A Place To Stay

Hello, dear readers!

As you may or may not know, I like to keep things light here on The Seated Perspective Blog. I like to keep it bright, breezy, and, for the most part, stay out of the thornier issues which plague this word of ours.

Sometimes, however, that goal is unreachable. Sometimes there are issues I feel unable to turn away from and, let’s face it, the war raging in Ukraine right now is just such an issue.
People Problems
It’s not so much the war itself, or the politics surrounding it upon which I feel compelled to write, although I would much, much rather there was no war, ever, anywhere. No, it’s not the geopolitical aspects of the conflict that trouble me the most, but the plight of the ordinary people of the region. Those who are bereaved, those who have lost families and livelihoods. The displaced. The homeless.

I don’t think anyone can blame people for wanting to flee the bombs and the guns that have destroyed their cities, jobs and houses. I certainly wouldn’t want to be anywhere near such destruction and I think most people would be of the same mind. The issue is, what becomes of such people?

At the time of writing refugees have been taken in by several countries, including Poland (1,808,436(), Hungary (263,888), Slovakia (213,000), Moldova (337,215), Romania (453,432), Russia (142,994), and Belarus (1,475) (all figures as of 15 March: source; BBC). In countries bordering Ukraine, refugees can stay in reception centres if they do not have friends or relatives to stay with. They are given food and medical care, and information about onward travel. Meanwhile, our government has asked people to give up their spare bedrooms.

Migration Patterns
I know that the U.K. has a mixed relationship (at best) with people coming to this country from elsewhere. There’s the fear that such immigrants are going to steal our jobs, which says a lot about people’s confidence in either their own skills or their companies’ abilities to exploit migrant workers. Of course, while these immigrants are doing so, they are, at the exact same time, lazing about, stealing benefits, and adding nothing to the economy. Schrodinger would be proud.

But this isn’t about whether we, as a rich and bountiful land that likes to believe itself a leader on the world stage, should accept those torn from their lives by the tragedies of war. It’s about how we go about that.

On the one hand, we already have a homelessness problem here in one of the richest economies of the world (for shame). There are people living on the streets right now within walking distance of the financial capital and people who make transactions worth millions on a daily basis and people will, quite rightly, say what about them? Why don’t we deal with them first? With which I have two problems.

The first is the reason behind such homelessness. There are those on the streets who are there due to abuse, or drugs, or drink, or a myriad other reasons. People who need more than a roof over their head and food on their table. It doesn’t mean that they don’t need help, but it does change the help they need and how that help is given.

Space - The Final Frontier
The other issue I have is it presupposes an either/or situation, which personally I view as a false dichotomy. We have room, in this country of ours, to house our homeless and take in refugees as well, especially if the latter is on a temporary basis.

There are unused community centres, sports and athletic centres, and other public spaces, and that’s before camp sites, caravan parks, and private homes such as second properties or empty rental properties are even considered (there is a rumour the queen has quite a lot of space going spare).

No room is not and never has been an issue. Allocation of resource has, and the answer to that issue is one for bigger brains than mine. All I do know, is that if the U.K. is to live up to its reputation as a leader of the ‘free’ world, then it is times like these that leadership needs to be evidenced.

Until next time

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Hey, folks! If you would care to take a look at some of my more creative writing, then the links below will transport you to the magical worlds of two anthologies my short (and in one case, very short) stories have been included in. Feel free to check’em out!

New Tales Of Old: Volume 2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09TMVTX9H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Death Ship

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9198684140/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_TWEMTA3KWK7T89QEZPF6?fbclid=IwAR322Fx5nfgVUQAA62ZZ6CUsNnBm8pbSxPanzz6Qkjg3vAv4ESipq7iKKhs

https://www.waterstones.com/book/death-ship/david-green/s-o-green/9789198684148?fbclid=IwAR2gP4CXHSG7wTccO39wOqXFtI81k0259Ep8DUM48Ki6kTUdlKoF3yafojA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9198684140/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A2XZ7JICGUQ1CX&psc=1&fbclid=IwAR2Wa6sGxb82_VCsC7l1CGXwHjsSwTheqba6jDX_G8EDsywZoGpC93nXr2w

Reaperman

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reaperman-Drabbles-3-Legends-Night-ebook/dp/B099NNPTQ1A