Eat or Heat? Unprecedented poverty is soaring in a "disunited kingdom" which seems on the brink of recession.
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
'One potato, two potato, three potatoes four, five potatoes, six potatoes, seven potatoes more...' sing children in a long played out game in the streets of Britain by schoolchildren who take turns with partners in placing one fist on top of another partner when on the seventh potato they build a tower. But in Britain charity food banks would be ill-advised to give out potatoes to poor people requesting food for the simple reason some can't afford to boil them. The cost of boiling the potatoes outweighs the benefits of eating them.
Energy costs have soared to such an extent that more and more people can't afford to not only heat up their homes but boil food. They are often facing the predicament of having to either eat or heat. Mary in Scotland informed me that 'The cost of living is very high in this country. Energy costs are going to go up by 50% and petrol is up by 25% . It is a bloody nightmare! John and I are trying to spend as much time at the club as possible to save us using our electricity at home. This is how bad things are. No more outdoor coffees or sandwiches. I listen to the radio because you use less electricity than the television!'
According to a recent survey by the Trussell Trust 20% of people interviewed said that they had been unable to cook hot food at least once a month. In recent months energy bills have rocketed. The reasons for this are due largely to the deepening economic crisis following the pandemic as well as the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
It is important to point out that the problem of paying for heating is not unprecedented. Foreign visitors to Britain have often commented on how cold and poorly insulated houses are in Britain. When I was a student I recall always watching television under a blanket with clothes on during winter. More old people die from hypothermia in Scotland than in the whole of Siberia.
Scottish households are always looking for ingenious ways of cutting their electricity bills. Instead of heating rooms, people wear warmer clothes, or instead of studying at home seeking refuge in a library.
But it is not only the cost of utility bills which is a stressful headache but simply getting access to regular decent meals. More and more people are going hungry. Experts at the Trussell Trust, a charity which helps the poor, predicts that in the next three months as many a one in ten people will resort to turning to food bank charities for food.
What on earth is a food bank? you might ask. When I first heard of this term I was stumped. At first I thought it was a place where cooks might meet to exchange new dishes and share tips on how to best cook meals. Then I imagined it might be a place where people could exchange food for cash. It was only later that I discovered that a food bank was a place poor people could go to be granted free food. Food banks were charities where people donated food to the needy. It was not a course in cooking! Thirty years ago the term did not exist!
Another recent revelation is that some of the people who originally donated food now can't afford it. Having experienced a deep cut in their living standards, they themselves are now asking for food! Mary told me she was surprised that a manager at her club also used the food bank available. But this does not astonish the experts at Trussell Trust and other charities who are helping the poor. We are witnessing a situation when stagnant or frozen wages can't keep up with the soaring cost of food and fuel.
However, being hungry in Britain did not start with the pandemic.
The pandemic only compounded an already existing unjust system loaded against the underdog. A report in 2018 by the United Nations' Rapporteur Philip Alston revealed a grim picture of deep poverty, and untold suffering, in Britain.
Before undertaking his investigation into poverty in Britain, he was reassured by the government that there was no absolute poverty or hunger in Britain as the social system adequately supported the poor. But when he freely engaged with local people what he found appalled him. Ordinary people told him of how poverty had driven them to despair and depression. Some people contemplated suicide. And others did it. Paula Peters told him how a close friend who was disabled jumped to her death after her benefit was stopped. He came across schoolchildren who told them how hungry they were. Alston found that many people could not obtain the benefits they were entitled to because of a digital divide where either they did not have access to a computer or lacked the skills to use them.
All too often applications for benefits have to be made via a computer. A common problem is that a significant number of people are unaware of what benefits they are entitled to. For instance, many people who are struggling to look after their old parents are entitled to special benefits as caregivers. The right to some welfare benefits is one of the best kept secrets of the state. You would think such information was a classified military secret. Philip Alston estimated that as many as 14 million people or a fifth of the population of the United Kingdom live in poverty. As many as 1.5 million are destitute!
Alston did not mince words. He bluntly declared, "We are witnessing the gradual disappearance of the post war British Welfare state behind a web state and an algorithm..." He complained that British compassion for those suffering had been replaced by a “punitive mean spirited callous approach.”
The notions of “fair play,” “Never hit a man when he is down” and “Don't strike a person below the belt” have long been abandoned by the British state. Now we are being plunged into a dark-ages kingdom where the bully and the braggart rule.