In any case, if they have a "widescreen tv", it's likely they bought it at an inflated price from the former Brighthouse on extortionate interest payments. Those who can afford to buy new devices upfront are more likely to pay less than someone on benefits.
The Daily Mail and the likes were still using "flat screen TVs" as an example of benefit claimaints living extravangant lifestyles for years after they became the only kind of TV you could buy (and became sigificantly cheaper than an equivalent size CRT would have been a few years earlier). What do they want, benefit claimaints to have to put up with decades old cast-offs from car boot sales and charity shops?
Things like large TVs, laptops, tablets smartphones etc. are so comparatively cheap these days (especially if you go for low end ones) it's ridiculous to castigate benefit claimants to own one. You can get reasonably sized TVs and laptops that are reasonable for most daily tasks for below £200 and a basic tablet or smartphone for around £60 these days. The days of having to pay 4 figure sums for large TVs and computers are long gone, even though the people who like to moan about benefit claimaints and low earners still seem to think these things have late 90s/early 00s prices.
One of the oddities of the benefit system is the drop-off in what you get based on what you have.
So in a nutshell if you are fortunate enough to have £6k in savings, you get everything. Beyond that it falls off by £1 for every £250 you have above £6k, to a point where you have over £16k, you get nothing. That is an assumption that you get an interest savings rate of 25%, which is frankly ridiculous, and £16k isn't a lot of money these days anyway. But them's the rules so...
That would have made an interesting story, "denied housing benefit because I have a dining room".
Also can't think of anybody who would lose their job and then flog a bunch of stuff that'll keep them sane until they find more work. Fortunately last time I was unemployed it was only for six months but according to the logic of the Mail I should have pawned the TV and the laptop the second I got home with a P45!
I do wonder the logic of that sort of thinking, are you meant to get rid of your consumer electronics out the minute you become unemployed or ill?
In the 1930s the means test for benefits took into account material possessions and forced claimants to sell off what was deemed excessive before they got a penny from the state. One teacup per family member plus one for a guest!
Nowadays it's possible to claim UC even if you have a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce on your driveway and a deposit box filled with gold bars. The DWP doesn't check up on such items.
I have tried to argue that you need an internet connection and a digital device in order to sell your stuff on eBay.
Got to be one of the most eclectic BBC channels ever - education and snooker! It makes the original Radio 5 seem fairly normal.
It might end up increasing the popularity of snooker with kids. Ever thought about that one?
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Intrigued what the bitesize programmes will contain, from what I've seen EYFS (pre school reception year) isn't being covered by them
Time will tell. Most parents can easily teach EYFS stuff at home themselves. It's the more advanced material that they are less in a position to teach.
Interesting combination of programming, BBC Bitesize, CBBC reruns and defacto BBC FOUR lite. I can quite easily see myself dipping into the BBC FOUR lite stuff. I presume that the iPlayer will get an overnight refresh to enable this content to appear in a unique page. Losing it across the other genres will be crazy to say the least.
