New Conservative peer Howard Flight has issued an “unreserved” apology for saying child benefit changes would encourage the poor to “breed”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11837538

What \ lovely bunch they are. So in touch with the people

Thats shocking. Doesn’t he realise that the poor don’t need any encouragment to breed.

Ridiculously out of touch.

pretty amazingly stupid/biggotted thing to say.

Can someone explain exactly what was offensive about the remark. Not a troll – what exactly is it people are incensed about? Was it his use of language, or was it the actual comments about middle class people finding it too expensive to have many children?

i mainly agree with him

Really I think its two things:
The fact he is about to become a David Cameron nominated peer makes anything he says open to more attack than usual by the labour party.

I also think people take exception to the term “breeding”, but I don’t.

To me his point wasn’t about the poor really, what he was saying was that the middle classes would be put off having children. I agree with this.

The usual suspects will be incensed and along soon to give you the low down Simon 🙂

Troll

I think it’s apparent, after this sort of thing happening time after time, that CallMeDave’s assertion that the Conservatives have changed is complete rubbish. All that’s happened is that a small clique of supporters gathered around Cameron are trying to run things from the centre in exactly the same way that Blair did in the Labour party.

The party itself is still made up of complete trash. I watched the conferences and witnessed Cameron’s attempts to woo the nation with promises of change and whenever I found myself starting to think that he might have something, I just looked at the audience.

Eurgh.

“We’re going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it’s jolly expensive.

“But for those on benefits, there is every incentive. Well, that’s not very sensible.”

Its not a really bad thing to say, if he took out the word breed with its negative imagery of pests and replaced it with having children it would have probably gone un-noticed…

Isn’t that the usual STW oppinion?

Isn’t castration regulalry muted as a method of poulation controll amongst the lower classes?

Yes castrate one generation of the feckless sub working class and save the country billions ,and the need to build anymore social housing on green belt .

If we give em a chance, I’m sure they could think of a Final solution……

It is offensive because it is true.

Meanwhile the 6 O’clock news has Millipede being told that scroungers have an easier life than those that work. He Agreed and said the Labour had not done enough to reform welfare and make work pay.

Good effort to stir by the beeb, paraphrasing as “encourage poor to breed”.

I’m struggling to see what was wrong with what he actually said, other than the possible negative connotations of “breed”, although he actually used that word about the discouraged middle classes, not “those on benefits” (or “the poor”, as the beeb prefers).

He may have used slightly colourful language, but the only thing I can see wrong with what he said was the apology.

It is not true.

People on benefits do not have kids to get more benefits or to get housing.

Its elitist tosh.

When I read his comments I thought the cause of the objection wasn’t the language but the inference that a middle class child would be of more value to society than a child born to a couple claiming benefits.

Well if it is well educated ,brought up properly with some morals and gets a job it will be.

It is offensive because it is true.

If it was true there would be no need to apologise.

Mr Cameron said: “I don’t agree with what he said and I am sure he will want to apologise for what he said”.

The truth is never offensive. Well not in my world anyway.

TJ the mrs is in family law, yknow care cases etc and i can assure you that they absolutely do have kids to get more benefits or housing.

you find it offensive because of who said it.

So are we happy to place a value on a newborn child’s potential based upon its parents?

They do have a tendancy to influence its life choices

they absolutely do have kids to get more benefits or housing.

‘They’

Well that’s a score for the Tories then, another ‘they’ that don’t matter to ‘us’

Stoodents, effnicks and scroungers, who’s next?

Nonk – rubbish – there is research done on this and this myth is comprehensivly demolished

I find it offensive because its an nasty elitist stereotype denigrating benefit claimants based on bias.

What makes me laugh He subtracted what there intensions are

Just hope though’s whom voted for them are Happy and are
getting what they wanted!

muppetWrangler – how about we say that everyone has the right to have as many children as they want, just as long as they don’t expect other people to pay for them ?

CallMeDave’s assertion that the Conservatives have changed is complete rubbish

I hope you don’t think Labour changed their way they chuck money down the drain between the 70s and their last government do you?

I’d imagine it’s a score draw between th 2 parties if you were to be keeping count, but it’s always those with the big gobs and clever opinions that enjoy pointing it out….

oh ok tj you are of course right.
the fact that on a near weekly basis we hear it from the horses mouth means nothing at all.
🙄

Edric 64 – Member

They as in the parents in reply to the question posted above my post

You posted while I was replying, edited to make sense.

jeremy i think a small number of people do have children because of the benefits/better housing it can provide. it is however a v small number and it probably amplified in mrs nonk’s world as she works with families in/around the care system

i think it’s also nonsense to say that the loss of £20.30 child benefit a week would put a middle class person off having children. This betrays a complete ignorance

lifer
does it help you if i replace the word they with people?
can you manage with that then or is it still a bit much for you?

winstonsmith
thanks very much.

it staggers me tj that you think this doesnt happen.

TandemJeremy
What \ lovely bunch they are. So in touch with the people

and

TandemJeremy
People on benefits do not have kids to get more benefits or to get housing.

Two sweeping statements. You want to open your mind a bit.

it staggers me tj that you think this doesnt happen.

That’s probably because this :

“i can assure you that they absolutely do have kids to get more benefits or housing”

suggests that poor people have kids to get more benefits or housing.

They do not. The fact that it happens, doesn’t prove the point.

i know many an aristocrat(i really do) who have kids just to keep the trust going and therefore avoid massive taxation.
i also have worked in social services, the gov have no real idea. posh bubble plus westminster bubble? how far removed can you get.

Cranberry. As someone that has no desire for a child I would probably be considerably better off under the sort of system you propose, but how exactly would it work?

Would there be no assistance offered to parents, no tax breaks, no maternity/paternity leave unless you can provide cover for the period of absence, no public health care until the child has grown up and paid enough tax to warrant inclusion within the system. And what if someone does have a child more than they can financially cope with, what do we do with the child and what happens to the parents in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again?

ah well fair enough ernie but i didnt say all poor people did i?
folks do do it though.

Nonk is right. This happens. I KNOW people who have had kids to get council housing. We need to support people with kids, and coming from a working class family I absolutely abhor elitism, but I can’t stand idleness either.
That said a teenage mum with a council house extorts less than a tax dodging cash only builder or a zurich based banker. So loopholes and false incentives need closing wherever they exist.

I have to agree with his remark, I also agree that because it comes from a tori its found offensive,

I also know alot of Parents who are benefits have more children to get more benefits, too many people know how to exploit the system. Generally because my old lady is a social worker and my inlaws are foster carers.

But what would I know, I come from the blueist county in the country North Yorkshire.