NaPoWriMo Day 14 - Austerity and Bombs

In this Issue 

NaPoWriMo Day 14 - Austerity

Facts

Austerity and Bombs

That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing

Random Joke

Funny Fobia

Finish with a Song

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating

 poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

Maureen Thorson, a poet and publisher of Big Game Books announced the project March 17, 2003 as an 

online project on her blog. She invited other poets with blogs to join her in the project and listed

the participating poets. Thorson has continued to run the project each year on her blog with more 

poets participating as the word has spread about the project.

If you want more information the please visit the site :-

http://www.napowrimo.net

Times are hard

Belts are tight

Fridges are empty

Purses are light

Clothes are frayed

We’re all fraught

cuts are deep

Poems are short

austerity

difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure.

• There were 4 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2015-16. That’s 30 per cent of children, or 9 in a classroom of 30

• London is the area with the highest rates of child poverty in the country.

• Child poverty reduced dramatically between 1998/9-2011/12 when 800,000 children were lifted out of poverty. 

• Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of children growing up in poverty live in a family where at least one person works.

• Children in large families are at a far greater risk of living in poverty – 36% of children in poverty live in families with three or more children.

• Families experience poverty for many reasons, but its fundamental cause is not having enough money to cope with the circumstances in which they are living. A family might move into poverty because of a rise in living costs, a drop in earnings through job loss or benefit changes.

• Child poverty blights childhoods. Growing up in poverty means being cold, going hungry, not being able to join in activities with friends. For example, 59 per cent of families in the bottom income quintile would like, but cannot afford, to take their children on holiday for one week a year.

• Child poverty has long-lasting effects. By GCSE, there is a 28 per cent gap between children receiving free school meals and their wealthier peers in terms of the number achieving at least 5 A*-C GCSE grades.

• Poverty is also related to more complicated health histories over the course of a lifetime, again influencing earnings as well as the overall quality – and indeed length - of life. Men in the most deprived areas of England have a life expectancy 9.2 years shorter than men in the least deprived areas. They also spend 14% less of their life in good health..

• Child poverty imposes costs on broader society – estimated to be at least £29 billion a year.

•  Governments forgo prospective revenues as well as commit themselves to providing services in the future if they fail to address child poverty in the here and now.

• Childcare and housing are two of the costs that take the biggest toll on families’ budgets. When you account for childcare costs, an extra 130,000 children are pushed into poverty.

Bombs and Austerity

Last night the UK government launched air strikes on Syria. What ever the justification, or outcome, well that is not for me to predict.

But, last night the UK have stated they fired 8 Storm Shadow missiles, these cost £790,000 each.

This meant last night, in missiles alone the UK Government spent £6,320,000. This does no, of course include the costs of mobilising 

the Airforce. So far this year the government have cut payments to people with disabilities, cut free school dinners for children in poverty, cut funding for schools and the NHS. Where would you rather your tax payments go?

Early humans used blood and bat poo as money. 

Before the invention of bills, ancient civilizations utilized numerous other commodities as currency. The list includes animals, shells, blood and bat guano (poo). Imagine sticking that stuff in your wallet.

I love airports! You can sit there eating pizza and drinking beer at 4am in your jogging bottoms, no one cares

Peniaphobia (from Greek penia, "poverty") is the fear of poverty Finish with a Song - This is Simply Red with Money's too Tight to Mentions