Could you live on £53 a week

[tommy.irene]

£53 a week? I can survive on ONE POUND A DAY says cash-strapped teacherKath Kelly ate at free buffets and picked fruit from bushes 
Teacher started challenge as she bet her friends she could live on small sumIain Duncan Smith was challenged to live on £53-a-week on Radio 4

A teacher who survived for a year on just £1 a day has backed Iain Duncan Smith and said 'anybody' can live on a daily budget of £7.

Frugal Kath Kelly, 51, ate at free buffets, shopped at church jumble sales and scrounged leftovers from grocery stores and restaurants.

She picked fruit from bushes and trees and collected a staggering £117 in loose change dropped in the street - a third of her annual budget.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304042/Iain-Duncan-Smith-right-You-CAN-live-just-53-week-sa...

[bankhaunter]

It would help if Jobcentres were not given targets for the number of claimants to sanction, something which they can and will do for the slightest excuse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLgg75stn4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[upthecreekyetagain]

"70% of the country says they could not live on £53 a week - but rich people are more likely than poor people to think they could"

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/04/04/53-week-no-way/

Is there any evidence to back up that statement ?:|

[bookhunter2007]

Is there any evidence to back up that statement ?:|

Clicking the link might help.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Clicking the link might help.

Not really it doesn't

The figures it quotes show that 31% of what could possibly be called rich think it possible
but the difference is not very large for a poll of less than 2,000

The figures being 66% to 77% of those who think it not possible.

Age is a far more significant factor - of those under 25, (the group to which this figure of £53 applies), 52% think it possible compared to just over 20% of those over 25.

An honest "headline" would read, 52% of those under 25 say they could live on £53 a week - but older people are less likely than young people to think they could

[salfordmarinade]

Interesting posts aernethril, Welsh G etc.

If it has to be sufficient to survive on, then there is no...'on the other hand'

That is addressed by improving in work benefits and reviewing the minimum wage such that businesses  scrounge less off the welfare budget on a non means tested basis.

[bookhunter2007]

Not really it doesn't

Yes it does:

[spawnjohnuk]

Interesting posts aernethril, Welsh G etc.

If it has to be sufficient to survive on, then there is no...'on the other hand'

That is addressed by improving in work benefits and reviewing the minimum wage such that businesses  scrounge less off the welfare budget on a non means tested basis.

benefits for workers are set to be sanctioned if 'jobcetre staff' deem you not doing enough to get enough money ie working 2 jobs and minimum wage is being decreased.

creeky under 25 yr olds as you say live with parents and have little understanding of real costs of living like bills.Ids and osbourne must be loving this as a class war is all they are after ...imo

[spawnjohnuk]

It would help if Jobcentres were not given targets for the number of claimants to sanction, something which they can and will do for the slightest excuse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLgg75stn4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

That is spot on bank...for any excuse ,I have had dealings with these jobcentre target searching bonus getting staff' and not only are they just workers but they seem to now be employed on a how little do you care about your fellow human race basis...ie not very much to none existent to I want as many as unhappy as I was or pref dead.

[upthecreekyetagain]

Yes it does:

Another example of how to distort a graph - as a percentage the scale should be from 0 - 100

No indication of how many people in each group

[bookhunter2007]

Another example of how to distort a graph - as a percentage the scale should be from 0 - 100

No indication of how many people in each group

You're not looking very far...

http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/mvgun21v6y/YG-Archive-IDS-results-030413-%C2%A353-a-week.pdf

[upthecreekyetagain]

I did see that - can you tell from those figures how many of the nearly 2,000 sample were in the bracket of earning more than £70k?

[salfordmarinade]

I did see that

Then why try to pretend it's a distortion??:|

[upthecreekyetagain]

I did see that

Then why try to pretend it's a distortion??:|

because those figures in that table are meaningless.  If you take a group of people - let's say 2,000.

Now let them vote on a particular question - "Do you like Stilton?" - 400 males say they do, 200 say they don't - 100 females say they do and 100 say they don't"

Can you conclude from that more men than women like Stilton?  Of course you can't, you don't even know how many males there were in the sample.

And that's using a category, male and female, that only has two possibilities.

[salfordmarinade]

They are meaningless because you don't happen to agree and happen to have made a blunder

so best divert a way out;-)

That ^^^ is not actually what you said, you said the 'scale' was wrong.....when actually the error is yours

[upthecreekyetagain]

They are meaningless because you don't happen to agree and happen to have made a blunder

so best divert a way out;-)

That ^^^ is not actually what you said, you said the 'scale' was wrong.....when actually the error is yours

they are meaningless because they ARE meaningless.

You're so clever so tell me how many in the sample of 2,000 earn more than £70k a year.

What diversionary tactic are you going to try simply because you don't know? 😉

[spawnjohnuk]

500,000 people so far don't agree as petition says ''do it then gobby'  so graph picking isnt needed really to prove most who know dont think you can .And rich people probably are the ones if anyone who could do it as they would add a zero than feed their kids...hence the wealth ....maybe

[upthecreekyetagain]

I don't think I could live on £53 a week.

The link from Book though is doing nothing more than trying to be divisive by stating with no evidence to back it up that the "rich" think you can.

[salfordmarinade]

You would need to see the raw data old bean, nothing clever about that

No the above stilton drivel is meaningless and diversionary as per norm

Nothing to do with 'scale' either.....that is simply incorrect

You mean you would rather shift the emphasis away from ones mistake, and scrape the old shoes again 😉

[upthecreekyetagain]

As I said - YOU DON'T KNOW how many rich people think you could or couldn't live on £53 a week.

YOU DON'T KNOW how many poor people people think you could or couldn't live on £53 a week

Poll results such as this followed by a statement such as the one in this case are designed to fool those numerately challenged - it has obviously worked

[spawnjohnuk]

I don't think I could either creeky ...maybe for a couple of weeks here and there but bills would eat that and im fairly prudent.

If my memory serves me right in the last tory gov an mp said the same thing and tried it and couldn't last a week..I will try to find his name..but if right ,that timewarp thing again...its a shame as I hoped cameron was going to be what we needed ,i liked what he was saying,but his cabinet is showing its colours and its just plain bias and that shouldn't be allowed near decision making for people.