What do they have in common? Well, apart from the fact that they all feature in today’s news headlines the answer would appear to be – very little.

Below, we take some of the key points from today’s top stories – can you work out which quotes refer to which group of people?

…are seeing the biggest decline in living standards since the 1920s, as food and petrol prices soar
…can expect to take home an extra £46,000* in pay this year, compared to last year
…are facing unprecedented funding shortages, which may result in homelessness, violence, and prostitution for their users
…are struggling to find jobs in the depressed labour market**
…may take home a £8,000,000*** bonus this year. Or more.
…spend more than half of their income on food – and therefore face chronic hunger due to rising food prices
…reported group profits of £6.1bn*** for 2010

———

* (that makes their average pay £236,000. Which could buy plenty of food, and petrol. It’s ten times more than the average UK salary)
** (that makes them unemployed, which makes their average pay £0)
*** (that’s the same as 344 people on the average annual UK salary make – combined – in a year)
*** (yes, that’s £6,100,000,000 in profit – which could provide 20 million victims of violence and their children with a week of accommodation and subsistence)

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Unfortunately the same survey also revealed that only one third (36%) of people think that the state should redistribute income from the better off to the less well off, and that the number of people who think the government should spend more money on benefits has halved since 1991, going down from 58% to 27%.

It’s clearly a complicated issue; people are in principle in favour of a more equal society, but mistrust of the state combined with the lasting effects of a powerful anti ‘scrounger’ campaign from both the government and the media has resulted in the classic ‘not in my backyard’ syndrome. We the public are in favour of more equal distribution of wealth and assets – as long as that’s not taken out of our pockets, or given to the ‘wrong’ people.

Of course the fact is that in the UK we’re lucky enough to have plenty to go round – and, with the right political decisions to address the social and economic structures which currently trap millions in poverty, we could ensure that everyone in this rich nation had access to a decent, dignified life.

In the meantime, while we continue calls for the government to take into account the needs of the vulnerable, I’d like to suggest that many of us are much closer to this category than we might think. As we approach Christmas, chances are that many of us will have taken out loans to cover the seemingly endless lists of requirements for a ‘proper’ holiday. In a climate where unemployment is still a big worry, VAT increases loom, and credit is limited, more households than ever report uncertainty with regards to their financial situation and prospects. Today’s guest blog from the CCCS reports that at the end of October total UK personal debt stood at £1,452 billion, with the Guardian reporting the Bank of England’s findings that half of households are struggling with debts.

So, perhaps we are ‘all in this together’, after all? Not quite the picture the government hoped to project perhaps, but worth considering. We can’t always control what happens to us and it’s precisely at those times when all of us should be able to fall back on a safety net which gives us that essential protection and breathing space necessary to get our lives back on track, without falling deeper into need. Interested? (Read more here) In debt? (Hear from the CCCS here) None of the above? – fine, but particularly at this time of year, do have a think about the ‘us vs. them’ debate and ask yourself if that’s really the kind of attitude that will help us create an equal, happy society.

As calls for curbs to bank bonuses fill the media, Royal Bank of Scotland want the permission of its largest shareholder – the taxpayer – to start paying cash bonuses of up to £50,000 again. The bank is understood to be in talks with UK Financial Investments, a body set up by the Labour government to oversee taxpayers’ “investment” in the banking sector, arguing that without cash bonuses it will lose key staff to rivals.

In a climate where we, the public, are being asked to suffer cuts to vital public services in order to pay off a debt incurred largely due to the behaviour of the banks, what would your message be to those at the top?

Helen Longworth, Oxfam’s Acting Director of UK Poverty, said: “The results clearly show that the public want rich people to feel the force of cuts, and not the poorest. Rather than taking money from those who need it most, we need to look at other, fairer, ways to implement changes.”

“The government has committed £2bn to reform benefits, to make the system fairer and to help people get back into work. But they are also cutting £18bn from the overall welfare budget, which is giving with one hand and taking away with the other.”

Oxfam warns that cuts to the welfare system, announced in last week’s Spending Review, will have a massive impact on the poorest people in the country. Currently, the number of people living in poverty in the UK is over 13 million, a figure that could rise rapidly if benefits are slashed for those who rely on the vital safety net they provide. Over fifty per cent of those polled thought that benefit levels were already too low and less than a third wanted benefit levels cut to pay for reform.

Longworth said: “If benefits are cut we are going to see people pushed even further below the bread line and families facing destitution.

“The government is showing political will by committing to raise £7bn by targeting tax evasion and fraud, but this does not go far enough, in a tax system where the richest still pay less of their incomes than the poor. It’s time to redress the balance with a Robin Hood Tax on banks, which could raise £20bn annually to protect the poorest both here and overseas. Banks should pay to fix the financial crisis they caused rather than the burden falling upon the shoulders of the most vulnerable.”

For more information, or to arrange an interview with an Oxfam spokesperson, please contact: Sarah Dransfield, Oxfam Press Officer, on 01865 472269, 07767 085636 or email: sdransfield@oxfam.org.uk

In the first, Oxfam GB addresses the major issues raised by the coalition government’s consultation paper: 21st Century Welfare. This consists of three main aspects: an assessment of the principles underpinning the proposals; an analysis of the proposals that are made; and an analysis of crucial elements of welfare reform that are absent in these proposals.

Supporting research (A Gender Perspective on 21st Century Welfare Reform; commissioned by Oxfam) provides a gender analysis of the potential impact of the welfare reform proposals, particularly on women living in poverty and in receipt of benefits / tax credits, and highlights the potential negative impact on women which has not been adequately addressed by the government.

Oxfam calls on the Government to carry out a detailed gender and equality impact assessment of the costs and benefits of the developed welfare reform proposals once they are published, using the principles set out in this report.

In a climate where stories about governmental ‘blitzes’ on ‘out of control’ migration seem to dominate the headlines on a daily basis, to discover that antipathy towards immigrants is widespread within the population is perhaps unsurprising. Perpetrators of scam marriages, spreaders of disease, job thieves and killers – immigrants have come to prove a useful scape goat for all of the nations ills; no wonder that 64 per cent of Britons believe that the current level of immigration is making their country “a worse place to live”.

Disappointing in itself, such hostility becomes increasingly unpalatable when set beside the fact that a large percentage of the country, encouraged by the media, often fail to distinguish between economic migrants and asylum seekers or refugees.

It is, of course, a vital distinction and while those surveyed express their dissatisfaction at the perceived negative impact of non-natives on state education and the NHS it is worth remembering that ‘worse’ is, of course relative. As places to live go, a country free from torture, sexual violence, political oppression and the violent deaths or disappearance of loved ones is a substantially ‘better’ option to those places from which many aslum seekers flee. As a nation however we seem to do our utmost to ensure that the brighter future of which so many dream is little more than a squalid hand-to-mouth existence which condemns many to further pyschologial distress and physical hardship.

Forthcoming research commissioned by Oxfam and the Welsh Refugee Council covers the survival strategies of refused asylum seekers in the UK, documenting the effects of an asylum policy which, in increasingly restricting asylum seekers’ access to welfare support has had the effect of forcing thousands of individuals to live in destitution.

It makes for upsetting reading; a catalogue of stories of ill health, poor diet, mental anxiety, expliotation, physical hardship and despair – all underwritten by a commen theme of incomprension that such things could happen in such a ‘civilised country’. Hostile? Yes, we are – one asylum seeker, reports feeling “abandoned by the human race”, with “no hope in life”.

To talk about ‘quality of life’ while we countenance governmental policy which robs fellow human beings of all dignity and hope, and has proved ineffective in the aim of forcing immigrants to return to their country of origin shows Britons in an enormously unflattering light. Let us begin to see immigrants and asylum seekers as individuals, and ensure that all those who look to Britain to protect them are at the very least granted those human rights denied them elsewhere.

Research by the Centre for Migration Policy Research (CMPR) at Swansea University on the survival strategies of refused asylum seekers will be published later this month. Please see http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/ukpoverty/resources.html for related documents

Coinciding with Refugee Week, this week is also Carers’ Week, a chance to recognise the enormous contribution to society made by the six million unpaid carers in the UK, as well as to highlight the difficulties faced by those who are often forced to give up work or a social life in order to look after a friend or relative – as recently covered by Oxfam’s paper Something for Nothing.

According to Carers UK more than half of those who care have given up work to do so, while a carer who manages to combine caring with paid employment is likely to get a job that pays less. Almost three quarters of carers say that their caring responsibilities affect how much they could earn; just under half have no savings, and a third took on debt as a result of caring.

Isabel's final routine includes giving Jordan a wash and reapplying his skin creams before he goes to bed.

While caring reduces an individual’s immediate and future employment prospects and earning capacity, the support that carers give to society is enormous, saving the state an estimated £87 billion each year. Carers can claim for an income replacement benefit called the Carers’ Allowance, but this is paid at level of just £53.10 per week. For those who care for the minimum of 35 hours per week this amounts to a shockingly low wage of £1.52 per hour.

Not only is this sum laughable, but eligibility conditions are tough, with a requirement to care for over 35 hours a week, not to be in full time education, and to earn £95 a week or less. As a result, only just under a seventh (883,000) of Britain’s carers qualify for the Allowance.

The high cost of professional care means people on low incomes have no choice but to care. However, not only do people care because they are poor – many also stay poor because they care. As things stand, our welfare system just doesn’t acknowledge the economic value and personal cost of the unpaid caring that is currently undertaken by millions of people on low incomes. Not only does Carers’ Week provide an important opportunity to recognise the vital contribution made by unpaid carers to society but it also a valuable moment to call for this civic service to be properly rewarded and supported.

For an insight into life as a carer see the BBC website for Nick Danziger’s collection of photos for Oxfam. Isabel is a volunteer at the Oxfam-supported Clydebank Independent Resource Centre in Glasgow and full time carer for her disabled son.