Discworld Vimes Boots Theory Used to Highlight UK Food Poverty

Rhianna Pratchett, the daughter of the author, supported a new campaign by Jack Monroe. Monroe's new price index, called the Vimes Boot Index, is intended to provide a third-party alternative to the consumer price index provided by the UK Government.

Monroe wrote in the Guardian earlier this week that it was reported last week that the consumer price index rose to 5.4% in December, the highest level for nearly 30 years. The campaign has already gotten a response from the Office for National Statistics, but it has gained further prominence thanks to Monroe.

The second in the Discworld series to follow the magical city of Ankh- Morpork is called City Watch from the perspective of its commander, Captain Sames.

The reason that the rich were so rich was because they spent less money, according to the passage from Men at Arms. He made thirty-eight dollars a month. A good pair of boots cost fifty dollars. When the cardboard gave out, an affordable pair of boots, which were ok for a season or two and then leaked like hell, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots that Vimes wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was. Good boots last for years and years. A man who could afford a pair of boots would keep his feet dry in ten years, while a man who could only afford cheap boots would have to spend a hundred dollars on boots in the same time.

Monroe cited an example of how low-income families in the UK have seen supermarkets increase prices on basic food and goods. With these lines, aimed at low-income households, either pricing up or being replaced with more expensive store-brand ranges, struggling families are being forced to turn to charities and food banks to sustain themselves, with over a decade of cuts to social support programs by Britain.

It was a razor-sharp evaluation of socio-economic unfairness that was the result of the musing on how expensive it is to be poor via the cost of boots. Rhianna Pratchett said in a statement provided to the Guardian that it's all too pertinent today, where our most vulnerable are often cast adrift from protection and empathy.

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