The current crisis with regard to rising inflation is often being compared with problems with inflation in the 1970s (Energy prices could push UK inflation to 22%, a near postwar record, 30 August). This has made me think about that time. I had babies in 1973 and 1976; there was very little part-time work, so I either worked part-time when I could or did casual work. My husband worked for the local authority and although the income was regular, it was fixed and just enough to get by – so we managed.
I do not remember prices in the supermarket, or anywhere else, rising at the speed and rate at which they are now, and of course all utilities were still publicly owned, so those prices were stable.
I feel quite angry about the present comparisons. We didn’t need food banks, there was no talk of “heating or eating”. But then the gap between the haves and have-nots was not so wide.
I believe that the 70s were the time of greatest financial equality since the second world war. That changed in the 80s and has never gone back.
Elizabeth Roberts
Doncaster, South Yorkshire