Saturday 27 June 2015

On the Poverty line

English: David Cameron's picture on the 10 Dow...
David Cameron's from 10 Downing Street website
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Half a million more children in 'absolute poverty' since David Cameron became Prime Minister

This is the claim of a Mirror article (25/06/15). But this is not the first headline under Cameron's premiership to voice what has been known since 2012 Olympic Games our kids are on the poverty line. In 2012 the PM pledged 120millon (for 2016) to the World Hunger Summit and money for 2016 Olympics so children in Britain could starve for the last three years.

While Cameron was lost in the Olympic headlights (of closing the Games), young children in Britain were having to bailout cash-strapped parents with their pocket money it would seem. The headline: “Children as young as 8 are lending money to their parents as they worry about family finances” (Mail Online) clearly pointed this out on 12th August 2012. (The piece went on to explain that 85% of eight to fifteen-year-olds claim to be worried about their family's finances. And that, “Almost a third (31 per cent) of the 1,132 children surveyed said they had lent their own money to someone else.” And “Of that group, 29 per cent had helped mum and dad with a handout and two-thirds had lent money to a friend” with “The older children … more likely … to say they were anxious about household finances.”)



In contrast, the SkyNews headline “PM Hosts World Hunger Summit” (which read, "Mr Cameron hoped to secure sufficient commitments from leaders and multinational firms to help prevent 25 million children under five suffering stunted growth by the time of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro."). Mr Cameron told the summit that Britain would pledge a £120m investment, and that, "While people around the planet have been enjoying and competing in these Games there's another world where children don't have enough to eat, and never get the start in life they deserve."

Mo Farah Makes Plea At PM's Hunger Summit Sky News

From the two headlines above, you can see that Britain had hit an all-time low! Homeland Britain was sufferings: We’d spent a wealth on the Games (so that we appear less like a Third World Country than we clearly are). Although the Games were more than impressive, as far as Start (opening ceremony), Games (massive Gold haul), and End (closing ceremony - that matched the opening extravaganza for wow-factor), we were and still are country on the edge of poverty. Even so, "PM pledges millions for Team GB at Rio" Reported an Independent article. (They went on to quote that he's pledging lottery money to Team GB – instead of targeting underprivileged children at home – he clearly sees the world poverty not one of charity staring at home.) We were all proud of our team; but when millions of British taxpayers are funding waste and avarice (Banking Crisis), there has to be a time to say whoa... And we had reached it. 

To emphasise this point more; back in May of 2012 The Sun had a headlined which read, “Charity launched to help feed starving UK kids”. (Have all the starving children of Britain been fed in the few months to the end of Olympic gold? NO, of course.) The article explained that, "While hundreds of charities campaign for funds to feed Third World youngsters, new research from children’s charity Kids Company estimate a million children in Britain now suffer from ‘food insecurity’ – equivalent to two in every school class.” The charity, Kids Company, has launched the first-ever appeal to feed starving children – in the UK. So while Cameron was pledging millions for sports (in 2016) our children at home were clearly starving. Are the 2016 Olympic Games so important for Britain that children should suffer? (I declare! Please Mr Cameron, stop wasting funds on making the country look good! We’d look better if all our children were well fed. What is the point of a great shop window if the shelves are empty inside?) Sorry, David, I think not!
Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics bid logo.
Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympics bid logo.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Things, unfortunately, have changed little in the last few years: “More than four million youngsters now live below the breadline, the Department for Work and Pensions revealed,” via The Mirror on June 25 2015. With more families squeezed by a further £12billion Tory incursion on the welfare supply, with the new battering due to be divulged in less than 12 days.

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