http://www.presseurop.eu/en The best of the European press in 10 languages enhttp://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/379181-austerity-clears-poor-out-london“Benefit cuts will ‘force poor out of south’”, headlines the Guardian. In the wake of the UK’s 20 October austerity budget, a new study warns that in the next decade “large swathes of southern England will become off limits to housing benefit recipients.” As part of its £81 billion (€94 billion) series of cuts, the government has imposed a weekly ceiling of £250 (€290) on allowances for two bedroom flats and £400 (€463) for four-bedroom homes. London’s famously exorbitant rents will increase to such an extent that by 2025, much of the capital’s commuter belt will be “a no-go area,” the study notes, predicting a mass migration of the poor to the unemployment blackspot that is the north. The proposed cuts have already incurred the wrath of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has likened them to "Kosovo-style social cleansing".

 

 

 

(News in brief)]]>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:15:42 +0100379181 http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/157701-cold-snap-revives-national-conscienceThe recent cold snap may have had Belgians shivering, but it has also prompted "a wave of solidarity with the homeless," reports De Standaard. Thanks to a number of private initiatives, several families who had spent weeks sleeping in the Gare du Nord in Brussels have been given temporary accommodation. Eight Slovaks who wanted to return to their country "after weeks of poverty in unsanitary conditions in Brussels," were offered a hotel for the night and a free flight home by a businessman philanthropist. King Albert II has made available two apartments in his estate at Ciergnon, and a military barracks will soon provide accommodation for 24 more people. The Flemish daily wonders "why in a country like Belgium, you can still find children sleeping outdoors in freezing weather," and blames apathy among the country's politicians.

(News in brief)]]>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:44:20 +0100157701 http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/43491-vauban-revolution-will-not-be-motorisedTue, 30 Jun 2009 19:41:02 +010043491