Seven Days On The Breadline: Mel B government should do more for the poor
Mel B has admitted that she was shocked by the level of poverty she encountered when she was filming ‘Seven Days On The Breadline’ for ITV1. She also appealed to the government to do more for the poor.
“I hadn’t been told anything about the family I would be looking after or the state of the house I would be living in,” she wrote in the Daily Mail.
“It was only when I arrived that I realised it had damp rising up the walls, was infested by mice and was, frankly, horribly unkempt.”
“I hope the show will make people think twice about people on benefits, rather than calling them lazy moneygrabbers,” she said. “I think the majority could be encouraged to do a bit more if the Government would step in.
“In many ways it seems we’ve gone backwards rather than forwards. There are as many, if not more, people living on the breadline than ever. It does not bode well for the future because this group of disenfranchised youngsters will soon go on to have children themselves.
“If you do not give people a way out, educate them, provide them with somewhere to live, and a community centre for them to visit and be stimulated, then how can you expect them to have the urge to get up and do anything with their lives?”
Loading ...
Mel B’s attempts at tackling poverty on this show really made me laugh! Expensive gym membership, taxis back from shopping, service washes at the launderette and leaving the kids regularly to make sure she maintains that LA-toned body seem to be Mel’s way of getting real. And now she is urging the government to tackle poverty, having ‘lived’ with it herself! And what does she suggest – free gym membership for all?
Mel B was useless, she hasn’t got the first idea of what is needed to tackle poverty. She was more concerned about herself and didn’t even bother to wake the lad for his job seekers interview, she was a waste of space.
Thank you BBC for an insightful, thought provoking programme. We should have more ‘wake up’ call programmes like this on a regular basis to keep the rest of us in touch with the difficulties others in Britain face, (if only to make us more grateful for what we DO have). Only then can calls for change be made, once we are made more aware. I live in the North West and my income isn’t that different to the families shown but their cost of living was so much higher because they couldn’t take the cheaper options of direct debits or choose cheaper places to shop because it all involved public transport and the problems it brings. I finished the programme feeling the despair that they oozed and feel so saddened by the prospects of those children’s futures. I would also like to congratulate Keith Allen’s input in the programme and the empathy and care he showed those dear kids. I would like to see him take this issue further in future programmes that could maybe come forth with some ideas on how to tackle the future of youngsters on the breadline. My feelings are that their dispair wasn’t all down to the lack of money (because two boys were nonplussed about even collecting their benefits!), they just didn’t see any hope or future – just stop and think for a minute how that must feel!
Nice blog but i’m having some minor problems with the design in Opera Browser, maybe i should change Browser!