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Our rulers tell us they are ideologically opposed to handouts.

Swap the word handouts for charity — for that’s what the term is covering — and reflect on how odd that sounds.

The wealthy parliamentarians that rule over us and their propagandists in the press are ideologically opposed to charity.

I sit on the opposite end of the spectrum, as do many of lesser means: I believe charity is a duty.

I believe it as an obligation on those with the means to help those living in poverty, or burdened in some other way, at their time of need.

This doesn’t mean I am a scrounger — or charity recipient. Personally, I have never claimed a state benefit even when unemployed; I set up as freelance instead and sought whatever meagre income I could.

I write on this matter not as one who hopes and expects to oneday be a recipient of handouts — or charity — but as one who ideologically believes that it is the duty of those with means to help those without.

We really should start calling out the insanely rich, who claim to be ideologically opposed to handouts, while giving handouts to the wealthy.

They are not ideologically opposed to handouts; they’re ideologically opposed to helping the poor and disenfranchised. The very opposite of the call of faith.