Poverty is the issue, not culture or colour

I commend this article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8995295/Poverty-not-colour-is-the-real-dividing-line-in-modern-Britain.html

My avid reader will recall that I have argued on this blog that poverty is the issue which is far more important to tackle than racism.   See: http://kentcommunityactivist.blogspot.com/2010/02/rise-of-barmy-nasty-party.html

One of the more insidious elements in politics today is the claim by some parties that they are seeking to preserve English culture and identity.  In the postmodern world what is it that they are seeking to preserve?

Social failure is the fault of the political elites.

Many years ago JK Galbraith posited that the problem of the USA underclass could be resolved. Governments had the means to achieve change but not the desire to will the funding to make it happen.

The use of the word 'underclass' raises hackles in some, but it is a convenient shorthand as used by Galbraith in a non-pejorative sense.   He argued that people in well-paid, satisfying employment with plenty of discretionary income needed the underclass to maintain their standard of living.

The underclass undertook the dirty, repetitive, low-paid jobs: care staff, cleaners,  shelf-stackers, lavatory attendants and the like. They live in poor housing, have poor education and often poor health. Raising taxation to improve their lot would eat into the resources of the better off.  Indeed it would be counter-productive as who would do the dirty work if you gave these people or their children a better education?

Galbraith's analysis travels well to the United Kingdom.  The problems in the UK have been well documented.

Somewhere along the line governments gave up on the underclass. Instead of measures to counter the problems successive governments have entrenched deprivation through the welfare system, by permitting sink schools, be making unemployment  more financially advantageous than working and so forth.   I know there are examples of policies which were intended to have the opposite effect, such as the Sure Start initiative, but the position is that problems in deprived areas and of the underclass are no better than they were in 1985 when the Church of England published its devastating critique: Faith in the City.

Life for many is grim.  I have some hopes that the educational reforms of the present government may bear fruit and that the benefit changes will likewise prove positive.  But they are only a start, much more requires to be done.  Unfortunately our economy is weak and we do not have the means, never mind possibly the will, to make the radical changes that are needed, unless taxation is increased.


I commend the article to which I have provided the following link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8700270/UK-riots-Mr-Cameron-has-been-handed-a-chance-to-mend-this-broken-society.html

I have supported the Centre for Social Justice for some years, having been introduced to it by Greg Clark MP, who is now the Minister for Cities.

Foodbank for Kent

I received the following from Nick Chard. It is encouraging.

'Thank you for your interesting email regarding Fareshare's work and the diversion of food from landfill. This charity clearly serves a very important function of preventing waste, helping those in need, addressing food poverty, saving landfill space, and reducing landfill gas, as well as saving scarce resources and carbon. It is certainly a very worthwhile enterprise and I am pleased to note that it is expanding.

From my understanding of Fareshare's work, essentially it takes food which would otherwise be waste from food processors and other businesses and provides it for community use. Turning to my role here at KCC, as the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste, this covers the function of the County Council as the household waste disposal authority and therefore as you can see I have no remit in respect of waste food from business premises. In fact, the majority of Kent's household waste is being disposed of through the energy from waste plant at Allington and does not in any case go to landfill.

I agree that FareShare's objectives are extremely laudable and whilst landfill diversion is not an issue for KCC, I am sure that Fareshare's work will be of interest to other colleagues. In fact, during these difficult economic times, Kent has reviewed its priorities to place particular emphasis on supporting those who are disadvantaged and of course food poverty is closely linked to the well-being of our community. I will ask that the work of this charity is flagged to other directorates such as Children, Families and Education.'

Sure Start: A wrong turning.

Frank Field stated recently:

Consider Sure Start. This was one of Labour’s great initiatives, aimed at cutting into the cycle of deprivation that trapped all too many children in poverty. But the recent transformation of Sure Start into Children’s Centres signifies a major change in the programme: its focus has shifted from the poorest to all children.

If our society’s aim is to widen the life chances of poorer children, is this a sensible and defensible change?

Got it is one Frank.

A few years ago I was chair of a charity which ran a pre-school playgroup specifically for children of poor families. The charity was called Panda and received praise from OFSTED for its exemplar family liaison work. It was mentioned by the then Tunbridge Wells MP, the hard-headed businessman Archie Norman, in an House of Commons debate as an excellent example of a voluntary sector organisation targeting real need in a way the broad brush of the statutory sector failed to do.

Then it was decided to open a Sure Start close to the Panda premises and it was agreed Panda would move into the new Sure Start premises as its own premises were to be demolished. The move never happened as Kent County Council insisted on an increase in numbers and that the group be open to all children.

Now we are told that there are a number of children at the local primary school with behaviour problems? Why is this? Did they go through the Children's Centre as the Sure Starts became known as? I bet if these kids had gone through Panda the problem would have been much reduced. An unholy alliance of Kent County Council, central government, aided and abetted by a voluntary infrastructure body, destroyed a charity which was targeting successfully children from poorer families.

Frank Field is correct: the change of focus was wrong.

Frank Field

According to press reports David Cameron has lined up Frank Field, the Labour MP and former minister, to be his "poverty tsar" as he puts the fight against deprivation at the heart of his agenda.

I hope this story is correct.

Having pressed for a credit union for Kent I am now directing my energies to establish a foodbank in the county. There is a substantial number of people living in poverty in Kent. The Labour government failed to make any significant inroads into the problem. What is needed are radical changes which attack the many causes of poverty, rather than dealing with the symptoms.

Having worked amongst some of the poorest people in Kent and East London I recognise that there is no easy or quick fix to the problems. Reducing poverty significantly will take years to achieve.

I have supported the work of the Centre for Social Justice for a few years and broadly agree with its recommendations on poverty issues. It will be fascinating to watch as the 'Right' of UK politics makes progress on issues the 'Left' has failed to address.

Spot on!!

Bruce Anderson in The Independent:

"Mr Duncan Smith may prove to be the most influential ex-leader of all time. It must have been a blow, losing the leadership without even fighting an election. No one could have blamed him if he had foresworn politics and gone off to the City. He did indeed set off for a city, but his destination was not Eastcheap, EC3. It was Easterhouse in Glasgow. This was an admirable, heart-warming response. IDS immersed himself in the social problems of the inner cities. He also stole a Labour catchphrase. Traditional Tories have always been suspicious of the term "social justice". It would seem to imply that social outcomes could be determined in the political equivalent of a courtroom. So when IDS called his new think-tank the Centre for Social Justice, old-fashioned Tories did not know whether to be amused at the clothes-stealing or alarmed at the implications. But there was no need for alarm. There is an argument that the poor deserve a much greater degree of social justice, in that large sums of money are already spent on them, often to little effect. A child condemned to a bog-standard comprehensive is a victim of social injustice. A single mother – or an elderly pensioner – constantly menaced by young criminals is a victim of injustice. Even members of the criminal underclass are suffering from social injustice. Why were they allowed to deteriorate until they are fit for nothing except punishment? So when a Tory insists on social justice, he is not succumbing to socialism. He is indicting socialism. Most of the victimised poor have lived under socialistic regimes for decades, and much good it has done them."

Amen.

ConservativeHome's panel of influential journalists, parliamentarians and thought-leaders last week voted the Centre for Social Justice as the think tank which has had the most influence on the Cameron project.

Tim Montgomerie

Foodbank for Kent: Update

Foodbanks seek to ameliorate the problem of food poverty. In Kent there are a number of churches distributing free food, and not just in areas of poor economic performance such as Dover, Folkestone, Thanet and Sheerness.

The problem is across Kent. The hidden poor are struggling to adequately feed themselves whilst there are the trappings of affluence all around them.

A few of us are working to provide a robust and sustainable response to the problem of food poverty. We intend to meet early in May to review our research and decide on the next action points.

Spot on, May

Below is a quotation, in italics, from an article by Tory, Theresa 'Shoes' May. A very clear exposition of the need to target causes of problems rather than putting sticking plasters on the symptoms.

My complaint against Total Place is that it seeks to apply failed policies more effectively and not tackle the causes of problems.

However, whilst I agree top-down alone doesn't work, it is for government to set the legislative framework of new policies. The voluntary sector may have the answers, but legislation is required for the sector is to be given the tools to do the job.

Conservatives have long argued that a successful strategy to tackle poverty must target its causes, including poor education, family breakdown, debt and worklessness. We have set out the co-ordinated approach that we would take in government, including radical welfare reform to improve back to work support for everyone on out-of-work benefits, increasing the number of good school places and ending the couple penalty in the benefits system.

Labour's failure on child poverty has been symptomatic of their failed approach in other key areas of social policy. Rather than taking action to tackle the causes of crime, or unemployment, or inequality, and trusting the front-line professionals and voluntary organisations who have the answers to many of these problems, Labour's top-down response has failed vulnerable people.

A Conservative government will be determined to make progress on ending child poverty. It is an important and ambitious aspiration for any government – and a moral imperative as no decent society should allow children to grow up in poverty.

Poverty on our doorstep

Tunbridge Wells is affluent, but the poor are always with us. Today's Tunbridge Wells edition of the Kent & Sussex Courier carries a two page story about a family on low income. In an excellent hard-hitting editorial a number of key points are made:

• Deprivation in this country is often overlooked.
• The lady who is the subject of the article is like thousands of others, struggling each week to feed herself and her family
• The families' situation is an all-to common one: They have found themselves in a vicious circle of spending too much and racking up debt. Fuelled by a mixture of poor budgeting, low income and easily accessible credit they are now in a particularly vulnerable financial position.
• Such people are society's forgotten poor. They are not homeless and begging on the street, so it is easy for people to pretend such problems are not rife among us.

The editorial rightly argues that the current benefit system needs to be changed as it is hurting individuals and society as a whole by trapping people in poverty. The Courier has a clear understanding of the problems of poverty and is to be congratulated on publishing this story.

I make two observations:

1. The newly formed Kent Savers Credit Union has statutory duty to provide advice on budgeting and thrift.

2. Should we be looking in Kent at setting up a foodbank along the lines of those established in the USA? For an example follow this link . Foodbanks in Kent are small and not much is known about them. Perhaps an opportunity for a social enterprise?

Blog for frontline poverty fighters

Poverty Debate describes itself as 'the blog and social network for frontline poverty fighters in the UK'. It is sponsored by the Centre for Social Justice.