Hard-up Brits must not be left to rely on kindness of strangers

The story of a desperate man who dumped his teenage son at a multibank is alarming.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told this newspaper it represents just one worrying consequence of the extreme circumstances being faced by thousands of British families as the cost-of-living crisis bites.

Many are anticipating the festive season not with a warm sense of anticipation, but with cold dread.

The agony of making a choice between heating and eating is often highlighted – yet it seems some are unable to do either.

Our National Health Service – itself struggling to make ends meet – is bearing much of the brunt

Professor Terry Quinn says hospitals are seeing the effects, with more patients presenting with hypothermia and malnutrition.

Many wards are already at capacity, but there are increasing fears about discharging vulnerable patients to freezing-cold homes they cannot afford to heat.

All sectors in society are suffering. Child poverty in the UK is among the worst in the developed world. Meanwhile, Age Scotland

Volunteers are left to play a vital role

have revealed as many as 10% of Scottish pensioners (around 100,000) are living in “persistent poverty”.

Food prices are at a brutal high, and with energy costs set to rise again, there is precious little hope and certainly no sign of Christmas cheer on the horizon for far too many hard-up Brits.

Student paramedics on placements are said to be horrified when confronted with the sheer scale of poverty in some homes, with one more senior colleague telling us she can see “the light dying in their eyes”.

These are people on the frontline and those in power would do well to heed their concerns.

Governments across the UK insist they are doing all they can to address the crisis, but if that is the case then one can only conclude it is not enough.

And so tens of thousands are left to rely not upon the state in their hour of need, but on the kindness of strangers.

The nation’s network of foodbanks – and indeed multibanks – have never played a more vital role.

Volunteers, who run many such facilities, are all that stops so many on the margins of society from falling through the cracks.

It is they, along with the many nurses and medics often on little more than the minimum wage, and not the politicians nor rule-makers, who are stopping the nation from facing an even deeper crisis this winter.

Their stories, no matter how troubling, must never be ignored.

Lived experience and testament from those suffering the most has to be heard and understood.

Sweeping such stories under the carpet does not make them go away.

Those in the corridors of power must listen to them – and then act accordingly to minimise the suffering.