Breadline Europe

There was a flurry of media attention following the publication of a new report on poverty in Europe - Breadline Europe: The Measurement of Poverty edited by David Gordon and Peter Townsend, the Policy Press £17.99.

Though the report draws from writers and experiences from around Europe, the UK media picked up mainly on the finding that there is deep, persistent, absolute poverty in Britain and that inequalities are still increasing.

Neal Acherson, writer in The Observer (11th March 2001) asked, “Can we talk of economic ‘success’ when Britain’s child poverty rate is the third highest in Europe?”

He suggests that the failure of the UK Welfare State is mainly due to it being built with an old out-moded “tool-kit” - namely: underpayment of employees, an authoritarian command system which cannot listen to critics, contempt for the service user and neglect of research and development.

Another useless hang-over from the 19th century (and probably before) which still dogs any serious attempt to address poverty in Britain is the concept of the deserving and undeserving poor. The only people who we want to help are those who “help themselves”, in other words, those who are the least in need of help. People who make us feel comfortable, because they are not too far out of the boundaries of what we consider to be reasonable and because they are suitably grateful.

But how do we deal with people who seem to undermine their own and the best attempts of others to help them? Firstly, by recognising that “being your own worst enemy” is by far the most human of failings. Who hasn’t walked into a job interview thinking I’m not going to get this. It’s just that some people do it more dramatically than others.

Secondly by seeing that behaviour which may seem destructive is in some ways a survival technique and humans often have a very acute understanding of what they need to move on, if only there is someone there to take the time to listen and understand.

Approaches to poverty are also hemmed in by hypocrisy. Economic migrants are acceptable if they come from some countries (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, for example) and not others. Enterprise is to be encouraged, but not, according to a recent plethora of radio and TV adverts around the UK, if it means making a measly ten quid on top of scant benefits. Yes there may be benefit fraud, but is anything like as much energy going into investigating those who have enough money to pay others to think creatively about their finances?

Breadline Europe is undoubtedly a welcome addition to much needed

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