poverty

Dear Mr Prime Minister come to take a walk with me

Soapbox on December 10, 2014, 5:24 pm

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Writing for the first time on Slugger is recently married PUP Belfast City Cllr Julie-Anne Corr Johnston One of the major local headlines last week was that British Prime Minister David Cameron and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny had “cleared their diaries” to lend their support to the inter-party talks at Stormont. It seems that no Stormont talks are complete without a crisis intervention from a Prime Minister, President, or some other person of note. We all remember Sir Reg Empey receiving …

Christians on The Left take food poverty debate beyond the foodbank

Soapbox on December 6, 2014, 12:04 pm

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This is a report by Jonny Currie, a Community Development Worker in East Belfast and a member of Christians on the left, who held their inaugural event this week. Over forty activists gathered in a lecture theatre at QUB on Thursday evening for Christians on the Left’s (COTL) inaugural Northern Ireland event. Titled “Beyond the Foodbank: Pushing the Food Poverty Debate Forward,” the event challenged those in attendance to move beyond the charitable act of food bank provision to change …

Christians on the Left host food poverty debate

Barton Creeth on November 29, 2014, 12:51 pm

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The number of food banks is on the rise in Northern Ireland. According to Advice NI, the number of food banks in Northern Ireland has increased from two in 2011, to at least 14 in 2014, and Trussell Trust reports distributing more than 11,000 free food parcels this year. Churches have taken a lead in mobilising volunteers, distributing food parcels to those in need, and working with charity and statutory organisations to get people the support they need to improve their circumstances. …

Aggregate spend in Belfast is probably higher than any other UK city

Mick Fealty on September 15, 2014, 12:45 pm

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Haven’t got time to unpack this properly, but I think this is important insight from Mike Morrissey on why despite very high funding levels tackling poverty in Northern Ireland is simply not working… Mainstream service spending per head in Northern Ireland is about 20 per cent greater than the UK while the region has also benefited from special funding from Europe and the US, a significant chunk of which has been targeted at communities in Belfast. The aggregate spend per …

What would be your single economic response to the issue of working poverty? #cgeni

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 28, 2014, 10:31 pm

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This was one of the questions asked at this morning’s NICVA Centre for Economic Empowerment conference on Generation X and Working Poverty. Working households now make up the majority of those in poverty. Low pay, the rise of part-time and temporary working, high costs of housing and childcare all contribute to the growth. But what practically can government or organisations or individuals do? 26% of NI employees are paid below the Living Wage (£7.45/hour). This is the highest proportion in …

Belfast Politics as petulant childsplay (while Ballymurphy langours in deprivation) Redux…

Mick Fealty on March 31, 2014, 8:02 pm

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Somethings only start to look truly absurd when you look at them in conjunction with some other things… Here’s one thing, a DUP councillor being barracked for temporarily donning a Linfield scarf whilst the council body was discussing a motion calling on the council to honour out-going Linfield manager David Jeffrey. And here’s another thing: Fast forward to Friday Saturday – after hours for the Leisure Centre in question. Pictures start appearing on user @patrickmul7 ‘s twitter profile. “Whiterock Leisure …

Stormont’s odd debate on free school dinners. “Whatever you do, don’t mention child poverty.”

Mick Fealty on September 17, 2013, 5:01 pm

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I cannot think of another polity in which a discussion on the increase in the uptake of free school meals could almost entirely avoid any direct reference to the possible corresponding increase in child poverty. I say possible, because in yesterday’s private member’s debate on free school meals was based on barely any data concerning the drivers behind the increase beyond a ministerial o extend free meals to independent sector (affecting about 700 pupils) The debate was scheduled to start at …

£36,800 a minimum standard income for the UK?

Mick Fealty on July 11, 2012, 3:10 pm

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There’s a fascinating piece of research released on Tuesday by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), and launched today, which “used panels of ordinary people reaching a consensus about the items and activities that allow participation in society as well as food, clothes, paying the bills and a home”. What’s interesting is that it challenges a lot of notions about poverty, and encompasses in a large swathe of working people (often both parents) who are struggling to make ends meet. Thus …

JRF Poverty Monitor: An opportunity for the NI Executive to leave a more tangible legacy than the ‘eaten bread’ of peace?

Mick Fealty on May 11, 2012, 1:06 pm

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Joseph Rowntree Foundation (the guys who funded the research behind our community asset transfer ‘debate’) Monitoring report on poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland put together a great morning of presentation and conversation last week. It consisted of three parts. The presentation, kicking off with presentations from the two authors, segueing into a very short questions and answers session and then, we all talked amongst ourselves. There were a few bits of good news: – before the recession, work …

Wales 2011 – One in Four in Poverty…and it’s getting worse.

Dewi on July 7, 2011, 8:42 am

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Quoting the Rowntree Foundation Press Release below: New Joseph Rowntree Foundation research released today shows that meeting the Welsh Government’s target of eradicating child poverty by 2020 will mean the rate has to fall four times more quickly over the next ten years than it did over the last decade. The latest figures also show almost one in four people in Wales across all age groups – 680,000 – are in poverty. The research, carried out by Anushree Parekh and …

Poverty programme should dominate the next Assembly

Brian Walker on April 28, 2011, 6:40 pm

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It’s great to see pressure mounting on what are misleadingly called ” the bread and butter issues” – misleading, because of a growing shortage of ” bread and butter.” The Social Justice Network is one of too few cross community and interfaith bodies who regularly lobby the Assembly parties for their causes – on practical stuff like their Heat and Eat campaign last Christmas, as well as policy. The chair of the network is the Head of the School of Law at …

The economics of Libertarianism

Mack on June 22, 2010, 1:53 pm

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Interesting book review of Jeffrey Miron’s “Libertarianism, From A-Z” at the New York times. Like most -isms Libertarianism would appear to mean different things to different people. Although, perhaps not quite to the same extent as within Socialism – see Chomsky’s attack on Lennism / Trotskyism & the USSR and contrast that with the varying degrees of state management and redistributionism that pass for socialism as advocated by political parties throughout Europe. Perhaps surprisingly, in his book, Miron argues that …