But not to worry now we've got more millionaires in the region than anywhere else. Well, well, the freezing weather is on us again and surprise, surprise - the elderly are dying in their thousands, while British Gas, not content with making massive profits, want to make a further killing and have put 10% on gas prices over the last ten months. According to Help The Aged, the UK is the only country in Europe were the Elderly die of cold on such a massive scale. Even in Eastern Europe, where people are poorer and the weather is colder, elderly people don't die on the same scale. You would think in a 'civilized world' that those who bore the brunt of severe hardship, hard labour and child rearing, those that have kept the wealthy in their luxurious lifestyles should, when older, be reaping the rewards of their labour. But no, like child poverty, it is elderly people in the North West who are hardest hit, with a staggering 3,600 more people dying last winter compared to those who died in the summer: (the national figure is 22,000).
The majority of these deaths are avoidable say Help the Aged. And they warn that unless the government tackles the extreme poverty causing elderly people to become vulnerable to illness in winter, then the governments fuel poverty strategy is useless.
Recent research has shown older people need at least £150 per week to continue to live healthily, but 75pc of pensioners in the UK do not have that amount.
Despite the fact that Blair and his war criminal mates can find £billions to bomb the poor, poverty stricken, innocent people in a country far away. Despite the fact that we live in a region that has more millionaires than anywhere else in the country. Despite the fact that we live in a city that for 20 years has seen conmen, calling themselves consultants, accountants or some other professional title, pocketing the millions that was meant to make our lives easier. Despite all that, again it is down to charities like Help the Aged or Age Concern to call for a 'Fight the Freeze' campaign; and to appeal to the public to put their hands in their pockets to help the elderly pay their bills. And even then the grubby capitalists still get a portion of the money from the building societies and banks where you deposit the money.
People Not Profit will continue to fight against a world where profit comes before everything: people, cultures, the environment and the planet. And we will fight for a world, of caring, of community, where all we produce and work for will be geared to benefit us all, and not a tiny elite. After September 11th, the message should have been 'Another world is needed'. Instead what we got was the same war-mongers, the billionaires, the same crooks and gangsters carrying on with even more ferocity, their plans of taking over the world and leaving a trail of destruction, devastation and murder. But despite their threats, their repressive laws, their plans to silence dissenting voices, despite all that - the vibrations of resistance are still spreading throughout the globe, in the hearts of the dispossessed, the landless, the unemployed, the casual workers, and from continent to continent people are striking, blocking, occupying, fighting and shouting: " We want another world and we believe another world is possible."