I’d like to dedicate this column to Deborah James, who died last week of bowel cancer. It was her work as a campaigner and podcaster that made me realise that I, too, could have a voice – talking about people living in poverty. So here’s to you, Dame Deb, thanks for everything.
I’ve just received a gas bill. Nothing unusual about that, you may think. Except that last year I set up an account with British Gas to do my gas and electricity on a meter, which means I top it up online. When the quarterly bill used to come it was overwhelming for me – three months’ worth of bills and I’d think, “Where the hell am I going to get this money from?” Now, whenever I’ve got 20 quid or a tenner or a fiver, I put it in the meter and hope it will see me through to the next week. The company said I could pay the backlog I owed it through the meter, which is set at a slightly higher rate, so that every time I put money in, it’s paying off a bit of my debt.
