THE news that food-bank use in Scotland is set to hit record levels will make grim reading for readers of The National.
What is perhaps the most upsetting aspect of this story is how unsurprising this news is.
Last year, food-bank use was up 53 per cent over Christmas. This year we are told food-bank use is growing faster in Scotland than in any other part of the UK.
Let us remember Scotland is not a nation short of food. There have been no droughts or floods that have caused widespread damage. We are not at war. There is food in this country – and plenty of it.
The people who use food banks are not just the poor. They are not the feckless or skivers. They are not people with plenty of money cheating the system to save some cash.
Increasingly, the people in Scotland’s food banks are struggling families. They are people who used to have good jobs.
The people who have already, for want of a better expression, pre-booked a table at a food bank in Glasgow or Edinburgh for Christmas dinner are not “at it”. They are people who are stuck.
Stuck perhaps by delays to benefits, stuck by marriages falling apart or stuck by jobs suddenly lost.
The truth is that many of us in this country are maybe just one pay-day away from being stuck. We are one missed loan repayment from bank accounts being frozen.
And while many Scots can turn to family or friends for support there are those who can’t. Maybe because their family can’t help, don’t want to help, or maybe because their family are in as much need as they are.
Christmas is the time of year when we see Scotland at its best. People like Kyle McCormick, who, with his family, will spend Christmas Day in the Glasgow North West food bank cooking a meal for 80 others. Not for any recognition or glory, but because it is, to him, a thing he can do to help.
This is, however, also the time of year when we see exactly how unequal a country we are.
Children in the same class at the same school will receive different visits from Santa this year. One child may receive a sackful of presents, with the latest dolls or games. Others might receive only a few.
How does a four-year-old understand that it is not their fault that they receive so little?
This year, the Trussell Trust are looking for toys for their food banks.
If you’re looking at the haul to be wrapped for your son or daughter and you think something can be spared, then please be aware that some other child in Scotland would be very grateful.
Most of us will be fine this Christmas. But there are far too many who won’t. They are stuck.
While food poverty still exists in Scotland then it is all of us who are stuck.
17,000 men, women and children in Scotland will be referred to food banks this month
Ewan Gurr: Thousands are falling through a social security net that desperately needs restrung
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