Adrian Rimington, Chesterfield Socialist Party
When I saw this book, the title said to me: “You must buy this”. The one thing I can promise that you will become outraged reading it.
The author – Kayleigh Garthwaite, a university researcher – spent 18 months as a food bank volunteer in Stockton-On-Tees. The book is packed with technical information, government policy towards the poor, personal interviews and case studies.
A whole chapter is dedicated to informing you how a food bank works. The whole book is an eye-opener, which deals with the old arguments of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor.
The only words of encouragement throughout Hunger Pains is a short sentence saying that pensioners do not use food banks. Even this isn’t true. A fifth of pensioners were in poverty before the inflation crisis hit.
There is an urban myth that anyone just visits a food banks as an alternative to shopping at Tesco. The truth is that you have to have a red voucher from a Citizens Advice, a GP or similar professional, before you can obtain an emergency pack of food which is for three days.
Trussell Trust is very concerned that people will become dependent upon its service. In theory, a person or family is only allowed to use the food bank three times a year.
The root causes for the need to use food banks are poverty, low pay and insecure work. These can worsen mental health, and contribute to other problems, like addiction. Tory policies for people on benefits mean severe delays and sanctions, leaving people without money for long periods of time.
It really beggars belief, as the interviews show. People work two or three jobs, and their earnings will still not stretch, after paying housing costs, to pay for food. The book also states, that there is a number, as large as the people who use food banks, who would rather starve than accept a red voucher, because of the stigma.
There would be no need for food banks, if we had socialism. The US has had food banks since 1967, and they are now regarded as an integral part of the welfare system there and in Canada. Food banks are here of stay for as long as we have capitalism.
I bought the book, was informed by it, and everyone should read it.
- Hunger Pains is published by Policy Press
