Before I begin, I would like to give a shoutout to St Paul’s Church and that I want to say thank you to food bank Finchley and food bank Colindale.
Every Monday weekly on Twitter, I am always happy to be included (tagged) on St Paul’s Finchley tweet to see the amazing work of what they are doing to help those who are in need. twitter.com Also every time when I go shopping at my local Waitrose supermarket in Mill Hill, I always see the drop off points by food bank Colindale and that I would often see the car, picking up the items (particularly everything from food items to non food items like toiletries) so that people who are really in need can get the items at food bank. So I thought I would like to mention both St Paul’s Finchley & Food bank Colindale. Even my friend of mine who published his blog post few years ago about the work of food bank Colindale. barneteye.blogspot.com
You can read more about them on their websites. Finchley food bank and Colindale food bank colindale.foodbank.org.uk finchleyfoodbank.org.uk
Anyways why are more food banks in the UK than McDonald’s? Simple answer is because the austerity measures implemented by the government when the Conservatives came to power in 2010 and because of that, it contributed to the rise of food banks in the United Kingdom. Even throughout the coronavirus pandemic, food banks have been on the rise. We all ask ourselves why are the people in need have been going to food banks.
It is because those who are needy are people like us.
Look at this infographic statistics.
This is all according to the Trussell Trust.
It is now already over the week since Autumn Budget 2021 Yet the Tories under David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson say that austerity is “living off your means” & claiming that it is over. Well austerity cuts are far from over as I mentioned on my previous blog post.
Because of the impact of austerity and other factors: tight budgets, pay cut, cuts to benefit/welfare money, debt problems, financial/money problems, people living in poverty and not having a home, that contributes to the fact why food banks have been rising since 2010. Prior to 2010, it was not always the case regarding food banks because it have not existed. Yet, this is 2021 & soon it will be 2022, food banks exists and it is all mainly because of the government’s austerity policy that brings misery to some people who are affected. I even talked about on my other previous blog post about DWP & why they awfully treats benefit claimants who are disabled, poor, unemployed, homeless & those who genuinely have a health problems with benefit sanctions, benefit cuts, and benefit assessment test (such as fit to work/work capability assessment).
All of that are interlinked and that is why food banks have been rising for the last couple of years. Dramatic rise even in the Covid pandemic given the rise of food banks have been happening pre pandemic.
Even two previous Prime Ministers (David Cameron & Theresa May) were ignorant about the topic food banks rising in the UK. youtu.be youtu.be and the current Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) talks about “levelling up” the country. Well all I can say is there is no way you can level up Britain while the impact of austerity is still weighing on that contributes to the rise of food banks. I don’t want to live in the society where the government looks down on the people who are really in need due to their harmful and despicable policy. Showing that they (the govt) are out of touch with people’s lives and finances. The UK is the world’s 5th largest economy and yet, we the developed country are behaving like a third world country. I even said about it on my September blog post. No wonder Brexit have really undermined the UK’s standing in the world with the divisive topic (Brexit = UK’s exit from the EU) & that the government can’t even get their act together of ending the cuts that severely affected every ordinary citizen like you and me. Because of their unacceptable austerity measures, that is why there are more food banks than McDonald’s in the UK and that is sad. Very heartbreakingly sad.
So now you know there are more food banks in Britain than McDonald’s. I’m not lovin it. It is very sad truth.
Once more, I would like to thank food bank volunteers in Finchley and Colindale & all other places throughout the country for their incredible work to help out the people who are in need & does need food items and non food items.
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