Illness, obesity, racism; who gets blamed for our crises? The poor of course .

Illustration: Dom McKenzie/The Observer

 There is a long history of blaming the poor for their misfortunes, from the Victorian notion of the “undeserving poor”, to the 1960s “culture of poverty” thesis, to New Labour’s crusade against “problem families”, to George Osborne’s condemnation of “skivers… sleeping off a life on benefits”.

 At the heart of this history is the attempt to view poverty and inequality as moral rather political issues, the problems of the individual rather than of society. The latest campaign against obesity feeds into this history, too. Obesity is a significant health issue and an important factor in Covid-19 deaths.

 But the reason poor people eat junk food is not because they are ignorant or lack middle-class virtues.

 It’s because of the circumstances of their lives.

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