[Politics] Society

[Palacefinder General]

It's not Political statement, but a society one. Please don't make it so.

Tory filth! Stone him!!!

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Your opening post is a fine one - things that people need reminding of, constantly - and what you bothered to do for this elderly lady shows you are a man with compassion.

But sorry - The Clamp is sadly quite right. You can’t possibly discuss the rise in poverty and homelessness, without focusing on the role of government. We have a political party in power, who sold off our social housing, slashed benefits, cut police budgets, and most importantly decimated mental health budgets.

And it’s current leadership are more hardline than any that went before. Yet plenty of decent, compassionate people will still vote for them - blind to the link between policy and ultimate effect - some of them, depressingly, based on swallowing right wing media tropes about how ‘dangerous’ the alternative is.

The point I was attempting to make was how we see and interact with these people as we go about our day. How long would it be before someone stops and aids a lost dog? Stops and helps an injured animal? Or helps a fellow human being?

 

[Horses Arse]

Tory outcomes. It's what they do.

If you like to see it then keep voting Tory. If not then don't. Kick the uncaring scumbags out and never let them corrupt our country again.

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[Wrong-Direction]

Divide and conquer

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[Palacefinder General]

Bullingdon Club privilege will prevail. Maybe Johnson and Cameron’s family seats could chuck a few million each into the homeless pot this Christmas.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Great post by the OP. My view is that as a country we could pay a little more tax to fund our social services better. Unfortunately we have 10 years of austerity and now Tory and Labour are both promising a spending spree funded by borrowing. This is no way to run society.

 

[el punal]

A thought provoking post indeed, but the truth is that society’s ailments have always been there. Every decade they manifest themselves in a different way. What has changed is that people are more aware of society’s problems when in the past they tended to be brushed under the carpet.

When I lived in Brighton and Hove in the 1970s you never saw the rampant begging that you see now - you ask yourself are they genuinely homeless or just “professional beggars” making a fast buck? What I also came across back in the 70s was the abject poverty endured by elderly widows living in one bedroom flats in Hove - lonely, broke but too proud to ask for assistance. Those were the days when you accepted what life threw at you, rightly or wrongly, and got on with it.

Unfortunately problems in society will continue in one form or another. As one poster has commented - we all need to be more caring and understanding, and hope that we are not taken advantage of by unscrupulous con merchants who thrive in this environment.

 

[Bakero]

Great post by the OP. My view is that as a country we could pay a little more tax to fund our social services better. Unfortunately we have 10 years of austerity and now Tory and Labour are both promising a spending spree funded by borrowing. This is no way to run society.

Which countries don't borrow money to fund spending?

 

[Justice]

My money goes into charity pots. Lots of beggars in Crawley and they fook me right off for one reason or another. I don't give them money anymore. Most buy either drugs or booze and you are only fueling their habit.

So you fund high salaries and a cozy office in central London instead? Charities do not require a Mayfair address plenty do though.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

The point I was attempting to make was how we see and interact with these people as we go about our day. How long would it be before someone stops and aids a lost dog? Stops and helps an injured animal? Or helps a fellow human being?

Indeed - and I commended you for it.

The rest was in response to your plea to The Clamp, to ‘not make it political’. It simply is a political matter, whether or not you’d like to consider it so.

If you despair of the lot of the most vulnerable in our midst, and feel that society should offer them more help, then you have a choice.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Proud to announce that Wrap Up Brighton and Hove will take place between 11th to 13th November

Donate your unwanted Winter coats and jackets to Wrap Up Brighton and Hove. They will be used to help local homeless people. Inspired by Wrap Up London, this great initiative is delivered to you by Rotary and American Express

Thanks for this. I was thinking of it on the way to work this morning, or more thinking back to my father, long passed and with memories of nothing but niceness a little tainted, who before Christmas each year would have us all take out a box of goodies or necessities to a homeless person or 2. I wanted to show my son it too, to turn it into an early routine, so i'll have him come with me to hand over some of his coats that he can't quite squeeze into any more.

 

[BLOCK F]

There are some good thoughtful posts and some abysmal ones on this thread.
What a shame that a worthwhile subject thread is in danger of deteriorating into what is an all too familiar scenario on NSC these days, namely a slagging match and blame game.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

There are some good thoughtful posts and some abysmal ones on this thread.
What a shame that a worthwhile subject thread is deteriorating into what is an all too familiar scenario on NSC these days, namely a slagging match and blame game.

There are no posts on this thread slagging each other off, and nobody seeking to blame anybody, but the politicians who are the ones in a position to improve matters, or choose not to.

As long as it is kept civil, it’s a perfectly worthy course for the thread to run.

 

[AmexRuislip]

In my job I have the need to visit many towns and cities, it has recently really hit me the increase in those in need. We see, hear and observe those around us as we go about our daily lives, many less fortunate than us. We look, sometimes with disdain, sometimes pity but nonetheless we see them. We don't know their stories, the reason for their situation, we may help, give them our change, perhaps these days they need a card reader so we can "tap" our guilt. However I'm amazed at the level of homelessness or those in dire need.

I was in Birmingham this week for two days. Firstly I traveled across London , witnessing the scramble for a discarded fag butt, the begging for a "cuppa". Then to Birmingham, the same. A one legged man in a wheelchair barely able to push himself along, a young girl who I noted from my last visit, same place, still weeping. Nationality, English, but does it matter, someones daughter, begging not for money but a beginning, a life, a future, help

I traveled down this evening to Bournemouth, an arduous journey thanks to the railway, some 5 hours crammed in a tube of like minded people, all wanting the end to their "hard" days work. I checked into my hotel, top floor, executive status, free bar. I walked out to find an eatery as the hotel had a function. I happened upon an elderly lady, a local clean well dressed, she asked for money for a coffee. I took the time to talk to her as I delved in my pocket, attempting,as we all do, not to bring too much change into our hand. I gave her £1.70 in change. She was fully conversant, telling me of her hardship. A deceased husband unknown to her with a debt, not to a bank, but though after years of working hard at the docks, he had a gambling debt, to the wrong sort. They still knocked the door of her flat. Demanding money, frightened she gave them her pension, it still goes on to this day. She goes out to stop the knocking, the fear. I ended up paying for a meal for her, a takeaway. did it make me feel good? No, it didn't but on reflection it made me write this.

We have those that are marching for climate change, those on Brexit, but very few on how, what or if we need to change how we want our society to be.

So all I can suggest and as I have done for a number of years, as we march forwards to the festive time, think of others and if you can help them, not to make you feel better but to make them feel better. Underneath that dirty duvet is a person.

I applaud your post, it's sad to see and here of others demise, especially when they end up on the streets.
A certain percentage of homeless are ex forces, who have gone off the radar and cannot be helped by SSAFA, not for a want of trying.
In London there are the big issue types who beg for money, but some are genuine, whereas others have a dog, a pack of cigs and a mobile phone, which does make you think somewhat.
Heres to human kindness

 

[BLOCK F]

There are no posts on this thread slagging each other off, and nobody seeking to blame anybody, but the politicians who are the ones in a position to improve matters, or choose not to.

As long as it is kept civil, it’s a perfectly worthy course for the thread to run.

Hans, I did not say 'slagging each other off', I said a slagging match and blame game. That is slightly different.
Yes, the Government of the day are in a position to influence matters and I take Clamp's point re 'inextricably linked' but I think the OP was commenting on society's attitude to the problem of homelessness, rather than the failure of successive Governments to solve this complex problem.
It is regrettable that posts such as those made by Palacefinder General and Horses Arse resort to a simplistic slagging off and blame gaming..........just as I said.
Have a read of what they said.
P.S. I don't think we are really disagreeing over a worthy thread though.

 

[essbee1]

The trouble is that too many people in society who couldn't give a toss about anything but themselves, never give
a thought to anything other than themselves and see everyone else as fitting around them. Sorry to say it, but these
people are drawn from all echelons of society. In each age category you can find these people. I'm no angel myself, but
if everyone just reflected more it could do a lot of good.

 

[Palacefinder General]

There are some good thoughtful posts and some abysmal ones on this thread.
What a shame that a worthwhile subject thread is in danger of deteriorating into what is an all too familiar scenario on NSC these days, namely a slagging match and blame game.

The day you take seriously the typed ramblings of a load of middle aged dullards who should know better than to waste their lives on here is the day to quit this place.

 

[essbee1]

The day you take seriously the typed ramblings of a load of middle aged dullards who should know better than to waste their lives on here is the day to quit this place.

Oi, placefinder, that's being grossly unfair to middle-aged dullards everywhere.

 

[The Clamp]

Hans, I did not say 'slagging each other off', I said a slagging match and blame game. That is slightly different.
Yes, the Government of the day are in a position to influence matters and I take Clamp's point re 'inextricably linked' but I think the OP was commenting on society's attitude to the problem of homelessness, rather than the failure of successive Governments to solve this complex problem.
It is regrettable that posts such as those made by Palacefinder General and Horses Arse resort to a simplistic slagging off and blame gaming..........just as I said.
Have a read of what they said.
P.S. I don't think we are really disagreeing over a worthy thread though.

I really did not intend for a slanging match. Perhaps my first post was a bit blunt. Apologies. My point was that as a society, as well turning a blind eye to poverty we also keep voting in a party that makes devastating cuts. That is a direct societal influence on vulnerable people’s circumstances.
I too applaud the OP’s conscientious approach. We need more of this.
But talking as someone who works with this sector of society day in day out I have seen the negative difference a conservative government has made to vulnerable people’s lives.
Austerity has had a direct negative effect on mental health and as a result people are more vulnerable and more likely to fall foul of predatory males, less likely to be able to organise their lives and less able to help themselves.
It’s very sad.

 

[amexer]

It’s not a cheap political point in any way. I work with some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Women with mental health problems, substance abuse issues, DV backgrounds, hostel and street homeless, trafficked women and sex workers. I am well aware of how they find themselves in such straits. I am also acutely aware how ten years of Conservative rule exacerbated the situation.
I spend twelve and a half hours with such women 5 nights a week.
Not point scoring. Just facts. So before you accuse posters of making “cheap” points ask yourself if they may know something about the situation and perhaps have something of import to say about it.

As for your OP, yes, they deserve much more than our contempt.

Situation is not political and shouldnt be treated as touch. Whatever party in power would find it hard to solve. Last 2 years have seen just as many on street in Hamburg,Valencia and Lyon. I do donate and help a local charity who often tell me not to give money. I have given food to some but also give the charity cards out who tell me they can get a bed ,clothes doctor dentist etc.