Why food banks are a cause for national pride
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The Left thinks the welfare state should ‘wipe away every tear’. It won’t happen — and it shouldn’t.
By Robin Aitken
In his introduction to Labour’s election manifesto, Jeremy Corbyn pledged to end something he called “food bank Britain”, and when I read that my immediate thought was: “I hope he never does.” This is not because I take any delight in the idea that thousands of my fellow citizens regularly go to local food banks to get food to feed themselves and their families, but rather because of the deeper significance of food banks; what the fact of their existence actually tells us about this country and its people. Our network of food banks should be a cause for national pride, not shame; food bank Britain is not a symptom of decline or national hard-heartedness: it shows us as our best. Let me explain.
Ten years or so ago I got involved in setting up a food bank in Oxford. It was a bit different from most food banks because, rather than receive food donations from the public ...
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