Food Banks

Changing Politics

Ever feel like politics could be different? Join comedian Gráinne Maguire and journalist Marie Le Conte as they work out how we can all get more involved. This isn't just a podcast, it's Changing Politics.

This week we focus on food banks - which last year distributed over 1,300,000 packages of food for those in need. We spoke to Garry Lemon from the Trussell Trust and recent foodbank user Benjamin Moore, one of our listeners. Sorry for the sound quality on his phone call - a transcript of his comments are at the bottom of these show notes.

Marie and Gráinne's roundup of the week's news is mainly just glad that Parliament is in recess and that all MPs can go home and get some sleep. We check in with newly promoted and newly demoted Minister for Exiting The EU Dominic Raab; everyone's favourite blonde hot mess (sorry, Marie, it's Boris), who has now added "meeting with White Nationalists" to his list of lovable eccentricities; and explain why Priti Patel and Lucy Allan's support for people who've broken the law is, to quote Allan, "very odd conduct indeed".

BENJAMIN'S COMMENTS

"Because of my wife's disability we had a support worker from a local organisation who used to come to us every two weeks and check out what was going on, and check we were alright, and one of the things she said to us one week was, 'Would you like a food bank voucher?'. I hadn't really thought about it before, but things were very tight at the time. Basically we were at that stage in a flat where the roof had a major leak, and so our bedroom was incredibly damp all the time. And this was during the winter, so a lot of our money was going on electricity. We were at the point of spending what we had left on food, after we'd paid for rent and electricity."

"If it's donated, they'll pass it out. So what they give you is non-perishable items. So it's mainly things like tins of stuff, and they'll give you rice of pasta and they'll give you breakfast cereal, you know, things they can accrue and keep for a reasonable length of time. But it's not all functional, so they will give you bars of chocolate or crisps, things that you might like as opposed to stuff that just works. If you're going to donate to a food bank, just think about what you would want if you found yourself in that position."

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