Even if the government issued newspaper editors with D-notices banning any public mention of the word poverty, it could hardly do more to create a wall of silence around Britain's biggest social crisis.
For nearly 80 years, since the creation of the welfare state, Britain has boasted of a safety net below which no one should fall a minimum that at least covers the very basic needs of everyone and prevents destitution. But without ever announcing its demise or formally sounding its death knell, that welfare state has been systematically shredded and is now so full of holes that millions of families, already feeling trapped and having to balance their families' needs with their limited budgets, have nothing to cushion them if they suffer a heavy fall.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]