To think there is not really any chikdren in poverty in the uk

[Domjolly]

I think last nights comic relief has really brought home to me and my family that there is not really any children in the uk who live in REAL poverty

There is not one child that has to walk 3 hours to school
There is not one child that cant get some form of education
There is not one child who can get medical intervention
I think you would be hard pressed to find familys which children who are homeless or who dont have clean water and sanitation

And i actaully now thing people who say this is insulting to children who do live in real poverty

Yep that is about right nailak

poverty is on the increase here and it isn't being resolved in the third world....that is the problem and arguing about who's poverty and what poverty gets us no where near to dealing with the causation.

Smudging if you have the time I would really recommend this as it explains the causes of "global poverty"

Just YABU. Pretty much nothing else to say.

Nailak,I'm on that thread All access to welfare has eligibility criteria the child can access emergency care,not routine care
she not eligible to be uk citizen, her parents are illegal
I agree with the nhs applying eligibility protocol

Child isn't entitled to non emergency care
Uk border agency
If you were born in the UK to parents who are not British citizens and are not legally settled here

Even if you were born in the United Kingdom, you will not be a British citizen if neither of your parents was a British citizen or legally settled here at the time of your birth. This means you are not a British citizen if, at the time of your birth, your parents were in the country temporarily, had stayed on without permission, or had entered the country illegally and had not been given permission to stay here indefinitely

JaquelineHyde

I hope things have improved for you.

scottishmummy

and yet we as ordinary working people often without huge financial resources are invited to pay for health care (and water, education, food etc,) in the third world. Can you not see a dichotomy here?

Govt does give to overseas aid yes,areyiu suggesting this be reduced or terminated?

Nailak,if the Bangladeshi community in uk,or wealthy benefactor want to fundraise for child they could pay for her operation - the nhs would undertake op on that basis

Yes smudge I've been homeless as a child before and I remember it not being as bad as I thought. Both of my children will be given up to their father if I have to go into inappropriate accommodation though, as it's a risk to my DD's health and safety, and to my own too. Without adaptions, I struggle to do day to day things. Without alarms to alert me to her whereabouts, my DD will get herself into trouble. It's not the streets, but it's highly uncomfortable and unsuitable. So I will make sure I am the only one to experience it, and just hope it doesn't mean I lose my children in the process.

Mini things couldn't be much better, money is tight but isn't it for everyone, I am studying for my MA in social work and due to have DC4 in 5 weeks

That's the difference in this country...oppertunity.

I would suggest we look at the huge disparities of wealth first and start taxing corporations and wealthy tax dodgers, we might then have enough money to give oversees aid.

Why are bankers and corporations with the backing of the IMF and the WTO impoverishing us and the third world, indebting nation states and then asking those of us who work for falling wages to bail out the third world through both our taxes and our wages?

we had this the other day. The phrase and definition is of relative poverty

I think there should be more accountability for overseas aid. Making sure it goes to the right people.

JaquelineHyde
well done you, good luck with the social work

OP,

You are very naive,

we have lots of poverty in this country, here in the south west rural poverty is a serious problem, it now at a critical level, I expect there will be reactions soon,

I run a company every single day we have phone calls begging for work, every single day when I visit the merchants, there are men waiting outside who ask for work, we are now in a very

we have no industry in our area, farming is on it's knees, we have a massive shortage of housing, due to the second home issue, we have nearly only seasonal jobs,

we have so many families living in caravans on the side of the road, on illegal sites, some with one tap between 40 families, some with none,

in my children's village school, children who live in caravans or similar make up about 15% to 25% of the classes, many of the families are local, lots have jobs, but there is no affordable housing.

I invite you to visit Marley Head site, South Brent, just off the A38 in devon, so you can see for yourself and I can take you to plenty more.

you see what you want to see, you choose not to see.

my neighbour's daughter comes to her house every day with her husband and children to eat dinner and have showers, they both work, but live in a cabin without electricity and water.

I know so many families and individuals that live in poverty, but then I don't wear blinkers.

When you qualify as sw Jacqueline you will make daily difficult decisions and have to apply policies and protocols about eligibility and funding

Good luck with your studies and career when you qualify

Scottishmummy, I'm not disputing that there are safeguards in place but that's not the same as there being no proper poverty in these regards

Safeguards are not infallible

However hard people try to build an impenetrable safety net, some will slip through.

I think relative povety and social isolation is a big issue in the UK. If your income is substantially lower than your neighbours then you can be socially left out. (Ie. you can't afford broadband, you have far less choice of schools because of affording the bus fare.)

There is a major issue with companies advertising jobs via the internet. It has become very hard for people with limited qualifications to find work as they are now competing with people from all over the world for jobs.

Why does everything have to be so black and white? It's so ignorant, so immature, so hateful and yes, so right wing to believe that there can only be one extreme type of suffering (be that poverty, abuse, etc.) and one narrow and particular type of being deserving of aid and compassion.

Everything in life is on a sliding scale. It's embarrassing to read grown adults saying that X, Y and Z isn't poverty because it isn't the most extreme or obvious examples imaginable. There is real poverty in this country. It might not be as bad as seeing children bloated by starvation and malnutrition dying on filthy beds for the want of a cheap medication, but it does not mean that it's not poverty. People who think there is not true poverty in this country should be doing a bit of bloody research, not spouting ill-informed nonsense.

It is the sign of a civilised society that we not only care for those less fortunate than us but that we also extend that compassion to people whose lifestyles and actions we find undesirable and negative. I'm not on about giving every paedo a free telly, I mean that we don't just dismiss people with chaotic lives, like junkies, parents whose children go to school smelly and hungry, etc. etc. Those people were once children who needed help of some sort or another, even if it was just emotional, but who didn't get it because society turned a blind eye and judged them as unworthy or not suffering enough to deserve it.

Also, I find the idea that it's easier to identify poverty when seen in foreign countries as highly colonial and unconsciously racist - as though it's an automatic given that in non-white countries, it's all a shambles and everyone is dying and their kids suffering and oooh, let's make ourselves feel good by chucking money at the poor, unsophisticated black people. When the reality is that if and where things are shambolic, it's because of the West shafting them economically and just every other way imaginable for centuries.

It also makes people feel comfortable to kid themselves that poverty is something that happens 'over there' to 'them'.

No system infallible agree.but there are checks and balances ESP. With circumstances you described

and if safeguards were infallible we wouldn't have children dying of abuse either

the conditions under which some are kept are unthinkable

you must know this?

changing unfair trade structures, cancelling debt, reducing corruption, redistributing the disgusting amount of money made by the multinationals, by the pharamaceutical companies not making a vile amount of money on the back of disease.

Couldn't agree more. I think you'll find what Susan George says quite interesting.

How much aid were we giving to India? India has more billionaires and millionaires than the UK, greater wealth inequality, no free health care and education. So where does the aid go and shouldn't we hold the Indian government to account over the dispossession of property happening and the fact that through their neo-liberal wild west mentality they fail to tax and spend on education and health. No......well maybe that is because India is being bribed no to even consider a more socialist approach. In Bolivia under Evo Morales, great improvements are happening and yet I believe we give them no aid.