OYLC - Issue the first: Poverty

I have been trying to find out what the exact aims and purposes of the OLSX people are. The more I have looked the more I struggle to find anything coherent for what we have is a bunch of people ranging from the intelligentsia through to the professional 'supporter/anarchist' all bringing stuff to the party. The problem is that this lack of a focussed and coherent position results in nothing more than a collection of disgruntled people who are doomed to be nothing more than just that.

Scanning various pages and talking to the ordinary people on the street I get the feeling that there is much dis-ease regarding the current situation facing our nation, Europe and the wider world. That noted, we must take care to ensure that we are looking at justice not revenge, for it appears that the majority (read and dialogued with) are generally seeking the latter.

So, this is an opportunity for the Church (universal) to get off of its behindside and take up the battle. There are so many areas to focus on and I think that we are best served, and serving, when we consider them intelligently and devise prayer and action relating to them, so let us begin with:

Poverty
The increase of FoodBanks, repossessions, redundancies, loss of support for those in post-sixteen education (i.e. EMA) and so much more.

Some food for thought (and prayer)
The current Housholds Below Average Income* (HBAI) (after housing costs) survey tells us:

That 13.5M people in the UK (22%) are income poor and of these:

53% are in families which include at least one child;
32% are in families of people of working age without children;
15% are in pensioner families.

People living below the poverty line are distributed around the UK as follows:

England - 11,615,000 (23% of the population)
Scotland - 969,000 (19% of the population)
Wales - 667,000 (23% of the population0,
Northern Ireland - 374,000 (2% of the population)

The road to this situation includes:

Unemployment - Low wages - Inadequate benefits - Educational opportunities

Child Poverty Action group (CPAG) puts forward these proposals to work towards ending child poverty in the UK:

1. Protect jobs
2. Mend the safety net
3. Move away from means tests
4. Remove barriers to work
5. Stop in-work poverty
6. Put in place a child-first strategy for childcare
7. End the classroom divide
8. Provide fair public services for those who need them most
9. End poverty premiums in taxes and services
10. Ensure a decent home for every family

Just some foor for thought and some spur to developing something coherent (and I am pretty disgusted at just how many church members I have met during my journeys who take up the 'Daily Fascist' view that the poor generally get what they deserve. Thank God that isn't true with us and His standards!! But in case you might think this a graph to savour as you start writing prayers and think of how you can open doors, hearts and engage those outside over this topic:

The poor by economic status (2009/10)

Pax

* HBAI 2009/10 figures