Not Since WW2 and the creation of the Welfare State has Modern Britain seen such Poverty until the Tories came to power. I’m not saying it wasn’t there, it’s just reached such alarming levels since the last election that even the elite cannot continue to ignore it.
Why is this happening I hear you cry, well since this Government took office and introduced the Welfare Reforms which cruelly deprive the poorest the basic levels of sustanance and unemployment levels through the roof, and a economy about to snap in half caused by a Banking Euro Crisis, that is why we are seeing such levels of food poverty. Unless your going through it no one seems to care in the 1% who rule this country,while the others face the crippling realities of no longer being able to put food on table is hitting Britains familes like a Tsunami .
Not only do they face problems getting a job ,they also face the cruel assessments of entitlement to benefits that help the most vunerable in society(which are almost impossible to get due to tightening of rules and regulations) . How do you tell your child sorry I have nothing to give you,or the baby crying for milk they dont have money for cos they need to pay a bill? Naturally I’m not suggesting babies go without because parents would miss the bill and rather sit in dark or cold. I myself have often had to do without or scrimp by on one meal a day till the next payment is in the bank,cos cash is tight.
This is the new picture of Breadline Britain created by a Conservative Government and is indefensable, where they are rumours they are telling supermarkets not to give the surplus food they arent allowed to sell because of the sell by date for H&S reasons,so they can implement their heartless voucher scheme,where people are humiliated into going cap in hand to issuing authorities to a local foodbank should you be lucky to have one within your area let alone money to get there and back. The sell by date is a guide not exacting and much of this food could be donated to help those in need locally. Most people know with certain foods it not possible but for many it is a case of it could actually stop people being seriously ill, how long before the UK is back to levels of Consumption(TB) that fill the hospitals if they are still around after being sold off to the highest bidder. Hospital Wards are going to be rammed full, levels of TB are rising now and we have Ricketts back too diseases not seen in this country for decades.
So what are we going to do about it I hear you ask,well one could grown own veg etc if you have garden and share costs and produce with neighbours like they did in the war but society today is no longer like that, we live in the ‘ME ME ME’ society where most people dont evn see ,know or talk to a neighbour,let alone tell them their personal business for fear of being dobbed in to DWP malicious call unit and scroungers and such like rhetoric from the likes of our Government Officials and the Media who have all played a part in fuelling the Hatred of the Poor.
DAVID CAMERON WELCOMED food banks is a happy emboidment of the concept of the big society
His Secretary of State for Environment said it was an excellent example of citizenship.
There is a 233 per cent increase in kids fed by local charity in london kids charity. 2 children in every class are hungry, the problem getting worse, in last 2 years, children has no idea wheere next meal is coming from.
The Trussel Trust which is a Salisbury based charity, co ordinates all the foodbanks through out the UK, as of May 2012, there are 201 foodbanks in the UK.
The foodbanks are served by local churches and local community groups, a third of food is from supermarkets, near to the end of the line produce, and the rest is from indiviudals donating, something the supermarkets need to hang their heads down in shame only a third and the money they make.
In 2011-12 40% of foodbanks clients were experincing benefits payments delays.
In JAN/FEB there are a rise of people using food banks because of high
heating bills, and the cost of Christmas
In Jan 2010 young couple with 18 mth baby, dad off sick, no sick pay, delay in benefit payments, face eviciton from home, no money for food, living in one room and sleeping in it too, could not afford heating with ice on the windows, the food bank helped them.
Primary school boy, skipping school lunchtime, no money for lunch, father left family, benefits in his fathers name, informed of father left, all benefits stopped because of change of circumstances, 2-4 months before money sorted, to claim free school meals need to be in recipt of benefits,no help, so relied on foodbank support.
Nutmens carried out a survery of 1146 parents this was carried out on
behaf of NSPCC and Princes Trust, 2,000 children are fed every week and in 2011
they saw 30 famiiles a week needing thier support their only meal of the day,
in 2012 its 70 families a week needing theier support as the only meal of the
day the charity were providing.
ONE MILLION CHIDLREN IN SEVERE AND PERSISTENT POVERTY IN THIS COUNTRY.
62 per cent of people know local familes where children are going hungry as there is not enough to eat, and are way under the breadline. The school meals serving are being cut and portions are tiny even though costs of meals are rising. Plus school milk has been universally cut unless you pay for it in a few places
These are just examples of what people are facing in our country NOW!
Cumbria alone has seen a 600% rise in need for assistance alone this is a national disgrace see link below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-19172293
http://www.trusselltrust.org/resources/documents/UK-foodbanks-double-numbers-fed-in-one-year1.pdf
This is an appalling legacy which has got lost in the ether because of Olympic Fever,so why are we not telling our government to stop wasting taxpayers money on such ridiculous piecemeal schemes they keep trying to tell us is for our benefit and feed our own people or do we have to put out a call to the UN for Aid?
“Falling incomes and welfare spending cuts have triggered an explosion in demand for emergency food parcels as Britain’s poorest families struggle to put a meal on the table, say charities.
FareShare, a charity that supplies millions of free meals to charities, food banks and breakfast clubs using food donated by supermarkets, said it could not keep pace with demand, which it expected to continue growing for at least five years.
“We are experiencing ridiculous growth. The only brake is how much food we can get out of the industry. We have the operational capacity to deliver more food and the charities that want to take that food,” said Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare.
FareShare said the food it distributed in 2011-12 contributed to more than 8.6m meals, benefiting an average 36,500 people a day via 720 organisations that deal with people in food poverty. Its long-term plans are to triple the numbers of people and charities it supplies. Along with charity shops and payday loans companies, food banks have become one of recession Britain’s high growth sectors. Originally set up to support homeless individuals, food banks report they increasingly serve families hit by benefit cuts or unemployment, and low-income working households who can’t make ends meet”
The Guardian’s Breadline Britain investigation revealed last week that up to 3.6m UK households were at risk of slipping into poverty as a result of spiralling living costs, shrinking incomes and welfare benefit reforms. Britain’s biggest food-bank network, the Trussell Trust charity, reported in April it had doubled the number of emergency food parcels issued over the past year and was opening food banks at the rate of two a week.
Chris Mould, director of the Trussell Trust, said: “Every day we meet parents who are skipping meals to feed their children or even considering stealing to stop their children going to bed hungry. It is shocking that there is such a great need for food banks in 21st-century Britain, but the need is growing.”
says the guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/25/breadline-britain-growth-food-parcels
It is time to get rid of this ‘Shower in Power’ and society needs to show some compassion for it’s fellow man,not hatred,which is being permeated from every corner of the media and our government ministers who dont need to worry where their next meal is coming from and get our country back while we still have one left. you can even do your bit by just asking a neighbour are you ok can I help,or check on Old Billy down the road to make sure he has a meal!
Lastly thanks to Paula Peters who helped me collect some of the information here.
Update :
Benefit Breakdown of the Governments Spending
42.3% Elderly
20.8 % Low Income
18.4% Families
15.5% Disabled
2.6% Unemployed
blueannoyed 
Comments on: "WHOS GOING TO FEED OUR KIDS DAVE?" (1)
I couldn’t have fed my children without the help of a local foodbank when my benefits were cut. It is hard to humble yourself to beg for food, but for the sake of my kids…
Something that might offer some encouragement… http://youtu.be/4KmKoj4RSZw
I hope this helps.
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