No Christmas Cheer

Inequality in the UK is now so extreme that the five richest families are wealthier than the bottom 20 per cent of the entire population, according to Oxfam. Meanwhile, the housing charity Shelter predicts that 93,000 children will be homeless this Christmas, as the number of homeless families trapped in temporary or emergency accommodation exceeds 60,000.

An estimated 18 million will start 2015 carrying credit card debt, owing an average of £2,729. Up to eight million Brits are still paying off debts from last Christmas, as household incomes fell for the third year in a row during 2014. Figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation show that one in five of working-age adults without children were also living in poverty. Real wages are also falling: among the lowest paid 25 per cent, pay has fallen by 40p an hour for women and 70p an hour for men.

As 2014 draws to a close there are 13 million people in poverty – including 27 per cent of the 2.5 million children in the UK, according to the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).

Alison Garnham, chief executive of CPAG, said: “Thousands of families will be panicking about not having money to get by, rather than panic buying this weekend. “Clobbered by low wages, soaring housing costs and real terms cuts in benefits, these households have taken the biggest austerity cuts and don’t have a margin for festive extras.”

Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said “The biggest group of people who are poor are in work and renting. That gives us a new insecurity in this country.”

The Trussell Trust warned it is expecting its busiest Christmas ever in providing emergency rations – with one million people now relying on food banks run by the charity and other organisations. Trussell Trust chair Chris Mould. “At Christmas time, when people will be spending more than they have ever done before, we have also tens of thousands of people who haven’t got enough to buy food for themselves and families.”

Did you know that 65 percent of all children in the United States live in a home that receives welfare. This year, almost one out of every five households in the United States will go through the holiday season on food stamps. One recent survey found that about 22 percent of all Americans have had to turn to a church food panty for assistance.

Christmas is a time for children and we all forget the old and lonely. Half a million pensioners were thought to have spent Christmas in bed in 2010 just to keep warm. An Age UK spokesperson said: "Winter can be a very lonely time for some older people, as the cold weather makes it more difficult to get out and about. But if then at home, they are also reduced to extreme measures such as living in one room or staying in bed all day to try and keep their heating bill down, winter can become a truly miserable time."

In the Chinese city of Yiwu 60% of all the world’s Christmas decorations and accessories, from glowing fibre-optic trees to felt Santa hats. The “elves” that staff these factories are mainly migrant labourers, working 12 hours a day for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month. The Yiwu International Trade Market, aka China Commodity City, is  a 4 million square metre wonder-world of plastic tat, declared by the UN to be the “largest small commodity wholesale market in the world”. It’s now losing out to internet giants like Alibaba and Made In China. On Alibaba alone, you can order 1.4m different Christmas decorations to be delivered to your door at the touch of a button. Yiwu market, by comparison, stocks a mere 400,000 products.

Perhaps we can all reflect on the stories of over-stretched food-banks and start demanding an end to the intolerable poverty around the world. Christmas is a sad season for the poor. It is a time for giving – a time to buy gifts for family and friends and helping the unfortunate. There are food donations for the food bank, and campaigns of all kinds to help those in need, including toy drives. It is a good-hearted thing people do. But the issue of poverty is not going to be solved by a once-a-year campaign. The best they can hope for and goal, is to to do away with such need for charity. Before you sit down to open presents or enjoy a holiday feast tomorrow or at some other point over the coming days, take a moment to think about the case for socialism