Camden Kids Below The Poverty Line

Camden’s own Comprehensive Spending Review will be finalised on 23 November, revealing the "knock on effects" of the spending cuts in the borough.


Specific departments were wary about giving figures or inferring a down-grade of their services to the public but the key word floating around was "reorganise".


Councils including Camden have made efforts to be transparent about their spending, publishing the salaries and bonuses of their senior staff accounting for 2.77 million this annum.


Deputy Head Mr Mcnaught of Maria Fidelis Convent School said “we have to seriously think about how to reorganise”.The state school in a now largely Muslim area still retains its “convent”status with a small grant from the Catholic Church.


The deputy head said the Church’s grant is fixed and not likely to increase. Two nuns remain the authority figures of the school and “nothing gets passed without going through them."


Faith schools still remain "heaven on Earth" for some parents, whilst the Prime Minister has publically expressed his support in saying that their "culture and ethos" can help standards improve.


Unemployment was earmarked by Camden council as the biggest cause of deprivation. Eighteen percent of young people in the borough between16 and 24 claim unemployment benefit, above the London average.


On theJobseekers Direct-gov website a keyword search of “Camden” produces 100 hits. According to the DPW there were 453 thousand unfilled vacancies throughout the UK in the three months to October 2010, up 20,000 over the year.


One unattractive position meeting national minimum wage and working unsociable hours asks for an experienced security guard for 12 hr night shifts, 48 hours a week.


Camden council’s Fostering Service currently match children to homes in “3-4 days on average.
Spending cuts could mean more private agencies being used to find foster homes, which are currently a last resort.


The Camden Fostering Department suggested children in Camden are faced with more complex domestic problems, e.g. sexual abuse and neglect, while “outside Camden, drugs and alcohol are the norm".


Almost half of children in Camden are classed as below the poverty line. The results of a survey from June this year highlighted money as the key reason for parents spending on average 48 minutes with their children a day.


Dr Rosemary Keenan of The Catholic Children's Society said " It is sadly a symptom of modern life that parents have to work such long hours to afford a higher standard of living, or to make ends meet."

http://hollowayexpress.co.uk/?p=171

How to survive the Worst Effects of the Spending Cuts

It's dark, dingy and distinctively Tory, but don't worry there is a way to escape these Eton boys.

1) Burn Books For Fuel

This won't be popular with some, however if you've seen The Day After Tomorrow book burning is sometimes pivotal to survival.  


You don't need to wait til the Earth freezes over either.  The following list shows the first books to be burn, categorised by their adverse effects on society

1) Academic books about the internet dated before 2000

2) Anything by Stephanie Meyer

 2) Live In Jamaica

Certain areas of Jamaica have such a low cost of living for us Brits that £1000 could last you a whole year. No promises on the quality of adode though.

Endure working at Tesco for a few months, then jet out to Jamaica for the rest of the year. 


This idea came from a Jamaican. Be prepared to be marked down for class participation though.

3) From artsy to nerd in sixty seconds.

If your plan was to join the Welsh National Opera Company when you graduate, then maybe  think again. Arts touring budgets are being cut by 64% as funding for the arts e.g. The Arts Council England, falls under the Axe of Austerity.

One option is to change tack altogether and join the subservient bandwagon of "more strategic subjects". 


So put down your paint-brushes (or these days Photo-Shop) and go back to school to brush-up on your maths.

Creative people are still associated with Socialism and revolt.  It goes back a few hundred years ago to the days of the outspoken pamphleteers, but you don't want to know about that...

4) Keep Hold of Your Job.

If you're not quite adventurous enough to try Jamaica, then simply keep a tight trip on that job, whether its pint-pulling, shelf-stacking, charity mugging, or plate-carrying.  


Relying on benefits won't cut it anymore. Ian Duncain Smith wants you all working. 

The public sector might well shrivel away in the next few years to be replaced by conservative friendly corporations. 


Your weekly Job Seeker's Allowance will consist of bonus Tesco club card points, and BP vouchers-which effectively means you have to spend more to get more.

5) Get Yourself a Private Swiss Bank Account.

Normally we would recommend you have a normal student account at somewhere like Natwest-the kind that comes with a nice £500 overdraught, and a free Ipod that you mistake for something out of a cereal box and throw away.

But now the time has come to look further afield-Switzerland to be exact. 


With a private Swiss bank account you can hide away your cash in a fancy vault where tax men rarely tread-largely because office workers don't even crawl out of the office for Subway anymore.

HSBC'S Richard Green won't be able to help you anymore. The poor fellow is now earning peanuts as Cameron's new trade spin doctor. 


So work a few extra shifts in the library, or at the bar.

6) Buy a Yacht.

David Cameron has been known to consort with Richard Murdoch on his yacht occasionally. 


It's possible that in exchange for his airfare (private jet)  and a marvellous on-deck champaigne reception,  Cameron will "turn a blind eye" to whatever megalomaniac, egotistical, ethically warped business you are engaged in e.g. tax dodging and sweatshops.

"Say-is there any way of not spending ANYTHING and yet not reduce taxes?

Chubby public schoolboy and his accountant/maid. A Thatcherite cold front has descended upon the streets of Britain spelling death to the "dole culture". 

The Conservatives are wielding the Axe of Austerity and Lib-dems are struggling with being under-lings. 

It will take 12 years for people to forget the lib-dems "betrayal", which is the same amount of time as it took voters to forget that a conservative government =cuts, a lot of talk about values and not much else.

Policy selection has never been more simplistic "-if it saves money we'll do it."

"If anyone can come up with another idea for schools that doesn't require funding then we'd welcome it. " says Cameron.

Whoever proposed the prisoner education scheme proposals, really- what were you thinking?  This country is on the brink of bankruptcy. We need to keep offenders uneducated so they in all chance reoffend.  

Imagine them coming out of Wandsworth speaking fluent French and waving around a degree in economics. It's cheaper to keep them in those drab conditions than create more jobs you know. Those prison pastors are the problem. They keep converting felons into respectable members of society. We have enough of those-and enough born-agains taking over theatres and stadiums!"

By Shaun Humphreys