Back to the Future/Forward to the Past

It seems horrible to me that some people are having to choose between heating and eating. How on earth did this happen? Food banks and soup kitchens have been around for a long time, but when did they become so necessary for so many? Blinking between centuries; never mind the 1980s, this is a trip back to some strange version of the 1840s, when the lack of welfare safety in Britain may have shored up the entrepeneurial determination of some, but it destroyed many. Philanthropy was at least considered honourable, charity a good thing. Prudence may verged on parsimony, but no-one called greed good.

Much as I love Victoriana, if it ain't steampunk/gothic playtime, I'm getting back in the DeLorean.
We had - still have - something here worth fighting for; an idea. From each according to ability, to each according to need. When did this become anathema?

Just watching as leaves swirl upwards from the tallest trees opposite our house. The leaves blow towards my study window, up over the roof. Between them a plane flies away, and St Paul sits tiny in the distance. I have a lot to do today, so will cheer myself up with this picture of a man taking his crab for a walk. http://imgur.com/QeaGhev