What do you think should be done about food poverty?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Why should we redistribute wealth? There will always be people who have good brains and the ability and inclination to work hard. With others, it will be their parents who did the hard work and built up a fortune to pass on. Nothing wrong with that.

In many cases it's people who get themselves into messes. Either through laziness or bad life choices. Thank God for the welfare state to bail them out. And it does.

So many good posts here. Margaretx's post about Germany reminded me of Austria: I was there for a year and a half in the mid 1960s, 20 years after the war ended, but memories of starvation were still clear, so no-one over about 30 could bear to waste food. Apparently during the immediate post war period of starvation, word got around that a train full of peas was arriving; everyone made their way to the relevant railway station, the train arrived, but all it contained was lumpy black slime - they'd gone off, hugely.

Poor people were helped when I was there by something else: once a year they have a 'take-out-your-rubbish day, ie the wonderful German word 'Entrumpelungstag'. Poor people and students could scour the streets and pick up any old furniture that they needed. Seemed like a good way of helping the poor, to me.

It's easy to say there are lots of jobs available, as though everyone who is currently on benefits but not working, can simply put their mind to it, and get a job. In so many parts of the country, there isn't much work available. In the past, people with low ability/achievement in basic literacy and numeracy were able to work in unskilled jobs.
It's also the case, that many people who now live in the community, would 50 years ago have lived in some form of institution. It isn't easy to find a job if you have learning difficulties, or indeed if you have a poor work record due to health problems for example.
I dislike the notion of a 3rd generation where no one has ever worked as much as anyone. The vast majority of those people have significant social or health difficulties. The nasty attacks on the vulnerable are increasing, it seems to me.

Marelli and I were pointing out that it's not just the unemployed who are nearing poverty, eliza - nor are there jobs to be picked up 'just like that' in most parts of the country.

I soooo agree with everything that you have said margaretm!!!!

I do think people's expectations are different these days - smart phones, computers, piercings, tattoos etc are considered a normal and essential part of life for some people; they have probably never learnt how to budget and make a little stretch a long way like we had to or to go without what we would have considered luxuries? Perhaps we need free classes in how to budget, how to make good nourishing food with very little etc. Do the supermarkets supply the food banks with food that has not been sold? If so, good, it would be criminal to waste it. Can't abide waste, but then I grew up with rationing.

The first place I would turn to is the job centre to get myself a job because that is the only cure for poverty.

No excuses--there are no jobs!!--were there is a will there is a way.

But I live in London, I don't know what its like elsewhere....

I know what you mean about those shopping trips, Marelli, DD and I occasionally do the same. That's where the BOGOF offers actually do come into their own, if it's something we both use. She works full time too, and as a single parent to two girls does struggle to pay the mortgage and bills alone (ex partner unemployed).

I'd hate her to have to resort to food banks, because there must be many worse off, but it does demonstrate that poverty, or near poverty, is a lot more prevalent than many seem to think.