Food Banks not necessary says Cameron

[ViolentPanda]

I was reading about the Introduction of the Universal Benefit scheme where claimants will be paid monthly instead of the current fortnightly system. The last time I regularly signed-on I was alway broke a couple of days before my giro was due, I dread to think what kind of prelonged destitution a monthly payment scheme will cause.

TBF, that was my experience on monthly salary, and an experience that I suspect a lot of people share unless they earn enough to sock some easily-accessible cash away every month. You spend the last 5-7 days of the month walking on financial eggshells until the next month's money clears.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I just get emotional flatline when I hear about the latest wheeze from these scum - I'm all out of hate...

You're not trying hard enough!

 

[two sheds]

This time next year: Food not necessary says Cameron.

Yes I saw this piece this morning and wondered about asking whether the thread title should be changed to that.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/30/asylum-support-families-severe-poverty

 

[ViolentPanda]

Bloody hell. The church I attend runs a food bank, and has done so for about 2 years. The need is getting greater and greater each week.

It'll continue to get worse, too.
What really frightens me, talking to my parents (who live in rural Norfolk) and to friends and family around the country, is that these services are already stretched, and what the media and the wankers in Parliament don't get is those services are "the last resort" for many people. They'll already have used their friendship and family networks to the utmost in many cases, before going to a foodbank, so the figures for foodbank use don't reflect all the need, just the tip of an iceberg.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Yeah, then the feeling of helplessness kicks back in. I wish someone would just put a bullet in the lot of them.

Though preferably in a few days so I don't get the bizzies at my door.

Bullets? They're not worth the lead and powder.

I was looking at a bushcraft website the other day, and my eye was caught by a machete. It' didn't strike me that "hey, that'd be great for the Zombie Apocalypse", what struck me was "you could take a few heads off at Westminster with that".
Because if they don't get their fingers out, that's all they're worth - a blow to the neck.

 

[DotCommunist]

machete harvest

 

[ViolentPanda]

Well it says sources... vague as fuck.

Nowt gets out of Downing Street without the say-so of the Downing Street press office, and when a hack says "sources" it's generally code for "a press officer", except it doesn't sound quite so credible saying you get your info from a press officer.

 

[ElizabethofYork]

It'll continue to get worse, too.
What really frightens me, talking to my parents (who live in rural Norfolk) and to friends and family around the country, is that these services are already stretched, and what the media and the wankers in Parliament don't get is those services are "the last resort" for many people. They'll already have used their friendship and family networks to the utmost in many cases, before going to a foodbank, so the figures for foodbank use don't reflect all the need, just the tip of an iceberg.

We find that a fairly large proportion of people who use the foodbank are women and children escaping domestic violence/abuse, who are waiting for their benefit to be assessed, or else who don't even know how to claim benefits. They are absolutely desperate and have nowhere else to turn.

 

[ViolentPanda]

The routes by which largess cometh is a strange one. Hence you get stuck with Ainsley 'wild eyes' Harriots produce


and pasta. Lots of fucking pasta. At this rate I'm going to have to go veggie not through ethical choice but through sheer lack of funds.

scoped out farmfoods today though, one pound fifty for a dozen square sausages. When you live in poorsville the shops reflect it. I feel sorry for people trapped in rural poverty in richer areas, they must have to bus into the nearest urban centre to get value for money on food bills.

It's no wonder loads of villages have become commuter dwellings for people who only venture townsward for work and the poor, well they're fucked or have fucked off. All part of the ghettoizing process

One problem with that, mate. In many rural areas, the "public transport" is two buses a day in either direction, so planning a shop becomes a strategy of Guderian-like complexity.

 

[8ball]

We find that a fairly large proportion of people who use the foodbank are women and children escaping domestic violence/abuse, who are waiting for their benefit to be assessed, or else who don't even know how to claim benefits. They are absolutely desperate and have nowhere else to turn.

When I was last unemployed my housing benefit didn't come through until I'd been back in work for a couple of months. Fuck all good no matter how generous the benefits are* if they're not there when you need them.

* not saying they are, obv

 

[UnderOpenSky]

One problem with that, mate. In many rural areas, the "public transport" is two buses a day in either direction, so planning a shop becomes a strategy of Guderian-like complexity.

It's got to be pretty rare for people to live rural areas not to drive unless they're kids...I keep a motor on the road, even though it takes a huge proportion of my income. Mates who live in cities would never consider it, even though they earn far more then me.

 

[DotCommunist]

this is why maoism never took off in rural england

 

[toggle]

One problem with that, mate. In many rural areas, the "public transport" is two buses a day in either direction, so planning a shop becomes a strategy of Guderian-like complexity.

if you're lucky you're within a 2 mile walk of the bus stop.

a lot of the older people use a once a week coach service out of some of the villiages into truro. probably not a lot use use with a ton of shopping though.

 

[toggle]

It's got to be pretty rare for people to live rural areas not to drive unless they're kids...I keep a motor on the road, even though it takes a huge proportion of my income. Mates who live in cities would never consider it, even though they earn far more then me.

i know a fair few.

there's also elderly and disabled who have to give up driving. quite a lot on the roads here that should have given up a while ago, but i've got a lot more sympathy for someone living 3 miles from the nearest convenience shop for not quitting driving than i would do for soneone doing the same who lives in town.

 

[Bakunin]

Bullets? They're not worth the lead and powder.

I was looking at a bushcraft website the other day, and my eye was caught by a machete. It' didn't strike me that "hey, that'd be great for the Zombie Apocalypse", what struck me was "you could take a few heads off at Westminster with that".
Because if they don't get their fingers out, that's all they're worth - a blow to the neck.

Nah, lowered slowly into one of these after being strung up by the knackers.

Feet first, alive and fully conscious is your friend...

 

[Bakunin]

Nah, lowered slowly into one of these after being strung up by the knackers.

Feet first, alive and fully conscious is your friend...

E2A:

Nope, only until their knees. Then I've got something even more hellish in mind...

They'll have to be ATOS'd...

 

[Frances Lengel]

When I was last unemployed my housing benefit didn't come through until I'd been back in work for a couple of months. Fuck all good no matter how generous the benefits are* if they're not there when you need them.

* not saying they are, obv

Last time I was working, I qualified for a job grant that was supposed to bridge the gap between coming off benefit and getting my first wage. It, along with my final social payment went into the bank about four days after I got my first wage (which was a week in hand).

Talking about food banks though, my mam recently went to one to donate some stuff. Anyway, the woman running it mistook her for someone who was there needing food and properly screamed at her "Where's your ticket, you haven't got a ticket". Dunno if that woman was a dick, or if staff at that particular foodbank are instructed to make the people using it feel as degraded as possible.

 

[shagnasty]

Nah, lowered slowly into one of these after being strung up by the knackers.

Feet first, alive and fully conscious is your friend...

That reminds me must watch "eat the rich"

 

[8ball]

Last time I was working, I qualified for a job grant that was supposed to bridge the gap between coming off benefit and getting my first wage. It, along with my final social payment went into the bank about four days after I got my first wage (which was a week in hand).

It's a fucking joke - I was lucky in that I saw the company going down the tubes and saved up some cash before being made redundant but I would have been up shit creek otherwise.

Talking about food banks though, my mam recently went to one to donate some stuff. Anyway, the woman running it mistook her for someone who was there needing food and properly screamed at her "Where's your ticket, you haven't got a ticket". Dunno if that woman was a dick, or if staff at that particular foodbank are instructed to make the people using it feel as degraded as possible.

That's horrible - I'm guessing the former. Hoping the former, anyway.

 

[kebabking]

sadly my experience today of attempting to sort out a donation of food to an FB was not easy.

first point of contact was a badly written website that contained no detail of where (specifically) you could donate, little about what they needed and could not use, and when the FB or its donor churches/community organisations would be open to accept donations.

upon contacting the mobile no given, i was told things that didn't match the website - such as it was - and not provided with any more information about where to donate. i found that contrary to what the website says, they can use fresh fruit and vegetables, and they are gagging for the personal/household stuff that gets sidelined when you're skint...

i appreciate that FB's are run by volunteers, but if they want people to give they have to make it easy to do so - there are almost certainly people going hungry today because other people tried to give, but found it such hard work that they didn't bother.

i will persevere, but i fear others, more hard pressed for time than i, wouldn't.

 

[Frances Lengel]

sadly my experience today of attempting to sort out a donation of food to an FB was not easy.

first point of contact was a badly written website that contained no detail of where (specifically) you could donate, little about what they needed and could not use, and when the FB or its donor churches/community organisations would be open to accept donations.

upon contacting the mobile no given, i was told things that didn't match the website - such as it was - and not provided with any more information about where to donate. i found that contrary to what the website says, they can use fresh fruit and vegetables, and they are gagging for the personal/household stuff that gets sidelined when you're skint...

i appreciate that FB's are run by volunteers, but if they want people to give they have to make it easy to do so - there are almost certainly people going hungry today because other people tried to give, but found it such hard work that they didn't bother.

i will persevere, but i fear others, more hard pressed for time than i, wouldn't.

This is the problem with volunteers - Unfortunately a lot of them are a bit simple/inept. Not a very nice thing to say but, IME, true.

 

[SpookyFrank]

You are all being very unfair to Cameron.

I'm sure what he meant was that since we, the taxpaying public, are subsidising the likes of Tesco et al in terms of paying their taxes and also, since they are not willing to properly pay their staff, forking out for tax credits and top-up benefits, then anyone who cannot make ends meet after generously shelling out to keep Tesco afloat (including nobly sacrificing their job in order to keep wages depressed) is surely entitled to walk into the store and help themselves to the necessary food supplies.

You forget their workfare staff, another little gift to Tesco from kindly old uncle taxpayer.

 

[yield]

i will persevere, but i fear others, more hard pressed for time than i, wouldn't.

I've definitely seen nappies and baby food on wanted lists for foodbanks local to me - best thing would be to find one local to you, whether that's a tressel trust food bank: http://www.trusselltrust.org/map or an independent / other organisation - I'm assuming Tressell trust only list their own food banks on their site but a google search might find ones closer to you or from other orgs (tressell trust are tight with the tories, personally I have a choice of food banks I can give to near me so I give to a non-tressell trust one, but I wouldn't for a second discourage you from helping/getting involved with a tressell trust foodbank)

I found a church run foodbank in Uxbridge on the trusselltrust website that Bigtom linked to. Gave them a call and they gave me the address of a place to drop off some food. I'm going with a couple of dozen tins of veg, fruit and tuna before work tomorrow.

 

[SpookyFrank]

When I was last unemployed my housing benefit didn't come through until I'd been back in work for a couple of months. Fuck all good no matter how generous the benefits are* if they're not there when you need them.

* not saying they are, obv

It's a complete lottery with HB. Mine came through in less than six weeks with zero hassle and none of the multiple trips to the council offices to produce an assortment of random bits of paperwork that I'd come to expect. My mate, who lives all the way at the other end of my street, has been waiting nine months and counting for his to come through.

I don't claim any other benefits mind you, so maybe the lack of DWP interference worked in my favour.

 

[toggle]

E2A:

Nope, only until their knees. Then I've got something even more hellish in mind...

They'll have to be ATOS'd...

is this why you grinned so much when you found out i've got an electric mincer?

 

[8ball]

You forget their workfare staff, another little gift to Tesco from kindly old uncle taxpayer.

Yep - missed that completely.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/30/downing-street-benefits-food-banks?commentpage=1
Downing Street has risked causing widespread offence by claiming there should be no need for food banks because benefit payments are high enough to pay for such essentials.

Benefit levels are more than adequate... lol. These cunts have never had a missing giro and spent over an hour on a premium rate phoneline trying to sort it out.

You should be happy that this is a position held by your conservatives. Remember the position of US conservatives like the two Bushes: ALL poor people should be being looked after by food banks and charities, and not by the govt.

In your country, it's at least an argument that the benefits are sufficient to cover basic needs.

 

[smokedout]

This time next year: Food not necessary says Cameron.

that's not far from what they said

"Benefit levels are set at a level where people can afford to eat. If people have short-term shortages, where they feel they need a bit of extra food, then of course food banks are the right place for that. But benefits are not set at such a low level that people can't eat."

 

[SpookyFrank]

What really frightens me, talking to my parents (who live in rural Norfolk) and to friends and family around the country, is that these services are already stretched, and what the media and the wankers in Parliament don't get is those services are "the last resort" for many people.

Stretched is right, our foodbank was created by a handful of individuals because no charities or other formal organisations were stepping up to meet a clear need. We are doing OK at the moment, nobody who has been referred to us has been turned away empty handed, but scrounging up donations and sorting out storage and transport has become a pratically full time, unpaid, job for several people. Some of those people are only a gnat's bollock from the breadline themselves. A significant increase in demand (which could come at any time thanks to a change in benefit rules or a hike in council tax or energy bills or another big local employer closing its doors) and we'll struggle to provide people with even basic necessities.

I don't know when people in Britain last suffered (and died) from malnutrition on a large scale, but I fear those days will soon return. Only this time there will be no war to blame, no famine, no great depression. The only causes will be greed, slefishness and a government on a psychopathic rampage agaisnt the idea that everyone deserves food, warmth and safety no matter what their circumstances.

 

[brogdale]

Stretched is right, our foodbank was created by a handful of individuals because no charities or other formal organisations were stepping up to meet a clear need. We are doing OK at the moment, nobody who has been referred to us has been turned away empty handed, but scrounging up donations and sorting out storage and transport has become a pratically full time, unpaid, job for several people. Some of those people are only a gnat's bollock from the breadline themselves. A significant increase in demand (which could come at any time thanks to a change in benefit rules or a hike in council tax or energy bills or another big local employer closing its doors) and we'll struggle to provide people with even basic necessities.

I don't know when people in Britain last suffered (and died) from malnutrition on a large scale, but I fear those days will soon return. Only this time there will be no war to blame, no famine, no great depression. The only causes will be greed, slefishness and a government on a psychopathic rampage agaisnt the idea that everyone deserves food, warmth and safety no matter what their circumstances.

except their class war.