Child Poverty, Fuel Poverty, Food Banks And An Early Death.

      Do you not get sick in your stomach, and very angry when you keep being fed this crap about how the economy is recovering and the UK is now doing well. That babbling brook of bullshit, the media, are always trotting out goody-goody figures of how things are now on the up and up, while the vast majority of us are facing the worst attack on our living conditions in living memory.

       In this Britain on the rise, we have the Trussell Trust which runs 400 food banks in the UK, claim that it has seen the numbers of those applying for food, triple in the last year. 2012-2013 saw 346,992 people relying on food banks to survive, of those 126,889 were children. In this prosperous growing economy we have 13 million people living below the poverty line.

       In this land of growing opportunity we have 3.5 million children living below the poverty line, that is 27% of all children. In some local areas that figure is dwarfed, by numbers like 50%-70%. Another interesting figure regarding child poverty is the fact that 66% of those children in poverty, are in homes where at least one person is working.

      From child poverty to adults relying on food banks, to fuel poverty, that is the  true picture of the UK's growing economy. It is estimated that 24,000 people in the UK will die from the cold this winter, simply because they can't afford to heat their homes. Cold homes bring on increased blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, respiratory problems and a host of other problems. More than 6 million people in the UK are worried that they may not be able to heat their homes properly this winter. Millions of pensioners face the winter with dread and anxiety, as they know the dangers of a cold home, but can't afford to heat theirs.

 

       With this depressing picture of the real UK, we get those arrogant, pompous, parasitic millionaire MP's claiming that poverty is due to those scroungers and drug users living on benefit, however the facts don't bear that out. According to G Hay and L Bauld, Population estimates of problematic drug users in England who access DWP benefits, Department for Work and Pensions, 2008, suggest that 6.6 per cent of the total number of benefit claimants in England were problem drug users. While drug misuse may prove to be a key reason this group of people finds it hard to escape poverty, it clearly has no explanatory power for the other 93.4 per cent of claimants.

     The truth is the system is designed to syphon wealth upwards and it is working exceedingly well at the moment. If we want to eradicate child poverty, fuel poverty, and the need for food banks, and the attendant misery, then we have to destroy the system of capitalism. Turning to the managers of this exploitative system and asking them to share a little bit more of their wealth, (which we created) with us, may temporarily get you a few more crumbs, but they will keep the cake. and we will keep our poverty.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Labour, Making The Cuts Nicer.

       We all know that the ConDems coalition of millionaires, is hell-bent on slashing benefits of the most vulnerable in society, social spending to them is an anathema, Sadly a high proportion of people see the next election as a possible end to this onslaught by voting Labour, (sorry "New Labour") They somehow have formed the mistaken opinion  that the Miliband gang will change this cruel market drive approach to health and welfare. Sadly they will be find that should the well-heeled Miliband mob get their grubby hands on the reins of power, nothing will change. This particular bunch of hypocrites are traveling around preaching how they will continue with all the trimmings of of Osborne's master plan, but make it fair!! How do you take away support from vulnerable people fairly? how do you cut the benefits of those living on or near the poverty line fairly? Thatcher, Cameron, Miliband, it doesn't make any difference, it is not the smile or the personality that matters, it is the system. Only when we start to dismantle, this greed driven system of capitalism, will we see the vulnerable being cared for as their needs dictate and the pain of poverty being removed.

ann arky's home.

WHO CAN LIVE ON PIE-IN-THE-SKY?

         As the “financial crisis” rumbles on and on, more and more people are becoming homeless, and in London alone there has been a 43% increase in “rough sleepers” in the year to March 2012. This is likely to be an under estimate, as it is almost impossible to get an accurate figure. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves homeless, face a multitude of problems, in spite of this, recent figures show that one in five homeless people have had their benefits cut or stopped altogether, in the first year of the government's workfare program. Will this situation be remedied any time soon?

       On Wednesday our millionaire Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne will make his up-date statement on the economy, and according to Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, “Since the budget, the outlook for the UK economy has deteriorated and government receipts have disappointed by even more than this year's weak growth would normally suggest," so it doesn't bode well for the most vulnerable in our society. The millionaire cabal of Tories have already annouced that the “austerity” will have to continue well beyond their orginal estimate, and could run to 2018. Again this is an estimate based on pie-in-the-sky figures of growth and guess work from the banksters who gambled and lost billions, creating this “financil crisis” in the first place.

 "You have to make sacrifices to get the debt down."

      So what does the future hold if your not one of the millionaires? For starters, working longer to get your pension, which will be buttons, assuming you still have a job to cling onto. Wage cuts/freezes, or at best a wage increase lower than inflation, which is in fact a wage cut. Social benefits cut or eliminated, social spending slashed. More cuts to education, a privatised health service, an if you are working, it is more likey to be part-time and low paid. And what for? Does anybody believe that even if they annouce in 2018 that the financial crisis is over, that we will all see a dramatic improvement in our living standards? Our employers will increase our wages above inflation to get us back to where we were? Our new smiling millionaire government will pour extra money into education, social spending and re-nationalise the health service? They will also see that we all have affordable housing, and homelessness, child poverty, fuel poverty, will all be things of the past? Dream on my friend, your “austerity” is here as a way for the future. The UK will be part of that great big European sweatshop to allow our corporate masters to compete with those Eastern sweatshops. That is the grand-plan, the deficit reduction is just the smoke and mirrors. Be warned, organise, take action and resist, or humbly wallk into their scheme of things. 

ann arky's home.

CORPORATE LOOTERS.

          QUOTE;    “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” – Malcolm X

         Our millionaire lord and master Cameron, believes that those who were involved in the disturbances across England last week should be evicted from their home. All the family, even if it was just one member of that family who was involved. He also believes that if they are on benefit, they should lose their benefits. One council has already served an eviction notice on one family.

         This is the usual revenge response that we expect from the right wing millionaire Oxbridge brigade. Well over 1,500 have been arrested in connection with the disturbances, does that mean we will now have over 1,500 more homeless families wandering our streets begging? According to “one-response” millionaire Cameron, that should sort the problem. Having made them homeless will the council now by law be obliged to find them temporary accommodation? Perhaps the millionaire Cameron cabal think that 1,500 extra penniless homeless families wandering our streets, will benefit our society. Perhaps they would care to explain, but explanation is not their strong point.

Looters, I know what I'd do with the buggers.

 

        This right-wing mob of millionaires only have one response, revenge, hit hard. They will sit in the security of their wealth and enjoy all the opportunities that their wealth offers, spouting morality. A morality that sees their wealth protected at the cost of social services, the public education system and our NHS. So, groups of youths looted some business, what about Oxbridge Cameron and his millionaire friends in the corporate world that have for generations looted our communities of jobs, opportunities, hope. Shifting their wealth to where it will make the greatest profit for their own selfish desires. What has done the greater damage to our society, a group that shut down coal mines, shipyards, steel works, and in the process devastated communities for generations, driving them into abject poverty and deprivation. Or several small groups that looted some stores and smashed up some businesses? Let's focus on the greater damage and get our priorities right.

ann arky's home.