person spends a week in a country mansion and receives; Westminster's land-owners subsidies, and EU agricultural subsidies. Watch their struggle.
deadsouls72 you mentioned 2 classes of people there, the working class, and them who have a comfortable life,
What about the people who have no choice but to claim benefits, I am one of them, with mental issues and arthritis which is a degenerative illness, so I'm getting worse, not better, there's a lot of us, people forget, or just look down on us, as scroungers,I can't talk for everyone, there is some who scam the system, there's workers who scam the timesheets, and there's the uppers"haves" who scam the taxes, but us on the DWP always get missed, or forgot, or looked down at, there's cheats and scammers in all walks of life, anyway, Sorry for rattling on, I just think we get forgot about too much, like all the suicides that aren't mentioned,or are forgot about, because a claim wasn't processed correctly. Or shame in having to claim
@@StephenGeoghan I think you misunderstood my comment. I was drawing attention to the fact that millionaire land owners receive no strings attached subsidies from the state, and also EU _"agricultural"_ subsidies. They are the real welfare scroungers. The Conservative Party de-industrialised entire towns, people who ended up unemployed are not to blame.
@@deadsouls72 I understand you better now with that last comment, yh they are the worst of a bad lot, I'd say, at last in the UK things are starting to look different, the Conservative party and the Labour Party wasn't looking too good on the "brexit vote" "last month, Neil Farage and the green party beat them both I think, this country could change for the good of the people who have suffered for decades,if it stayed like that for a general vote, Esther Mcvey running for the prime position, her and IDS caused so many suicides that have been hushed up because its a "" legal manslaughter "they're getting away with, and the dwp system is a shambles, and there's so many suicides, and the foodbanks and free handouts people have to beg for in England," "supposedly one of the wealthiest countries, empires, in the world" ", if your born on a Council estate in the last 30-40years its a battle to make a decent life for yourself, if your born in Chelsea or Harrogate or born into money you'll never know the feeling of going hungry, or your electric meter has run out for 2 days till you get paid,there's just 2 big a gap between the haves and the have nots. And it's only getting worse unless this changes very soon
deadsouls72 Totally!
@@deadsouls72 I agree.
The intro music takes me back, not to a single decade but as far back as i can remember .
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.
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!
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
The withering contempt of the narrator is golden
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...
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Nothing's changed..:(
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.
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 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 🤣🤣🤣
There was a second part of this documentary. One of the unemployed people that Matthew Parris met in Newcastle gave a speech to a group of Conservatives.
for him its over in a week
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 .
July 2024. My gosh, world in action. I remember the intro as a kid in the UK.
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.
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.
Excellent documentary, beautifully filmed.
Great upload.
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
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 ?
£2.50 to go to a top flight football match. And he got picked up in the pub.
A great thatcher quote, a man on a bus is a failure, that's compassion
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
What’s so sad about this is that the tories attitude has not changed! 🤬
I was at that game, he was stood with us Huddersfield fans!!
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. 🇬🇧👍
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.
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.
Hi from Wales in Brexit Britain ✊
We really all should let this ruminate. This should be shown to kids in school, in order to make them see how lucky they are.
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.
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.
im only here for the theme tune !
Those Interchangeable Thatcher-esque swines at the beginning are still with us.
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.
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.
a must watch for all welfare economists! great documentary.
Always thought this was good, Matthew Parris comes over as a reasonable person.
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 .
£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?
8:02 Keegan
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.
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
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.
Mathew Parris went on to replace Brian Walden on Weekend World
And the punishment continues
I’d love to see them live on UC .
2022 and nothing has changed
I remember this vaguely at least he tried I think he was very honest
It’s going back to this in 2022 under the tories!
Very good documentary. How the food prices have changed!
Knew he was going back to Rich Town....Pointless
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.
What year was this?
Stephen ryder 1984
I remember this at time..we were all on dole at time...Funny it was years ago..
Parris shown in his real colours , the same with Conservative ladies.
Let this sink in. In 2024 we have masses of foodbanks all over Britain to help out - thats how bad life has become.
Can you upload season 7 episode 12? It's about Jerome Hoffman.
YOU'D NEVER GET A TORY DOING THAT NOW! Fair play Mr Parris.
What year is this?.
"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....
'... 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
My Dad bought his first house when he was 36 and had a good paid job and yes i live in surrey
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.
Didn't Matthew Parris do this experiment in more recent years too, or am I imagining it. 🤔
He did. He went back and met some of the people he met then. He had stayed in touch with them. At least he tried to see what life was like.
In all honesty irrespective of which party is in power once the main source of worthwhile employment leaves an area in this case shipbuilding, things start to get bad. It's a downward spiral.
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.
The bugger's found the only Cockney stallholder on the Quayside
Now it's off to the food bank for a lot of people
@fattwat1yeah imin England and iv just had to get 1 today
Yeh, just got one Friday
3 years later I went yesterday this country is fucked
It's grim when you only get wo' Bobby to make you feel better..
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.
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!
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
I remember this originally! As ever no concept of reality!
Strange days
Is it me, or were those Pint glasses bigger than they are now?!
So he understands long term poverty can have psychological consequences.
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.
I guessed 1985, wasn't far off. Trying to guess my pay as a draughtsman back then. Might be £60 week.
These days you wouldn't be able to afford to rent a place to live.
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.
Do this again and the participants would all be single mothers from all around the world. He'd be lucky to find any families.
Absolute bullshit. You realise the tories and their supporters were complaining about single mothers back then?
did they have food banks back then?
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.
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
£2.50 to see a football match. Today that would be about £7-8! I’m so jealous
i were a kid watching this programme. kids wouldnt watch it today i dont think.
there were only 4 channels in 1984
He’s well known now isn’t he?
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.
Who's here looking for the interview with the serial killer Harold Shipman?
What about us?
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 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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.