Come to buckle and bare thong

In 1400 the word 'nought' meant poverty according to the Historical Thesaurus, a browsing place like charity shops on London Road, a rest for the mind through strange provocations and this time it was my tax return, filed yesterday, that took me there. Years ago the same experience led me to a poem that became the title of my first pamphlet of poetry, Black Slingbacks. I found a taxi receipt from my boyfriend's flat. Those shoes were in his hall. 

This year, my mood wasn't shock but shame, because I felt it, and understood what the late sociologist Stuart Hall so often pointed out... that there's a moral tone attached to poverty. No, I don't describe myself as poor but my income was truly a pittance and takes me a very long way from what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation calculated I'd need in 2022 for a minimum acceptable standard of living. I have a house. Even with damp, peeling windows, leaky roof, it's critical. And I manage by limiting my scope. But don't we need to talk about money, who has it, how people are paid, what they're paid, the failure of benefits to improve lives, the cost of everything from public transport to a block of butter, and the role of wealth in maintaining inequality? 

Are you an employer? Do you use freelancers? When did you last ask how they manage when they're sick, how they manage when you take 90 days to pay? Do you ask how they pay the rent, or mortgage? Is it too embarrassing? Do you believe you have responsibilities to individuals working for you? Did you know? One in five of us have 'come to buckle and bare thong'.  That a single person needed to earn £25,500 a year to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living in April 2022. For a couple with two children it was £43,400. Joseph Rowntree Foundation 

Poverty in the UK: Statistics, House of Commons