A foodbank in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Charities say there has been a huge rise in the use of such services in the last two years. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian
A foodbank in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Charities say there has been a huge rise in the use of such services in the last two years. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

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9 thoughts on “

  1. George Woodward says:

    The government would sooner look after the well being of people overseas than people here,if you are working class you are no better than peasants in this country,thats for all to see.

  2. JayBee says:

    I will be £200 a month worse off come April! That’s not including the bedroom tax and council tax Ben reduction being a severely disabled person in the uk is unbearable no end to the misery….

  3. Justin Thyme says:

    this story is funny in the light of the media’s obsessing about the ‘obesity crisis’ – hate the media in this country – all of them

  4. Can I have some more Sir "what oliver more grule" says:

    DWP are vomiting out lies and propaganda, that’s what the Nazi’s did in the 1930 why do we think this country is better or more moral than they were.
    every MP can claim £400 per month food allowance even if they do not eat the food they just claim the money no MP’s going hungry.

  5. John Lanigan says:

    Food poverty and obesity are two sides of the same coin and it’s caused by poverty. There is nothing funny about either. The facts are there for anyone to see.

  6. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Life has changed since the DWP in coalition with ATOS removed all my Incapacity Benefit. Being £8350 less off each year poses many problems.
    The gas fire has not been lit for the last 3 years. My family sit watching tv during the winter months, the only heat comes from the light bulb and the telly and the heat from our bodies.
    We wear multiple garments, including top coats to stave away the cold, and thats indoors!
    Saturday we went to Asda. First call was the reduced counter where the nearly out of date goods are discounted. We managed to get a few bargains.
    A few years ago i used to look down on people who frequented the reduced counters, now its a matter of necessity. Sometimes it feels as though people who are more affluent are now looking down on us. I have no shame, we have to live……
    Our trolley was awash with the smart price cheapest bargains, including 8p cans of mushy peas and dodgy tasting cereals.
    You can see the poorest in our society at the tills, white packeted cheap goods in abundance and yellow discount stickers that shout “miser”.
    A Tory minister recently said in an interview that anyone who buys cheaply expects to be conned, hence the horsemeat. Being hard up gives you no other option but to buy cheaply, truffles and champagne have been consigned to the elite…..
    Dad, who passed away a few years ago, had a saying that i have always remembered….

    “…I cried because i had no shoes, then i saw a man who had no legs”………

    I have witnessed poverty but i never expected it on the doorsteps of the seventh richest country in the world……

  7. David Moynagh says:

    Food poverty can be halted in an instant. … by demanding that the present government calles an election or are ousted by other means. The time to act is now.

  8. A Lewis says:

    The law may state a person is entitled to an amount of benefit, why does it not have an opinion on how one might live on it? I’m baffled by such lack of concern. If there is no calculations done on what it costs individuals in different circumstances to live/survive then how does the state have any idea whether it is paying too much or too little? Inflation figures tell us nothing. The proliferation of food banks suggest benefits are too low, peoples stories of living without heat, taking on debt, buying cut priced food tells a little of the struggle. But life is a struggle. the decision has to be made just how much do we want people to struggle? Is it OK that people are cold, eating cereal instead of a proper dinner? Are we comfortable with people on benefits being stressed out over bills? What’s a bit of cold? Sleeping in a bedroom thats 8 degrees more or less that’s alright, healthy who knows? So it takes an hour or two to heat your bed up with your little tepid body, did you have anything else planned? Of course there’s a bit of condensation in the room, a bit of mould that’s nothing. We had ice on the inside of our windows when we were kids. So you get a cold that won’t go away. We all did, all winter. Just don’t cough on me. OK the bathrooms a trifle chilly and washing in cold water is bracing but it won’t kill you will it? Oh and don’t even mention Reynards Disease, Pah! We had good old fashioned chilblains and were proud to soak em. And really complaining about eating cornflakes again? Who doesn’t like cornflakes/flaked corn for tea? Come on supermarkets own with a spot of warm black tea from the pot who’s complaining? Nobody talked about five a day when I was a kid and we were OK. Lucky to see a bit of fruit we were, just before it was cut up four ways. And now poor people are complaining about eating a bit of horse, lucky it is that they get to see horse at all these days what with so many horses having gone to slaughter because of owners tightening their belts. Count your lucky stars that its deemed a scandal, coz that means there’s gonna be more cheap nosh on the soon to expire shelf coz no decent folks are gonna want it!

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