28 June, 2007

Some body is smiling today

It's a new day and a new prime minister now resides at number 10 but will things really change? The saying trust me I'm a politician comes to mind when I think about Gordon Brown wasn't he the one who gave pensioners a little extra and then took it back straight after the election. Now he has become prime minister should we worry?
There are still people homeless in this country who now have the right to vote. They maybe in hostels or bed and breakfasts but as the numbers grows there seems no end in site and I fear that eventually we will have the same problems all over again. People sleeping rough, hostels few and far between and the over burdened tax payer having to fork out more money. Why is it allowed to happen? When there are things we can do today that will save many lives and the tax payer thousands in the future.
So many times I have heard the phrase everyone is equal but this is not absolutely true and I think it would be stupid and unwise to assume that this will improve in the future but everyone must be given the same rights as the next person maybe that's the way forward to make sure everyone has the right to a home, to be protected, to have the letter of the law applied equally and lastly everyone has the right to his or hers freedom of choice, Which to be honest seems to be slowly eroding away.

19 June, 2007

What does it mean to be homeless?

In this country we see people everyday of the week sitting or sleeping in some shop doorway or on some street corner in one of our towns or cities. The question we always ask ourselves is why? The government tells us they are well on the way to curing the problem but are they?
Homelessness is not just about sleeping on the streets. I personally think it’s about not having some place to call your own. To call home. Not having that front door key so you can open and shut out the world and have your own privacy and space. Which most people in this country can do.
Living in one of the many hostels doesn’t give you that as you have to share most of the day with some face you don’t know. You share toilets and bathrooms. You are virtually sharing your life with someone else. Which really is a relationship you don't really want or didn't ask for.
To be stuck in limbo as I like to call it is waiting for a place of your own, which by the way the government is so adamant about but because no houses or flats are being built that wait is getting longer and longer and as that wait becomes ever increasing the hope that homeless people are given fades as they face uncertainty. The problem today is if you’re single and have nothing then you are more likely to stay that way. Why? I think it’s the lack of genuine progressive ideas by local government. Every government over the last 100 years has tried different things from work houses to today’s hostels and the truth is nothing seems to work. We have always had homeless people. No one wants to be homeless. Although people do become homeless it’s not on purpose. Living rough on the streets of Britain isn’t a choice. Most of the time it’s the only thing left and the thing is it can happen to anyone.
How many people do we have that live on the streets and still rise at six in the morning to go to work? Yet that’s what some homeless people do. Not all are the typical stereo types So when you’re passing some homeless person asleep in a shop doorway don’t jump to the conclusion that he or she must be an addict or alcoholic and it’s their fault that they are there. Think about what you would do if you where in that position

15 June, 2007

Changes needed

Like most people I listen to the radio and watch the news TV and something’s make me wonder. Take for instants the PM quitting Downing Street. Me, I thought it was about bloody time because when you think about it. He dosen't leave great legacy but at least he does leave one. One of his best achievements was on the conflict in Northern Ireland. That did take some doing but on the other hand he took us in to a war that we didn’t really want and should have found another way to deal with. On the home front well, what can I say? Well let me see, ten years ago the NHS was in a desperate situation. Guess what, it still is. We still have over one and a half million people stuck in the poverty trap. not much change there either. Plus, we now have over 600,000 single people stuck in temporary accommodation, hostels, B and B's and on the streets because the government has not built enough new homes and have focused their efforts on home ownership.
In most towns and cities we have areas people are afraid to go to. Kids are carrying knives and some guns. Which tells me things have gotten worse over the last ten years instead of better. Will Gordon Brown be a better PM? Will he listen to the voice of the people? Will he appoint ministers that truly know what this country desperately needs. Which clearly Mr. Blair didn’t. Well. Mr Blair I am one of the many that thought your best just wasn't quite good enough. I personally think you tried to be the male version of Mrs.Thatcher and it didn't quite work. Something tells me not much will change. I guess I am one of many who think the same

13 June, 2007

I'm sort of back

As you know from the lack of blogs I have been away for a while. Firstly I have been sitting by my friends bedside in hospital most days of the week over the last few months. He went into a comma and he has not come out of it. It made me think about things and how things can happen in just the blink of an eye, although my life has been strange and one dimensional at times. It just seems to me that there is this thing we call life and we should live it to the fullest. Some can't as they have problems that really no one understands fully unless you have had them and lived with them. I am not the smartest cookie in the jar but I do believe we all should have the chance to live a life as normal as possible but how often have you heard the question. What is normal? Even I don't know the answer to that but society has a sort of template we are supposed to follow. So if that's it? Then dosent society have to help the less fortunate meet those goals