Broke

Over a dozen years into austerity, statistical warning lights areflashing to suggest a return to types of deprivation we once imagined we hadconsigned to history. In the decade up to the pandemic, the official count ofrough sleepers and recorded malnutrition in hospital patients both doubled,while recourse to food banks rocketed by an order of magnitude. And yet it has never been statistics but rather individual human stories– from the fictionalised accounts of Dickens to the faithful reporting ofOrwell and Priestley – that have seared the reality of hard times into thepublic imagination. In Broke, Tom Clark assembles today’s masters ofsocial reportage to go deep into the communities so often ignored bypoliticians, introducing us to those at the hardest end of the poverty crisis. Contributions from Jem Bartholomew, Cal Flyn, Dani Garavelli, Frances Ryan,Samira Shackle, Daniel Trilling and Jennifer Williams and a foreword by KerryHudson unflinchingly reveal the contemporary experience of cold, hunger,homelessness, disease, debt, disability, punishing work and an immigrationsystem that makes people destitute by design. With Joel Goodman’s photography bringing the characters to life, andsome of the writers having had first-hand experience of the issues raised, Brokeblends powerful human stories with analysis of the policies that have led us tothis point – and the reforms we urgently need. All royalties will be donated to Leeds AsylumSeekers’ Support Network