Hungry Britain

Sorry, merlot. As you will have realised I fail to see anything lighthearted in this. Not criticising you; it might be my loss.
Joelsnan, you have to have vouchers to go to foodbanks. You have to have someone to vouch for the fact that you and your family are starving.
There was a man on the Panorama programme who did not have the busfare to go the jobcentre and had to walk four miles there.

I first put about this man's death on the adult Aspergers thread, because he had Aspergers. He was 44, and had been diagnosed in his late 20s. "Wood of Bampton, Oxfordshire, was not told his housing benefit and ESA had been stopped, and struggled to survive on the £40 per week disability allowance. He was reluctant to ask relatives for help and they were unaware his payments had been removed until shortly before he died."
His sister has written to Cameron and IDS as she wants them to acknowledge the flaws in the system they set up. Not holding my breath.

I am watching panorama now on catch up tv, all I can see is people who through their own fault are in dept. The girl who was in hospital with her pregnancy and lost her benefits admitted that she owed money on her mobile bill and also the loan shark, why did she run up a huge phone bill and why take a loan from a shark.
If I cant afford something I do without.
Some people never learn. Also what was she thinking about getting pregnant while living in a hostel. When I had my family we got a house then saved up to furnish it then we had the kids. People have no values nowadays.
Well done Edwina Currie she is right saying people have choices. Can anyone tell me how many people on benefit have huge dogs, they must cost more that kids to feed. How do they do it.
Society needs to go back to old fashioned values where quite simply we did without if we couldn't afford anything

Tell you what, Cactus, why don't we let all the people who do not live up to your ideals starve, along with their kids? That'll solve the problem.
I didn't see any huge dogs on the programme, or did I just not notice them because I was more interested in the man who had to walk 4 miles to sign on.

Thanks Durhamjen
If the food vouchers were posted to them as the dole cheque used to be. I don't know if it is still sent. The vouchers would be used in shops maintaining the local economy.
I saw the program and the boy who walked the 4 miles was paying his benefit to drug dealers for debts buying drugs. He did say that he did have a previous problem with drugs.
Re the sister: why wasn't she writing to IDS at the outset if her brothers issues. Why wasn't she and other members of his family caring for him?
Unless they have a truly valid reason for allowing this I think it is shame on the family.

Rosequartz, if you find the comments too rude, you can always report them. On the other hand perhaps you feel there is enough truth in them not to.

sarcasm is the lowest form of wit durhamjen, some of you good goody gransnetters don't see how the other half lives you are all too busy being posting nice letters and probably polishing your halos. No-one seems to want a balanced discussion

OK.....line up, all you baby boomers who went and got pregnant at university, before you were married, before you were engaged....c'mon, you know who you are, you with your lack of moral fibre.

Is someone getting just a little bit SILLY now????

My comment about dogs is from real life, many people who are on benefit seems to have a big dog or two, Im not referring to the panorama programme.
Can anyone tell me why people have dogs that must cost a fortune to feed

What is your problem with anything I have said?
I am not accusing people of being feckless, not saying they should have their children taken off them, not being judgmental, in fact saying in essence that there are all sorts, good, bad, unfortunate, feckless, caring, jobsworthy in all walks of life whether rich, poor, employed, unemployed or whatever.
And when I said it seems to be difficult to give away second hand furniture I got shot down in flames again by someone else.
Just speaking as I find from experience.
Have only heard about the food bank in one particular town from someone close who helps to run it and there are all sorts of reasons why the people who are using it do so.

When people don't pay drug dealers very nasty things happen to them, especially if they are no longer users and, therefore, no longer potential customers.

LOL I certainly did not-I went on the pill at 16- and to University when our youngest went to primary school ;)

As usual on Gransnet, there is no discussion- entrenched views and from the ridiculous to the ridiculous, without collecting the sublimous on first square)...

Of course there is a lot of genuine poverty around- but it is hard not to acknowledge that priorities have changed, and that getting food on the table for yourself and/or your family- as was for my parents and yours probably, and to some extent ours- is not longer at the top- for all sorts of reasons- and not always good ones.

I also had some really good quality furniture which the charity shop would not take because they said that people on benefits only want new or fashionable staff. I found this offensive, if you are poor then you should take anything until you can afford better. So where is the logic in that.

Joelsnan, my grandson has ASD. He takes everything literally, and he talks to grown ups as if he is an equal, even though he's only 11.
It is important with people with ASD to treat them as if they are as normal as possible. In fact they will think they are normal; it's you who are out of step.
There is no reason to suspect that his sister had not written to her brother's MP, Cameron. My MP writes back straight away. Anyone in government, I find, ignores your letters. We wrote to both Alan Johnson and John Prescott when they were in power about my mother's appalling treatment in a home in Hull. They ignored us.

The man who died was not opening his post, so his family found out afterwards. Peope get their vouchers by going to the jobcentre, their GPs and their church and telling them they have no food. Eating is not necessarily a priority. The man who died also had an eating disorder, which I assume means anorexia. His doctor actually wrote him a letter to take to the jobcentre, telling them he was extremely unwell and absolutely unfit for any work whatsoever. He also had OCD.

My husband died of brain cancer 4 months after diagnosis. I have seen what happens to someone when they stop eating over a few weeks and months. It's not as dramatic looking as it seems when you see them every day. I do not know how often his family saw him.

granjura That's by no means the first time that you have remarked on the paucity of intelligent debate on Gransnet. Why did you bother to rejoin?

I agree absolutely with your post, granjura.

Your charity shop should close down, rose. They aren't being charitable. Or, they aren't explaining why they don't take certain furniture.

I donate most items of furniture to the local furniture store and shop that is based in a nearby church hall. They take everything they are legally allowed to take. Anything like covered dining chairs, sofas, beds must meet fire resistance regulations, although they will take dining chairs that don't if the donor doesn't mind the people collecting them stripping off the materials that are not allowed - volunteers will recover them with the correct material.

Ooops! I see a flaw in this - the volunteers are people with drug addictions. Back to the drawing board.

Actually, when, I was pregnant at school when I was 17. There's lack of moral fibre. But we got married, and both had jobs. I even earned more than he did before I had to give up two weeks before my eldest was born.
I remember the English teacher saying to me that she always thought I wouldn't amount to much; I could only aspire to going to teacher training college!
However, in those days, as said before, there were jobs around, with real hours and real pay. I actually worked for the DHSS, left school and walked into a job the following Monday.

I think the problem is that some people are so entrenched in their views they believe that anyone who says anything remotely different from them is diametrically opposed to them, whereas many people may be able to look at the problems from a wider perspective. Many of us may have experienced poverty and the fear of not being able to provide for our families and can empathise with anyone in that position, but at the same time noting that there are also people who do bring it upon themselves forwhatever reason.

As I have only just joined GN, I haven't joined in any discussions on here about free-cycling, giving furniture to charity, swapping household items as I haven't seen any forums. I just do it.

The man who suffered from Asperger's obviously slipped through the net, which ended in tragedy which is why sad cases such as that do hit the headlines.

Our local charity shop should NOT close down. It is doing a sterling job. They do not have room for furniture though.

I would like to hear the views of anyone who has used a food bank or is on benefits, after all this is anonymous. Lets hear your perspective.

I would like to hear the views of anyone who has used a food bank or is on benefits, after all this is anonymous. Lets hear your perspective.

There is no point, people put words into your mouth (or post) on here, or twist what you say.

So where do you put the fact that the right of centre thinktank has said that nearly 70,000 jobseekers have had their benefits withdrawn unfairly, making them reliant on foodbanks, Rosequartz?
That's a lot of families. That's yesterday's headline. Not much of a net if 70,000 can slip through it.

It's true about the big dogs.

Thanks Durhamjen
My grandson also has Apergers and is going on sixteen. I am sure that both I and his parents will always keep a watchful eye on him understanding the condition and it limitations.
I think that even if he was observed everyday a weight loss to five stones would be evident in a grown man. Having watched my mother die of stomach cancer and unable to eat in its latter stages, her weight loss was very evident.
The food vouchers should be given as a standard benefit as part of JSA or whatever, and not just if you are starving and should continue even if a penalty is incurred and food banks should be closed.