In her article for the Daily Telegraph “We should be bashing bankers not the young, poor and disabled” Mary Riddell wrote:
“Yesterday the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report How Fair Is Britain? showed a widening wealth gap, with the top 10 per cent of households worth an average £853,000 – 100 times higher than the poorest decile. Obviously, rewards cannot be equal, but nor is it fair that those on lower incomes suffer more crime, worse health and die up to seven years sooner.”
They seem refreshingly honest words in a paper that has been traditionally supportive of the Conservatives. They also demonstrate why our prime minister David Cameron’s theory of a Big Society will probably never reach fruition; in reality, some people will always be more equal than others.
The most worrying words in the article, though, are probably these:
Even the cuts announced so far may stunt the hopes of a generation and test the social compact to destruction. It is far from certain that the young – traditionally the future carers for the elders who created a better life for them – will be emotionally inclined or financially equipped to nurture the ageing population that betrayed them.
I hope for all our sakes that time does not prove Ms. Riddell to be a better prophet than she already is a journalist.
