Lewis Goodall rejects LBC caller's 'boomer' views

00:00 | Lewis rejects caller Bob’s ‘boomer’ views that surrendering ‘Netflix, super duper phones and BMWs’ will enable parents to afford £14,000 childcare costs.
04:00 | Lewis is outraged by caller Chris’s opposition to developing the green belt, deeming it ‘selfish’.
Firstly, Lewis Goodall hears from Caller Bob after childcare fees reach an all-time high of £14,000 a year.
Then, caller Chris spoke to Lewis regarding developing the green belt, sharing his opposition against Labour's plans to boost housing.
Listen to the full show on Global Player: l-bc.co/ListenNow
#lewisgoodall #costofliving #LBC
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[@ThomasKing19933]

The first caller doesn't realise that this is 2023 and not 1973.

[@stephanguitar9778]

And is far too young to be espousing the views predominant amongst 80 year olds.

[@TheSurrealWolf]

He could barely do 2023-23

[@ight001]

Took a look at the data based on around the time of his claims. In 1992 he would have been 26, in Dublin that same year properties were available for £28 per week, lowest wage would have been somewhere around £3 per hour. 40 hour week = £120 £28/£120 = 0.2333 So the first caller telling people to 'tuck in their belts' was paying around a quater of his incone on rent. I spend half of my income on rent, but lets keep these numbers consistent. Minimum wage right now for 25+ y/o is £10.42 and a flat share in dublin costs €200 per week 40 hour week = £416.8 converted to Euros €485.99 €200 / €485.99 = 0.4115 Meaning if you were in the same situation in 1992 as people are in right now in 2023 you'd be paying almost double the portion of your income on housing. All the talk about cutting back is nonsense. And before people jump saying that Dublin isn't the UK, you're right, but it was the rental data I could find after searching Google for 5 minutes.

[@ThomasKing19933]

​@@ight001A brilliant point backed up with facts, figures and personal experience. 👏

[@David_Baxendale]

Even at the one minute mark the caller had shown he was out of touch without actually to say it. How a person today can get like that is beyond me, maybe he should be asking younger people rather than just lapping up memes on social media.

[@cupguin]

There's a very deliberate attempt to blame the poor for being poor. They wouldn't be poor if they didn't waste their money or if they were working harder. Makes it easy to ignore the growing wealth inequality and the actual figures if people feel poverty is a moral failing rather than a structural problem.

[@anonitachi7488]

Welcome to Britain.

[@Peppeblackmetal]

That is true for a portion of poors, the other portion is guilty of being poor.

[@consolo4870]

It's ok for them when they can easily get into the position of working towards something, When you can't get into the position of working towards something you might as well have a new phone

[@alanhat5252]

@@anonitachi7488 welcome to Dickensian Britain, this mess really isn't new. It can get much much worse or it can get dramatically better, since 1918 we have had the choice whether or not to vote for morons, clowns & sheisters. It's time we started voting for decent human beings.

[@jase_allen]

@@anonitachi7488 If it weren't for the accent, he'd sound almost exactly like an American Republican. They're fed the same basic script.

[@aoneill]

Thick as a barn door. He just reiterates the nonsense from the Daily Mail. These people have no idea about anything.

[@chatham43]

...you read the DM?....and nothing wrong with that...😊

[@1inchPunchBowl]

@@chatham43 Where did he claim he did then?

[@riccagiaco]

But than they complain we won’t vote the party that created all this mess…

[@guyplessier7935]

@@riccagiaco who ? The socialists I take it !

[@riccagiaco]

@@guyplessier7935 nope, those in charge now, the party of the old codgers and the home owners, the Tory

[@richardgroves8565]

I'm 57 and so embarrassed by these callers. Utterly deluded and out of touch, but above all selfish.

[@pete_lind]

Things are not the same now that in 1980s , new housing prices have had over 600% inflation , while the average inflation has been 100% and wages have not followed .

[@jonburnett90]

I cancelled my Netflix subscription and sold my smartphone and now can afford a mortgage..... ....Said No-one

[@serinadelmar6012]

Me too, that and the cursory belt tightening, et voilà! I've now got a house. So glad I tuned in!

[@DennisMoore664]

You forget to skip the coffee. That'll fix it!

[@vinlondon8904]

​@@DennisMoore664 maybe he should skip food altogether. That'll fix it for sure.

[@IshtarNike]

It's interesting how they always avoid the actual maths. The presenter points out multiple times that netflix subscriptions will never add up to £14,000 so the called just ignores the point because he knows it's an absolute destroyer of his argument. So he pretends it wasn't said. Or at one point he acknowledges it but then carries on regardless!

[@laxeystu8096]

There was something about meal choices as well ... avocado and toast

[@bentleycreative6407]

These Boomers who moan there's no housing stock left are the ones with a portfolio of 2/3/4 flats on buy-to-let mortgages. They don't want new housing stock because it'll degrade their rents. The average house price back then was 4 or 5 times salary, it's now 25x the hypocrisy is staggering!

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

I have land that I would happily develop into affordable apartments. Sadly the local council won't grant permission, area of beauty (despite homes all around it). They are happy to take backhanders to let large companies make money developing though, just not average Joe. Go figure

[@TalesOfWar]

He complains about the generation that "want, want, want". He's of the generation that got, got, got.

[@Eyclonus]

Every generation is "want want want", the difference is that this time someone pulled the ladder up and is making rude gestures at those waiting below.

[@EyebrowsGaming]

@@Eyclonus Her name was Margaret Thatcher. The weaknesses of the UK economy today can all be linked back to the dismantling and privatisation of public services back in the 1980s.

[@rtjames]

Bob knows two things: 1) cancelling your Netflix at £8 per month and not spending, say £1,000, on a phone, will not amount to £14,000 childcare costs. 2) at the same time, you can get to £14,000 from your £8 per month cancelled Netflix and no phone, if you pull your strings in. 😂😂

[@diverguy3556]

At 8 quid a month it'll take 145 years to save 14 grand, not taking into account compound interest. Problem solved.

[@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095]

He must have had very long strings. {:o:O:}

[@wynwow]

🎶I've got no strings to hold me down...🎶 ...well I didn't until Bob came along... Now I just fret and frown...

[@matthewsemple]

They pick on Netflix because it's new and didn't exist when they were young. They have no idea what it costs or that £8 today is worth about the same as £3 in 1983 - or enough to rent one VHS tape for one evening from the local video library.

[@gregmoore167]

I suggest u read "The Richest Man in Babylon", u may learn something! £8 a month if invested over 10 years equals over £1600! The problem is so many of us are financially illiterate!

[@lewip1991]

My dad sustained wife and 2 kids on one income. And brought the council house for £52k when he earned 18k. Now the same house has just sold for £350k and me and my working partner earning combined income of £60k can’t afford to buy the same house.

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

Do you live up north? People get round this now by living in cheaper areas and working from home online

[@EskiLdn]

Your making 30k a year, you're in the top 40% of earners, both you and your partner

[@rustynail1194]

My old man was a paramedic for 35 years. My mum cleaned the lady's house down the road part time. Bought his house in 74 for £3k. He had yo do it up, place was a tip, but still, amazing value. It's worth £450k now. There's absolutely no way anyone from the area can afford to live there anymore, everyone that moves in is from London. How can this be sustainable?

[@50021E]

I'm considered to be a 'boomer' but life was much easier then than it is now. We bought a property on one wage, circa 80£ per week. I despise my fellow boomers who just seem full of hate, and are determined to wreck this country for our grandchildren by supporting Brexit - makes me ashamed

[@TalesOfWar]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 "Up North" really isn't much better, and we're paid less. So it's pretty much the same shower of shocking amounts of sewage wherever you happen to be right now.

[@antonlevii6426]

That first caller "if you're homeless just buy a house" 😂

[@franktreml3145]

1st caller argument ‘if you don’t buy a coffee you can afford a mortgage instead’ 😂😂😂

[@anghusmorgenholz1060]

In America it is all avocado toast the millennials crave. Avocado toast.

[@craigsmith7457]

My personal favourite is 'You could buy a house if you didn't have Netflix' Over 10 years that would save just over £1200. £1200 isn't really a lot of money in 2023 and will be worth even less in 10 years!

[@gregmoore167]

@@craigsmith7457 You would have £1600 if u invested it ate the very least! Don't buy coffees and store-bought sandwiches, and u could double that! Don't know what I am trying to say here, yeah, house prices pretty extreme no matter which way u slice it!

[@SoSo-li6dn]

mortgage brokers will look at your spending habits they say , coffee, ubers, and gambling is the big signs that you cant control yourself.

[@christinac127]

@@gregmoore167 depends how its invested, you can make up any number or it could be 0.

[@RobynLeSueur]

'Bob, the world has change since then' *Bobs brain breaks and he resets to the start of the conversation* 'You have to pull your strings in'

[@jeffsuter344]

He ought to pull his neck in.

[@pastlife960]

Which strings Bob… which strings

[@darkforest4891]

Make point. Get Point refuted. Make point again, possibly with different words. Every single time.

[@tommyboy87ify]

It's scary how out of touch some people are

[@chatham43]

....and you're really on the pulse of the working classes...😊

[@tommyboy87ify]

@@chatham43 chill out nimby I'm a civil servant

[@volusiasorange]

imagine needing a phone in 2023 amirite

[@chatham43]

@bigtom...no need to apologise...nobody's perfect....😊

[@brianarmstrong3731]

I'm a boomer (67) but I appreciate the difficulties faced by the youngsters today. Housing is a massive problem. People like Bob are simply out of touch with the real world.

[@seckie1001]

The caller isn't a boomer, mate. He's a generation x. Though I get your point. Every generation thinks they had it harder than the others. Its like a form of self-preservation

[@nicholasdickens2801]

They are the sheeple that Tories rely on.

[@Recuper8]

​@seckie1001 just look at the empirical data. It's more than just ageism.

[@seckie1001]

@@Recuper8 What is??

[@robtyman4281]

​@@seckie1001 ...yea I know. 57 is not a boomer - just a thick X'er! Boomers are all over 65. Anyone between 43 and around 60 is definitely an X'er. Anyone between 25 and 43, a Millennial.

[@lizardgod3671]

I like how the second guy switched from "We should use it to farm" to "its so terrible that all the wildlife is dying" without making the connection that intensive farming is a large part of why that wildlife is vanishing. Then switches back to "We should use it to farm" again!

[@headgirlblues]

Exactly

[@EskiLdn]

His main concern is not building houses on it which the left once were all for. Strange how the left now want houses built all over this same land.

[@lizardgod3671]

@@EskiLdn Except he is happy for it to be used for farming. which does a massive amount of damage to the environment as well(Killing all those butterfly's he apparently cares so much about). He also complains about the idea of having wind farms on the land, something that, relative to either homes or farms, would do far less damage help the overall environment far more. I don't have much of a opinion on what is built where in england. I just find his self contradiction and NIMBY nature amusing

[@deanolium]

The problem with people like this is that their view of things such as farming and rural life is based on Cider with Rosie and Goodnight Mr Tom - far, far removed from reality especially now. This view that if we just went back to how things were during the mid 20th Century then all the problems would disappear, which is so incredibly idiotic yet so pervasive. There's a reason why British TV keeps making content based around that time.

[@Hill_Walker]

Also he forgot to mention who was going to be doing the bulk of the manual labour on the farms. I tell a lie, he did mention them. But only to scapegoat them, for the problems he and others like him caused.

[@TheWaveGoodbye-Music]

I just want a home that doesn't fall apart, rent that's not sky high, education that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and 3 meals a day... Not exactly the same as asking for an Audi or BMW really

[@BuIIetBiII]

the caller will still insist that you're being frivolous

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

Erm an old BMW costs a lot less than those things now. Get real

[@twolessba1087]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 get real if your struggling to afford 3 meals a day you cant afford to drive. total nonsense.

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

@@twolessba1087He said a house and an education. Do you have any idea the cost of University in other countries like the USA? Its 100s of thousands, a house is too. A used BMW might cost 6k. Stop being such a tool

[@waqasahmed939]

Housing is also more expensive due to speculation I technically "own" my house (ie: the bank owns it) The costs to run the house are still £1300/month or so

[@riccagiaco]

What’s really striking for me is all these old codgers that know all and everything on the world and this country, yet we find ourselves in these dire straits after them being in charge

[@jeremymerrifield7244]

He is only 55.

[@riccagiaco]

@@jeremymerrifield7244 goes to show how quickly things have gone wrong. Say, 13 years?…

[@kanedNunable]

@@jeremymerrifield7244 2nd caller seemed much older.

[@timmyb7734]

Boomers and Generation Me took all the freebies, then took them away and blamed their kids for their mistakes...

[@colintroy3831]

@@jeremymerrifield7244 I find that the older Gen X & younger Gen X (like me) are people who don't seem to belong in the same generation. Younger Gen X grew up with home/school computers, camcorders and Walkmans, for example. "People want these phones..." A large part of the modern economy relies on people owning these phones. "They want Netflix" Tell me you didn't know a family who rented a TV/video recorder from Bungalows when you were younger. It's just nonsense. And of course, a Milennial like Lewis Goodall knows nothing according to this guy.

[@Kraken0000]

First guy is the reason the phrase "Ok boomer" exists

[@mikedaknight8854]

Sad thing is is he’s not even a boomer. He’s gen-X

[@chatham43]

...well...if exists now...because you just made it up.....😊

[@allip4226]

@@chatham43 It’s been around for years - as everyone but hopelessly out-of-touch Boomers know!

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

Should be ' Ok genXer ' . But ' Ok boomer ' sounds better, It covers everyone from the last of the lost generation up to to older millennials .

[@Coelacanth1]

X marks the spot

[@vivburgess4300]

I'm the same age as this caller and disagree with him entirely. Boomers had so much to help them. I had free education and grants for college, free healthcare and support when things were difficult. People should expect to be paid enough to house, feed and support themselves and this is not happening. This guy is the typical Tory voter who has no sense of what is happening to people. I'd suggest he stops reading the Mail!!!

[@happyapple4269]

Its not bobs fault.

[@alanhat5252]

@@happyapple4269 "it's not Bob's fault" he reads the Mail? That he votes Tory? Or something else?

[@kat2023.]

Ffs Bob. Just because you struggled everyone else should struggle. Bob is a nobber, dont be like Bob!!

[@attackpatterndelta8949]

The man is a massive throbbing jon thomas

[@Alex-cw3rz]

How embarrassing and out of touch with reality do you have to be to say stuff like this. A generation that works more ours for relative lower pay is apparently people who want something for nothing.

[@petersvillage7447]

The eternal hobby of The Older is to insist that younger people are bone idle and materialistic etc. You can guarantee this bloke's generation was seen in exactly the same way by some older people when he was young...

[@seckie1001]

​@@petersvillage7447That's true, mate. Every generation think they had it harder. You can guarantee millennials will be telling people about how they couldn't even get a mortgage when the next are complaining about having to cancel their annual 10-week break on the moon. (this fella isn't a boomer btw, he's a gen x)

[@EnforcerX71]

Never mind the "boomer" generation lived off the merits of the "greatest generation" and have been in control of most major governments on the planet this millenium, driving almost all of them into the ground.

[@jefflinton]

​@@petersvillage7447 there was a decade of global recession,mass unemployment,strikes and low paid workrates,bedsits all the way through the eighties. These things are well documented so repeating the mantra that "they're picking on us" is total rubbish.I know that's not the boomer generation but Generation X however the circumstances were extremely middle income/poor.

[@petersvillage7447]

​@@jefflinton Well I was in fact born in the 1970s, so I'm certainly not saying 'they're picking on us', because I'm not part of the Us, but rather one of the They. I'm of precisely the right age to know that many of the things said about younger people today were said about me and my generation thirty years back, and my father's before that. I'm also of exactly the right age to know what it's like to look at young people today and think they're all astonishingly ignorant and wouldn't cope with some of the stuff I had to cope with as a kid. I think I'm probably right about some of that too - but not all of it, and I think I should have the self-awareness to recognise that every generation thinks this of its younger people, and to not find twisted pleasure or self-affirmation in it - as plenty of older people seem to. That too is a well-documented and long-parodied human trait. My assertion is that the first bloke in the video is one of those, somebody who spouts about netflix, phones and whatever - even though it seems pretty certain that nobody has ever complained to him about these things - and even if they had, it has absolutely nothing to do with the REAL privations REALLY faced by REAL people today. You correctly say that the 80s were a rough time for many people - and I saw a little of that myself, actually - but that does not preclude the possibility that lives are materially harder in a broad variety of ways for a broad variety of people than was true during the recession of the 80s, say. It's not a competition, and the first caller is an example of self-serving uselessness in that he dismisses the idea that anybody could possibly experience difficulties today that are not a result of their trivial materialism - because after all, Obadiah, in our day we had it tough.

[@dansegelov305]

I had this argument with my mum recently. She argued that they got a mortgage and worked hard to pay it. They didn't have much left over for luxuries. I explained that when they got their first home, the average house price was 2.8x the average annual salary. Now, it's 12x the average annual salary! The Tories are returning us to a feudal society where rich landowners control everything and everyone else is stuck forever, paying rent for the privilege of living on their land.

[@CerveloS5rider]

Did she tell you that when houses were 2.8 x salary interest rates were higher so mortgage as a percentage of income were no less than they are now? Deposits are expensive but mortgages not so much, having said that Liz Truss did break that somewhat. I’m not arguing that it’s best or worse now but house prices as a multiple of salary means nothing without context of interest rates(mortgage payments)

[@dansegelov305]

@@CerveloS5rider . Adding the context of interest rates is completely useless when you realise that nobody is going to give you a mortgage worth 12x your annual salary! For the majority of those under 40, the privilege of worrying about interest rates is a distant dream because for almost all of them, home ownership is an impossibility.

[@terryhall818]

Labour are doing it too. New Labour lived of cheap credit. They let millions in from Europe which pushed house prices up hugely & it pushed cheap credit too buy properties too get a loan on your property to help your kids because the prices were unaffordable for most without help from family.

[@okfakit3350]

Inflation it is not the same

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

​@@terryhall818 Oh dear, beating the immigrants drum are we?

[@joperhop]

"im just an ordinary lad, worked hard all my life" and with that, I knew what he was going to be like, thinks the economy is still like it was before his generation f**ked it up.

[@chatham43]

...and are you going to be responsible for your generation....thought not...now go away...

[@joperhop]

@@chatham43 aw, sorry did i offend you boomer?

[@eddouglas]

@@chatham43 you can say "I always thought it was horseshit and shameful" and "I never voted for it"...I'm guessing you just joined in and helped yourself to the looting and now get citric when people point it out though eh?

[@markwilliams2620]

​@@eddouglas It's a Farage subscriber.

[@serinadelmar6012]

@@markwilliams2620 says it all.

[@hks2377]

Boomers have forgotten that the Greatest Generation called them the “Me Generation”, when they were young. Some Gen X forgot Boomers labeled us “slackers”, too.

[@waqasahmed939]

The boomers were the ones who changed that from that name too. They're narcissistic

[@tommyahearn9177]

I grew up in the 90’s as a teenager, they said the same garbage then about my generation. It’s literally a tired BS talking point like rock&roll is devil music. The first caller should remember that garbage but instead he has become one of those idiots.

[@SimplySketchyGT]

I grew up in the 90/00s this guy is still there 😅

[@chatham43]

...rock n 'roll is the devil's music...😊

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

If they said the same stuff, and you were fine, then clearly the kids will be fine too, so chill

[@tommyahearn9177]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 ok that is the dumbest thing ever, hey just because every generation says the same moronic statement and everyone turns out fine we should just keep saying moronic stuff. NO you correct it and we progress as humanity dumb-dumb.

[@tommyahearn9177]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 by your logic we would as a species just stand still in knowledge, art, philosophy and technology, that’s why your comment is dumb and moronic.

[@verystripeyzebra]

Something doesn't add up with the first caller. Working on the bins and sending his daughter to private school....what did his wife do, did he or his wife get a nice little inheritance. Did he sell a house down south when he moved up north. Had he amassed savings. He said she was 23, so born around 2000. Some important detail is surely missing.

[@verystripeyzebra]

@Jerry Falwell not all private schools are Eton style fees. But even a cheap one would be quite a chunk out of a bin man's wage. About 250 a week he said he was earning. If he could find a school for 5k a year, I suppose it might have been possible. But I'm still inclined to believe there was some highly relevant missing information.

[@keithscothern3398]

@@verystripeyzebra taking backhand ers for prompt service

[@nigelhaworth1353]

Absolutely. Claimed he earned £250 a week. If he worked 52 weeks a year he’d make £13000 pre tax. Essentially 100% of his pre-tax earnings would go on private school fees.

[@himoffthequakeroatbox4320]

Unless the kid got a scholarship, which is pretty unlikely if she's as dim as her dad.

[@himoffthequakeroatbox4320]

@Jerry Falwell As if she wouldn't be anyway.

[@johnrussell3961]

The boomers had the mutuals. They limited borrowing to twice your salary, and in doing so limited what house builders could expect. The boomers had endowment mortgages which actually paid the mortgage with a surplus on top. The boomers wanted tax cuts and would never have accepted the triple lock for their own parents..

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

Borrowing using an endowment mortgage didn't guarantee the loan would be paid off with a nice little earner on top. You took out an insurance, which was built into the mortgage. The endowment paid off the lump sum, the insurance paid the interest. If the Policy didn't make enough to pay off the interest, then you would need to find extra money to make up the difference. That's why endowments aren't sold anymore, because of the PPI scandal with mis sold endowments.

[@brutallyhonest9140]

No they never Endowments never paid off the mortgages there was a shortfall that's why Endowment Mortgages were stopped. Still had the outstanding debt. Just had to dig yourself out as no one came to help. Dig yourself out of trouble not play the victim mentality and the government will bail you out. Didn't happen.

[@johnrussell3961]

@@trytellingthetruth.2068 . They paid up when the boomers had them!

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

@@johnrussell3961 In 2010, the Prudential estimated that up to 75% of endowment policies would fail to pay off the mortgage. So according to the Pru, you're wrong.

[@johnrussell3961]

@@trytellingthetruth.2068 . 2010? Boomers had paid of their mortgages well before then! It’s those that followed who where stuffed.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

£250 in the year 2000 with inflation would be 443.25 today... but this does not take into account that housing, energy, food, transport even private schooling was relatively lower on top.

[@tonycowin]

The average price of a terraced house in Clitheroe has risen by over 300% since he moved there.

[@mrbearbear83]

Wages haven't risen properly

[@tonycowin]

@@mrbearbear83 Wages have generally not even risen at all but had years of real-term cuts.

[@craphead9842]

250 quid in 2000 would be over 500 quid now in 2023...

[@craphead9842]

£250 in 2000 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £538.39 today, an increase of £288.39 over 23 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 3.39% per year between 2000 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 115.35%.

[@blackrider7631]

The boomers had it great and pulled up the ladder behind themselves. They’ve f’d everything up through greed and selfishness and do not want to take any responsibility. Get these fools out of power…

[@oB19o]

I had this exact same conversation with my parents the other day. They’re highly educated and compassionate people and they cannot see/accept the difference… it truly hurts, knowing that they think a whole generation is “lazy” or whatever

[@IshtarNike]

Gotta walk then through it step by step. Do you accept that inflation between then and now is x%? Let's Google it together. Do you accept that average wages are X grand a year now. Do you accept that inflation adjusted pounds they would be Y (much higher figure)? A netflix subsrcosts 8 quid a month, coffee is 4quid a day. This adds up to X pounds a year. To get a mortgage you need an income of Z thousand pounds plus a deposit of D thousand pounds. Do you accept that in order to save for this mortgage I'd need to not only live without netflix, coffee or any modern comfort, PLUS increase my income by 10k, and do so for 9 years before I could afford a mortgage? But usually they'll never actually stay for the hard numbers because they know they're wrong and are too chicken to have the courage of their convictions and try to actually prove their point.

[@oB19o]

@Black Brit I try but... (I don't wanna offend nobody) none of us are debate lords 😅 they don't care enough

[@OldGreyMulletTest]

It's so frustrating! Certain older family members of mine moan about how easy it is for my (very nearly grown up) children - "They've all got big tellies and flash cars these days." These things are relatively cheap, and I explain that my mum and dad's first house (a modest 3 bedroom semi) cost three times his annual wage and he was in his early twenties. The house we live in now (a modest 3 bed semi) is worth over ten times my wage and I've been working for the past 30 years. I feel very lucky that we first bought a property before it was almost impossible, and I have no idea how my children will ever afford their own flat, let alone a house.

[@charlesunderwood6334]

Most employers now assume you have a smartphone and it is essential for many jobs.

[@stephen25uk]

Ok I get it now. I buy a cheap phone & cancel Netflix then I can get a mortgage. I wish I knew that earlier.

[@danielbaguley2483]

It's terrifying to think people will spend their whole life in this mindset. This NIMBY attitude along with 'I worked hard all my life so up yours'. The belief that they did it so you can too without taking into account any of the massive economic changes of the last two decades. This guy is more or less 20 years older than I am. So I should give up the car I don't have, and give up netflix I share with someone cause I can't afford it, and downgrade my 7 year old phone and I should have some cash, yeah? Cheers mate. Right on the pulse there.

[@Thegreycomrade]

I work for the NHS, i drive a cheap Suzuki, i cant afford to move out.. i dont think id even be able to afford having a child?! i really want to know where this caller gets his info cause its impossible now! Absolutely clueless!

[@ThomasKing19933]

The first caller sounds like a typical tory but without the accent or the money.

[@BadgerBoy59]

He does sound like a typical Tory voter because he's spouting all the usual ignorant nonsense that the Daily Mail and Express publish

[@alanthomson1227]

Absolute epitomises the Tory brainwashing machines Mail and Express .

[@chatham43]

@Thomas King.....still middle class Thomas....and nothing wrong with that...😊

[@chatham43]

@Alan Thomas.....which you have read and thus reached this informed conclusion...😂

[@alanthomson1227]

@@chatham43 both comics a must read to see the lies they are spreading daily .

[@thefirm4606]

Out of touch and clueless to the realities of life right now. A smart phone is not a luxury, the internet is not a luxury, its an essential, I would not have a job without one. He comes from a one salary household. Two salary households immediately made enough to send their kids to a public school. Gen Z and beyond will be lucky to own their own homes; lucky to have access to healthcare in a world dying around them. Now tell them they have to conform and watch them give you the finger.

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

Maybe you need to move up north where its cheap

[@simonmarshall3869]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 OMG you have solved it!

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

@@simonmarshall3869 That's what most immigrants do, they move to Bradford etc. You can buy an apartment there for £40k still. London is £300k minimum. Food and going out are also cheaper. Yes, I solved it. Money in vs money out Well done for not only not offering any ideas, but also being a sarcastic idiot, top class What is your idea? Let me guess "tax the rich" or some other vague waffle

[@thefirm4606]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 I’m not speaking for myself, I’m speaking for those silent in this conversation. It’s not about north or south, it’s about the them and us mentality, and I’m alright, in my day… I’m 49, a few years younger than the first guy, and imo he’s a tool. Absolutely clueless to the realities of his own daughter’s future. But he’s alright…

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

@@thefirm4606 Don't ever have the audacity to speak for others in a free country, they can speak for themselves. Lay out specific facts and or give your opinion. It's very narcissistic thinking for other people

[@cropcircle5693]

Here in the US we used to be able to work an unskilled day job and not only earn enough to pay rent and live, but save enough to pay for college as you go. Now we have people dying with their school loans unpaid after a lifetime of making payments. THINGS ARE NOT THE SAME. You will not find a major city in the US where the low scale jobs will pay for basic living costs anymore. People survive in a constant state of failure. Just barely figuring out what they can fail paying each month in order to move forward next month to fail to pay something else, and so on. Even the "professional class" jobs are like this. If you work in a city it is increasingly the case that you can not afford to live in the city. This is a big problem.

[@tc-tm1my]

Makes you wonder where the breaking point is when the system finally buckles.

[@miketgl4543]

Ask this caller how much he paid for his first house.

[@chatham43]

....and how much the average wage was...

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

You can still buy an apartment cheap, if you are willing to live and work in Bradford. My guess is you are not though. Who's fault is that?

[@fomoran]

​@Tobias McCallum how many of the London jobs that need a London commuteto get to can survive the commute from Bradford though... and if everyone moves to Bradford for these well priced abodes...won't the Bradford House prices rise as they all, become so in demand?

[@steveholmes11]

@@tobiasmccallum9697 Not so convenient if your job's in London or Edinburgh through.

[@philwill0123]

​@@tobiasmccallum9697most work from home jobs still require you to be part office based. So you still have to pay for your commute. And what you save has been offset by energy rises and food costs.

[@phil2544]

Caller hasn't a clue.

[@chatham43]

....but thankfully you do...

[@ffsytube]

​@chatham43 anything more to add oh enlightened one, or are you just going to carry on with the sarcastic comments on every other post.

[@chatham43]

@JD....not particularly enlightened....just being realistic enough to know that there are no simple answers....if you think there are then I would venture to suggest you are being simplistic....or just playing politics.....take your pick...😊

[@phil2544]

@@chatham43 I spoke to my dad about his wages and house prices in the 1960's, comparing that to now. Bearing in mind house prices (especially in SE England) have rocketed in recent years, you don't need to be an expert.

[@toriesout8692]

£10 per month does not cover the cost of a house.

[@rachelhart3531]

Even an expensive phone contract say £70-80 doesn’t come close to rent or childcare costs.

[@waqasahmed939]

Yup. My Netflix subscription and sim contract combined come to £12 or so

[@himoffthequakeroatbox4320]

It does, but it takes you a long time. If you'd started when the Normans invaded you'd be halfway there by now.

[@scottpauley4363]

People like this have failed the younger generation.....they can't get mortgages mate.....Netflix!!!!! Have an actual proper argument

[@philwill0123]

Basic netflix is 5.99 a month. People take out Netflix because they can't afford to go to the cinema. Or the pub . Or for a night out! Next one is... " Thought about getting own brand instead of brand names". He's talking about cutting back 5.99, ignoring sky high rents and energy bills going up couple hundred a month as well as cost of living

[@scottpauley4363]

@@philwill0123 unfortunately lots of people ( mostly old) have this outlook..... completely selfish

[@waqasahmed939]

@@philwill0123 Equally, piracy has rose considerably There's a reason for that. I've heard of people who think broadband is a luxury too when it's realistically a requirement for modern life. These boomers also don't exactly mention how people in the depression still smoked and still drank. They want poor people to just be joyless

[@anghusmorgenholz1060]

My kid described it like they used every sheet of toilet paper but the last two on the roll and proudly say we didn't use it all. But on the world scale.

[@philwill0123]

Strange how when younger generation complains its priced out, and govt isn't helping it's "pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you are spending beyond your means". Yet when those boomers suffer, they will blame immigration instead of acknowledging the government have hamstrung us all

[@Sollatimer-Ed.southeast-]

Many older people are so out of touch. They keep comparing things to decades ago. Some of these people bought their house for 10 grand, now it costs 200 grand. They just wont accept they had it easier.

[@ThomasKing19933]

Simple but brilliant point. I geuninely couldn't have said it better myself.

[@martinquinn9007]

I'm same age as him . But money then went further now it's expensive for housing

[@andrewrobinson2565]

I'm 62, but not as thick as this chap in his fifties....😅

[@johnatkinson7126]

Compare wages to house prices ago as well

[@andrewrobinson2565]

@@johnatkinson7126 +1 Very important point on what wages were. 👍 Working people's access to mortgages was rare in 1960's UK. My parents got a mortgage from the people who sold them their house 🏠.

[@lordchaa1598]

I enjoyed this. It reminds me of the discussions I have with my parents and used to have with my grandparents. Unfortunately, they can’t see that the systems they created are no longer applicable in modern society. I live in the states, so it’s slightly different, but my family owns a farm and our local government won’t allow us to put up solar or wind turbines (even small wind turbines). It’s maddening

[@damianleah6744]

Part of the problem is you can’t live on one wage now, both parents have to go to work to pay the bills. Child care costs nearly one of the take home pay of the parent. It’s insane.

[@ebutuoyYT]

Why didn’t the presenter ask the most obvious question to the caller. How much were his housing costs, back then? If he had a cheap council tenancy, his housing costs may have been a low fraction of his actual salary. Today, even if you are “lucky” to get a housing association property, thanks to the Tories, you will pay up to 80% of market value, market values which have been manipulated to extremes, by the banking and property developer sectors.

[@axeavier]

he could've also asked about wages vs inflation vs cost of living based on the year

[@markhoney3044]

Bob in st Helen's aint the full ticket. Love to the family Bob❤

[@DavidBennell]

love the refrence

[@AB-zl4nh]

The vast majority of immigrants live in overcrowded flats, don't buy a house for decades & live in urban areas. The reason 2 & 3 bedroom housing is expensive is because too mamy older people like these callers buy 2nd properties & vote Conservative who defund the affordable housing budget & cancel housing targets.

[@lightweightben]

And many in this generation do not downsize and live in larger homes with rooms they don’t need, plus many are divorced and taking up two family homes. They also are living longer meaning those family homes are not coming available as often. But yes let’s blame immigrants.

[@fraser-b3494]

Honestly with callers like this you may as well hang up.

[@johnchrysostomou9417]

As James o'Brien would say " you feel like you've been punched in the face so you want the same for them "

[@chatham43]

....sounds like his nonsense for the benefit of the gullible...

[@julielevinge266]

I’m a boomer my first flat in Tooting London cost £7.000 things have changed Bob!!🙄

[@josephcooper8754]

“I’m sorry to say you’ve caused me considerable distress” what an introduction!! 😂

[@40yearoldvirgil15]

Its hard for boomers to admit they had it easy and handed to them on a plate compared to any other generation.

[@robmoore396]

How much do these people think Netflix costs?

[@Dlipton01]

50 a month, they probably think it’s the same as their cable tv package, which ironically people our age don’t have.

[@robmoore396]

​@@Dlipton01 - that's it mate, it's not Netflix our gen avoid - it's Sky Sports

[@stevendurrant1724]

Boomers enjoyed the best of liberal capitalism and democratic socialism, but many still find time to moan about it.

[@johnrussell3961]

Much of their wealth is based on EU membership. Once they became pensioners they dragged us out.

[@chatham43]

...you're the one doing the moaning evidently....😊

[@neilz.]

Does Bob understand that times change? "Back in my day, back in my day, back then.." yeh bob, i wish it was.

[@steveholmes11]

Unfortunately this style of reasoning looms large in eduction policy debates. "Back in the '50s when I went to the county Grammar we didn't have any special needs" etc etc. We're encouraging the least able to steer policy. It's happening all the way up to cabinet level.

[@superkingoftacos2920]

"If you save one penny a day, in 20 seconds, you'll have 20 billion dollars" Conservative maths is really something

[@DaddyWorthers]

I take it that fella who doesn't want houses being built on fields, didn't mind his own house being built on a field?

[@nigelhaworth1353]

Bob’s argument is that if people didn’t buy 5000 coffees a year they’d be able to afford childcare!

[@johng.1703]

23 years ago I was doing alright too, but today isn't 23 years ago. and I very much doubt he was earning £200 a week and sending his kid(s) to private school. I think this caller has a touch of dementia. 23 years ago I wasn't supporting a family and I was earning over £200 a week and I could just about afford my rent, council tax, water, gas, electric, TV licence, internet and telephone, a non contract mobile and one night out a week.

[@nigelhaworth1353]

Doesn’t add up. He claimed £250 which is £13000 pre-tax income if he worked 52 weeks a year. Private school fees would take about 100% of his pre-tax income!

[@richtownsend4104]

More Lewis Goodall please

[@Hybridsteel]

bob needs to live the life we live now and not the life he lived 20 odd years ago.

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

No, maybe we should be living more like we used to. 2 parent incomes are far easier than 1 parent incomes. Childcare costs a lot less when the parents do it....

[@kylesmoran]

​@@tobiasmccallum9697you're N idiot. We have 2 income households that can't afford a mortgage. That's the point.

[@kylesmoran]

Child care is t paying for people to raise your kids it the added cost if living per child.

[@tobiasmccallum9697]

@@kylesmoran Yes, which is significantly less when in a 2 parent home. You need that explained? 2x rent etc means less money per child. All costs increase, including a nanny

[@NeverQuiteAlex]

Boomers don't know how easy they really had it...

[@barnabywild2215]

Are you kidding? The following generations never shut up about it.

[@ilikelampshades6]

Imagine not having netflix and not eating avovado toast once a week. You might be able to save £40 a month. In 12 months you've saved £480. But during those 12 months the house you wanted to buy for £350,000 is now worth £380,000. The deposit needed has increased by £3000. So even by making greater sacrafices, you are still further away then when you started. You can never save enough, we need huge pay rises!

[@user-dr6eh6jn2t]

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge

[@Alex-cw3rz]

I would also point out that solar pannel and wind turbines can have animals on the land as wel, in fact it is encouraged. Crops don't grow well where wind turbines work, solar panals is a little different however there are work arounds for this.

[@MrHoopski]

some people dont realise the cost of things, for example I've just been let go from work so I'm on universal credit ,my benefit is £336 - now my 2 main bills are electric and council tax - this equates to £260 quid of that money - so there fore I'm left with 96 quid to live on for the whole month without my small bills of broadband/phone water - how are we meant to survive !! its horrible

[@chatham43]

..U/C payments are disgracefully low...

[@paulmessenger9836]

Its dog eat dog

[@MrHoopski]

@@paulmessenger9836 that's helpful

[@mickreaddin4979]

Typical! "Back in my day everything was cheaper, so everything must be cheap now." Like nothing has changed whatsoever!

[@ActualDav]

Lewis has the patience of a saint talking to these people.

[@lcelosia3552]

Last year, it was calculated that it takes the average person 8+ years of saving to afford a deposit. Over 20 years ago it would, on average, take 2. And as for millennials and gen z spending on "luxuries" like Neflix, and recent phones, could it occur to people that they may have simply just given up on attempting to afford deposits now, with just merely existing being extortionate, so that they spend their money enjoying every day the ways they can? Going out to eat often with loved ones, making sure they've got the technology to keep up with today's ever-evolving world, and while sitting in their rented homes (at a price that takes more than the recommended third of their wage), they have something to entertain themselves if they can't afford to do anything else? People need to start opening their minds and asking why before judging based off of their outdated knowledge and experience.

[@edders2009]

If you don't want to build on green land, build skyscrapers

[@seanmccannwildcamping]

can we create a small pop up book of basic economics for people like this so they understand how inflation works?

[@chatham43]

....by printing endless money to fund the disastrous lockdown for instance which Labour warned against....

[@tc-tm1my]

These rising costs existed long before lockdown

[@Lezzyboy87]

The elderly are holding us back, why should they have the vote?

[@brutallyhonest9140]

Because knowledge comes with experience you will understand when you grow up.

[@blazzz13]

@@brutallyhonest9140 Knowledge like giving us Boris, Truss,Tories and Brexit?

[@brutallyhonest9140]

@@blazzz13 When you work hard and achieve something material you will not want it taxed away after all your hard work. Well known fact the older you get the more you achieve the less you want to have it taken away in Labour give it all away tax regime.

[@harrismazari5484]

@@brutallyhonest9140 What are you on about? I am happy every year when I see I have paid more than 50 grand in taxes. I would not have been in such a position if my country had not invested on me when and given me free education and a chance to shine. I am happy because I want other children to have the same opportunities. I am happy because I want our national pride the NHS to prosper. Only narrow minded and low IQ individuals think the way you think. Sorry for calling you out for being low IQ because I am a brutally honest person.

[@blazzz13]

@@brutallyhonest9140 Strange that, I've worked very hard for 13 years of my adult life and I don't mind being on the 40p tax rate to help others less fortunate than me. Well done for confirming the stereotypes once again, much like the caller of how selfish your generation is and the Tories. "Labour give it all away tax regime". Is it Labour enabling Mogg to fleece the taxpayer through Eire? Or Sunak? Or Cameron when he dodged tax from his dad's inheritence? Very flimsy points you're standing on.

[@matthenley3886]

He went from talking about people wanting Netflix to people wanting brand new BMW’s/Audi A3’s in the space of a couple of seconds 😆😆😆😆

[@Cheebasonic]

£5.99 Netflix and £35 for a phone every month is not gonna help you get a mortgage of 8 x salary plus affording £14k for childcare to have a job in order to pay that mortgage

[@RachelFayLovelyDay]

We're living in an idiocracy. He lived in a shoe box in the middle of the road therefore everyone is just greedy these days.

[@grimTales1]

A shoebox, we used to dream of a shoebox!

[@anonUK]

​@@grimTales1 It would have been a palace to us!

[@tonycowin]

Too many people don't even have string to pull in these days. How is it the people who are sheltered the most think they know how others should live?

[@aidangorman6292]

I bought my first house in 1997, the total cost of the 5% deposit and legal fees , searches etc cost me £3500:00, even if wages had gone up ten fold, which they haven't this generation still wouldn't be able to afford to buy a home. I feel so sorry for them.

[@nigelhaworth1353]

My first house which I bought for £106k in 2000 was back on the market recently. It was priced at £290k. Can assure you salaries haven’t nearly trebled in the last 20 years.

[@robertstraw9881]

People these days want a phone, YES, Try doing anything in this country without one. These are Thatcher's children. The country's budget is like a household budget is nonsense.

[@chrislaurenceleo]

Bob is unstoppable! Tell a person like Bob something they do not want to hear and they suddenly have invisible ear muffs that makes it impossible to listen

[@baul997]

It's called selective hearing

[@TFx2TV]

well said at the end there "sometimes its worth putting houses on it" keep it up

[@SuperJal1979]

I remember reading, in the Times I think, that things were so hard for one family that they were thinking of getting a cheaper nanny.

[@bearrybrandon]

Bob - “they’ve got more help” Bob - (beginning of the segment) “they want everyone to help them out” Bob pick a lane, your all over the road

[@mike7920]

"my anecdote is more important than the nationwide data"

[@TheJesselopez1981]

Its the same here in the states. The boomer generation made use of free college, and had a great job market that haven't been outsourced or shipped overseas,, with minimum wages that were actually a living wage. Along with the generational wealth that their parents had accumulated and used to benefit boomer kids. They had an open field to make a comfortable living for themselves. Then they got rid of free college, as well as limiting federal aid to college. They gained control of politicians through bribery which they then legalized. They lowered their own taxes, shifting the burden to the middle class and stagnated our wages. The whole time running an anti-union propaganda campaign to limit workers power. And they have the nerve to tell us to stop buying cell phones and avocado toast to become prosperous, or to pay our own student loans, or buy a house.

[@BuIIetBiII]

So sick of this insinuation that people now are somehow not working hard enough and if only they worked harder and saved up a bit, they'd have no problems at all.

[@attackpatterndelta8949]

Boomers wouldn't survive in the modern workplace.

[@paulmessenger9836]

Lol four houses three mortgage free own a car worth 500 pound

[@davepubliday6410]

At 57 years old, this fellow is NOT A BOOMER. He’s GenX. Time passes, generations age. Catch up with the times. Boomers are senior citizens now, they are retired and in their 70s.

[@JRHainsworth]

Actually, I'm with the first caller on this. I cancelled my Amazon Prime package and got a college scholarship instead.

[@alanfalcon6280]

why do old people not want there kids and grandkids to have a better life than they did

[@paulmessenger9836]

Because your spoilt and entitled

[@SpottedHares]

“Remember your never to old to not grown up”

[@Kung_Fu_Jesus]

The two callers smacked of being ‘I’m alright jack, it’s not a problem to me’

[@HeatherBrown-gw7tn]

This was so refreshing...living in Florida, US where people are trying to roll back the calendar 100 years. The real issues heing discussed civilly and with actual thoughts and concerns...even if you disagree with the other person? It's lovely.

[@davidmurphy7332]

This is a myth that I've seen percolating through the internet over the last year or so that rich people aren't the ones with huge incomes and/or access to vast amounts of capital, they're just better at saving and not spending money. Like all internet "theories", there's a grain of truth to that but also a huge amount of wilful ignorance - as ably demonstrated by this caller

[@tc-tm1my]

They're better at hoarding money.

[@marywood8794]

I love how people always suggest that getting rid of Netflix will save a ton of money! Lol This guy thinks that people aren't all ready doing things to save money and that it is possible after you make every imaginable cut, that you could still be a hard working person who is unable to pay your bills!

[@hosephanerothe1440]

The spacing of wind turbines allows for adequate land space for farming , pathetic nimbyism

[@Lezzyboy87]

Tax the elderly then

[@arsenalbirdy1416]

None so blind as those that will not see

[@chatham43]

...not very original sad to relate....

[@robe1811]

As well as things getting more expensive Bob is a shining example of how educational standards have gone through the floor in the last 20 years

[@hareecionelson5875]

That doesn't track. Surely the argument is that education in the past was worse, because Bob doesn't understand inflation

[@Elcore]

Eh? Bob hasn't been in education for the last 20 years, unless he was a mature student (clearly he would've mentioned it if he was, as he proudly gave us other irrelevant details about his life of hard graft).

[@billyb7852]

It’s only ageism when it’s aimed at them, it’s not ageism when they tell young people to buy less avocados 🥑

[@TheJamesbeagle]

What the first guy is saying is that back in his day a low wage worker could get by, now an average wage gets you next to f-all