From the civil war to now, poverty endures | Letters
Re Beth Steel’s article (I’m from an English working-class town,When will society stop looking at us through the rearview mirror?, 6 September), I too have been concerned about my home town,I live about half a mile outside it and I am regularly shocked by the Dickensian (sometimes more Hardy-esque) conditions that former acquaintances live in,The deprivation is alarmingly similar to what I saw as a child,I don’t understand how the inequalities in our society haven’t declined in the past 40 years.
So much else has changed.I am reading The Parish of Myddle.It was published in 1701 and is considered one of the best primary sources describing the civil war.The author, Richard Gough, was proud of his family’s ties to the locale – like other ordinary people, his loyalty in the war was neither royalist nor parliamentary, but with his countrymen and environment.How little life has changed for the most vulnerable since then.
Elderly people often became beggars, which could see them jailed or forced to work.Women and children were traipsed from village to village because no one (the parish councils) wanted to take responsibility.I’ve seen family members go through the exact same.In the last five years.Life has changed in some ways.
But the laws that govern us were meant to keep us desperate for work.It’s a type of indentured service.Every subject must earn their keep.This country was never ours.Samantha BrennanDunstable, Bedfordshire Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
New Zealand blitz South Africa after break to reach Women’s Rugby World Cup semis
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Salt and Buttler put egos aside to thrive as England’s all-action heroes
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Canelo v Crawford: our experts predict the winner of Saturday’s big fight
Will Canelo’s power or Crawford’s precision prove the decisive factor in Saturday night’s showdown in Las Vegas? Our writers set out the arguments on both sidesFor years Bud Crawford’s name has been synonymous with patience. Denied mainstream recognition and opportunities against name-brand fighters, he kept beating everyone they put in front of him until he’d unified all four titles at junior welterweight. Then he did it again at welterweight with a dismantling of Errol Spence Jr so complete it cemented his place in boxing’s pound-for-pound S-tier alongside Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk. His gifts are obvious: the ability to switch seamlessly between stances, to read rhythms like sheet music, and to mete out punishment with icy composure once he’s cracked the code.Crawford’s scaling of two weight classes for this fight remains the 168lb elephant in the room
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