The Deadline to the Breadline

The average UK household is just days away from an emergency situation in the event of sudden financial hardship, according to a new report. One-third of households (36 percent) in the UK have “no strategy in place to cope with financial hardship." In Wales, for example, most people would only be able to survive for seven days in the event of an economic setback.

Households with a mortgage payment last about three weeks before their money vanishes. Even a rise of just 1 per cent would have an impact – meaning households would no longer be able to save each month and would have to change their spending habits, or rely on existing savings, to make ends meet. However, households that rent from private landlords are in the worst position, being just “two days away from the breadline.”

The results of the survey expose "the harsh reality that many households are on the brink and just weeks away from becoming reliant upon family, friends or the state,” John Pollock, chief executive of Legal & General Assurance Society, told the Independent. “Despite improvements in the employment market, the average working-age family is just two weeks away from the breadline."

Somebody once said "No society is more than three meals (or six or nine) away from revolution," meaning hungry people are desperate people who will topple any government. Hungry people are angry people.