SIR—Mr. Barber asks why the middle classes are unable to
make ends meet on incomes "beyond the wildest dreams" of the ordinary worker. (Incidentally, is, say, the figure of £500 really beyond even the tamer dreams of a family of grown-up workers?) One reason, of course, is the immensely higher cost of rent and rates for those who live in houses or flats not subsidised by local councils. I do not know how admission to such subsidised dwellings is obtained, but they do not seem to be available to professional workers, much as they might like cheap homes where even refrigerators are often part of the fittings.
Another is that their work demands reasonably tidy clothes, a certain number of professional contacts, which means entertaining in however small a way, and subscriptions to periodicals which will keep them intellectually au courant.
From my own personal observation of working-class children, it would seem that they have far more expensive toys, far inure pocket-money (say, 2s. 6d. a week at eight years old) and far more cinemas than the children of professional families. It would be interesting to know
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