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Let’s never get used to food banks. Needing them remains shocking Let’s never get used to food banks. Needing them remains shocking
(about 9 hours later)
Where is mass outrage when you need it? Sheffield University’s political economy research institute reports that seven out of 10 families who use Trussell Trust food banks have dependent children.Where is mass outrage when you need it? Sheffield University’s political economy research institute reports that seven out of 10 families who use Trussell Trust food banks have dependent children.
Of the 600 households with children surveyed, four out of five were classed as “severely food insecure” (meaning that they’d skipped meals and gone without eating, sometimes for days). This is believed to be primarily a consequence of welfare cuts; all the more worrying because there are further reductions to come. For some, there is now so little money coming in that they can no longer afford to feed their children.Of the 600 households with children surveyed, four out of five were classed as “severely food insecure” (meaning that they’d skipped meals and gone without eating, sometimes for days). This is believed to be primarily a consequence of welfare cuts; all the more worrying because there are further reductions to come. For some, there is now so little money coming in that they can no longer afford to feed their children.
Most would agree that children being at grave risk of going hungry is a disgrace – but where’s the outcry? In 1970, as education secretary, Margaret Thatcher took away bottles of free milk from junior school children, prompting such uproar that she never managed to shake off the “Thatcher milk-snatcher” tag. Yet, in 2018, vulnerable children and their parents are relying on charity to eat, if they eat at all, and barely an eyebrow is raised.Most would agree that children being at grave risk of going hungry is a disgrace – but where’s the outcry? In 1970, as education secretary, Margaret Thatcher took away bottles of free milk from junior school children, prompting such uproar that she never managed to shake off the “Thatcher milk-snatcher” tag. Yet, in 2018, vulnerable children and their parents are relying on charity to eat, if they eat at all, and barely an eyebrow is raised.
To my mind, “severely food insecure” sounds like a polite term for starvation. Is it possible that starvation is becoming normalised, even in children? And that part of this is that people who don’t have to use food banks are increasingly blasé about their existence?To my mind, “severely food insecure” sounds like a polite term for starvation. Is it possible that starvation is becoming normalised, even in children? And that part of this is that people who don’t have to use food banks are increasingly blasé about their existence?
Once considered shocking, an indictment of government policy, food banks now seem to be perceived almost as just another semi-compromised quasi-retail outlet. Just one of those things that poor people have to do when they’re a bit skint – the modern equivalent of temporarily cash-strapped housewives of the past asking shopkeepers to put groceries on “tick”.Once considered shocking, an indictment of government policy, food banks now seem to be perceived almost as just another semi-compromised quasi-retail outlet. Just one of those things that poor people have to do when they’re a bit skint – the modern equivalent of temporarily cash-strapped housewives of the past asking shopkeepers to put groceries on “tick”.
The difference is that, generally, those housewives of the past would settle their accounts at the end of the week simply because they’d have been able to. There would have been jobs available for them and/or other adults in the family. Homes they could afford. Living costs that weren’t completely out of step with incomes, and so on.The difference is that, generally, those housewives of the past would settle their accounts at the end of the week simply because they’d have been able to. There would have been jobs available for them and/or other adults in the family. Homes they could afford. Living costs that weren’t completely out of step with incomes, and so on.
These days, people end up at food banks because they’re stone-cold desperate, and there may be nothing temporary about it. Lack of work, ill-paid work, escalating rents, slashed benefits, delayed benefits … They’re surrounded on all sides by spiked walls closing in like a cliche-ridden scene in some bizarre low-income themed adventure film.These days, people end up at food banks because they’re stone-cold desperate, and there may be nothing temporary about it. Lack of work, ill-paid work, escalating rents, slashed benefits, delayed benefits … They’re surrounded on all sides by spiked walls closing in like a cliche-ridden scene in some bizarre low-income themed adventure film.
Has the casual acceptance of food banks as a modern reality played a part in this – bleaching out the essential ugliness and wrongness of their necessity? While there should never be shame attached to using food banks, somewhere along the line, some people seem to have disconnected from the shock that they exist at all. However long they’re around, food banks should be something that we never get used to. Has the casual acceptance of food banks as a modern reality played a part in this – bleaching out the essential ugliness and wrongness of their necessity? While there should never be shame attached to using food banks, somewhere along the line, some people seem to have disconnected from the shock that they exist at all. However long they’re around, food banks should be something that we never get used to.
Barbara Ellen is an Observer columnist • Barbara Ellen is an Observer columnist
Food banksFood banks
OpinionOpinion
Food povertyFood poverty
BenefitsBenefits
ChildrenChildren
PovertyPoverty
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