The canon of Westminster Abbey, Nicholas Sagovsky, is currently living off a Red Cross food parcel and £5, as part of a week long exercise, to find out what life is like for desitute refused asylum seekers in the UK. I spoke to the canon before he began the exercise and will be speaking to him at the end in order to write a feature. He is a commissioner of the Independent Asylum Commission, which is currently carrying out a nationwide review of the asylum system, and feels that it is inherently wrong that the current system leads to large number of refused asylum seekers becoming desitute. He is highly aware that he is only making a small gesture but I think it's a significant one. It is also a brave to make such a public statement while living literally in the shadows of the Houses of Parliament where the very policies he is criticising were created.

If more people in the public eye were willing to speak out on controvesial issues we would have  much fairer society.

What's in the food parcel?

So far all I have been told is pilchards (urrggh!) and biscuits. I will get the proper low down tomorrow and let you know.

I remember when i lived near Belfast a minister used to sleep rough in the city centre for the whole month of December to highlight the plight of the homeless. For some reason he was known locally as " The Black Santa" and if my memory serves me he slept on the steps of the City Hall in a sleeping bag which he felt was quite luxurious compared to other people. Many people gave donations of money and food and blankets and such like for distribution among  the homeless community.

The reveiw involved hearing testimonys from lots of different asylum seekers. The canon directed me towards this one which is really powerful. Germain at http://www.humanrightstv.com/episode/240