We live in times when it seems like our politics isn’t quite matching the moment that we are in. This isn’t unique to Scotland: the same could be said for the UK as a whole (and no doubt many other countries).

For many people this is having two significant impacts. Firstly, it is normalising hardship across our society. Food bank parcels are measured in the hundreds of thousands, destitution has become commonplace, and in recent polling done by Save the Children almost half of people in Scotland knew of children in poverty in their community.

Secondly it is feeding political disaffection, caused by people’s long running concerns over the cost of living, their housing, their work, their ability to make ends meet.

That disaffection is particularly concerning, not just because it is being taken advantage of by far-right agitators offering division as a cure for the alienation people are feeling, but also because it massively dents people’s faith in the ability of government to change things. In turn, that drives people to think that the cure for the wrongs we see in our society must be fixed by individuals – that they are the ones who must provide the cure.

Your wages........

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