Home the heroes?

Hola. Hope you are well.

I struggle a bit with factual books but occasionally I dip into one. The other week I read some of Hope and Glory by Stuart Maconie.

There’s a section in the book where he writes about the Battle of the Somme, where more than 19 000 British Soldiers died on the first day alone. One soldier who survived the Somme was William Towers, but in so doing, lost a leg. On his return to England, he recalls how a man in the street looked him up and down and said, “I suppose you’ll be living off other people’s generosity for the rest of your life”.

A few pages later, Maconie references how immediately after the end of the First World War, the ‘wounded and damaged men’ were having trouble surviving financially and without jobs and with no welfare system, many ex soldiers were forced to beg on the street.

In 2013, it was revealed that 9000 ex soldiers were homeless (they also made up 10% of the prison population). In 2014 Evgeny Lebedev, owner of The Independent and London Evening Standard, set up a charity Homeless Veterans to help those ex serviceman that have fallen on hard times.

Whatever you think of war and military intervention, (it should be the very last option) does it not seem odd that we are relying on charity to help people who have fought in the name of this country? You might think the government would have some provisions in place to help them.

Apparently not because in Nov 2014 David Cameron, gave his backing to the charity. Unless I’m mistaken he’s the Prime Minister, is he not in a position to do more than merely backing a charity. After all some of these ex service people will have gone into conflict on his say so.

Til next time, be nice to each other.

@anunknowncomic

If you have time, have a listen to my comedy podcast. Cheers

Ed and Tales

Hola. Hope you are well.

If you were to only get your information from the newspapers you’d think Ed Miliband can’t do anything right, whether that’s eating a bacon sandwich to wearing a feminist T-shirt. (although the Fawcett Society, the charity behind the T-shirts deny the claim they were made in sweatshops)

Which brings me on to the saga that is Ed giving money to a homeless woman. At first it was reported that Ed had only dropped 2p in the woman’s cup. This was later disputed, with it said Ed had given a handful of coins. We may die never knowing the exact amount he gave.

Some people wondered if it was a publicity stunt, gone wrong. The argument against this, was that if it was a publicity stunt, Ed would have given more money and looked less awkward.

If however he had given more money, I’m sure Ed would have faced criticism for giving the money directly to the homeless person and not to a homeless charity.

In none of the pieces I’ve seen, has anyone questioned why we still have large numbers of people living on our streets but I suppose that’s not as important as scrutinising Ed Miliband’s every action.

Til next time, stay safe!

@anunknowncomic

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A tale of one city

Hola. Hope you are well.

I read recently that London has more billionaires than any other city.

I also read that in some parts of London studs/spikes have been erected to prevent homeless people from sleeping in these places. In the same article it said over 6400 people slept rough in London last year. How can these two things occur in the same city?

Also in London, our Mayor, Boris, announced that he’s bought 3 water cannons. Is he expecting trouble?

Surely the money would have been better used to find out why people would want to riot and address those issues. Or perhaps, instead of investing in water cannons the Mayor could have invested in some of the services that were removed in the name of austerity.

Maybe I’m wrong and the  water cannons weren’t bought as a means to controlling angry mobs but will be used to blast the homeless out of London. I really shouldn’t give people ideas.

Til next time, stay safe!

@anunknowncomic

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