“The state does not have your back any longer.
You are on your own”.
Those were just some of the UN’s scathing criticisms of the
Tory's “punitive” austerity agenda. Professor
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights,
spent 2 weeks in the UK and met people driven to the indignity of using
food banks.
In his Channel 4 interview (see below), he was visibly
angered by the fact that the UK is one of the 5th richest company in
the world, yet the level of child poverty in this country is a “social calamity and economic disaster”. He lambasted
the fact that the Tories could eradicate poverty, if it wanted to but that it
chose not to. Austerity, he said, was a choice and the poorest in society were
paying for it.
When asked how the government responded to his damning findings,
professor Alston said, “They’re in denial”. Nothing to see here. Move along
please.
The BBC did its best to bury this report on the day it was
published. If it wasn’t for Channel 4 showing footage of Professor’s Alston’s
tour of Britain, followed up with extensive coverage of his findings, it wouldn’t
have seen the light of day.
Meanwhile, Labour's John McDonnell gave a heartfelt interview about the impact
of austerity on his constituents, wherein he explained that, whilst he works with Tories
and is polite and constructive, he can never forgive them for what they’ve done to
the poor & vulnerable. Professor Brian Cox was offended by this & took McDonnell to task. So, let’s
just recap, Brian:
Fourteen million people are living in poverty. 1.5 million in destitution. There has been a 169% rise in homelessness and 700% rise in food banks. Some 120,000 deaths have been linked to austerity yet, the richest 5% increased their wealth by 40% in last 5 years….
Seriously Brian. What planet are you on?
