James O'Brien And Poverty Expert DESTROY Nick Ferrari Over His PATHETIC Poverty DENIAL!

[00:00:00]some of those items. So, just being able to pick out one particular item and say, "Oh, that's 80p, that's £1.50."

[00:00:07]>> I did ask you earlier.

[00:00:07]>> It's not serious. It's not serious. It's not a serious journalistic response now.

[00:00:12]>> I'm going to What motivates people to pretend that this problem doesn't exist?

[00:00:19]>> All right. So, in this video, one of the biggest right-wing blowhards in the British media, Nick Ferrari, tries to deny that poverty exists. And after months of Nigel Farage and immigration on repeat, the cost of living is finally front and center again. Watch Ferrari get counteracted by an excellent campaigner before James O'Brien implicitly responds to him.

[00:00:36]>> question >> But you know how much toothpaste costs, I assume, do you?

[00:00:41]>> So, now, are you Are you suggesting that he's saying that these numbers aren't right? Are you saying that the study that's happened taken place in the last 4 and 1/2 years is >> Just essentials. Just essentials, as does toothpaste, is 45p.

[00:00:51]How much cheaper do you want it to be?

[00:00:53]>> But if you're in debt, um your income doesn't cover your outgoing, you have to not have to stop something. I mean, that's what That's what this research shows, that people have to forgo something.

[00:01:06]>> How has that person got in debt?

[00:01:10]>> The most basic reason why people are not in debt is because the cost of living is higher than the income they have.

[00:01:15]>> Well, I've just told you you can get toothpaste for 45p, a bar of soap at Asda costs you 35p, and I can get you two toothbrushes at the pound shop for £1.

[00:01:25]So, we've had a nice wash, and we've brushed our teeth. Why don't we go out and get a job?

[00:01:30]>> So, of course, many of these people are in work.

[00:01:31]>> Right.

[00:01:32]Well, then you're going to be able to afford You're going to be able to afford two toothbrushes, aren't you, for a pound at the pound shop?

[00:01:37]>> Not Not if your housing costs are >> You're telling me you're You're telling me people in this country can't afford a 50p toothbrush.

[00:01:44]>> Yes.

[00:01:45]>> Where? Who? Why?

[00:01:47]>> 7.4 million households >> 7.4 million households in this country, Mr. Sterling, cannot afford a 50p toothbrush.

[00:01:54]>> And that's And that's precisely why I think it should be It should be an emergency. And actually the government is recognizing that with the policies they're now beginning to put out. It's going to be really important to see that they are >> wish to cause any personal offense because I respect enormously what you and your colleagues at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are doing, but I'm just not buying it. I'm just not buying the 7.4 million households can't afford a 50p toothbrush. In fact, I've just been told that I can get you a 25p toothbrush at Asda. So, a 20 You're telling me, and I respect you enormously, your company enormously, your foundation, I'm sorry, but you are telling me there are 7.4 million households in Britain who can't afford a 25p toothbrush. Where does their money go?

[00:02:32]>> If you only have £5 and you need £6, that means you're £1 short, Nick.

[00:02:37]>> Well, where does that five quid go?

[00:02:41]>> Well, I'm afraid what we're having here, which is we do get quite a lot of, is not a reflection of the study, but it's people that are ideologically >> it's an analysis of the figures that you put out, I would put it to you.

[00:02:51]That when you come out with these which are very disturbing figures, it's not unfair that a journalist would challenge you and say, "Well, hold on a second.

[00:02:58]What precisely can't they afford?" And I'm told they can't afford soap and shower gel. And then I say, "Well, I can get you shower gel from Sainsbury's for 35p."

[00:03:06]>> Yeah, and you can get, you know, you can get potatoes for 80p. But the point is these things all add up. And if people haven't got sufficient income to cover all of those items, they have to go without some of those items. So, just being able to pick out one particular item and say, "Oh, that's 80p. That's £1.50."

[00:03:23]>> Well, no, I did ask you earlier I asked you earlier.

[00:03:25]>> serious It's not a serious It's not a serious journalistic response, Nick.

[00:03:29]>> for your I'm grateful for your analysis of my journalistic abilities and grateful for your time too as well. Alfie Sterling is an economist and director of policy people who comment, for example, on today's story from the Sutton Trust that estimates 7.4 million households in this country, where are we at the moment, the fifth, the sixth richest nation in the world.

[00:03:53]7.4 million households over the last 6 months were on at least one occasion unable to afford one essential item.

[00:04:05]It's important to um unpack this. That's why I talk about precariousness being something that stalks you, but doesn't always come through the back door. So, here here is a low-income family, and they are just as likely to be in work as not.

[00:04:21]And here is one moment in 6 months when they couldn't afford an essential.

[00:04:27]Uh and and an essential would include, of course, um turning on the oven um or or or or a toothbrush or soap or Well, you know what essentials are. I I You You You're talking about the very basics, the most basic building blocks, food, basic toiletries, heating, suitable clothing, and shoes.

[00:04:50]And and it doesn't mean that they are spending 6 months unable to buy soap. It means that for at least one moment in those 6 months, they couldn't afford to buy an essential, something that they needed.

[00:05:04]You know, this is why a kid would go to school in clothes that don't fit or a child would go to school in um odd shoes. That's a slightly silly example, but do you see what I mean? And then the clock ticks, the calendar flips and you can afford it again.

[00:05:23]So, it's not about a life of grinding poverty. It's about a life of sapping precariousness.

[00:05:32]I think if we were to be generous to people who claim that they don't believe that this exists or claim not to understand that this exists, that might be one of the points that they're missing. They don't read into the story.

[00:05:43]7.4 million low-income households can't afford essentials. Well, that's ridiculous. How can you go for 6 months without any soap? But they're not.

[00:05:50]They're going for 5 and 1/2 months with soap, and then for 1 week or 1 fortnight without cuz they can't afford it. And I think when you think of it in numerical terms, this is really e- The way to get your head around it if you struggle is is very very simply to count.

[00:06:10]So, there are 30 Well, 30 days in September, right? What What What month are we in now? July 30 days have September, April, June, and November.

[00:06:16]All the rest have 31. So, there are 31 days in July.

[00:06:19]What happens if you run out of money on the 28th? So, maybe your meter is is is paid up. So, you're you're you've got a card on your meter. Uh you're going to be fine. That's not going to run out even though you've actually run out of what I suppose we would have to call ready cash. You've run out of cash.

[00:06:35]You've got no money to spend. Your current account is either on zero or it's overdrawn or you don't have a current account. You just got no money.

[00:06:43]Right?

[00:06:46]And you've got enough food in your cupboards to get by, probably. But oh my lord, we've run out of shampoo. Well, we're going to have to wait until Wednesday before we can buy shampoo.

[00:06:58]Right? It's not that you're not washing your hair for 6 months. It's just that we literally can't buy shampoo until Wednesday. So, we're going to wait until Wednesday. It's Wednesday today. This is unhelpful. We're going to have to wait until Saturday before we can buy shampoo.

[00:07:11]And then of course, it could be something else that's run out. So, you're all right for shampoo, but you can't eat it and you've run out of rice.

[00:07:19]Or or or you've run out of protein and you can't get to the shops until Saturday and today is Wednesday.

[00:07:25]Or even Thursday. It's just tonight you've got to get through. So, there's no soap tonight.

[00:07:30]No shampoo tonight or no dinner or or or or like just a bowl of potatoes cuz that's all we've got in the fridge. That's all we we've got in the cupboard.

[00:07:41]This is not hard to grasp, is it?

[00:07:44]And three, well, why are some people so keen to simply deny the reality of these situations? Why? Is it a right-wing thing cuz you have to deny it, otherwise your entire political project falls apart? Because you think everything is hunky-dory and that, you know, everyone's got this and everyone for anybody who's failing is lying or or or or or only have themselves to blame? All right, so there you have it. And notice exactly what Farage tried to do there. He wanted to cancel out a massive national poverty crisis by shouting about a 25p toothbrush, but James absolutely nailed the reality. It's not about refusing to buy soap for 6 months, it's about getting to the end of the month, your account hitting zero, and then you just having to wait because you have no money.

[00:08:24]People like Nick, right-wing blowhards throughout the media, have to pretend that this level of poverty, these kind of problems don't exist. Because if they admit working people are counting the days until payday just to afford shampoo or toothbrush, they have to admit their economic model is a total failure.

[00:08:42]Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments below. And if you want to see more like this, hit the like like and subscribe button. And don't forget to ring the notification bell so you never miss a video. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.