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:
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 poverty – Matthew Lockwood, November 9th 2011
• The coalition is actively increasing child poverty – Felicity Dennistoun, October 11th 2011
• ESA cuts will exacerbate poverty and remove help for disabled – Neil Coyle, March 8th 2011
• All in the family? Putting intergenerational poverty into perspective – Declan Gaffney, April 8th 2011
• Warnings of generation lost to poverty – Ed Jacobs, February 23rd 2011
83 Responses to “Currie v Jones: Do people go hungry in Britain?”
Kate Wareing
RT @leftfootfwd: Currie v Jones: Do people go hungry in Britain? http://t.co/maTdRWth
Rowland Paul Hill
Most read story this week: @OwenJones84 v Edwina Currie: Do people go hungry in Britain? http://t.co/A7I50dxg #mostread
Sandraeves
im absolutely discusted with her and her idiotic attiude!…she says in one breathe “good christians dont get aids”…good christians dont SLEEP with other peoples husbands either!…as for people starving she needs a good kick in the proveribial!!! and put out to pasture with no refuge or food…maybe the reality chack then would give her the compassion she lacks…or a dictionary in order to find the definition or the word COMPASSION …….
Beetlebug
#EdwinaCurrie continues to believe no one ever goes hungry in #Britain http://t.co/6a25yhsB
LJ
I have worked hard in this country too, raising my three children, yet being totally let down by the system when caring for my father with terminal cancer. I have just lost my own husband who worked all of his life some days leaving home at 4 am and arriving hme at 1 am , then getting up again at 4am. We were left in a terrible siation of living on appproximately 55 pounds per week, my tall strong husband became weaker as we tried to pay for bills. But there comes a point if one is ill where your body simply cannot cope, unless you have even been in that position you could not comment. As for the treatment of carers who save a fortune to our government we are totally forgotten. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Haverhill/Dying-man-has-only-12p-a-day-to-eat-13102011.htm