Edinburgh Sucks! | No Home Week (commenced Mon 27 Nov)

City Council

No Home Week (commenced Mon 27 Nov)

By The Basa ⋅ November 28, 2006 ⋅

Guest Writer says:

Exactly forty years ago next month (on 16 December 1966), Cathy Come Home, the groundbreaking BBC TV drama-documentary by the brilliant director Ken Loach, was to cause such a public outcry that it eventually lead to the formation of the UK-wide charity SHELTER after the harrowing subject of homelessness was brought into the living rooms of the masses throughout the UK that December night leading up to Christmas.

Forty years on from that black and white TV classic another public outcry is desperately needed for the several hundred thousands of lost, forgotten, broken, unseen, disenfranchised and dispossessed homeless souls who still exist all over the UK today.

Sadly, I’ve been all too well aware of this taboo subject for many, many years myself - through my own horrendous personal experiences at the hands of a “social care” system that miserably failed me on several occasions over the past two decades … and which didn’t (doesn’t) really “care” a damn either.

Unless and until those working in the ever-increasing “poverty industry” (especially the legions of “social care” workers and many other indifferent jobsworths in their monolithic and bureaucratic local government bodies), and of course our cosseted governing politicos, experience first-hand being “down-and-out” and “in the gutter”, they can and will NEVER truly understand what being “on the streets” can do to one’s health, body, mind and soul – or fully comprehend the many daily dangers, fears, miseries, depressions, abuses and threats that one encounters whilst being on “skid row”. NEVER!

There was a marvellous poem I came across in several publications some years ago which, I feel, sums up the subject of homelessness very well and highlights the appalling indifference of our “social care” system and our ruling political classes – ALL colours, up and down the land.

Perhaps the following award-winning, eye-opening and very insightful poem re the causes and consequences of homelessness should be displayed in every Town / City Hall and on every politico’s office wall (as well as every “social care” worker’s and “social care” director’s office wall too) the length and breadth of the UK. They then might just waken up, smell the coffee, see the light and learn something about the darker and darkest side of life … and contemplate for just a few moments (at least) each day that: There, but for the grace of God, go I…
Alone, Forgotten, Lonely, Out Of Sight Out Of Mind

(Dedicated to all homeless and street people throughout the world)

Alone, forgotten, lonely, out of sight out of mind
Neglected by our society, rejected by mankind
The mentally ill, the homeless, the vulnerable, human beings are everywhere
Dozens dying daily; drugs, drink, disease, deprivation, despair.

Languishing in the hostels, bedsits, dumps in need of repair
In places of oblivion where no one seems to care
Exploited by corrupt, unscrupulous landlords who look on with disdain
Their only real concern is of how much they can gain.

For others not so “lucky” who are looking for a bed
They’ll turn to any place of comfort to rest their weary head
Alleys, stairwells, doorways, basements, any place will do
So long as there is shelter for one night, maybe two.

Another day is dawning, another day of doom
Where to move on next from the cold, the rain, the gloom?
Wandering about aimlessly, searching for a clue
To find a place of refuge for the many, not the few.

“No room” in such places, “Full up”, closed doors all around
It’s back to that place of misery the previous night they found
Danger, cold, wet, abject squalor beckons yet again
For the thousands in our society; vulnerable, teenagers, young women, young men.

But just how many make it to see yet another day?
Some will not awaken, found dead, frozen where they lay
Another lost, forgotten statistic which no one cares to keep
Figures of huge numbers, enough to make you weep.

And what about the others that those dead friends leave behind?
If you look in the right places, this is what you’ll find:
Sickness, destitution, chronic ill health are matters of fact
Deterioration of bodies, lost souls, minds about to crack.

Misery, dejection, deep depression is the norm
However strong the individual, whatever shape or form
Existing mental illness; minor, moderate, severe
Will clearly be exacerbated by torment, uncertainty, fear.

Confused, weak, weary, frightened, very much alone
Another day of hopelessness, another day unknown
Too tired to go on any more with illness, apathy, despair
It’s time to say “Goodbye cruel world, no one really cares”.

One more death, a suicide, caused by complacency, neglect
Isn’t it time to treat our fellow man with a little more respect?
Help, care, understanding would certainly be a start
Act now to prevent more deaths Those-With-Power, compassion, heart.

Let’s start to radically rethink, review our “Community Care”
We must stop leaving our vulnerable unassessed, unmonitored, unaware
Two years have now slipped by since the start of this disastrous Act
It’s time to change this “system”, which is failing, that’s a fact.

So come on health staff, social workers, politicians across the divide
Get your acts together to stop this rising tide
Of needless deaths, human suffering, tragedies that put you all to shame
“A national disgrace, disaster, scandal” - who will take the blame?

March 1995
As prompted and inspired by the article/campaign in The Big Issue (In Scotland) - “Stop the Street Deaths”. And based on vast personal insight, knowledge and experience.
[12 years on from that award-winning poem (and 10 years on from “Things can only get better”) … What’s really changed or improved for the hundreds of thousands of homeless souls in ToRy BliAr’s New Labour / New Britain?]