I can say, as someone who has lived a lot of life in abject fucking poverty, that poor people do not flippantly spend money.

If you've never been so poor that tucking into another meal of pulses reduced you to tears, then cried instead because the junk food you bought to replace it wasn't 'necessary', shut the fuck up.

Have you ever experienced the absolute indignity of your friends doing your grocery shopping for you? Crowdfunded to meet rent? Can you remember the last time you got clothes that weren't 2nd hand?

Even though I *know* that poverty is not a personal or moral failing, it sure fucking feels like it when you're begging people around you to help you get the basics. People don't put themselves in that vulnerable a position for jokes, you fucking ghouls

And we shouldn't even have to appeal to the most vulnerable and precarious in this country to point out how prevalent poverty is. Even those with just enough to get by, to eat okay, to keep their heating on, they're all one fucking normal life problem from coming short

You're only one car problem away from not making that months rent. You're only having to replace your fridge from not having the luxury of sticking the heating on that month. Living that close to the edge, even if you're not living on 26p packs of pasta, is BAD

You've got no ability to save to maybe save for a new car that breaks down less often. No ability to save for a deposit, even though a mortgage would be cheaper than your rent. No ability to save for the spenny winter boots and coat that won't give out after one season.

And, importantly, no ability to enjoy your fucking life. Don't people deserve more than a life of penny counting and unseasoned pasta? Don't they at least deserve coffee with friends? Clothes that make them feel good? Don't they deserve to take the kids for ice cream?

Kids aren't stupid. They take in their parents' stress, they know things are off, they compare themselves to others. I would get stressed sending school trip letters home, because I knew what would mean listening in on an argument later that night. It's just shit.

Everything about poverty is just shit and miserable and boring and it grinds you down. I'm just extremely upset that so many people think that's an acceptable life to lead, and they're happy to have kids go hungry and cold just to prove a fucking smug point

I'm 28. I've been out of poverty for 2 years now. Before that, all of my 20s were spent crowdfunding, borrowing money, being fed by friends. I bought a new phone this year, the first in my life, & had to suppress a god damn panic attack because the pain of poverty never leaves

So many wretched, wretched people. Truly, do you not have empathy? Compassion? Is there not, deep down, even a flicker of humanity? Imagine being so cold in the face of others' suffering