Friday 11 July 2014

LET THEM EAT... OH, WHATEVER IT IS THAT POOR PEOPLE EAT

The Tories don't know or care about food banks. They don't know the agony of being hungry. Not "just a bit peckish, but heading off for a spot of luncheon at the RAC Club with Lord Fortescue-Fotheringham-Fortescue", kind of hungry that one is after a game of polo, or a round at the Old Course, but the "haven't eaten for 3 days" kind of hungry, where you would take waste food out of a bin.

Not a clue how that feels.

And why should they? That kind of feeling isn't prevalent in prep schools, Eton, Oxford or the Guards.

But they preside over a country in which millions of people aren't getting enough to eat. We all know food bank use has increased dramatically under their period of government, and that the numbers using these modern day "soup kitchens"  has increased by around 50% over the last year, but there are others who are managing to avoid the indignity of these places, by eating less and less, feeling sicker and sicker and building up health problems for the future.

So, little though it is, when the EU, recognising that this is a problem all over the continent, offer to give money to help feed those who are hungry, the Uk government comprised of gentlemen and aristocrats, is the only one in Europe to object.

"It is not", said one Tory, "for the European Union to dictate to member states how to run their welfare systems or how to help the needy". He went on to say that they wouldn't be taking lectures from the EU and that Britain would decide how to distribute help to people who were in need, whether from the government or from charity.

Britain is far too important to accept money to feed the poor. Britain GIVES money to help the poor in other countries (more so that it can comply with the membership requirements of the G8, than any kind of concern for the starving, I would imagine). Britain has a empire. Britannia rules the waves. Long live Queen Victoria...

People using food banks, according to government ministers, are only doing so because free food is free food. (The trouble with their Tories is that they tend to judge everyone by their own standards. They eat in subsidised Westminster restaurants and drink in subsidised bars because they can get something for next to nothing, and they assume that that is how the rest of us are put together as well. 
Skinny Duncan Smith  before free breakfasts
And when the whole social security kit and caboodle is run by a man who charges the taxpayer £37 for his breakfast, you begin to understand that we live in a very divided country.
Podgy Duncan Smith, well fed by the taxpayer
We really need to start treating them the way they treat our poor.

Britain is too proud to accept money from the EU to feed our starving.

Parliament should therefore immediately remove all subsidies from MPs', Lords'  and the Royals' eating and drinking. Surely they are too proud to accept our charity.
Britain is very very very very important
 And the EU should send the money to the TRUSSELL TRUST. The government of the UK isn't very interested in the day to day running of the country, and leaves it mainly to charities, while they get on with the important stuff of looking big and important.

It really makes you want to vomit.
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Munguin and his staff are off to Dublin for the weekend, on a fact finding tour (according to the management) or a booze up (according to the staff). 
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46 comments:

  1. I think that Westminster is conducting itself entirely to it's own satisfaction. Listened to the spokesperson with regard to the loss of money in the sell off of the Post Office this morning and his closing statement was well prices go up or down. Considering how much use a billion pounds would have had for people, not that we the sma folk would have got a sniff of it. After all the rich got the benefit from selling the Post Office off short. So to return to the fact that they voted against money to feed the poor is completely understandable, we can only come to the conclusion that not only do they not care they would indeed quite like to see the situation as it is in Greece where people are looking into rubbish bins. Oh dear I forgot we have skip diving here as well.

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    1. Yes we do. We have teachers reporting children hunting in waste paper bins in class to see if richer kids have thrown anything out. If that doesn't break you heart, what would?

      Aye they managed to lose a billion or so, and Vince Cable says he got a good deal... Oh well, that's the Tories for you.

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    2. The real scandal in the privatisation was not just the price, which was suitably low, it was the fact that they chose a group of fast tracked investment funds whose job was to hold the stock for a period of time and essentially moderate swings, especially of the price down, Osborne's best man got a Rolls Royce treatment and guess what?

      They sold their shares first thing, and took a nice little profit, without having to actually get around to paying for the shares.

      Great to have mates at the top, looking out for one, wot?

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    3. If they scavenge in dustbins it will mean less food going into landfill , an excellent use of resources.

      Delete
  2. You would think that this would make head-lines in the main-stream media but, then again..... Helena, it was Royal Mail that was privatised but the Post Office could be next if the Tory backers feel they can make money out of it.

    Enjoy your Dublin staff outing, Tris, one of my favourite cities so have a drop or two of the black stuff for me.

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    1. Everything is going to end up in private hands. It means that the cabinet secretaries don't actually have to do much. Hunt, for example is not any longer legally obliged to provide a health service in return for the taxes the English pay.

      The added advantage is that, when these troughers retire to the house of doddering old aristos, they will be able to top up their £3p00+ a day, commons pension and free drinks/food, with fat cheques for having their aristocratic names on the boards (and the headed paper) of some of the companies that have bought into the sold off state property.

      It's win win iwn iwn for those at the top, and search in wastepaper bins for discarded pie crusts, in competition with the mice, for the poor.

      Clout Rule Britannia, Britannia waves the rules. Clout.

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    2. Thanks for your good wishes John. Munguin said he might allow us a half of Guinness between us, on expenses. If we take a pay cut for the next year.

      Looking forward to being in a small independent European state.

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    3. Indeed John a proper correction, made the common mistake of using the Post Office for the Royal Mail, Well we used to consider they were both the same. I doubt they will bother with the Post Office, being run down for years, it will go the way of the English NHS, and be left to be picked off one by one.
      Absolutely terrible that kids are having to do that, rummage through waste bins. We used to feed the mice in the printers when we worked there, never fed the rats though. We should do the same with the human rats.

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    4. There is no more earthly reason why any government needs to be involved in sending letters , who now thinks the car industry should be in public ownership.

      Delete
  3. I said this over on Bella, but it was a long, rambling comment so may not have got much attention:

    The Tory plan may be that (if) they lose Scotland, they can "suddenly" realise how much Scotland contributes to the Union, and use that as an excuse to crank up the "austersity" agenda even more, and sell of more bits of the government to themselves and their friends.

    I worry about the day they sell off the military and police.

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    1. If they crank up the austerity much more, a quarter of the population will die of starvation. Still it will be the bottom quarter, so I suppose they'/ll not be that bothered. Infact... Yeah good idea. it could have come straight from the snout of george Osborne or Esther McVile.

      Delete
    2. Policing (or certain parts of it) is already being farmed out in some parts of England I believe.

      Recruitment and certain purchasing and sourcing for the military too..

      I wish they's outsource the royals. I'm sure Munguin could do the job cheaper than that scrounging lot.

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    3. I think you missed the point of outsourcing government functions.

      It's not to save anyone money, it's so that specific people get all the profit from things that are required.

      It's *blatently* a way for them to steal the coutries money and give it to themselves, but since they write the rulebook, they can make it legal in the eyes of the UK's law.

      Delete
    4. LOL I can't keep up with their wicked ways Illy...

      There's a lot of advantage in having no written constitution...



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    5. There is no alternative to so called austerity , labour wasted £billions on benefits for useless, idle, underclass, semi literate morons.
      There is no more money!!!

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    6. 'We won't consider we have 'lost' Scotland just rid of it.

      Delete
    7. That's gotta be a troll, right?

      There's no way that someone would really post that here, is there?

      Sodding Poe's Law!

      Delete
  4. Sort of off topic, but not really.

    Your final picture is presumeably HMS QE (?) blending into the coastline of a forward positioned land mass, which has also been seen as an aircraft carrier.

    I am quite aggrieved that I cannot link to that idea, that the UK is nothing more or less than a strategic, static aircraft carrier.. Google isn't playing fair.

    The Orwell link isn't working and neither is the UK as a US aircraft carrier.

    Perhaps some of you readers could get me that link?

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  5. Is anyone REALLY surprised, I doubt it the Tories have always been a force unto themselves, unfortunately Labour aren't much better, so whats the solution for Scots, I think we all know the answer to that question. We in Scotland have a chance to break free from the den of iniquity aka Westminster, we have a chance to do something positive something inspirational.

    The world is watching, and hoping, for a country to lead the way forward, it doesn't have to be like this fat cats dinning whilst poor kids go hungry, we can be a shinning light around the world with progressive and fair new policies shaped not by politicians but by the people. We mustn't fail in our drive for equality, and it all begins with a YES, we can and will lead the way.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Yes, I think we can. The UK is already somewhere near the top of the list of unequal countries.

      We've covered the pensions for the old. They are the worst. Benefits are poor, and badly managed. In someone countries there is (as there used to be here until the old bat Thatcher got rid of them) a period where the benefits relate to previous income, which means that you don;t have to sell everything when you are unemployed. It's only for a short period but helps people who are determined to work.

      if we did something about addressing drug and drink addiction we could deal with a lot of the long term unemployed... and likewise if we had more sensible sentencing for minor crime, we could ensure that kids don;t end up with criminal records which also impede their later ability to obtain work.

      Britain will never do that. Scotland could.

      Delete
  6. Is this not a very old story.... and also did they not accept the money but they wanted to spend it in different areas. So rather they took the money but spent it on care for the elderly for example (doubtful) rather than being forced to spend the money on deprived areas..... I think that is what happened, this makes out like they lost out on the money.... Which I think they took.

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    1. Yes it is an old story.

      I've no doubt they took it. They probably put it toward a helicopter for some minor royal.

      Delete
  7. Yes I have found out what they did, the money is taken out of other funds, so if you accept the 3M you lose 3M from somewhere else, so they refused the money and kept 3m to spend on getting disadvantaged people back to work.

    “If we accepted the funding it would be taken off our structural fund budget which helps disadvantaged people into work.

    “This is how similar funding has been used in the past – for employment skills and social inclusion. Just to be clear we aren’t losing money.”

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    1. Yes. I knew it was an old story.

      I imagine if they took the money the maybe spent it on new artwork for the House of Lords.

      I wouldn't believe anything they said about the EU though. (Well, or anything else)

      They have badmouthed the EU for the last 40 years, and they will mess their pants when England, swallowing all the crap, votes to come out, and all the Japanese/Korean/Indian companies move to Hungary oe Slovakia so that they can still be in the EU.

      LOL They make me laugh... helps people into work?

      The way they run it, it helps very few people that it is intended to help.

      I've seen it working (or rather not working).

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  8. Don't let any of these bastards get within 5 miles of me or I'll kill them personally with my bare hands. There I've said it and I don't care which bastard in GCHQ reads it either!

    On a lighter note Tris I hope you, Munguin and the rest of the team in Munguin Towers enjoy your *ahem* fact finding mission over in Ireland. :-)

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    1. He he Arbroath...

      If I can supply any equipment you need, please don;t hesitate to call upon me.

      Thanks for your good wishes for the erm, fact finding mission...

      :)

      PS... I see John Macaskill is unhappy with the snooping charter that Cameron has proposed, and Miliband has agreed to back.

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    2. Think you mean Kenny Macaskill don't you Tris? ;-)

      Aye well there again we have to remember that they, WM, knew about this happening way back in April but oh look... squirrels!

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    3. Awwww bonnie squirrels!!!

      Yeah Kenny Arbroath... John Swinnie, and Kenny Macaskill...

      I wish my brain worked....

      Delete
  9. Tris

    Is this new money? Didn'tthey turn money down previously for feedbacks. They're all s bunch of toilet stains and McGovern never got back to me regarding my request for him to propose an enquiry into the rise of foodbanks . Says it all really given the red Tories called labour voted with their masters on social security cuts. It has to be a yes.

    Bruce

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  10. Bruce it isn't a terribly recent story. They may have done it in the past though, possibly on numerous occasions.

    As for Labour, they thought that everything was just fine in Scotland when they used to send back money from the block grant to England every year.

    Clearly under their governance everything was so good here that we had a surplus... roads, hospital , schools, all in perfect order...

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  11. Selfservatives right enough.

    Hope you have pints aplenty, of facts of course. Nice cold, dark and creamy, with a stouty taste, facts.
    JimnArlene

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    1. You know...it genuinely does taste better in Ireland!!!

      :)

      Delete
  12. Realise I am a bit late, but watch out for the wasps and the Guinness, Tris, I had one do the back stroke in a half pint outside a Pub in County Clare.

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    1. Too late too late....

      It was nice stuff. Actually, I thought it would be electric soup, but it wasn't...

      Delete
    2. Tis very nice stuff and so is the Whiskey, my Dad said it was fighting whiskey but I never had a fight when drinking it. Got a tasting certificate to prove it from Jamieson Distillery. Been to Ireland twice, ocne to Athlone and the second time down Cork way. Never been to Dublin, may get there yet specially if they do a daft thing and vote NAW, who uses that word I ask?

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    3. LOL... The same thought was crossing my mind Helena, as I was walking about Dublin.

      Would this be a good place to move to?

      Probably not Dublin... I'm not a big city boy, but I could definitely live in Ireland.

      Delete
  13. This may cheer you up a wee bit Tris, IDS I know how much you admire him (Tongue in cheek) is to be removed from the Tories cabinet, for the PIP and Universal Credit debacle, also going from the cabinet is Ken Clarke who's a minister without portfolio, which basically means he does nothing for his handsome pay.

    Poor wee IDS, failed in everything he's ever done, will the poor and hungry and disabled miss him, do I even need to ask.

    No link I'm afraid source Daily Record 12/7/14

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    1. Bet you that Esther McVile is his replacement. IDS that is. We will not have much change in Welfare, in fact nae money in Welfare with that women.

      Delete
    2. Anon... it would be my best ever dream come true for that idiot to be sacked... but Cameron tried to sack him last time, and failed., He refused to go.

      I reckon he knows things that would be dangerous!!!

      And yes, almost undoubtedly McVile would get the job. And she is just the sorcerer's apprentice!

      Delete
  14. So IDS goes, but his stench remains and he has done the job that Cameron wanted him to do.

    Just a bit of tidying and a wee wash and brush up.

    Lord Duncan Smith, soon to be. Vermin in ermine.

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    1. He's heading for there. And we would have to pay him his expenses.

      I bet he gets caught cheating though... :)

      Delete
  15. If Labour MEP Richard Hewitt is all that bothered, maybe he should have a word with all those Labour MPs who gladly trooped into the lobbies in their droves in support of the Tory-Liberal cap on benefits spending back on 26 March. 32 of those Labour MPs represent Scottish constituencies.

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    1. He probably realised that the working and middle class are tired of paying for the benefits of the idle parasite underclass .

      Delete
    2. Iain, the opposition have very little to crow about when it comes to decency, although they try to do so.

      They would be even tougher.

      I don't know why they don't just take all the poor and sick out and just shoot them. It's what they would like to do.

      We are all just a step away from being in the same position though.

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  16. I think it is quite ridiculous that whilst most of us are slaving or slavering on here with only weeks to go before the referendum that some amongst us are skiving off on an all expenses trip to greener pastures. Hope Niko comes along to name and shame such individuals.

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    1. Actually, on Munguin's instructions, I sent Niko an email to ask if he'd like to join us on the fact finding trip.

      Strangely, however, he failed to respond. I think he must be on his "Learn Greek in a Week" course.

      δύο ποτήρια μπίρας παρακαλώ (two pints of beer please)

      But we managed without him. We could have done with you there though. All this Gaelic. I mean, what's all that about putting capital letters in the middle of words?

      Anyway, more of Ireland later....

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