Like with most weeks in the United Kingdom at the moment, the past seven days have brought with them some appalling news about the state of the country. We heard from foodbank charity the Trussell Trust, who announced that they have handed out a record number of emergency food parcels in the last year. In total, 3,121,404 parcels had been distributed in the 12 months up to the end of March.
over a third went to children. Those numbers have almost doubled in the past five years in a grim reflection of how poverty is spreading around the nation, the numbers of first-time foodbank users is up by a whopping 40%. Just think about this for a minute.
We live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, but in 2024 we are facing historic, record and growing levels of food poverty. Foodbanks simply should not exist in the UK, but they have now become a vital part of life for so many people. On a similar theme, this week also saw an intervention from former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Whatever your thoughts on his time in office, there can be no doubt that Mr Brown is a key voice on the issue of child poverty in particular. The former chancellor spoke of 'austerity's children', meaning the kids born after the coalition government arrived in 2010 and began slashing funding for public services at will. These children account for 3.
4m of Britain's shameful figure of 4.3m children living in poverty today. As Mr Brown said: "Most of them have never known what it is like to be free of pov.
