Guest post by Sackcloth & Ashes
Every now and then, it’s helpful to get a reminder of how despicable the gutter press in this country is. And today’s Mail on Sunday shows the depths to which it can plummet.
Apparently it is now acceptable for a journalist to pass himself off as an unemployed man, and to con a charity into giving away three day’s worth of food that a genuinely destitute family could use.
There is a genuine debate to be had about poverty in Britain, and as to whether the current government’s economic and social policies contribute to or (according to its defenders) alleviate the lot of the impoverished. However you have to be either spectacularly stupid or utterly callous to challenge the fact that food banks exist for a reason, because there are people who need them.
The Mail on Sunday has decided to resort to this cheap stunt in order to discredit a charitable endeavour to help the poor. Shame on Ross Slater for participating in this dirty trick, and shame on his paper for instigating it.
(Hat tip: Billy Bragg)
Update: the Trussell Trust has issued a response.
