Guardian Article: "Do Britons feel rich or poor?"

[eslteacher]

Interesting article in the Guardian this morning. They've asked people on a range of household incomes if they feel rich or poor:

Do Britons feel rich or poor?

Some interesting results. The majority seem to feel that they're doing OK but life would be much easier if they had just a little bit more money. (Case in point the City lawyer who's on £100-140,000 per year but thinks you need £150,000 to be "really comfortable"). A lot of people are seeing childcare eat up a large percentage of their income. Some seem to me to have an astronomical income, but apparently it gets eaten up with fixed costs to match. Others are on what to me seems like a low income, but they are happy and think they have enough. The brief statement from the asylum seeker at the end is just awful...puts all the rest in perspective for me.

That is interesting riverboat

Personally, despite recent struggles and financial stress, I feel rich. That's because I'm living within a few hundred metres of poor people whose children can't attend school, they can't see a GP or dentist. I can take my DCs to the doctor as and when I feel it necassery and we eat what we wish to eat, as often as we wish to, every day.

We're in south America, the ILs are still in the UK. They are "poor pensioners". Their 4 bed detached house is fully paid for, they run 4 cars - 3 adults in the house, he complains at getting practically no state pension. That's because his private pension is so large that he had a large chunk paid in his wife's name to avoid tax. He doesn't qualify for state pension because he has too much money. They eat far too much food and use private medical cover when the NHS won't give then what they think they need. They also holiday about 6 times per year, in the UK.