ABSTRACT
Poverty has nothing to do with a lack of self-respect. Long residence and extensive travel in Africa have taught me that extreme poverty and a precarious existence are not incompatible with a fierce self-respect. Nor was the British population always like this. My mother, a refugee to this country more than 60 years ago, tells me that the first thing she noticed about the British-of all classes-was their quiet dignity. Now the first thing she notices as she steps out of her door is the shamelessness of their public conduct.
