Frank’s Blog

Feeding Birkenhead this week extended its pioneering Food Bank Plus service to the end of 2018. The service involves a trained advisor from Involve Northwest being present at the food bank each week to help put right the problems that have led people to be hungry. The problems range from rent arrears and chronic debt, to delays and stoppages in Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment & Support Allowance, Universal Credit and tax credits. Food Bank Plus has helped hundreds of…

A sizeable number of Wirral residents write to me each week to share their views on the treatment of animals, and to campaign for advances in animal welfare. I have been pleased over successive parliaments to support their campaigns by taking them up with ministers and supporting House of Commons Motions pushing for more adequate levels of protection. The treatment meted out to some animals in the name of experimentation or profit is diabolical. One local resident, Carrina Rowe,…

Despite the Herculean efforts of frontline NHS staff, residents are reporting a worryingly sharp decline in the quality of care being administered by our local health services. Things already look worse than last year and we’ve not even reached the winter pinch points. In August, 1,095 people waited more than four hours in A&E; up by 308 on the same month last year. Similarly, in July, 14% of patients waited a week or more for an appointment with a GP or Practice Nurse; up…

Who would have thought that Unequal Britain could be embodied in one single building? It soon will be. A new block of flats being built in London will have two separate entrances – one for ordinary people and another for the mega-rich. Residents living in the block’s affordable flats will even be required to use a separate lift to those with ‘premier’ flats. That separate lift will also grant the ‘premier’ residents access to a private swimming pool,…

Feeding Birkenhead last week submitted to Wirral Council a proposal for the country’s first anti-hunger Council Tax system. The build-up of Council Tax arrears seems over an extended period of time to soften up the ability of some of our town’s most vulnerable households to cope with a financial emergency. Feeding Birkenhead has found that a frequent dilemma facing such households is whether to pay their Council Tax, or to feed and clothe their children. Some, of course, can…