Perthbum Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 This is putting everyone at risk, wait till the tories get in again....you aint seen nothing yet. Merseyside’s top fire officer warned of further station closures after being handed a worse-than-expected Government cut of more than £3m. Merseyside fire and rescue service has been ordered by the Treasury to slash spending by £3.3m in 2015/16 – equivalent to 5% of its budget. Emergency service bosses already plan to close seven Merseyside fire stations and build three new ones in a bid to plug the financial black hole, but now even more could face the axe. Merseyside Chief Fire Officer Dan Stephens said: “Whilst harsh cuts were expected and we have already planned a programme of station mergers and closures to tackle the budget pressures, the additional cuts are very disappointing indeed. “I cannot rule out further station closures, especially as we are facing a worsening position for public finances beyond the next election. “This will undoubtedly have a negative impact on response times which directly impacts on public safety.” Since 2010 Merseyside fire and rescue service has lost nearly 300 officers and 14 fire engines after being hammered by £20m of cuts. The 5% reduction due in 2015/16 is the biggest cut being imposed on any fire service in the country. The national average is 3.2%. Cllr Dave Hanratty, chairman of the Merseyside fire and rescue authority, said: “These further cuts will impact on the safety of Merseyside residents and visitors to the area. “We have already seen massive reductions in our service locally since 2010 and I am deeply concerned about the effect this will have on our frontline services the public rightly expect, with less firefighters, less fire appliances and less fire stations to protect our communities in the future.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peach Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 This is putting everyone at risk, wait till the tories get in again....you aint seen nothing yet. Sounds terrible, have you considered emigrating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Sounds terrible, have you considered emigrating? Even with all its faults quality of life for me here is far far better than in Oz:cute: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wakeboard1980 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Cuts can't be that bad, they are building new fire stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Perhaps they have an excess... or just waste money like most public services... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Cuts can't be that bad, they are building new fire stations. ohhhh dear, the ignorance of some.....you are kidding aint you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Perhaps they have an excess... or just waste money like most public services... Like looking after the homeless, the elderly the mentally ill, and people who are alone without hope.....is that what you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 I am beginning to believe that some people on here must live very sheltered lives and really do not understand what is going on outside of their own world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I am beginning to believe that some people on here must live very sheltered lives and really do not understand what is going on outside of their own world. Yeah I realised that yesterday when someone (not on here) said that food banks don't exist and another said that they are organised by crime lords and only junkies use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Use of food banks has increased simply because the number of food banks has increased. True story. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Like looking after the homeless, the elderly the mentally ill, and people who are alone without hope.....is that what you mean? I said they waste money... not that they are a waste of money. Public services are renowned for it. In the private sector a purchasing manager would try to come under budget.. In the public sector.. they make sure they spend every last penny whether they need it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Use of food banks has increased simply because the number of food banks has increased. True story. ;-) :biglaugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Use of food banks has increased simply because the number of food banks has increased. True story. ;-) Yes oxfam, trussell trust and all the other charities are just talking absolute bollocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Yes oxfam, trussell trust and all the other charities are just talking absolute bollocks No need for that kind a language young lady. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I could say a lot worse :wink: I'm just saying when you have massive companies like these telling the UK what a problem it is and the reasons behind people using them how can people pretend like it's not a problem or that it's just people who don't fancy doing a weeks shopping? I hate this "I'm alright so it doesn't exist" mentality that some people have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon4017 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I'm just saying when you have massive companies like these telling the UK what a problem it is A Freudian slip? I think the previous poster was referring to the fact that some organisations will always spend their budget, whatever budget that is. You could give them an extra 10 million, or take away 3 million, and their message would always be the same. They never need to rationalise by saying "well, the first 100 million was able to achieve this, but the next 100 million didn't double the benefit, so we might as well give it to a different good cause". How would you feel if the money taken from the fire budget was given to foreign aid, or domestic aid? It all comes from the same source, ultimately. There's only so much cake to go round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrutineer Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Never really sure who would need a food bank aside from the homeless, to be honest. I could feed myself on £2 a day, not including fuel to heat the food. So genuine question - who uses food banks - who hasn't got two pounds a day? A family of four needs eight pounds a day. I'm told nearly a million people use food banks - so a million people can't find two pounds a day for food. I don't believe it. I'm not counting homeless or those not competent to cook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon4017 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I could feed myself on £2 a day, Care to post a few recipes including a breakdown of the costs? Where's the rest of your money going; you must be saving heaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrutineer Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Care to post a few recipes including a breakdown of the costs? Where's the rest of your money going; you must be saving heaps. I eat an apple for breakfast plus a cup of tea, this costs around 30p. A simple cheese sandwich with some tomato and a cup of tea for lunch, this is about another 30p, and dinner would be rice, beans and peas with tuna for example, which I can cook for around £1.40. So about two quid – and totally healthy as well. I often eat like this, especially if I’m trying to get fit. Just a quick example. I don't eat as much as others, but then most people eat way too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest241083 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 .......I totally agree Scrutineer....! ........we eat far too much..... .........but while your meal plan would suit a fully developed adult...... .........it would be of no use to a young developing child...... .........it's for such as these family's.......those with young children especially... ..........that food banks are necessary for.... ..........a healthy balanced diet......leads to a healthy balanced adult.... ..........miss out on this in developing years..... ...........and problems arise later in life...... ...........two pounds a day..........is no where near enough to give a child a balanced diet.....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caramac Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 The increase in food bank use is predominantly due to the punitive (and disorganised) way benefits are stopped and started. The increase is mainly from the 'working poor' who, if they work over or under their hours per week, have their benefits docked or stopped and then there can be a 6-8 week delay before they're started again. For some of these people the decision to eat or heat is real. Not only have fuel costs increased dramatically over the past few years, but the poorest are having to take the biggest hit, not only because their houses tend to have coin meters which are the most expensive way of buying gas and electricity, but the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with living expenses. Its very difficult with the increase in zero hour contract jobs for anyone to budget effectively - you can't work no or eight hours one week and thirty the next without benefits being affected. If the system could be made to work as flexibly as people's contracts and hours, there would be less reliance on food banks. That and paying people a proper wage which enables them to look after their own families. I'll never understand why the taxpayer has to support big businesses by giving tax credits to people whose salaries aren't enough to live on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon4017 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I eat an apple for breakfast plus a cup of tea, this costs around 30p. A simple cheese sandwich with some tomato and a cup of tea for lunch, this is about another 30p, and dinner would be rice, beans and peas with tuna for example, which I can cook for around £1.40. So about two quid – and totally healthy as well. I often eat like this, especially if I’m trying to get fit. Just a quick example. I don't eat as much as others, but then most people eat way too much. If you're in Adelaide, I guess 30p is about 50c. Let's look at your lunch. A cheese sandwich. Assuming the bread and tomato are available for 20c, that leaves 30c for the cheese. At 15$/kg, that would mean 50g. The area of a sandwich is approx (10 cm x 10 cm) 100cm2. And cheese has a density slightly greater than water. Even so, you are slicing your cheese at 0.5mm thick. Or failing to cover your sandwiches evenly. I don't dispute that we all eat too much, generally. Nor that we could all save money by using staple wisely. But it doesn't do the debate any credit to make claims which don't bear up to scrutiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrutineer Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 .......I totally agree Scrutineer....!........we eat far too much..... .........but while your meal plan would suit a fully developed adult...... .........it would be of no use to a young developing child...... .........it's for such as these family's.......those with young children especially... ..........that food banks are necessary for.... ..........a healthy balanced diet......leads to a healthy balanced adult.... ..........miss out on this in developing years..... ...........and problems arise later in life...... ...........two pounds a day..........is no where near enough to give a child a balanced diet.....! Maybe. At the end of the day the cheapest stuff in a British supermarket - not an Australian one, mind you - are fruit and vegetables, then rice, legumes and beans is also very cheap. All of this is good food for young kids growing up. Meat can be expensive, but it should be eaten sparingly even by kids. On top of that all of this can be made even cheaper by buying wholesale. It's not ideal, but possible, and my fear is that many people simply are totally ignorant about how to cook and so go to banks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrutineer Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 If you're in Adelaide, I guess 30p is about 50c. Let's look at your lunch. A cheese sandwich. Assuming the bread and tomato are available for 20c, that leaves 30c for the cheese. At 15$/kg, that would mean 50g. The area of a sandwich is approx (10 cm x 10 cm) 100cm2. And cheese has a density slightly greater than water. Even so, you are slicing your cheese at 0.5mm thick. Or failing to cover your sandwiches evenly. I don't dispute that we all eat too much, generally. Nor that we could all save money by using staple wisely. But it doesn't do the debate any credit to make claims which don't bear up to scrutiny. We're not talking about Australia. We are talking about the rise of food banks in the UK. All of my prices are taken directly from the Tesco website and calculated exactly, so they bear up to scrutiny 100%. I can easily detail it if you persist in throwing doubt on these facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrutineer Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 The increase in food bank use is predominantly due to the punitive (and disorganised) way benefits are stopped and started. The increase is mainly from the 'working poor' who, if they work over or under their hours per week, have their benefits docked or stopped and then there can be a 6-8 week delay before they're started again. For some of these people the decision to eat or heat is real. Not only have fuel costs increased dramatically over the past few years, but the poorest are having to take the biggest hit, not only because their houses tend to have coin meters which are the most expensive way of buying gas and electricity, but the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with living expenses. Its very difficult with the increase in zero hour contract jobs for anyone to budget effectively - you can't work no or eight hours one week and thirty the next without benefits being affected. If the system could be made to work as flexibly as people's contracts and hours, there would be less reliance on food banks. That and paying people a proper wage which enables them to look after their own families. I'll never understand why the taxpayer has to support big businesses by giving tax credits to people whose salaries aren't enough to live on. Not that I agree with all of this reasoning, but I do appreciate the interesting, concrete explanation for food banks you offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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