tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post5071624550219319369..comments2023-10-02T14:33:18.136+01:00Comments on The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant: Day 4735: If the Economy Is Getting Stronger Why Are the Queues at Food Banks Getting Longer?Millennium Domehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-3985421951252035172013-12-19T13:47:50.479+00:002013-12-19T13:47:50.479+00:00Liz, I think MM's point about people not being...Liz, I think MM's point about people not being written off was about the Coalition Government aiming and succeeding in keeping unemployment lower rather than as in the '80s the Tories calculating that a boom for most meant trashing a smaller number wouldn't matter. <br /><br />And it's a bit of a nasty, glib shot to say people would rather be "written off" than assessed: obviously not, or why go through the assessments? I'm currently waiting for the results of my latest ATOS assessment and am very worried about it, but given the alternative of being "written off" I went along with it, thank you very much. I hate and distrust ATOS and wish they'd been one of the things the Coalition had changed from the Labour Government, but I had ATOS assessments in the same place, in the same way, under Labour.<br /><br />Your final point seems to prove the point of the article: I'm "also surprised and disappointed" that asking evidence-based questions of both the government and any other organisation with its own agenda is smeared with lacking a "moral compass". It's unworthy of you to trivialise an attempt to examine the truth, which it is not immoral to question unless you believe only in 'revealed truth' from the government, one particular charity or any other higher power. I'm a Liberal, and I prefer to ask questions of any of them and hold them to account, thank you very much, rather than surrendering my own moral compass to what somebody else tells me.Alex Wilcockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03364653159038708678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-28032597795763340192013-12-19T13:29:43.883+00:002013-12-19T13:29:43.883+00:00"I suspect a lot of people would rather be &q..."I suspect a lot of people would rather be "written off" by this Government"<br /><br />Unfortunately the alternative is the Labour Party who *invented* ATOS and the like.<br /><br />"I'm also surprised and disappointed..."<br /><br />I'm sorry that you think that, Liz, but if anyone is trivializing the issue it's the people drawing simplistic cause/effect connections between the increase in food bank use and the Coalition. And, yes, that includes the Trussell Trust.<br /><br />They are hardly impartial in this. They're the largest provider of food banks and their trustees are known to be supporters of the Labour Party. They're the ones who chose to issue a press release calling it a scandal. That's hyperbolic and not justified by their lack of analysis.<br /><br />It the Tax Payer's Alliance issue a Press Release saying that 50% taxpayers are overtaxed I'll take a go at their logic; I don't see why the Trussell Trust should get a free pass just because they're notionally "nice".<br /><br />I want to see people helped out of poverty, not used as political capital. Not even by a charity.Millennium Domehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430269096817934037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-10896151619178455152013-12-19T13:11:58.768+00:002013-12-19T13:11:58.768+00:00I suspect a lot of people would rather be "wr...I suspect a lot of people would rather be "written off" by this Government than suffer its continuing attentions in the form of work capability assessments, forced unpaid work experience and the like.<br /><br />I'm also surprised and disappointed at the implication that the Trussell Trust are exaggerating the need for their own purposes. It trivialises a very real problem. It's unworthy of this blog, which usually has a very clear moral compass.<br /><br />lizwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06401131361183004457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22974616.post-60915630286656258002013-12-19T12:51:11.885+00:002013-12-19T12:51:11.885+00:00I agree with the dilemma - the increase in foodban...I agree with the dilemma - the increase in foodbanks is certainly down to a mix of genuine increase in need, more foodbanks existing and people who were previously invisibly poor now having another option. There doesn't seem to be any solid evidence as to the split between these three.<br /><br />The Trussell Trust has for several years been quite aggressive in its expansion, lobbying Government for money well before 2010, so it doesn't sit well for them to claim that the expansion is purely down to increased need.<br /><br />One analogy is shelters for battered wives. If a charity opened lots more shelters for abused women, it's likely that women currently suffering in silence would come and use them. Would we all cite this as evidence of an explosion in domestic violence? No, not least because there's good evidence (Crime Survey of England and Wales) to oppose that interpretation.<br />Iain Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15422191567940230666noreply@blogger.com