A Christmas Story

Well, as we approach the festivities of Christmas we recall the entrance into time and history of Our Lord, born of the Virgin Mary in the poverty of the stable. Goodwill to all men is the traditional cry around this time of year.

Yet, as Pope Francis reminds us regularly, poverty and lack of basic necessities remains a sorrowful feature of our societies. So often, the powerful and mighty of this world conspire to crush the lives of the poor, or to treat the poor as something - hardly persons - to be disdained or despised.

The goodwill of the season has not yet reached into the hearts of BHT, nor Brighton and Hove City Council, as George and Diane still await news of their whereabouts come January 4th 2014.

In what should be preparations for Christmas, George and Diane are now making preparations for homelessness. The local authority have told them that since BHT's Olympus House is set to close and then re-open for a new remit, by 4th of January they will have overstayed their welcome. If the local authority - who adamantly refuse to place them anywhere in Brighton - do not move to place them somewhere, then not only does homelessness beckon for them, but they have been told by the manager of Olympus House that their belongings will be taken away to the local amenity site to be dumped as refuse.

Christmas cheer? Not around here! Even Diane's social worker is said to be horrified by the brutality and cold-heartedness of personnel working in Brighton's housing team, since George and Diane are victims in the changes in remit at Olympus House. Just imagine being told that from after Christmas you have to get out of a property and that all your stuff is going to get dumped! Diane has quite serious mental health problems and I genuinely worry for her safety. George, too, is understandably 'cracking up'. This is not a story that BHT have been keen to discuss, nor a story that The Argus appear too interested in either.