Monday 1 August 2011

Newsflash, Kids: It’s Actually Your Parent’s Responsibility, Not The Mayor’s…

Schoolchildren living in overcrowded London homes have called on Boris Johnson to help them.
Help them how? Don a fluorescent jacket, grab a hod and get to work on a building site?
Pupils at two schools and a youth club appear in a video highlighting the plight of families who live in houses where there is not enough space.

The move comes after Shelter said one in four London children is now living in overcrowded homes. This means 391,000 children are affected, according to the housing charity.
Ahhhh, right. Now the penny drops.
In the film A Question for Mr Johnson, the schoolchildren describe the impact their inadequate housing is having on their education.

Some said they find it difficult to get to sleep, so are unable to concentrate at school.

Others said they share a bedroom with their parents or brothers and sisters so have no space to play or do homework.
And god forbid this be the responsibility of your parents! Why, no, clearly it’s for ‘the government’ to provide you with the accommodation to house your growing family…
Najat Yusuf, 10, said she lives in a three-bedroom house in Queen's Park with eight other family members. She said: "One of my brothers has to live in the sitting room. Me, my sisters and my mum and dad have to live in the same room. I hope this film will make a difference to our situation."
Frankly, getting your mother’s tubes tied is likely to be the only thing that’ll make a difference to your situation…
A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: "The Mayor is committed to tackling overcrowding, which is why he made London the first city to introduce a statutory target to cut the number of overcrowded homes.

"He has delivered the largest proportion of social rented family-sized affordable housing for a decade, and introduced a new scheme to free up larger houses for overcrowded families.

"The boroughs have a major role in reducing overcrowding and the Mayor is working to coordinate these efforts, through setting up a Board and producing London's first overcrowding action plan."
Why do we need an ‘action plan’ for overcrowding? It’s the responsibility of the citizen not to outbreed his/her living space until they can pay for a bigger one, isn’t it?

18 comments:

Span Ows said...

LOL! Looks like all the comments under the article agree with you!

Anonymous said...

Lotsakids paid for by The State.

So Ahmed, fancy a quick one with Mrs Ahmed? No problem, the feckless brits will pick up the tab for the consequences. I mean, thank allah you don't have to pay the country anything towards it, hey?

Captain Haddock said...

"Najat Yusuf" .. no doubt a descendant of one of the Norman "Yusufs" who arrived with William the Bastard ..

SBC said...

Don't worry you poor little mites, dear old Boris WILL help.

Your dark soulless rat infested tenement block is due to be demolished for an Olympic Stadium for the Wiff-Waff event.

You may have to sleep seven-to-a-shed in someones allotment but you can be inspired to greatness by hearing the cheers from the stadium.

That aside I agree with Joolz about the whole tube-tying thing. Where are the Luftwaffe when you need them? Some Town planning German style.

Captain Haddock said...

They ought to consider themselves bloody fortunate ..

In whichever fly-blown, backward-i-stan, shit-hole their ancestors came from, they'd have been sharing the gaff with their goats ..

SBC said...

"In whichever fly-blown, backward-i-stan, shit-hole their ancestors came from, they'd have been sharing the gaff with their goats .."

I'll not have you say a bad word against Croydon!...and we ate the goats ages ago.

Homeland said...

Let me get this straight... This kid lives in a three bedroom house, but they all (apart from the lucky brother) have to live in one room?

Could it be the name on the rent book isn't their name?

Sub-letting, perhaps?

Thought for the day: When you have a house, you can fill it with flowers, trinkets, cinema-size TV screens or whatever, but not the result of wanting a bonk. Unless the man learns to put a stone in his shoe*

*It makes him limp. Geddit?

Gallovidian said...

I have an idea how to reduce overcrowding in London.

Anonymous said...

Can't they save up their dole money and buy a bigger house?

Dr Evil said...

It's highly unlikely any of these people actually pay anything for their homes. Most likely they are in council housing or having their rent paid by we taxpayers. Hence their appeal to Boris. If they were paying a mortgage it would be solely up to them to get a bigger hone.

Anonymous said...

Well, you know, as a single man living in a 2-bed house in London I could give up a bedroom.

Oh, wait.

I fucking own and pay for it.

Out of my own money.

That I fucking well earn.

Ian B said...

Oh my, we really are living in the time of the Mad, aren't we?

Tom Paine said...

"It’s the responsibility of the citizen not to outbreed his/her living space until they can pay for a bigger one, isn’t it?"

There are not many of us left who are old-fashioned enough to think so. Frankly, you lost most Brits when you uttered the dirty word 'responsibility'

Gallovidian said...

Brits? None of those in London surely.

Anonymous said...

I think the rule of never having more cats than you have rooms should be followed by people.

JuliaM said...

"LOL! Looks like all the comments under the article agree with you!"

Heh! When I picked it up, there weren't any, and I thought it'd be one of those 'no comments' articles...

""Najat Yusuf" .. no doubt a descendant of one of the Norman "Yusufs" who arrived with William the Bastard .."

:D

"Could it be the name on the rent book isn't their name?

Sub-letting, perhaps?"


I wonder...

"It's highly unlikely any of these people actually pay anything for their homes. "

Indeed.

JuliaM said...

"Oh my, we really are living in the time of the Mad, aren't we?"

We are indeed...

" Frankly, you lost most Brits when you uttered the dirty word 'responsibility'"

*sigh* I fear you're right.

"I think the rule of never having more cats than you have rooms should be followed by people."

Good point!

Anonymous said...

I could not find Queens Park on Rightmove, so did a search for nearby Maida Vale.

Available three bed houses range from £800K to £2.7M

So, Najat, I imagine I am paying your rent (market rates from £2,500 pcm upwards) would you therefore kindly take a nice big cup of STFU and be grateful you are put up for free in a part of the country I can't afford to live in because of you know, contraceptive and personal responsibility.

Okay pumpkin?