"It's just no way of living"

Kirsty Mackay's cost-of-living photo essay for the Guardian is very much in the same vein as Invisible Britain or the work of Jim Mortram. Not only does she put faces to the horrifying poverty statistics, she also deliberately gives the subjects of her photos an opportunity to talk about the daily reality of their predicaments in their own words - an opportunity that is routinely denied to them in the mainstream media. The result is a piece that carefully avoids "further victimis[ing] people who are bearing the brunt of this crisis" but instead empowers them, amplifying their voices for a wider audience.

The essay underlines the fact that acute anxieties over food, energy bills, housing and health are not confined only to those who find themselves on benefits. On the contrary, many people in full-time employment - including those who, like Katie Austin-Morgan, would classify themselves as "professionals" - are struggling to make ends meet. And all this - as another subject, Sarah Jade, notes - in the sixth richest country in the world. It's utterly shameful.