Scratching the Surface: Inequality

What is inequality?

Inequality is feeling as though the £3.00 in your back pocket isn’t worth as much as the £3.00 in his; the strikingly handsome man in the dapper suit who strolls carelessly into the pub, smiling with the swish of his open blazer. Inequality is that moment of brief hesitation where you so desperately wish to voice your opinion on something, but that woman with the degree in Ecology gets there first; your views are nothing, and your mind cannot rest knowing you could be bottling the solution to an over-polluted society- it’s right there…behind your sore, bitten lip. Inequality is the brick in your gut that drops with a thud as you sit opposite your bank manager; he’s thumbing your statement with a sly side-grin that leaves you even more uneasy than when you walked through the door. He wants to rinse you. He wants to scrape the interest off that loan you’ve just taken out to cover the extortionate cost of your new car tyres, fold it up and slide it into his back pocket. You probably make more than him in one day than he makes in a year; it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t. It’s that suit! It’s amazing; what that blue tie can do with the silver trim. How can something so small and inanimate cause that great lump in your throat- the one that chokes you and causes you to stutter like a small child.