A SALVATION Army captain has revealed that "starving" families in Blackburn have been approaching his centre to ask for food.

It smacks of a scene from Dickensian Britain.

Most of us associate Salvation Army "customers" with individuals who have hit on hard times and dropped out of society.

Refuge at the "Sally" is their only hope.

But here we have a situation where mothers, fathers and their children are turning up at the hostel because it is the only way they are going to get a square meal for the family.

No family living in Britain in the last years of the 20th century should find itself facing this appalling plight.

There is something radically wrong with a system which cannot cope without the assistance of the Salvation Army.

It is an awful commentary on today's society.

And it certainly makes nonsense of the "trickle-down" theory which argues that as the well-off get richer those at the bottom of the pile will benefit from larger crumbs.

Any caring community should stand by those who are disadvantaged.

This devil-take-the hindmost attitude is no way to behave.

The Salvation Army does a wonderful job.

But it is not part of its job to prop up the Welfare State.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.