Posted by Jake on Friday, February 21, 2014 with 3 comments | Labels: Austerity, benefits, Big Society, budget cuts, Cameron, inequality, protests
Chris, Fee and KJ take a step closer to understanding Cameron's moral compass...
SOURCE TELEGRAPH: Bishops condemn Government welfare reforms
In an open letter 27 bishops have criticised Government welfare reforms saying that too many people were having to choose between "heat or eat" as a result of "cut backs and failures in the benefit system." The Anglican bishops write: "Half a million people have visited food banks in the UK since last Easter and 5,500 people were admitted to hospital in the UK for malnutrition last year."
SOURCE GUARDIAN: David Cameron defends 'moral mission' on welfare
David Cameron has defended the government's welfare changes in the face of criticism from the head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, insisting they were part of his "moral mission" for the country. In his response the PM said: "...they are about giving new purpose, new opportunity, new hope – and yes, new responsibility to people who had previously been written off with no chance. Seeing these reforms through is at the heart of our long-term economic plan – and it is at the heart too of our social and moral mission in politics today."
OUR RELATED STORIES:
Errrrr, malnutrition refers to both under- and over-nutrition. It also refers to people who starve themselves deliberately; there are many, many reasons someone might not eat properly. Your comparison (and that made by the bishops) is ignorant.
ReplyDelete"Primary and secondary diagnoses of malnutrition – caused by lack of food or very poor diet – rose from 3,161 in 2008/09 to 5,499 last year, according to figures released by the health minister Norman Lamb."
Deletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/malnutrition-cases-in-english-hospitals-almost-double-in-five-years-8945631.html
From report by University of Warwick, commissioned by DEFRA:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283072/household-food-security-uk-executive-summary-140219.pdf
"the evidence suggests that turning to food aid is a strategy of last resort. When households have exhausted all other strategies (cutting back and changing eating and shopping habits, juggling budgets, turning to family and friends) "
"At the time of the research there was no systematic peer-reviewed evidence from the UK on the reasons or immediate circumstances leading people to seek food aid (i.e.which could be included in the REA). However, national charities and food aid providers were reporting their own research and experiences, largely on usage of food banks. The factors identified by these organisations as important drivers leading people to seek food aid include both immediate problems which had led to sudden reduction in household income (two examples often cited by these organisations were job losses and problems associated with social security payments), and on-going, underpinning circumstances (such as continual low household income and indebtedness) which can no longer support purchase of sufficient food to meet household needs. There is both longstanding and recent UK evidence from peer reviewed research relating to experiences of food insecurity more broadly, that many food insecure households struggle to manage food needs, and adopt a variety of strategies to try and avoid having to ask for food help"