Off Topic Political Debate

I love it when they open the archives every year - thirty years to find out what you always knew. Still, glad the old harridan held the Irish in as much contempt as most of they and their ancestors had for her.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46573484

 

The UK had a chance to witness the Lib Dems in action during the coalition from 2010. Having experienced their wishy washy policies and antics the public all but ditched them at the next election. They positioned themselves as anti Brexit on the last election and again failed to gain any support. I suspect Macron's centrist party in France, as in many other EU countries, will go the same way.

 

Thatcher obviously knew the Irish government were directly and indirectly supporting terrorism by the IRA.

 

In 1896 a man died from TB, leaving his wife and two children homeless as their house was tied to his job. The family went to Bolton where the wife had a sister, and hoped that she could help. The sister lived in a one up one down terrace house with her husband and two children, so didn't have the room to accommodate them. Next stop was the Bolton workhouse, but they didn't want the family as it would be drain on their finances. So a train ticket was bought to send them back to Watford and the workhouse that is now Watford General Hospital where they stayed for three years until the children were old enough to start work.
I read now that 6,800 train tickets have been bought by local councils since 2015 to move homeless people out of their areas in case they become a charge on the council, often sending them to places that they have no connection with. This sounds very much like the situation that existed 120 years ago. Surely we have moved on to a better standard of help for those who through no fault of their own find themselves in difficulties.

 

The scheme is to sensibly send homeless people back to their area of locality, which means back where their families live. Surely much better than sleeping in a doorway in a strange place.

If your thought the UK had a problem just look at Paris

Thousands of homeless migrants are sleeping rough in Paris ...

 

I don't think it serves any purpose to compare numbers on this SH. Nearly all big cities have problems with homelessness. I worked with homeless people in Hamburg for a couple of years. The reasons for it are varied: Relationship breakdown (the most common cause), loss of jobs, poor mental health, alcohol/substance addiction, domestic abuse - and often a combination of these. Hamburg has around 2,000 and Berlin an estimated 6-10,000. Often they choose to sleep on the streets because the hostels do not allow dogs (often the only companion), or because they can pick up illnesses and have things stolen in the hostels, also because most hostels require you to register by a certain time (4pm) for the night. As an emergency solution many big cities open up the U-Bahn stations for sleeping (after the last trains have gone). I think the fact that most homeless were not actually native to the city had something to do with pride - if you're down and out would you want to remain in a place where you are known.

 

Soup Kitchens and charitable works are Not the answer...
And nothing to do with sending people 'back'. Completely uncoordinated panic tactics due to under resourcing and no social care strategy. The Liberal Democrats have a better approach than the present Government... IMO of course

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Not according to the UK electorate, they have binned the Lib Dems.

 

Did you not see the joke? Even the lib dems have a better social care strategy...

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The Lib Dems have great ideas as long as they are kept well clear of government.

 

Soup kitchens and charitable works are not the answer but in the absence of anything else are still valuable Yorkie. I would like to see the word 'charity' replaced by 'justice'. In an earlier post I said that most big cities have a problem with homelessness - but there are some exceptions to this. One that springs to mind is Vienna - which tops about every list on both affordable housing and quality of life. The reason for this is not hard to find - 62% of its citizens live in public housing.

 

On an average day in the UK :

3,700 are forced to visit a food bank

5,400 suffer domestic violence

4,700 sleep rough on the streets

4 migrants arrive in boats across the Channel

No prizes for guessing which one the Government calls a 'crisis' !

May 2019 bring us a change in attitude and priority setting, though I'm not holding my breath.
Happy New Year everyone !

 

Interesting article about the press' constant attacks on Corbyn

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/o...cQLH1vIP2fz-Ip58moLC006GlMxVApGNaubTkk79WhUJ8

And another on the Tories using taxpayer money for smears and attacks on him and Labour

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/n...s-unit-which-smeared-corbyn-and-labour/09/12/

 

I spent 2h earlier helping at a Trussell Trust foodbank, the man that ran the place said the amount of claimants has doubled over the last year, and the increase was in the thousands. It's sad that so many people rely on the benevolence of others just to be able to feed themselves...

 

On a completely different note shouldn't doddery old 97 year olds have their driving licences taken away ? I see that the victims are still waiting for an apology, or some other recognition, for this traumatic experience from the so called Windsors.

 

Once we abolish the monarchy it won't be a problem

 

Haven't you got enough on your plate already?

 

Thinking ahead OFH - always good to plan the future!

 

Maybe the government should listen to you.