FOR the first time ever, the UN relief agency Unicef is launching an emergency appeal inside the UK. In Tory Britain one in five families can’t afford Christmas presents for their children.
There is a public health crisis, an economic crisis and an environmental crisis going on.
These three crises are merging with the Brexit catastrophe waiting to unfold. Self-proclaimed banker-friendly Boris Johnson promised a year ago that 2020 would be a year of “levelling up”. Like everything else that comes out of Johnson’s mouth it was rhetorical lie thought up by third-rate advertising men.
These crises are all the inevitable outcome of four decades of gutting the living standards and conditions of working people. All so the super-rich can make their obscene fortunes even larger.
READ MORE: Unicef to help feed children in the UK for first time in 70 years
In the early 1980s, Thatcher and Reagan began the effort to lower working conditions back to the 19th century. Battling inflation was the propaganda.
A recession was instigated. This was done by putting up interest rates. After this, rates were lowered for banks. The central banks could then pursue policies which made sure the value of assets would never decrease.
In 2008, when the system collapsed, central banks and governments bailed out the financial sector with massive taxpayer bailouts and zero interest rates. This was paid for again by working people through wage cuts and decimated public services.
The same has been done in 2020, only the bailout has been bigger and created a record bubble in the stock market.
READ MORE: Jacob Rees-Mogg claims Unicef plan to feed hungry kids in UK is 'cheap politics'
As Marx opined: “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole.”
There is nothing inevitable or natural about extreme poverty under Tory rule. It’s deliberate and from the Tory point of view rational although it’s morally abhorrent.
The Tory party has always been a cesspit of all the worst human attributes. Greed, selfishness, racism, entitlement, bigotry, pettiness, laziness, cronyism, jingoism and stupidity. It spins these as being “virtues”.
The difference now is that the mask has slipped. The Tories no longer even pretend to follow any sort of rules-based system. Rights are being ripped up and billions are being given to Tory donors in secret with no oversight.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee
THE fact that Unicef, the UN’s child protection wing, will for the first time intervene to support those at risk of hunger in the UK is a damning indictment on the depths to which the UK has sunk.
Unicef has put its funding behind a scheme designed to provide breakfast boxes to 1,800 families over the course of the Christmas holidays – marking the first emergency response in the UK by the organisation since it was founded in 1946.
Rising levels of food poverty in the UK are an absolute disgrace and the Tory government should be ashamed of this.
We are supposedly one of the richest countries in the world. Our children should not have to rely on humanitarian charities that are more used to operating in war zones and in response to natural disasters.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
WELL said Ned Larkin as he hit the nail on the head, as he so often does (Letters, December 16). “Once in a generation” is often repeated by the nay-sayers as legitimate reason for no second referendum on Scottish independence. As Mr Larkin so wisely pointed out, the phrase is nothing more than reference to prevalence of chance and opportunity, as often used in daily life inferring that you might never have another opportunity. “Once in a lifetime” is similarly used from time to time with no commitment to timeframe or agreement.
READ MORE: Letters, December 16
In Scotland, thanks to the continuing efforts of the Westminster government, that often-used “generation” has now been shortened to soon as possible after December 31, by the very hand of the administration desperately clutching at the generation straw.
By completely ignoring the wishes of the majority of Scots regarding the outcome of the EU referendum, the Conservative and Unionist Party will single-handedly not only cut short the life-span of their precious generation but also the precious Union they so desperately strive to preserve.
Opportunity is with us again, and we must extend our thanks to those who brought it each and every time they need reminding.
Tom Gray
Braco
TORY grandee Chris Patten has stated that Boris Johnson is not a Conservative but an “English nationalist”. That was no compliment, as the word “nationalist” was used to refer to a narrow and insular way of thinking that, sadly, has spread to many corners of the contemporary world.
The modern SNP has inherited its name from almost a century ago but it and indeed all Scottish “nationalists” must clearly and unequivocally assert that the Scotland which is wanted is an outward-looking and inclusive society with the strongest commitment to human rights.
READ MORE: 'He's an English nationalist': Ex-Tory chairman launches attack on Boris Johnson
However, it must be remembered that the foundation of the human rights concept and central to its meaning is that all human beings throughout our tortured world are entitled to certain rights, especially those encapsulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These rights are fundamental; they are not just a political idea being pushed in one country.
I hope that, as we move towards independence, we will embrace the idea that the Scottish Constitution will incorporate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That really would make Scotland “the best wee country in the world”!
Alex Hamilton
Glasgow
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