Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sums
The Guardian has been running lots of stories about how near the bread line we all are.
One of the people featured was a 43 year old single mother who is a civil servant, a relatively safe job, and who takes home, after tax that is, £1,533.12 a month. She is said to be really feeling the breeze with her outgoings last month being £1,451.66, leaving her the miserable margin of £2.68 a day - barely enough for the daily pint at her local Wetherspoons. Certainly not enough for both a pint and a packet of wild woodbines. And I don't suppose that her Wetherspoons does singles: not many places do these days.
More seriously, something under half her dosh goes on mortgage and utilities - which last presumably includes things like gas and electricity and might include things like telephone and internet. This leaves her around £200 a week - which struck both BH and I as plenty. There are three of us and we don't spend anything like that on consumables like food, bog rolls and washing up liquid.
On the other hand she does think it appropriate to whack out £100 pounds a month on her son's guitar lessons and another £50 on the Christmas club. Has the son never hear of Saturday jobs? Has she never heard of charity shops and car boot sales? Why is the father not contributing?
Clearly the Guardian's idea of poverty is not quite the same as mine.
One of the people featured was a 43 year old single mother who is a civil servant, a relatively safe job, and who takes home, after tax that is, £1,533.12 a month. She is said to be really feeling the breeze with her outgoings last month being £1,451.66, leaving her the miserable margin of £2.68 a day - barely enough for the daily pint at her local Wetherspoons. Certainly not enough for both a pint and a packet of wild woodbines. And I don't suppose that her Wetherspoons does singles: not many places do these days.
More seriously, something under half her dosh goes on mortgage and utilities - which last presumably includes things like gas and electricity and might include things like telephone and internet. This leaves her around £200 a week - which struck both BH and I as plenty. There are three of us and we don't spend anything like that on consumables like food, bog rolls and washing up liquid.
On the other hand she does think it appropriate to whack out £100 pounds a month on her son's guitar lessons and another £50 on the Christmas club. Has the son never hear of Saturday jobs? Has she never heard of charity shops and car boot sales? Why is the father not contributing?
Clearly the Guardian's idea of poverty is not quite the same as mine.
# posted by Jim @ 9:17 AM 
