Jak* wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 8:59 am Hi Spud,
I would agree that in theory being poor does not make you poorly, however the statistics certainly prove that poor people in this country die younger and spend more of their lives in states of ill health. Some of that you could put down to ‘lifestyle choices’ such as smoking etc. In this country a lot is linked to where you live. Poorer people tend to live in inner cities which are heavily polluted, they also quite often live in overcrowded and substandard accommodation. There is nothing new about the links between poverty and ill health. PE, or physical training as it was then, was introduced into state schools at the time of the Boer War, because so many of the recruits were in such poor physical state. If you look at records from the Victorian era, when they have measured the heights of bodies, the poor on average are significantly shorter than the rich. In this country junk food tends to either be cheaper or easier to cook quickly. At the time I was poorest I made the decIsion to stop eating meat as it saved me money. Education has a huge part to play as the poor tend to have lower standards of education than the rich. As a country the divide in the UK between rich and poor is far greater than many of our neighbours and has increased significantly in the last ten years. The reduction of social housing and the abolition of the fair rent scheme have contributed to this.
‘Austerity’, whatever the original definition of the word, has come in this country to mean the deliberate and systematic re-education in public services. This was a choice by the Tories, they could have chosen to raise taxes, they could have chosen to close loop holes like our off shore tax havens (one of the main reasons so many millionaires supported Brexit, they were worried that EU legislation would close these). We are supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world yet our public services are in a dire state. When I meet people from other countries or expats who have been away for a while they are genuinely shocked at the state the UK is in.
As for Africa I hope the WHO and the many charities working out there have got it wrong, but I expect you are right ‘St Bob’ and other millionaire rock stars will soon be asking us to donate money to buy some dreary tune. Incidentally I always look back on Live Aid with fond memories as I was at the Kent show at the time throughly enjoying myself and was convinced to join MAG that day, which led to a lot of friends and fun in the following years.
Whilst you and I may never agree about certain issues, in the absence of being able to go to a real pub it is great to have the opportunity to have these debates here.
Thanks Jak
Raising taxes is a very interesting point, I hear people hark on about the NHS and I reply to them pay more taxes they don't want to know. Before taxes are raised perhaps there should be a top down re organisation of the whole of the public sector, which in all sectors I worked in was very inefficient. I also believe the government bashing from the NHS and others is politically rather than practical.
Poverty and life style choices and education, well I rarely ever went to school never fitted in I worked instead and by the age of 15 actually had a private tailor who ran me a line of credit and thought it was really funny, I never missed a payment.
I look around and I believe we live in a good country I am a glass half full guy and I look at my family in general and look at what they have achieved and as a whole we have done well considering the back ground we came from, painful passage for a lot of them but lessons learned and improvements made. If we can they can as a general rule, bear in mind my fathers army pay book states his profession as a "poacher" he was literally dirt poor.
Africa I still can't believe the quoted number it seems rather low to me that's why I questioned it, and begs the point why is it not higher ? and if poverty was a factor crashing the economy will only cause so much more harm in the long run when there will be even less money to fund the NHS
I earned the "Red" part of Redmurty" in the military as my politics was deemed to be communist and my military paper work states so, so your politics and mine may not be that far apart but as I got older I mellowed or learnt that adhering to one doctrine was facile and debt no matter how well intentioned always has to be paid for and always causes more harm that it appears to cure, saw it many time whilst working in a county court and no matter how much time and effort you put into helping some they never ever changed.
People should be helped but not at the expense of future generations who then have to pay for a unsustainable life style that they had no part in, sometimes you just have to cut the cloth accordingly.
sorry my train of thought keeps slippy as I have Utube on watching some off roaders and my hands are sweating think I need to get out on 2 wheels thank god for the ebike
Hope you and yours are well and look forward to our next round of sniping at each other and good to see neither of us has turned rude
cheers Spud