No crib or bed for those Xmas forgot
SORRY, but this year I’ve been so OVER Christmas ever since the first rolls of wrapping paper appeared on the shelves of my local Debenhams in SEPTEMBER.
The frenzied festive spend, spend, spend has sickened me more than ever this year. Crazed online ordering. Frantic store-hopping. No end to shopping. Wallet Open. Close. Open. Close. Open… credit cards maxed-out.
And what for? The momentary joy of witnessing happy faces? Of toys loved for Christmas, and cast out by Easter?
Away in a Manger. No Crib for a bed. Oh the weather outside is frightful. And in towns across the UK, while we’ve been looking forward to a family Christmas, a homelessness crisis has happened. It’s still happening.
In Great Britain more than 300,000 people are without a place to call home. The figures have more than doubled since the Tories took control in 2010 and prioritised slashing budgets for vital services.
All over the country, thousands of people are sleeping rough on any one night. London’s famous Monopoly board streets are lined with rough sleepers. No crib or a bed. How? How can this have happened? In 2017? The reason is…? What is the reason? For Aaron, who I stopped and talked to at Oxford Circus in central London, it began when he was just 14. He’s 21 now.
At 14 he was put into care because he wasn’t cared for at home. His dad was an abuser.
Aaron hated the care system and has been homeless for about four years, roaming from hostel to hostel
Homeless in crisis amid a frenzy of spending
(if he can afford it). The streets are better than the worst hostels, he told me.
The good ones are often beyond reach unless he’s had a good day begging. So he’s on the streets, a gorgeous, intelligent young man, with a shock of black shoulder-length curls and… cold, unloved.
I often go back to see if he’s still there. Others I’ve talked to are ex-forces, homeless following relationship breakdowns, divorce, mental-health problems, unemployment or addiction. So forgive me if I can’t fully indulge this Christmas while the slashing of services for the most vulnerable continues.
And while, simultaneously, big banks, big corporates, big supermarkets, big transport operators, big energy companies are coining it large at our expense.
They’ll no doubt have a very Merry Christmas.