@kityates Kit, please just ignore if no interest / no time, I really appreciate the invaluable commentary from you & #IndependentSage - but I have been intrigued to discover the resonances from 1796 when the 21-yr old #JaneAusten started writing #PrideAndPrejudice, & how her characters encapsulate perspectives dividing #UKpolitics then & now.
🧵 ending at https://h-net.social/@ClaireFromClare/109556329817289341

#LivingIncome #LivingWage #UKgov #NHS #nurses #doctors #PoorLaws #NHSpay #UKstrikes #solidarity #SupportNHS 💙

@Tony_Meredith Thanks for drawing my attention to the relevance of #PrideAndPrejudice to #UKpolitics today. 225 years ago #Britain had a #Tory #PrimeMinister pushing for a fairer society with a #LivingIncome & an expansion of #WelfareBenefits. He was supported by many enlightened landowners but undermined by proponents of low taxes, #TrickleDownEconomics, & #charity. All astutely observed by #JaneAusten!

#WilliamPitt #PoorLaws #FairPay #MinimumWage
#Edmund Burke #CatherineDeBourgh
#SupportNHS

@Tony_Meredith However, the general reader would surely have recognised an allusion to #EdmundBurke, & the contrast to #EarlFitzwilliam & the D’Arcy & Darby families who supported Pitt’s proposals to help the poor. Burke also opposed the meritocracy which enabled the rise of Jane's brothers.

I recommend ‘#PrideAndPrejudice and the #PoorLaws’ by Sheryl Craig, https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pride+and+Prejudice+and+poor+laws.-a0370031582
- fascinating in the context of current #UKpolitics!

#JaneAusten #FairPay #MinimumWage #SafetyNet #SupportNHS