Covid lockdowns had a “catastrophic effect” on the UK’s social fabric and the most disadvantaged are no better off now than at the time of the financial crash, a new report claims.
The country is in danger of sliding back into the divisions of the Victorian era, marked by a widening gap between the mainstream and the poorest in society, according to an inquiry by the centre-right thinktank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
About 13.4 million people lead lives affected by family fragility, stagnant wages, poor housing, chronic ill health and crime, the centre says.
It goes a lot deeper than the local pub.
We’ve got a bunch of children that will be known of the COVID generation. They will have educational issues, relationship issues, mental health issues and more I’m sure, all at higher rates than those either side of them.
And we’ll put them into a job market where the rich are more powerful than before.