Comments on: Thankfully this is untrue

By: David Gillies

David Gillies — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:02:34 +0000

God knows I’d find it tough living on the median income in the UK, let alone 60% of it, but to characterise it as poverty is to rob the word of all meaning. When I was a postgrad oop North in the 90′s, I was broke, but it wasn’t poverty. I’ve seen poverty, and anything similar in the UK would not be due to straitened circumstances but a lifestyle choice.

By: Liberal Conspiracy » Why are Tory writers so stupid?

Liberal Conspiracy » Why are Tory writers so stupid? — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:42:44 +0000

[...] that newspapers don’t matter, because even the so-called quality ones carry appalling errors. Via Tim and Danny, here are two in the Torygraph.First, it tells us that: A low income household is one [...]

By: The Remittance Man

The Remittance Man — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:00:12 +0000

Put another way, if the national median income was 50 grand, then Joe Roundtree’s bods would be claiming that anyone earning 30 grand or less was “living in poverty”.

I don’t know whether living on 15 thousand quid a year puts one in real poverty, but if the methodology is bollox you can pretty much discount the study before you get to those arguments.

By: JuliaM

JuliaM — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:47:39 +0000

“This teachers’ leader is saying that little Johnny is incapable of tying his shoelaces because Jenson Button got a pay rise.”

Well, we wouldn’t want people to wonder exactly why we are paying teachers at all, would we?

Far better to yell ‘Look, over there! Bunnies!’

By: Ian Bennett

Ian Bennett — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:13:06 +0000

“In September a teachers’ leader gave warning that poverty levels in parts of Britain mirror “the times of Dickens”, leaving schools struggling to cope with increasing numbers of children lacking the most basic personal skills.”

This teachers’ leader is saying that little Johnny is incapable of tying his shoelaces because Jenson Button got a pay rise.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:07:32 +0000

Sorry Tim, you’re not quite right – perhaps you’ve been misled by the pig-ignorance of that Telegraph claim that “a low income household is one that lives on less than 60 per cent of the average UK household income.”
It’s not. (Relative) poverty is defined as 60% of median income.
This means that relative poverty cannot increase if the incomes of the rich rise – because such a rise does not affect median incomes.
Of course, the numbers in poverty can increase if the median income rises faster than lower incomes. So in that sense you’re driving towards a good point.

By: Kay Tie

Kay Tie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:35:51 +0000

Perhaps we should stop using “poor” and start using “least rich”. It’s no less appropriate than calling lefties “progressive”.

By: Brian, follower of Deornoth

Brian, follower of Deornoth — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:50:50 +0000

It’s a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report; of course it isn’t true.