House prices do have a lot to answer for.  Selling council houses was a terribly short sighted policy.

Spot on.

I find this baffling. Of all the things which people could highlight why is this the smoking gun?

The foodbanks are refusing to take surplus potatoes from farmers because the people who use foodbanks will not take them because seemingly they don't know how to cook a potato.

How can any adult not know how to cook a potato???????????

Probably about time that they re-introduced "domestic science" aka cooking back in to the school curriculum

Stale?

Lots of good ideas and recipes for cheap food on the internet. Obviously if you can't afford food you wont have access to the internet but the libraries have computers which can be used.

You can buy a cookery book that contains all the basic recipes you need for £1.  It will be there, in Poundland, B & M Bargains or The Works.

More good news is that the food banks also deliver.

read that in the metro this morning.  It does make you wonder who exactly thought it was a good idea?

Just read that card , LOL

Fk that council house thing always comes up.
Selling them was good for those who’d always aspired to owning their own home and moving a bit further up the economic ladder but just needed that little bit of a leg up. Bad for those with no skills , no education despite it being all free at the time, never going get anywhere in life and had pretty much accepted that. I saw plenty of both sides in my ex-mining home town in the north east in the 80s.

Some people need help and with that help will make a go of it and I’m all for helping them, others are just dead weight for everyone else and always will be. Some because they’re GENUINELY disabled etc which is fair enough and should be helped, but others are barely more than pigs wallowing in their sh&t.

I agree with the comment re if you smoke , drink etc etc then you have no right going to food banks cos then you’re taking it from people who are living on the edge.

and maybe dog owners...or do you want to see cans of pedigree chum at the food bank as well

The forum's favourite London Borough Newham, had a stock of flats and houses that was 99% council owned back in the 1960s.

The last census revealed that the council now have 17,000 properties left, which is just over 16% of the total properties in the borough.

Now look at the local workforce, and the wages they get, and even a lot of those in full time work claim, add on the unemployed, who all claim, and then look at rents in the private sector, and you can can see why the Housing Benefit bill is so high for Londoners.

Now take the 'experts' view that the cut in stamp duty will 'electrify' the housing market, and that property prices will treble by 2020.

First time buyers will be facked in east London, having to pay £360k for a 1 bed flat, imagine what the financially better district properties will cost.

And the £25k cap on benefits will need to be raised, or there will be thousands of evictions.

look at london.

still lots of low end jobs that need doing but council dwellings are in very short supply.
these people have to rent in the private sector on low wages and then get a top up from the government .

you seriously telling me selling council properties worked???

its called short term gain for long term losses.....and we will keep on losing at this rate.

something needs to be done quickly to stop prices going up further and they need to be controlled to be brought back into line which means a cull of prices.

id start there by not allowing non eu to buy up properties in this country unless they pay a 50% tax on top of the price.
this money should then be put into building more council houses where needed.

90% plus I would guess

Also what money they do spend on food will be high fat high price junk

More than four million Britons, including 500,000 children, go hungry due to Government benefit sanctions and corporate greed, a landmark report reveals today.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who has backed the inquiry, said it was “shocking” that people are being forced to rely on foodbanks.

The report found that families have been driven into poverty by low wages, punitive welfare reforms and money-grabbing companies supplying gas, water, electricity and mobile phone contracts.

Labour MP Frank Field, who led the inquiry, said: “There’s clear evidence that something disturbing is happening. People are near the abyss and the smallest event can tip them over that abyss.”

He added that many people are just “one bill away” from crisis.

Food Poverty Inquiry St Judes hall South Shields, chaired by Frank Field MP, centreFood Poverty Inquiry chaired by Frank Field MP
The all-party inquiry voiced anger that food suppliers and supermarkets throw away millions of tonnes of food while people go hungry.

And it slammed the Government for rejecting £22million in aid from the European Union to fund foodbanks. The panel has demanded urgent changes, including faster welfare payments and an end to punitive benefit sanctions.

Regulators must stop the poorest being hit by higher utility bills and credit charges, the report added.

The panel also called for a strategy to raise wages for low-paid workers. And it called on the Government to fund a new organisation, called Feeding Britain, to work towards a hunger-free country.

Free school meals should be extended to holiday times, the inquiry added.

The research by MPs, including two Tories, peers and the Church is the most in-depth study on the one million people who turned to foodbanks last year. The report said: “Well over half a million children live in families who cannot afford to feed them properly.”

It was also found that there are at least three and a half million adults who are too poor to eat properly.

Shockingly, in almost half of all families at least one parent skips food in a bid to ensure others have enough to eat.

In a series of devastating findings, the report said the largest cause of people having to go to foodbanks was the Government’s welfare reforms, especially the use of sanctions on benefit claimants.

Iain Duncan Smith’s Department for Work and Pensions was slammed for failing to pay desperate people on time.

PAIain Duncan SmithWork and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith
The report said: “The problems and uncertainties arising from the delay, interruption or sanctioning of benefit payments were given by almost every foodbank as the most common reason for relying on their services.”

In a damning verdict on the Coalition, the inquiry said the annual average household income is £757 lower than in 2010. And the poorest fifth were the worst hit, losing £814 compared with four years ago.

The report panel said its “anger knows no bounds” that the food industry is throwing away so much edible food which could “eliminate hunger in our society”.

Do you think government ministers should take a pay cut?

YES
NO
In the past decade Britain has had the highest food inflation of Western nations, with prices rising 47% – compared to 22% in Germany and 16% in France. Since 2003, the UK has also suffered the highest fuel inflation, with electricity, gas and oil prices rising 153%, compared to 58% in France.

The report said: “The poor are penalised for their poverty with a raft of disproportionate charges for basic utilities.

“They pay more for their energy through prepayment meters, are more likely to be charged to withdraw cash from their local machine and often are unable to take advantage of the best mobile phone contracts – meaning they are likely to be one bill from needing to use a foodbank.”

Tory Business Minister Matthew Hancock said the rise in foodbanks was because more people know about them.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “While this report outlines important areas for consideration, we should remember that this country has been through the deepest recession in living memory, and sticking to this Government’s long-term economic plan is the best way to improve living standards.”

The inquiry said a large amount of those having to use foodbanks were in work.

The Most Rev Welby, who launches the report today, said the fact that hunger “still stalks” Britain was more shocking than the poverty in Africa.

Talking about a family he met at a foodbank, he said: “They were ashamed to be there. The dad talked miserably. He said they had each been skipping a day’s meals once a week to have more for the child. But then needed new tyres for the car so they could get to work at night and just could not make ends meet.”

Former Tory Cabinet minister David Mellor said Mr Welby is the “head of a failing organisation”.

Mr Mellor, who had to apologise recently for a foul-mouthed rant at a cabbie, added: “I don’t remember any part of the gospel where people were told to queue up outside Pontius Pilate’s office and tell him to put more money to the poor. I think the Church should be capable of organising that themselves.”

call me a taxi    08 Dec 14 13:15 
toffee87   
07 Dec 14 18:55 
DO you smoke? Yes = No freebie food
Do you drink? Yes = No freebies
DO you take drugs? = On your way Sonny
Do you drive a Car? = You having a laff?
Are you obese? = Time to start a diet kiddo

do you have tattoos ?
do you have an Iphone ?
do you have sky TV ?

Obviously all are considered necessities in this day and age

Try to keep up Wesdag.

Just checking your paying attention.

They pay more for their energy through prepayment meters, are more likely to be charged to withdraw cash from their local machine and often are unable to take advantage of the best mobile phone contracts – meaning they are likely to be one bill from needing to use a foodbank

I didn't realise how needy some people were to be honest

Tony Broke.

I read this original article on line. It is staggering what's happening in this country of ours in 2014. I hope that some on here take note, and think twice before making sweeping statements.

The comment from David Mellor, beggars belief. But it sums up the arrogant and ignorant feelings of this Government. Giving yet another example ( if any more were needed) just how out of touch these privileged sods are.

Crisp77


Aren't you glad you're In a position that allows you to think such ' jokes ' are funny.

Makes you more of an idiot than I thought then

the lefties here – I can agree with a certain amount of socialist ideals re public spending so that people born in the UK are not left to starve or out on the streets. But far too many take the p&ss with system. I watched benefits Britain the other day where it was set in Blackpool, the guy called “Silver” was a perfect example. He ‘claimed’ he had a bad back from sciatica but there was plenty shots of him walking down the street, he’d pawned his scooter, twirling his cane like Fred Astaire not needing to put any weight on it all and walking perfectly fine.

As I said on another thread arguments for socialism fall on their ar&e cos they ultimately depend on taking money from one group of people (the vast vast majority of whom will have it earned it fair and square) and giving it to another group in the name of xyz.
And I’m afraid the vast majority of those that earn any reasonable amount, when it comes to the crunch, are always going to want to keep as much of THEIR money as possible, whether it's direct income or whatever assets they've managed to accrue under the punitive tax regime we have.

All your type of bleeting re fairness is only fair to those dipping their hands in other people’s pockets.

Of course real dyed in the wool socialists see all money as the states and if they allow you to keep any then you should be grateful.

A woman (single parent, one child) works for a friend of mine and complains about not being able to afford a cooker but has just spent nearly £200 on another tattoo and can afford the latest Iphone.
Just another unfortunate who's problems are all down to this arrogant and ignorant Government.

Yay to the single mother - she's working. So she's only half a bad person then. I don't know of anyone who would see a child deprived so they could have a tattoo, that's against every motherly instinct, I'd have thought. So is it literally true and as simple as you are making out? I doubt it, personally.