My name is James and I am 4 and I have been living with my 43 year old mum in an hostel for homeless people for 7 months now. We don't actually have anything so-called wrong with us except that we can't afford the private rents anymore and in order to participate in society we need what used to be known as a council house. Trouble is as we all know there aren't too many available so we have to live in one room in a house shared by all sorts of other people. We are a bit on our own as no one else is the same age as me so I get really bored and run after anyone who comes past my door. But we must be grateful we are told. Bring on Dickens I say. Perhaps our heads should be shaved and we are sent to the workhouse too! Mum will write this for me but as we live a common experience for virtually every minute of every day. Oh yes and this is in one of the most affluent boroughs in the UK. I write this because we are treated as the underclass, particularly by those that are supposed to support us because that is what they are paid to do, not because they necessarily want to. They earn out of our predicaments but definately don't try to make it easier. They also keep files on us, mostly based on hearsay and gossip, and rehashed over cigs and coffee in more comfortable surroundings than mine. Because we are to be silent I blog.
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- 2006-04-03 @ 16:04:41
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- 2006-04-03 @ 16:28:38
Dear James,
That is so tough! I live in an ex-Council house. My widowed Mum now owns the Council house in which I was brought up. It's great that some of the working class got such opportunities, but it is awful that it was at cost to others like you and your Mum. Luckily for you, your Mum still has intelligence, spirit and courage and I hope she gets you both through this with as much intact as possible. It won't be easy. It must be so hard for you to stay quiet. I'm glad your Mum has found a way to break her silence.
I can't tell you how f**ked off I am that you are so badly treated under a so-called socialist government! Like so many other things happening, I can only say - Not in my name! I'd much rather have my taxes spent on housing than wars.
Polly
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- 2006-04-04 @ 16:04:20
Dear James, I can only hope that things get better for you and Mum. My thoughts are with you both.
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- 2006-04-14 @ 11:11:19
Thank you for your thoughts about us and it must have worked because the best has happened and we shall move soon. Sorry it has taken so long to respond but we have no direct IT access. However we will get connected and try to raise awareness of what is happenening to so many families. 130,000 children in the UK woke up in a hostel on Christmas day. Dear Polly our government is a wolf in sheep's clothing but they are showing it now. Labour became New Labour when they dropped Clause 4 from their manifesto. Clause 4 was the commitment to socialism. Gotta go. James and his mum.
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- 2006-05-31 @ 22:08:40
I'm so pleased re move! I can imagine IT access hasn't exactly been straight forward, but lovely to get update.
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- 2006-06-02 @ 10:14:46
my gran tells awful stories of her childhood - growing up in Merthyr in the 1920s, pre-welfare state.
and here we are, welfare state pared to the bone, back there again. your comment re the workhouse is spot-on: what really appalls me is the way in which new labour picked up the tory mantle with such relish and really are seeking to punish people for being poor or for being a refugee. caught a piece on the radio about 'control centres' recently, places where people (kids too) are locked up before being deported...
i was a single parent with a baby for a while, and know in part what you must be experiencing. i've not, thankfully, been pushed from pillar to post in the way you have. hope the move goes well.
trolly x
varshakale
How sad.
How Ican help you?
Should I ask other bloggers to also look at it.
Dont worry. We will try and do something about it.