Invented bits of language are also used to obscure the totalitarian narrative in the political background, but we already knew that.
Why are the Greens campaigning against invented forms of poverty?
Amid some brief research about the new MP for Gorton and Denton, Hannah Spencer, I came across her campaign against a boutique poverty measure I hadn’t previously been aware of: ‘furniture poverty’...
This methodology is now standard fare among anti-poverty charities. You take the old workhouse noun ‘poverty’, bolt a spending category in front of it, and declare a new affliction which society (read: taxpayers through government) must deal with. We’ve seen ‘food poverty’, ‘fuel poverty’, and now ‘furniture poverty’. But why stop there? One could imagine ‘car poverty’, ‘clothes poverty’ and ‘cutlery poverty’ if we want to explore a new first letter. Or what about sub-components of furniture? Perhaps ‘futon poverty’, ‘ottoman insecurity’ or ‘coffee-table precarity’.
Why are the Greens campaigning against invented forms of poverty?
- Green MP Hannah Spencer is backing a campaign to end 'furniture poverty'
- Households do not receive neat little envelopes marked ‘for beds’
- Slicing poverty into ever more theatrical subcategories won't help struggling families
Amid some brief research about the new MP for Gorton and Denton, Hannah Spencer, I came across her campaign against a boutique poverty measure I hadn’t previously been aware of: ‘furniture poverty’...
This methodology is now standard fare among anti-poverty charities. You take the old workhouse noun ‘poverty’, bolt a spending category in front of it, and declare a new affliction which society (read: taxpayers through government) must deal with. We’ve seen ‘food poverty’, ‘fuel poverty’, and now ‘furniture poverty’. But why stop there? One could imagine ‘car poverty’, ‘clothes poverty’ and ‘cutlery poverty’ if we want to explore a new first letter. Or what about sub-components of furniture? Perhaps ‘futon poverty’, ‘ottoman insecurity’ or ‘coffee-table precarity’.
9 comments:
We suffered from beer poverty a few weeks ago. None of the supermarkets had our favourite in stock.
Where do I apply for a grant to help me out of sex poverty?
I consider myself reasonably comfortable. Perhaps I'm suffering from 'Poverty poverty'?
The left are suffering from intellectual poverty.
The Daily Mail nailed it a while back. Income poverty.
dearieme - beer poverty sounds grim, the government ought to do something.
Vatsmith - maybe there's an app for that.
DJ - ha ha, I think we are too. Opportunities to be frugal aren't as easy to find as they once were.
Tammly - the government can't help with that though.
Anon - yes, it's the only way to do it, income and expenditure.
We're currently living with burbon and custard creams poverty. That will all eventually get rectified when I do the next Tesco order, but if the Pastel Pixie wants to send me a couple of packets at taxpayers expense, I'll have some of that
Some years ago, it emerged that Bristol City Council social services official credit cards were being used at IKEA to the tune of £10,000 in a year, presumably to counter furniture poverty.
Less justifiably, further inspection of the accounts appears to show attempts to alleviate snooker poverty (multiple visits to Riley’s Snooker Club from a pupil referral unit), designer clothing poverty (branded items from Ralph Lauren for children in care) and even tattoo poverty (£44), along with a £33 annual subscription to a lesbian magazine - I’m not sure what sort of poverty you’d call that, since I’m fairly certain you can be a lesbian on the internet for nothing.
The main problem with niche poverty is that it is clearly a slippery slope paved with value judgments; sadly an all to co mon problem when it comes to spending other people’s money.
Bucko - any kind of biscuit poverty is a serious matter, especially if you need them for dunking in tea or coffee. There is no substitute either, although Hobnobs are quite good.
Macheath - the weird aspect of illicit spending on official credit cards is that it can't be hidden and card users must know that. Maybe it suggests a very lax spending culture but as you say, it's a common problem when it comes to spending other people’s money.
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