The real reason behind austerity

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The real reason behind austerity is to erode hope, to increase inequality and to make people's lives so hard that they do not have a chance to demand better. Nay, not just that, but that they even do not dare to demand better for fear of falling every deeper into poverty.

It has nothing whatsoever to do with reducing the country's dept and all that jazz. Portugal did not follow that idea put forward by the EU and others and, erm, no, the country did not fall off a cliff; the economy grew.

Austerity is about putting people into poverty because poverty is the ultimate form of control. Because people who are poor are, more often than not, dependent on government or other agencies for help and thus are controllable.

The aim of the neo-liberals, on whose dung heap those ideas have grown, is to make the poor ever poorer and also put the middle class into the poor bracket, wherever possible, while the elite gets richer by the minute.

Also, people who are poor but are working will not risk taking industrial action, that is to say strike or such, for fear of losing their job, which in turn could lead to losing their home and even losing their children.

In this context we also have to and must see the attempt by the neo-liberal establishment to outlaw, basically, cash and the use of it. Without money in the form of cash people also have no chance to do any extra, unofficial work, or make a little money from hobby crafts, selling surplus garden produce and such. Neither can they be trading on craft and other markets as card terminals would not be within their scope.

The end of cash will also, to a great extent, mean the end of markets in villages, towns and cities, selling produce and other things, as the majority of the market traders would also not be able to afford the use of card terminals.

The entire reason for the neo-liberal idea of austerity is to make the poor poorer still, to make the middle class poor, and to make the rich ever richer and by privatizing every public service making increasing the values of the shares of the corporations and the dividends for their shareholders, mostly the already very rich. It has nothing to do with the economy not with the reduction of the public debt.

Austerity is the tool by means of which the neo-liberal elite is turning most of the people into obedient slaves, who dare not revolt for fear of becoming poorer still.

© 2018

Tories Victorian values bring the return of Rickets & Co

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Children are suffering malnutrition and Victorian diseases as poverty tightens its grip

In Salford, Greater Manchester, UK, the number of malnutrition cases has doubled – with many of the victims children.

Victorian illnesses such as rickets and beriberi – thought to be long eradicated – are on the rise due to food poverty according to a shocking new report with the number of people being admitted to hospital with the condition doubled over a four year period.

These shocking pictures show what poverty was like in Manchester in the 60s and 70s and although health conditions are often a primary cause, Salford council leaders believes that poverty is also to blame.

The number of people being admitted to hospital with malnutrition increased from 43 in 2010 to 85 in 2014. Although an exact breakdown of those admitted was not available, many of them are believed to be children. 50,000 emergency food supplies given to struggling families across Greater Manchester in past year. This was significantly higher when compared to Greater Manchester overall.

In addition, just alone in Salford, there were other signs that household poverty was increasing. The number of homeless people rose from 40 in 2010/11 to 356 in 2014/15.

In 2013 the number of children deemed to be living in poverty was 12,175, as measured by households in receipt of work benefits and tax credits, which equated to 26 per cent of children in the city. The figure for the North West was 21 per cent and for England 18 per cent.

Anecdotal evidence has suggested that some children in the city are being fed when they arrive at school as they have gone without breakfast and nearly 12,000 unwanted tinned meals given to foodbanks across Greater

Manchester.

But, if the Tories are to be believed, we have never had it as good as we are having it now in Britain. In Germany the government is using the self-came mantra, a country that has also seen a serious increase in poverty and homelessness levels.

We are seeing a drastic rise in in-work poverty, foodbank usage and homelessness. In 2014 the Faculty of Public Health said conditions like rickets were again becoming more apparent because people could not afford quality food in their diet. Forgotten forms of poverty and diseases associated with it are becoming standard again.

It would appear that this was the standard that the Tory regime in Britain has been aiming at by promoting a “return to Victorian values” forgetting to tell people that what they really meant and mean with it is a return to Victorian conditions.

But neoliberal “conservative” regimes in other countries of Europe (and elsewhere) are, it would appear, working towards the same aim. There seems to be an agenda there somewhere.

© 2017

Thank You for voting Tory

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Thanks for voting Tory. Everyone who did has really done well.

Due to the actions of the Conservative government of the “United Kingdom” it has been estimated that 120,000 children will wake up homeless this Christmas and many, many more in dire poverty. Hope you are proud of yourself. But, I guess, as long as it is not you and your children why should you care.

The Tories have been talking about getting Britain back to Victorian values but what they really aim to do is turning back the clock and bringing us all back into the Victorian era and if we are not careful back further still.

Victorian values were not, necessarily, the greatest thing either but the era definitely was no good for the common man, woman or child. Homelessness was rampant and dire poverty and we are on the best way to that kind of situation again.

It won't be long, if we allow the Tories to remain in power, that we will have workhouses and child labor again, but, no doubt, that is also something that the Tories would not mind, as long as it is not their children but only those of the working class.

The most worrying part is that such a great number of working class people actually vote Tory (or even further right-wing) and thus are causing misery for their class and the children of their class. But it seems to be the attitude of “I am alright, Jack” in the same way as Gypsies in the West are not prepared to do anything to help those of the same race persecuted in Eastern Europe, for instance. But, when the shoe is on the other foot they are the first to complain.

I do not even want to start to talk about the other things that are being destroyed, dismantled and sold off to the highest bidder for private gain, by the Tories, such as the NHS and other aspects of the welfare state. You really have done well keeping those parasites in power.

© 2017

Many parents ‘can't afford to fed their children’

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Poverty has been known in Britain before in decades and centuries past but we seem to be seeing a return to some of the conditions of those years nowadays.

Save The Children has launched the first-ever appeal for British children over child poverty to help British children escape poverty. The accompanying report says that poor children in the UK are missing out on warm coats, new shoes and hot meals at home.

The charity says that there are 350,000 children living in real poverty in the UK, with 50 per cent of low-income families short of money every week according to its report “It Shouldn't Happen Here”.

It said poverty was 'tearing families apart' with 12% of the poorest children not having at least one hot meal a day, excluding school dinners and 25% of parents have deliberately skipped a meal so their children can eat instead.

Some 20% of mothers and fathers from households with incomes of less than £17,000 a year say their children go without new shoes, while 17% cannot afford new clothes. About 20% of children in poverty are not able to go on school trips and 14% have to do without a warm coat in winter.

One low-income parent admitted that they literally had to reply on any money we raised at car boot sales to pay for food for the week.

As I said above, poverty is not new to Britain and neither to the USA, and other developed nations, including Germany. However, this level of poverty should have been dealt with a long time a go. Our very welfare system was established to eliminate such kinds of poverty.

It is true that there are families that just cannot manage their finances and where the root cause is a different one than just low income.

One of the biggest problems, in my opinion, is that too many people still think that they have to keep up with the Joneses next door or down the street. Only problem is that the Joneses are a two-earner household with each of them brining in over £30,000 say.

There are essentials and there are things that too many think to be needs and essentials when they are not. And no, I am not trying to shift the blame but...

What is to blame for this situation is our economic and political system and the culture of more, more, more, and new all the time, and it is obvious that the poor families also would like to have some of those new shiny things.

In addition to that most things that we do have cannot, because the economic system has it decreed thus, no longer be repaired, as was the case with goods in years gone by, and therefore, when something breaks, it needs replacing.

Household payments, such as rents, utilities and such, keep going up and when then, in addition to that, food gets more expensive on a daily basis, as it would seem, what chance do those in the lower income bracket stand? Very little to none.

We do not need a new government; we need a new system. A new political as well a new economic system. A system where people and Planet come before profit and greed.

© 2012

Poorest children hit by climate change

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The world's poorest and most vulnerable children are, according to a new report from UNICEF UK, being hit hardest by the impact of climate change.

Published exactly 10 years after the UK signed the Kyoto Protocol, “Our Climate, Our Children, Our Responsibility” calles for immediate action from Government to make children a priority in the climate change agenda.

It describes how children, especially in Africa and Asia, face increased violence and disease, and scarcer food and clean water, causing up to an extra 160,000 deaths a year.

The report says that climate change is threatening achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals relating to children.

David Bull, UNICEF UK's executive director, said that those who have contributed least to climate change, that is to say the world's poorest children, are the ones that are suffering the most.

According to the report, climate change could cause an additional 40,000 to 160,000 child deaths per year in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa through increased poverty.

Temperature increases of two degrees Celsius could put an extra 30m-200m people at risk of hunger, and childhood diseases such as malaria will spread to new areas.

UNICEF called on Government to ensure CO2 emissions are slashed by at least 80% by 2050 and urged the Department for International Development to make the effect of climate change on children a mainstream issue.

The organisation also urged businesses in the UK to substantially reduce emissions and contribute to the costs of mitigating and adapting to climate change.

"Many more children could die," David Bull, UNICEF UK's executive director, said, “and it is clear that a failure to address climate change is a failure to protect children."

The talk about temperature rising is here again and no one even, so it seems, wants to acknowledge, though the chairman of the IPCC did so publicly, the findings from a major study in Australia that states that the temperatures have not been rising, not even by a fraction, ever since 2002 and have, in fact, plateaued out.

Why we are still being painted the “if temperatures rise by x degrees Celsius” and such does beat me.

Regardless of whether the temperatures are going to be rising, which they are not, so it would appear, the impact will be there. The ice will continue to melt because it is warmer than it was decades ago and that also will change the climate elsewhere.

The UK public is being urged to join UNICEF's campaign to increase the 2050 emissions reduction target and include aviation and shipping in the Climate Change Bill.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also warned that up to a billion people could lose their homes as a result of climate change within the next 50 years when he said that rising sea levels or food and water shortages could force millions from the their homes.

Those rising sea leaves and food shortages will come about even if the temperatures are not rising any further and, if they indeed have plateaued out as the Australian study suggests and the head of the IPCC has admitted also, as the climate is warmer than it was decades ago and therefore the melt will continue and what else such melt and this cycling climate change of the Earth will bring with it further the Gods only know.

Personally, like many experts as well, I have my doubts that we can alter the course of this by reducing CO2 output and all such, though I am sure it will not hurt to do so and to reduce our impact on the planet a little more. Ideally more than just a little. The problem is though that we must prepared to deal with the changes and growing foods for bio-fuel rather than to feed the hungry is rather vile in the extreme.

Maybe we need to get off our dependence on oil based fuels and find a better source, including the burning of waste wood, and wood generated from tree cutting operations by councils and such, which so often is left to go to waste, as well as by a program, that could be envisaged for the UK, of the total eradication of the Dutch Elm Disease problem. It can be done with will and foresight. The wood generated in such a way, which needs to be disposed off in a sanitary way by burning, could fire micro generating power stations for many decades to come. In the end there would be no more Dutch Elm Disease and by that time we may have found another source with which to fire the generators.

Reduction of our oil use is another important must. And how do we do that?

The answer to that, I believe, may be the subject of another article.

© M Smith (Veshengro), June 2008