Time to call out the policy of promoting hunger

What an immoral country the UK has become, when government uses hunger as an instrument of policy. Or put another way, the British government seeks to starve many of the people it is elected to serve. It is a scandal that in one of the richest countries in the world (the fifth largest economy) that over 2 million people are reliant on food banks. The major foodbank provider, the Trussell Trust, has seen the number of foodbanks it provides rise from 35 in 2010 to more than 1400 today. Altogether, there are more than 2,500 foodbanks in a country that is home to more than 300 billionaires. The reluctance of government to feed people is shown in the way children are treated. Back in 2020, it took footballer Marcus Rashford shaming the government into providing free school meals for children. Support has remained but the quality of provision has reduced. One of the reasons successive governments have got away with starving the nation is that not enough voices have been raised in opposition. Foodbanks have become institutionalised. Thousands of fantastic volunteers across the country run the foodbanks, without them things would be far worse. But foodbanks have been normalised, where are the voices - particularly in the political sphere - asking why we need foodbanks in such a rich country? Where is the commitment and policy to make foodbanks unnecessary? It could be done. VAT is a tax on the poor. It is levied on food, which hits the lowest earners hardest, so why not cut this regressive tax for food? Impose price controls on a number of foodstuffs. Why, at the time of a cost of living crisis, have supermarkets been allowed to make obscene profits, often on the backs of the poorest people? Wages need to increase, with implementation of a Universal Basic Income a possible option. Benefits need to be increased and made more accessible. One of the major causes of people going to foodbanks are benefit issues. There needs to be a culture change in benefits, recognising that people need and are entitled to them. The attitude to benefits under recent governments is more akin to the 19tb century, with punitive sanctions applied wherever possible. It is back to the world of the workhouse and deserving poor (who received charity). Some of the changes mentioned would help level up society and reduce hunger in the population. It is something that needs to happen. Starving people is a policy that no government should be able to get away with - it needs to end.

Unequal UK

The UK is one of the most unequal countries in Europe, second only to Bulgaria. Not that this was always the case. Back in the 1970s, the UK was one of the most equal places, with the gap between rich and poor at it's lowest point. Life expectancy was on the increase. The burgeoning inequality of the past 40 years has brought the UK to the point where it is a shattered nation - things just don't work. Academic, Professor Danny Dorling has produced a devastating critique of how the UK got to that state it is today, with education increasingly the preserve of the wealthy, a health system that is falling apart and homelessness and hunger on the increase. In Shattered Nation, Professor Dorling highlights how according to the census figures there are 66 million rooms available in the UK, with 22 million empty. There needs to be adjustments made, penalising those with second homes and bringing in rent controls. In Oxford, the biggest cause of death for under 65s is homelessness It used to be possible for anyone to go to university for free. Grants were provided to see students through. Today, fees of £9,000 are charged for the course, with most students now having work to pay their way. Few leave university without a huge debt burden round their necks. The health service has been cut, so the UK was more badly hit by COVID that other countries with fully funded services. Transport in the UK is amongst the most expensive in the world Whilst most European countries have seen life expectancy increase, it is now in reverse here Indeed, other countries are all moving toward a more equal harmonious status. The home country closest to the European model is Scotland where university education is free. Water and railways reside in public ownership and child benefit support is not restricted to the first two children. The ongoing shattering of the UK is likely to see Scotland get independence, with the other home nations not far behind. Professor Dorling offers a devastating critique as to how a few grow ever richer, whilst the mass of people struggle. It is not a model of development that can sustain much longer. The next government needs to start moving the leavers to make the UK a genuine, more equal, egalitarian place to live. Failure to do so will see the divisions grow ever deeper. Professor Dorling will discuss his book at the Wanstead Tap in October.

Review - Shattered Nation by Danny Dorling

This excellent book from Danny Dorling provides a comprehensive picture of the way in which the UK has effectively shattered as a functioning country. Education, health, welfare, transport and the utilities have all been destroyed by the neo-liberal creed of the market knows best. A society that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. The central thesis of Shattered Nation is how the UK has become one of the most unequal countries in the world. In Europe, it is second only to Bulgaria, when it comes to inequality. Not that it was always thus - the UK was one of the most equal countries back in the 1970s. Income disparities were at their lowest in 1974. Dorling adapts William Beveridge's five evils from his famous 1940s report - want squalor, idleness, ignorance and disease - for today. So, the new categories are hunger, procurity, waste, exploitation and fear. The analysis of how things have and continue to break down is alarming. Also, the malaise that seems to stop the country breaking out of this mess. The text is illuminated with a variety of alarming facts, such as that there are 66 million rooms available in the UK, 22 million of which are empty. Homelessness is the main cause of death for those in Oxford under 65. Dorling does suggest solutions along the way, such as increasing the cost of owning second homes and providing rent controls and greater security of tenure. Dorling takes a very internationalist stance in the book, underlining that apart from the US, no other country is on this divisive path of destruction. Greater solidarity and cohesion is developing, particularly, among other European countries The closest any part of the UK comes to heading in such a direction is Scotland, where the limit on child benefit to the first two children does not exist, while, rail and water are under public control. Nor do Scottish students have to pay University fees. The splitting up of the UK seems an inevitability if the inequalities continue to grow and the society shatters. Dorling also highlights a dysfunctional electoral system that saw the Conservatives gain an 80 seat majority in 2019, despite getting just 14million votes. Some 17 million voted for other parties, whilst 23 million did not vote at all. The electoral system has to change. This book provides a masterful critique of just why this country is in the shattered state it is. Austerity cost more lives than the COVID pandemic. The pandemic was handled so badly due to the inequalities of the society and fragmentation through privatisation of so many parts of the public sector. A country as unequal as the UK is also more unhealthy, so a health emergency costs more to address than it would in a more equal country like say Finland. The book also provides some pointers as to how things could be put right. But the warnings are clear as to what will happen if the UK continues along this disastrous path. It will become an increasingly isolated island that operates in a situation of perpetual crisis. In the end, it simply won 't function at all. There are messages for everyone in this book, none more than politicians across the board, most of whom seem determined to move ever more quickly toward the abyss. The message is that red lights are flashing, it is time to act. Published by Verso - £14.99

Time to be bold on transport infrastructure

Time to be bold on transport infrastructure There need to be some radical measures taken to change the transport system of the UK. These would include making public transport cheap or free, providing a proper cycling network and cutting the cost of electric cars. Free or cheap public transport would bring people off the roads and out of the skies. There needs to be a truly comprehensive, safe cycle network of the type seen in other European countries. Finally, the whole electrification of vehicles needs speeding up. The charging network needs to expand and cost of electric vehicles brought down dramatically. All these measures will require government investment on a large scale. The fruits of such a policy, though, will be many fold. Not only would such measures dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions but they would also contribute to equality in society. At present, those with the most have the biggest polluting vehicles that cost everyone a disproportionate amount of money to keep on the road. Public transport in the UK is amongst the most expensive in the world. It is cheaper to drive virtually anywhere in the country, if there are three or four of you than to buy rail tickets. The costs are so ridiculous, that flying can be the cheapest form of transport. Looking to the way other European countries operate is instructive. In Germany, responding to the cost of living crisis, a ticket was introduced last year costing £6 a month with unlimited travel. This saw internal flights drop by 49% in the first month. In Spain, free travel was introduced, while Italy brought in low cost travel for low income families. Transport in France has always been at a nominal cost. Polluting vehicles reduce, whilst those on lower incomes benefit from free/cheap travel. Ofcourse, these countries have strong, progressive political leadership In the UK this is often lacking. The Prime Minister has become the champion of the polluters, based it seems on one by-election victory in Uxbridge, where he believes opposition to the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) won the day for his candidate. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has shown the sort of leadership on ULEZ and other transport issues that is needed. Indeed, right through the political system there needs to be leadership shown. We can't just talk the talk but need to walk the walk - literally. The pattern of transport used by local councilors would make for interesting reading. If set against the Mayor's active travel targets, some 80% of us should be getting around by public transport, cycle or on foot. Returning to the original theme, which is the need for some major interventions to make non- polluting transport affordable and safe for all. At present, what is being done across the country is at best piecemeal - many good things in some areas but the lack of an all encompassing vision. Also, increasingly a fear of offending the motorist. Free or very cheap public transport, a comprehensive cycle network and speeding up of car electrification seems like a no brainer, it is good for the economy and levelling up as well as the health of people and the environment. But some strong political leadership will be required, otherwise the slow piecemeal approach will continue. And we don't have the time for that.

Soaps need to cheer up

Has EastEnders become the drama wing of the cancer charities? The thought occurs, as the soap moves at almost unseemly haste from the death of one character (Lola Pearse) with cancer to the diagnosis of another ((Alfie Moon) with prostrate cancer. Surely, the viewer deserves a bit of an emotional break? The soaps have become the place where health and social issues are played out. They are popular with campaigning organisations and charities seeking to get a message over to the nation. In fact, they seem to be queuing up to be part of a plotline. This popularity goes back to when EastEnders carried the story of a character (Mark Fowler) with Aids. It was a long-running storyline that was found to resonate with more people than all the government advertising campaigns and warnings to the public about HIV and Aids. Now, though there are so many cause based storylines that they are literally bumping up against each other. Cancer, Motor Neurone Disease (MND) eating disorders, miscarriages, stalking, drug addiction, grooming, rape and domestic abuse just to mention a few. The subjects are usually handled very well, the soaps production department working closely with organisations and victims from the various areas. ITV's Coronation Street did a particularly good storyline about a young boy (Max Platt) being groomed by a far right gang. It picked up on how vulnerabilities are played upon. Presently, there is a very contemporary theme, as the iconic pub, the Rovers, struggles to survive amid the cost of living crisis. No doubt the soap remains an important medium to communicate such themes. The concern would be as to whether so many public information themes running at any one time take from the efficacy of the drama. Will people simply switch off if the drama is made up predominantly of these themes? The soap is a strange dramatic format. Its power to appeal is in the characters ability to entertain but also resonate with ordinary peoples lives. The soaps have become part of the wallpaper of everyday life. It is why so many seem to think the characters are real. That said, you'd be pushed to find anywhere like Eastenders Albert Square in the East End today or a Coronation Street in Manchester. It would be a shame if the soaps lost their appeal due to an over reliance on social problem based plotlines. The predominance of often depressing themes also does little to uplift the audience, as at present it moves from cancer in EastEnders to MND on Coronation Street. Yes, it is good to cover these important issues but maybe not quite as many, at the same time. Also, what about the odd good news, uplifting story? The life of working people maybe tough but it is not all about suffering and despair, there are the good times too. So let's cheer up a bit in those soap based efforts to entertain and educate the public. Some uplifting themes, a bit of hope, as well as public information scenarios.