What do you think should be done about food poverty?

Totally agree with you Marelli In our family we all take turns to help each other out. I have been both the receiver and the giver over the years. I always look out for the BOGOF offers when shopping as neither my son and his young family or my daughter (who lives alone) are in a good financial position and the end of the month can often mean making difficult choices. I remember being a young single parent myself and although I worked full time I relied on my mum and grandma to help me out with food. I feel so desperately sorry for those people who do not have families to turn to in times of difficulty and have no alternative but to rely on food banks.

Sorry jingle but I think your last post is very harsh. People do not always "get themselves into messes" they work bloody hard on minimum wage and often have to make a choice between keeping warm and eating.

I agree it is wrong to blame the poor. Even when it seems obvious that a drug-addled idiot has got himself or herself into a mess of poverty and crime, there may be another side.

I remember reading a letter to the editor from a girl whose brother had committed suicide. He was addicted to drugs because of their horrible childhood home life full of violence and deprivation - he'd suffered far worse violence than his sister. Drugs were his only escape from his mental demons when he grew up. She knew that when he was using he could cope. But one day, he couldn't get his fix, and he simply ended it all.

Things are rarely what they seem. Certainly they are never simple.

jingle It seems to me that people on the minimum wage, working part-time, or on unpredictable "Zero Hours" contracts, are almost inevitably going to find themselves in a mess. I can't imagine how people manage on these extremely low rates of pay when housing, transport, energy and food bills are so high.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who have the ability and the willingness to work but who live in areas where little work is available, particularly if they are middle-aged or nearing retirement.

gillybob describes your words as "harsh". I think they're downright callous.

Why "food poverty" – except, of course, the resultant need is immediate. Tackling poverty, whether fuel, food or whatever is surely the issue.

Well jingle, if you truly believe that there is this mass of undeserving poor, then I think you must acknowledge that there is also a mass of undeserving rich.

Well Jingle I totally agree with Eloethan and absent your remarks were callous. There are parts of the country where jobs are just not available and if one comes on the market, I would think that there would be many applications and as one person said earlier, even with experience, it is difficult for a middle aged person to get a job.

I live in London and jobs are more plentiful here but to give an example, a neighbour of mine applied for an office job in a hospital, the wage was above minimum and there were over 300 replies to be sifted through. Two people interviewed for 3 days and she was fortunate, she got the job.

When I was in my late teens jobs were plentiful, those days are long gone.

I would have thought that by middle age most people would have had time to get their finances sorted satisfactorily.

I feel desperately sorry for any children going hungry, in this country and elsewhere. The only difference between this country and "elsewhere" is that in this country the parents are often to blame, one way or another. "Elsewhere" poverty is totally unvoidable, no matter how hard the mothers try to feed their children. And they do try desperately.

Joan how can you call drug addicts idiots!!

Its not like you do not understand their desperation, because you go onto explain how a suicide took place due to drugs and WHY the drugs were taken in the first place.

Its not nice to call drug addicts idiots--we should try and understand and above all help them and not call them idiots.

After all--until you have walked a mile in their shoes one should not judge.

I don't think Joan's post was at all unsympathetic to addicts eliza - I think she meant to imply that the the drugs turn people into idiots.

Any of us could turn to drugs because of our problems, but most of us find other, better ways to overcome them. Joan is right about those who take drugs for excitement or experiment or because "all their friends do".

Jingle, it looks like you are trying to deflect a bit of criticism in your last post.
Where is "elsewhere"? It's a big world. Scandinavia must be included in elsewhere, and they do not have foodbanks as far as I am aware. Poverty as on the scale in this country does not exist there. Parents are not necessarily to blame in this country.

My husband and I thought we had our finances sorted by middle age. The kids were off our hands and we could do what we wanted. No financial worries, lots of money being paid into his pension. The month before he was 50 he fell off a ladder and broke his back. He was unable to work from then on until he died at 65.

You obviously have had sympathy for Phoenix's plight. Can you not see that others can be in the same situation through no fault of their own?
There is an article written by someone from the Who Benefits Campaign about Rachel Reeves, who gave a speech on Monday about the structural factors behind the benefits bill, the impact of low-paid work, unemployment and the high cost of living, about those in work struggling to keep their heads above water, and those who are unable to work through illness or disability, and their right to dignity and a decent standard of living in one of the richest countries in the world.
Most of the papers concentrated on the plan to strip benefits from claimants lacking certain skills.
We need to hear more of the stories from people who are suffering from this government's rich elite's ignorance and bullying of those who claim benefits.
I agree with you, Absent, that all forms of poverty matter and should be looked at. The reason I brought this up again was because fuel poverty was making food banks differentiate between people who could afford to boil water and those who couldn't. It's shameful.

When have I been adverse, or afraid of, criticism?! I just wanted to fully state my take on poverty.

I will leave it to your commonsense, which I'm sure you have in abundance to guess where I mean by elsewhere.

I would like to make it clear that no comment I have made on this thread relates to any particular poster. There is no way this should become personal.

I may be wrong, but I took the original post on this thread to relate to food poverty in the younger generation. I did n't realise it was, again, all about us.

Just because most people who have problems find other ways to deal with them doesn't mean those who turn to drugs are any weaker or more stupid than the rest. I hate drugs and what they do to people, and I include alcohol and tobacco in that but I would never judge a person who uses them to self-medicate.
'Judge not lest ye be judged' seems a good maxim to live by.

Agreed, nightowl, but I might judge a person's brain and/or body to be addled by the drugs they are addicted to. It does happen.

The opening post does not mention any generation.
There are probably lots of older people who are in food poverty, but do not necessarily go to food banks. You tend to hear about families because it's usually mothers going to food banks to get food for their children, not for themselves.
Politics is all about people and the choices that those in power, both nationally and locally, make that affect the rest of us. If we cannot use our own experiences to make a point then why bother at all?

If my children were hungry, I'd be hungry too, so if i were visiting a food bank it would be for my benefit too.

Agreed, bags, but what I was saying was that older people without children at home tend not to go because they do not have children at home. Mothers do tend to feed their children before themselves, or at least I used to, if I am allowed to use myself as an example.

I see.

Oh come on! Many people, probably most of them, go on illegal drugs just for the hell of it. To start with.

Someone needs to judge. And it can't all be soft sympathy.

Nightowl I am fairly sure I will be judged. So be it.

People who use drugs like ecstacy and cocaine at weekend tend to try them for the hell of it, but they aren't the majority and aren't usually addicted when they're used recreationally - by both rich and poor people.

Most people who start using illegal drugs are introduced to them by other drug users/dealers. Often they are free at first. Some drugs, legal and illegal, are highly addictive, including tobacco and alcohol. Many offenders who have never used drugs before start using them in prison and come out with a habit. Some come out of hospital and illegally obtain drugs like heroin to manage pain.

I've never met a drug addict who wanted to be addicted, but the psychological draw and comfort of lapsing when under stress or in pain, emotional or physical, outweighs the determination to stay off drugs.

Damn good post when

It is totally shameful I agree durhamjen why should anyone (of whatever age) have to choose between keeping warm or eating?

I agree with your post too when

I agree petallus--it was a good post thanks when

Thank you when. I agree bags that drugs can make people behave like addled idiots. I just can't judge them to be idiots that's all. In fact jingl I can't judge them at all because its far too close to home. I'm sure there are some gransnetters who live with this, or have done in the past, and it's very raw.

There is an enormous difference between people - young and old - who use drugs and alcohol to excess recreationally and those who use them to self-medicate. Joan's post gave a very good illustration of what can happen to the latter. Ask yourselves, if your child was actively suicidal, and found that illegal drugs enabled them to carry on living, how would you feel then?

Sorry, I seem to have strayed away from food poverty.