Currie v Jones: Do people go hungry in Britain?

Alex Hern reports on Edwina Curries shocking comments on poverty in Britain

Disgraced former Conservative minister Edwina Currie continues to insist that no one in the UK  is ever starving, even after spending three hours last night in a food bank in Birmingham being told just that.

The event was held in response to comments made by Currie on Radio 5 last month.

At the time, Currie said:

“Are you telling me people in this country are going hungry? Seriously? Seriously? Do you know, I really have great difficulty believing that.”

I don’t think people in this country go hungry. But are these people at the same time maybe buying the odd lottery ticket? Do they just occasionally have the odd cigarette? Somewhere along the line does food come as the first priority?”

The public-and-panel event arranged this night was largely three hours of Currie, famous for destroying the British egg market, sleeping with John Major, and saying that “good Christians” wouldn’t get aids, arguing with people in poverty about whether they were in poverty. You can listen to the whole debate here.

One highlight, however, was blogger and author Owen Jones, who took Currie to task throughout the night; Jones’s opening comments are embedded below, and are well worth listening to:

Owen Jones (mp3)

The case of Mark and Helen Mullins is indeed a tragedy; they recorded a video earlier this year, explaining the troubles they were having, and it makes for difficult viewing:

Edwina Currie claims she knows about the Mullins. If she does, and insists in perpetuating her lies, she is more than just humorously out of touch; she is actively contributing to a repetition of their tragedy.

See also:

We need a new approach to tackling fuel povertyMatthew Lockwood, November 9th 2011

The coalition is actively increasing child povertyFelicity Dennistoun, October 11th 2011

ESA cuts will exacerbate poverty and remove help for disabledNeil Coyle, March 8th 2011

All in the family? Putting intergenerational poverty into perspectiveDeclan Gaffney, April 8th 2011

Warnings of generation lost to povertyEd Jacobs, February 23rd 2011

83 Responses to “Currie v Jones: Do people go hungry in Britain?”

  1. Newsbot9

    The social “safety net” in this country is threadbare, with some of the toughest punishments in the world.

    You want to, literally, starve anyone who doesn’t fit your criteria of fitness. You’re rendering millions of people sub-Human…typical social darwinism. Blood, blood, blood, it’s all the far right like you are about.

  2. Newsbot9

    Great, so, lethal injection after 3 months then? Let’s hear you plans…how many people will YOU kill?

  3. Newsbot9

    Iceland’s in deep financial trouble, despite a substantial trade surplus. And strangely enough, what works for a mid-sized City’s population doesn’t work for larger countries.

  4. Newsbot9

    They can’t. You’re a troll, who is slurping up propaganda, left, right and centre.

    The UK system is already VERY tough. It’s counter-productive, it punishes rather than helps.

  5. Newsbot9

    “when is this welfare debacle veer”

    What, you mean when are the state going to conform to international norms…raising benefits, giving a LOT more help and slashing conditionality?

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