A few days ago, a glossy homes magazine posted a message on Twitter entitled something along the lines of ‘Every child deserves a gorgeous bedroom’. The tweet linked to an article outlining all of the various things people might buy to make their little one’s bedroom stand out from the rest.
Unfortunately for this glossy homes magazine, they chose to tweet this message on the very morning that housing and homelessness charity Shelter launched its Christmas Emergency Appeal highlighting the 80,000 children in the UK who will be homeless this Christmas.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron recently gave a speech about his commitment to the cause of permanent austerity for the nation. He spoke at a white tie state banquet for the new Lord Mayor at the Guildhall, using a golden chair and a golden lectern, after having partaken in a champagne reception, and a four course meal with wine, port, whisky and brandy.
Rarely have there been such poignant examples of the current polarity of the haves and have-nots in the UK in evidence in today’s media. The above tweet was obviously pulled, as it disappeared without trace presumably as soon as the glossy magazine felt its shame at sitting side by side with such shocking statistics. No such red-faced humiliation yet from the current Government.
Further examples of the juxtapositions between rich and poor are appearing in the media every day. A recent report claimed that house prices being asked in the capital have risen by £50k in a month, an increase driven largely by investors from home and abroad. Meanwhile a BBC Panorama documentary ‘The Great Housing Price Bubble?’ highlighted the fact that the number of people in the UK relying on food banks to survive has tripled in the last year. Plus energy prices are rocketing way above inflation. Many people are having to choose whether to stay warm, to pay the mortgage or to eat. Even the former Conservative Prime Minister Sir John Major has joined in the debate, seemingly so ashamed at the “truly shocking” privilege of his party’s privately educated elite that he felt compelled to speak out against them.
The ‘squeezed middle classes’ are not unaffected, with the Government encouraging them to take on 95% mortgages via the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme. Moving house stimulates the economy, which is obviously what the Government wants. However, in many areas house prices have risen to such an extent that many now can’t afford to move house without this ‘help’ from the state. With wage rises still not being in line with general price rises and interest rate rises seeming inevitable in the long term, most commentators are seeing the scheme as a short-sighted recipe for financial ruin.
The hard fact is, it’s not such a stretch for many families to imagine themselves as statistics in Shelter’s aforementioned 80,000 Homeless at Christmas campaign. Anecdotally, back in October parents at my Son’s infant school busied themselves with finding jars of Lloyd Grossman sauces and bags of pasta to donate to the local church, who would pass them on to those in need as part of the Harvest Festival. Then an email came through from someone in the know. The store cupboard items would be sent to the local food bank, and what the food bank really needed was toilet rolls, soap, shampoo, washing up liquid and washing powder. People are not able to afford to wash themselves. This is in ‘prosperous’ Surrey.
So, if you will, imagine that your child is one of the 80,000 who will be homeless this Christmas. Despite all your best efforts, your children will wake up in a strange, cold place on Christmas morning, and you have very little to give them. You love them so much but there is nothing you have been able to do. You are actually just relieved that you all have a roof over your heads at this time of year. In the meantime, all the Old Etonians who make the decisions chatter over their festive table runners and free range turkeys. It sounds Dickensian –remember Tiny Tim? But it is Great Britain, here, now, in the 21st century. ‘Cost of living’crisis? Ed Miliband is – clearly – bang on the money.
Lucy Smith 