Shifting the poor

In 1970s Oxford my roommate told me that the local police regularly beat tramps and beggars with rubber torches and motored them out of the city.

Things haven’t changed much. A few days ago there was a post on Facebook about a group of Norwich rough sleepers sheltering in a mall who had cold water thrown over them and their sleeping-bags.

But it’s getting more systematic.

Someone I talk to in the Local Authority tells me they’re seeing a pattern of applications for special needs assessment for children of families who have [been] relocated from London to here in the Midlands, where rents are cheaper. If a special school is indicated, then that’s around £25,000 p.a. – per child, and families of SEN children often have more than one.

My contact says a left field idea would be to buy such families a house outright, in well-off Solihull. Overall, it would save us a packet. It’s a bit like playing “Find the Lady“, palming off the losing Queen of Spades to a fellow player.

There’ll be more of this, and we’re pretty much financially bust already.

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