06 July, 2010
digital media
22 June, 2010
It's all our fault
10 March, 2010
Funny thing is
01 March, 2010
Oh boy
07 February, 2010
Good news and as usual bad news
Now for the bad news I read all the papers and things on homelessness and sometimes I just can't believe some councils and what they are saying and doing. Homelessness isn't a crime but I know of people being given asbo's for sleeping in shop doorways this does confuse me as we know there are not enough places for all the homeless in london. Even church night shelters have had to turn away people at night. The thing that amazes me is that we say homelessness is decreasing but in actual fact it is not and from what I see its going into hiding. We no longer see people in plain sight. Homelessness is now becoming hidden and this must not happen as these are the people we have to try and help as best we can.
03 February, 2010
Life it's fun but what a struggle
I think life is full of unequal events but sometimes good things do happen more often than not.
25 January, 2010
This what I think
We say the rich get richer. Now even I have to admit this one. They do, but don't most earn it and is this true are they paying higher taxes than most? We have this saying hard earned money will be well spent. I think this to be true. Look life isn't that fair to most, it has its ups and downs but money isn't everything and being jealous of someone owning a porche hey! that's just natural but being happy with what you have is harder than most people think. Ask someone who fought in the war or who was born just after or just ask someone from a really poor country. Poor is a word I'd use for people who have next to nothing but poverty is a word for poeple who have nothing. Poverty will be with our world for many years to come and many peoples life times but as we give to help when we can. We can smile a little and know that all is not lost and humanity does live somewhere in us all.
08 January, 2010
Recovering blogger
Well. my bit for charity wasn't done exactly as I planned because I caught a tartar of a cold and couldn't do all my shifts. I haven't been out of my flat since, today was the first day. It was strange no one was walking or chating in the streets all were skating or trying to stay up right. Pensioners with zimmer frames were even speed skating. Cars were doing the bolero. So this I am guessing is the long term effects of blogging or snow and I thought I was having a bloggers flash back. Since I stopped writing so much I wondered why I've kept on seeing things. Silly me, today I thought I saw Boris Johnson on TV saying once again that London was prepared for snow and there wouldn't be any disruptions and I could have sworn I saw snow this morning when I went to the shop and no buses but seriously. What I didn't hear was the struggle about families who could not heat there homes during this prolonged freeze because they hadn't yet received any cold weather payments or that people on prepayment meters are using money put by for food because they have been promised payments which still are not forth coming. We are into the second week of the freeze and it seems this too has become a post code lottery. Isn't it suppose to be when the weather drops to zero or below that payments are made unless you live half a mile away in another post code. Cold weather payments are meant to be for weather that is cold not when the sun shines and at todays prices for gas and electric. Well they say it all. Another thing is there are people sleeping rough all around Britain there hasn't been a word said about them. Its so sad that we live in a country that's good at helping people all around the world and I am proud of that. Yet we haven't seen or invented ways to help our own. Britain has so many problems from homelessness to lawlessness but what is most annoying and does make me angry is that we have increasing poverty in this country and although we know and hear about it nothing is really done and I hate it when I am told, you should think yourself lucky because you'd be starving anywhere else in the world. I know how lucky I am but how long will it before we once again see children begging openly in the streets or how long will it be when we see American style soup kitchens? It doesn't take much to become homeless and poor but it takes plenty of lives and life to remedy it
Hey I'm a recover blogger what do I know?
20 December, 2009
Christmas
I was thinking about Christmas and the phrase home for Christmas. I know that some people do have homes and family to go to at this time of year but what about those who have nothing and no one. I have heard some people as I walk the streets at night say its their own fault that they are where they are and I now ask the question how the hell do they know. Do they personally know the people? I don't think so but you never know because every now and then someone knows someone on the streets and if you remember it is a small world we live in and to be honest
18 December, 2009
A true story
Many years ago I fell into a hole and broke my leg and smashed my knee but today I see the funny side of life and so I wrote this I wrote something similar a few years ago but lost it so I thought it's coming up to Christmas and it's a time for fun
The hole
It was black
It was big and round
It was sort of deep
Yet there it was upon the ground
Something you could not miss
But me being me
After a few and remember not a drop of tea
In I fell
I did not dive or somersault
Just screamed what the hell
Then I was gone
Into this hole
That was big and round and sort of deep
That all could see
Something you could not miss
Except me
THERE IS A POINT WE DON'T SEE EVERYTHING EVEN IF WE ARE STARING AT IT.
New day new dawn
27 November, 2009
Me being profound
26 November, 2009
a poem of christmas
Every Christmas everyone one sighs
That unexpected Christmas happiness sigh
Some get over cheerful
Some get very very playful
Some just sit, smile and cry
There are many reasons why
It could be long lost loves remembered
Tinged with happiness and the smallest of regret
Yet that first Christmas kiss you just remembered
And that gentle smile of yesterday
Comes once again to play
Then you look around
And so that Christmas sigh and smile
It reappears
As Christmas brings it seasons cheers
25 November, 2009
What can I say
When I write I try to write about what I know sometimes adding a bit of humor but even I know life is sometimes severe and cutting. So what I want to do is use some of your imagination. Just closed your eyes and imagine your homeless and haven't got a penny in your pocket, its raining and you are soaked. Now add to that you don't have a drink that you have to have everyday because you are a alcoholic. How do you feel?
Nothing can change that feeling of hopelessness.
This is what happens 365 days a year to most homeless people and it's OK for charities like crisis to say help the homeless help themselves but it always comes down to the fact that without a stable base the chances of someone getting their life in order is minimal. I know I did but I am one of the few. how many times did I really try? Not that many I did try a few times but as they say I was not ready for change. Don't get me wrong crisis is one of my favorite charities but I sometimes wonder if they are losing site of the bigger picture and that is homelessness its self. Even I have heard the mumbling and whispers about people living in hostels and its clear people still think of them as not being homeless. I would love to hear from MP s with their own thoughts on this subject. Not their party line but their own thoughts but I think thats doubtful.
Christmas is a few weeks away and we will hear about homeless more at this time of year. My own story has been heard many times but I am glad to say my life changed for the good and is still changing daily. Best of all is I am still alive and kicking.
24 November, 2009
Sitting and wondering about Christmas
13 November, 2009
Me and my little voice
My voice has been quiet of late because there has been nothing to say except the same old boring thing called homelessness. I sometimes think whats the use, the government seem to convince people that its a thing of the past and the people in the street are so used to seeing people sleeping on the streets its become part of everyday life. Are we becoming immune to the fact that there is still a big problem? I've had my ups and downs over the last few years but I am still here living and breathing but a few of the people I knew on the streets are not. So when I hear some MP saying we are getting to grips with the problems of homelessness and its problems I get angry but I am only one little voice. Its loud but sometimes I feel its not loud enough. homelessness is a big problem and with it brings all the problems that you can't imagine, drugs, alcoholism. violence and abuse and sometimes prostitution. So if my voice is quiet now, wait till you hear me properly.
07 November, 2009
Chances
20 October, 2009
Once again thinking clear
I'm not the kind of man to give up on things that easy after all the things I've been through in my life I know it makes me who I am. I have not been myself for quite a few months ( I wondered sometimes who I was) It's taken me longer than I thought it would to be just me again but as the saying goes you can't keep a good man down for long and I am back in reasonable health so for the first clear thought of the day. After listening to the party conferences it seems to me that none have said what they are going to do for those that are living in poverty or for that matter the homeless which is still thriving week in and week out. The number steadily is increasing. from what I can gather is they now want to build more hostel like places for teenagers who are expecting or with children because they want to teach parenting but my question is who ever gets parenting right because as i understand it we are all different. We can't house the homeless we already have so how are we going to house these teenagers. Now don't get me started about Boris Johnson because he promised to keep fares down and to make changes and he hasn't done a thing. he's had all these meeting and spent lots of money on researching various things like policing, housing and transport and hasn't really done a thing worth while. Now for my favorite why do we stand for governments that continually let us down? It's mind boggling. I do understand why this government had to save the banks but am I right in thinking the banks should have been part nationalized as its the tax payer that seems to be losing out and would the government have gotten a better return for the peoples money?
02 October, 2009
just thinking
Thinking of things to say isn’t that hard for me as I have been used to talking my way through things for years especially hiding the fact that I couldn’t read or write but now I can. The thing is none of this would have been possible if people didn’t care. Over the last few months I haven’t been myself but I am now back to my old self but the problem is even though I am back the homeless problem is still here. Poverty is on the increase and the most venerable in our society are still slowly suffering. I was listening to the party conference for labour and liberals. To tell the truth times are going to get tougher but under the conservatives I think they will get much much tougher. I know that cuts have to come but what they are going to do just doesn’t add up. It means higher taxes. Vat, people paying much more national insurance contributions. What I want to know is are there any plans for the thousands stuck in hostels or are there any plans for those on the streets that can't get into hostels or are they going to cut spending even further in that area to.
06 September, 2009
Revenge of a doughnut
As you can probably gather I have stopped eating doughnuts and its made me nuts
03 September, 2009
29 August, 2009
Just living
Maybe I'll wake up and find out it's all been a dream and I'm really only 20 and it's all been a nightmare or maybe this is hell and I really died years ago and this is my punishment because Gordon Brown really being the prime minister only the devil could have come up with that one.
27 August, 2009
I called this recycling
Two kids and a wife who constantly moaned was how I was paid
So I recycled the wife for someone to keep
But alas no came
So I killed her and buried her deep
Now I’m not one to bear grudges
Well, not for awhile
You got to admit I do things in style
Now my kids are now all grown and all have left home
But now I’m haunted by all the things that I've done
And the ghost of my wife who nags me and annoys me for fun
So it would have been best If I’d not laid her to rest
Now the thing is
I strongly believe divorce would have been best
So if you’re thinking about getting rid of you’re wife
Don’t do what I did it could ruin your life.
Now this is a tale of a love that did fail
But just in case you are tempted like me
There are much better ways to set yourself free.
Recycle its less hassle and much better fun.
I wrote this at Christmas but since then it's changed quite a bit but putting fun into something tragic was at one time hard for me as most of my life has been either on the streets a drug user or struggling to survive the pit falls of life living rough.
26 August, 2009
Do I believe?
The next general election is just round the corner. Right at this minute it looks like a conservative win but wait lets look back and see what happened last time a conservative government lead us. Strikes, oh they banned them, poverty? it rose, houses where built? Not exactly the ones we already had were sold off and of course we went to war in the Falklands. Lets not forget history was made we had the first woman president, sorry prime minister. So what does this tell me? Well lets see this government bailed out the banks to the tune of billions but was it their doing in the first place that lead to the banks failing? Oh yes they sold our gold reserves at a loss. Oh and over the next ten to twenty years we will be paying more tax and enough much needed housing won't be built. Unemployment will rise even further. Poverty will still be around. Tomorrow I will hear MPs saying vote for me things will change but on a good note homeless people can vote
25 August, 2009
Not saying much
The thing that did stand out was that homeless people are really struggling to survive and as the government tighten its grip on the welfare state. I have begun to wonder if we are taking giant steps backward and have another underworld of vice showing its ugly head. The fact is as the government try to reduce its spending and tighten its belt people are going to suffer and it does seem to me that it's the people that really need the help that are going to suffer most.
19 July, 2009
Awake and raring to go
16 July, 2009
Homeless once again
03 July, 2009
02 July, 2009
I wonder
01 June, 2009
The Honorable
10 May, 2009
Back to the issue of homelessness
Council housing was set up to house the people in greatest need. So where did it all go wrong and why ?
Why do we have families in this day and age without homes?
Why do the single homeless people still have to fight for the right to have a home?
Why is it nearly impossible to get an emergency bed for someone living on the streets?
Did we really become too dependent on the right to buy factor?
Is this why we stopped building social housing?
Have the government got it wrong once again?
Is there any real solutions to the housing problems we are facing?
These are the questions I am asking now I'm back to something like my old self.
I know I wont write as much but I will write about what's relevant
26 March, 2009
Still on about homelessness years later
I now am asking has being homeless become a minor crime because it does seem to be as council after council try to stop people sleeping on the streets. I have to admit to the ingenious tactics they have used ( why can’t they use the same logic on the state of council estates} but until we all really admit that there is still a big problem, (which by the way is growing once again }It's estimated that approximately over a 800 people sleep rough on any given night right across Britain and that over 400 hundred thousand sleep in temporary accommodation such as friends sofa's, hostels and night shelters and so forth. Now the summer is nearly here there aren't that many night shelters open and to be truthful some you wouldn’t put your dog in over night. It seems to me that over the last three or four years I have met MPs from various parties and they have all sat there and listened and asked questions but to be truthful nothing much seems to have been done. We have had the odd scheme that has run out of funding and we have had several schemes which have been too costly. It all comes down to money said one MP recently. At this present time and the climate we are now in we don't have that much money to spend and what we do spend on homelessness has been tried and tested. We can see a results for what we spend. I have been thinking about this statement for quite a while now and I have come to this conclusion, The results that this or any government see seems to me to be about the same. one year the figures may be slightly down or static and the next slightly improved and of course we hear about this because any government worth its salt would say things are improving. Even I have to admit that compared with the homeless number ten to twelve years ago there has been a dramatic drop but things speak for themselves and the steady rise we are seeing all over the country needs to be addressed especially when you find people sleeping rough out of site of the public. These are the people that need to be included in any government statistic. I also heard that the rise in homelessness is due to the population rise of E.U immigrants looking for work. I know we say we are looking for new ways to end homelessness by twenty twelve but I really do think this is one target that cannot be reached. Homelessness has been with us through the ages as history shows us. Yes it is time to end it for good but with poverty increasing how do we do this? Do we hide it while the Olympics are here or do we say yes we have a problem just like any other country and we are tackling it and we will and can.
I know in the past we have tried work houses as history tells us. Today they are called hostels but its not the brutal regime of the past. It has now become the place where you are ina static posution. Limbo if you like.. Where you have hope that things can move on from here. There is one thing that applies to the past and today situations and that is once you’re in the homeless system its hard to escape. Coming from me that might seem funny as I now have my own flat and live quite a reasonable life. Which is what I would like to see all over the country but what I have now took me nearly a life time to get because no one really knew how to tackle the problems I had and there are so many out there that don't have as long as I have had.
Learning more about homelessness and it's true affects on people.
The root causes of homeless and how to break the cycle and habits of homelessness I think just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is that once you’re in the cycle of homelessness and have been there for quite sometime integrating a person back into society is harder than it sounds. Its about giving a person back there self worth and belief. Yes they have to be taught the skills needed to get back to work and so forth but the real problem is that addicts who have been so comforted by the bottle and drugs has been a crutch and taking away that crutch leaves them nothing. Homelessness has that same addictive quality this is why i believe we have a constant flow of people becoming homeless over and over again. This is where I still believe that former homeless people and addicts are the key to getting things right. But at this moment the main obstacle to this all is the Governments Quick fix target of twenty twelve. Everyone knows that putting a plaster on a wound before cleaning it leads to trouble. Is this government just putting a plaster on so you when the Olympics finally do arrive no one watching it on TV will see the homeless person sitting in a sleeping bag While the marathon is being run?
09 March, 2009
Not saying much these days
06 February, 2009
What next
30 January, 2009
Its time
30 December, 2008
You don't have any ties so please take up your bed and leave
What's in store
28 December, 2008
Homelessness
How do you tackle homelessness? No one yet has come up with a definite solution. The sorry fact that it has become more hidden is I think is a growing problem because we now have people sleeping at the back of shops and such places. Where as before it used to be in plain site suggests that I am right but I do speak from experience myself as I have been homeless and a drug addict. The fact that Crisis has taken a bold intuitive in trying to develop peoples skills in their skylight drop in centers in London at Newcastle is a step in the right direct but more needs to be done on the issue of homelessness itself because no matter what, no employer will take the chance of employing someone who lives on the street. Yes its that old vicious circle again once you're in it its hard to get back on the straight and narrow. With this recession starting to bite and as more and more people become victim to the housing market slump and many losing their jobs and homes. I once again see the migration of workers going to different towns in search of work. Which has happened before in this country and was in itself a cause of one of the biggest rises in homelessness in the seventies and eighties. I forecast that we will see the break down of families and a large rise in homelessness over the next two years and once again we will have a homeless crisis
05 December, 2008
What a laugh someone's having
02 December, 2008
a christmas poem
I could go on some more.
Yet when I think of things to come.
And things we've left undone.
Like saying that I love you to ones that are so near and dear.
And to the child in misery say it's OK, I'll protect you and drive away your fear.
So lets make this Christmas a very special one.
Filled with love and cheer and loads and loads of fun
So I send to all the peace that all should be.
a happy Christmas from the man in red
and a very special one from me.
Geting too old
25 November, 2008
Credit and more crunch
17 November, 2008
Second hand
14 November, 2008
What's not new
Homelessness is not a thing of the past. It's still a major issue and is going to be an even bigger issue over the next year. No one really wants to admit to a growing problem. The last time we had a recession homelessness went up by 26% . We see it more now on the fringes of big cities because of policies made by certain councils who want to give there area a look of cleanliness and respectability have made it impossible for homeless people to have what to them could be a safe place to sleep. Is it right that people should have to move from area to area? Christmas is on the horizon again and guess what we are talking about it again. The thing that is most annoying to me personally is that we are still talking about it. I know people will say things are being done but when you have only limited places for people who sleep rough in the winter I think is disgraceful in this day and age recession or not. The fact is no one wants to be homeless by choice is neither here nor there. It just happens. One decision, One bad move can and does change lives. Another thing that irks me is that out of the thousands over the years that have turned their lives around only 0.5% are now working for the homeless and I believe we have the opportunity over the next few years to remedy this. We should and can use the experiences of those that have been in the firing line as it were. I have been talking about homelessness now since I got my life back together and it seems I will be doing that for sometime to come. So I am thinking more positively and trying to work out how to have a more rigorous approach to the problem of homelessness and how to use the wealth of experience we have to good use. I have been toying with the idea of a hostel that is run by exhomeless starting with one then another and so on
13 November, 2008
Whats happening to me
31 October, 2008
From bad to worse
House repossessions I know in the last quarter 11.000 homes have been repossessed and that it is expected to rise by another 10.000 by end of Jan 2009. I know the government have got some program for councils to buy and mortgages companies to rent out the properties to their tenants instead of them becoming homeless. The idea is OK and in it's self that's a good thing but with many councils and mortgages companies losing money to this credit thingy and from people in the know I have spoken seem to think that some councils will struggle over the next few years and the other thing is it defeats the object of people buying their homes.So here's what I would have proposed if I where an MP I would have made it possible for people to stay in their properties but would have frozen their repayments and made them pay rent until the financial crisis got better and then reapply their repayments at another rate to take into account all things well there it is
09 October, 2008
The government should really listen
What makes me so angry is the fact that the tax payer who now needs a helping hand with increasing energy bills and food prices can not get it. Yet within forty eight hours of the conservative leader telling us there was nothing in the cupboard and the country was going to face tough times a plan was being form by the government to bail out the financial market. I believe the total package is above 200 billion to date. Funny how we can bail out the financial system with no guarantee it will work. When tax payers are asking for immediate help with rising fuel costs. I listened to the off gen or was it off com report and it stated there was no collusion between the biggest energy companies to hike prices. Well, if they where in front of a jury they would definitely be found guilty because if you go back ten years every time the biggest put the prices up the rest follow suit and to me that's collusion and not fair competition. While I am at it I must vent more on this governments energy argument that approximately only ten percent of a families weekly income is spent on energy IE: gas and electric. I beg to differ. When I speak to various people who are working and they tell me that the increase in energy prices is affecting them and with food prices rising each month their ability to pay is causing them to worry and when I speak to couples with children on state benefits that tell me they are going without food for one or two days every fortnight because of the rises in gas and electric and food. I am a single man on benefits and I am struggling myself and I can tell you that this winter it will be a choice between being warm and hungry or freezing and you must remember those on prepayment energy meters are already losing out because they are paying a daily tariff just for the prepayment meter.
Sorry Mr brown But you don't live in the real world and you certainly are not listening to the people who put your party in office. Yes your measures for the future are good but over the next three to five years people are going to need your help. This is what they pay taxes for not to bail out banks that fed on an over inflated market. Oh and Mr Brown if you want to be prime minister for another four years I suggest you get all your party to listen to the people because they are the ones who want know you are really listening to them. There is a plus to this as well you get the trust of the people and that would be a first.
29 September, 2008
crash
The government have already proved they don't really care and today they took control of the Bradford and Bingley mortgages. I still believe it will give all concerned a headache they wont recover from. Why well the by to let was a risky business at best but what i always remember was when the Conservatives where having their election for leader I remember David Davis saying you could always consider the buy to let market which I laughed at because I was homeless once and had only just got my own flat.
Well as i feel the pinch just like everyone i leave you with this thought who do you trust with your money. Is it safer under the mattress.