As I begin to write this chapter, I am chuckling at the thought of those who read this and will immediately conclude that I am advocating nothing less than a fully legitimised nanny state.
After all, if you are telling people what foods, goods and services are deemed essential to live, you are by the very act of doing so, telling them that they live frivolous lives, aren’t you?
Well, in some respects yes. But very few would be able to look you in the eye and not acknowledge that fact that we should always prioritise what everyone needs before what an individual wants if you were to put them on the spot and ask.
The point is not about bringing anyone down to a poorer person’s level. We would all like to have the best of everything that is readily available.
It is about creating a benchmark level for what our society accepts that it takes to live and function self-sufficiently in the most basic way(s) that are possible.
Be under no illusion that the Basic Living Standard and UBW are benchmarks for life that we would all very quickly want to have in place and available to us personally as a safety net, if and when we should for any reason find ourselves down on our luck.
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