Cameron’s Gini and the hidden hierarchy of worth

Last Updated: June 9, 2014By

Cameron talking about equality? Shurely shome mishtake…

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2 Comments

  1. Methusalada June 9, 2014 at 7:47 pm - Reply

    Now your in the real country on what are the alternatives in the prevention of death , disability, poverty and discrimination upon those unable to fight back .Keep going Mike don’t look to Miliband for the solution , think wider !

  2. Sasson Hann June 10, 2014 at 9:08 am - Reply

    I think he must mean it the other way around, that inequality is as bad, if not worse than 1986!

    That year is seared into my brain. My second child was born. My husband back then was working, but because Thatcher scrapped housing benefit for low paid working people, and privatised water that used to be included in your rent, we were in a desperate situation.

    It wasn’t just the fact that there was no money for holidays or a night out, we couldn’t afford to live. The council flat was damp with inch thick mold on the walls because we couldn’t afford to put the heating on; we had continual chillblanes and chest infections as a result, and couldn’t afford prescription charges. I nearly died from an asthma attack at one point.

    Food was an issue. We basically survived on offal, but even then barely had enough for one meal a day. The shops were miles away so I had to lug bags home on foot as there was no money for transport apart from my husband traveling to work. We could barely afford soap. There wasn’t even any money for the personal items a woman might need each month.

    Things got much worse over the next few years. My shoes wore out, and were full of holes. I had no winter coat. My underwear had fallen apart. Our gas and electric were cut off no end of times. All our clothes smelled of mildew as we couldn’t dry them properly which was humiliating. It must have been terrible for the children, especially the one the attending school.

    When we realised we’d have to pay poll tax as well, I eventually had to take a night job, but was never able to get enough sleep as I still had the children to look after in the day with one being too young for school and the other at school. We just about managed then, but it was a nightmare existence for me.

    I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that we were working yet couldn’t afford the most basic standard of living. It was the most darkest depressing time of my life, and it’s like that again now for many, if not worse.

    So how Cameron has worked out that people were better off back then I do not know. Perhaps it’s because we were better off than the poorest now; yes, I think that must be it.

    Sasson Hann

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