Guest columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on the true impact of the cost-of-living crisis, with people going so far as to pull their teeth and not be able to afford basic necessities
Tory MP Lee Anderson said food banks would not be needed if the poor learned to cook and house properly
What do they know of want, these Tories bloated with greed? They do not care. You don’t know how. Ice fills their hearts.
That’s why Boris Johnson fumbled when the perceptive Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid told him about Elsie, the 77-year-old widow who sits on buses all day to keep warm.
As Labor’s bright young MP Zarah Sultana tweeted: “Tories have no idea what life is like for ordinary people.”
So it’s not surprising that the Queen’s speech had nothing to offer the millions who are facing the biggest drop in household incomes in 50 years at a time of rising costs.
Gavin Barwell, former chief of staff to Theresa May, Tory to the nails, says: “Both morally and politically, the government needs to do more.”
Adults and children must refrain from regular meals.
Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association, warns people are not pulling their own teeth because the number of NHS dentists has plummeted.
A group of more than 550 food banks across the UK has warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak they are close to “breaking point”. The numbers some food banks use have doubled since last year. Many users are working poor. Like Charles, 33, who works as a kitchen cleaner in a restaurant during the week and cleans cars in a mall at the weekend. His wife just had a baby. He tells me his hair suddenly turned gray this year because he’s so worried about not being able to support his family.
I met Tanya at a pharmacy this Monday. She had no money to pay for soap or shampoo. A buyer took pity and paid. I told this story to an acquaintance who votes for Tory. His answer? “Why not use dish soap. If you can’t afford it, you can’t have it.”
Penny Keevil is a manager at Second Chance Medway in Kent. They send food parcels to people in extreme need. She says, “It’s the worst poverty I’ve seen in 30 years…People come to us in tears and say, ‘I’ll either pay the bills or feed the kids.’ And I’m like, ‘You pay the bills and we’ll feed the kids’.”
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Yet Tory MP Lee Anderson believes that food banks would not be needed if the poor learned to cook and house properly. Sick and predictable.
The Tories were raised to despise poverty and care for the rich. Our taxes cover their heating bills, entertainment bills, taxi fares and any coffee or croissant they consume while performing their parliamentary duties.
None of them have said they won’t pick up those costs when so many are struggling.
Blame the parents, just as they blame the parents of any “lower-class” child who does something bad.
A long time ago, my ex-husband worked at Radley College, a public boarding school. The boys were cute, normal. But parents and school made them tough, self-centered, emotionally frozen people.
Like I said, ice fills their hearts. And nothing will melt it.
Source: mirror