The Empire's Old Clothes

Who knew it? Britain's greatest modern export
is not some well made highly skilled industrial product,
but the used domestic goods and second hand clothes
that British households leave to charities with use in them.
What the charity does not put in their shops they sells to dealers
which is how the goods end up in eastern europe,
where many locals can't make a living through work.
They want to go where the clothes come from
because futures seem more assured there.

Once examined, the best clothes get snapped up by dealers
for reselling on the local ebay. The remaining good clothes
are further resold to dealers based in the African continent.
Whatever is left gets shredded, turned into briquettes
 to fire the furnaces which power the nearby concrete works.

No wonder so many migrants attempt to enter Britain,
when they see the quality of goods we reject, little realising
that the very rejection of so much proves how false we are. 
      

The Shadow On The Face Of Modern Charity

Once upon a time the world was poorer,
and discomfort was normal for the masses
(they didn't vote so what did it matter?).
But there were a lot of private charities.
which applied some sort of Christianity
to soften the dis-ease of absolute poverty.
In 1921 Earl Hague formed The Legion.
With no British welfare state, they took up
the aim of supporting demobbed soldiers
and sailors, which back then seemed patriotic,
and vital for 'building the peace'.
The 'Royal' was added to their name in 1971,
when finally they were chartered.
It is a universal given that all charities drift
from their starting mission,
time dictates that they reinvent themselves,
their brand and activities,or die a quiet death.
And with reinvention comes dilution of aim.
What I have to say won't matter a jot,
nor do I want to decide how to separate
need from want (who would? who could?).
But where The Legion,
like others, once met basic needs,
with modern materialism they now serve Luxuria.