Joseph Rowntree Peeps Go Stark Staring Bonkers: You’re Poor If You Can’t Afford Sky TV
THIS is the time of year that living wage campaigners, economics geeks and other assorted fools look forward to: for it’s when the Joseph Rowntree Foundation releases its estimates of how much you need to live in the UK.
The basic idea’s not bad: what do people think you ought to be able to afford if you’re not to be poor? Right, so, you need to earn (or get in benefits) enough to be able to do that or you are poor.
One of the problems is that people think you should be able to afford Sky: if you can’t afford Sky then you’re poor. This will come as something of a surprise to Mbutu and his kiddies in the African forests: they all live the entire month off less than what Sky costs, so what the hell do we call them if the word “poor” is already taken?
This year though we’ve got a more interesting point being made. The report is here.
Posted: 5th, July 2011 | In: Money Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
