• ONE of today’s most frequently heard words is poverty, resorted to at every opportunity to make a point about perceived standards of living in modern life.

Yet it seems clear that it bears no real resemblance to the situation faced by those in previous generations.

I have made unsuccessful efforts to obtain a contemporary definition of the word and my lack of success indicates that it is a convenience word, adopted to secure sympathy for a premise in public discussion, with few willing to challenge it for fear of appearing – or being condemned as being – callous and mean.

With politicians unable or unwilling to offer a contemporary definition of the word, it seems to me that it is to be treated with circumspection and caution when trotted out to support a position or bolster an argument about the situation facing the less affluent in UK society today.

MARK NEWBERRY
Harcourt Street, W1