Britains Hiidden Hungry on BBC1

[Darkesteyes]

Tonight at 10.35.
Its about people who have had to use food banks. I just thought id flag it up on here for anyone who would be interested in watching it.
Ive only just spotted it in the TV guide.

Remember teh case of the couple who used to walk miles to their foodbank in freezing winter conditions and eventually committed suicide. Showing people like that would have forced questions in parliament, but this showed us a con man at the foodbank.

And he interviewed Gavin at the end and just after Gavin had said that they have good standards and need to have so that they can account to the public for the aid that they give which is based on the public's (not even the state's by teh sound of it) donations, he spring it on Gavin that Darren was a con man, which undermined Gavin and teh good Christian foodbank, and now the public may not donate as much because they think it might go to con men.

Why didn't he interview teh state benefits agency people who referred Darren to teh foodbank?

6 months of public money used to make that. Shameful.

I just watched it. It is certainly not a very objective view of food banks.

It is amazing how much stuff and nice the houses are of those who fell onhard times and perhaps those of us who don't fall on hard times don't because we never took out loans to buy posh furniture, use second hand furniture for year (I sleep in a bed bought 27 years ago and only drink tap water etc). I don't feel though followed good examples of people.

Certainly however dependence on short term pay day loans etc is a big issue which never goes away.

Also I suppose it depends where you live but certainly in Lonodn there is masses of pretty acceptable food in bins. If I was on hard times I could certainly not turn that down. You get people leaving whole sandwiches and all sorts. Isn't there a word for it?

claig don't forget Gavin was giving Darren food without the red form. Darren did qualify the first time, but seems to have duped Gavin thereafter.

I can't bear to watch the next bit when he's confronted with his lies.

'in Lonodn there is masses of pretty acceptable food in bins'

We live in one of the richest countries in the world. No one should need to eat out of bins. We had MPs flipping homes and claiming for bath plugs at public expense. There is enough money to feed people properly.

Yes, stillsmarting, but Gavin is a good human being trying to help people in need and he was duped by a con man, who probably also duped the TV programme maker for a while. It's not Gavin's fault or the good Christian organisation's fault. They are easy targets. What about the state organisation's who referrred Darren to the foodbank?

And what about teh thousands of desperate people, without flat screen TVs and people carriers, who are malnourished and desperate. Why not use licence payer money to make a programme that helps them, not harms them?

Some people are desperate, some feel ashamed to go to foodbanks, some don't go and some even end it all, as we have read before in the news.

I am just saying that I would not have no meals if I had no money. I would be able to get it out of London bins. I am not saying that is ideal but the food is there. It is also left on tables and on benches.

There is a really fat boy on now who says he's not eating!

And all those dogs those people are feeding. Dogs are really expensive.

The mother with the baby is massive too - she must be packing away loads of food.

He said that Darren displayed an "entitlement" that he hadn't seen in the others. What is teh creeping use of this word entitlement. Everybody is entitled to eat, are they expected to grovel for food?

We've got entitlement, burden on the state, people must make their contribution, "strivers" and "scroungers" - and this is all from people paid for out of the public purse, with expenses that cover nearly every need, some of them millionaires from the best universities in the land. And they say they are public servants.

I think it was the way Darren asked to swap things in his bags and was allowed to, when other people were given the standard bags.Darren had definitely become a favourite, for whatever reason.
I was interested because as mentioned before DDs Church have a similar foodbank and it does show some of the difficulties volunteers face in trying to give out donations fairly. Gavin did acknowledge that he felt a responsibility to donors.
Xenia unfortunately in really deprived areas it isn't that easy, which is why we sent DD home with bags of food. Foodbanks in her area really struggle to get donations.

I am sure that is so. I bet the young London girl who was sent to Coventry (literally) would have found life easier back in London where she's from than in Coventry.

"freegans" was the word I was tying to think of

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/15/bins-freegans-leftover-food

Firstly, the minimum wage should be a living wage, secondly, payday loan companies charging 4000% interest should be shut down. That would help a lot more people than setting up more and more food banks, particularly food banks that insist on shovelling a bucket of Jeeezus down you with your stale biscuits and economy pasta.

Xenia, this "freegans" stuff is always in left wing papers like the Guardian or invited purposely onto Newsnight and Channel 4 News when they talk about greens, the environment, recycling, resources, food waste and population growth.

Eating out of bins is for rats, not humans, however much left wing media promotes it.

Xenia, "loads of food" as in high in calories may well be the cheapest food.

Eating nutritious food tends to be more expensive than egg and chips day after day.

And we all know you could easily afford to drink bottled water and buy a new bed if you wanted to, so I'm not sure what your point is there.

SolidGold I did see somewhere that volunteers don't give people food they would not be prepared to eat themselves. It says something about the donors if they donate economy pasta, either that that is what they themselves eat, or, more uncomfortably, that this is all they are prepared to give.

If you're starving I expect you're happy to take any food made available. You can forage too in the country but that depends where you live and I accept most people wouldn't enjoy getting a book from the library on it and then picking the food. Lots of us have done that although I am not saying I could gather enough to live on it.

By the way eggs are great for you. Living on a lot of eggs would not be bad for these people or any of us.

I am certainly not suggesting it is desirable if people hang around outside pret a manger to get their food (lthought it could be a lot nicer than some of the food bacnk stuff - I wonder if London food given away is better quality? I usd to work near a London square where food from Pret was giving out each night to tramps and that was pretty good stuff, cray fish and spinach brown bread sandwiches not the junk you saw on the programme.

'We all need to think again about food waste, of which the UK produces up to 20m tonnes a year.' ..... That wasted food doesn't belong in landfill. When it's dumped, it doesn't compost ? it rots anaerobically, emitting methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.'

Eat out of bins, save the planet.

That's what some people think of human beings, and people who rely on foodbanks to eat deserve better programmes than ones that include con men.

It won't be long before programmes are made that say:

Darren showed a sense of entitlement not seen in the others. Unlike them, he refused to eat out of bins.

My only point on the bins was that if I were in that situation I think I could procure food that way and I would not starve. I was not suggesting it is desirable to eat out of bins, although if people do forage in the wilds the freseh air, exercise and variety of foods you eat can amazingly be better than your local Aldi. Fresh blackberries , dandelion anyway I'll shut up and go to my 26 year old bed.

XeniaWed 31-Oct-12 19:25:37

There is one with a baby who is looking pretty fat. She can't relaly be that short of food. Also her baby is bottle fed. Breastmilk is free. Bottle feeding is expensive.

Xenia ive said it before and i will say it again. You are no feminist.

Maybe Kelly was fatter and due to not having much to eat she has lost weight by using up her fat stores.

I am shocked that people are suggesting people including kids, toddlers and weaning babies, eat from germ ridden bins! You seriously want kids to eat food that was sat next to rotting food with bluebottles and fly vomit, rats running around pissing and pooing as they run along the food.