Apologies if this is the wrong place to put this, or if it's deemed inappropriate to put at all, it's just on my mind a lot this week.

82% of folks in this neighborhood are living in poverty. Life expectancy is 7.5 years below the national average. It's takes an average of 2 weeks just to see a doctor for an initial appointment. Anything that isn't covered by the "free" national health service just can't be afforded.

A friend of mine fainted today and I found out it was coz she hadn't eaten all week. Her husband left, after cleaning out the bank account, and things are so bad just now...she felt she had to fore-go food for her 2 kids to eat. For complicated reasons she's not entitled to government assistance for 5 weeks yet and wouldn't ask anyone for help coz most of us have nothing as it is.

It just makes me angry that the U.K. government never do anything realistically helpful to tackle extreme poverty, though it always looks like it on paper. It makes me angry that they would rather just feed people "happy" pills than do anything constructive about the root cause of folks physical and mental health problems in neighborhoods like this.

Apologies if anyone finds this little vent inappropriate or badly explained.

Peace and Love to you all,
roz