On Monday this week, the New Policy Institute released a report
called Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Scotland 2008,
which appears to have encouraging findings. According to the
report, child poverty and pensioner poverty have fallen over the
last ten years, somewhat countered but not offset by an increase
in poverty among families without children. This is a very brief
report which updates earlier findings by the Institute, so it
does not pretend to provide a comprehensive picture. Still, one
wonders why it does not mention what it actually means to be
poor in Scotland today and what it meant ten years ago. In terms
of combating poverty, Scotland appears to have improved its
relative standing in the UK. But strangely, absolute figures do
not seem to say the same. Within the poorest fifth of the UK,
the share of those who lack either a freezer or a washing
machine or both has dropped by a third since 1999. In Scotland
specifically, that share was lower to begin with but has not
fallen that much si