As a small child, we didn’t have enough money for food. We couldn’t afford treats, eating out, etc. My dad would make a fuss and not let us even have a 10p Freddo frog. What we ate at home was very cheap: bread, chips, eggs, tins of soup, fruit etc. The amount was adequate, we were sometimes a bit hungry but not enough to harm us.
I don’t have any trauma from this, it was normal to me. I had much more important things on my mind as a small child than comparing and worrying about food.
I got used to disappointment of never being able to get the toys that I wanted or my friends had, and I think this taught me to not be spoiled, and to value my possessions. I am grateful and if I was ever a rich parent, I would ensure my kids experienced the same.
At secondary school, I was on free school meals (all kids at primary school had a lunchbox). We had to queue up at the beginning of lunch to collect a pink paper ticket. I have no trauma, no one cared and no one was bullied. I’d say at least a third of us were in that ticket queue. It was a non-issue.
My only concerns were that the ticket wasn’t worth much so I couldn’t buy enough food. Also after That Man had his way there was nothing left for us vegetarians to eat.
Later, I went to a private school on a scholarship. I was never bullied about not being rich, because no one actually cared. Thirteen year old girls have much more pressing issues than scrutinising social class!
I never noticed any snobbery, the worst I heard was a very occasional remark about chavs, but kids at my state school (on special measures it was so tit) also occasionally talked about chavs.
I just wanted to give a different perspective to Jack’s melodrama. First world poverty is common and isn’t always traumatising, and also the upper-middle class are human beings, and are capable of interacting normally with other members of the human race.
‘Take a pinch of burly Greek Cypriot grandfather ... 
mackie land is a wonderful place
