Hungry Britain

opendemocracy.net/node/79554

Figures out today to show the number of people who have been sanctioned.
The author suggests that the first person to take this govt. to court should win.

It's demoralising isn't it. I almost wept when I read about the man who starved to death. It feels increasingly like living in a novel by Dickens, it's hard to believe in the gap between those of us who have, and those who have not.

Dickens knew about these problems too......

So did Mrs Gaskell ('Mary Barton')....

.....why can't we do any better?

Sometimes I can't believe we are having this conversation in 2014. It makes me feel like weeping, too. There's a hidden population that benefits and food banks don't reach. I worry about young people leaving care who don't have someone close who can help them deal with obstacles they haven't encountered before. Just like when you're being driven somewhere so don't remember the way when you go on that journey alone! Nothing to do with intelligence, just a need for some additional support, especially if benefits get reduced or stopped and they don't know what to do, or think they can't change the situation.

Working and volunteering with homeless and impoverished people, I was struck by the sheer numbers who don't have cooking facilities, energy supplies, cooking utensils, even a small pan and tin opener. I've mentioned before the person who would buy a supply of a Pot Noodles for the fortnight, because she had neighbours in a squat with a kettle. Her supply was cut off because she couldn't pay the bill, but it wasn't her debt - it was the previous tenant's. Took weeks to sort out, during which time she struggled until she got desperate enough to mention it. Dignity had stopped her from saying she couldn't cope.

How can these people have nothing if they get benefits, Ive lived on benefits in the past and I managed, I paid bills first then bought food, I only ever had second hand furniture, clothes etc. The problem is greed for luxury items. I heard of a woman who gets almost £1000 a month and the first thing she does is buy a £100 pair of shoes and a bag to match. Where I live they have shops who sell to those on benefit but the interest rate is horrendous and some people are so short sighted and greedy they just buy what they see. Ive heard of people taking on loans to buy a tv set supposedly for the kids but kids don't need a tv, they can learn to play. When I was young kids played in the garden with a few stones or a ball. Its time people got back to basics and learned to spend their benefits wisely also the government should make everyone get their benefits weekly and they would have to budget, I think monthly budgeting is too difficult.

There will always be exceptions who get talked about more than those who are quietly desperate and struggling to cope on reduced or stopped benefits, cactus. Sometimes, pre-pay meters that run away with money can rack up costs which don't get refunded for weeks, so people have to do what they can.

My son, whilst renting and studying in his 30s, moved into a house with a pre-payment meter that had debts from the previous tenant, and was set to recoup the debt. It took him a month to get sorted out, in which time it took £220 instead of approx £120. He wasn't on benefits and knew how to deal with it. Neighbours told him the previous tenant was a young woman with a toddler in nursery, who worked part-time in the local supermarket. Looks like she was evicted because of her debts.

Teaching people to cook simple, cheap and nutritious meals would indeed really help- rather than reach for ready meals or toast.

What did you think about Edwina Currie's comments on the documentary last night. She's hard to love- but I think she had a point.

If you watched the Panorama programme last night, Cactus, you would have heard about claimants being unfairly sanctioned for reasons beyond their control. Admittedly there are some feckless ones, but there was, for instance, a young woman whose benefit had been docked when she was unable to attend for interview because she was in hospital with complications of pregnancy. So a pregnant girl was in need of nourishment which she couldn't afford. The food bank could have been a life-saver for her and her unborn child. I heard yesterday that around 400 claimants per day had their appeals against sanctions upheld. Surely this shows that they are being applied with undue rigidity. In all the years I was a CAB adviser, sactioning was rarely an issue. It has grown alarmingly under the harsh regime of IDS.

PS you can catch Panorama on i-Player.

Edwina Currie was her usual loathsome smug self last night on Panorama, I wonder if she is the Labour party's secret weapon? Sadly, I felt that Panorama showed some examples that were not properly explained such as why the young couple with the baby on the way were living like that? Had they been evicted? Lost their jobs? And the man with the drink/drugs problem who was living a chaotic lifestyle is surely the kind of target that IDS is aiming for? Thought they could have got the point across better by showing examples of families where there had been shortened hours/redundancy/no overtime and what this had meant for them. We have all heard and read of these cases and I dont know why there weren't more on Panorama. As to the sanctions, I heard of one case of a claimant who lived in a village with a 2 hourly bus service, and was unable to attend interviews in time, thus lost job seekers benefits. Why wasn't there more examples of these screamingly unfair decisions last night? Sadly, I feel that it was a good opportunity missed, and the smug people like Edwina Currie will not have had their opinions changed.

I didn't see panorama, wish I had. However,, I do feel that you are all making excuses for these people. If they stopped taking drugs, alcohol and cigarettes they should have money to feel their kids and themselves. As long as they know either the state or a charity will help out these people will get into debt.
How easy is it to budget your allowance and to say no to children who want expensive toys. I see toys in the garden in social housing estates where I work, quite frankly if you can buy toys to chuck in the garden then the money could be better spent on food or bills.
I see louts every day lounging in the gardens smoking and drinking, both male and female, they are not looking for jobs as they could be or taking a course of training, they are just out larking around .Sorry Ive little sympathy

cactus you are generalising from a few to the majority. My sister has just retired as a foster carer, having acquired plenty of toys, buggies, cots, trikes etc along the way, for the children she fostered and her own four. Like me, each time she didn't need these things, she thought about those children who don't have them and ensured they were passed on. Don't assume that everything you see has been bought in Asda or Argos for the retail price. Hugh amounts are donated to families who can use them. Likewise, don't assume that every family you see on a housing estate is feckless, unemployed or frittering away the benefits they are entitled to claim.

cactus I do not agree that it s a case of paying bills first and then buying food etc. with everybody. If somebody has a mortgage, that person is not helped to pay it and usually the cost of repayment far outweighs what is coming in re benefits.

Yes, there are some feckless people around but not everybody is.

I have never been in that situation but I would like to think that I have some compassion and understanding.

There is an enormous waste of perfectly good food in this country, so I hope that supermarkets are contributing what is good and edible food to the foodbanks.
Some people are in dire need of emergency support, but others have more complex problems which require more help and support than the quick fix of a food bank. For instance, food bags are made up according to certain dietary requirements, including special ones for alcoholics (hopefully recovering) who cannot eat certain foods. Let's hope they are also getting the additional help they need. Also, that the system of benefits should be tightened up so that there are no waits or gaps for receipt of what is due.

Certain cases are always going to hit the headlines, I cannot believe that a pregnant woman was left unable to buy food. However, many young people just do not have the support of a caring family and are left trying to fend for themselves from a young age.

However, I would say that the numbers using food banks need to be looked at in more depth, as statistics can be manipulated to state whatever you wish to suit a particular political agenda.

Before I retired, I was involved in an Entry Level education programme for 14 -16 year olds. They would gain practical entry level qualifications along side the GCSEs that they were able to manage, over 2 years.
The content of the qualifications was heavily biased towards life skills of a practical nature. This was a pilot scheme and before the end of the first two years it was announced that the success indications meant that it would be rolled out in all English secondary schools. Then what? It was axed!! Each school had put their own funding into running the pilot. What a waste. This is where we fail to give people the skills to survive!! Xx

How sad that there is a need to do this J52. Is society so broken that so many children are not learning basic skills from their parents and have to be taught in school?

I did not even have a cookery lesson in school and learnt hand sewing in primary school only.

Maybe food vouchers should be given as a component of the benefit payment, then claimants could not be accused of 'wasting' their money and food banks would diminish.
Sadly, many on the program appeared to have debts that were taking most of their income.
We do not know what is around the corner, but I do believe that things were better before the 'easy credit' society came about.

Maybe it's time for TV program makers to put their thinking caps on and come up with a format that will appeal to people who really do have no one to teach them to cook. It's all very well Jamie Oliver banging on about his Nan and working in his dad's pub and James Martin's lovely afternoon show, Comfort Food, being peppered with references to his Gran and her wonderful cooking but they're preaching to the converted.

I'd like to see a young cook (no need to be a chef) stand up and say, 'I HATED food when I was a kid. My mum was a lousy cook and my nan was dead! One day I got fed up with living off chips and lemon curd and decided to teach myself to cook. These are MY recipes and they don't cost much money because I didn't have any!! It's got to feel credible. Nigel Slater would have us believe he grew up on toast before his dad re-married but I very much doubt it.

Think it would work?

"Merlotgran" not unless it was made as a computer game

Oh yes, Joelsnan with plenty of violence. Maybe Gordon Ramsey might be a good idea after all.

Does anyone really follow their mum's or their gran' s cooking? I did n't. I invented scrambled egg with cheese and baked beans, all in together, when I was thirteen. Never looked back!

And there was always Woman's Weekly.

My Mum was an excellent cook and I think I inherited some of that, rather than consciously copying.

Delia tried (how to boil an egg)

Yes, Joelsnan, there was a programme on our local TV last night about hunger and food banks and the bit I saw showed a woman who could not feed herself after she had paid her debts and essential bills. I think her total income was £900 per month. She was working part-time, her children had left home and she had lost some of her housing benefit because she had a 3 bedroomed house and did not want to move. She got herself another part-time job as well and I think the reporter wanted us to feel sorry for her as she was working late into the night. However, I thought well done, good for you. Her main part-time job was then increased to full-time so I hope she is managing now.