Small steps, bigger picture

Then the department for work and pensions announced that employment hit a new record high this month (December) with more than 30m people in jobs for the first time.

Independent pensions guru Ros Altmann followed suit, issuing a statement that said: “Leading indicators show UK set for a pre-election boom. They have been strong for months now and are getting stronger.

“Mainstream forecasters and commentators have ignored the strength and breadth of this recovery and have instead focussed on lagging indicators, or have become so used to bad news that they are finding it difficult to see the boom coming.”

She cited the growth of employment, politically well-timed recoveries, an economic upturn, a lower-than-feared impact of the austerity measures and a housing market that is continuing to “deliver a feel-good factor and growth”.

Meanwhile mortgage lending continues its upward trend, deposit levels are creeping upwards, personal debt levels are starting to be reduced and we have not seen the mass exodus of the wealthiest people from Britain seeking a more favourable taxation climate overseas.

So why do I still feel nervous about 2014?

Maybe it’s because of my social worker tendencies. My editor says I have a social worker’s mentality. This is perhaps unusual for someone who used to be a young Conservative. But perhaps it is also to do with a lot of other warnings.

The Pope started it of course, warning about gaping inequality in the world. This view was soundly rebuffed by someone at the Financial Times - our sister paper - but I can’t help by feel that his Popiness had a point. The general trend of capitalism may have helped to lift thousands out of poverty, but it has also dug the trenches more deeply, creating a vast no-man’s land between the world’s wealthiest and the world’s poorest.

Charities, too, have made startling revelations about the rise in people in the UK seeking help from food banks. According to the Trussell Trust, 13m people live below the poverty line in the UK.

Thirteen Million people in the UK. Below the poverty line. Where exactly are we drawing this demarkation point? One in every five people in our country are living below the poverty line. People are being tied up by loan sharks, forced to choose between paying ever-increasing heating bills and buying ever-more expensive food as inflation at 2.7 per cent still exceeds the average wage increase of 1.4 per cent.

The Bank of England itself declared that a 2.5 per cent rise in the base rate would push 8m people with mortgages into serious financial difficulty.

How can we claim that 2014 is set to be a good year all around when one fifth of the UK’s population is already considered to be poor, and a further 8m homeowners may find their mortgage becomes a millstone?

The Trussell Trust’s latest press release said: “Every day people in the UK go hungry for reasons ranging from redundancy to receiving an unexpected bill on a low income. Trussell Trust foodbanks provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food and support to people experiencing crisis in the UK.

“In 2012-13 foodbanks fed 346,992 people nationwide. Of those helped, 126,889 were children. Rising costs of food and fuel combined with static income, high unemployment and changes to benefits are causing more and more people to come to foodbanks for help.”

The Coalition saved money on benefit cuts and raised more with the bedroom tax and more people are going to foodbanks for help.

Look, I’m not naive. I know that some people cheat the system. I know that some people do not need to be on benefits. I know that some people could help themselves, could spend less on x-boxes and more on food.

I know what it is like to be poor. I know more than anyone who reads this blog what it is like. Until I was 19, we did not have hot running water in our kitchen. We had to make do with a small boiler upstairs in the bathroom to provide heating. We didn’t have double-glazing, radiators. I didn’t have a change of school uniform, a video player or expensive holidays abroad.

Yet I never went hungry, I received the best education that mum could afford, putting me through private school (I did get a scholarship and a grant) and giving me piano lessons so that I could have the best possible chance of the best possible university and the best possible job.

Some people do work hard to get out of poverty. A few achieve this. Many cannot. But the fact is that in this day and age, nobody should be in this situation. It breaks my heart, especially at this time of year. How can I feel positive about 2014 when the gap widens between The Bishop’s Avenue and the Endz of Brixton Hill?

My mum also taught me the value of giving. We always gave 10 per cent of our meagre earnings to the church and other charities. We never said no to Big Issue Sellers. We donated to charity banks. She used to say that people who know what it’s like not to have anything are the most likely to give to others who have nothing. It makes you count your blessings.

I remember going round with my mum to collect the boxes for The Children’s Society as part of our work for our old Church. The poorest people on the dodgiest estates would put the heaviest-laden boxes into our hands.

When we lived in Canada, my parents would go collecting with The Salvation Army. They would get the most money from the people living in trailer parks or on reservations. From inside the houses with boats and large estate cars outside, they would hear: “tell them we don’t have any money”.

Most people I know are generous. They do give where they can. But giving isn’t enough. We need action. Action to make a difference in 2014 for the poorest in our society. Big Society is not just about raising money for a local school with a red velvet cake sale.

Sorry to burst your Christmas bubbles, but it isn’t. It’s about lobbying, raising awareness, being mindful, being careful, giving your time, money, self to help those less fortunate. Because 2014 will be an exceptionally difficult year for millions of people in the UK. People in our own neighbourhoods even. Perhaps that’s not a message that the positive economists want to tell. Perhaps I am a very bad Young Conservative.

Someone yesterday told me about Saint Therese - the saint of ‘small steps’. I’m not a Catholic but I like the idea that small, individual steps and decisions made each day can help make someone else’s life a little brighter. I’d be okay with that in 2014. Sixty-five million small steps each day by everyone in the UK to help someone else get through the gloom. That’s my Christmas wish.