FOOD BANKS AND WELFARE: A FEW BAD DECISIONS FROM POVERTY

I believe that New Start Highland offers a way forward for helping people who are long-term unemployed. Our success rate is 700 percent better than some aspects of the work programme and it is not focussed on anything punitive, it is all focussed around the person. 

Our policy of developing individuals is far more effective than simply giving people hand outs and punishing those who fail to meet set criteria, like the policy adopted by the welfare system. One of the symptoms of the changes to the welfare system is an increased need for food banks. 

I spoke to the Inverness Courier this week amid surging food bank use in Scotland and spoke of how welfare reforms are inextricably linked to the rising demand for emergency food relief. 

Have a look at some of my comments below that were published in Tuesday’s paper. I’d be delighted to know what you think.

Are welfare reform changes punitive?

“Of the tens of thousands of people who are unemployed and in poverty very few of them don’t want to work. 

I think the changes in the benefit system are draconian and some of the sanctions people face are barbaric. The solution for me isn’t taking someone’s benefits away because they don’t turn up for a meeting, the solution is engaging with people.

It is not a political view, although it probably sounds like one, it is simply an observation and I am working in the midst of people in horrible poverty.

I think it is absolutely wrong that this wealthy society  is spending hundreds of millions on nuclear weapons, and human beings, mums, dads, children still do not have food.

I wonder if the decision makers lose sight of the fact that all of us are only a few bad decisions or a few unfortunate events away from poverty ourselves.”

Although a spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions insisted that there was no robust evidence linking welfare reforms to the increased use of food banks and said: 

“We will ensure that no one falls through the cracks and we are working with local authorities, community groups and the financial industry on how best to support individuals,”

The majority of those receiving food parcels said benefit changes, benefit delays plus low income were to blame for their situation.

On the other hand, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has recently labelled the UK government's social reform a "disgrace" for leaving people in "destitution".

Why do you think there has been a sharp increase in the use of food banks recently?

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols recently said the "safety net" for the poorest families had been "torn apart".

Speaking to the Telegraph last month Archbishop Nichols - the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in England and Wales and designated by Pope Francis to be appointed a cardinal- said the welfare state was becoming "more punitive".

"I think what's happening is two things", he said.

"One is that the basic safety net that was there to guarantee that people would not be left in hunger or in destitution, has actually been torn apart. It no longer exists, and that is a real, real dramatic crisis.

"And the second is that, in this context, the administration of social assistance - I am told - has become more and more punitive."

Do you agree? Let me know!

ONE LIFE - COUNTLESS OPPORTUNITIES

There's no denying we live in a stunning part of the world

We only pass through this world once. We have one life – full of opportunities.

It’s my belief that we should do what good we can while we’re in this world. One thing I want to do with my time here is create opportunities - as many opportunities for as many people as possible.   

I’ve said it before, that one of the most important opportunities that people have is to work and earn a living. This is a principle that we support and work towards at New Start Highland.

We offer a whole variety of placements, available to a whole variety of people including working closely with HIE to deliver student and graduate placements – 100% of which have gone on to secure employment in their field of study.

With this in mind, I like to look back to the opportunities given to me in the past and how they have helped shape my life – something that could probably take up a whole blog in itself and so something I will likely come back to.

But of more significance this week, and while discussing opportunities, I’d like to let the blogosphere know about a brand new social enterprise that will give SMEs and businesses in the area the opportunity to access finance, where traditional sources may have let them down of late.    

Fergus Ewing launched the new venture last Thursday

The north and west of Scotland is a beautiful and diverse place and our people famed the world over for their geniality.  But just as we’re warm, we’re also well versed to colder climes. I don’t need to reiterate the fact that the global financial crisis, as with everywhere, hit the Highlands hard. The local economy may be resilient and improving but it still has a little way to go. 

I believe that the Highlands and Islands have the potential to recover from their current economic situation while maintaining a positive outlook for the future. The growth of small businesses in the Highlands and Islands is something I care deeply about.  The current conditions for accessing finance for this growth however are tough. 

With traditional bank lending experiencing its 5th year of decline*, last Thursday saw the launch of a brand new venture, motivated by the will to see a strong and economically healthy Highlands.  

 ‘Highlands and Islands Business Finance’ is a new social enterprise that will deliver business finance to SMEs seeking investment. It has been founded by Harry Wilson, Allan Sillars and myself.

The launch took place at the beautiful new conference suite at the Kingsmills Hotel in Inverness last Thursday (07/02/14) with MSP Fergus Ewing delivering a key note address to around 50 representatives from different sectors meeting to discuss and help launch the new social enterprise. 

With Allan and Harry (with a combined 65 years’ worth of experience in the banking world) on board and through my experience working in social enterprise and business start-ups in the rural community, ‘Highlands and Islands Business Finance’ hopes to deliver a service for which a substantial need has been highlighted.

Giving businesses and SMEs the opportunity to grow in this area has great benefits for the people who live here too, whose interests are, and remain to be, my own primary interest. In the first two years, 'Highlandsand Islands Business Finance' anticipates contributing towards the creation of 120 jobs in the area. That means an opportunity will be created for 120 people; 120 households and 120 plus businesses that will grow and be stronger. 

Please visit www.hibf.co.uk for more information. 

*figure from Financial Times

HIBF was launched in partnership with DSL Business Finance. DSL is a Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), a member of the Community Development Finance Association and the European Microfinance Network.  They provide business start-up and growth loans for small businesses and social enterprises that can't access funding from banks and other traditional sources.  HIBF will benefit from the expertise and connectivity of the Glasgow based business investors; foreseeing a brighter future for small businesses in the Highland economy.

LED BY PURPOSE, OR DRIVEN BY COMPARISON?

We have all, to some degree, compared ourselves to others.  The worst thing about this is that you can never do a very good job of being someone else. 

The reality is we weren’t made to be someone else. You were made to be you – and here comes the good news - you can do an incredible job of being you. In fact you will do a better job of it than anyone else…100% of the time.

Happiness begins where comparison ends, so why do we compare ourselves to

others? Sometimes we do it to gauge where we are in what we perceive as success or failure. Sometimes we think it brings us a comfort to think we’re better, but more o
ften than not it just makes us feel like we’re not meeting a standard.

One of the main influencers of comparison is media pressure. We are constantly bombarded with images of what we’re told we should look like in advertisements and through various forms of marketing. We all know what these are, we don’t have to look far to see them. They tell us how we achieve happiness– which is usually through buying their product. But, actually, this is a lie.

Whether or not I buy a new car fundamentally won’t change my happiness one iota. I might enjoy having a new car for a while. But once the novelty wears off all I’m left with is a dent in my finances and something shiny sitting in my drive. 

Sooner or later we notice someone else has an even newer car. So where do we stop? Do we carry on getting newer and newer cars or do we say – “stuff isn’t going to make me happy and comparing who I am to other people isn’t going to make me happy.”

One thing I find healthier than comparing myself to someone else is comparing myself to where my life was and asking myself, “am I improving?” Or comparing myself to where I’d like it to be, and asking myself “am I moving in the right direction?” 

One of the other areas I find fascinating when it comes to comparison, is asking, “What can I do today that is different to what I was able to do 5 or 10 years ago?” It’s amazing how my ability, my scope and my breadth of being able to hold things together has grown and expanded. 

If I looked back, and saw my ability and skillset reducing then I would think “I need to change that”, then that’s a type of healthy comparison that would lead me to create change.

 

As a result, I have ended up being led more by purpose than driven by comparison. 

In other words, I guess we are all on a journey with the opportunity of becoming a better version of ourselves. It’s the journey that counts. 

How much do we compare ourselves to an 'ideal beauty' in magazines?

As a dad of 2 beautiful teenage girls, I feel particularly strongly about the pressure placed on them by the ‘beauty’ industry. This pressure drives young people to want to look different and encourages them to compare themselves to a hungry, airbrushed, photo shopped model on a screen or magazine. 

 My kids, beautiful as they are, I hope realise that like their dad they are not blemish free, we’re normal people. We’re not super anything. We’re ordinary and we don’t want to compare ourselves to superheroes, the super ordinary, or the supermodels. We’re just us. If they compare themselves to that picture the danger is that little girls are not going to get the pleasure of being little girls.

That, after all, is what they were meant to be at this stage in their lives - innocent little girls and not driven to look like someone else.

As Michelangelo said – “every block of stone has a statue inside it and it’s the task of the sculptor to discover it.”  So my challenge to you this week – if you think you are faced with a block of stone, try to look at it from a different perspective. 

Sculpt away so that other eyes apart from yours see the beauty of the sculpture within.  And one other thing…it doesn’t matter what others are doing with their block, because believe me everyone’s got one in front of them.

Michelangelo's 'David', was once nothing more than a block of stone