Rory Cocker

I had never eaten in a restaurant, gone on holiday, or realised food brands like Walkers, Cadbury's and McVities were not actually "posh" until I was 21. Dinner was the same thing every night. Every toy I had came from boot sales. There were 5 of us in a tiny 2 bed maisonette in a very rough area. Even at a young age, I learned to wear a hoodie up and how to walk so as not to get attacked on my way home, as we could not afford a car. I felt the panic about money from my mum even at a very young age and as a kid was taught to be quiet if the door knocked, in case it was debt collectors. I knew not to ask for money, or treats, or anything. Was never encouraged to go to uni, or to work, as that level of generational poverty carries a "this is it" attitude. Myself and all my family suffered depression, because it is a depressing atmosphere with no hope or aspiration. I am the first person in my family to be working and jump out of poverty, and that only occurred by sapping off my new partner's middle-class privilege. I had to learn to use a knife and fork and try "normal" foods to impress what I then thought was his incredibly rich family. There's no house or money to inherit, just expenses when family passes away. A week before my dad passed away due to a delayed operation from COVID backlogs, I had to lend him money for bills. A week later, I had to pay for his funeral costs. My twin brother died from deep vein thrombosis before he hit 30, as a direct result of the poverty situation he was stuck in and accustomed to. A week later, I had to start paying the bedroom tax for my mum now that his room was not occupied. Unless I get rich, my mum and remaining brother will live in poverty for the rest of their lives, never knowing anything different. The same goes for all of my close mates who grew up in the same town and same situations as I did, and I recognise my privilege in being out of it nowadays, because it is so vastly worse now than it was 10 years ago, and my hometown far more impoverished, somehow. My career is purely driven, every single day, by the never-ending fear that I will lose it all and have to return back home, fall back into depression, and suffer the fate of my twin. This worry continues to fuel every waking day of my life. It controls my life. You never stop being working class or "underclass". But all that pales in comparison with what @RishiSunak went through without access to Sky TV. I'm proud to have a leader I can relate to. He truly is in it with the rest of us.❤️