It seems that in the climate- and war-mongering U.K., things are not going so well if we apply FDR’s inalienable right to “freedom from want.” RT reports that the English Collective of Prostitutes, a London-based group that advises women in the so-called sex industry how to say safe and out of trouble with the law, says calls to its helpline increased by a third this summer. According to spokeswoman Niki Adams: “Across the board what we’re seeing is people coming to that work from a place of desperation.… That means they are much less able to protect themselves from violence and exploitation.” Beyond The Streets, a charity that helps women exit prostitution, is seeing an increase in women selling “survival sex.” “We call it that because it’s the only choice these women can make to survive. It’s done to meet basic needs—to have enough money for food and rent” (as if people went into prostitution for, say, a career choice).
One driving factor in the rise in prostitution, especially among families headed by single women, are the Malthusian cuts in the U.K.’s child benefits program, shifting into what is called a “Universal Credit System,” which limits aid to families for only two children, and will significantly worsen life for 900,000 welfare recipients. Impacted by this reduction of income, one woman “started doing a couple of evenings a week on the streets—just enough to pay each bill,” Adams said, on the streets because she had four young children at home. The government pays low-income households £1,200 ($1,491) in direct payments, plus £400 ($473) in energy payments (an internet search shows the cheapest place to rent in London is in the East London borough of Havering, £1,170 per month; a typical heating bill is £800/month).
The return to Charles Dickens’ miserable London. In the early 18nth century, there were an estimated 10,000 prostitutes in London alone, openly advertised in such directories as The Whoremonger’s Guide to London. The Third Report of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 2016-17 Session, estimated 32,000 prostitutes in London—and that is before the wild 2022 green-fueled inflation.
