Author Archives: EwanGurr.Scot

This article appeared in the Daily Record: 14/09/2018 [Executive Director of City Development, Mike Galloway, pictured outside the new V&A] “If Perth is the heart of Scotland then Dundee must be the armpit” said someone at a meeting I attended some years ago in Perth. Though I forcefully disagreed, the comments were reflecting disgust atContinue reading “Dundee: From Austerity to Prosperity?”

Darren McGarvey appears to be living in a whirlwind as he performs at sold out events on the Edinburgh Fringe this week, having secured a two book deal last week and won the Orwell Book Prize last month. All of this seems to be a natural outflow of the release of his debut offering –Continue reading “Review: Poverty Safari, Darren McGarvey”

This article appeared in the Daily Record: 18/08/2018 [Online], Available: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/peoples-dignity-must-prioritised-scotland-13098281 [Accessed: 2018, Aug 18] “Applying for benefits is like voluntarily admitting yourself to a torture chamber,” said one young man who came to the foodbank I was running in Dundee a few years ago. His benefits had been sanctioned because he had not bought theContinue reading “Working Your Way to Employment”

Refining our Response to Poverty The voluntary sector is a wonderfully creative, innovative and hopeful sector and I am humbled to call it my natural habitat. I believe charities have the potential to take us from being the fire-fighters of crisis intervention to becoming the whistle-blowers for crisis prevention but only if we are determinedContinue reading “Unearthing the Roots (Part Three)”

Reflecting upon the External Factors Political: “Poverty is a psychological battle. [It is] forcing myself, as a single mother, to pursue opportunities when it feels like the entire system is opposed to your achievement of success.”[1] I saw an exponential rise in demand for food in 2008 when statutory budgets were slashed following a national recession,Continue reading “Unearthing the Roots (Part Two)”

Recognising the Complexity of Poverty Over a fortnight in April, I shared stories which I referred to as symbols of poverty. While running a busy foodbank some years ago, I would often ask people how they would practically, rather than philosophically, define poverty. One single mum once said: “Poverty is going to my nearest supermarketContinue reading “Unearthing the Roots of Poverty”

01/03/2018: Next month, my former organisation will release annual statistics which will undoubtedly signal another increase in foodbank use. I wrote the article below, which appeared in The Scotsman a year ago and the message is a relevant now, as it was then. Dundee has been my home for almost two decades. It is knownContinue reading “A Clear and Coherent Strategy”

01/02/2018: The article below first appeared in the Daily Record on 4th April 2016 and depicts a forty day End Hunger Fast I did for Lent that year and which I do every year. It serves as an annual reminder that while I and my family have a choice whether or not to eat, itContinue reading “We Must End Hunger Fast”

Working in a foodbank is absolutely brutal. While the selfless souls who generously give of their collective time and energy will receive some implicit reassurance from the fact that they are not completely inactive in the face of hardship, there is still no doubt it is still a place that leaves you bruised, bereft andContinue reading “A Resolution to End Hunger”