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Venezuela Next?

Venezuela: a Threat to US Energy Hegemony?
By RAUL BURBANO- COMMON FRONTIERS, May 18th 2017

Since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1999, Venezuela has achieved impressive gains in health care, education, and reduction in poverty, while at the same time wrestled economic and political control from the country’s elite. Today, soaring inflation, a shrinking economy and a hyper-politicized environment are contributing to unprecedented challenges economically and politically - threatening to undo some of the achievements of the past. These challenges can be attributed to many factors, some structural, such as an oil-dependent economy, and a complex monetary arrangement which has given rise to “bachaqueros” who resell price-controlled items at hugely inflated prices on the black market. Other challenges are more politically driven - they stem from the existence of a hardline sector of the opposition aligned with U.S. interests who oppose the Socialist government's policies of resource nationalism and wealth redistribution.

The international media with its biased coverage of the conflict in Venezuela has failed to adequately report on violent actions against government supporters by extremist sectors of the opposition. It has however, diligently perpetuated the opposition narrative that the crisis in Venezuela is the sole responsibility of the Maduro government, a dictatorship on the brink of collapse resorting to violence against peaceful protesters in a desperate bid to hold on to power. These allegations have little merit, and are similar to accusations made against former president Hugo Chávez. The hardline opposition has never accepted the electoral legitimacy of the Bolivarian governments, and its violent demonstrations have had the full support and backing of the U.S. government. In 2014 alone, U.S government documents show that Obama's administration channelled $5M dollars to opposition groups to help “strengthen” and “protect” democracy in Venezuela. The Trump administration, in turn, has provided unprecedented political support to jailed opposition leader, Leopoldo López , who has been found guilty of public incitement to violence and association to commit a crime. There has been close coordination between opposition-led National Assembly leaders and White House national security advisor H.R. McMaster on how to address the political impasse in Venezuela. ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13132
 
NB: Disturbing Vids & images at link.

A 21-year-old man was burned, stabbed and beaten furiously by opposition protesters in Altamira, Chacao municipality of Miranda state, confusing it with a "Chavista infiltrate", according to several videos broadcast Saturday afternoon in social networks. President Nicolas Maduro ordered immediate medical attention to this young man, named Orlando José Figuera, who presented burns in 80 percent of his body.

The incident occurred the same day that the governor of Miranda and opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, issued an incendiary speech before thousands of demonstrators , using highly profuse language and hate to insult President Nicolás Maduro and some of his ministers. After that, Capriles diverted the concentration without authorization or prior notice, sending thousands of demonstrators to the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior Relations, in the center of Caracas. "If we have to leave the skin, we will!" He said. The march had to be dispersed.

Altamira is a wealthy area of Caracas and epicenter of acts of violence by opposition groups against the government of Nicolás Maduro.

The images reflect the moment when an angry crowd of about 40 people, mostly with their faces covered, savagely hit a man who remains on the floor of a public road. They are kicked and bruised with blunt objects such as stones and helmets.

Someone makes room between the tumult so that the victim, allegedly bathed in gasoline, is left alone on the pavement and that is when another individual with his face covered with a green hood turns on a lighter and sets him on fire. ...

http://albaciudad.org/2017/05/prenden-fuego-hombre-altamira-infiltrado-videos/
 
The story 2 up is located in the opinion section. Although the post does not mention it. What happens when your leaders and their policies and your country fails. Blame the boogeyman. What happens when the people stop believing the propaganda? Revolution
 
The story 2 up is located in the opinion section. Although the post does not mention it. What happens when your leaders and their policies and your country fails. Blame the boogeyman. What happens when the people stop believing the propaganda? Revolution

If you go to the link its quite clear that its an opinion piece. On other posts I didn't mention that they were from the news section.

Trump and his subordinates are making clear their intention to overthrow the Venezuelan Government.

As for the riots: I don't think either of us would suggest that such action would be appropriate to remove Trump.
 
Maternity Hospital Attacked in Venezuela, Death Toll Rises to 53

Caracas, May 18, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – A maternity hospital was attacked in Venezuela's Miranda state Wednesday as the death count in ongoing violent anti-government protests ascends to 53.

Three newborns and one pregnant woman in labor were evacuated from the Carrizal Maternity Hospital after the facility was besieged for two consecutive days by opposition demonstrators.

According to hospital’s director, Doctor Natalia Martinho, smoke was entering the hospital from the barricades of burning rubble erected just 50 meters from the building by protesters, endangering the health of patients on the fourth floor.

The barricades reportedly prevented doctors, specialists, and all but two of the hospital’s twelve nurses from arriving for their shifts, leaving Martinho on duty for 36 hours alongside two residents. ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13135
 
Venezuelan Opposition Spreads Lies About U.S. Journalists, Inciting Violence, Death Threats
Right-wing Venezuelan protesters threaten to lynch and murder journalists Abby Martin and Mike Prysner as the opposition circulates lies
By Ben Norton June 3, 2017, 12:24 PM GMT

Prominent members of the right-wing Venezuelan opposition, including professors and journalists, are spreading blatant lies about U.S. journalists, inciting violence and subjecting them to a torrent of extreme death threats.

As the price of oil has plummeted, Venezuela has seen growing inflation and goods shortages. The South American nation’s right-wing opposition — which has long been backed by the United States government, and which in 2002 briefly carried out a coup, with U.S. support — has exploited this crisis to launch a borderline insurgency against the democratically elected socialist government.

For months, the right-wing opposition has been engaging in large, often bloody demonstrations. Protesters have lynched three Afro-Venezuelans, whom they accused of being “infiltrators”; two of the men were burned alive. Right-wing demonstrators have also set fire to government buildings and buses, and even thrown explosives and molotov cocktails at police.

In response, Venezuelan security forces have cracked down on the violent protests. Dozens of people have been killed, on both sides. Some academic experts have suggested that the opposition is intentionally provoking a violent response, in hopes of attracting international media attention.

Reporters Abby Martin and Mike Prysner, co-producers of the political television show The Empire Files, traveled to Venezuela in May to report on the ongoing violent protests, and to provide an independent perspective often ignored in Western corporate media outlets.

In the midst of these bloody protests, several influential voices in the Venezuelan opposition have circulated lies about Martin and Prysner, accusing them of being “spies” for the country’s intelligence agencies, without presenting a modicum of evidence. They have also shared the journalists’ private information, and even appeared to have incited violence against them. ...

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...ysner-lies-death-threats#.WTQhSATdm4Y.twitter
 
WTF? They're already starving.
 
Venezuela: Soldier Killed, Three More Burned Alive
By LUCAS KOERNER

Caracas, June 27, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) – One National Guardsman has been killed and three people set on fire across Venezuela as violent anti-government protests continue for a 13th week.

In Aragua, National Guard Sergeant Ronny Alberto Parra Araujo (27) died Tuesday of wounds sustained during what the Public Prosecution (MP) has described as an “irregular situation” the day before.

Journalist Ramón Camacho has reported that Parra was shot while attempting to prevent a looting at the Walio Supermarket in Maracay on Monday evening. The Araguan capital was the scene of widespread unrest following the opposition’s call to block roads nationwide earlier that day. Sixty-eight business were looted and several public institutions were attacked, including a fire station, a national telephone company switchboard, and a national tax administration office.

The MP has dispatched a state district attorney to investigate the sergeant’s death. The Public Prosecution has also opened an inquiry into the non-fatal shooting of three other National Guard soldiers in another incident in Miranda state on Monday.

In Lara state, two residents of a government-built Great Venezuelan Housing Mission (GMVV) apartment complex were attacked and burned alive by opposition militants late Friday evening.

According to testimony by the local communal council, Henry Escalona (21) and Wladimir Peña (27) were returning from a nearby party at 11:45pm when they were accosted by a group of eight masked men, who demanded to know if they were “Chavistas”. When the youths replied that they were government supporters, the assailants pulled out firearms and ordered them to kneel.

As one of the young men attempted to escape, the masked militants doused them both in gasoline and set the men ablaze. ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13206
 
The helicopter attack on the Venezuelan Supreme Court and Government Ministries, a truly Fortean event: think of Chuck Norris attacking Capitol Hill in D.C. Here's an analysis of the helicopter incident set in its broader context.

The Specter of Fascism in Venezuela
By ALCI RENGIFO - VERSO, July 7th 2017

It was almost inevitable that the Venezuelan crisis would generate fascist specters. With 80 dead amid continuing street clashes, and the nation caught between an uncertain bureaucracy and old guard opposition, the terrain is beginning to open for other, radical actors to step in.

On June 27 the already volatile situation took a new turn when a hijacked police helicopter was used to attack several government buildings. The Ministry of the Interior and Justice and the Supreme Court were targets of an assault that included grenades but no injuries. What should garner more attention is the video released during the assault by Oscar Alberto Perez, an officer in Venezuela’s Penal, Criminal and Scientific Investigation Police Agency. Perez not only took part in the attack, but claims to be part of an underground network nestled within the security and armed forces determined to end the embattled government of Nicolas Maduro. It was an act that could almost be called cinematic in its planning.

Perez’s video is quite the Gothic statement; complete with heavy shadows and military hardware. He looks sternly at the lens with a Mussolini frown, adorned in a combat uniform. Behind Perez stand masked, goggled men holding machine guns. It is the work of someone who knows how to project a specific image. Before becoming a coup plotter, Perez also worked as a B-movie actor in Venezuela, starring in typically macho roles in films with titles such as Suspended Death. ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13224
 
Venezuela in Mad Max mode. It's not oil that's the problem, but food:


Embedded media from this media site is no longer available
 
Seems like Venezuela needs to be next. The country is going to hell. Perhaps its neighbour countries will intervene once they had enough of the refugee camps piling up.
 
The helicopter attack on the Venezuelan Supreme Court and Government Ministries, a truly Fortean event: think of Chuck Norris attacking Capitol Hill in D.C. Here's an analysis of the helicopter incident set in its broader context.

The Specter of Fascism in Venezuela
By ALCI RENGIFO - VERSO, July 7th 2017

It was almost inevitable that the Venezuelan crisis would generate fascist specters. With 80 dead amid continuing street clashes, and the nation caught between an uncertain bureaucracy and old guard opposition, the terrain is beginning to open for other, radical actors to step in.

On June 27 the already volatile situation took a new turn when a hijacked police helicopter was used to attack several government buildings. The Ministry of the Interior and Justice and the Supreme Court were targets of an assault that included grenades but no injuries. What should garner more attention is the video released during the assault by Oscar Alberto Perez, an officer in Venezuela’s Penal, Criminal and Scientific Investigation Police Agency. Perez not only took part in the attack, but claims to be part of an underground network nestled within the security and armed forces determined to end the embattled government of Nicolas Maduro. It was an act that could almost be called cinematic in its planning.

Perez’s video is quite the Gothic statement; complete with heavy shadows and military hardware. He looks sternly at the lens with a Mussolini frown, adorned in a combat uniform. Behind Perez stand masked, goggled men holding machine guns. It is the work of someone who knows how to project a specific image. Before becoming a coup plotter, Perez also worked as a B-movie actor in Venezuela, starring in typically macho roles in films with titles such as Suspended Death. ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13224


Doesn't really make much difference, ramonmercado.
South America seems to have an unfortunate tendency towards totalitarianism, whether of the left or right.
Socialism or fascism are equally anti-libertarian and equally toxic ideologies.
 
Doesn't really make much difference, ramonmercado.
South America seems to have an unfortunate tendency towards totalitarianism, whether of the left or right.
Socialism or fascism are equally anti-libertarian and equally toxic ideologies.
I find it amazing that they will swing from one extreme to another. Nothing in between.
 
I find it amazing that they will swing from one extreme to another. Nothing in between.

Most South American countries are functioning democracies these days although there was some trickery in the removal of the previous Brazilian President and it's body politic seems as corrupt as Italy's.
 
Doesn't really make much difference, ramonmercado.
South America seems to have an unfortunate tendency towards totalitarianism, whether of the left or right.
Socialism or fascism are equally anti-libertarian and equally toxic ideologies.

See my reply to Myth above.

Things were going ok in Venezuela for a while but a mixture of sanctions and internal corruption has messed things up. I don't think Maduro is himself corrupt but there is a whole class of middlemen/women on both right and left who are gaining from kickbacks and shortages.
 
See my reply to Myth above.

Things were going ok in Venezuela for a while but a mixture of sanctions and internal corruption has messed things up. I don't think Maduro is himself corrupt but there is a whole class of middlemen/women on both right and left who are gaining from kickbacks and shortages.

Communism: 100 million dead and counting.

Maybe time to accept that what sounds nice in principle clearly does not work in practice, and that any philosophy dedicated to ignoring swathes of human nature is destined to failure.

Venezuela pre-Chavez / Maduro was a top 20 economy. Now, people are eating their pets.

Choose wisely.
 
Communism: 100 million dead and counting.

Maybe time to accept that what sounds nice in principle clearly does not work in practice, and that any philosophy dedicated to ignoring swathes of human nature is destined to failure.

Venezuela pre-Chavez / Maduro was a top 20 economy. Now, people are eating their pets.

Choose wisely.

Lots of people were poverty stricken before Chavez/Maduro. Only a tiny elite gained anything then.

Chavez and Maduro were both elected democratically. I don't like what Maduro is doing now but read back over this thread about the destabilisation attempts by the US and actions committed by the opposition which if carried out in the UK would also see them facing criminal charges.

I was never a supporter of the Stalinism in the USSR or of Mao's China or any of those other totalitarian regimes.

Marx who died in 1883 is no more responsible for that than Adam Smith is responsible for Pinochet, Hitler or any of the excesses of capitalism.

Under Capitalism how many have died through exploitation, famines , death squads under fascist or totalitarian regimes? People are starving in capitalist countries. People are still imprisoned and even killed for trying to form trade unions in outright capitalist countries and in China which claims to be Communist but really is a form of capitalism with feudal characteristics.

I don't think you support any of that either but it does happen.
 
Capitalism isn’t perfect. But it has facilitated the development of the most developed, prosperous societies human beings have ever known.

Even poor people in the West live better than kings and queens did a few centuries ago.

On the other hand, every single time communism has been attempted it has led to poverty, oppression and shortages at best, and economic collapse and mass murder at worst. Every single time. And yet every time people will claim the failure is the fault of saboteurs and / or that it was “not real socialism”.

It does not work. Venezuela is simply the latest example. As I say, a top 20 economy reduced to people eating their pets.
 
Most South American countries are functioning democracies these days although there was some trickery in the removal of the previous Brazilian President and it's body politic seems as corrupt as Italy's.

But there are worrying signs of a return to the more traditional totalitarianism:

https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2018/2/14/17012770/latin-america-democratic-demise

As for Adam Smith, his philosophy was all about generating wealth through free trade and international competition, so it is as far removed from National Socialism or indeed any other form of socialism/communism/fascism as you can get.
 
But there are worrying signs of a return to the more traditional totalitarianism:

https://www.vox.com/mischiefs-of-faction/2018/2/14/17012770/latin-america-democratic-demise

As for Adam Smith, his philosophy was all about generating wealth through free trade and international competition, so it is as far removed from National Socialism or indeed any other form of socialism/communism/fascism as you can get.

Equally it could be said there are signs of a return to authoritarianism in Europe if you chose to look at Hungary, Poland, Belarus, but the great majority of countries are flourishing democracies just as in South America.

I agree with you on Adam Smith but those who hailed the Latin American fascist dictatorships claimed the mantle of Smith; in particular Milton Friedman with his economic experiments in Pinochet's Chile.
 
Capitalism isn’t perfect. But it has facilitated the development of the most developed, prosperous societies human beings have ever known.

Even poor people in the West live better than kings and queens did a few centuries ago.

On the other hand, every single time communism has been attempted it has led to poverty, oppression and shortages at best, and economic collapse and mass murder at worst. Every single time. And yet every time people will claim the failure is the fault of saboteurs and / or that it was “not real socialism”.

It does not work. Venezuela is simply the latest example. As I say, a top 20 economy reduced to people eating their pets.

But there is hunger even in the UK with foodbanks.

Hundreds of millions have died under Capitalism and Imperialism. The Indian famines under the Raj. the Belgians in the congo, The Germans in South-West Africa. Mass murder on an industrial scale.

The entire South/Central American Continent has been under fascist dictatorships at some point over the last hundred years. Mass murder prevailed

And the US has introduced economic sanctions on Venezuela and there are examples of economic sabotage on this thread.
 
teleSUR English‏@telesurenglish

The helicopter attack on the Venezuelan Supreme Court and Government Ministries, a truly Fortean event: think of Chuck Norris attacking Capitol Hill in D.C. Here's an analysis of the helicopter incident set in its broader context.

The Specter of Fascism in Venezuela
By ALCI RENGIFO - VERSO, July 7th 2017

It was almost inevitable that the Venezuelan crisis would generate fascist specters. With 80 dead amid continuing street clashes, and the nation caught between an uncertain bureaucracy and old guard opposition, the terrain is beginning to open for other, radical actors to step in.

On June 27 the already volatile situation took a new turn when a hijacked police helicopter was used to attack several government buildings. The Ministry of the Interior and Justice and the Supreme Court were targets of an assault that included grenades but no injuries. What should garner more attention is the video released during the assault by Oscar Alberto Perez, an officer in Venezuela’s Penal, Criminal and Scientific Investigation Police Agency. Perez not only took part in the attack, but claims to be part of an underground network nestled within the security and armed forces determined to end the embattled government of Nicolas Maduro. It was an act that could almost be called cinematic in its planning.

Perez’s video is quite the Gothic statement; complete with heavy shadows and military hardware. He looks sternly at the lens with a Mussolini frown, adorned in a combat uniform. Behind Perez stand masked, goggled men holding machine guns. It is the work of someone who knows how to project a specific image. Before becoming a coup plotter, Perez also worked as a B-movie actor in Venezuela, starring in typically macho roles in films with titles such as Suspended Death. ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13224

Yesterday, Venezuelan opposition burnt 50 tons of food that was ready to be delivered to schools in the region. #30Jun

teleSUR English‏@telesurenglish 17h17 hours ago

The warehouse supplied food to 270 schools. Venezuela's opposition burnt the food by throwing molotov cocktails inside the warehouse. #30Jun

https://twitter.com/telesurenglish/status/880834901322461188

Vid at link.

Examples of opposition violence and sabotage. Many more such articles on this thread.
 
A relevant articles on the food situation in Venezuela. Some interesting UN FAO and other reports are cited and are linked to in the footnotes.

Special Report: Hunger in Venezuela? A Look Beyond the Spin
Cristina Schiavoni and William Camacaro go in-depth to report on Venezuela and the state of its food and agricultural system.

You may have seen the headlines about Venezuela – headlines that allude to food scarcity, rioting, people eating stray animals to survive, and a country on the brink of starvation. These stories are not only alarming, but perplexing, too. Is this the same country that was recognized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as recently as 2015 for having nearly eradicated hunger?http://foodfirst.org/special-report-hunger-in-venezuela-a-look-beyond-the-spin/#_edn1 Is this the same country that has been the focus of international delegations and extensive alternative media coverage for its ‘food sovereignty experiment’ involving agrarian reform, food distributions programs, and direct citizen participation in the food system?[ii] What’s going on? ...

At the beginning of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution in 1999, with still over half of the population facing hunger and poverty, both the government and citizens identified food production and provisioning as strategic priorities—and significant strides have been made in the years since. On the production end, the state has made substantial reinvestments in agriculture, including an agrarian reform process to redistribute large landholdings and support small- and mid-scale farmers and fishers. On the distribution end, strategies have included increased availability of basic food items at subsidized and regulated prices and provision of free meals via school and workplace programs as well as community-based feeding sites. ...

While hunger anywhere deserves high-level media coverage, it bears asking why Venezuela, a country which, by many indicators, has made important advances against hunger and poverty, is being targeted daily for dire coverage that does not reflect reality on the ground. Furthermore, why are the challenges being covered (albeit in a distorted manner), but not the many innovative and successful responses, from an explosion of urban agriculture, to an agroecological transition, to unprecedented levels of citizen organization around food production and provisioning? The answers to this are multifold, complex, and subject to different perspectives and interpretations, but we hope readers are encouraged to seek out more information before taking current news reports at face value.

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/12084
 
But there is hunger even in the UK with foodbanks.

Have you noticed how you rarely see pictures of the people using food banks? Lots of pictures of jolly sock-and-sandal types stocking the shelves; never a photo of the clientele.

I would suggest that this is because most of the "poor, hungry" people gleefully snaffling freebies donated by Guardian readers are land whales; and that, if this were revealed, donations would dry up PDQ.

Rod Liddle in the Spectator agrees with me:

"I had actually tapped in to my search engine: ‘Photographs of people getting stuff from food banks’, which I was sure would cheer me up for a while. But, strangely, there are very few such shots available. There are plenty of photographs of do-gooders handing out crates of food, smiling beatifically and with halos around their heads, but very few of the actual customers. And when, after exhaustive searching, I did find three or four such pictures, I was filled not with glee but instead with an unquenchable anger.

You see, the one thing all the people in those photographs had in common is that they were morbidly obese. Very, very, fat indeed. It occurred to me that these people had already spent vast amounts of money on food and had dropped by the local food bank for a freebie top-up. They didn’t look as if they were, you know, starving. They looked as though they were well and truly sated already. First they had cleared out Morrisons and then they had cleared out the stuff which Morrisons had itself cleared out to the local food bank.

And so it seems incontestable that, far from providing an invaluable last-course resource for the nation’s poorest people, these food banks are actually exacerbating the country’s appalling obesity problem. If you’re going to take advantage of a food bank, at least have the good grace to look a bit peckish and skeletal. Don’t waddle in there sweating with exertion having just swallowed 14 bacon double cheeseburgers, super-size fries and a vat of coke."

maximus otter
 
An interesting analysis of careless and/or slanted reporting.

The Media, Venezuela, and Hunger Statistics: A Case Study in Careless Reporting

By Jacob Wilson - Center for Economic and Policy Research

Two weeks ago, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a report on food insecurity and nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report highlighted a regional increase in food insecurity, a first since the agency started collecting annual data for the Millennium Development Goals in 2000. The authors noted that the food crisis in Venezuela was central to this increase. While the percentage of the population in Venezuela experiencing undernourishment was lower than several other countries in the region ― such as Bolivia, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras ― in the last three years, Venezuela contributed an estimated 1.3 million newly food-insecure people to Latin America’s total. ...

US newspapers and journals often attribute their Venezuelan hunger figures to “a recent survey … by the country’s leading universities.” The survey in question was published on February 27, 2016 by Simón Bolívar University, the Central University of Venezuela, and the Bengoa Foundation. The report, which focuses on Venezuelan nutrition, is part of an annual review covering the state of living conditions in the country. Maritza Landaeta-Jiménez, who as recently as 2013 was a member of the Venezuelan opposition’s Nutrition Commission, headed the 2016 research. The document, based on a survey of 6,413 Venezuelans, reported that 93 percent of Venezuelans felt that they did not have enough money to purchase food, and that 72.7 percent of Venezuelans had lost an average of 8.7 kilograms (19 pounds) in the past year. However, the same survey revealed that 67.5 percent of Venezuelans were eating three meals a day, and only 25 percent of the country felt that their nutrition could be categorized as “deficient.” ...

https://venezuelanalysis.com/ANALYSIS/13478







 
Have you noticed how you rarely see pictures of the people using food banks? Lots of pictures of jolly sock-and-sandal types stocking the shelves; never a photo of the clientele.

I would suggest that this is because most of the "poor, hungry" people gleefully snaffling freebies donated by Guardian readers are land whales; and that, if this were revealed, donations would dry up PDQ.

Rod Liddle in the Spectator agrees with me:

"I had actually tapped in to my search engine: ‘Photographs of people getting stuff from food banks’, which I was sure would cheer me up for a while. But, strangely, there are very few such shots available. There are plenty of photographs of do-gooders handing out crates of food, smiling beatifically and with halos around their heads, but very few of the actual customers. And when, after exhaustive searching, I did find three or four such pictures, I was filled not with glee but instead with an unquenchable anger.

You see, the one thing all the people in those photographs had in common is that they were morbidly obese. Very, very, fat indeed. It occurred to me that these people had already spent vast amounts of money on food and had dropped by the local food bank for a freebie top-up. They didn’t look as if they were, you know, starving. They looked as though they were well and truly sated already. First they had cleared out Morrisons and then they had cleared out the stuff which Morrisons had itself cleared out to the local food bank.

And so it seems incontestable that, far from providing an invaluable last-course resource for the nation’s poorest people, these food banks are actually exacerbating the country’s appalling obesity problem. If you’re going to take advantage of a food bank, at least have the good grace to look a bit peckish and skeletal. Don’t waddle in there sweating with exertion having just swallowed 14 bacon double cheeseburgers, super-size fries and a vat of coke."

maximus otter

Hardly a surprise that The Spectator would agree with you.

Doesn't change the reality of the existence of poverty though. People are rally in need and I'm even prepared to admit that small farmers in the UK and RoI are doing badly at the moment (though likely not in want of food). The funny thing about that is the amount of CAP going to big farmers and Agribusiness. And the government has guaranteed to continue payments to the big boys post Brexit. OK, going off topic now but it's a bee in my bonnet.
 
Doesn't change the reality of the existence of poverty though. People are really in need...

I disagree. I maintain that there is nothing in the UK that any objective person would describe as "poverty".

I do, however, believe that there are a lot of people who have made poor choices in their lives.

maximus otter
 
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