In 21st-century Scotland, poverty should long ago have been consigned to the history books.
Yet here we are in a modern, wealthy nation with too many families struggling to make ends meet.
Today’s State of the Nation report is right to call for the eradication of poverty to be at the heart of the forthcoming election.
The last parliament made a historic commitment to wipe out child poverty by 2030.
Yet, as this new report highlights, it is likely to increase by 2030, not disappear.
And we don’t yet know the full financial consequences of coronavirus, only that the poor will be punished even further.
If we are to break the endless cycle of poverty and the social ills that partner it, the post-pandemic recovery will require radical thinking.
Most of those suffering at the bottom are the working poor – with many the very key workers who have carried us through this pandemic.
We need a nurse, delivery driver or supermarket worker far more than a financial speculator yet this is never reflected in the pay packets of front-line staff.
Tory austerity has been a ligature around the neck of the poor, tightening with each passing day, but the Scottish Government must also take some of the blame for unforgivable levels of hardship in our small nation.
Children in poverty continue to be the collateral damage of policies skewed in favour of the wealthy.
As a nation, whether we are ever independent or not, we can never hold our heads high while so many citizens are financially on their knees.
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