Bullingdon Club Bullies dehumanise homeless man by burning £50 in front of him

This afternoon I was writing a no doubt worthy item for this blog on BHT’s preparation for the digital inclusion challenges relating to the introduction of Universal Credit when I saw the tweets by Aideen Jones, the Chief Executive of Southdown Housing Association, regarding members of the Bullingdon Club who allegedly burnt a £50 note in front of someone begging on the streets of Oxford. (26/02/13: Please note I have removed a link to the original article on another blog which has itself been removed).

Aideen is right to point out that £50 could have bought 40 pairs of thermal socks for homeless people.

Of course people will make a connection between this obscene flaunting of wealth by a group of rich boys. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Mayor of London, all were members of the Bullingdon Club during their misspent youth, but I imagine Messrs Cameron, Osborne and Johnson will today share the outrage felt by most reasonably minded individuals over this incident.

The thing that upsets me most about this incident is what it says about how homeless men and women are dehumanised by society. If the allegation is true, these Bullingdon Bullies are merely an extreme example, and are the rightful targets for the contempt of decent people. But this dehumanisation goes much wider, from the groups of lads who think it is funny to give someone sleeping rough a kicking on a Saturday night, or a drunken reveller relieving himself on someone sleeping in a doorway, or the security guard who pours a bucket of cold water over someone sleeping in a car park.

More extreme examples lead to the violent death of homeless people through assault or setting fire to a sleeping bag when the individual is asleep in it. Dropping a paving slab on the head of someone asleep on the beach or in a park is likely to do serious damage.

Yet this happens. What we need to do is to put an end to homelessness. A grand objective, but one that should be seen as historically important as the abolition of slavery or the ending of apartheid. This week, Homeless Link will be launching a manifesto aimed at seeing the end of homelessness in the UK by 2023. My colleague, Nikki Homewood, will be at the launch of this manifesto in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

But individually we can do something. In response to Aideen’s tweet, I will buy £50 of thermal underwear for homeless men and women who use First Base Day Centre. You, too, can help, either by buying something from Amazon using the First Base wish list on this link or for those of you who don’t wish to use Amazon, donations can be made direct to First Base through our Just Giving page.

But there is one other thing we can do. We can stop using the term ‘the homeless’, a phrase that dehumanises people. They are men and women, they are someone’s son or daughter, husband or wide, brother or sister, father or mother. They have names. They have hopes and aspirations, feelings and fears. I always try to refer to “homeless men and women”.

In South Africa, where I grew up under apartheid, the white rulers referred to “the blacks” who had second class status, and whose lives were valued less than those of white people. The murder of a black man and woman rarely attracted media attention, more rarely warranted a police enquiry. In the white community, black people had become dehumanised. Hopefully in Britain in 2013 we won’t allow the same to happen to homeless men and women.

Initial reaction to the Comprehensive Spending Review

Like many others, I have awaited George Osborne’s statement on the Comprehensive Spending Review with a great deal of trepidation.  This is my reaction to it, just two hours after the Chancellor sat down and before we have had chance to assess some of the detail.

The announcement that adult social care and the Personalisation agenda are to be protected is particularly welcomed, although I am disappointed that there are to be further cuts of, on average, £100 million each year for the next four years in the Supporting People budget .  This equates to an annual cut of 6.25%.  This is disappointing given that it comes on top of cuts of £200 million over the 6 years since 2004/05 and there is no fat left on the bone.  Supporting People services are aimed directly at the elderly, the frail and the poorest in the country.  However, I had feared that the cuts to the Supporting People programme were going to be greater, and it was good that the Chancellor specifically recognised this programme in his speech.  On the ground the reduction in funding may be greater given that Supporting People will no longer be ring-fenced, and councils are having their overall funding cut by 7.1%.

There could well be opportunities for organisations such as BHT as new ways of working are expected.  Local decisions on local policies and local delivery will allow charities and local councils to work together to meet the needs of communities.  Charities like BHT can bring innovation and good practice and we can help to change and improve the communities within which we work.

We welcome the recognition that house building is needed – 150,000 new homes over the next 4 years.  The government is looking seriously at how this can be funded through increased rents on new lettings.  However, we are concerned that social housing rents for new tenants will be 80% of the average market rent.  This will mean that these homes will not be affordable for the unemployed and low paid households with three or more children when a £26,000 cap on benefits payable to individual households is applied. 

The question has to be asked whether such households will be able to afford rents in high cost areas such as Brighton and Hove.  With the changes to housing benefit and benefit entitlement, I can foresee households with three or more children having to move out of Brighton, where they may have been born and brought up, to areas where they may have no connection, no family and no support, and where additional pressure will be put on local services such as schools and health services.  We support the calls that areas like Brighton and Hove should be exempt from these changes.

We are concerned about what cuts will be made to Legal Aid.  Details of these are to follow.  There will be consultation on how to reduce the budget by £350 million.  We hope that any cuts will not undermine our ability to provide advice and legal representation from our advice centres in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings.

Other details will emerge over the next few days.  For example, we have just heard that the restriction in housing benefit  for those under 25 to the cost of an average room in a shared house is to be extended to those under 35.

Please comment on your reaction to the CSR and how you think it will impact on our clients, on BHT itself, and on the communities within which we work.

We mustn’t remove the ladder for the young unemployed

News that 1.4 million adults have never had a job is shocking.  Some 600,000 16 to 24 year olds (that’s 1 in 12) have never worked despite not being in education or training.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has told MPs that the existing system of benefits was “wasting the live of millions of people”.  The benefits system may well be keeping some people in welfare dependency, but I think the problem is more complex, and the solution equally so.

Welfare benefits are almost certainly going to be cut following the Comprehensive Spending Review.  Any cuts must ensure that the most vulnerable are not left destitute, and David Cameron has given a assurance that they will be protected.

I hope that the Chancellor will invest in job training, work experience and jobs otherwise those figures of 1.4 million will certainly increase, and those young people who yet to be employed may never be. 

If he, or any of his Ministers or Members of Parlament, would like to see a scheme for young people that prepares young people for employment and work, they should visit BHT’s Finding Futures project in Hastings. Often those joining the project are not yet on the ladder for personal development and enhancemnt; many don’t even know that the ladder exists.

Young people need hope that there hopes and drerams are achievable.  I hope that George Osborne will remember this.

The increase in VAT makes this a sad day all round, especially for the poorest in society

Th devil is in the detail, as they say.  Chancellor George Osborne has not ago sat down having delivered his first budget.  Over the next few days we will see the detail.  Afterall, the coalition government has long trailed the fact that this would be a harsh budget and that the pain would need to be shared by all.

In a blog post a couple of weeks ago I commented that VAT is a regressive tax, saying that I hoped that there would not be an increase in VAT.  Alas, from January 2011, VAT rates will increase from 17.5% to 20%.  Those on lower incomes spend more as a proportion of their income on items that attract VAT than those on higher income levels.  While those earning the least will benefit from changes to tax thresholds (which I welcome), those who currently pay no tax (those dependent on benefits and many pensioners) will see the power of their Pount eroded due to VAT increases.

VAT increases are a quick way of generating income.  Sadly, it is tax that does not spread the pain evenly, and many of those using BHT services will feel the difference.  There will also be an impact on BHT and many other charities who will be seeing a squeeze on their income while the VAT increase will add cost that cannot be avoided.  A sad day all round.