Stephen Baker

@stephenbaker.bsky.social

652 Followers 713 Following

Socialist. Trade unionist. Strummer of strings. Co.Down. Researches, writes & teaches. Radical whore of sociology. "...clean living under difficult circumstances." Proudly Paddystinian.

A packet of Tayto Candy Floss flavoured crisps.
Screenshot from BBC News website
Elmer Fudd
Symbols, terrifying and surreal.
Book cover. Notions: The Lives of Irish Working Class Academics
Tom Georgeson. Astonishingly good actor.
Picture of Caroline Aherne as Mrs Merton, captioned “Let’s have a heated debate.”
Although the United Kingdom is the world’s fifth largest economy, one fifth of its population (14 million people) live in poverty, and 1.5 million of them experienced destitution in 2017. Policies of austerity introduced in 2010 continue largely unabated, despite the tragic social consequences. Close to 40 per cent of children are predicted to be living in poverty by 2021. Food banks have proliferated; homelessness and rough sleeping have increased greatly; tens of thousands of poor families must live in accommodation far from their schools, jobs and community networks; life expectancy is falling for certain groups; and the legal aid system has been decimated. The social safety net has been badly damaged by drastic cuts to local authorities’ budgets, which have eliminated many social services, reduced policing services, closed libraries in record numbers, shrunk community and youth centres and sold off public spaces and buildings. The bottom line is that much of the glue that has held British society together since the Second World War has been deliberately removed and replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos. A booming economy, high employment and a budget surplus have not reversed austerity, a policy pursued more as an ideological than an economic agenda.
The links to six news stories on the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Extract from a short film, The Forgotten Famine.