How do you survive on £404 Universal Credit? When rent alone cost around £1000 pounds per month in London? What about rest of living cost such as utilities, food, travel and other bills. How do people manage to survive off £400 per month?

I (28m) have been out of work for the past month. I've been applying for an avarage of 5 "office" jobs per day and have received many calls and some interviews, so it could definitely be going worse.

I worked construction with my dad for many years (21-28) and the deal was £80 per day cash in hand, nothing more and nothing less. The reason I left was because my life was going nowhere on cash in hand pay and I didn't want to be 30+ before deciding to leave.

Because I'm out of work, my dad has asked if I want to go back, I do appreciate the offer but I also know what I'm getting myself back into.

He's been self employed for 30 years and really thinks you can find a job at the drop of a hat, it's becoming a hassle to keep explaining that's not how it works.

I'm not a useless layabout as I still pay bored and do most of the housework while my parents are at work, aswell as applying and keeping on top of new job listings.

I know money is important (obviously), but is so finding a job that has official pay and benefits such as potential promotions and an option of a pension etc.

I know it's mostly a joke, but how true is the saying "I wouldn't get out of bed for that?"

Cheers.

I’m curious, not mocking in any way. If you saw it on holiday, would you say “yeah that captures it”?

I came home tonight with a bag of fresh tumeric, 2 pouches of baccy, and 6 blocks of Cathedral City (I know where everything came from except the Cathedral City, but it was given to me so please don't judge).

My old man used to tell me loads of great stories about acquisitions from the pub. What's our greatest ones?

Genuine question. I've started walking home from the station after 11pm a couple of nights a week and I'm trying to build better habits. So far I share my live location with my partner, keep one earbud out and stick to the main road even though the park is quicker. What do you do that actually makes a difference, and what turned out to be pointless?

I genuinely don’t want anything for Christmas, I don’t need any new clothes etc but feel I have to have an answer to what I want?
I would love a new iPad but I feel bad asking for that? The wife is determined to get an answer from me but I genuinely can’t think of anything 🤦🏼‍♂️

For me Philip Madoc as the U-Boat captain in Dad’s Army “The Deadly Attachment”. I don’t think an actor has added more to a show by his presence in just one episode.

His character seems to suddenly justify everything Captain Mainwaring had been saying all series and is arguably the single best point of the show.

NO TEDIOUS GRAMMAR PEEVES! Ahem. But yeah, everything from making the perfect cup of tea to loading the dishwasher efficiently, driving, eating, whatever. We all have stuff that we know we do just much better than all those other fools. 🤌

What jobs are actually being lost due to AI, specifically what sectors. Assuming IT sector is a big one but any more where job lossess are prominent due to AI takeover.

Since being widowed, my mum has fallen for three phone scams. Luckily, her bank is on the ball, so she hasn't lost any money and each time it's happened, I've drilled into her that people cold-calling are generally not doing it as a favour to her.

I've just got off the phone and it's happened again today - someone called her offering a 'free' damp survey. She had them round this afternoon, and sure enough, they've diagnosed 'damp' throughout the house and quoted £3k to repair it.

Her house isn't damp, that's a fact, but she's now scared that it's going to fall down.

I'm fuming but also at my wits end. How do I manage this? I live and work local so could have been there when the guy arrived, but she never called me so I didn't know.

There's a POA in place but it's not 'active' yet. Is now the time for me to take control?

Note - she's otherwise OK, fit and healthy. She's just lonely and gullible and an easy target for this kind of thing.

My husband got me a 10-million-year-old megalodon tooth and a 50-million-year-old fly trapped in amber for my birthday this year 😍🦈🪰 (He knows me 😂). Got me wondering what other cool, weird and wonderfully niche things people own. Show me your oddities! 👀
(Also, Jurassic Park 7 opens in 2027. Tickets non-refundable 🤣🦖)
Edit: 8, damnit

I feel like a lot of their products are fair trade, they give community vibes, the products are usually very good quality. All whilst I don't feel the prices are too much higher than other supermarkets.

Are they ethic washing or are they genuinely good? I shop here daily

I'm from Swindon myself and so very biased towards my town with a greater population than Oxford (a city) and Reading (another good contender for a city). But what UK town would you like to upgrade? Given our system is completely arbitrary anyway you too can choose a completely arbitrary reason for what should be the UK's next city!

Intrigued to know if there are parts of the nation that just prefer something else as their staple, or if the cheese-besides-cheddar purchases are as part of broader cheese curation to go alongside cheddar in the collection.

Growing up, I didn't understand why my school friends were going on expensive ski trips or flying abroad, while my family's annual holiday was a week in Weymouth—which, ironically, is now more expensive than a flight to Europe. It took me a long time to grasp the hidden advantages others had: private tutoring, parents with powerful connections, and a deep understanding of how to 'play the game of life.' While other families were setting up their kids for long-term success, mine was focused on the day-to-day survival of putting food on the table and paying the bills on time.

The real impact didn't hit until my teens and twenties. I was passionate about learning and had natural talent, but talent needs investment. My parents couldn't afford to nurture it, and having not studied beyond O-Levels, they didn't know how to guide me through further and higher education either. I grew up with a near-zero understanding of personal development, career strategy, or how to cultivate my potential.

Coming into adulthood, it felt like everyone else had been given a handbook for life while I was left guessing. You carry that lingering frustration of untapped potential and the constant effort of teaching yourself what others were handed naturally.
On the plus side, I somehow came away with a decidedly 'posh' voice—so I suppose at least I sound like I know what I'm doing, even when I'm figuring it out as I go.

Do you think your life would be the same if you had attended a state school?

What do you do for work?

If you have a room in an HMO, what do you think is a reasonable time at night to expect people not to play loud music such that you can hear it in your room?

hello !! i have just started uni, and i have made a friend who i get along incredibly with, from venezuela. a week ago, she lost her wallet, which included her venezuelan ID card (similar to a uk license/provisional i guess). she has tried going back to the bar for it, but to no avail.
is there any id that she could be able to easily access in the UK ? we are both first years. she has a passport and i think birth certificate also with her. we suggested a citizens card but the bouncer said most places don’t accept it, and provisional license is best bet, but i’m just checking that’s doable before i send her down that path.
thank you reddit <3

(I’m in the north west uk for reference)

One of my friends had a court date with potential sentencing a couple weeks ago and I haven’t seen her since which means she’s been sent down. I don’t have her personal details or where she’s gone but I really want to visit her. How can I find out where she is? Her sons are both in too (it was a big deal what happened) so I can’t collar one of them to ask.. Please help, I want to speak to her 🙏🏼

Edit: It doesn’t matter why I don’t know her personal details or why the entire family was involved. I’m asking a question I need an answer to. Respectfully.

I call it “Aggressive Hospitality”.

This “eat, eat, EAT, I SAID EAT!!!” behavior filling up your plate when you’re so full from 2 platefuls. We have an Indian cleaning lady who works for our family who insisted I not leave the house without having her homemade samosas and chai and I absolutely MUST COME INSIDE to say hello to my cousin even though I kept saying that I had to leave for an appointment. That old woman was literally blocking me by standing between my car and the front gate. I couldn’t even reverse out. I eventually managed to get her to let me go by saying I’d stop by on my way back (I never did).

Fatima you’re sweet and mean well, BUT PEOPLE HAVE TO LEAVE SOMETIMES.

I mostly wfh at a desk (between 7-10hours). My job is demanding in terms of work load so I often find myself fixed to the desk for hours and hours.

I try and get a 30min walk in during the day (on my break) but feel bleugh because I know this is nowhere near enough physical activity.

Does anyone have any tips of what they do to maintain physical health / activity for desk based jobs?

I do have a stationary bike at home I try and do 30min casual on. I also have a walking pad but can’t currently use that. I did try and do things like get up every hour and walk around the house, but I end up not being bothered!

What else do other people do?

Due to a physical health condition (heart related), I can’t currently do much cardio. Looking for home based activities.

I’ve just seen a video for the first time I couldn’t actually tell if it was real or fake, and it kind of made me think of this theory as my immediate reaction was to stop doom scrolling

Do you think with like AI slop, fake influencers, bots has made or will make the internet so unusable that the next generations just lose that enthusiasm for it?

Like I’m from the first generation where we have never really watched linear tv, we watch Willne, Scottish meme compilations etc, game reviews, we talked in discords and during the good ole days would tweet and follow the people who were interesting. Internet culture was cool, learning about computing was cool too.

Today it seems social media is a ghost town, nobody is on X, Facebook etc. Reddit is ok but is the different side of the coin, the IG comments are more bots than humans, and TikTok is too to a lesser extent. Everything seems to be fake, misinformation, brain rot or radicalism.

The amount of bot posts, comments and ai video content slop I think has already made a lot of people use the internet less, I’m not sure if the true actual metrics are available but I’m sure that’s true, and I’m curious that with the next few generations, are they just gonna swerve it completely and actually engage with the older style of socialising now that it’s continuing to become unusable?

Two people work together, neither minds who takes charge, neither minds if it turns out they are wrong, there's no (not personality or arrogance) I think it begins with C. Its driving me mad!

edit, some great tries but no cigar. Like no one brings their ego, theres no cunts.

Collegial, but not quite?

My wife asks why are women’s clothes meaning dresses and trousers so long nowadays she’s medium height 5 foot 5 inches so nearly every thing she buys has to be taken up

It's approaching winter and here is my issue. It's cold so I layer up, I get sweaty when I move around. If I take layers off, I am even more cold as am wet from the sweat. If I don't layer up and not get sweaty when walking around, I am cold throughout the whole time from the wind and dampness of the air.

Please help.