[eltonioni]

Anyway, what's wrong with food banks - the world is a better place with them than without them.

The growth in use is what's wrong.

I'll raise you with growth in availability, and posit that food banks are like roads - the more you have the more you need.

[johnm]

Anyway, what's wrong with food banks - the world is a better place with them than without them.

The growth in use is what's wrong.

I'll raise you with growth in availability, and posit that food banks are like roads - the more you have the more you need.

I'm not sure there's solid evidence for either view, but our village donates to a foodbank locally and we're hearing harrrowing stories from the people who run them that were unknown 3 years ago.

[Miscellaneous]

Most have a basic PAYG phone, but they can burn up all this weeks minutes on such a call.

Not a pop at you Jim, but this did make me smile. I'm not denying there are many living in poverty, nor that they are systematically ignored. Nor do I consider living in poverty funny, or acceptable, however…

In considering poverty (absolute poverty aside) I often wonder how, say, Henry VIII, or even George V, would consider the lives of those deemed to be living in poverty?

[eltonioni]

The growth in use is what's wrong.

I'll raise you with growth in availability, and posit that food banks are like roads - the more you have the more you need.

I'm not sure there's solid evidence for either view, but our village donates to a foodbank locally and we're hearing harrrowing stories from the people who run them that were unknown 3 years ago.

People always needed food banks. To my knowledge I never did as a kid (though I know what an empty fridge and freezer looks like as an adult) but the reason that my dad has had an allotment all his life is because they had to eat when he was a kid and there weren't thousands of food banks to drop into for a free packet of mince.

Now there are more food banks people know about food banks so they use them and donate to them, giving rise to more food banks. When I was a kid we used to give food through chapel at Harvest Festival and it's still the religious that are at the heart of it, but like almost everything it's on a more organised year round basis, with staff, and resources, and an even better defined path to life everlasting.

Trying to eliminate food banks is a Utopian nonsense so I say that food banks are a good thing, and the more there are, the better. It's that society thing that people misquote Thatcher on.

[JoeC]

I find the idea of the 'more the better' a bit odd. I'd rather have less being required because we are dealing with the problem and creating a society that can look after itself.

[JoeC]

(though I know what an empty fridge and freezer looks like as an adult)

You had a fridge and a freezer? Luxury. Were they empty because Ocado had failed to turn up? A hope you had a stiff word with the manager at Waitrose on the way to the food bank.

[JoeC]

PS: Rees-Mogg finds food banks 'rather uplifting' too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41264965

[eltonioni]

(though I know what an empty fridge and freezer looks like as an adult)

You had a fridge and a freezer? Luxury. Were they empty because Ocado had failed to turn up? A hope you had a stiff word with the manager at Waitrose on the way to the food bank.

No, they were empty because RBS Global Restructuring Group took millions of pounds of assets so I had to make myself and my excellent employees redundant after selling my house and my cars to pay them, and didn't have much left for things like food. I suppose that's just another day in paradise for you but I still think myself luckier than most people.

[JoeC]

Sounds terrible. Making redundancies because of things out of your control and having to radically change your lifestyle is, I can attest, awful. At least they left you with your fridge and freezer so that you could stock up at the food bank if you needed it.

[johnm]

@eltonioni Sorry to hear that you were a victim of RBS, I haven't forgotten their behaviour when they took over Natwest .

[Jim Jones]

Most have a basic PAYG phone, but they can burn up all this weeks minutes on such a call.

Not a pop at you Jim, but this did make me smile. I'm not denying there are many living in poverty, nor that they are systematically ignored. Nor do I consider living in poverty funny, or acceptable, however…

In considering poverty (absolute poverty aside) I often wonder how, say, Henry VIII, or even George V, would consider the lives of those deemed to be living in poverty?

They’d say something like “send your servant with a scroll to the benefits agency “

It is all relative. But should one of the largest economies in the world have anyone with no secure place to live or basic nutrition?

[PaulB]

It is all relative. But should one of the largest economies in the world have anyone with no secure place to live or basic nutrition?

That was my thought when I read the report and made the OP in this thread.

[Miscellaneous]

It is all relative. But should one of the largest economies in the world have anyone with no secure place to live or basic nutrition?

Ideally not Jim, however as I know you know there's a little more to it than exclaiming we are one of the largest economies when discussing such matters. It's oh to easy and seems to be the response to many social challenges to say we are a top economy. That's an observation of current trends and not a criticism of you.

No, I do not think we are doing enough to deal with the issues, but nor do I think we would eradicate the problem if he had twice the GDP.

[PaulB]

No, I do not think we are doing enough to deal with the issues, but nor do I think we would eradicate the problem if he had twice the GDP.

So what’s the answer, then as not all countries seem to be in the same boat?

[Miscellaneous]

So what’s the answer, then as not all countries seem to be in the same boat?

I don't understand your position Paul. On the one hand you seem to be saying dealing with the problem is, or should be, related to wealth, but on the other you acknowledge not all countries have the problem. So unless those countries are the few wealthier ones it demonstrates it is not solely a wealth problem.

I think you may have inadvertently agreed with me.

The answer is complex (not that I have a definitive answer) and IMO requires political will and desire, as a starter for 10.