growstuff Bridgeit Just grow up. You give yourselves away every time you make a comment.
Do you keen childcare (fairly) equal between your children?
Have any of you got all electric cars? Pros and cons please.
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Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college
(445 Posts)Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college. Woman delivered premature babies in front of Trinity College on Monday
A homeless woman gave birth to premature twins while sleeping rough outside Cambridge University’s wealthiest college.
The woman, believed to be about 30, gave birth outside Trinity College. She was helped by members of the public, who called an ambulance, according to reports.
A witness told Cambridge News she had seen the new mother and her two children wrapped up in blankets inside ambulances when she cycled past at about 7.15am on Monday.
“They were all in the ambulances by the time I cycled past,” she said. “My workmate was first on the scene, and luckily Sainsbury’s was open early that morning and she ran in there for help.
“I’m hoping she gets given somewhere to live and the babies are ok. With what people are doing right now with Corbyn’s Christmas Challenge [a social media fundraising effort in response to Labour’s election defeat] what happened is very relevant to many people.”
Is rough sleeping getting worse?
The government claims rough sleeping in England fell for the first time in eight years in 2018, from 4,751 in 2017 to 4,677. But the body that oversees the quality of official statistics in the UK has said the number should not be trusted after 10% of councils changed their counting methods. Rough sleeping in London has hit a record high, with an 18% rise in 2018-19.
The numbers of people sleeping rough across Scotland have also risen, with 2,682 people reported as having slept rough on at least one occasion.
Shelter, whose figures include rough sleepers and people in temporary accommodation, estimate that overall around 320,000 people are homeless in Britain.
What’s being done about rough sleeping?
The government’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which places new duties on state institutions to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness has been in force for more than a year, but two thirds of councils have warned they cannot afford to comply with it. In 2018, James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, announced a one-off £30m funding pot for immediate support for councils to tackle rough sleeping.
How does the law treat rough sleepers?
Rough sleeping and begging are illegal in England and Wales under the Vagrancy Act 1824, which makes ‘wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or wagon, and not giving a good account of himself or herself’ liable to a £1,000 fine. Leading homelessness charities, police and politicians have called on the government to scrap the law.
Since 2014, councils have increasingly used public space protection orders to issue £100 fines. The number of homeless camps forcibly removed by councils across the UK has more than trebled in five years, figures show, prompting campaigners to warn that the rough sleeping crisis is out of control and has become an entrenched part of life in the country.
Is austerity a factor in homelessness?
A Labour party analysis has claimed that local government funding cuts are disproportionately hitting areas that have the highest numbers of deaths among homeless people. Nine of the 10 councils with the highest numbers of homeless deaths in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017 have had cuts of more than three times the national average of £254 for every household.
What are the health impacts of rough sleeping?
A study of more than 900 homeless patients at a specialist healthcare centre in the West Midlands found that they were 60 times more likely to visit A&E in a year than the general population in England.
Homeless people were more likely to have a range of medical conditions than the general population. While only 0.9% of the general population are on the register for severe mental health problems, the proportion was more than seven times higher for homeless people, at 6.5%.
Just over 13% of homeless men have a substance dependence, compared with 4.3% of men in the general population. For women the figures were 16.5% and 1.9% respectively. In addition, more than a fifth of homeless people have an alcohol dependence, compared with 1.4% of the general population. Hepatitis C was also more prevalent among homeless people.
Sarah Marsh, Rajeev Syal and Patrick Greenfield
East of England ambulance service told Cambridge News that paramedics went to the scene just before 7am on Monday. The woman and her children were taken to Rosie hospital, a specialist maternity hospital on the outskirts of Cambridge.
Research by the Guardian last year identified Trinity as the wealthiest of all the colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, with published assets at the time of £1.3bn.
A crowdfunding campaign set up to raise money for the woman decried Cambridge as a place of “extraordinary inequality”. Jess Agar, who started the fundraiser, wrote: “Imagine giving birth alone on the pavement, in the shadow of the richest college in Cambridge.
“Whether we are religious or not, many of us will be familiar with the Christmas story of a mother who gave birth to her child in poverty, seeking refuge in a stable. This is the reality for many people living on the streets.”
Contributors have so far donated more than £9,000.
uk.yahoo.com/news/rough-sleeper-gives-birth-twins-144402965.html
Sparkling Well said. That's the point I have been trying to make but they just don't want to hear it.
Sadly Sparkling, although you are correct in what you say, the reality for so many (starting right back from their own beginnings ) is not conducive to the thought process you & I may think of as ‘An Obvious no brainer’
Oh for goodness sake Spark.... haven't you ever heard of an accident conception? Contraception fails for one reason or another, taking antibiotics, rape and just plain ignorance. What should happen in these cases, forced abortion maybe.
Wow! Another one!?
Bridgeit It would appear that they do. They might not be grown ups, of course. Some schools are still on holiday.
There have been 17 pages on this thread and homelessness and fecklessness have been discussed. The thread had more or less died a natural death until resurrected by a certain poster as a vehicle to sound off about the usual topics. By coincidence, her mate turns up and they start bouncing off each other and insulting other posters.
It's honestly not worth engaging with them. It takes all sorts, I suppose.
Why is it right for anyone to bring a child into the world if they cannot provide properly for them. Why do you think the tax payer should,. There is no need to have children if you haven’t s home and a job. Children are a gift and not a right, the needs of the child comes first. I cannot understand this selfish attitude that the child doesn’t matter.
Ohh ok Growstuff , thanks for the heads up,
Do grownups really do that ? Sad people ! No not sad , just Pathetic!
Bridgeit They're not worth taking seriously. They're attention seekers doing this for effect.
I find you and your mate quite amusing in a weird kind of way.
I think with respect Janpt that you would / should/ could be more than happy to ‘pay for yourself’ rather than live the lives of those who cannot.
( yes there are always folks who will work the system & that applies to those from all walks of life! )
Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.
Did somebody give Tweedledum and Tweedledee too many wooden spoons for Christmas? 
Hetty58 We'll probably have to pay for it ourselves if we do.
Let's just hope that you and your loved ones never need any public services or support in the future, Janpt!
JenniferEccles Thank you for your continued support. I'm beginning to think that this whole web site is for left wing supporters. However judging by the ones who are standing for a future Labour party leader we can be assured of a Conservative government for some time yet.
Hetty58 Don't be so ridiculous.
Janpt I fear you are right when you said you are wasting your time with some posters on here.
I sometimes wonder if people argue for the sake of it.
You have said nothing controversial as far as I could see.
I don't find your conversation 'sensible' Janpt! It's just too convenient and simplistic to blame people for 'thoughtless behaviour'.
What are you really saying? All contraception has a failure rate. Should they stop having sex? Is that practical? Do you advocate abortion? Not everyone agrees with it. Perhaps you think that they should be forcibly sterilised?
Why do you resent paying tax to support children? Only a tiny bit of the benefit bill goes to large families. A lot goes to working families, indirectly to private landlords (even I resent that) and the largest group of benefit recipients are - pensioners! Would you like to limit that?
Interestingly few weeks ago there was an interview in our paper with a chap who was in charge of one of London’s largest homeless shelters.
He said that a lot of the homeless have been offered accommodation in his shelter but have declined.
He also made the point that some he couldn’t accept because of their alcohol and drugs habit as their behaviour would have posed a threat to the other inmates.
Help is there but ultimately people have to take responsibility for their own lifestyle choices before they can be helped to turn their lives around.
Eloethan I am obviously wasting my time trying to have a sensible conversation with people who refuse to accept that there are many people who behave in a totally irresponsible way and just continue to make excuses for them. Of course the tax payer would have to pay to bring them up. We are just as compassionate as you all are. Just wish the parents behaved in a more responsible way and didn't expect others to keep paying for their thoughtless behavior.
There are two male rough sleepers (and their dog) camping in the woods near here. They've been there, in various places, for several years.
One is far too fond of his drink, the other has obvious learning disabilities. The dog walkers know them well and take things (food, bin bags, tarpaulins, old duvets and pillows etc.) which they appreciate.
Sometimes, I recycle their many beer cans (Gawd knows what the binmen think) and we all worry when it's freezing. The council are aware of them, they've been offered accommodation many times - but they don't feel safe staying with, near (or next to) the type of people who would be their 'neighbours' due to bad past experiences!
This week, they said they're 'stuffed' with leftover Christmas food!
It was you, I think, who suggested women on benefit who continue to have children should be denied benefit until they mend their ways. What exactly would happen to the children if that course of action were to be taken? Would they be left to starve or taken into care? Or would you recommend forced sterilisation?
How exactly would you describe GENUINE need?
I assume not all people who don't share your views are "lefties" - whatever criteria you use to label a person in that way - well at least I hope not. I guess there are people who aren't particularly aligned to any party who would be uncomfortable with the sort of measures you propose.
Iam64 Responsible !!
oodles As I have already said This reply is NOT aimed at disabled claimants or those with a GENUINE need. It is aimed at those already on benefits who continue to have children they know they cannot afford as in a couple who had 7 children. How irresponsible is that yet you continue to make feeble excuses for them and ignore the cruelty of bringing children into the world in such circumstances.
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