News0 min ago
If
with all the benefit sanctions if the food banks shut what are people supposed to do ?
what would you do if there are no jobs and you are hungry ?
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what would you do if there are no jobs and you are hungry ?
http://
Answers
Go 'on the rob'. Young women might go on the game.
11:57 Sat 17th May 2014
Smurfchops...I have some sympathy with the first part of your post, but less with the rest. Reality is a lot more complicated than what you have said.
In Swansea last week, there was a story on the front page of our local paper, of a 95 year old pensioner, who was so poor that she dried toilet paper on the radiator, so she could use it again. She also survived on 3 potatoes a day. I have tried to find a link for this but have been unsuccessful.
In answer to the original post by DrFilth, this is what this poor old lady did to survive....shocking in the extreme.
In Swansea last week, there was a story on the front page of our local paper, of a 95 year old pensioner, who was so poor that she dried toilet paper on the radiator, so she could use it again. She also survived on 3 potatoes a day. I have tried to find a link for this but have been unsuccessful.
In answer to the original post by DrFilth, this is what this poor old lady did to survive....shocking in the extreme.
Dr F, all deaths are regrettable. but apart from the example you linked previously (Mark Wood from Bampton), all of the highlighted deaths were suicides. the reports link them to benefits, but who's to say what other adverse factors were going on in their lives? In the previously linked case, Mark Wood had health issues that may have altered perception of his position, and it was reported he was too proud to seek help. It's too simplistic to just blame an alleged bald-headed ogre from the government for all of these.
In general in any adverse situation, people will adapt, they will find a way. indeed you yourself are prevailing in your situation, and credit to you for that.
In general in any adverse situation, people will adapt, they will find a way. indeed you yourself are prevailing in your situation, and credit to you for that.
I can't remember the exact details ladybirder, and as I said, I can't find the link on the papers website. I can't remember any mental difficulties being mentioned at the time, although at 95 she could be forgiven for being not quite as bright as somebody much younger ! I do remember that a charity stepped in and made sure that she claimed her full allowance.
I mentioned this lady only to show that not all benefit recipients are lazing around in front of their huge TVs, drinking lager and smoking all day.
I mentioned this lady only to show that not all benefit recipients are lazing around in front of their huge TVs, drinking lager and smoking all day.
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she had health issues, and was underclaiming by about 50%. now in a much better position.
she had health issues, and was underclaiming by about 50%. now in a much better position.
But if Age Cymru claims almost 50,000 elderly people in Wales are living in severe poverty, what can that mean for the UK as a whole ? I don't think that its acceptable at all in the 21st century, that so many people should be struggling like this. I just can't get the image out of my head, of this poor old lady drying toilet paper so that she can use it again. Shocking.
but there's got to be more to that story that either the media aren't disclosing, or they don't know themselves. fuel is the biggest outlay of any domestic budget these days. yet she could afford to have the heating turned up sufficiently to dry used paper but not to buy new, which has to be cheaper than the fuel needed to heat the radiators. does not compute.
She is a 91 year-old OAP Mush ...do you think she should have frozen to death this last winter, rather than buy new toilet paper ?
Read the link that you so helpfully provided and study the whole story that Age Cymru has uncovered in Wales.
For instance....84,000 people in Wales live below the poverty line, as defined by the DWP.
The bigger picture speaks volumes.
Read the link that you so helpfully provided and study the whole story that Age Cymru has uncovered in Wales.
For instance....84,000 people in Wales live below the poverty line, as defined by the DWP.
The bigger picture speaks volumes.
Mikey, there will always be a sizeable proportion of the population "living below the poverty line" because the poverty line is a moveable feast, related to average income and is not an absolute definition. If average income goes up (and those at the lower end do not receive more pay or benefits) there will be even more people below the poverty line without anything else changing. The measure is meaningless.
I'm somewhat exhausted from this now as I don't think there's much more I can add, but I would like to reply to your suggestion that I go to have a look at a food bank. I do three lots of voluntary work in other directions already so don't have the time. However I did take a peek at the Trussel Trust's website and was interested to note that, after concentrating its initial efforts in Bulgaria, it started operating food banks in the UK in 2004. This was long before this government came to power, a good time before the financial crisis of 2008 and quite a time before the modest cuts (or "sanctions" as Dr F prefers) were formulated. Indeed Mr Henderson's first recognition of the problem in the UK was as long ago as 2000 (when a single mother demanded to know what he was going to do about her children having no food. My answer may have been somewhat different to Mr Henderson's). So their need is not recent. It is also interesting to note that customers served at food banks have increased 15-fold in three years. This means that some 850,000 more people availed themselves of food banks in the year 2013-14 than three years previously. Are we seriously to believe that the circumstances of these 850,000 people have deteriorated so much in three years that, whilst they could get by in 2010-11, they could not last year.
Sorry but I don't buy it and I can only repeat what I have already said: food banks are used because they are there. I cannot believe that people are poorer now than even twenty years ago, let alone fifty. Food banks were not around then and people did not starve. I am not denigrating what you and your colleagues at the Trust do; each to their own and almost all voluntary work should be applauded. (Though I must say I am a little disappointed at the apparent heavy involvement of Tescos. As a shareholder who has seen my modest investment decline in the past twelve months because of poor management I would like to see that company concentrate on its customers and shareholders).
I do dispute your assertion that my view is jaundiced. I meet all sorts of people in connection with my work - some on benefits, some working and some both and I cannot say that any of them - including those in receipt of benefits - has struck me as destitute. I don't think that visiting a food bank will alter my views. Whilst it may demonstrate the numbers of people using them (which I do not dispute) it will not help explain the underlying reasons behind their huge growth.
I'm somewhat exhausted from this now as I don't think there's much more I can add, but I would like to reply to your suggestion that I go to have a look at a food bank. I do three lots of voluntary work in other directions already so don't have the time. However I did take a peek at the Trussel Trust's website and was interested to note that, after concentrating its initial efforts in Bulgaria, it started operating food banks in the UK in 2004. This was long before this government came to power, a good time before the financial crisis of 2008 and quite a time before the modest cuts (or "sanctions" as Dr F prefers) were formulated. Indeed Mr Henderson's first recognition of the problem in the UK was as long ago as 2000 (when a single mother demanded to know what he was going to do about her children having no food. My answer may have been somewhat different to Mr Henderson's). So their need is not recent. It is also interesting to note that customers served at food banks have increased 15-fold in three years. This means that some 850,000 more people availed themselves of food banks in the year 2013-14 than three years previously. Are we seriously to believe that the circumstances of these 850,000 people have deteriorated so much in three years that, whilst they could get by in 2010-11, they could not last year.
Sorry but I don't buy it and I can only repeat what I have already said: food banks are used because they are there. I cannot believe that people are poorer now than even twenty years ago, let alone fifty. Food banks were not around then and people did not starve. I am not denigrating what you and your colleagues at the Trust do; each to their own and almost all voluntary work should be applauded. (Though I must say I am a little disappointed at the apparent heavy involvement of Tescos. As a shareholder who has seen my modest investment decline in the past twelve months because of poor management I would like to see that company concentrate on its customers and shareholders).
I do dispute your assertion that my view is jaundiced. I meet all sorts of people in connection with my work - some on benefits, some working and some both and I cannot say that any of them - including those in receipt of benefits - has struck me as destitute. I don't think that visiting a food bank will alter my views. Whilst it may demonstrate the numbers of people using them (which I do not dispute) it will not help explain the underlying reasons behind their huge growth.
Then its a case of " I have made my mind up, so don't confuse me with any more facts" it would seem.
I applaud your charity work NJ. I think its a measure of our own individual humanity that we can take time out of our busy lives to help others. But I still maintain that you would learn from personal experience if you had some hands-on time with a Food Bank.
I also maintain that your view of these places being used, "because they are there", is far too simple a view. Its much more complicated than that, as DrF and others have illustrated this afternoon. But I have worked 6 days this week and its now Saturday night and nearly time for a Martini, so perhaps we can agree to disagree on this issue !
I applaud your charity work NJ. I think its a measure of our own individual humanity that we can take time out of our busy lives to help others. But I still maintain that you would learn from personal experience if you had some hands-on time with a Food Bank.
I also maintain that your view of these places being used, "because they are there", is far too simple a view. Its much more complicated than that, as DrF and others have illustrated this afternoon. But I have worked 6 days this week and its now Saturday night and nearly time for a Martini, so perhaps we can agree to disagree on this issue !
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