Friday, March 14, 2014

How they see us

Rachel Johnson, former editor of the up-market The Lady magazine, but better known as sister of London Mayor, Boris, spent some time living with a family in Deptford of more modest means , for a television show.

 Johnson claimed her friends were now envious of her as many of them had never encountered poor people. "Bizarrely, I think there’s a lot of envy. ‘Lucky old Rachel, she went on poverty safari!’ An experience they can never have, even with all the money they’ve got,” she said.

Johnson told the Radio Times: “There’s this terrible sense of human waste. They’re existing, rather than living, like battery hens. Apart from the telly and the cigarettes, they are living like animals.”

A report last year from the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that at least 4.7 million Brits could be described as being in food poverty. Food poverty is defined as having no choice but to spend 10 per cent or more of their household income on food. According to the report the average household food bill will rocket by a whopping £357 by 2017. 27 Anglican bishops have criticised David Cameron for creating a “national crisis” which had led to 500,000 Britons visiting UK food banks.

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