Woman Killed herself over Bedroom Tax

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cakemaker said:
I don't think selfishness comes into it when someone contemplates suicide. Mental health issues, depression, despair...........
Selfishness implies rational thought and perhaps greed.

Suicide is commited by desperate individuals who can't see a way out of their unhappy situations. I doubt when she did this tragic thing she would have been capable of rational thought as to who she may be affecting. She was probably near to breaking point and this 'bedroom tax' pushed her over the top.

It has been suggested that this woman is greedy and I would accept that in certain circumstances the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the individual. However, I doubt if greed was her primary motive in trying to cling to her home. I think 'home' is the pertinent word here. Home suggests far more than bricks and mortar. It suggests an individuals safety and security, the buiding of a life and all the hard work and emotion that goes in to that. To lose one's home is shocking; paramount to bereavement. I believe that she was desperate to keep her home and couldn't find a way to do it.
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Great response cakemaker.
 
Terribly sad for the woman and the lorry driver. Can't comment on her case without knowing all the facts - however Ian Duncan Smith is starting to look like a Victorian workhouse director. I can understand the principle of trying to allocate social housing according to need, but it's so wrong to introduce this retrospectively. It would be fairer to give people fixed term rental contracts, to be reviewed every few years, so that everybody would know where they stood, not to suddenly come in and take people's homes away. This woman's home, probably full of memories, was pulled from under her. Who will feel happy living there now?
 
toby said:
Your understanding of mental health issues and what drives people to take their own lives is very poor otherwise you wouldn't have written the above, better to say nothing than write dribble on a subject you know little about🙄
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I would accept that my knowledge of such mental health issues is slim at best however this thread and its heading is saying she killed herself over the so called wrongly bedroom tax. If she killed herself because of her state of mind then thw thread should be titled as such and blaming the coalition government for her state of mind isn't on either.

Like I said in my last post. I very much doubt this woman was a happy go lucky type that just got on with things, she ibviiusly had issues. But on the face of it I dont belive this spare bedroom subsidy was the sole cause or even tbe main cause.
 
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ypauly said:
I would accept that my knowledge of such mental health issues is slim at best however this thread and its heading is saying she killed herself over the so called wrongly bedroom tax. If she killed herself because of her state of mind then thw thread should be titled as such and blaming the coalition government for her state of mind isn't on either.

Like I said in my last post. I very much doubt this woman was a happy go lucky type that just got on with things, she ibviiusly had issues. But on the face of it I dont belive this spare bedroom subsidy was the sole cause or even tbe main cause.
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I agree.... BUT... It was the last straw that pushed her over the edge.

This 'bedroom tax' is just one of many new benefit laws that are affecting the vulnerable and needy.
There are also the new maximum rates for rents and the new criteria.
A friend of my son's who has mental health problems has just had 5 weeks in a psychiatric ward because he couldn't cope with the changes to his benefits. Basically, his land lord has put the rent up and his benefits have been reduced.
 
cakemaker said:
I agree.... BUT... It was the last straw that pushed her over the edge.
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Just 1 straw in how many thousands. millions it shows that it wasn't the losing the benefit that killed her, it was her unrational reaction to it's withdrawl. She decided to end it but in doing so in the way she did she ensured she would ruin at least one other life before she went.

There are also thousands of homeless who have been homeless for many years yet have never considered suicide.



Landlaords are able to do as they wish at present for the simple reason that demand far outstrips supply. There are very many very needy families that need houses and homes that are big enough yet there are many many thousands of these properties occupied by just one person. It isn't the removal of this benefit you should be arguing for it is the building of new homes, the only problem is that should ever supply catch up with demand the property prices will crash causing alarm and panic that no government wants to be blamed for, the last labour government included.

It would be considered a vote loser should suply ever reach demand, this is where the problem actually is.

If the coalition anounced plans today to build 2 million new homes and the market crash as a result there would be a thread on here in no time ridiculing them for their incompetence with the property market.

Dammed if you do dammed if you don't, so all you can do is try to ensure the property we do have is shared out more fairy but then people still moan.
 
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Building new social housing is the answer, but the government won't put money into that because it isn't in their interest to do so, it would negate their dedicated campaign to concentrate as much wealth as possible at the top of the tree in the hope that it will trickle down and then they won't have to worry about those who can't afford their own homes. Cloud cuckoo land! It's never worked that way and it never will.

It's highly unlikely that supply would ever reach demand and the initiative to build such homes would be a much needed boost to the economy creating many long term jobs.

I feel very sorry for that woman's family and the poor driver, they have been left with a terrible burden, but I don't blame her. She was one of the most vulnerable in our society, victimised by a short-sighted, socially irresponsible government and cracked under the strain. Lay the blame where it belongs, at Cameron's feet.
 
AlisonM said:
Building new social housing is the answer, but the government won't put money into that because it isn't in their interest to do so, it would negate their dedicated campaign to concentrate as much wealth as possible at the top of the tree in the hope that it will trickle down and then they won't have to worry about those who can't afford their own homes. Cloud cuckoo land! It's never worked that way and it never will.

It's highly unlikely that supply would ever reach demand and the initiative to build such homes would be a much needed boost to the economy creating many long term jobs.

I feel very sorry for that woman's family and the poor driver, they have been left with a terrible burden, but I don't blame her. She was one of the most vulnerable in our society, victimised by a short-sighted, socially irresponsible government and cracked under the strain. Lay the blame where it belongs, at Cameron's feet.
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We disagree on the woman in question but I do agree with much of what you have said but would add

It's not just Cameron though is it? especially the social housing problem that existed long before he took office. Solving this problem i.e making sure that everybody has a suitable property to live in would send other property prices on a downward slide. it has happened before and unfortunately we don't have leaders that are prepared to make it happen again.

It is short sighted though but show me a government in the last 40 years that hasn't been.
 
ypauly said:
Just 1 straw in how many thousands. millions it shows that it wasn't the losing the benefit that killed her, it was her unrational reaction to it's withdrawl. She decided to end it but in doing so in the way she did she ensured she would ruin at least one other life before she went.
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😱

Shakes head in disbelieve..
 
Toby don't you get that she was selfish to drag somepoor lorry driver into this, what the hell did he do to warrant that.. And please don't say I have no understanding on suicide I do.
 
Steff said:
Toby don't you get that she was selfish to drag somepoor lorry driver into this, what the hell did he do to warrant that.. And please don't say I have no understanding on suicide I do.
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Sadly its not something that enters the mind in that moment of utter despair where someone takes their own life, to the outsider it may seem a selfish act but the workings of the mind at that critical time is void of all rational thoughts.
 
toby said:
Sadly its not something that enters the mind in that moment of utter despair where someone takes their own life, to the outsider it may seem a selfish act but the workings of the mind at that critical time is void of all rational thoughts.
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It was a mind rational enough to point the finger and lay the blame.
 
toby said:
Sadly its not something that enters the mind in that moment of utter despair where someone takes their own life, to the outsider it may seem a selfish act but the workings of the mind at that critical time is void of all rational thoughts.
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She wrote in her letter to her family don't blame yourself blame the government so she had enough rational thought to lay the blame somewhere
 
from cradle to grave ....we we once so proud of this shinning example ...

the crazy thing about this bedroom tax as it will cost the housing benefit more for smaller property in the 'private' sector ...ie should i need housing benefit it would cost 2x more for a 1 bed flat where I live than the 3 bed 'social' house we currently reside....

many years ago i was the designer for some social housing that won awards ...it was designed on the principals of 'homes for life' and recognised the needs of providing decent housing in a non transient community...to maintain 'community' it was hailed as progressive ...there were no 1 bed properties ...as folks need change throughout there lives...

the bedroom tax will effect many ...from the single parents to have space for the estranged children to stay, to the grandparents in the 'family' home who provide much needed grandchild care ....

tis a sad thing
 
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Interestingly the samaritans commented.
Suicide prevention charity Samaritans said "the act of taking your own life is seldom the result of a single factor".
 
The full facts of this case may never be known tragic as it is, as for blame it cannot be laid fully at anyone's door. It is human nature to look for someone to blame and as toby said we best leave it there.
 
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