The recent statement by the chancellor in his Spring Statement made no efforts to ease the burden on the poorest by government action. Benefits were increased 6% below the rate of inflation, whilst no real help was on offer to support fuel costs or against rising food and other prices. There was help given to … More Poverty and the failure to care
via 6% of the housing replaced will be met with trumpets and grinning great and good
via Are Northampton Borough Council using a loophole in homelessness legislation?
In the age of austerity and savage cuts in public sector funding, charities provide a back-stop for all the people who previously received help from the state but currently receive help from nobody. Restrictions on access to public services, some motivated seemingly not just by lack of funds but ideological decision about entitlement and … More Charity redefined as an investment vehicle: how the corporate world, rich people and hedge funds decided they wanted a piece of the pie
Read Andy Fisher’s – Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger (MIT Press) Its an insight into the problems of food banks and how they are really not the solution to poverty in the USA
‘Once upon a time, and a very good time it was…..’ Its Bloomsday, and poverty is never far from the surface of the writing of James Joyce, who lived in poverty most of his life and which is expressed so often in his work, especially in Dubliners – which this link reviews: https://brightkite.com/essay-on/the-multi-faceted-theme-of-poverty-in-the-sisters-from-joyce-s-dubliners
Thoughts after Grenfell. Along with our compassion, there is anger that this could happen. (see: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/grenfell-tower-fire-corporate-manslaughter-arrests-david-lammy-mp-labour-london-kensington-a7790911.html) When I was six a coal tip slid down a hill and buried and killed a large number of children in the mining village of Aberfan: little children like me. There was an outpouring of grief and compassion. But … More Palaces of Gold
Di Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948)
We remember when social work was about change, about politics, about challenging a system, working within the state to support people. We’re not alone: It can be like this again – Some resources: http://radical.org.uk/barefoot/ http://www.socialworkfuture.org/articles-resources/uk-articles/77-radical-social-work-practice-adults https://policypress.co.uk/journals/critical-and-radical-social-work http://www.historyofsocialwork.org/eng/details.php?cps=24 https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-abstract/40/5/1646/1731370/Radical-Social-Work-in-Practice-Making-a?redirectedFrom=PDF http://www.socialjusticesolutions.org/2013/01/20/what-is-radical-social-work/ https://policypress.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/critical-and-radical-social-work-an-introduction/ http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/categories/difference-and-inclusion/radical-social-work.html https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/mar/11/social-work-action-network
Resist poverty UK 