The ill effects of being poor or living in economically disadvantaged areas have been demonstrated before, but it is unusual to consider both factors in the same study. When Marilyn Winkleby and colleagues at Stanford University in California did so, they were surprised to find that death rates in four Californian cities were highest for poor people living in the richest neighbourhoods (American Journal of Public Health, DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.060970).
They offer two possible explanations: poor people living in rich areas may have to pay more for housing and other services, magnifying the effect of poverty; alternatively, their health may suffer from stress caused by continually being reminded that they are at the bottom of the economic pile. “I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive,” says team member Catherine Cubbin, now at the University of California, San Francisco.
Interesting because it confirms my belief that poverty is relative, being poor in a place where everyone else is also poor will never be pleasant but it is never as bad as being poor in a place where most people are rich.
It reminds me of the bit of news last week that council tax might raise up to four times in nice areas, you know good postcodes with good schools. This has since been denied by the government but there are other "forces" that seem to be creating more class divisions that ever.
This and todays news is convincing me more and more that George Orwell only got the date wrong, it was not 1984 it was 2014.
