I am not here to ever defend the actions of the departments of the government, but I do believe in apportioning blame where it is due, and looking at the facts. The article that made me write this was of the unfortunate passing of a young lady, and the article is being shown as if it is the DWP at fault, for hounding her for years and that she dies of starvation after having her benefits removed, article here.

There have been a few incidents of these types of articles and unfortunate people, but when I take the time to read the article, something else jumps out at me, that makes me realise that the departments of government people expect to have sorted this aren’t entirely to blame, it’s a shared event.

For this particular one, I was surprised to read that she had family, although it was the police who found her weeks after death. They say she was living on a sandwich a day, because she told her mother so. Okay, so family were in regular contact, and knew she wasn’t eating enough? She wasn’t physically disabled, or mentally impaired, but had mental distress issues, and had her own place – although was obviously a struggle to maintain, and get constant funding for it from said various departments of government.

Then, further into the read, it says she had aspirations of owning a bungalow to do up, and was worried about the small amount of savings she had. So, hang on a minute. She had money, but didn’t want to use it, she had family, but they didn’t want to help her, she wasn’t completely incapable, but wouldn’t help herself? Am I missing something? I am all for having sympathy and seeing the injustice, but in an applicable situation. So, as I read on through the article, it struck me as odd that all the blame was being put on the DWP and other public services, who have a shocking record of abandoning people who they should have been there for, I won’t deny. But in this situation, I guess I am asking myself why the family didn’t make sure she was eating enough? Why weren’t they visiting regularly to check in, or help to sort them out in some way, by some means? Have we completely abandoned the idea of family and community so much, that we now only look to and expect the government and institutions and their insidious branches to solve every issue, want, need, crisis and experience of our lives? It is a tragedy that a young life not yet fulfilled is cut short, by any means. But even more so not to recognise all the failures that led to it. It seems they are often used as a weapon to throw mud at something, rather than really make sure that doesn’t happen again. Maybe one day, we will learn.

(c) K Wicks