GET A GRIP Profile picture
Apr 12 10 tweets 6 min read
Following last night's harrowing #PANORAMA Surviving the Cost of Living, a short #THREAD on food banks.

The #CostOfLivingCrisis is catastrophic for millions of people, & the culmination of 12 years of shameless, brutal, & purely ideological Tory misrule.

"Our team are so worried about what we’re seeing... Last week we registered a 91-year-old man. During the interview, he shook his head and said “in all my life, I’ve never taken from charity. Not once. But there’s nothing left now after the bills”.

bigissue.com/news/social-ju…
More than 550 independent food banks has called on Boris Johnson & Rishi Sunak to act urgently:

“We are writing to urge you to take immediate action to reduce the rapidly rising levels of poverty, destitution and hunger in our communities."

news.sky.com/story/food-ban…
"We are deeply concerned about the scale of suffering that we are already witnessing as well as our capacity to prevent people from going hungry in the weeks and months to come. An emergency supply of food cannot resolve someone’s financial crisis."

foodaidnetwork.org.uk/letter-april22
Food bank users are in “pure desperation”.

The Government “does not know what hardship is” as they feel abandoned in their efforts to make ends meet.

“The poor people are getting poorer & the rich are getting richer.

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
Food banks established as a last-ditch emergency service are becoming an essential part of social security for the working poor, the Bishop of Dudley has warned.

The Black Country Foodbank, has seen a 45% increase in referrals this year.

inews.co.uk/news/foodbanks…
In 2020/21 - before the #CostOfLivingCrisis took hold - around 2.5 million people used a foodbank in the UK, over 600,000 more than the previous year.

The number of foodbank users has increased every year, from just under 26,000 in 2008/09.

#ToryAusterity was a catastrophe. Image
Four million children live in poverty in the UK. About 40% of the attainment gap between poor children & their richer peers is set in stone before they start school. The @Conservatives do everything they can to prevent a fairer, more meritocratic society.

theguardian.com/education/2022…
16% of UK homes were already in fuel poverty, & with the price cap rise this will jump to a whopping 24% – almost a quarter of all households unable to adequately heat their homes - 6.5 million households - which is staggering for a developed country.

theconversation.com/energy-bills-w…
How about instead of inflicting a devastating #CostOfLivingCrisis on British people, pushing millions more children & adults into poverty & causing all manner of costly avoidable social ills, already grotesquely wealthy people just make do with being slightly less rich? ImageImageImageImage

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with GET A GRIP

GET A GRIP Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @docrussjackson

Apr 14
#THREAD

There are some uncanny similarities between the authoritarian Government of #Rwanda, & the increasingly authoritarian UK Government.

#NotInMyName

theconversation.com/how-authoritar…
To manage their image abroad, authoritarian states try to advance a favourable narrative about themselves. They do things like hire public relations firms to produce positive content, disseminate propaganda themselves & cultivate friendly foreigners who can speak on their behalf.
But they also try to silence, obscure, or discredit criticisms of their rule.

They try to “spin” negative news stories, sow discord or paranoia in activist communities at home & abroad, & repress their critics. ImageImage
Read 16 tweets
Apr 14
#THREAD on the work of @EmmaLBriant.

"What we are seeing today are essentially paranoia operations, more than just #disinformation (deliberate falsehood) they hinge on creating uncertainty & distrust in our institutions."

"This form of propaganda, where it is most effective in undermining democracy, hinges on distorted interpretations of truth. If you can undermine reality and create distrust, this leaves fertile ground for bare faced lies."

#Partygate
Please take a look at her recent witness statement by Emma, published by the UK Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Select Committee Inquiry into the Cabinet Office’s implementation of the FOI Act 2000.

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc…
Read 12 tweets
Apr 12
Pathetic, selfish, obsequious, cowardly, spineless, condescending servile tossers the lot of them. Not a microscopic shred of integrity or honour between them.

They have nothing but contempt for the British people, & treat us like shit.

#ToryCriminalsUnfitToGovern
#NeverForget Image
Read 4 tweets
Apr 11
Daily Mail #THREAD

Devised in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth (Viscount Northcliffe) & his brother Harold (Viscount Rothermere), the Mail has campaigned against Unions & the Labour Party, against women & most working-class men being given the vote, & now, against environmentalists.
The Daily Mail (like the Telegraph) is a newspaper which has little to do with news - it exists to protect the interests of the billionaire class from democracy.

This #thread is adapted from this excellent article by writer & historian, @johnsimkin. 🙏

spartacus-educational.com/spartacus-blog…
The Mail is owned by Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere. According to the Sunday Times Rich List he is estimated to be worth over £1 billion.

He has non-domicile tax status & owns his media businesses through a complex structure of offshore holdings & trusts.
Read 116 tweets
Apr 10
Around £13 TRILLION was held offshore, untaxed, by the global elite in 2012.

Now it's more than £30 TRILLION, wealth which could within a few years end poverty & transition the world into green energy.

The greed, lies & corruption of a handful of sociopaths endangers humanity. ImageImageImageImage
Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Apr 10
#THREAD

The truth about #Grenfell is slowly being revealed.

Imho, it's now crystal clear that all the key decisions flowed from free-market fundamentalists' desire to always push for more #deregulation, regardless of the consequences, in order to maximise profit. Image
#Regulation - or "red tape" - exists to keep society safe & civilised, for example by conserving biodiversity, preventing quack remedies, & ensuring air, food, water, products & working & living conditions are safe, thus protecting consumers, workers, the environment & children. Image
The Tories, the libertarian Right & free-market think tanks talk a lot about removing 'red tape', & deregulation 'removing barriers to trade'.

What this means in reality is letting corporations & unethical individuals get away with exploitation, pollution, & sometimes, murder. ImageImageImageImage
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(