Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD on this great article by Bruno De Oliveira.

69% of low-income private renters in England will be unable to eat & heat their homes at least one day per week because of rising living costs, the UK charity Crisis recently warned.

#CostOfLivingCrisis
theconversation.com/cost-of-living…

The poorest 10% of households spend up to three times more of their family budget on food & energy bills as compared to the wealthiest 10%, according to the Resolution Foundation. The IFS estimates that inflation rates for these poorest families could reach over 10% in 2022.

A growing body of evidence strongly suggests that #austerity policies are at least partially responsible for life expectancy stalling in England & Wales.

New research into social #inequality & mental distress shows, the psychological impact is profound.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…

Feeling trapped or helpless over the long term nearly trebles the chances of being diagnosed with anxiety & depression. Low levels of trust increase the chance of being diagnosed with depression by nearly 50%.

#CostOfLivingCrisis

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16439045/

Job insecurity is as damaging for mental health as unemployment.

#Poverty is humiliating. It can stop people from feeling like they matter & deny them the sense both that they are valued, as individuals, & that they are adding value to their community.

theconversation.com/why-insecure-w…

Contrary to what some politicians continue to imply, research shows that the distress stemming from deprivation is not a weakness: it is not about an individual in trouble needing re-education.

Instead, poverty is a systemic or 'structural' problem.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1534864272949489664?s=20&t=sSOM-HWr6lVqo-sx_iMjLA

Research shows that the distress people affected by poverty experience arises from the deep-rooted inequality underpinning a faulty system.

equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-…

In 2018, as the UK Govt prepared to finalise its welfare reform project with the introduction of universal credit, the HoC Public Accounts Committee published a withering analysis (no longer available on the UK parliament’s website) of the Govt’s approach.
theguardian.com/society/2018/o…

Interviews with universal credit claimants show a lack of understanding on the part of policymakers of the lived experiences of people affected by their policies.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…

When the benefits system was digitised, people experienced delays in receiving payments. As a result, some went into arrears on rent. Use of food banks & rates of poverty & homelessness rose too, which further impacted people’s mental & physical health.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1534439223557861376?s=20&t=14w0I8VWW9fY0Qunb8f0Uw

In their book, The Violence of Austerity, editors Vickie Cooper & David Whyte compiled multiple accounts from academics including Danny Dorling, who highlighted the extent to which austerity measures had violated the wellbeing of people across Britain.

oro.open.ac.uk/50406/

#Austerity dominated political & public discourse for most of the 2010s. The #CostOfLivingCrisis is now replacing it. The UK Govt knows short-sighted & harsh policy approaches to administrating public finances tend to have a detrimental impact on the most economically vulnerable.