‘I’ve absolutely had enough’: Tory MP embarks on anti-austerity tour

Posted on January 24, 2019 by Admin

Heidi Allen joins former Labour MP Frank Field on mission to highlight the poverty caused by her party’s policies

Heidi Allen and Frank Field make an odd partnership at first glance. Allen, 44, the Conservative MP for one of Britain’s richest constituencies, and Field, 76, a Labour MP for 39 years until he resigned over antisemitism in the party, have bonded across the Commons over a shared outrage at poverty. Now they have embarked on a nationwide tour in search of the “other England” shaped by the austerity policies pioneered by Allen’s party. It is proving emotional.

Visits to the poorest corners of Newcastle, Glasgow, Morecambe and Cornwall beckon, but they have started in London and Leicester, where on Thursday they heard stories of an illiterate man sanctioned so often under universal credit that he lives on £5 a week; a man so poor he sold all but the clothes he was wearing; and someone being told to walk 44 miles to attend a job interview, despite having had a stroke, to save the state the cost of a £15 bus ticket.

World’s 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Admin

Charity calls for 1% wealth tax, saying it would raise enough to educate every child not in school

The growing concentration of the world’s wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population.

In an annual wealth check released to mark the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the development charity Oxfam said 2018 had been a year in which the rich had grown richer and the poor poorer.

Trump’s economy is great for billionaires, not for working people | Bernie Sanders

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Admin

Instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations, we must demand that they pay their fair share

Donald Trump tells us the US economy is “absolutely booming”, the “strongest we’ve ever had” and “the greatest in the history of America”.

Well, at his Mar-a-Lago country club where the price of admission has doubled to $200,000, he is right. The economy could not be better for the top 1% and corporate America.

Justin Welby: no-deal Brexit would harm poorest people in UK

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Admin

Archbishop of Canterbury says he prays every day for Theresa May and other politicians

The archbishop of Canterbury has said a no-deal Brexit would hit the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK.

Justin Welby also said he was praying for Theresa May and other politicians at the start of what is expected to be one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent parliamentary history.

Weatherwatch: why cold weather is still a killer in the UK

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Admin

Research finds local communities can do most to halt unnecessary deaths

In an affluent, educated country like the UK it is surprising that there is still a large spike in the number of people who die in cold weather because they cannot afford to heat their homes or do not understand the danger they are in.

Last winter there were 50,100 excess deaths in England and Wales, many of which were entirely preventable. Most of those who die unnecessarily are older adults who have not kept themselves warm enough.

Czech democracy ‘under threat’ from rising debt crisis

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Admin

MPs to vote on new law to ease punitive collection system

Snowed under with debts from a failed business, Renata’s hands shook as she told a tale of financial misery that drove her to contemplate suicide and visited fear on her ageing parents.

“I was so scared of the debt collectors because they were coming to my parents’ house,” she said, depicting a nightmare scenario as hungry creditors closed in. “If you are a debtor here, the state criminalises you, worse than if you’re a real criminal. Even a murderer can be released early with good behaviour. I didn’t kill anyone or hurt anyone, I didn’t want my business to collapse – but I will not be free until the end of my life.”