Few non-fiction books have caused such a stir in America in recent
times as Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, in which the
writer took a succession of low-paid jobs in order to see whether
it was possible to survive on these pitiful wages. Her answer -
that it was not - sparked a huge debate in the USA about the
working destitute, as opposed to the more familiar stereotype of
poor people living on welfare. Polly Toynbee, the well-known
Guardian journalist who was asked to write the introduction to the
British edition of Nickel and Dimed, was an apt choice for the
reason that she is not only a champion of the poor in the UK, but
she had herself, some 30 years previously, written a very similar
book, in which she travelled the length and breadth of Britain,
living and working with those in low-status jobs. Last year she was
due for a sabbatical from The Guardian and decided to revisit her
earlier experiences in order to find out how much had changed for
those at the bottom of the pile. Instead of travelling around,
Toynbee managed to arrange a short lease on a council flat in one
of South London's most unappealing estates. Her conclusions should
shame us all: for those who don't know, the (grudgingly introduced)
minimum wage is just #4.10 per hour, and this in an era and a city
(London) where living standards for the middle classes, and a huge
swathe of the working class have improved immeasurably. Yet for
agency-employed kitchen porters, care assistants, call-centre
operatives, cleaners and dinner ladies, the world of consumer
indulgences, as portrayed in nearly every television drama or
advertisement, is unattainable. Toynbee managed, to her credit, to
eke out a miserable existence, living on potatoes and split peas,
in a bleak flat where household waste, urine and excrement tainted
the communal stairwell. Commuting to work by underground was an
unaffordable luxury: a journey of two or three buses was the only
alternative. Interspersing the narrative are statistics and
historical facts that make it clear that the depressing existence
she describes is common to many more of our fellow Britons than we
might realize. This compelling book should be read by everyone with
an interest in public policy - or simply in other people's lives.
(Kirkus UK)
'A passionately reasoned and compelling account of the avoidable
cruelties still embedded in the underside of British life - by a
writer who has literally worn the clothes, lived in the flats and
done the jobs of the poor. Every member of the cabinet should be
required to read it, apologise and then act'. - Will Hutton. A
frank and breathtaking book, this is journalist and broadcaster
Polly Toynbee's account of her courageous intention to live and
work on the minimum wage. The 'decent living' wage set by the
Council of Europe is set at GBP7.39. The minimum wage in Britain is
currently GBP4.10 per hour. And often, people are working for less,
their voices unheard, their faces unnoticed. The low-paid are
caught in an economic double bind that victimises them and shames
the rest of us. Toynbee took whatever jobs she could find, often
offered for less than the official minimum wage.Living on an estate
in Clapham, she started from scratch and found that if she were
truly unemployed, she would not even be able to afford a new job,
and that faced with starvation, it's impossible not to sink into
debt. In this powerful and compelling book, Polly Toynbee journeys
to the inside of Britain today and uncovers that world which is
invisible to most. This is a damning portrait of social justice in
Britain.
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