A photo of hundreds of people queuing in the snow for food at a soup kitchen in Glasgow has gone viral after social media users lamented the inaction of the government in tackling a worsening poverty crisis.
The image of queues for Kindness Homeless Street Team’s soup kitchen in Glasgow’s George Square has been shared thousands of times on social media after the community group revealed 220 people braved snow and sub-zero temperatures for help on Monday.
Posting on Facebook Graeme Weir compared it to “some Eastern European Country that’s been decimated by years of communist rule”, saying the long queues filled him with rage.
“I know some of these people personally and most of them are good people who have just hit a “wee bump in the road”…… We as a civilised and caring nation need to step up,” he said.
“Even if all you can give is a little mutual respect, a smile and a hey hello the next time you see a homeless person, trust me it can be enough to turn their life around.”
People queuing for food in the snow. Not a photo of the Soviet Union in the 1930s but the U.K. today. How did we allow this to happen on our watch? We should all be ashamed. https://t.co/1mbRO5Zlrh
— Tom Murtha (@tomemurtha) February 10, 2021
Andy Lockhard, the managing director of a finance company who volunteers for Kindness Homeless community group, also shared his frustrations, saying if the community group didn’t exist many people would have nowhere else to go.
“Monday was a particularly busy night for us,” he toldThe Big Issue. “We served between 200 and 220 people. On Wednesday I reckon we will only see, and I say only because the numbers or so big, around 100 to 120 people tonight.
“I think it’s pretty scandalous that we are living in a society where poverty is on our doorstep and people are having to traipse out into the city centre to receive support from a community group.
“The problem is that if we don’t do it then who is going to? It’s about stepping up to the mantle and making sure that these people are supported and services are provided for them.”
Kindness Homeless Street Team has been running a soup kitchen operation throughout the pandemic, operating four nights a week even when temperatures hit -2°C as they did on Monday night.
You can donate to the group to help them out here.
Related: PMQs Feb 10th – Mr Crisis Johnson can’t control his hair or our borders
Related: “Nothing changes”: Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks held 7 meetings in 7 weeks with Govt ministers
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
