Aberdeen - Poverty at ±«Óãtv
Darren travels to oil-rich Aberdeen, where he discovers a city in flux. With the nation's highest number of food banks, Darren discovers the human cost of austerity.
In the last episode of the series, Darren McGarvey - aka Scottish rapper Loki - is in the oil capital of Europe, Aberdeen, exploring homelessness, food poverty and faith.
Setting the pace, Darren reveals the city of two halves: it's the most expensive place to live in Scotland and yet has the fastest rising rates of unemployment anywhere in the UK.
His first stop is meeting John, an alcoholic and drug addict who became homeless two years ago after a break-up with his partner. As he takes Darren under his wing, John reveals some secrets of the streets, along with the pain of knowing his family are in the same city. Next, Darren helps Eddie, a local charity worker with Somebody Cares, who kits out over 4,000 homes a year, providing thousands of pounds of free sofas, beds, white goods and clothes to those in need. Answering a crisis call they go to help 70-year-old pensioner Michael, who lost all his possessions after he was evicted from his council home. Outside, an impassioned and visibly angered Darren wonders just what is wrong with society that it evicts a pensioner in the middle of the winter.
Yet Aberdeen continues to be a magnet for outsiders, flocking to a city paved with gold. Darren meets Polish-born Daniel, who was a lorry driver during the boom years but later became disabled. Unable to claim key disability benefits due to his nationality, Daniel divulges how faith helps him in his darkest moments. Keeping with this theme, Darren reveals Aberdeen now has more food banks than any other city, to the extent that they have become places for people like Danny to carry out their Community Payback orders. And yet the need is reaching epidemic proportions.
Darren meets volunteers Michelle and Justin of Street Friends who, four nights a week, head into the city centre to feed those who live on the streets. It's a tragedy that one in five people live in poverty - but how do we change things? Standing on a windy Aberdonian beach, Darren asks if its time to criminalise poverty.
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- Tue 8 Oct 2019 22:00
- Sat 12 Oct 2019 22:00
- Thu 23 Apr 2020 23:30
- Wed 15 Dec 2021 23:00
- Tue 15 Nov 2022 23:30
- Tue 12 Dec 2023 23:30
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