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#like just throw media literacy out the window would you?
sapphicpipes · 4 months
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"the seven aren't found family because they don't even stay together" they live in different parts of the country??? And they're MINORS what do you expect them to do??
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echobx · 2 months
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these pics and videos spoilers im seeing is making me a bit sad as a jjpope shipper.... seeing jiara fans happy that rudy and madison are filming scenes between both makes jjpopes future look even worse. i was really hoping for s4 to be their season? pics of kiara and jj in same bedroom? i dont feel good at all for whats coming. how can the show ignore jjpope and their potential?
i feel the same anon. but I still have some hope because all we have got to see hasn't been very romantic looking in my eyes. and to the clip of Madison in bedroom next to a guy, that's JD, that's not Rudy. bc that video they screenshotted from was is on Madelyn's Instagram and I'm pretty sure it's JD based on the fact that he commented something on it that is visible on his body in the shot.
also, the fact that they zoomed in on a poster on a wall and then said "this is proof they live together" is just not holding up. bc (1) not just Kie can have this poster and just bc they used it in her room in s3 doesn't mean they didn't just use it to save money on new props (the surfshop of JB and Sarah has the same logo as the one we have already seen in s1&2 so unless they buy that thing, I'm just calling it cheap production and not wanting to create a new logo) (2) there was no confirmation whose house they are at in this clip, and (bc I'm that bitch) when you look out the window in the video, you can clearly see the marina. so they can't be at JJ's bc of the location of the house. I'm calling it and say their at Pope's or Kie has her own house.
on the other hand what still gives me hope, is that everything I have jiara shippers seen talking about (especially on twitter) has still no ground to stand on. tbh hey sound very delulu to me with all they are saying right now. I mean, I have seen more bts clips were Rudy and Madison don't seem as happy to be there, or aren't even in the shots together, than ones where they are.
I do have hope that the writers aren't that dumb and do what they did with KiePope and give us just a little and then let the characters realize that it's not working out.
I'm also super confused about Luke being there, and tbh I hate that they are doing it now bc they wanted to do that last season and then didn't bc bts leaks and jiara. but what I hate more is ppl going "omg luke is gonna throw JJ off Redfield Lighthouse!!" like why? why would they kill off the one character that keeps thousands if not millions of ppl interested in the show. bc if I'm totally honest, if they do kill him off I'm not gonna keep watching. same with Pope. if one of them dies, I'm done with this shitshow and it'll be fanon forever. (it already is bc canon is shit with holes)
ig my main issue with all that jiaras are doing isn't that they are shipping it, ship what you want, but the impact they get to have and the little media literacy they seem to have too. the homophobia and racism of it all
but then again, JJ is still wearing the bandana in the back right pocket. and I do hope for some good changes (for us) bc none of the official promo they gave us yet was in any instance showing anything about jiara. they gave them nothing. and maybe that's why jiaras sound so delulu to me right now, bc if how they say "this is jiara's season" was true, why wouldn't the short clips we got a few months ago have anything in them that gives jiaras genuine hope? no instead we got a group shot where the two are far apart, then the boys, and Sarah looking sad again. no jiara in sight. and maybe that's why I have hope, but that might also just be a marketing strategy idk.
they should let Kie cheat on him with a girl, that's what I wanna see. she should just fuck a girl and then come home and break up with JJ. that's what I want deep in my soul. bc just from the first intro we got into JJ (JB's pilot episode monologue) it's so damn obvious that they will never work, even if they weren't both raging homosexuals.
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the-casbah-way · 5 months
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TW for discussion of rape and sexual abuse
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can't believe i'm getting involved in fucking hazbin hotel drama of all things but this is making me so fucking angry. this is what someone has said about the song 'poison' where angel dust explains his unhealthy relationship with his abuser and oh my god. when people (rightfully or otherwise) hate a show this badly their media literacy and critical thinking skills go out the fucking window. who fucking says this? why are you speaking on behalf of everyone who has gone through the same things as angel? why are you the fucking spokesperson for us? why are you so special? can you not hear the way you're talking? how arrogant and entitled and fucking out of touch you sound? i don't talk about this anywhere but i have been through EVERYTHING angel has been through. i have experienced heavy drug addiction and rape and sexual abuse. you don't fucking speak for me. it sounds so insanely cringe but angel is one of the first characters i have seen react to his situation EXACTLY as i did. i DID sexualise and romanticise my circumstances. i DID lean into the lifestyle. but the whole point of angel's character, a point which angel himself explicitly states in this same episode, is that he KNOWS this is all an act. he's using sex as a form of self harm and weaponising his sexuality in order to help himself dissociate from his life and his own body because he's deeply miserable. the person who made this tweet does say one thing in their thread that is correct: angel IS acting like he's having a fun time and he IS acting like he wants this. if you think this is sexualising and romanticising his abuse, then congratulations, you fell for his act just like everyone around me did when i went through the same thing. you wanted him to be anxious and quiet and trembling and crying in the corner, cowering before his abuser and refusing to talk about it. do abuse victims have to react to their abuse the way YOU see fit, otherwise they aren't valid? did you watch the scene directly before this song, where angel's abuser hits him and throws him across the room in a scene designed to make the viewer viscerally uncomfortable and just as scared of angel's abuser as he is? did you watch the scene that follows, when angel breaks down and explains that he's deliberately indulging in this lifestyle in order to damage his body to the point where his abuser will no longer see value in it and leave him alone? i would bet all my money that you didn't, because half the people criticising this haven't even watched the show but think they're qualified to make entire threads deliberately misinterpreting it purely because they're already decided they hate hazbin. and look. you can hate hazbin. in fact i completely understand why someone would, for a number of reasons. there's a mountain of things i dislike about it too. but to talk about a topic this sensitive and heavy when you haven't even fully watched the source material you're criticising? you're not only making yourself look like a misinformed entitled prick, but you're speaking over and judging every single person who DOES relate to angel's story, because yes, believe it or not, other people are allowed to experience things differently to you. and whether you're willing to get off your moral high horse and deem them worthy of value and representation or not, you cannot change that. if you want to criticise this show pick one of the million valid points of contention, rather than acting like you're smarter than everyone else and get to speak on behalf of an entire group of people
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highladyluck · 2 years
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I posted 1,739 times in 2022
253 posts created (15%)
1,486 posts reblogged (85%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@wafflelovingbatgirl
@highladyluck
@c-has-a-blog
@flame-of-tar-valon
@veliseraptor
I tagged 1,736 of my posts in 2022
#wheel of time - 818 posts
#wot book spoilers - 564 posts
#art - 161 posts
#mat cauthon - 157 posts
#wot on prime - 93 posts
#problematic fave tuon - 82 posts
#fanart - 60 posts
#laugh rule - 51 posts
#elayne trakand - 46 posts
#star trek - 42 posts
Longest Tag: 135 characters
#but if it makes you feel better i think the ‘fighting your siblings to the death’ thing is going to be much more offputting to show!mat
I sent 1 gift in 2022
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Reblog if you think mirrors are a foul bauble of man’s vanity, like if you would throw one out a window to protect your friend
239 notes - Posted May 8, 2022
#4
Mat: “I hate magic!”
His friends: “You are basically half magic at this point, though…?”
Mat: “Yes, it’s called having an informed opinion.”
259 notes - Posted February 3, 2022
#3
Wheel of Time themes:
Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point
Fixing Climate Change Is More Important Than Your Career
God Forbid You Actually Talk About The Problem 🙄
Media Literacy Is Very Important
264 notes - Posted July 19, 2022
#2
Elayne. Elayne is chaotic bi. Elayne is a mad scientist. Elayne wants to solve all your problems with her bare hands and doesn’t know how to swear properly. Elayne is what happens when you let a Disney Princess make bespoke power tools funded by her entire military defense budget. Elayne is So Shaped and it’s a shame she never got to be Lanfear’s grad student. She would have killed.
350 notes - Posted February 10, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Elayne is absolutely that friend who would help you hide the body.
Nyneave would yell at you and then help you hide the body.
Egwene would yell at you and make you stand trial for murder, unless she needed the body hidden, in which case she would take the body and hide it herself.
Aviendha killed the body and doesn’t understand why you need to hide it.
612 notes - Posted February 12, 2022
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salavante · 5 years
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For the character ask thingy, Ganzrig!
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Someone’s popular! 
Full Name: Ganzrig Khalgar
Gender and Sexuality: Female and to be honest, haven’t decided if she’s bi or a lesbian, she seems to heavily lean to women in any case.
Pronouns: she/her
Ethnicity/Species: Steppe Orc or “Red Orc” as they call her in Godslaughter. They’re orcs based loosely on red river hogs, and can have more or thicker body hair, different colors of skin ranging from gold to dark reddish orange, depending on where they are from and how much human has been mixed in with them. Humans mix pretty freely with all the other races on Ismes, and most people probably have a human or two back in their family tree somewhere. I always thought it was really weird that most fantasy worlds are divided racially rather than nationally, so, all of the nations on Ismes (Ors, Umbra and Aurelia) are multiethnic, with Ors being the most varied, then Umbra, then Aurelia. Ors is a placeholder name and if I figure out something better, I’ll probably rename it.
Birthplace and Birthdate: I generally don’t keep track of birthdates for settings that would have different calendar systems, honestly. But Ganzrig was born on the world of Ismes in the northeastern part of the map, in the steppes of the nation of Ors, which is a collection of nomadic societies with a pretty wide roaming area. On the day she was born, her family hit an opal mine on their otherwise fallow property, making them wildly rich practically overnight. On Ismes, opal is a multicolored, iridescent ore that can be made malleable with heat and is very good at absorbing magic, making it ideal enchanting material. It is probably the rarest and most valuable material in the world. The Khalgars are set for several generations down, or when the ore is all mined out.
Guilty Pleasures: Ganzrig is a big old hedonist and has the usual set of wine, women and song type preferences, and when she dresses up does so very gaudily with lots of bright colors and opulent jewelry. Drinks and eats like an absolute monster. Unlike August, she fucks with technology even if she didn’t understand it (she went through a lot of cellphones because she’d get mad at it and throw it out a window or something). Likes makeup a lot! The red/white/grey markings on her face are all facepaint, and in the offseason, would probably have done some crazy stuff with eyeliner/eyeshadow/etc. 
Phobias: This is kind of sad, but Ganzrig was genuinely afraid to die. She kind of lived through her life planning to be immortal until otherwise notified. At her death, she was shocked and terrified. While she wasn’t afraid of him, August also made Ganzrig very uncomfortable, because while they are in close proximity to one another, their passive abilities kind of cancel out and she didn’t like feeling like a normal, vulnerable person.
What They Would Be Famous For: On Ismes, Ganzrig is famous for being a sort of folk hero, as she just kind of roamed the countryside getting into fights (that she always won) and being an all-purpose adventurer. On the Hunt, her charisma, brutality and showmanship won her a lot of points, and she quickly became a fan favorite. Generally speaking, the public at large and the other more rough and tumble members of The Hunt preferred Ganzrig to August.
What They Would Get Arrested For: Everything tends to go well for Ganzrig, so she kind of ignores most laws and rules in general. So, pretty much anything. Starting fights, taking things that don’t belong to her, etc. It all works out in the end, as far as she’s concerned.
OC You Ship Them With: No one to be honest, haven’t really found a character she clicks with, and I’m content to leave it at that. Not all my characters need a romantic partner. 
OC Most Likely To Murder Them: In-game, Ganzrig was ultimately killed by a very potent soothsayer named Hawkmoth, who’s predictions allowed him to cancel out her divinely good luck. He stabbed her in the chest in the hometeam’s war balloon when Ganzrig and Iona infiltrated it to take back August (who had defected) by force.
Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Ganzrig probably has a perfectly adequate level of literacy (once the Khalgars were on the trade map and had money, they made sure all the kids learned how to read and write and speak at least one other language) but not one that makes her enjoy reading. In movies, Ganzrig probably likes anything particularly irreverent, humorous or trashy. She’ll laugh at very crass humor but would probably enjoy most comedies as long as they don’t get too high brow. One of my few characters that’d I’d say probably enjoys Romcoms just for the schadenfreude.
Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Definitely does not enjoy anything too serious or somber in tone. She likes to be entertained by her media.
Talents and/or Powers: Ganzrig carries a one-handed axe and an ornate miquelet lock rifle with an ivory handle. She can, however, improvise with pretty much anything, whether it’s a weapon, object or throwable person. However her most meaningful trait is Fortune’s Favor, the compliment to August’s passive ability Miasma of Misfortune, which gives her preternaturally good luck. Everything sorts itself out in her favor. If she’s hungry, she’ll find food. If she needs somewhere to stay or a way to travel, that will come to her in its own way too. Naturally, most of her hits land, and most things do not hit her. She abuses this power for spectacle quite often, in and out of combat.
Why Someone Might Love Them: She’s charismatic! Ganzrig absolutely oozes confidence, charm and attitude, and like-minded people find themselves very enthralled by her. Always an extrovert, Ganzrig is the life of any party, and is more than willing to entertain everyone around her with her antics. She has a few party tricks that she pulls thanks to her powers, like asking people to throw hatchets or other dangerous objects at her while she drinks a stein of beer, and then dodging all of them while not spilling a drop. There is a glamorous, larger than life quality to her that is intoxicating.
Why Someone Might Hate Them: People who aren’t as extroverted or are physically weaker than Ganzrig will easily find that she is kind of a bully, and will push people around to get what she wants. She is prone to mocking others and punching down when harassing people for sport, and does not tolerate people talking shit or otherwise lurking around plotting to try to take her down a peg. She’s quick to anger and violence, and will knock someone’s lights out for relatively small trespasses. Ganzrig has a lot of privilege that she doesn’t fully comprehend, which blinds her to the plight of others who have not had the same opportunities as her. She’s kind of a shallow person.
How They Change: In Kismet Ganzrig will have to deal with who she is without her luck on all the time, how much it defines her, and how it has shaped how she interacts with the people around her. In the tabletop game, Ganzrig herself didn’t change, but the guy who killed her kind of slowly realized that perhaps he didn’t have to, and that while she was not good, she was perhaps not as bad as he had been led to believe. At the end of the game, Hawkmoth will be accompanying August back to Ismes to bring Ganzrig’s ashes back to her family, where I’ll get to introduce Ganzrig’s two sisters, Kuirik and Dodi.
Why You Love Them: Sometimes, it’s fun to have a character who’s just kind of mean. Ganzrig is a very pure spirit who I can with confidence say is one of my few truly neutral characters. She has undeniable charm, which made her one of my favorite background characters in our game, even if she died like halfway through it. I liked her enough to decide to make her and August’s frenemy-ship one of the core relationships in Kismet. I think she makes a really awesome foil to him, I think they could learn a lot from each other.
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Entry 8: A Tale of Three Michaels (Part 2)
November 20, 2018
 Dear “Diary,”
 The year is winding down. Slowly but surely. I don’t have any holiday plans, before you ask. I seldom do. The holidays don’t mean much to me anymore. Too many funerals for that. Did you know they pull from the same pot of energy? That might not be the best metaphor, but I guess you can understand what I’m talking about. Either you have a lot of holidays or a lot of funerals. I’ve never met someone who can manage to do both. But good for you if you happen to be that one in a million. It would be nice to meet you, but that hasn’t happened yet.
 Anyway, we need to go on with our tale, don’t we? The second Michael. That’s anti-climactic, but according to social media, that’s the overall theme of his entire life. Not to be undeservingly mean, but he was the type of person to peak at age 18, made that way through his own choices. Maybe if he didn’t spend so much of our high school years bowing down to a woman who only got into teaching to relive her own glory days and prepared some sort of direction for himself, then he wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
 Yeah, I’m relieved this never worked out. Ironically, that same teacher he served/worshiped was the one who singled me out as an “undesirable,” and did a fair bit to undermine my context specific progress. I don’t think being with Michael would have changed that. If anything, it would have made it worse. She was the jealous type.
 Now, let me just point out that it could have been worse. It was worse for so many other people. She didn’t like “otherness,” but she wasn’t consistent about her response to otherness. I got lucky. I wasn’t left in rest stops or openly ridiculed. I was just, well, her last choice for pretty much everything. But I was still on the roster. Or in the bus.
 But despite all the issues she left me with. That teacher isn’t a part of this story.
 ***
Sycophant Michael and I knew each other in middle school. He moved from the Midwest just before seventh grade and ended up in my science class. And I think we had something else together. But I can’t remember. Which feels odd to admit. I always swore I would never forget my school schedules, but while they might have held on longer than most, they are still gone. Just as gone as anyone could expect, I guess.
 But I remember science class because we were seated at the same pod of tables. We were in a lab group together, you see, for a few weeks at least. And it was just easier on our teacher and the rest of us to keep the pods together at all times.
 I was so happy. I was already in love with him by then. I’m not sure how long. Once again, my memory of that time is full of holes. I do remember the rush of excitement that came when our names were announced together, but not much else.
 I do remember that I had a friend who had computer class with him. (It was supposed to be a class about technological literacy, but it ended up being mostly about typing.) Back then, she used to go my Lily (or something to that end). She doesn’t use that name anymore. You don’t need to know what name she uses now. I don’t need to know what name she uses now.
 Lily and I had an on-and-off again friendship, as it were. And that’s entirely my fault. I wasn’t a great friend or really a good person, to be honest.
 Lily was one of the odd kids in school. First, as shallow as it is, she wasn’t conventionally beautiful in the face and had terrible posture from a bent spine that required a very obvious brace. Second, she loved anime and wore the related gear proudly like a tail and cat ears. Maybe that wasn’t anime-related, but she always said it was.
 In the middle school food chain, I wasn’t much higher than she was, and I was a bit too willing to throw her under the bus to keep it that way. If this is a defense… I did find her annoying largely because she always asked for a sip of my water during gym class only to drink half of the bottle in one gulp. Even if I lied and told her I was sick. This went on for a full year without fail, despite my repeatedly telling her that she needed to start bringing her own.
 It’s not a great reason to dislike someone you call a friend; it’s a valid reason to stop calling that person friend. But that’s not what I did. I kept her around when it was convenient and threw her aside when it was, using this one thing as justification.
I was almost thirteen and almost a fatherless child. Looking back, it’s almost like I was a different person. I wasn’t. But perception and reality can be hard to distinguish.
 This was a time when Lily and I were somewhat close. I don’t know why. The ups and downs were impossible to track even at the time. She just happened to be there when I burst. I loved Michael so much I couldn’t help but talk about him. And she was there to listen, ever the better friend that I was.
 It was her idea to tell him. Not mine. I was aware that he—like so many other people—found it annoying when I talked. I had a tendency to repeat myself, and I distinctly remember several conversations where he called me on it.
 “Of course I know/remember. You won’t let me forget,” he would say.
 It hurt. But my emotions weren’t his responsibility. Not in this way. And not that I deserve any degree of courtesy as a result of what I was doing to Lily.
 I think I only kept her around because of her connection to him: that common class after lunch when they would both come earlier than anyone else. They’d be alone together, and she had suggested using this time to gather more information on him and the things he likes. She offered, yes, but I didn’t have to take. I didn’t have to do Lily the injustice of gritting my teeth and “suffering” in her company just to inch closer to him. Just for the sake of a love affair that would likely mean nothing.
 But I was willing to do it, and it wasn’t that I was blinded by love or anything like that. I just thought so little of Lily. And I never apologized for it.
 After a few weeks, Lily pushed me to let her tell him about my feelings during that small window when they were alone. I resisted at first, but I felt confident that it would work out, that I was meant for him. Largely because, we were the only two people of any color in our grade, and matching things go together, right? It’s a dumb thought, but I didn’t have any other mindset to consider.
 And so, I relented, but I don’t remember what I was expecting. I do remember what she told me happened.
 She walked up to him and his best friend who just happened to tag along and said, “Guess who has a crush on you?”
 He guessed it on the first try but was still dismayed with the answer.
 And really? He was right. I wasn’t worth it, not when you consider the kind of person I was being to Lily.
 If this damaged our relationship, I don’t remember. By then, Dad’s health took another turn, and that consumed all my thoughts. Beyond that, I just remember Lily and how I treated her. We’re friends on a gaming system, but that’s hardly a connection. I should do something. I need to do something, even a quick apology over text chat is better than nothing, but I can’t.
 It’s so hard to own up to your own failings. In any context. It stings, yes, but that’s a fitting punishment. In its absence, I guess I’ll have to endure so much more. It’s a trap I can pull myself out of. Or I should be able to pull myself out of it. But I can’t. I really can’t.
  Digitally yours,
Alex.
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Each year, we celebrate 5th September as Teachers’ Day in honor of former President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. It is said that a teacher can change lives by with the right mix of challenges and chalk. Well, if you ask me, we can apply the same principle to our own life, but replace the ‘chalk’ with ‘responsibility’.
We always try to remember the lessons learnt in the classroom. We still hold fond memories of our favorite teacher, an incident in class that changed your life, a teacher pardoning a mistake or a reprimand that never left your mind. Let’s look at some financial and money management lessons that we can learn from handling income and availing fresh credit. This will include lessons related to credit obligations, credit worthiness and plain old budgeting.
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Financial Lessons
Despite being a nation growing in economy and stability, approximately 75% of the population are still oblivious to basic financial concepts. Many are unfamiliar with the concept of personal loan and interest rates, credit cards and credit card debt, paying EMI via NEFT/RTGS, concept of mobile wallets, rise of payments bank etc.
Financial literacy is yet to be prioritized in our country, but finance is actually quite a touchy topic to salaried millennials. This could be due to the mentality. Many of us believe that handling finances is something to be planned or thought off once we are on the other side of 50. Being aware and educated about finances, credit, investments and money is important.
Loan Singh’s finance blog is doing its best to come up with interesting and useful finance topics each day. Our sincere plea to all our blog readers is to follow us on social media to catch up on what we feature every day. Salaried millennials can’t get enough of upcoming gadgets, designer clothing and lifestyle choices. But, when it comes to getting a grip on expenses, budgeting, income, insurance, savings, emi, taxes, assets, liabilities and risk management, we prefer deferring it to a later time.
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Exceeding the monthly budget
Crossing the monthly budget is a common occurrence among millennials, and should be avoided. If you consistently breach your monthly budget, then it’s time for you to re-plan and re-do your budget. Check what you are constantly over spending on. See if you are reviewing the expenses based on receipts and statements.
Unexpected expenses
You cannot predict when sudden expenses may come-up. Your laptop may breakdown and need repairs, the car might just stall one day needing engine work, a leakage in the ceiling just before rains, sudden hospitalization of loved ones, etc. are just some examples which can throw your savings out of the window. If you don’t plan a good budget, then these emergencies can prove costly.
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Being lax about budgeting
There is a tendency among us to be lazy when it comes to keeping an eye on our budget. We take time to prepare a good budget and also have great money management ideas, but procrastinate over actually tracking and managing the budget. Or you may purchase 3-4 policies or make multiple fixed deposits hoping that it would be enough to manage our savings, and make little effort to review these investment instruments.
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Personal Finance Loan in India
What if we tell you that the same convenience of ordering your designer clothes online is now available in applying for a personal finance loan online; all you need is your PAN, and latest 6 month’s bank statement. What you need to understand is that a personal finance loan is a credit instrument that is different compared to a credit card loan or borrowing from a friend. We, at Loan Singh, want you to upgrade your aspirations and your lifestyle. Isn’t it better to have the funds first and then go shopping around, instead of burning your credit card limit?
There is no harm in upgrading your gadgetry or wardrobe. You are salaried and need to look your best. A whole new range of smartphones is being released with awesome features each year. World famous designers have their designs being sold online in India. Summer wear and spring collection are now being made affordable and easy. So, why not join the winds of change. Loan Singh’s finance blog tells you about everything related to unsecured loans in India. If you are earning enough then there is nothing to worry about when applying for a shopping loan or a consumer durable loan. Personal finance loan is a financial opportunity that is not offered to everyone. Being salaried for at least 6 months and no credit blemishes, are the traits of someone who can avail a shopping loan in India.
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Personal Finance Loan Benefits in India
Loan Singh’s hassle-free process and quick approval shopping loans are perfect for salaried individuals like you who are too busy to even take rest. The attractive EMIs and interest rates at Loan Singh, make personal finance loans affordable to repay back. Add luxury to your mundane lives without putting too much strain on your finances. Your dreams are our dreams. We help turn your dreams into reality. Brand new appliances and electronic products are also needed in case you are relocating due to your job. The job relocation personal loan at Loan Singh helps cover exactly this.
Loan Singh’s easy EMI calculator can help you understand how much you need to pay in order to clear your consumer durable loan. The calculator only needs your intending loan amount and tenure for telling you how much you need to pay each month. The consumer durable loan can be availed between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 10,00,000.
Another huge benefit you have with a Loan Singh personal finance loan is that you have the freedom to choose where you want to spend your loan amount. You can apply for a personal finance loan and utilize the cash to spend on Amazon, some on Flipkart or some on Snapdeal. Unlike so many e-commerce websites that let you gain discounts for possessing a debit card or points of a particular finance provider, Loan Singh’s personal loan can be utilized to be spent on the outlet or website you want and for the products you want.
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Money Management Lessons
Starting with basic money management, the lessons to learn here are linked directly to expense, income, investments, personal loan and credit card statements. These lessons can be learned by getting a hands-on approach to your expenses.
A once in a while check of your expenses can give you an idea of where your expenses are going and what is the ratio of income to expense. The best is to identify ways to curb the excessive spending and utilize the extra funds to invest.
Managing your finances needs you have a good deal of self-discipline, but it is not an impossible task. We are focusing on managing your finances to handle your credit obligations better. Some pointers are mentioned below.
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Set financial goals
Writing down your goals will help you prioritize your spending. Prepare short term (achievable under a year), medium term (between 1-5 years) and long term goals (five years plus) on cards or stickers and put them up around the house.
For short term goals, you can work towards all of them at once. Look at how much you need. For e.g. purchasing a new laptop within the next 6 months. Have you started saving for it yet? Where can you allocate funds for that? Can Loan Singh be a good option for this? Have you checked Loan Singh’s eligibility criteria to see if you fit for a loan?
For long term goals you will have to plan a bit harder because you will have many expenses along the next 5 years. Divide your spending plan into separate categories with necessities taking priority. Groceries, utilities, insurance payment, policy payment, personal loan EMIs and credit card bill payments should take precedence over other expenses.
Create a budget
A budget guides your spending decisions, so that you spend on things that are important. It sets margins on spending, and by staying within those limits you can stay on track. The most important rule of a good budget is that – “Your Expenses should never be more than your Income”.
Review earlier month expenses for inaccuracies or make corrections to the current month’s expenses. Use receipts, statements or bills to evaluate the accuracy on the expenses.
If your expenses cross your income, try and change your spending pattern to stay true to the goals you have set for yourself. Prepare a list before you go out shopping and buy only what’s on it. Avoid excessive use of credit cards, minimizing the chances of falling into credit card debt.
Track your spending
Track your expenses for a minimum of one month. The longer you track the better. Write down the purchases you have made in a notebook or an excel spreadsheet or use a smartphone app.
Use debit or credit cards for transactions, so you can maintain receipts which you can utilize when tallying expenses during the end of the month.
Keep all your financial information and budgetary paperwork in one place. This will save you time because when you do want to plan or assess your financial goals, you will find all the information easily.
Focus on savings and review
Savings provide you with a safety net during challenging times. You should save depending upon your financial goals. Start with around 10% of your income each month and then slowly increase it as the year progresses. Investment options such as mutual funds, recurring or fixed deposits are ways you can improve your savings in the long term.
When you receive a raise in salary, use this extra cash to increase the amount of savings you maintain. Every once in a week, take time to review your budget and savings. See if you are on track with your financial goals. Check if you need to shift some amount from savings to emergency funds. Fine tune the financial plan, if need be.
About Loan Singh
Loan Singh is a digital lending platform that prides in providing online personal finance loan or unsecured personal loan to salaried individuals. You can apply for quick funds as an easy emergency loan which is not a bank loan. We provide a loan with the best personal loan interest rates. The instant funds, or instant loans, are loans between Rs. 50,000 and Rs.10,00,000 taken for purposes such as:
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You can calculate your easy EMIs using our personal loan EMI calculator. We accept bank statement and PAN, for quick loan approval. A bad credit score or credit report errors can lead to personal loan rejection. The ‘Loan Singh Finance Blog’ is one of the best finance blogs in India. Loan Singh is a product of Seynse Technologies Pvt Ltd, which is one of the pioneering personal loan companies in India and is a partner to the Airtel Online Store.
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Loan Singh is not an anonymous digital platform. We are present on almost all leading social media platforms. All you need to do is look for us. You can find us on Loan Singh Facebook, Loan Singh Twitter,Loan Singh Google+, Loan Singh YouTube, Loan Singh Pinterest, Loan Singh Instagram, Loan Singh LinkedIn, Loan Singh Blogarama, Loan Singh Google Business, Loan Singh Bank Bazaar, Loan Singh Medium, Loan Singh Reddit, Loan Singh Tumblr, Loan Singh Scoop It, Loan Singh Feed, Loan Singh Storify, Loan Singh Digg, and Loan Singh Blogger.
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abyssalcreator21 · 6 years
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Empowerment Technologies
             “ ICT is also known as Information and Communication Technology, it is really a trend in the Philippines and the whole world now, eh?” That it is really considered as a global trend right now in the Philippines and in the nationwide area scene, am I right? To be honest, I don’t know much about ICT, the impacts, the positive and negative effects, what is the gist about ICT, the course itself, the whole package deal, if I may insist? So for me to enable to share a quite of reflection about this trend, for you my dear reader, I ask this to you, “What is your reflection about this trend?”
             “We both share the same question itself, if I am right, again?” I mean there are lot of things about this trend that I don’t know myself or to you my fellow reader, all I can say this trend really caused me such stress, tremor, and a lot of headache when I know this was a course or a subject in senior high school curriculum. I mean, seriously, to be frank, neither a single bit of information, the factual data itself about this trend, course, subject, or whatever... but here’s what I have discovered when I am making my research on this trend and also a subject of ours that yes, it is in an ICT style, but let’s just say we called this subject “Empowerment Technologies.”
              First, what I discovered in ICT in reading on online articles that this is a major breakthrough trend to all of the technology savvies, geeks, online shoppers, keyboard warriors, online gamers, and a lot of people who are into the virtual environment. As it was said in our discussion last Monday that ICT is a trend, course, or even a known subject where media and technology is used to spread information and to provide innovations for the future generations. I mean look at the 21st century world today, smartphones, personal computers, the internet, almost billions of information, the web one-point zero to three-point zero, Samsung, Nokia, Shoppee, Facebook, Instagram, all of these innovations and informations are tackled here, being pinpointed on, researched, and find analysis, all here in one subject that I use to believe that it was only a job or a subject, but really its a trend and it’s globally known.
            Second, what are the positive impacts and negative impacts that this trend reassures to every student, citizens, researchers, analysts, and a lot of professionals, the society that being involved in this today’s trend. The postive impact of the ICT enables users to access communication, improved access to education, provides new tools and opportunities that every person who are into the virtual environment will benefit. One example that I would love to share is how our Creative Nonfiction Teacher and also our Humss-1 Adviser, Ma’am Queenie introduce to us “Edmodo”, the facebook of learning, we though that the fact that she asks for our help in her Theses 2 study about the benefits of blunt learning, I don’t know the title of the study, I thought I wouldn’t be so beneficial to use Edmodo, but believe me, my dear reader who isn’t fond of reading such sarcasms of always questioning of you. Edmodo, was one of the best sites I have ever register an account, aside on Tumblr which I post my online journals and blogs, there in the site itself, helpful features, a backpack that can connect to my Google Drive and Office 360, a planner itself, an update of what exams, quizzes, and assignments should we take, the fun shifting of avatar profile or a real photo of ours, I can say Edmodo is the highly-recommended site for learning. I do believe that without this kind of site, we would be that students who will write on such papers and pile it up on our teacher’s desk just for checking and let’s just say I am re“ally impressed on how the developers of this website created such a helpful site, those with such amazing skills in making websites and features that make it so much useful and fun. With this example, I can say ICT is a trend not only intended for delivering information but to make such innovations like the Edmodo website for the well-being of the students themselves. Also, there are negative impacts of ICT that depends on how the users and the society use media and the innovations that backups this trend, it may be job loss, reduced personal interaction, and reduced physical activity. There is a study that I have found out that the misguidance, inconsideration, and lack of parenting skills of the parents about the negative and harmful effects of social media and internet to their children who undergo adolescence cause harmful and alarming effects in the physical, social, and mental traits, views, and habits while surfing on the Internet of their children like giving false information on the internet, habit of downloading vulgar pictures/ pornographic items, plagiarism, and tendency of sending unwanted messages. In this certain kind of case, this trend really needs parents to be aware of their children who are to be guided enough in the responsible use of this trend, because somewhat due to the peer pressure and curiousity, this trend that may be a helpful factor of learning could be a risky factor of such violent, behaviors, misconducts, and etiquettes of the children who are undergoing adolescence.
              Third, the impact of ICT in the course that I will take. Yep, you heard it right, my dear reader. “What would be the impact of ICT in the course that I will take which is BS-TCM?” Actually, it is kind of connected for this course also promotes proper use of social media/internet, the use of the innovations of today to gather factual and accurate data, how to be a responsible netizen, and so much more. I believe this trend would have a great impact on the course that I will take for the reason that it will focus on technology and media literacy and I will be train on how to be technology sa“vvy, a responsible journalist, and a resourceful researcher. I think ICT and my course someday in college will blend like “bread and butter”, a perfect combination.
              “I guess this is the end of the road, did you like my reflection paper, my dear reader?” If not, you are free to throw it on the trash can or put it in the shredder just like those lame, boring, and undistinguished write-ups that you always read on those people who only pass reflection papers for the sake of the survival of their air-headed and fuzzy kind of heads like “My reflection in ICT...”, “What I have learned in ICT...”, “So the conclusion is...”, I don’t give a damn about this things because my style of a reflection paper is like I am “Talking to you what I know and you will tell me what I want to know and I will show you what I have learned that you want me to be.” You know, my dear reader. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. So we’re both in ties, right? I don’t know about this subject, web designing, Adobe Photoshop, and any kind of technology savvy things. I’m just a Grade 12 Senior High School here in this institution, in this university, in this whole world, with just a middle-class family who thinks that I couldn’t be who I want to be due to my you know, such a long story to discuss. I even don’t know the basics of knowing a Windows 7 Starter Operating System on my Netbook itself. But believe me, I really want to know about how could this subject would help me someday once I graduate this university. “ Let me guess, um, 3...2...1..., my dear reader of this reflection paper is you, Mr. Charlie Yabes. Pardon me, if I don’t know your middle initial name and because it is you my dear reader who will be maybe quite a terror but a remarkable teacher of mine in this subject, I hope I could learn something from you, if I allow myself to be open-minded.” Who am I if you are somehow a bit curious? “Just a common Humss-1 Grade 12 Senior High School Student with no background of journalism but let’s say I am a prodigy in Creative Writing.“ You will know me if you will see me again in our next session in “Empowerment Technologies.” But I am known as “TheDarkWriter16.”
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gaiatheorist · 7 years
Text
Universal Credit.
It sounded fine in principle, from a distance, the simplification of something like six existing benefits into one, that clarity and cohesion, instead of fragmented, separate departments, working on individual elements, in isolation. Holistic is good, ‘better together’ is good. It’s not ‘together’, it’s not ready, and it’s not fit for purpose. It’s a ‘flagship’, I suppose the Titanic was, too. 
I’ll avoid the obvious “I, Daniel Blake.” references, I’m not shoplifting tampons, I’ve stockpiled enough to see me through a couple of months, there’s the possibility that the anxiety, and the fact that I’m not really eating will pause that inconvenience anyway. We live in hope.
The issues with Universal Credit, and there are many, all seem, to me, to stem from the fact that the parties who implemented it have never been poor. On paper, on linear flow-charts, in that far-away land of secure employment and adequate savings, it’s just a bit of belt-tightening, a bit of budgeting and planning. ‘Just’ is why I’m tapping away here, rather than in the comments sections of the news websites. ‘Just’ get a job, ‘just’ use own-brand, ‘just’ put another jumper on, and close the doors between rooms, to keep the heat in. Personally, there are a lot of things I can’t ‘just’ do, I have Acquired Brain Injuries, every element of my life requires additional adaptations and intricate risk assessments. That’s my problem, not Universal Credit’s, and, most of the time, my ‘work coach’ remembers. Sometimes she forgets, and goes onto auto-pilot, reading out call-centre or bar-work jobs from her screen, and I have to remind her about my limitations. I’ve been lucky so far, she knows I’m falling through the gaps in the UK disability assessment system, she’s human, I’m lucky not to have been allocated a ‘coach’ keen to sanction me. That’s even more of a fear now, as the months tick by, and my bank-balance dwindles. Universal Credit doesn’t cover my outgoings, which certainly aren’t champagne and caviar. 
I was one of the guinea-pigs in my locality. Single, no ‘dependant’ children, because he’s 19, I still fed and housed him over his endless university summer break, though, chipping away incrementally at what was left in the bank. ‘We’ single-no-dependants, ‘new claims’ were the test cohort, starting the work-coaches off with the easiest group, and the ones who would cause less media furore. Expendables, with no raggedy-urchin children to tug at heart-strings. ‘Just find another job.’, I imagine some of the less complicated clients did just that, rather than wait months for their allowances to be paid. That’s wholly intentional, from my perspective, why jump through hoops if you ‘can’ just drop into another job? Even if that job is fluctuating agency-hours, or zero-hours on minimum wage. Nobody really spoke very much in that first ‘group session’, while the chipper work-coaches patronised us, about ‘logging hours’, and ‘phoning the helpline’ if we were unavailable for any reason. We’re ‘available’ for ‘any suitable work, over £7.50 an hour, within 90 minutes of home, for up to 48 hours a week’, on pain of sanctions. My phone, or email could notify me of a vacancy or mock-interview at any time, and I’d be obligated to apply, even if it was night-shift work in a factory two bus-rides away. (One of the complications of my disability is cognitive fatigue, most commonly in the evening, I’m not altogether functional after about 6pm, and actually present a risk of harm to self or others after about 8pm.) 
Some of the guinea-pigs will have thought “Sod this.”, and found work. Some of the guinea-pigs will have realised that this system isn’t like the old systems, there’s no capacity for ‘fiddle work’, where they might previously have ‘signed on’ fortnightly, whilst still working cash-in-hand. The old systems were flawed, and susceptible to abuse, the constantly-available clause in the ‘claimant commitment’ is a tool to weed out fraudulent claims, but we’re all tarred with the same brush. I have an increasingly debilitating paranoia that I’ll get a notification while I’m in a counselling appointment, with my phone on silent, or hanging laundry out at the top of the garden, where I have no phone-signal. Constant, niggling anxiety. (’Just get a prescription for Prozac.’ What if I get a notification while I’m at the surgery, though? This strand of anxiety is purely situational, I can’t go ‘off sick’ from work-searching with anxiety, or ‘stress related disorder’, because the DWP would see being-in-work as a solution. Catch 22.)
Guinea-pigs aside, the press are in a frenzy about Universal Credit now because the ‘full implementation’ is due, and the system has been proven ineffective. There will, I suspect, be trite, throw-away comments about ‘teething problems’ and such, but I have leaflets in my training portfolio from about 2010 warning that the roll-out would cause issues. This is not new-news, it has been in the public domain for years, but it’s only now, at the 11th hour, that voices are being raised. I worked with the families that are about to be devastated by the roll-out, so have a different understanding of the potential issues to the far-away policy-makers. I wrote to my MP, outlining some of my concerns for his constituents, his secretary was surprisingly helpful. 
The application is electronic. I frequently overhear telephone calls in the Job Centre (It’s open-plan, and my brain injuries come with hyper-acute hearing, I’m not ‘listening’, I can just hear them.) “Yeah, no, that’s not us now, you have to do it online.” ‘Everyone’ has a stable internet connection at home, now, don’t they? Wait, what, ‘some’ people only have mobile internet, on pay-as-you-go phones, or no internet at all? Well, they can ‘just’ go to the library, and use one of the £1-an-hour computers there, or one of the four available terminals in the Job Centre. The Job Centre is going to be very noisy very soon, because the Working Tax Credit, or Child Tax Credit claimants are going to have to bring their small children in with them. Thirty hours of free childcare, because people-like-us can’t afford to pay a nanny  Splendid, except it doesn’t actually work, the nurseries can’t afford to subsidise it. There’s a potential side-rant here, that certain sectors of the population will see ‘working mothers’ as demonic, they ‘should’ be at home, in an apron, ‘making memories’ and doing enrichment activities. Nice work if you can afford it, but the vast majority of the population can’t survive on a single income. Dear lord, there’ll be the usual ‘single parent’ uproar, won’t there, with the preconceptions and assumptions.
Some people won’t have internet access. Some people won’t have the IT skills to navigate the systems. I’m fairly IT literate, but I still have the occasional cold sweat when it looks like my evidence hasn’t saved properly, there was a security conflict with the site I’m tasked with accessing daily after the last Windows update on my laptop, it’s intermittent now, some people don’t have a back-up device. Some people won’t have the literacy skills, or the numeracy skills to navigate the systems, there must have been an assumption that every UK citizen has functional literacy, they don’t, I’ve worked with them. An hour on the library computers, or the Job Centre terminals might as well be trying to read Chinese for some people. An hour on mobile internet, what does that cost on pay-as-you-go, and how long before the phone credit runs out, meaning claimants can’t return calls about interviews? (The ‘Universal Jobmatch’ site might as well be trying to read Chinese sometimes, it’s copy-pastes from various other jobs-boards, the formatting goes all over the place, the links don’t work, there’s no proof-reading in evidence, and multiple copy-pastes of ‘Internal applicants only.’ My literate frustration is an inconvenience, less-literate claimants will spend hours applying for unattainable vacancies.) If you forget, or mis-key your password, you can be locked out of your account, and have to set up a new email address to re-register.
The ‘waiting period’ seems to be the factor under scrutiny in the press at the moment, I genuinely can’t remember exactly how it was explained to me, because I was in floods of tears at the indignity of claiming benefits for the first time in my life. I think the woman said “You stand your first week, they’re ‘waiting days’, then you’re paid four-weekly.” (Four weekly in arrears, and the transfer-method can take a week, on paper, it’s six weeks between applying and receiving funds. There’s no mention of the fact that the ‘claim’ doesn’t start from you hitting ‘submit’ on your application, but from you presenting yourself for your first appointment at the Job Centre, with all of the requisite proof-of-identity. Some claims will be further delayed by people not having ‘the right identification.’) The waiting period assumes that everyone will have their last month’s salary sitting in the bank, maybe a bit of severance pay. Not everyone is paid monthly, not everyone has savings, or a safety net, some people are paid weekly, there’s also the clause that if you left your job voluntarily, your claim could be void. I don’t know how it works for people rolling-over from other benefits that were paid weekly or fortnightly, but there’s the potential that, even though the systems ‘know’ that the weekly CTC payments were the only income-source, there’ll still be the waiting period. 
That’s the massive cultural disconnect, between policy-makers and the general population, the powers-that-be simply don’t understand how hand-to-mouth existence is for some of us. I had a little money in the bank, but that’s not the case for everyone. There will be begging, borrowing, and stealing from some sectors of the population, this is a powder-keg. I limped through the eight weeks it took for my ‘standard’ payment, and the nine for my ‘housing element’, and I had to chase both of those. I still have my land-line phone connected, so wasn’t using up my mobile credit. Some people in the village, and in the UK don’t have land-lines, and won’t be able to chase payments if they’re out of credit. 
The ‘single’ system isn’t. ‘Standard element’ and ‘Housing element’ are processed by two different departments. There’s uproar about the ‘housing’ element being paid direct to the claimant, instead of the old system where Housing Benefit was paid directly to landlords, or local authorities. Readers of certain newspapers are indignant that ‘the poor’ will spend the housing element, instead of paying their rent, I don’t know, chips and cheese, or cigarettes and big TVs, I suppose. The powers-that-be will counter that “Budgeting advice is available.”, that would be the person that scans your ID at your first appointment pointing to ‘Money advice service’ and ‘Step-change’ on a leaflet. Some people will have debts, I was lucky enough not to, but, once I start on that conveyor-belt of missed direct debit bank charges, I know from experience how hard it is to escape the cycle. My ‘Claimant Commitment’ states that I will read the local papers weekly, in my search for employment, I read all of it, not just the ‘jobs’ page, which is all online anyway, and the ‘property’ section has increasing numbers of ‘No DSS’ adverts. My rent is about average for the village, and the ever-so-helpful news-site comments of ‘Just move to a smaller/cheaper property’ miss the point that most of us don’t have funds available for a deposit to do that.
My ‘standard’ element, of £317, was eventually released eight weeks after my initial appointment, which was actually 12 weeks after my employment ended, because I’m ‘too proud to beg’, and didn’t want to claim benefits, that’s my problem, not the system’s. I had to chase it, six weeks passed, and I ‘phoned the helpline’, as per protocol, in the seventh week. Jolly little recorded message on a loop, reminding people that if it hasn’t been six weeks, there’s no point complaining, that’ll suck some people’s PAYG phone credit. “Oh, did you claim housing element?”, the girl on the phone sounded about 12, everyone ‘sounds about 12′ when you get to my age. “I don’t know, I don’t know how any of this works, I’ve never claimed before.” “Well, I can see here that there’s a problem with your housing element, but I can authorise payment of your standard element.” (Another of the issues with my disability is irritability, the majority of my damage is frontal lobe, which can impact on some of my responses, it WAS difficult not to shout at the girl, for asking me if I’d ‘claimed housing’, when she could see on her record that I had. She’s only doing her job, and she’s probably used to people shouting. Or crying, like I was.) She authorised the ‘standard’ payment the same day, and asked me to phone back with regard to the ‘housing’ element issue. I phoned back. Another 12-year-old advised that she couldn’t see how much my ‘housing element’ would be, that only the housing department knew that, it being ‘worked out on a matrix of local and national rents’ (Snarky head is quietly confident that the matrix includes subsidised LA housing, and those nasty damp bedsits above the car-spares shop that nobody wants to live in, because of the youths setting fire to bins behind them.) She’d task it to ‘housing’, and authorise the payment. Except she didn’t have authority to authorise the payment, I imagine some of her other customers that day had been more antagonistic than I was, and she was trying to avoid confrontation. 
The ‘housing’ element was delayed because my ex-partner’s name was still on the tenancy agreement I’d provided. Fair point, and I’m still slightly anxious that some nefarious men in black might home-visit, and see my son’s aftershave in the bathroom, and assume I’m fraudulently claiming, Check with Council Tax, he left over a year ago. “Oh, we’re not linked to Council Tax.” (Yes, you are, I’ve just had a letter, 8 weeks into my claim, stating that I could be eligible for a low-income reduction.) “If I could have his date of birth?” “Are you checking with HMRC, I’ll give you his National Insurance number.” The ‘housing element’ doesn’t cover my rent, there’s a shortfall of £150 per month, which I’m picking up, at the same time as paying all of my other bills out of the £317. There’s a shortfall. 
In both the ‘standard’ and ‘housing’ elements, there is the option to request an advance, up to 1/2 of the allocated allowance, but it has to be repaid out of subsequent payments, meaning that every month, for the next 3, or 6 months, depending on the payment-plan, will be ‘short.’  There is linkage between DWP and Council Tax, but some residents here have a fear of brown envelopes, and some can’t read- that’s another ‘visit our website, or telephone’ to apply for the discount. 
I’m organised, I’m methodical, I’m used to being accountable. Some people aren’t, and these systems are going to be devastating for them. The local authority, and some of the housing associations are employing work-coaches of their own, under various vague job-titles. Oh, and rent arrears recovery posts. This thing is going to crash and burn on a monumental scale. The ‘pockets of deprivation’ in this village won’t be able to navigate the systems, and will be sanctioned as a result of the gaps in their knowledge or understanding. We will see an increase in violent crime, due to the frustration. We will see an increase in domestic violence due to the inability to live on nothing. We will see an increase in alcohol or substance dependency, because that detached-fog is easier to live in than a reality with empty cupboards. We will have classrooms full of rumbling bellies, waiting for the free school lunch, because the ‘breakfast’ option at break-time isn’t available to them. We will see more burglaries, more shop-lifting. We will see children missing school because the electricity pre-payment meter ran out overnight, and nobody’s alarm went off. Children will miss school because the money doesn’t go into the bank for another three weeks, and they have no shoes. In the midst of all this, social care thresholds keep increasing, we KNOW that early intervention is better than waiting for the inevitable crisis, but the people who can provide that intervention are spread so thin that everything is at breaking point.
There, with all that off my chest, I’ll complete my mandatory hours of actively seeking employment for the day.    
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