Ms Macbeth Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 If foodbanks are there to help in emergencies, then I think we should support them, especially as I keep hearing that people on benefits are being sanctioned, sometimes for fairly spurious reasons. It must be well nigh impossible to save on a single person's benefit of £70 a week (or less) and if benefits are completely stopped a referral to a foodbank will make a big difference for a week or two. However, if parents aren't managing on benefits, then budgeting help and support must be available along with foodbank referrals. No child should have to go to school hungry when cereal and milk costs so little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 If foodbanks are there to help in emergencies, then I think we should support them, especially as I keep hearing that people on benefits are being sanctioned, sometimes for fairly spurious reasons. It must be well nigh impossible to save on a single person's benefit of £70 a week (or less) and if benefits are completely stopped a referral to a foodbank will make a big difference for a week or two. However, if parents aren't managing on benefits, then budgeting help and support must be available along with foodbank referrals. No child should have to go to school hungry when cereal and milk costs so little. But should it be down to charity and goodwill to help people feed their children? Having a system of 'sanctions' that punish the poorest people, often for trivial reasons, seems wrong to me. I do donate odd items to the foodbank when they are collecting but I worry that by doing so, I am actually supporting the sanctions regime. I know different people have different views on the role of the state and the extent to which it should support people. But do we really want to live in a country where people have to rely on the Red Cross to feed themselves? Are we really happy that the last safety net is not provided by the state, and funded through the National Insurance contributions that we all make, but funded by charity? When I was a kid, at school we did a sponsored silence to raise money to feed the starving in Ethiopia. I never expected the same kind of charity would be needed to help my neighbours here in the United Kingdom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melthebell Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Thank you Ms Macbeth, it seems that before long there'll be soup kitchens and yet certain people on this forum seem determined to ridicule this countries needy especially the elderly. theres been soup kitchens in sheffield for decades, admittedly its generally for the homeless etc it used to appear on dev green on an evening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melthebell Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 What is also very sad is that some people on here ridicule those in need including the elderly. As Godfrey Boom Boom Bloom said Charity Should Begin At Home not abroad ---------- Post added 12-10-2013 at 12:15 ---------- Isn't it sad that they have to exist via the Red Cross in a country that throws away £Billions in overseas aid. povertys bad wherever it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Isn't it sad that they have to exist via the Red Cross in a country that throws away £Billions in overseas aid. I think the point I'm making is that charity in the sense of feeding hungry children shouldn't need to begin at home. As a developed country we should be better than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melthebell Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I think the point I'm making is that charity in the sense of feeding hungry children shouldn't need to begin at home. As a developed country we should be better than that. when you have a xenophobic, anti immigration view on the world you cant help thinking that charity starts............and must end at home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I've said this before on here, but basically NO old people are dying due to not being able to afford heating, they're dying due to their reluctance to turn the heating on, or up, due to thinking that it costs too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erebus Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 With rising fuel prices and energy corporations making statements that they intend to give more money to shareholders. One can now look forward to may more deaths of the elderly, and maybe like the energy rises maybe the percentage can beat last years rather low figures. But we all know we can trust official figures especially when they suggest neglect by government of its citizens, is of less priority than their their support of corporate greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfish1936 Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Thats only 788,840 assuming 9 die every hour of every day, and they will be replaced by the 813,200 babies that were born in 2012. If they didn't die we would soon be over run with people. ---------- Post added 11-10-2013 at 17:52 ---------- Probably 2010 Nine pensioners died from cold EVERY HOUR last winter as bill prices soar More than 300,000 UK pensioners have died of cold related illnesses since 1997. Its appears though that they died because of the cold and flu virus, not because they were cold. Thank you for finally giving us a reference; wouldn't it have been nice if the OP had given us this to start with! I had an elderly widowed aunt who died of cold in Derbyshire winter. She was invited to come to us, and escape the winter, but claimed she could not afford it. After her death, there was a fat roll of notes in her purse, and enough in the bank to have afforded a comfortable fare to Australia. Unfortunately, there are elderly people who are no longer in touch with family members, and may not be as capable of wise decisions as they once were. Bad decisions can kill you! BTW, until I left UK in 1967, I sent many letters to Government departments pointing out that extra fuel for heating was cheaper than the cost of antibiotics and hospital care; the answer was that fuel was not an NHS responsibility. Incidentally, I am over 70 myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peer Gynt Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Thank you for finally giving us a reference; wouldn't it have been nice if the OP had given us this to start with! . Aren't you capable of looking it up as I did? ---------- Post added 12-10-2013 at 14:38 ---------- I think the point I'm making is that charity in the sense of feeding hungry children shouldn't need to begin at home. As a developed country we should be better than that. Bit of a contradiction there methinks, a "developed country" with food banks for the poor and on the verge of soup kitchens. ---------- Post added 12-10-2013 at 14:41 ---------- povertys bad wherever it is Even worse when as hero Godfrey Bloom says we're letting our elderly die in winter whilst at the same time lining the pockets of corrupt leaders in Bong, Bongo land ---------- Post added 12-10-2013 at 14:43 ---------- theres been soup kitchens in sheffield for decades, admittedly its generally for the homeless etc it used to appear on dev green on an evening Well the worst thing you can say is I told you so when it has cost lives. None so blind as those who don't want to see. ---------- Post added 12-10-2013 at 14:48 ---------- When I was a kid and went shopping with my mum, I sometimes used to persuade her to buy a tin of dog food to put in the collection bin for the pound. I never thought I would find myself being asked to buy food to put in a collection bin to feed my fellow human beings. What a sad, sad state of affairs. But it's an understandable state of affairs with people on here quite happy for these conditions to exist. I think that it is shameful that some members choose to be in denial about something as disgusting as food banks this country, whilst we give £Billions away in overseas aid of which most is milked of due to corruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.