When Eleanor Turner had her first child 20 years ago she never imagined that the cost of a family and a career would leave her £30,000 in debt.
Not only did the freelance musician have to rely on loans and overdrafts to pay for spiralling childcare costs, it has also affected her credit score and so her ability to borrow.
Turner, who is a single parent, is now trying to remortgage, but her adverse credit history means that the bank will only agree additional lending if her adult son is named as a joint borrower.
We’ve known for some millions of years that it takes two to raise a family. We can see it in our bodies – concealed ovulation, tits, face to face sex, pair bonding and all the rest. We’re descended from those who did this, not descended from those who did not.
So, an interesting question – did this woman actually have a family?
Due to the paywall I’m unable to determine exactly how many children she has. The phrase ”first child” is informative.
It’s not so much did she have a family as who and where is/are the father/fathers (we already know the when, why and how).
Turner, who has three children, spends £550 a month for the youngest, aged 2 and 11. She often turns down well-paid work because she cannot afford to pay the fees upfront.
She’s 40, still playing at being a “freelance musician” (busker?), and still wondering why that’s not paying the bills. Many such cases!
A quarter of parents using childcare depend on some form of debt to finance the costs, according to the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed.
Probably should’ve thought of that before dropping your knickers.
One in ten effectively pay to work by spending the same as or more than their daily take-home salary on the costs, it said.
Stop doing that then.
A chronic shortage of nursery places has been exacerbated by rising food, staffing and energy costs
It’s going to get a lot worse as the Home Office rubber stamps a million migrants a year into our crowded island to keep wages low, while Net Zero and tax rises fuck you on the supply side.
According to Fraser Nelson, 20% of the workforce is now foreign born, and the majority of children in London have foreign parents.
A survey of more than 2,000 mothers last year by workingmums.co.uk, a job site for parents, found that almost half had debts of between £1,000 and £20,000.
We’re the Indebted Isles, and nothing works in our country anymore. The only thing the government wants to do is double down on the disastrous choices that led us here. Does anybody think they’ll be able to keep this show on the road for much longer?
Let’s hope not.
This is a veiled plea for other people to support her given her prior decisions.
If one insulates children from bad choices and they grow up not knowing how to make good choices. Society attempted to insulate people from bad choices and now has the burden of all those bad choices. And so we are here.
Salient bits:
Oh dear – why didn’t the guardian run with this tragic tale of a harpist (yes, harpist) struggling in a
lubricious orchestra pitcruel world?Thank you Steve.
So she pops one out every 9 years. Roll on 2030.
No mention of the father(s)?
Nun. Sorry, none.
Aged 2, 11, and 20? What the hell sort of family planning is that?
Ah, they’ve just got to the age where they’re at secondary school and independent enough to look after themselves, I’ll push another one out tie me down.
A harpist, eh?
If only she’d learnt the nose flute or the pink oboe she wouldn’t have the problem.
I’m always confused by these articles. Is the story supposed to be typical or unusual?
As other people have noticed, writers of these sort of articles always use as examples people whose chosen careers are poorly remunerative. I must have known hundreds of “freelance” musicians over the years. And maybe one or two did better than struggling. It’s just not something you’re going to make much money doing because you’re competing against people will willingly & happily do it for nothing. Same’s true of writing & now journalism & almost anything in the arts world. You can only make decent money out of things people can’t or don’t want to do.
The only advice to give this woman would be to learn to do something that people will want sufficiently to pay what she needs.
Jocasta never had to suffer the indignity of having her son underpin the mortgage.
So her 20 year old son is a better credit risk than she is?
Still, at least that’s an encouraging sign that the boy has made better life choices than his mother did.
can see it in our bodies – concealed ovulation, tits, face to face sex, pair bonding and all the rest.
Do…
Do I have to be the one to point it out…?
Other positions are available, Tim…
So her 20 year old son is a better credit risk than she is?
So her 20-year-old son is a better credit risk than her
husband?partner?father of her children?jgh said:
“So her 20-year-old son is a better credit risk than her husband? partner? father of her children?”
Possibly not; isn’t it probably just that the son is actually around to sign the forms?
BIS,
“As other people have noticed, writers of these sort of articles always use as examples people whose chosen careers are poorly remunerative. I must have known hundreds of “freelance” musicians over the years. And maybe one or two did better than struggling. It’s just not something you’re going to make much money doing because you’re competing against people will willingly & happily do it for nothing. Same’s true of writing & now journalism & almost anything in the arts world. You can only make decent money out of things people can’t or don’t want to do.”
Yeah. It’s why journalism is almost entirely poshos, gays and women now.
“The only advice to give this woman would be to learn to do something that people will want sufficiently to pay what she needs.”
The main thing for women like this is to have men who give them money, either as husbands, boyfriends or as prostitutes. At 40, she’s never going to make a shift or retrain into something that is worthwhile.
Like I know an author who has been fairly successful. Writes these 99p books on Amazon. She actually makes good money from it, but it started as a hobby thing, and something to fit around being a mother.
Sounds like some poor life choices have led to this situation. As a freelance musician it’s already insecure enough, without having to worry about kids as well.
She could be well clear of this if she’d stopped at one child. He’s apparently 20 and can look after himself. Job done! Apparently not.
And doing more investigation, she lives in an expensive part of the middle of nowhere, so expensive to live there and expensive to get anywhere else to paying work.