observer Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 "civilised" being the operative word ! Interesting that Germany has a higher spend than us, but has maintained a budget surplus since WW2, and that after the cost of baling out E/Germany on re-unification and the EU straglers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boris1066 Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Thankfully we will never really be on a par with genuine 3rd world countries ,but our society is certainly in a sorry state where certain sections are surviving on food hand outs....all this from a country that once had the largest empire in the world & is still finding foreign aid while its own citizens are struggling. I'm a great believer in the law of supply and demand, commerce succeeds on it. The question on food banks is which came first the supply or the demand? PJ The vision of stumbling over the bodies of starving children in Tesco's car parkis farcical in the extreme! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 I'm a great believer in the law of supply and demand, commerce succeeds on it. The question on food banks is which came first the supply or the demand?PJ The vision of stumbling over the bodies of starving children in Tesco's car parkis farcical in the extreme! True,but that is because thankfully not everybody thinks like you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Has there ever been a time when there has been no people who have had to exist "on the bread line" anywhere in britain. BREAD LINE origin mid 1820's describes a queue of people waiting in line to recieve free food (american usage) (british and australian usage:- to be very poor) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 At least up to about 150 years ago many breadliners in Britain finished up with a free trip to Australia. Maybe a reduction in foreign aid would be a boost to our domestic economy & show us who our real friends are around the world ,after all anybody who sees money in the offing will have a welcoming smile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Throughout history, there has been poverty; in all economic systems to-date; wealth gravitates to fewer and fewer people, leaving a residue of bottom feeders at the bottom. The introduction of a welfare state in the UK, in 1945, began to counter this natural gravitation, through higher taxation of the richest and redistribution through universal services like the NHS. This brought the wealth gap to it's narrowest point in our history (still 10% owning over 70% of the wealth though); this all ended in 1979, and a reverse process has occurred since. So we can all enjoy a return to the quaint notion of a Dickensian Xmas, with the Bob Scratchet family shivering in their hovel, hoping for some crumbs off the rich man's table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 Yes Obs ,the joy of nostalgia ,roasting your chestnuts by the open fire as the last piece of coal is thrown on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 11, 2014 Report Share Posted December 11, 2014 By coincidence, just been to the S/market, the cops were arresting a young male. Seems he'd allegedly been eating directly off the shelves. The give away was a pile of food wrappers strewn around the floor. Can't deport him to Australia though - they've closed the doors ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 13, 2014 Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 for someone who advocates using local shops and the market over the evil Supermarkets, you do seem to pick up a lot of your silly little anecdotes whilst visiting these places Its a shame on our legal system, that a man hungry enough to steal a bit of food and eat it on the spot knowing he will be caught, will get a tougher treatment than any of the City fatcat fraudsters who cost this country many billions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 I think it is also a damning indictment of the big supermarkets who have now found ways to cut prices on realising that those two upstarts Aldi & Lidl are the new kids on the block. Maybe the bloke eating off the shelves was also hoping for a warm bed for the night.....we don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 13, 2014 Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 and meanwhile the supermarkets are throwing out thousands of tons of food a month all into landfill etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 13, 2014 Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 The S/market's in Town same as the "the market", so what's your gripe? What's "silly" about an observation of something that really happened, which either indicates the state of the nation or that the guy was just a thieving little scum bag; I actually meant it to illustrate the former, before you dove in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 13, 2014 Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 You ranted on here about using the small shops and not the supermarkets and if your little anecdotes have any basis in truth you seem to spend a lot of time in supermarkets. I suppose the ASDA/ALDI/LIDL stores situated within the town centre all have different shareholders and policies than all the rest?. Good for the country that we don't have to try this man just let you judge him . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 I remember many years ago when i used to deliver to the best known of the High Street stores & one particular store in Manchester had a policy of redistributing short dated stock to the local nursing/retirement homes & hospitals within the area. Whether that was the policy throughout the company & whether it still happens i don't know. Not just any old High Street store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 13, 2014 Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 Its as it should be Davy yet sadly not the norm. I know of perfectly good food in damaged packaging being skipped by the ton as they cant give it away as the distribution company claim on its insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 13, 2014 Report Share Posted December 13, 2014 What are you ranting about? All large shops will have "shareholders"; including my local LOCAL store. Think your starting to Obsess now ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted December 14, 2014 Report Share Posted December 14, 2014 By coincidence, just been to the S/market, the cops were arresting a young male. Seems he'd allegedly been eating directly off the shelves. The give away was a pile of food wrappers strewn around the floor. Can't deport him to Australia though - they've closed the doors ! If the young lad did that because he had no money, was perhaps homeless and had no other other way of getting some food that's really sad and I hope he gets some help 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 I hope so too Dizzy, you see, we know far too little of this man and his circumstances to judge him, and certainly not enough to condemn him as a thieving scumbag. Thieving scumbags, in my opinion, are those who take and take even when they have plenty. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 If this guy gets to the magistrates, presume we'll get a full court report? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P J Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 If this guy gets to the magistrates, presume we'll get a full court report? Bit late though really, you decided he was scum already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Oh no I didn't. Re-read my post. I said "the former" IE. "indicates the state of the nation" - diving in again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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