Whenever I see Tories saying shit like this I think of Maya Angelou’s quote:
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. People know themselves much better than you do. That’s why it’s important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are.
Oneeightnine@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Is a phone contract a luxury? Owning a smartphone allows you to both 1) look for a job, and 2) use the Universal Credit portal.
Both of those things are absolutely essential if you want to claim UC because well, they made it mandatory to claim online, so…yah.
Tory gonna Tory I guess. I won’t lie, I do enjoy watching them shoot themselves in the foot as often as they do.
Emperor@feddit.uk 1 year ago
They could always use the libr… Ah never mind.
Transcendant@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah I was going to say, most libraries have free internet that you just have to register to use (my current library even has a few workstations for unregistered), then remembered how many libraries have closed due to funding cuts imposed on councils by the tories.
Tammo-Korsai@kbin.social 1 year ago
Next the Tories will get outraged about people owning flatscreen TVs as though it's totally new technology.
Borkingheck@lemmy.world 1 year ago
A £30 contract is not needed to have a phone to browse the website.
brewery@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Lots of people don’t know how to find good deals, and funnily enough that is impossible without the Internet and good knowledge of how to avoid the various traps laid out for people. I learned about this stuff and general computing myself, not at school. Most of my friends and family still don’t know a lot of this so rely on me for advice.
It’s easy for us to judge but imagine you had no Internet. What would you do? You’d go into a mobile phone store where they are engineered to make you leave with the highest contact possible, and you don’t know enough to challenge them. Or you search on a friends phone but what comes up is SEO gamed to again, give you a high contract. Or you know there’s Vodafone as they advertise heavily so go straight to their website. Funnily enough, the contracts they initially advertise are pretty high and they don’t advertise their cheaper sister brand talk mobile.
Now, imagine trying to do all this when your PIP payment has not come through so you have £6 in your account. You try going to the job centre but they just say you have to go online. The council can’t help. Your friends don’t know enough to help. So you desperately are trying to get a phone contact to figure out what’s going on and decide £30 sounds reasonable and it’s less of a concern than trying to find money to feed my kids today.
mbgid@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I feel that debating whether a £30 p/m contract counts as a luxury or not just serves to further dehumanize those experiencing poverty.
Oneeightnine@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Maybe they took the contract out before being forced into welfare? Last I checked companies aren’t overly happy if you ask to end your contract early.
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I get 10 texts a week just to authenticate things. And I’m not even looking for a job.
Hogger85b@kbin.social 1 year ago
There is some element of Vimes boots here. People cannot afford a new smartphone outright even though that is cheaper long-term, so have to take an option that gives a phone ..phones these days are designed to break after 18months as "updates" grind them down
echodot@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Yeah with a minigun.
They seriously need to learn to shut the hell up.