A wee night out.
- Thread starter I.D.C.
- Start date
Tony L
Administrator
One homeless person dies on the streets of the UK every 19 hours (Independent).
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
It is a terrible indictment of capitalism and wealth inequality and one of the main reasons why we need a Corbyn gov to tax the rich to help the poor.
The whole concept of "might is right" and "money is power" that the west runs on sickens me to my core... there is loads of money around, it just needs taking from those who have more than they know what to do with and using to rescue the lives of people who don't know where they will even be sleeping tonight!
That anyone actually owns a private jet or ocean going yacht whilst such inequality exists is to me as criminal and disgusting as mass murder... if only more thought this way....
The whole concept of "might is right" and "money is power" that the west runs on sickens me to my core... there is loads of money around, it just needs taking from those who have more than they know what to do with and using to rescue the lives of people who don't know where they will even be sleeping tonight!
That anyone actually owns a private jet or ocean going yacht whilst such inequality exists is to me as criminal and disgusting as mass murder... if only more thought this way....
The thing I find alarming is the number of people rough sleeping in market towns. It used to be unheard of, other than the odd tramp, of which every town had one, whereas these days you can find rough sleepers everywhere. There are dozens for example in Grimsby, which prior to the last couple of years I have never ever seen.
Plenty in Colchester at the weekend, first hard frost of the winter tonight so they'll be cold. At least it's not raining I suppose.
More people give food now which must help; a couple were sensibly placed opposite the little market.
We don't have the aggressive drunk type any more; there were plenty of those when I lived in Newcastle asking for a bus fare home which turned out to be the oblivion of a bottle of Scotch.
Meanwhile we've got a vast complex of student housing going up; I know the cash comes from a different budget but a proportion of affordable might have helped.
More people give food now which must help; a couple were sensibly placed opposite the little market.
We don't have the aggressive drunk type any more; there were plenty of those when I lived in Newcastle asking for a bus fare home which turned out to be the oblivion of a bottle of Scotch.
Meanwhile we've got a vast complex of student housing going up; I know the cash comes from a different budget but a proportion of affordable might have helped.
Tony L
Administrator
Lack of adequate mental health care provision is a huge part of it. My first job back in the early-80s was as a trainee psych nurse in one of the last old-school Victorian mental hospitals, a breed that is now long gone aside from a couple of very high-security ones that are closer to prisons. Where I worked anyone ‘homeless’ got rounded-up by the police and dropped off where they were either admitted voluntarily for assessment or sectioned if necessary and if nothing else got a bath, clean clothes and a warm bed and food for a while. I only ever became aware of ‘homeless’ cluttering up doorways etc once these hospitals were closed by Thatcher’s hopelessly misguided ‘care in the community’ policy. A situation that pretty much instantly translated to ‘no care in a doorway’ or wherever. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder etc are all very easy to spot in the homeless long before one gets to addiction (which is in no way mutually exclusive).
I really don’t believe in the extreme ‘politics of envy’ socialism of some here, folk with ideas, skill, ability and a willingness to work hard should be rewarded, not punished, but it is clear mental healthcare and other aspects of social care has failed catastrophically and now desperately needs properly financing. Few tax payers would disagree with that I’m sure, and I’d argue the very last thing any business wants is some homeless person slumped in their doorway putting the punters off! It is to the Tories eternal shame that they have allowed the situation to deteriorate to the extent we see absolutely everywhere now. Manchester City Centre, my nearest city, is a national embarrassment IMO. It is impossible to look in any direction without there being homeless folk, beggars, junkies etc in view. Many of whom clearly have real mental illness and should not be anywhere near the streets in any civilised country.
I really don’t believe in the extreme ‘politics of envy’ socialism of some here, folk with ideas, skill, ability and a willingness to work hard should be rewarded, not punished, but it is clear mental healthcare and other aspects of social care has failed catastrophically and now desperately needs properly financing. Few tax payers would disagree with that I’m sure, and I’d argue the very last thing any business wants is some homeless person slumped in their doorway putting the punters off! It is to the Tories eternal shame that they have allowed the situation to deteriorate to the extent we see absolutely everywhere now. Manchester City Centre, my nearest city, is a national embarrassment IMO. It is impossible to look in any direction without there being homeless folk, beggars, junkies etc in view. Many of whom clearly have real mental illness and should not be anywhere near the streets in any civilised country.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Tories, austerity, bedroom tax, universal credit... the safety net has had huge rips deliberately put in it by the tory-lower-than-peado-scum that have been in power for far too long... it's legalised "ethnic cleansing"/murder!
wylton
Naim and Mana member
Good to see that we agree on politics Jez, even if we can't agree on turntable design!
sean99
pfm Member
wylton
Naim and Mana member
Out of interest Tony, which current party do you think is most likely to put this right? Whilst I agree with all that you have said, I don't see that anybody else, apart from Labour, has any chance of improving this aspect of our life.
As Tony says there is no need for this kind of class warrior stuff. Wealth creators need some form of reward. It's not an either-or thing, you won't fix homelessness, child poverty and malnutrition by banning Lear jets and yachts because there simply aren't enough of them and you may indeed make it worse by changing the model. I run my own business as do you, I pay the necessary taxes. However if I had a very high income and a portion of it were taxed at 95% I simply wouldn't bother earning that bit and I'd spend that time in the mountains. Who's lost then?
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
I don't recognise the existence of "politics of envy". "The cake" is only so big and anyone who has 1000 other peoples slices is in the wrong no matter how they got them. After all it is more often than not those who are most ruthless, backstabbing, without conscience or remorse that become the wealthiest.
"Mere" brains and hard work may get you up to a £50K salary but those who spend that much on "another little trinket for the drawing room" have usually exploited others, shut down rival businesses causing thousands of job losses, done dirty deals and generally exploited the lowest most venal attributes of the human condition to get there.. or just inherited it!
Then there is the way that once you con, steal, embezzle and slime your way to the first million or so you don't even have to work any more to get the next ten... as you have enough to invest in the markets etc and "earn" more in one night than most hardworking people would in a year whilst you sleep...
Except of course you haven't earned it and very likely the change in share prices that made you that extra £100K was due to a takeover of a company in say Malaysia that has now just made 1000 people redundant.... These people morally own that £100K and should not have to face being called envious for wanting their fair slice of the cake!
None of this is fair, decent, just or right.
Obviously "the system" is owned and run by and for these people, which makes it far worse still! Things which should be illegal are encouraged and that which may get in the way of the machinations of these people is made illegal....
That "it's like that and that's the way it is" or "things have always been such" does not excuse it one jot or make it any more OK!
Some will say this is "the law of the jungle", "dog eat dog", "natural selection" and "the survival of the fittest". I say as human beings we should first of all strive to be above dogs, jungles and being mauled by bear markets!
The simple fact that Corbyn will actually do something about all the above is of course why "the system" will do anything to stop him!!
Part of the problem:
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...at-lowest-level-since-launch-of-welfare-state
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...at-lowest-level-since-launch-of-welfare-state
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Universal credit has been a stinking disaster yet the disgusting Esther McVey crows about it. People forced out of their accommodation because they cannot get the payments they are legally entitled to. We even have nurses using food banks. That’s what these b@stards have done to this country- now they're having a fake giveaway spree to get re-elected.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Yes "wealth creators" (I hate that term! they create it for themselves!) deserve reward but not to the extent of Lear jets and ocean going yachts! No one should pay 95% tax obviously but for someone to have such riches that they can pay the price of a new hospital that could save thousands of lives on a big boat for just their own pleasure is truly sick!
I find it perverse that whilst murder, taking a life, is regarded as the most heinous crime, no expense is to be spared to prevent the murder happening or to catch the murderer afterwards, it is considered perfectly OK to stand by and do nothing whilst hundreds starve or freeze to death!