According to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shoplifting offences in England and Wales in 2023 have risen to the highest level since records began in 2003.
According to the data there has been more than 430,000 recorded cases last year which had increased by 37% in the year ending 2023 when compared to 2022. This makes it the highest levels recorded since records started being kept in 2003.
James Cleverly responded by saying that although the police record it as a ‘sub threshold crime’ and it has a so called ‘corrosive effect’ on peoples confidence in the police. Its not surprising that he appeared to have zero sympathy for those effectively forced to shoplift due to various circumstances.
Julian Heyes, criminal defence lawyer and partner at Berris Law LLP went on to say ” The release of the recent shoplifting figures simply demonstrate that the years of austerity and cuts in policing have meant that the investigation of these so called minor offences have long since been neglected and ignored”
“The police cannot be blamed for this as they, much like the rest of the criminal justice system are on their knees. The cost to the high street is immeasurable and causing shops and businesses to close or restrict access to customers, not to mention the horrendous risks that members of staff have to take when challenging shoplifters”
The truth is that shop lifting is rising for various reasons including and not excluding others: The increasing cost of living, high energy bills, low wages, less than adequate social security payments, increases in mortgage repayments, social security payments being too low and badly paid employment.
Whilst many people with addictions shoplift to fund their habits there’s very little support given to them to conquer their addictions thus the circle of offending continues.
Let’s be clear, very few people actually want to shoplift its a situation they find themselves in through desperation and is usually the last option that they can take after exhausting other avenues, they’re desperate and see this as a last resort.
We all appreciate and acknowledge that there are foodbanks that help people but not everyone can access them or can wait until the next time they’re open. People are driven by hunger and distress and we live in desperate times which is entirely the governments creation.
The UK has a government hell bent on lining their own pockets and their business and personal friends with money that has been taken from the public purse. There’s been a sharp decline in the physical and mental wellbeing of the working class and mortality levels are rising. The constant stripping of funding to local councils has also paid a huge part in this and town centres aren’t being cared for like they should be because theres no longer the financial means to do so. This has a direct impact upon the high street.
The solution to this is quite simple and to be honest basic economics. For a society to succeed and thrive there has to be financial investment into the public, the more money they have to spend undoubtably benefits their general health it also helps to transform the areas that they live.
It’s easy to blame a shoplifter for shoplifting, and I don’t condone violence towards retail staff. The blame lies totally at the governments feet. Society as we knew it has been broken by the current government, the amount of desperate and hungry people are at their highest in modern times, desperate people are forced to take measures that they would previously have never dreamt of doing.
Hurl your anger at the government and not Joe Public.
It’s been a long while since I’ve focused upon the DWP’s enforced volunteering (Workfare) schemes so I thought I’d revisit it.
Myself and many others have been protesting against them for many years for the reasons below.
Enforced volunteering goes against everything that actual volunteering stands for and it’s so bloody wrong.
Here’s a list of reasons why Workfare is wrong, and what the knock on effects are for people employed at these work places.
Workfare actually puts claimants at an increased risk of sanctions If they can’t attend their Workfare placement for any reason albeit disability, Illness, childcare etc their DWP work coach can refer them to be sanctioned.
Enforced volunteering criminalises the unemployed, setting the so called deserving and undeserving poor against each other after all how dare people not work for nothing. (I’m being sarcastic)
Of course everyone should be paid a wage for the work that they do.
Work for nothing schemes perpetuate poverty and inequality. It’s soul destroying being forced to work for nothing whilst doing the same things as paid employees are.
Workfare schemes have displaced paid workers and workers. I’ve written about previous employees being forced to volunteer at their previous employment doing the same job.
They provide free labour for private companies. Why pay someone when they can fill those positions with unpaid workers. It’s a win win for them.
Workfare undermines the fundamental rights to social security, which gives the claimant free choice of employment, equal days pay for an equal day’s work.
It undermines a workers basic rights to pay and fair working conditions by introducing a claimant workforce doing the same job without the legal status as workers.
Workfare drives down wages and conditions for all workers by undercutting the labour market and undermining bargaining power. Once again why should they pay employees when they can get free labour.
It doesn’t help people into paid employment despite this being the premise of the reason why Workfare was created.
Enforced volunteering actually prevents claimants from doing their own job searches based upon the work that they’re qualified to do.
For a long time now Workfare schemes create false employment statistics because claimants undertaking workfare are counted as in employment.
Workfare undermines the values and practice of volunteering. It can’t be called volunteering if it’s not voluntary.
It’s shocking that this is still happening and that no one is talking about this anymore. I’ve called Universal Credit being a digital workhouse, claimants having to do everything their work coach says or face being sanctioned.
No one should ever have their main means of survival taken away from them. Every person deserves to have the ability to buy food to eat, to keep warm and have somewhere decent to live.
Sanctioning people is totally unacceptable, a sadistic way of punishing people especially taking the cost of living and energy cost crisis.
As I write this the temperature outside is -4 and I worry about everyone that is now chasing warmth every day. Job searching is extremely hard when your main focus is hunger and cold.
My thoughts are with everyone that can’t get out and can’t access warm spaces, not can they access food banks.
Whilst although I’m glad that these warm spaces have been created for people to use we should be protesting about the need for them in the first place.
They say ‘The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest member’. The UK is clearly failing those most in need. The only way of rectifying this would be a general election and a new government that would prioritise those most in need first.
Will this happen? I’m not sure but I hope that they do.
EDIT I forgot to thank Boycott Workfare for their hard work and campaigning which resulted in some charities from using unpaid workers.
Please take care everyone my thoughts are with you.
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I’m so sorry to have to tell you that our good friend and comrade Christine Clarke passed away earlier this week.
Christine was a huge supporter of my blog and our campaign and was a constant support not only to me but to others.
She had a very kind heart and was a long time protector of our planet having been a long term member of the green party. Christine was also a campaigner at Greenham Common and other campaigns.
Her kindness knew no bounds and this radiated to others always there to comfort people especially at Ashton Under Lyne Jobcentre demos. Always there to help and advise others in their time of need.
Christine, you will be sadly missed by so many thanks for the memories and good times. I shall miss you dearly.
My photo that was taken on one of our Universal Credit demonstrations.
It appears that the government is going full throttle with their let’s punish unemployed people as much as possible until they give up plans.
They now plan to completely stop unemployed claimants of all of their social security payments if they appear to be refusing to look for employment.
Not content with this if their plans come to fruition they will also be stripped of their right to free prescriptions and discounted bus travel, the Chancellor has announced.
According to the Chancellor this will be the biggest welfare shake-up for a decade.
If they appear to be making no effort to find work will be kicked out of the system after six months.
Those who do engage but have still not found a job after 18 months will be forced to take on work or forfeit their benefits.
According to Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, the reforms should be seen as a “huge investment” in employment, rather than a “savings exercise”.
Yeah right it’s all about saving money and making the poorest and most in need pay the most financially.
As part of the proposed reforms claimants that claim the basic rate of Universal Credit who are fit to work but refuse to engage for six months will have their claims closed completely.
I repeat the government will also take away ALL of their monthly allowance and their rights to receive free NHS prescriptions, dental care, legal aid and bus and rail discounts.
I don’t need to say how much of a dangerous precedent this is setting. Many decisions made by DWP work coaches are based on their opinion and are not based on fact.
So if in their opinion they aren’t making enough effort All and I repeat ALL of their payments will stop.
If this goes ahead they will literally leave people to starve, live in cold damp properties and force thousands onto the streets.
We already know Job Coaches aren’t always sympathetic towards claimants that are struggling even when they are ill or have other genuine reasons as to why they’re struggling.
If in their opinion it’s not good enough every payment could be stopped. As we know there is a shortage of well paid suitable employment.
People just can’t accept any job especially if their circumstances don’t allow them to.
I know I’m repeating myself here but I do feel that this will push thousands of people over the edge, living in distress unable to cope.
The government may as well just admit their massive hatred for unemployed, vulnerable and disabled people.
The very fact that they want to take money away from people leaving them with absolutely nothing just to save them money is about as low as they can go.
Under no circumstances should the public be punished for the shit decisions the government has made. The UK is in a mess, going through a recession, even though they won’t admit to this.
Foreign countries no longer want to invest in the UK and who can blame them. The UK stock market is in a really bad shape and still the government refuses to do anything about this, hell they don’t even want to admit it.
Unemployed people haven’t wrecked the UK and they certainly shouldn’t be punished for their mistakes either.
It’s virtually a death sentence and this needs to be challenged by everyone right now and with the greatest urgency because people will die and this is no exaggeration.
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Northern council leaders have warned that 27,000 new jobs would not be created if HS2’s northern leg is scrapped
Recently Cheshire and Warrington’s council leaders and the region’s LEP have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressing their deep concern over the rumours that the government is seriously considering scrapping of HS2’s northern leg.
The letter has been signed by Cllr Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, Cllr Craig Browne, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, Cllr Louise Gittins, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cllr Russ Bowden, leader of Warrington Borough Council and Clare Hayward, chair of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership.
In it they say that scrapping the northern leg will undoubtably worsen the north-south divide thus effectively leaving the government’s so called levelling up agenda meaningless.
However Rishi Sunak is reportedly reviewing how the cost of HS2 can be ‘controller’s he states that the cost of delivering it has apparently crippled since its conception. Sunak appears to have no qualms in cancelling the northern leg, after all the fact that he’s considering it speaks volumes in itself. For those in Greater Manchester it’s the worst scenario after putting years of hard work into plans and policies and vast amounts of money.
Once again the north has been promised the earth, but all it seems we’ll get is scorched earth,” said one council leader “For the government to even be thinking about scrapping the northern leg is just madness and I find it difficult to comprehend the logic behind it.”
Another added ominously: “If the north of England is largely left out of the HS2 loop, the north-south divide is almost certainly going to grow wider.”
The HS2 project was created by Gordon Brown’s Labour government in 2009 and was envisaged to link some of the country’s largest cities and towns to London, though the Midlands up to Manchester from Euston.The 225mph railway was originally planned to run from Euston to Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham.
However the planned HS2 extension to Leeds was ended in November, 2021 then followed in the following March that the planned construction between Birmingham and Crewe would be delayed by two years, and that promised services might not reach central London until the 2040s.
But it’s not just about the physical creation of providing high speed train travel. It came with the promise from the government that this project would help Greater Manchester to level up and help to realign regional imbalances after the government acknowledged that the north is neglected north.
Along with this came the promises of what HS2 could bring to Manchester and the north. Amongst these and not excluding others, reduced journey times as intercity trains currently operated by Avanti West Coast would be taken off the West Coast Main Line and better capacity and links around the region and other counties through NPR.
A new Manchester Piccadilly HS2 station was also proposed which would also will incorporate Northern Powerhouse Rail links that would importantly unlock east-west journeys thus potentially boosting the UK’s economy and productivity, as well as Manchesters.
The leader of Manchester city council, Bev Craig, gave an impassioned plea to government in June, urging HS2 to be built right – and built once – here, with a four-platform underground station rather than a station above ground running into Manchester on concrete stilts, as proposed by HS2 Ltd. HS2 in Manchester, she said, would result in subsequent regeneration bringing in more jobs, residents and visitors to the city centre – plans she described as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’.
The government has always rejected the underground argument for Manchester as too costly. But reports suggest Mr Sunak could offer an underground station for Piccadilly and reallocate savings made on HS2 to rail in the north in a bid to placate local leaders – that or a HS2 delay to Manchester of many years, saying that scrapping HS2 to Manchester, she said, would mean levelling-up ‘is dead’.
“The government has not officially communicated any intention to us about what they plan to do around HS2 to Manchester,” Coun Craig said. “As of yet, there is no clear indication from government as to what action will be taken.
That’s why Andy Burnham and I have written to the Prime Minister demanding a meeting to get an update on the current status of the line and to continue to make the strong case that HS2 should not be scrapped to Manchester because to do so wouldn’t just bring long-term financial consequences for the country, but would also be the final nail in the coffin for levelling-up.”
She said there’s been no response – and there was no prior warning. “What you would be ending up with from a north to London line is something that runs from outer London to the Midlands, and doesn’t even go into the capital,” she added.
“One of the reasons that we are so committed to pushing HS2 to Manchester is not just for the economic growth that it brings, but also the huge opportunity that it offers. Because HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail – HS2 north to south, NPR getting across the north, connecting towns and cities – they need each other.
“Network Rail has said that if you were to scrap HS2 to Manchester, NPR would cost an extra £15bn. HS2 would provide the platform that NPR needs.”
She described HS2 as the ‘building blocks’. “It’s about faster trains, but it’s also about capacity. Manchester’s railways are full,” said Coun Craig. “HS2 would take all of the London trains and put them on a separate line, and that gives more capacity for the other lines to use existing tracks.
“NPR – fast connections east to west in the north of England – would also use some of that same track, they would use the track that is currently planned between Manchester Piccadilly and the airport.
“Political short-termism shouldn’t be creating long-term decisions that will create long-term economic harm. The government needs to give absolute certainty that the investment that was promised to the north will not be reneged on. We see time and time and time again commitments falling away. Where in the north of England, Greater Manchester, we are promised something, and it doesn’t follow through.
“If they do scrap HS2 and there isn’t a coherent plan, it’s for the people of Greater Manchester to drawn their own conclusions. But the conclusions that I am hearing from many Mancunians is that it gives a sign that the government simply don’t care what they think, or don’t care what the needs of businesses are, many of which are also very frustrated at the moment.
This is extremely important for the people of the north west who are desperate for job creation and future funding for already run down council budgets. As more people are losing their jobs due to previously solid department stores such as Wilkos there isn’t enough decently paid employment to cover the need.
As the public in the north west complain that their town centres are run down with shops and markets closing, the blame clearly lies with the government for taking away obscene amounts of council funding and preventing possible job creation such like those above.
While this governments in power I can’t see that any so called levelling up will happen, its just another meaningless term created by the government to keep the public quiet.
Lastly I have a big ask, one which I don’t like making.
To say I’m struggling financially at the moment is an understatement, as it stands I can’t afford to pay both my home internet bill, my mobile phone credit top up and also the everyday things that we need to continue.
I don’t want to have to give up blogging but I may have to considering the above.
Sadly I’m also still living with long covid which is physically and mentally exhausting and my anxiety is really bad on some days.
Any help will directly help me to continue with my work.
Rather unsurprisingly the government has recently announced their proposed plans to reform work capability assessments. Using the guise of their new so called “mission to “support people into work”.
Why will these changes cause distress and harm?
Putting even more pressure upon already vulnerable disabled people causes an anxiety like no other. Imagine having the fear that you could be sanctioned for being physically or mentally unable to comply to job search requirements constantly hanging over you.
It’s already hard enough trying to cope with day to day life when disabled and putting more pressure upon them will, I fear push many into illness or worse.
Disability charities and campaigners have been calling for reforms to work capability assessments for a long time now. These assessments cause huge distress for disabled people as a whole and those with mental health conditions.
The DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) announced earlier this year that they planned to scrap said health assessments by 2028. Instead they’ve pushed forward these changes with gusto.
According to prime minister Rishi Sunak said: “Work transforms lives – providing not just greater financial security, but also providing purpose that has the power to benefit individuals, their families and their communities.
He went on to say “That’s why we’re doing everything we can to help more people thrive in work – by reflecting the complexity of people’s health needs, helping them take advantage of modern working environments, and connecting them to the best support available.
He also forgot to mention the truth that work does not transform lives for disabled people, it’s not a cure for disabilities and these plans will make life as a whole worse because of the added pressure that will be put upon them to comply.
Despite what Sunak claims minimum wage and zero hour employment do not give people financial security. They barely earn enough money for able bodied people to live on let alone disabled people who need more financial support to survive from day to day.
Sunak talks about ‘modern work environments’ whatever they may be as if they’re the answer to everything but in reality it’s very different.
I doubt he knows what these ‘modern work environments’ are after all he’s never had a real minimum wage job himself. He hasn’t got a clue.
I suspect that once in operation the DWP will ram up the pressure for job search requirements for disabled people to a level unseen before.
What support will the government supply for disabled people?
From experience not much if any at all. The government and DWP like to spin proposals like these round using fancy words and language which is meaningless and nothing but word salad.
To be honest I don’t know anyone that has a minimum wage or zero hour contract that can positively say that their work has provided them more financial security.
Thousands of people that are forced to claim Universal Credit (UC) are dependent upon food banks and the kindness of family and friends to survive.
The UK now has more children living in poverty than we have seen in modern times. We also have more disabled people having to go without meals or care that they desperately need.
NHS hospitals and services are being run to the ground, we have schools at risk of collapsing because the government failed to fix the concrete problem years ago and they expect us to believe that they care about disabled people.
Truth is as I’ve said many times before they don’t care. All the government cares about is saving money and not spending any on disabled people.
The government also likes to throw around ‘benefit fraud’ especially when related to disabled people. It’s extremely hard to qualify for disability benefits in the first place and even more so trying to ‘fool’ the system.
They need to concentrate on their tax dodging pals instead.
Not all disabilities are visible and everyone with a disability should be treated with kindness and support both emotionally and financially.
I know that this will never happen but I can dream can’t I.
Anela Anwar, chief executive of the anti-poverty charity Z2K told the Big Issue “Disabled people are already disproportionately likely to be in poverty, and these proposals will only make this worse. The Health and Disability White Paper recognised that the work capability assessment is not fit for purpose – yet DWP is now consulting on plans to make it even stricter.
“This will inevitably lead to seriously ill and disabled people losing vital income, and being forced to look for work they can’t do or be sanctioned. Government must think again and provide financial stability and support to seriously ill and disabled people on low incomes, not yet more cuts and threats.”
The consultation’s proposals include reflecting “improved employer support in recent years for flexible and home working” – meaning a person with a disability is more likely to be approved as ‘fit to work’ during a work capability assessment.
These proposed changes are due to come into force in 2025. Soon after the government will proceed with their plans to scrap the work capability assessments. People will instead be assessed for a new health element of universal credit during personal independence payment (PIP) assessments.
Thanks to the Big Issue and DPAC and DNS for previously reporting upon this.
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It appears that the DWP have extended their total disregard and lack of care to their Future Pension Center helpline.
DWP minister Laura Trott disclosed in a written answer to parliament that between the 27 January and 26 March 2023, 1,007,868 calls were made to the Future Pension Centre helpline.
Of these, 47,345 were answered.
18,006 calls were abandoned.
It also revealed that a massive 942,517 calls were cut-off by the DWP before the callers got through to an operative.
That means a shameful 94% of all calls were deliberately disconnected.
This once again proves that the DWP and the government are totally ‘incompetent’ and are totally failing those that are desperately in need.
Personally I think that it’s deliberate and not down to incompetence after all they save money because people give up trying to contact them. They like to save money especially off the backs of vulnerable people.
Their systems aren’t fit for purpose and this proves this to be the case.
Will the government invest in their call systems and make them fit for purpose?
Don’t hold your breath. It’s beneficial for them not to do so. Meanwhile vulnerable people will continue to get distressed whilst trying to contact the DWP and many will give up altogether.
This isn’t acceptable but don’t expect the government to care enough to do anything about it.
DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) minister Tom Pursglove admitted that claimants are waiting over half an hour on average for PIP and DLA helpline calls to be answered.
He also claimed that he is going to recruit extra staff to cope with the volume of calls on the helplines but gave absolutely no indication of how many are being employed and for how long they’ll be employed.
Nor has he confirmed if the extra staff he plans to employ are qualified to do so.
At the time of writing the average wait for a PIP enquiry to be answered is 37 minutes and for DLA enquiries it is 33.5 minutes.
However it is imperative that Tom Pursglove reveals the amount of callers that don’t get an answer at all because their calls are disconnected.
Earlier this year the DWP revealed that in March almost 90% of half a million callers to the Future Pensions Centre were faced with being call-blocked because they couldn’t cope with the rising call demand.
Implementing Call-blocking results in calls not being allowed to go on the call waiting queue because the queue is too long and they get cut off.
This is also happening to callers contacting the PIP helpline as reported to Benefits And Work by claimants trying to contact the said helpline.
We cannot ignore the fact that the claimants trying to contact these helplines are all vulnerable and are in great need of getting their enquiries answered.
The question also needs to be answered as to how many of these vulnerable people have given up trying to contact the departments. This could in some circumstances result in their payments being stopped leaving them more vulnerable than they already were. .
There’s no excuse for the DWP’s lax attitude towards the whole situation.
It’s clear that they don’t care about how this can impact upon the claimants lives and it is totally unacceptable.
Whilst most of us are struggling to keep warm this winter because of the ever increasing energy costs Braverman has claimed £25K for energy bills for a house that she doesn’t use.
Scandalous isn’t it, completely brazen such is their attitude towards the cost of living and energy cost scandals.
Meanwhile, the energy bills support scheme which saw households getting around £66 taken off their bills each month has come to an end in March 2023.
This will undoubtedly result in vulnerable people unable to turn their heating on which is still very important because it’s still cold.
As stated in the above photo people have died or become ill from hypothermia and hypothermia related illnesses and will continue to do so.
Not everyone can travel to organised warm places, they’re not a solution because their homes will still be cold upon returning.
Thousands are dependent upon food banks to be able to eat a meal, many are unable to cook meals because of high energy costs.
Mortality rates are almost definitely going to increase and the government yet again want to force disabled people into work.
God help us, there’s no levels the government won’t go to to punish the working class for simply existing.
They’re monsters of the worst kind with not an ounce of dignity, compassion and honesty between them all.
Like all monsters they’ll continue to do so until they’re defeated and we must do this.
Everyone needs to remember their cruelty at the upcoming local elections. Not voting will enable them to continue as they are doing now.
It’s been predicted that the Tories could lose up to 1,000 seats. Let’s hope this happens..
Check on your friends and neighbours to see if they’re ok because at the moment we have only each other to rely on.
A 87 year old woman died after developing hypothermia at home after expressing concerns that she was worried about paying her energy bills.
Barbara Bolton, 87, had previously told relatives she had felt cold after they had visited her at her home in Bury to check on her wellbeing. Sadly as a result she was rushed to Fairfield hospital where she was then diagnosed with hypothermia.
However despite the good care given by NHS medical professionals, her condition sadly deteriorated and as a result of her worsening condition she sadly died several weeks later.
Therefore an inquest into her death was opened at Rochdale Coroner’s Court, details can be found here.
Hospital notes given to the inquest indicate that her illness and subsequent death was linked to the fact she couldn’t afford to put her heating on.
Her son, Mark Bolton, 61, said his “proud” mum had refused his offer to help to pay her power bills as reported in the Mirror. She had been heating her home by using a single gas fire in her living room and used portable electric heaters to warm the rest of her two-bedroom house.
Ms Bolton had previously worked as a pharmacy assistant at her local Tesco until the age of 82 and she had lived at her home on Dawson Street in Bury for several decades.
Her son Mark told the inquest that he spoke to his mum every night and that she had told him that she was worried about her heating bills, despite assurances from him that he would cover the costs.
Mark said “She was concerned about all her bills because she was a pensioner. She was careful, she was mindful of the prices and worried about them going up,” he said.
Mark told the coroner that he had always told her to ‘just keep your heating on’ and ‘don’t worry about the bills mum.’ “But she was very stubborn and proud about paying her own way,” he said.
He told the hearing that his mum had ‘felt cold’ when she was found sat at her kitchen table by one of her grandchildren, who had gone round after the family had not been able to contact her.
Police coroner’s officer Jane Scullion told the hearing: “Barbara was admitted to hospital on December 11, 2022, with hypothermia, and a chest infection.
“During that time she continued to deteriorate. After a discussion, she was placed on end of life care and passed away.”
Assistant coroner for Manchester North Julie Mitchel adjourned the inquest and has requested statements from her doctor and asked for a medical cause of death to be provided.
“Her death was particularly accelerated by hypothermia and there is a possibility of self-neglect due to the lack of heating so her death has been referred to the coroner,” she said.
Hypothermia is caused by prolonged exposures to very cold temperatures and requires immediate medical intervention. Causes include not wearing warm clothes in winter, falling into cold water and living in a cold house.
Sadly I fear that her death caused by living in a cold house isn’t the first and will certainly not be the last. Thousands if not more people are being forced by an uncaring, cruel government to live in cold and in many cases, damp houses as a result of the ever increasing energy costs.
For those saying that she should have jut accepted the help offered, it isn’t always as easy for various reasons. Admitting that you’re poor and can’t afford to heat your home is a very difficult thing to have to admit, and as a parent this can be even harder.
Society deems that parents should look after their children and not the other way round, and asking your children for help can make a parent feel like an absolute failure, and she wouldn’t have made her decision lightly.
This nightmare isn’t going to end soon, I wish it was.The reality is that thousands, including myself are counting down the days until spring arrives and warmer weather returns, it can’t come a minute too soon.
The government has absolutely no intention of changing things for the better, they prefer to spend their time trying to cover up senior ministers deception and lies rather than help those in need.
It’s one rule for them and one for us and the death of Ms Bolton and others won’t bother them in the slightest.
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The poor side of life 