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Eric Joyce


GordieBoy80

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The guy's a mess. After getting into a shameful argument on Twitter with Hardeep Singh Kohli and others he then posted this on his blog:

http://ericjoyce.co.uk/2014/09/glasgows-george-square-foodbank-fetishists-and-poverty-porn/

There is a place where kindliness and charity tips into narcissism and self-promotion. For now it’s George Square in Glasgow, where a pop-up foodbank is being fetishized by people who helped Glasgow vote Yes to Scottish independence.

Is this phenomenon a momentary response to a momentous stimulus, part of the recent pepper-potting of control over this important civic space between the two sides in the referendum? Or does it provide us with an insight into the nature of post-referendum Scotland?

The Scottish referendum was a robust old affair which saw working-class Glasgow’s clear Yes outbid by middle-Scotland’s resounding No. Much of that middle-class resides in Glasgow, too, of course – in council houses bought thanks to Margaret Thatcher and in beautiful, leafy suburbs lined with red and blonde sandstone. The dominant public narrative in Glasgow, for now, however, is disappointment turning to anger coupled with maudlin sentiment masquerading as civic pride and noble expression of collective identity.

Opportunism plays it part, of course. In George Square, a well-intentioned gesture of ‘peace and harmony’ following a turbulent time turned into an impromptu foodbank, but then morphed into a rallying point for still-high Yes campaigners.

This latter transformation was facilitated by the ‘news editor’ who, mistaking reporting for activism, tweeted his pride at what had manifestly become a political statement – carefully misquoting personal criticism as criticism of donors themselves, urging on the mob via social media. It was moved along by the local celebrity who, in his concern for Glasgow’s poor forgot that he is most famous in the city as a landlord once banned by the local authority Council from letting his sub-standard flats to said poor people; and by another who took the opportunity to tout the hashtag for her latest book; by the trades union figure who, in flight from Labour has run into the arms of a party of corporation tax-cuts and local pay-bargaining. Then the mob fell upon any criticism – easy, angry tweets confused with social activism.

So far, so normal. The truly striking thing about this raising of an impromptu foodbank to the status of a minor religious icon is that is asks people to parade their charity and be applauded – and it tells ‘the deserving poor’ to come forward and be grateful. It’s a nod to the dark side of Victoriana.

Supporting Yes was a perfectly valid and decent choice. Yet the Yes campaigners have, through their elected representatives, had the power to raise extra tax for years but have never fancied it. They’d prefer to cut corporation tax than raise income tax. They cast benefits to their own comfortably-off – free tuition fees, free prescriptions and the rest – rather than benefits targeted at the least well-off – as somehow left-of-centre when in truth the fact that they are the opposite is the secret of the SNP’s success in what used to be the Tory shires of Scotland.

Glasgow is a super city filled with friendly, creative, hard-working folk. The George Square jamboree seeks to reduce Glasgow to a city of poverty-porn. The city famously has it’s problems, of course, but these can only be dealt with properly-funded social programmes over time. Free food, quietly and efficiently delivered, might well have its place. Foodbank fetishism, on the other hand, serves only the purveyors.

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It's hard to really hate him purely because he got pissed up and started punching tories about.

What about the driving whilst pissed up and abusing airport staff when pissed up and claiming more expenses than anyone would have thought possible (and yet he hasn't even got a duck island to rest his weary pissed up head on after spending it all on getting pissed up).

I'm starting to think there might be a common thread running through all this merry behaviour,

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Stop their existence and you stop them being a political weapon. Simple as that.

Spot on. Every company I've worked for in the States has an annual food drive where, for a week, you can bring in food, clothes and toys. This allows people to feel good for contributing while avoiding to look the destitute in the eye. There isn't any feeling of shock that foodbanks exist. It's kind of routine.

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Theres foodbanks here in London, as well as many dozens of billionaires.

The social problems don't stop at the Scottish border but then the choice was taken last week by us to help nobody, rather than just the poor in Scotland.

We are United in servitude and little else. Only the folk living in the 100 odd swing seats in England and a maybe 2 in Scotland have a real say in what government we end up with.

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What about the driving whilst pissed up and abusing airport staff when pissed up and claiming more expenses than anyone would have thought possible (and yet he hasn't even got a duck island to rest his weary pissed up head on after spending it all on getting pissed up).

LAD

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I don't agree with H_B on his views on Scottish Independence but one of his finest hours was his email (?) conversations with Eric Joyce where he tore him apart on pretty much every point he attempted to make. Sadly I think these posts have been lost from the site in The Great Purge.

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I think he might have a smidgen of a point about poverty-porn. However, he is an absolutely shambles. He'll be living in a bin within a year of getting turfed.

There's always Celebrity Big Brother. He'll be up for making a c**t of himself. He might even get a ride off a reality TV star.

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I don't agree with H_B on his views on Scottish Independence but one of his finest hours was his email (?) conversations with Eric Joyce where he tore him apart on pretty much every point he attempted to make. Sadly I think these posts have been lost from the site in The Great Purge.

That was funny, bordering on cruel.

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Spot on. Every company I've worked for in the States has an annual food drive where, for a week, you can bring in food, clothes and toys. This allows people to feel good for contributing while avoiding to look the destitute in the eye. There isn't any feeling of shock that foodbanks exist. It's kind of routine.

To be fair, same happens here in churches up and down the country, both in Fresh Start collections and harvest festivals.

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