the awful food parcel pictures all over here atm reveal so much about how this govt view poverty. 1) the story of ‘them’ and ‘us’ where ‘us’ is the hardworking majority, the strivers, paying for the lifestyles of ‘them’, the workshy skivers on the take;

2) the story that poverty is caused by people’s bad budgeting and poor choices; and 3) the story that our successes are all down to our own hard work, rather than the benefits of our networks or our inherited privilege - so those who are struggling just need to try harder

until we can expose these stories as they myths they are, people will continue to see poverty as a big problem- but one that’s been created by poor people. and on those terms, the answer to how to tackle poverty will always involve judging and not trusting those experiencing it

SOME FACTS THAT MIGHT HELP. 1) ‘poor people’ is a v fluid population. pre-covid, a million people lost their jobs every 3 months; another million found work. people move in and out of work due to health, family, retiring. there isnt a ‘them’ and ‘us’ (see John Hills for more)

2) 2/3s of kids in poverty have a parent in work. people are poor because wages haven’t risen in a decade, because benefits haven’t kept up with the cost of living, because housing is so expensive. economic change not bad budgeting is behind rising poverty (see @resfoundation)

3) from our own work at @LittleVillageHQ we see how easy it is for a small blip like a broken washing machine or benefit delay to tip people into crisis. once there, it is almost impossible to escape on your own. people need a lifeline to help them back to safer ground.

4) finally POLICY MATTERS. it can mitigate against economic trends or intensify them. in 10 yrs, we’ve seen benefit freezes, caps, limits on which kids get support- the cumulative effect is devastating. and don’t even get me started on cuts to early years services. (see @CPAGUK)

in short: these pitiful food parcels are the inevitable result of a world where families are being blamed for their own poverty. it doesn’t have to be like this and i am so glad that @MarcusRashford @BootstrapCook and others are using this moment to really bring that point home.

ps GIVE FAMILIES MONEY. parents on low incomes are forced to be the most brilliant budget managers on a daily basis. it is the only decent, dignified thing to do.