Doubtless, our friends who use the food bank will be dancing on the streets of Bristol once they’ve digested the news that inflation has slipped to 10.7% in November, falling back from October’s 41 year high of 11.1%. The easing in inflation is down to “price changes in the transport division, particularly for motor fuels and second-hand cars.” Fat lot of good that will do for those at the bottom of the pile because of a simple and very awkward fact. According to the Resolution Foundation, the effective inflation rate for the poorest tenth of households is 12.1%, whereas for the richest tenth it’s 9.4%. In other words, the poor keep getting poorer. But then I read a belting quote from someone called Andrew Tulley, who is a technical director, whatever that is, at Canada Life: “For retirees on fixed incomes, the confirmation of a double-digit rise in the state pension from next April is helpful but is likely to offer little comfort in the winter months as the prices pensioners pay for everyday goods is still much higher.” Hmm. Fixed incomes for retirees, eh? That old chestnut. That means I must have been a retiree since I was 17. Allow me to explain.
Obviously, what it means is that the state pension is a fixed amount which doesn’t change during the year. When I worked in the public sector, then later for two dysfunctional charities, I was on a fixed income, too. My income didn’t change week in week out, unless I was offered overtime or if I took out a second job. Sometimes, I worked overtime to top up my dismal wages but mostly I knew what I was awarded every July applied until the following July. Unless I did something different, I was on a fixed income. It’s not different from the fixed income I shall be on in a matter of weeks. Let’s be honest, most of us are on a fixed income, not just retirees.
Everyone is feeling the cold wind in one way or another, even if it’s just watching others struggling to put bread on the table. Perhaps even our super-rich prime minister Rishi Sunak is having to cut back on the “whole range of breads” he and his family enjoy, or perhaps not. But if you are expecting this week’s chancellor Jeremy Hunt to be in any way sympathetic to low paid workers, his answer is that basically you can fuck off and whistle, or words to that effect.
If you haven’t got enough food to eat, well, just cut down. If you can’t afford to keep the heating on, then just stay in bed, although if you’re on benefits we will probably stop them if you do. That’s the Big Message from our so-called leaders. Tighten your belts! Well, you’ll need to if you can’t eat.
I can’t do my food bank day this week because of other stuff I have to do but my guess is that it will be absolutely rammed, more so than even last week. I’ve now reached the stage – and friends who work in food banks told me this moment would come – where I pretty well need to be there to do my stint and feel slightly guilty when I can’t. Some of the people we see don’t have a fixed income – indeed, some don’t have an income at all – which is why they come to see us.
No one will be dancing on the streets anywhere near our food bank and from what I saw in town last night, an awful lot of people will be dying on them. Inflation is a terrible thing, especially to those who already have little. But absolute poverty is far, far worse. Sunak and Hunt either don’t know this or don’t care. They certainly don’t understand it, having no sympathy or empathy with those on whom our broken society has literally abandoned. There’s enough to go round but the truth is that those who have most want to keep it. And if you don’t like your fixed income, then visit a food bank.
