A ‘cost of living crisis’ is a sign our society has gone fundamentally wrong. It’s time we stopped reducing people to calculations of cost
A few weeks ago, a friend reminded me of that old song, All My Trials: “If living were a thing that money could buy / The rich would live and the poor would die.” Which, of course, they do. Just how many unnecessary deaths will result from the lethal combination of extreme cold and soaring energy costs this winter remains to be seen, but no one needs an economics degree to work out that the figures will be weighted towards those who lack choices and resources.
It is not just that insecurity literally threatens lives; it is also that all those things financial security makes possible – the freedom to celebrate, to plan for your children, to give gifts to people you love – become monstrously complicated. Living with any fullness or imagination recedes over the horizon when choices are all about survival. Who goes hungry – you, or your child? How many jobs can you take on to keep the family fed without wrecking your physical and mental health?
Rowan Williams is a former archbishop of Canterbury
