Long before Christians claimed it, this midwinter festival was marked by congregation, food, gifts, and hope for the light and warmth to come in spring. For me, that ancient tradition holds true just as much now, and maybe even more so in a year when hope for the light of tomorrow for the most vulnerable is so quickly diminished.
Diminished by the likes of Rishi Sunak who on a PR stunt visit to a shelter on Friday, run by the homeless charity The Passage boasted that the government was "investing a significant amount" after Levelling-Up Minister Felicity Buchan said."We announced a huge package to tackle homelessness -£654m over 2 years.
Shelter replied "the government should be doing a lot more" to help homeless people starting with raising housing benefit. which Sunak has frozen since 2020.
The charity also urged the PM to "get on with building social homes" after he watered down housing targets to quell a Tory revolt.
Chief executive Polly Neate said "Hundreds of thousands of people. including more than 120,000 children woke up homeless today."
In the excruciating footage above we witness a man worth £730m giving a homeless person a plate of sausages and eggs and is asked by the individual if he was "sorting the economy out
"That's what I'm trying to do." Sunak replied. then asks the man incredibly, if he worked in business.The man called Dean replies."No, I'm homeless. I'm actually a homeless person.
Then in a staggering patronising display of obscenity from one of the richest man in the UK says to Dean that the food kitchen is a great place.Pretending to be on their side but showing no respect. It is disgusting that these places need to exist in first place. What they are is evidence of the failure of a rotten tory Government and the hypocrisy of a man who supported and helped implement policies that led to rise in homelessness.
His words would have mattered if he'd said "it is an abomination that a facility like this should have to exist in the UK today. I will do everything in my power to ensure that everyone in this country has a warm place to live, has a well paid job and a health service that works"
How could
he ever relate to someone or have any understanding or sympathy for
who's fallen on hard times. with no personal frame of reference. You'd
be hard pushed to find another person so fundamentally lacking in
empathy or even a basic understanding than him and his rotten tory
government.
Ultimately we are all an intrinsic part of this universe. We are all interconnected, and even though each of us separate individuals.We should appreciate the slender threads that hold us together.Through compassion we can share the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of our emotional maturity. Rishi so out of touch of reality has none of these values. he and the Tories just show us how easily they've accepted the impoverishment of UK society and are happy to exploit it with no concept of shame. It's time for them to stop gaslighting. get houses built. tax wealth and assets fairly and stop blaming the poor and ordinary people for the problems created by those getting richer and richer.
