IDS to put job advisors in food banks

[RonJeremy]

I used to know Shaun Pilkington named in some of these articles. The reasons are correct. RIP Shaun.

 

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2014/10/21/uk-welfare-reform-deaths-updated-list-october-21st-2014/

 

http://calumslist.org

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/more-80-suicide-cases-directly-5634404

 

https://streetdemocracy.wordpress.com/this-is-what-austerity-looks-like-suicides-due-to-bedroom-taxbenefit-capshardship/

 

This is very sad but there is no causal link and simply quoting four far left organisations to demonstrate really doesn't wash.

 

---------- Post added 29-10-2015 at 10:38 ----------

 

Reading past the headlines and then listening to what was actually said ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34658755 )

 

... it is my opinion that IDS was just fluffing to a committee.

He had learnt of a totally independent arrangement that has been set up at a single church-led centre that includes a foodbank.

 

As a politician he has presented this as "trialling" an initiative as though it was of the DWP's making when it is nothing of the sort.

 

Then the press pick up on it to fill their column inches.

 

Perhaps something good can come of it. I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

If contacts can be available to fast-track removal of sanctions, why not have them available in all Job Centres?

 

"Fluffing" has been a redundant job for a few years now. Pfizer put a stop to that.

[TJC1]

When you allow someone to not have to work for 30+ years, tell them they are too disabled to work, allow them to become isolated from the rest of society, then suddenly tell them that they now have to work, it's not surprising that some people can't cope. I am almost certain that the people in that article would have had much more fulfilled and happy lives if the same rules that exist today existed when they were young and they were "forced" into work as teens or early 20 somethings.

 

Many disabled people have worked for years and then become either mentally or physically unable to work or hold down a job.

[sgtkate]

do we have enough jobs as a country for everyone on Jobseekers? Simple yes or no please because the answer to that question will clearly affect how we treat people on Jobseekers. If there ARE enough jobs then you could argue that everyone on Jobseekers should have one. If there aren't enough jobs then how can you possibly argue that as it will never be possible for everyone to have a job.

[999tigger]

Why do you let happ hazard derail threads. this was about foodbanks and the news story of putting an advisor into them.

[Mister M]

No sorry. That's a single case. You claimed there had been an increase in the suicide rate. Do you have any statistics?

 

This is very sad but there is no causal link and simply quoting four far left organisations to demonstrate really doesn't wash.

 

---------- Post added 29-10-2015 at 10:38 ----------

 

 

"Fluffing" has been a redundant job for a few years now. Pfizer put a stop to that.

 

I didn't claim there had been an increase in the suicide rates.

But you can't have it both ways Ron. On a recent thread about a family on benefits with loads of kids, you said that there were lots of family's like this, and when asked for proof you said that you didn't need any as your experience was all you needed to confirm what you knew.

 

The case of Michael Sullivan that I quoted is significant as the Coroner explicitly named the withdrawal of benefits as a causal factor in his death. There are websites such as callums list and the black triangle campaign which highlight the suicides of those disabled whose benefits have been withdrawn.

I can also point to a HoC debate in which MPs from all parties spoke about the experiences of their constituents, some of whom took their own lives, as a consequence of ATOS bungling: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jan/17/atos-attack-emotional-commons-debate

Edited October 29, 2015 by Mister M

[Anna B]

do we have enough jobs as a country for everyone on Jobseekers? Simple yes or no please because the answer to that question will clearly affect how we treat people on Jobseekers. If there ARE enough jobs then you could argue that everyone on Jobseekers should have one. If there aren't enough jobs then how can you possibly argue that as it will never be possible for everyone to have a job.

 

No there are not enough jobs.

 

Nor are the jobs that there are, evenly distributed. Might be plenty in the London area, but not many in Scunthorpe. With the disparity in house prices it's not always possible to move to where the jobs are.

 

Training is also very expensive and outside the pocket of the unemployed. If you're over 50, forget it.

 

There is a lot of government spin in this area, so genuine figures are not easy to come by, but the figures the government spew out are for show only. Statistics eh...

[Alan Ladd]

Malnutrition and Victorian diseases are soaring in England, 'due to food and poverty cuts' according to today's online 'Independent' newspaper.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk. Lifestyle

 

"NHS statistics show 7,366 people were admitted to hospital with primary or secondary diagnosis of malnutrition between August 2014 and July this year. Compared with 4,883 cases in the same period 2010-2011, a rise of 50% in just 4 years."

 

Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust (Foodbanks,) said they saw tens of thousands of people who have been going hungry, missing meals, and cutting back on the food they buy.

 

How on earth have we let this happen in a rich, civilized country like England? How much worse is it going to get if the tax credit cuts come in?

 

This government should be ashamed.

 

This government should be proud of the fact that it is not standing for the BS anymore. There are thousands of jobs. If not why are employers having to go abroad to fill them? (My company in Portugal seeking 50).

 

Re malnutrition, I thought obesity was the issue? Or is it that the populace under labour became so thick they have no idea how to feed themselves properly?

 

There is no poverty unless it is self imposed poverty.

 

---------- Post added 29-10-2015 at 12:33 ----------

 

do we have enough jobs as a country for everyone on Jobseekers? Simple yes or no please because the answer to that question will clearly affect how we treat people on Jobseekers. If there ARE enough jobs then you could argue that everyone on Jobseekers should have one. If there aren't enough jobs then how can you possibly argue that as it will never be possible for everyone to have a job.

 

There are plenty of jobs. What you fail to see is the issue of the unemployable.

[Penistone999]

Many people in need already avoid foodbanks due to the stigma, and the rules some have in place do not help people in need of food, they actively deny people help.

 

As long as people are not forced to come into contact with a person who has sanctioned them, and the reason people are there is so that help can be accessed on a voluntary basis, AND there is a choice of foodbanks, it shouldn't pose a problem.

 

But I can see a few potential problems.

 

Potentially it could lead to a further increase in the suicide rate, if it is not done properly. By rights, they should already be locking people up from the DWP for joint enterprise for their part in increasing the rate of suicide by knowingly participating in the sanction regime which they know has led to an increase in suicides.

 

The whole welfare system is a complete and utter mess, it is much worse than it was, and we now have increased rates of absolute poverty, we have people suffering malnutrition and 'Victorian' diseases, people have starved to death, and many have committed/attempted to commit suicide. One man set himself on fire due to the persecution he faced at the JC+.

 

The way the unemployed and vulnerable are now treat in the UK is downright despicable, and the UK doesn't deserve to be called a civilised country.

 

The whole sanction regime and forced destitution, and in turn, suicide causing policies of persecution need to be ended for good, there ought be a basic income that nobody is allowed to fall below.

 

We now treat asylum seekers better than the destitute unemployed et. al., such is the lack of support for the unemployed et. al., the basic level of income we give to asylum seekers should at the very least be given to the unemployed etc. automatically when they are sanctioned.

 

There is a simple way for people not to be sanctioned .......... Obey the rules .

 

Its hardly rocket science.

[apelike]

There are thousands of jobs. If not why are employers having to go abroad to fill them? (My company in Portugal seeking 50).

 

Just to recap on my question on the "Is the northern powerhouse real?" thread.. What exactly are the jobs and qualifications for the 50 jobs that your old? company in Portugal is seeking?

[I1L2T3]

I wonder why a lot of people living in poverty are fat.

Have a look at Jeremy Kyle, all unemployed, mostly fat and all definitely thick as a brick. Nobody needs to starve in the UK, benefits are in place and are given, they're a safety net not a way of life for the able bodied, and no amount of left wing rhetoric is going to change that.

 

The cheapest foods are the most fattening. Processed, refined, full of sugar and salt.

 

Marketing of these foods is often aggressive.

 

Couple that with poor education on diet and the benefits of exercise and the seemingly high number of poorer people is easily explained.

 

That said, there are plent of affluent fat people waddling around too.

 

Its a national disgrace.