Nice Comment

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on October 5, 2021 at 7:48am

Tories facing calls to return cash from donors named in Pandora papers

Ministers forced to answer string of questions about Tory donors’ alleged links to corruption 

The Conservative party conference was on Monday engulfed in a growing scandal over Tory donors and their alleged links to corruption, with Boris Johnson facing calls to hand back cash and submit the party to an investigation.

The prime minister and his ministers were forced to answer a string of questions about donations following revelations in the Pandora papers unearthed by the Guardian and BBC Panorama.

Anneliese Dodds, the chair of the Labour party, and Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, were among those to challenge the Tories over the sources of their funding, with Dodds saying: “There can’t be one rule for senior Conservatives and their chums and another rule for everyone else.”

She added: “Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have serious questions to answer about their fundraising activities.”

Politicians from Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems also lined up to criticise the government over the wider role of London in the offshore economy, with one Conservative MP saying it was the “money laundering capital of the world”.

The controversy over Tory party funds came as the Pandora papers prompted fallout across the world, with inquiries announced in India, Pakistan, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Australia, Panama, and the Czech Republic.

The White House pledged to “crack down on the unfair schemes that give big corporations a leg up” in the wake of the Pandora papers, the largest leak in offshore financial data in history.

Tories facing calls to return cash from donors named in Pandora pap...

Comment was by Chris B on August 31, 2021 at 2:30am

I love your stories! My father was a civil servant who never got a promotion because his boss understood his rotten character under the charismatic manners. My mother was the housekeeper, first giving to the church, then feeding and clothing the family from the leftovers. Her tricks to make anything last twice as long fit in wonderfully well with the struggle against climate change...

Comment was by Mrs.B on August 30, 2021 at 1:18pm

Mine was always either jobless, on strike, or laid off, so mother was the one to go to work. He didn't get steady work until I was around 12-13, when he finally got a job recapping tires. Of course by then, mother was the main breadwinner, & that's how it stayed. They stayed stingy with me though, so I was still wearing hand me downs from cousins, pretty much intil I got married. My first job paid for my dentures, not clothes.

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on August 30, 2021 at 3:31am

My father was a skyscraper scaffolder and when he was in work we did quite well for ourselves, good food and clothing but now and again when the weather got bad or there was a downturn in the economy, we did have it bad, my two sisters who were brought up in the 40s and 50s did experience some truly hard times. so one day an old friend of the family offered my dad a job at the BBC as a studio attendant this happened in the early 60s and up to the time I left home in 69 we had a good life, and I'll always appreciate my parents for giving me a comfortable time. But let's face it, it could have all gone the other way. When I was in primary school 5-11 yrs old I saw real hardship in many of my classmates. School nurses would have regular checks on children for malnutrition, rickets and other illnesses connected to poverty. One thing for sure at that time in schools you never saw any overweight children.

Here are the 5-10yr olds at my primary school St Augustins.

I'm the pensive looking boy near the fire and to the left behind the little girl with the tartan dress. I always felt the cold. Do you see the nurse on the right at back?

Comment was by Chris B on August 29, 2021 at 1:31am

I remember the poverty from the fifties; old clothes taken apart and made into something new, my mother washing out used plastic bags, the week you had to do with one change of clothing, including underwear. But there was enough food if you didn't look at the quality. Nobody had seen junk food then.

Comment was by Joan Denoo on August 28, 2021 at 11:43pm

Grandmothers cannot carry the load of providing for children without food, clothing, shelter, and heat for winter, nor can the working middle class carry the load alone. Everyone has a responsibility to provide the means for meeting these basic needs. 

Comment was by Joan Denoo on August 28, 2021 at 11:40pm

Food was not an issue for us; we grew a huge vegetable garden, had fruit trees and berries, and both grandmas had chickens for eggs and meat. 

During the war, "meat, dairy, coffee, dried fruits, jams, jellies, lard, shortening, and oils were rationed and we learned to eat without them." 

~ Sacrificing for the Common Good: Rationing in WWII

https://www.nps.gov/articles/rationing-in-wwii.htm

Those who could not or chose not to produce their own food and were poor, my grandmothers saw to it they had food, clothing, and shelter. I remember going with grandma Whitehead as she took basic supplies to the poor of our community. 

Comment was by Joan Denoo on August 28, 2021 at 11:22pm

Born in 1936, our family was still in the throes of the Great Depression. My grandmothers made our coats out of worn-out coats of our grandfathers. School clothes were handed downs as were shoes. I remember sitting in the kitchen cutting out cardboard to put in our shoes with holes in them. 

When World War II started, the uncles left to work for Morrison Knudson doing construction work on railroads, airfields, and military housing. Our moms went to work for Kaiser Aluminum, our grandparents took on the responsibilities of caring for us kids. Both my grandmothers were skilled at childcare and taught us how to work. When we whined, complained, or got some kind of attitude, we got a switching on our bare legs with birch branches. The slender branches felt like knives cutting across our legs. 

Comment was by Mrs.B on August 28, 2021 at 6:54pm

Most of us were in the same boat with being poor, but we managed to eat. I was on the lower end of poor, but we always had food. My clothes were patched or hand me downs, & I hated it because the other kids didn't seem to have clothes like that. I wore the same clothes all week to school, where the other girls seemed to have a few changes. I had no extras, or treats, unless it was going door to door at Halloween, but then most of the candy would just sit & get old as I didn't have a sweet tooth. After I was old enough to babysit for other people, I began to buy records, & maybe go to a movie.

Comment was by Stephen Brodie on August 28, 2021 at 6:43pm

 I can remember real poverty and hardship here in the UK even though it was supposed to be one of the richest nations on earth. We used to celebrate empire day with street party's and kids would get sick from eating too much crap food. There were and are districts in the UK and even London where kids would suffer from illnesses directly linked to malnutrition and the poor children would develop inches shorter than their rich compatriots. My sister grew up with rickets and weak bones. 

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