Harry Johnson
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harryejohnson.bsky.social
Harry Johnson
@harryejohnson.bsky.social
Programme Lead for the Pathfinder Programme at Trussell. Currently completing a Churchill Fellowship. Thinking about the changing role of food banks, community power, and trees. Based in Scotland. All views are my own.
Reposted by Harry Johnson
'Food bank volunteers might not be able to go on strike, but they can imagine a better future. And they can continue to urge the government to stick to its manifesto promise to end the ‘moral scar on our society’ that has swept them up in its wake.' @bigissue.com

www.bigissue.com/opinion/keir...
Keir Starmer promised to end food bank Britain. What happened?
Food bank volunteers are having to face facts, writes Sabine Goodwin, director of the Independent Food Aid Network.
www.bigissue.com
May 16, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by Harry Johnson
Latest DWP Family Resources Survey data just released. Of households reporting severe food insecurity over the last 30 days (skipping meals, being unable to afford food) 84% did not use a food bank - Food bank use is as ever the tip of the food insecurity iceberg.

www.gov.uk/government/s...
March 27, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Harry Johnson
See jrf.org.uk/social-secur... for @jrf-uk.bsky.social analysis from me looking at the c400 welfare changes (mostly cuts) scored the OBR since 2010. A £6bn cut containing a £5bn PIP cut is unprecedented - and I use that word advisedly.
March 16, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Harry Johnson
The proposed cuts to disability benefits are unacceptable and immoral, full stop.

And if the big cuts come from PIP, the impact on the SG's budget will also be massive.

The next SG will have to cut disability payments too or fill the gap and find the money on a fixed budget.
March 12, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Coming back from the US and Canada, I’m carrying a heavy feeling—a deep sense of defeat at how far society can drift from morality and decency. Among the many unhoused people I saw, three faces stay with me: a mother, father, and their tiny baby, no older than a few months, begging at a crossroad.
December 2, 2024 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Harry Johnson
New @jrf-uk.bsky.social research reveals Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani families are up to 5x more likely to be living in persistent very deep poverty compared to white families in the UK.

We must continue applying a race equity lens to analysis of poverty.

www.jrf.org.uk/race-and-eth...
Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani households at higher risk of very deep, long-term poverty
Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani households are 2 to 3 times more likely to experience persistent very deep poverty, compared to white households.
www.jrf.org.uk
December 2, 2024 at 10:09 AM
Really good piece from @johnharris1969.bsky.social on the lack of powerful story from Labour and the centre-left more broadly. Would really recommend his podcast from 2018, 'The Tyranny of Story', which I listen to at least once a year: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand....
December 2, 2024 at 4:13 PM
At the end of two months visiting organisations involved in emergency food across the US & Canada. The scale has been staggering, the stories harrowing, and I’m leaving with deep anxiety about the future of food banking in the UK—unless government takes meaningful action. More reflections to come.
November 22, 2024 at 6:43 PM