That 4-million people in the UK are so poor they have to rely on food banks, says a lot about how little progress human society has made.
The contrast between spending millions on football players, managers, on entertainment, on space programs, on proxy wars, on developing ever more sophisticated weaponry that can kill more people and destroy both the natural environment and human achievement more efficiently, on executive salaries, while this is going on, is extraordinary.
In the neoliberal fantasy universe everything is perfect out there and the born-to-rule and entitled can do no wrong. According to this ethos, if anyone is poor, it is ‘their fault’ entirely.
My heart breaks for all those children who know they’re getting charity gifts for Christmas. It’s not good enough. Where and to whom we’re born should not determine our destiny!
There is no excuse for poverty. There is enough and it has to be shared. Inequality isn’t a force of nature. It’s something we *directly and deliberately* create and cultivate in order that a section of society can feel ‘better than’…
If everyone, every single person does well, if everyone has a good life, it would be a disaster for narcissists who always compete and compare and who have to perceive themselves as ‘better than’. It’s time to grow up and take the power away from the hands of the wrong people. Neoliberalism and right-wing politics are not a legitimate political alternative. They are the old law of the jungle dressed up as something it isn’t.
Let’s revolutionise our society in the New Year. It’s not as simple as just putting money into different projects and causes. It’s about something more fundamental underneath everything we do.
As a society, we have to agree on a code of ethics that places empathy, compassion and equality at the heart of everything we do. We have to declare all human beings as worthy of respect, dignity and love. If the UK had a constitution, that’s what I would place at the heart of it.
It’s not about suppressing or condemning our natural fear-based, competitive and survival-focused mammal instincts. It’s acknowledging our mammal brain with compassion and understanding but choosing to act out of our executive functions where we’re all naturally compassionate, empathetic and inclusive. Happy New Year everyone!! 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-thief-food-bank-christmas-donations-universal-credit-benefits-hampshire-trussell-trust-a8698961.html