UK Politics: Cost of Living Crisis

[Raja]

The Independent Food Aid Network letter from a couple of days ago can be found here, addressed to the PM & Chancellor - can't wait for this to be called Tory bashing or whatever  - Maybe I should go hide in a freezer and pretend that these issues don't exist. 

Quote

The Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) represents food aid providers operating across the UK including over 550 independent food banks. We are writing to urge you to take immediate action to reduce the rapidly rising levels of poverty, destitution, and hunger in our communities.

Since October 2021, the cut to Universal Credit, the end of the furlough scheme, as well as the start of the cost-of-living crisis have led to unrelenting increases in demand for emergency food support.

£500 million added to the Household Support Fund (HSF) cannot possibly begin to fill the gap left by an inadequate social security safety net. This funding is a drop in the ocean in terms of the scale of need we are seeing. What’s more, the HSF is discretionary and not necessarily distributed as cash first support meaning people must often use vouchers or even food banks to access any help at all.

However, there is a limit to food banks’ capacity to support the numbers of people seeking their help. Food bank teams are often over-stretched and exhausted and could well be unable to continue to pick up the pieces. Volunteers cannot be expected to cope both physically and mentally with such relentless demand. What’s more, people who used to donate to food banks are now needing to access help themselves. Our members are struggling to find the resources to provide adequate food parcels as the scale of demand and food and energy price increases impact on the services they run.

Charitable food aid has been an inadequate and unsustainable stop gap measure to growing poverty in the UK for 12 years. We urge you to immediately address the root causes of the poverty driving the need for our services. Food banks are reaching breaking point.

 

[Spockydog]

50 minutes ago, Raja said:

The Independent Food Aid Network letter from a couple of days ago can be found here, addressed to the PM & Chancellor - can't wait for this to be called Tory bashing or whatever  - Maybe I should go hide in a freezer and pretend that these issues don't exist. 

 

6th Richest Nation In The World 

(Actually, that was before Brexit. Fuck knows where we are now.)

[Heartofice]

9 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

6th Richest Nation In The World 

(Actually, that was before Brexit. Fuck knows where we are now.)

https://globalpeoservices.com/top-15-countries-by-gdp-in-2022/

5th now, so doesn't look like Brexit was all that bad.

[Spockydog]

 

[Week]

4 hours ago, Spockydog said:

6th Richest Nation In The World 

(Actually, that was before Brexit. Fuck knows where we are now.)

Would be more meaningful to look GDP by PPP (purchasing power parity) which is a more meaningful metric with respect to living conditions rather than nominal GDP. (UK is typically at or just outside the top 10)

[Maltaran]

In more blatant Tory-bashing, one of their MPs is now a convicted pedophile

Imran Ahmad Khan: MP guilty of sex assault on 15-year-old boy https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-61026348

[Heartofice]

I mean I accept that the current crop of politicians is bad, but that doesn’t mean we need to put actual children in charge. Sturgeon is a lunatic.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/at-16-theyre-too-young-to-drive-but-they-could-be-steering-the-country-jt3v76pzh

[mormont]

Well, on the one hand, we have Priti Patel blaming the fuel price rise on Labour, and Rishi Sunak's 'friends' briefing that he's had enough of people asking impertinent questions and this country doesn't deserve him and he's off to the US at the next election.

On the other hand, we have a politician whose Twitter feed is as likely to feature a thoughtful review of the latest novel she's read as it is to be publicising her latest policies, and who is apparently literally mad to believe that someone who is old enough to work, marry, have children and (this last bit being quite relevant) pay taxes should also be able to vote and stand for election.

I'm gonna say it's a bit late to worry about having children in charge: the UK government is full of them. The actual 16 year olds can probably be trusted to do no worse. They can do any other job, after all, and if the voters don't think they're up to it, well, they could always not vote for them?

[Heartofice]

Glad to see you don’t think it’s ridiculous then. Just gonna note that down. 

[A wilding]

Perhaps not unrelated: in the last year or so I have gained substantial anecdotal understanding that there are a significant number of elderly people out there who have demonstrably completely lost track of current events and are manifestly unable to make any meaningful judgment of our current crop of politicians. Some of these people have been diagnosed as having cognitive disorders. Yet we still allow them to vote.

Personally I think there is at least some argument that 16 year olds should have the same right as them to vote at least. After all, the young do actually have a stake in the future they are voting for.

(Of course I may be biased in that the examples of elderly people with dementia that I have encountered all vote Tory.)

[Maltaran]

2 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Glad to see you don’t think it’s ridiculous then. Just gonna note that down. 

I strongly suspect that all these criticisms you’re making were also made when they lowered the voting age from 21

[DMC]

I support lowering the voting age from 18 to 16, and it certainly isn't a ridiculous position at all.  However, I do like how the US constitution establishes minimum ages for holding office different than the voting age.  Call me an elitist all you want, but I'm perfectly fine with making people wait until they are 25 to run for office.  At least at the national level.

[Zorral]

Imagine university administrators dealing with a 25-year-old grad student TA  who is also a Senator.

[williamjm]

5 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Imagine university administrators dealing with a 25-year-old grad student TA  who is also a Senator.

Mhairi Black, who is pictured in the article linked above was a 20 year old student when she was first elected as a SNP MP in 2015.

[Zorral]

Kind of like the barista kids unionizing $tarbux facing off against CEO Howard Schultz.  How can this be!

[The Anti-Targ]

9 hours ago, Spockydog said:

6th Richest Nation In The World 

(Actually, that was before Brexit. Fuck knows where we are now.)

It was 5th in 2020 before Brexit actually took effect, and it's still 5th. According to one website* that lists these things it has taken the largest growth hit of the top 10 economies https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/

 

*I make no claim as to the credibility of this website, nor the credibility of the data.

[Spockydog]

Someone like Greta Thunberg* would do a better job of looking out for our interests than anyone currently occupying the Palace of Westminster.

* cue ignorant Trumpish sneering.

[Varysblackfyre321]

9 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I mean I accept that the current crop of politicians is bad, but that doesn’t mean we need to put actual children in charge. Sturgeon is a lunatic.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/at-16-theyre-too-young-to-drive-but-they-could-be-steering-the-country-jt3v76pzh

If 16 year olds get to vote does that mean no one older them can?

Also, from what I understand in the U.K you can drive before you’re 16 and get a provisional license. You can also be employed. You can consent to sex, and even enlist in the army.

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

6 hours ago, Maltaran said:

I strongly suspect that all these criticisms you’re making were also made when they lowered the voting age from 21

Yeah much of the culture warrior right would be against any expansion of suffrage based on their disdain for democracy.

[BigFatCoward]

2 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

 

Also, from what I understand in the U.K you can drive before you’re 16 and get a provisional license. You can also be employed. You can consent to sex, and even enlist in the army.

 

I'm not against 16 year olds voting, but I've never understood this argument. How does getting horny and fucking behind asda prepare you for making informed decisions?