Paul P. Mealing

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Wednesday 5 October 2011

The trickledown fantasy

This is a BBC documentary featuring 3 kids (2 in one family) living in modern-day Great Britain.

The really good part about this doco is that it’s almost totally from the mouths of the children. They understand their world just as well as the adults do, and you really do wonder about their future. Possibly the most extraordinary scene in the film is 11 year-old Sam getting his first ever barbershop haircut for a birthday present, from money saved up by his aunt, because it’s outside the family’s necessities list. And this is 21st century England.

The interview at the end of the programme with Danny Dorling (this is a transcript) puts it all into perspective. It’s all about the poverty gap and its pernicious effect on society at large. We really can’t afford to go down this path.

1 comment:

The Atheist Missionary said...

Thanks for this post. I've been troubled all day by how fortunate I am compared to some of the disadvantaged in my own city (let alone those in the third world). It is all the more disconcerting because I have nobody to thank for my good fortune ... aside from Thor and Lady Luck.