Why did "Channel 4" even air "Benefit Street"?

[Ironing Man]

3. C4

amazingly, C4's output on the subject is a bit more nuanced than some suggest.

its current 'how to get a council house' series is an incredibly sympathetic portrayal of the shortage of social housing, its impossible for anyone of whatever political view to watch it and not think the UK needs to build vastly more social housing.

Benefits Street showed good and bad, and i'm afraid that one of the reasons that society has become a more hostile place for social security is that the left stuck its fingers in its ears and pretended that there was no one taking the piss, no one coasting along on the wages of others (much like the immigration debate - ignore a small, but growing issue/problem because its politically uncomfortable and have it explode out of all proportion to its actual impact 10 years later), and that everyone who accessed the various forms of social security were all salt-of-the-earth types who did their level best to get on their own feet whenever they could.

well, the reality is that some - like in every other walk of life - are cheats, idle, venal, and have an entitlement complex.

the current 'poor bashing' is the wild public over-reaction to the stupidity, cowardice - and lets be frank - clientist attitudes of those who denied that there was ever a problem with the way some people used the welfare state.