Picture this: President Snow is sat in the Capitol, eating to excess and living life to the full, whilst at the same time children in the Districts are starving. Yes, I am talking about The Hunger Games, but replace Snow with Johnson and the Districts with UK areas of poverty, and we have the current state of our country.
It saddens me that I have to write this blog in 2020. Child food poverty should not be a thing in our country, one of the richest in the world, but alas it is. The fact that there even needed to be a motion in the House of Commons is bad enough, but for that motion to fail is downright disgusting. To the Tory MPs who believe that it should be up to the poor man to feed himself and his family, my message to them is try it before commenting. The people you are criticising generally do not want handouts, feel it is shameful to ask and feel like they are letting their families down. Many of these families have fallen upon hard times because of the pandemic, which is not of their making. I know I will be pointed to the "improved welfare system" where claimants get an extra £20 per week. This is the same system that takes up to six weeks to come through and often has to be fought for. I know I would not want to battle through the system.
I recently watched an episode of Rich House, Poor House and it was fascinating to watch how the "poor" bought "luxuries" such as meals out, days out and presents for their children. To be honest, these are things we all take for granted in a relatively well paid job. Imagine what it would be like not being able to do those things, living from pay cheque to pay cheque and deciding whether to feed yourself or heat the house. It is hard to empathise with this if you have never experienced this. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it has made me who I am) I did experience this as a child.
My childhood was one of poverty. I cannot complain, as I was always fed, cleaned and clothed but it was a struggle. For as long as I can remember, my dad was signed off work with severe bipolar disorder, meaning he couldn't work due to the strength of his medication. My mum worked two part time jobs to bring some money in. We lived in a typical council house in a typical council estate, in a typical working class town. We didn't have aspirations other than working in manual jobs and getting enough money to keep a roof over our heads. I was on free school meals throughout my school career. I did not realise it then, but I do now, those meals were a lifesaver for us. It meant we could afford to eat three meals a day; without this, I am not sure if that would have been the case.
Growing up poor is tough for the children. I could not understand why I couldn't have a McDonalds, why I only had £1 for youth club when my friends had £5, why I couldn't go on holiday, why I couldn't go on the amazing school trips like the rugby tour and skiing. I lived with hand me downs and always had a hole in different pieces of clothing, we would wear tights under our pyjamas to keep us warm at night, we would have the heating on at 15 degrees ( I can remember being bullied at school after a friend slept the night at my house and told everybody how cold my house was), we would only have a bath on a Sunday night and only wash down in the week. I dreaded non-uniform days, I dreaded parties, I dreaded going on trips where you could wear your own clothes.
From the age of 12 I started a paper round, and from the age of 13 I was working weekends in a fruit factory for £4 an hour. This made me feel rich! I used this money to buy items on credit from the Littlewoods catalogue, like clothes, shoes, and Game Boy games. I felt like a king, but it started a life of debt and normalising debt, as nothing could be bought without credit, and I still struggle with this idea today. If I had not managed to do well at school, and get a well paid job, I would still be living with a mountain of crippling debt.
This cycle of debt is often overlooked for the working class family. I know people say you should live within your means, and I agree with that, but I know that some families can only afford to buy food by using a credit card at the end of the month. Again, I take you back to my earlier point. Imagine living your life without any of the little luxuries we take for granted. How miserable would your life be? We cannot begrudge people taking a loan to go on holiday or buy a family meal on a credit card. Everybody deserves to live. However, this results in growing debts, which then impacts upon their future abilities to buy the basics.
My experiences as a child have helped me empathise with the difficult choices that people have to make. I will never demonise people for the decisions they make and will always look to support where I can. What I cannot stand is people degrading the "poor". The comments made by Ben Bradley MP are abhorrent. How dare he claim that: "At one school in Mansfield 75% of kids have a social worker, 25% of parents are illiterate. Their estate is the centre of the area’s crime. One kid lives in a crack den, another in a brothel. These are the kids that most need our help, extending FSM doesn’t reach these kids." Followed up by this corker: “£20 cash direct to a crack den and brothel really sounds like way forward with this one”
How dare this privileged, privately educated numpty say this and demonise a whole group of people because of hearsay and one story he may have heard. It saddens me that the very people we need to be helping are being picked on by the rich and wealthy because of ideology.
We have recently received the updated head teacher standards with the Nolan Principles highlighted again. I live my life by these principles, it should not be too much to ask that our MPs do the same. Where is their selflessness and integrity? So many Tory MPs have now come out attacking their constituents having the nerve to question the way they voted and playing the victim. How is this showing integrity? I have now seen some who voted against the motion, now say that maybe it should be looked again. This is not because of their moral compass. This is due to them trying to save face. Can you imagine being in the position to do some good and providing a small gesture to the most needy in the country and voting not to do it. I just cannot fathom the decision making.
Society is digging the government out of a hole again. Marcus Rashford is being amazing, local businesses are providing food and schools, like my own, have provided vouchers out of their own budgets. This is covering up the cracks that the government have left gaping, but if this good will stopped, these cracks would become chasms and so many children would slip down even further into food poverty. This reminds me of the very early days of David Cameron's term in office, when we wanted "Big Society" and charities to step up whilst the Conservatives stripped away all support mechanisms. This didn't work and it will not work again. We should not be playing games with hunger, and now is the time to end Child Food Poverty for good; but do this government even care enough to do this?
Unfortunately for anybody living in poverty, The Hunger Games catchphrase is apt: "May the odds ever be in your favour".
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