At least two newspapers today are reporting that around one
million people in this country have made use of food banks in the past
year. This figure is reported by the
Trussell Trust, which represents most but not all food banks in Britain. It is also reported that two new food banks
are opening every week to help cope with demand.
While this might lead us to conclude that many people in Britain
are living just an inch away from starvation, there are those who argue that
the food banks are a symptom of a society in which many people have a sense of
entitlement. For example it has been
claimed that some people take minicabs to go to food banks.
Before I continue, please take a few minutes to watch this video clip of Jack Monroe. If you do not have time to watch all of it, then please at least watch from 3.54 at which point she describes people waiting in a queue for forty minutes to collect five items of food. How many people would do that if they did not need to?
I have read about people being given bags of food at a food bank, and then handing back any items of food which need cooking because they cannot afford to turn on their cookers. Are we to believe that these people also have umpteen cans of lager in their refrigerators?
I donate food to my local food bank, and I believe that anyone who obtains a food parcel fraudulently should be arrested and either cautioned or prosecuted. However I remain firmly of the opinion that many people in this country genuinely are going hungry, and that the government is not doing enough to help them. I intend to carry on supporting my local food bank.
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