It’s obvious that UK poverty is a different thing altogether from poverty in the third world – but regardless of this, it is indeed unacceptable and not necessary.

Just this month, Sinead Hanna’s article appears at KM Online – “One in four Kent children lives in poverty” and provides a list that shows 48% of children in Thanet are in low income families, across to the other side of the county with 24% of children in Sevenoaks.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty website states:

3.9 million children – one in three – are currently living in poverty in the UK, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world. This is a shocking figure given the wealth of our nation.

But I have to admit that stating that almost 1 in 4 children in Sevenoaks are living in or close to poverty has me wondering just how that is measured, I’m afraid.  I certainly do not intend to dispute that there is real poverty around and close to us, but it concerns me that if the figures are not reflecting the real life situation, then are the people that need help the most going to get it first?

So more research to do on this, I think – it’s important and that’s my pledge for Blog Action Day as editor of Kent View – to understand just what poverty in Kent means…