You are here: Home » Featured »

The other side of snow

February 5, 2012 1:43 pm

Author:

Tags:

Share this Article

Last night, people died on our streets. It’s impossible to believe otherwise. A thick layer of snow added to a recent cold snap makes its unthinkable that all of Britain’s homeless would have been able to survive.

Sometimes in takes a cold snap to make us look down and see the people huddled in doorways, swaddled in blankets and peering out at us from underneath the hoods of old coats. For so much of the year, Britain’s secret shame is invisible – hidden in plain view. It’s not that we ignore them, it’s that we choose not to see them. Subconciously we’ll avoid certain cashpoints or come out through different exits at the train station to avoid these people that society has left behind. It’s as if they don’t exist.

In the cold and freezing conditions of the British winter though, the starkness of their plight suddenly hoves into view. Shivering, cold and hungry. We think about them, perhaps even worry about them. But when the snow has melted and spring comes, will we remember them? Will we do anything about it?

Worse still, the establishment of the benefit cap (or at least one that includes housing benefit) looks set to increase homelessness. That’s more people in doorways. More homeless families. More people freezing on the street and more people dying.

Homelessness fell under Labour – but it was never eliminated, even during the good times. Now it’s on the rise again, and it’s about to get much, much worse.

The most basic test of any society is its ability to house, clothe and feed itself. Yet our so called civilised society – led by politicians of all parties – has failed that most simple test for too many people. People died on our streets last night, frozen in the snow. But to listen to the news, you’d think the major problem was “travel chaos”. Shame on us. Shame on all of us. Shame on a society, a media and a political class that has lost all sense of perspective.

People died on our streets last night – but to hear the news today, you’d never know. Civilised? We’re anything but…

  • Dave Postles

     We are neglectful.  We have the capacity to ignore.  That’s why we need taxation and a collectivist solution because, admirable that the third sector is, it cannot eradicate the problem, only mitigate it.

    • http://twitter.com/ceolas Mary

      Oh Dave, get stuffed. It’s the mental illness of the ‘collectivist’ mindset that has caused this willing indifference, this suffering. Taxes now are higher than ever before, and they aren’t used to create a healthier, saner society, they are used to grease the wheels of the fat cat contributors to labour and other Marxist hypocrites. What the UK needs is to see to the needs of the citizens of the UK, the actual English, Scottish and Welsh, and to stop trying to import a new people who you believe will be profitable to you.. that’s called slavery, and it’s not more acceptable, because you’re enslaving your own people. You are creating an unfeeling, crass and despicable society, a reflection of what labour has come to epitomize.

      • Anonymous

        A belief in collectivism is not a mental illness; seems a pretty aggressive response to a fairly sensible statement.

        I could write a whole tome on what I witnessed on the streets of London in the 80′s- a massive increase of homelessness and people with severe mental illness extremely visible; alongside increasing wealth amongst a few.
        Some described as a yuppie culture- and ostentatious.
        Oblivious to what was happening all around- as if these people were invisible.

        These 2 sides of society were seen starkly on the streets; in my case I saw daily in SE London- also 3 months spent in NYC, USA.

        Part of my working experience and professional background was as a mental health nurse; during some of that time, in a psychiatric emergency clinic.
        It was quite shocking to see the levels of poverty and severity of mental illness on the streets in London- and no doubt it was massively increasing at the time.

        J

      • Anonymous

        “Mary” if that is your real name and real sex (you sound if I may say so, like some redneck truck driver called Bart or  Clint) “Get stuffed” is a rather crude expression for a God-fearin’ Tea Party Sarah-Palin loving supporter.

        It just shows the limited vocabulary (not to mention limited IQ) of Tea Party members.

        Thanks for confirming what I already knew.

        Have a nice day, honey!

        • Anonymous

          I suspect it was an American type party you get around and you lot at the Internet to attack  somebody of  course tea party it says it all.

      • Anonymous

        say a more about your affiliation of parties then it does anyone else and I love the way you use get stuffed, I suspect you will be at the next election

    • jaime taurosangastre candelas

      @ Dave Postles,

      I think these years a smarter idea is to propose a cutting of expenditure in tandem with increased expenditure.  I’m fully with you in my abhorrence of people freezing to death on the streets, and desire to stop that.  But, there’s a political reality that says that “most” people in the UK think they are taxed enough, so if you want to spend more, it is smart to also propose spending less elsewhere to make up.

      I am a higher rate taxpayer – I am lucky.  I pay 52% of my gross income in tax and NI over the lower limits.  I then pay 17.5% VAT on most discretionary spending, and over 50% on fuel.  The blended rate is probably 60% of gross expenditure.  Is that enough?  Maybe I should pay 70%?

      I think Labour needs some brave ideas on cutting expenditure before proposing new expenditure.  I’d start with Trident, and DFID (even the Indians don’t want our money), and the DECC budget.  In fact, I’d close that Department down altogether, as it is a waste of money in pursuit of a scientific scare myth.  Between them, that’s £40 billion a year to start with.

      • Dave Postles

         NB I didn’t say: ‘That’s why we need higher taxation…’  My point was that this scourge of our society’s attitude will not be solved purely through voluntary resources.  Admirable as is the work that Mary does, the third sector is no more than a palliative.  The only satisfactory solution is through our collective resource through taxation.  Mary will know how many vets in the US are homeless, including large numbers of female vets.  So, amongst my Christmas present to my wife, I paid for meals for homeless vets, but what they really need is massive federal funding to go some way towards eradicating the problem. 

        http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=10&link=ctg_vet_home_from_ths_home_sitenav

        That gesture was no more than a gesture, a pinprick in the context of the problem.  The same applies over here.

        • jaime taurosangastre candelas

          I don’t know why so many vets should be homeless.  My wife is a vet and she earns more than I do as a partner in a mostly equine practice.  Veterinary Medicine is hard to get into and well-rewarded.  I think there are other groups in society who need more urgent attention.  Maybe it is different in the US:  from what I have read they treat their livestock much more as commodity and administer drugs (and also growth hormones) on a blanket basis, not on as as needed basis, so perhaps the role of the vet is downgraded in comparison to the UK.

          • http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone

            Comedy gold.

          • Anonymous

            The vet in America may be the doctor as well, after all treating an animal is like treating the poor in Old US of A.

  • http://twitter.com/ceolas Mary

    Umm..  sorry, but you can’t lay the blame for this at the feet of the people in general. Who is it that created overburdened Britain? Which party dramatically expanded immigration to the UK, knowing full well there wasn’t sufficient jobs, housing or resources to deal with it? Who has repeatedly ignored the very real harm being done because of those same insane policies? Who has deliberately displaced UK citizens, youth, adults, elderly, singles, families, callously, selfishly all in the name of ideology and blind lust for power? Who has presided over the creation of massive homelessness, hunger, privation, and a sick, twisted moral relativism that makes a mockery of it’s party being premised on the rights of working people?

    It’s the labour party, and please don’t try and split hairs, pointing out anything about ‘new labour’ old labour is fully part of this. You don’t give a damn about the people. Labour is diseased. The blood of anyone who has died as a result of this blizzard or even prior to that is on the hands of labour. If you don’t like the accusation, then get off your collective backsides, and cast off the disease of Marxism, and ‘collectivism’ because it’s all a sick scam.  Apologize to the people and commit to a temporary moratorium on immigration of any kind until Britain’s employment and housing crisis is resolved, and as well to telling the EU court to take a running jump at it’s self and start deporting the vast bulk of the criminal foreign nationals nesting like parasites  in your nation. Only then can you discuss any claim to caring about the suffering of the homeless, because you have zero credibility on the subject.

    • http://twitter.com/ParadiseAD Alex Paradise

      “Homelessness fell under Labour”

      Good to know that there was no homelessness prior to the founding of the Labour party.

      • Anonymous

        A full bloody tea party member, says a lot about Mary I think.

    • http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone

      “the vast bulk of the criminal foreign nationals nesting like parasites ”

      Goodness me! That’s a bit rich for a Sunday evening. You don’t happen to be a supporter of Mr Gri££in by any chance?

  • Anonymous

    Not sure how a cap of £13,000 a year for one bedroomed accommodation or £20,800 for four bedrooms equates to homelessness!

    I know many people who would struggle to afford that sort of payment out of their income!

    • Anonymous

      Must be boredom week on the tea party site and Tory home.

  • Anonymous

    You can believe that no-one died in the snow on Saturday night if you want…

    The fact that the BBC didn’t cover it is exactly what I’m on about…

    • Anonymous

      Bill should read the local press. Two years ago on December 18th 2009, a homeless man, who used to sleep between the doorways of two shops, in a shopping area a mile or so from where I live, died as a result of the snow which had started earlier that day. He died less than 200 yards from where several dozen one-bedroomed bungalows owned by Havering Council lay derelict having been boarded up and unused for 2/3 years. They remained in situ until the spring of 2011 when they were demolished and the site is now just boarded up, because the proposed (private) housing development has been put on hold.

      Of course this never got on the BBC or local radio or LBC – it wouldn’t be “important” enough for them, but anyone who wishes to can read about in in Romford Recorder for 24th December 2009 – though they, for whatever reason, failed to mention the empty boarded up homes in their report.

      I mentioned it at the time on LL. 

      Those empty homes could still have been put to use to this day

    • Anonymous

      I know they died they died last year and every year, the problem is does labour give a dam.

Latest

  • Comment Housing upheaval can be traced back to Thatcher

    Housing upheaval can be traced back to Thatcher

    By Chris Williamson

    If further evidence was needed that the Government is destroying our communities then it came by the bucket load with proposals to relocate hundreds of housing benefit claimants. Councils across London desperately searched for a solution to the housing benefit cap that made it impossible for some of the capital’s poorest residents to stay in their homes. First we heard of plans to move residents to Darlington, Stoke, Hull and parts of Yorkshire. But the revelation that Westminster Council planned [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured The austerity consensus has collapsed

    The austerity consensus has collapsed

    By Owen Jones

    There is no alternative: the only way out of Britain’s current economic plight is massive cuts to public spending. Taxes on the wealthiest must be slashed: they are blocks on aspiration and economically counterproductive. Austerity is the only game in town. Or so we have been told ever since the Coalition was formed in the rose gardens of Number 10 Downing Street. The overwhelming majority of the media has gladly reinforced the Government line, and those voices calling for an [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Should Labour go further on football reform?

    Should Labour go further on football reform?

    By Ben Shave

    “As a party, Labour should take great pride in the fact that we initiated Supporters Direct, but now is the time to go further.” These sentiments, expressed in a recent article for Progress by Steve Rotheram MP, hark back to a time where the landscape was somewhat different for the Labour party, but similar in many ways to that faced by football supporters in 2012. The Football Taskforce was established soon after Labour came to power in 1997, with the [...]

    Read more →
  • Comment Making Labour Policy: Who calls the tune?

    Making Labour Policy: Who calls the tune?

    By Ann Black

    Excellent election results and rising polls have brought a mood of unity and created space and time for serious work on policy. Francois Hollande’s victory shows that austerity is not the only option, and Labour must start to develop an alternative agenda, rejecting the Tory politics of resentment and division in favour of policies which are fair, principled and credible: on housing, crime, transport, health, schools, higher education, manufacturing, tax, defence, social care, equality, employment rights and the environment. We [...]

    Read more →
  • News It’s the budget what won it…

    It’s the budget what won it…

    Why did Labour win the 2010 local elections so convincingly? It’s the budget right? This graph of polling from TNS BMRB certainly suggests that. Labour’s slim lead extends rapidly following the budget (highlighted) – and current stands at 12 points (42/30). And as for why Labour did better in 2012 compared to the 2011 elections – just compare May and May 2012. A year is a long time in politics…

    Read more →