Letters
Waugh on want
Sir: Auberon Waugh believes he has found a new means of identifying political subver- sives — apparently they have a tendency to abbreviate their Christian names. This theory smacks somewhat of paranoia, especially when applied to such as Mr Thomas 'Tom' King, the new Secretary of State for Employment. But, amidst the trivia of his article (`On the bread line', 5 November) Waugh makes a number of rather more serious allegations which can- not go unchallenged. My suggestion that there are now children who, through the poverty of their parents, go without birth- day or Christmas presents, is deemed 'an obvious lie'. The statement was in fact bas- ed on the findings of a national survey car- ried out by MORI for London Weekend Television, The survey found that three million people can't afford to celebrate Christmas or buy presents once a year for their family or friends, and 1.5 million children don't have toys or (if older) sports or leisure equipment because their parents can't afford them. On what basis does Waugh believe this to be an obvious lie? It is his personal observation that the children of the poorest parents appear the fattest and generally, but not always, receive the most lavish presents. Poverty, apparently, does not exist as long as parents can still afford a Mars Bar or a ball Pentel for Christmas.
Waugh's second allegation is that those of us who aim to raise the issue of poverty in public and political debate are doing so for wholly cynical reasons. He objects to my receiving a salary of £10,000 a year (somewhat less than the average male salary in London) and employing 12 staff to cam- paign on behalf of the poor. In his brief visit to this office last week, Waugh did not volunteer information about his own in- come, although we suspect he is not greatly in need of the advisory services of the Low Pay Unit. The green cape was most certain- ly not one of the 'dead men's overcoats' which he recommends to the poor who can- not afford new clothes; and I would be sur- prised if the rather rakish felt hat came from Oxfam.
Waugh's experience of poverty is indeed rather limited. As he explained to us during his visit, he comes from a very rich, well quite rich, family, and he has clearly retain- ed a firm grip on the silver spoon. He would probably have to work for at least a fort- night as a shopworker, perhaps more, to earn as much as he received for writing last week's article. Given the quality of argu- ment and of the information on which it was based 1 doubt the exercise took more than a couple of hours. Waugh's indigna- tion at the suggestion that real poverty still exists in Britain today stems from this ignorance of the way that many of his fellow citizens have to live. Fortunately, Waugh's own cynicism is not shared by the majority. Opinion surveys show that an in- creasing proportion of the population con- sider today's poverty and inequality to be unacceptable, and want to see something done about it.
Chris Pond Low Pay Unit, 9 Poland St, London WI
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