Everything Is Content - Everything In Conversation: Single Woman Tax

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

Happy Wednesday EICarrot cakes! This week we're tackling, maybe the only downside to being single for women? Glamour columnist Chante Joseph, known for her viral Boyfriends Are Embarrassing piece, published a recent piece titled ‘Is the ‘single woman tax’ going to cost me my future?’ In it she dives into the very real financial burden of not being coupled up.In the piece she speaks to Renée Sylvestre-Williams, the author of The Singles Tax: No-Nonsense Financial Advice for Solo Earners, who defines the ‘singles tax’ as the “financial penalty that single people are paying as a result of a society that has primarily focused on ‘the couple’.” She has some galling figures including the fact that retirement costs 44% more than for those in a couple. And if you’re single in London, you’re paying over £20,000 a year on living and lifestyle costs. She links this to the increased Hinge prompts joking about splitting rent and the fact that women are being encouraged to find a 6ft banker to couple up with. We dissect this dire situation ,with your help! Thank you! We hope you enjoy. O,R,B xIs the ‘single woman tax’ going to cost me my future?The Singles Tax: No-Nonsense Financial Advice for Solo Earners Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Beth. I'm Ruchera and I'm Anoni. And this is Everything in Conversation. The discourse amuse-bush before your main episode on Friday. We'd love for you to take part in these conversations, whether you're agreeing or disagreeing, we want to hear from you. And you can share your takes by following us on Instagram at Everything is Content Pod. That's where we decide on topics and invite you to get involved. Glamour columnist Chante Joseph, known for her viral, boyfriend's embarrassing piece, published a new piece in the glossary. titled, Is the Single Woman Tax Going to Cost Me My Future? In it, she dives into the very real financial burden of not being coupled up. Shanty talks about exiting her 20s and staring down

the barrel of a new decade and feeling a new anxiety about what that means financially. She cites a recent study by Ali Bank that found that although women are more content being single and enjoy it more than men, they're more likely to be worried about money. And she says she's one of those women. She speaks to Renee Sylvester Williams, the author of The Singles Tax, No Nonsense Financial Advice for Solo Earners, who defines the singles tax as the, quote,

financial penalty that single people are paying as a result of a society that is primarily focused on the couple. So she cites some really galling figures, including the fact that retirement costs 44% more than for those in a couple. And if you're single in London, you're paying over £20,000 a year on living and lifestyle costs. She links this to,

the increased hinge prompts, joking about splitting rent and the fact that women are being encouraged to find a six-foot banker to couple up with. Quote, we cannot separate the pursuit of love from our own financial insecurities, and I think it makes both being single and actively dating equally difficult, she writes. She ends the piece with structural financial advice from Renee and a call to action for everyone to challenge a society that penalises single people. She writes, things won't get easier unless everyone is invested, but there's a complacent see the romantic love breeds, encouraging tunnel vision that closes the unit off from the world. A world that is more affordable and fairer for single people means leveling out what is possible

in a relationship and as a person on your own. Until then, we have to understand community as more than a buzzword, but a necessity. I sent this into the group chat because despite currently being coupled up, all of my time in London was spent not cohabitating, paying for a room by myself, not being able to save as a result. And I do think, especially in our listenership, there will be so many women who are thinking, and just single people in general who are thinking long, long term, it's already that difficult to retire,

to pay into a pension, to have any savings to buy a house. I think it is really, really damning. And any one of us could find ourselves there, again, touch word. So I don't know, what did you both think of this? Was this something you went, yep, yep, yep, been thinking about this for ages, or did it sort of rattle you a little bit? mean it's something when I went through a breakup what year is it 2021 I was living with a partner and I

remember adding up what I thought I could afford I rented a flat on my own which is gorgeous and nine type definitely couldn't actually really afford that but I thought I could and because I was working out how much money I'd had in that relationship and then the minute we broke up actually know because we were sharing our food shop we were sharing like so many bills and costs and things that it felt like my disposable income just completely disappeared single tax is such a real thing and whenever I talk to any of my friends that are still single, it's a massive thing that comes up in conversation. Obviously, I'm in a relationship now. A massive thing that I noticed the other day was, keep talking about it, because it's one of the saddest things that ever happened, but I've outgrown my 16 to 30 rail card.

So I went on rail card and I was like, what can I get? The thing that I could get was a two together rail card with my partner. And I was like, that is so bad. So when I'm traveling with my boyfriend, we now got 30% off on trains. But if I was single and didn't have a partner, I suppose also you could do it with a friend, but like how often are you necessarily going places with your friend? So that's just one example of the ways in which like, oh, if you're in a couple, you can have money off, even though you're already pooling your finances. Single tax is a really, really huge thing. And even when we look at renting like one-bed apartments, which loads people at our age dream to live in, cost the same as it would for like a two-bed couple flat. So it's not even like there's any way that

you can make things cheaper as a single person. It's almost inherently more expensive. Buying food in the supermarket is really hard to buy meals as a single person that are going to last and you can cook for longer. when you think about it, it is, it's terrible. It is terrible. And that rail card issue I have thought about before as well, because I have that rail card and it pisses me off. It's almost like after the age of 30, why the hell would be alone?

Yeah. Why the hell would be alone? You're sick fuck. That's what train lines seems to be saying. It's so infuriating. It's not like you die after 30 unless you're in a relationship. Jesus. So yeah, I have thought that before and I really relate to that.

I'm in between jobs at the minute and I constantly think about the fact I could not live as I am without having a partner because they are supporting me, you know, like the amount of money that I'm getting from freelance things does not match when I had a full-time job. And it is stressful already and I'm coupled up and I have the financial security of a partner who is very kind and forthcoming and we share our assets. And, you know, it's already stressful enough. I cannot imagine doing this as a single person. I literally could not. I literally could not do that. I couldn't afford to try and make the podcast work. There's all these different things and it's really stressful.

So I really think that we need to actively tackle this. I don't know how we tackle this apart from having people aware of it, reading this piece, but also challenging it. There's so many routes to go down and we will. But what do you think, Beth? Yeah, absolutely the same. And I think Shantay discusses this as an issue of people not really, defining properly what community is.

We've said this so many times, like people really want the village, they don't want to be a villager. And it does mean redefining what it means to be a person in society who is free and is not, we do, there's an automatic, oh no, if you hear someone's long-term single

or if you hear someone is unmarried and actually, on paper, it's not a bad thing. The punishments for being single and unmarried, especially women, are really harsh. But the actual reality of it is so joyful for a lot of people. just means that people are not able to enjoy it. People stay in bad relationships, often because

of the finances. People cannot afford to leave abusive relationships at times. Even if they can conceive of a world where they're not with that person, they really long for it and know that things will be better. There is an inbuilt, you can't do that. And often the reality is they can't. It's really difficult to save. It's really difficult to strike out without taking a massive step back or putting yourself in danger. So I just feel like it's a conversation that is not just about treating single people with dignity, which is massive part of it, is basically making it financially viable to be single in this world, not punished, to enjoy being single, but also like to retire, to buy a house, to be financially independent. We want all the adults in this country to be able to do that

without having to lump up with someone. We had a message which I thought was so important on that exact point from Rachel that said, I went to a seminar because I'm divorced and worried about old age and money. Then in the seminar, the pensions advisor, said that we are one of the first generations entering retirement as more single people than in couples. But the pension system is still strongly aimed at those in couples. His advice? Find someone to live with in retirement. So basically, our generation are going to be back to having housemates and roommates as 60 plus year olds.

Me and my friends have started talking about this a lot. It's very serious. I'm so glad they messaged because pensions, I've said this before, is something that really gives me a lot of anxiety. I can't think about it without genuinely. feeling panic and overwhelm. Having been a freelancer, being in and out of, you know, P-A-Y-E jobs versus, like, doing my own accounting, it stresses me out so much.

Hearing this, it's really important I have to hear this, but it is scary. Yeah, I can't, I'm now a place where I just can't think that far ahead about money anymore. There was a bit where I was doing quite well and I started to really like start planning ahead and then I had to sort of like pull stuff out of those planning ahead pods and be like, right, we're just living from the moment. Something really big is going to happen. That's what I'm not. I'm just like, one day I'll just get a really big job.

that pays me so much money and then I'm just like that that is it like that's all I've got to click on to I'm the same I just can't think of that far ahead but obviously you should be logistically but I think so many people are in this position now

I mean on the one hand I actually think it sounds quite good this idea of like people living together in retirement because probably like the community thing not being on your own is great but I was just thinking like what relief do you get as a single person you do get slightly less council tax don't you I think you get that

but I genuinely think that there should be some should be in half at least And there should be like relief given to you for living on your own. It's just so, it does make me feel really sad that our generation are literally like fighting over scraps, being like, I just would love as like a 35-year-old woman to be able to rent a flat in Zone 4 by myself. Like the fact that that is just something that we can't afford to do is maddening.

Tangentially related, did you see Mamdani taxing the rich, his new policy that came out that any buildings in New York that are worth over $5 million where the resident doesn't permanently live in New York will be massively taxed and it's going to bring back like tens or under hundreds of millions back into New York, I think tens of millions. But stuff like that is like, that's where you can actually create a massive difference for people that need. He's really just doing some great things.

I just wanted to bring him in. I've probably quoted it really badly. But basically that's like a new policy he's bringing in. So anyone that's hoarding wealth in those massive buildings. I feel like that's the kind of thing that we could be using to elevate some of this financial stress. Because the other thing is it's all happening. We keep talking about dating.

It's like a massive thing. But more and more people are single. This is going to become more and more of an issue. More and more people won't be able to contribute to society. Everyone's stress about all the pubs closing down because no one's drinking. No one's drinking because they've not got any money. No one's leaving the house. Don't afford to live in a house.

Yeah, no one's having dinner parties because they don't have a dining room. Like it is, it really is this such a generational thing. And we are already of this generation. Like we are not looking forward to a very abundant retirement for most of us. We are not of that generation. It's not going to be P&O cruisers for us. Unfortunately, it's going to be fighting for scraps. So I do think it is so, it is so prescient.

I don't hate the idea of living with friends. It's the necessity that you would have no other choice but to pull resources and live. And it's not going to be we're living on a gorgeous big commune. It's going to be what we're, what most people are doing now, which is house sharing into their 30s and 40s, maybe a brief spell where you are with one partner. And then what's going to happen when you're 80s? Someone dies. You're back in the same house share you're in when you're 20 years old, fighting with some kind of robot landlord.

I think it's so much about hope for the future, which is so lacking in our generation, that means even the things that we have done sort of right, which is not locate all of our self-worth in who we're dating, whether we're coupled up, especially women, like women are choosing to remain single. Even that we can't really enjoy because the financial penalties are so steep. And I think that is what, like Abigail said, yes, I'm so single and so concerned. It kind of one precludes the other. Being single is really difficult to learn to love being single. one. It's such a victory when you are able to, but it is almost immediately undercut by the relief, maybe when you get into a relationship of, well, at least this is someone else that I can

shoulder this financial burden with. Like, that's not, that's not romantic. It basically makes being in a relationship less romantic and being single, less freeing. It's like, I don't know who to blame, but it is a boomer somewhere. And even just like on a lighter note, we had a message from Morgan saying, everything is set up for pairs. I see this all the time, food shopping. There aren't single portion sizes in supermarkets, which means you often find you waste food or have to be super vigilant with putting things in the freezer. Lots of my friends didn't feel the cost of things rising, but when you're the sole person paying for it all,

it's a big hit. And I think it is that you notice it in these incremental small ways. It does impact the life choices that you're making. And it is a real shame that as so many women come into their stride and as we've talked about these studies so many times, you know, single women are on average much happier. What are we all doing in relationships? Don't know.

You can't actually enjoy it as best said, because what are you supposed to do to enjoy it? Something that Shantay writes about on the piece which actually I thought was really interesting is this having to perform exceptionalism. So she writes, sometimes this looked like a career win, other times it looked like living a truly indulgent life,

one that felt good, not only because I was doing what I wanted, but because I had something to share that would deflect from my single status, I felt I had to earn my place which almost always costs money. So it's the financial cost, but it's also that cost on time and sort of having to sell yourself. It's that emotional cost of having, of feeling that other people are looking you in a certain way

and then having to strive to, I mean, Shanty says she's lived by herself for a number of years, like is doing really, I don't know her finances, but is doing really fantastically well in her career, like really is a voice and really is kind of like, not to quit Hannah Horvath, but like a voice of a generation. And the fact that there is still that niggling feeling of, I have to be this good because I'm not with a partner. I do find that I think there is that cost as well, that singles tax that we don't really speak about as much,

maybe because single women are already tuned in. I'm like, no, I am okay and I am doing brilliantly. But it's like you shouldn't really have to strive all the time. Whereas I do feel like I, in relationships, I do feel like I've got less to prove. And that's really pathetic. And that is really, that's right at the heart of it, I think. I really relate to that.

I think when I was single, I felt that it was like my duty to glamour, to prove it. Because even though I was happy, it felt like you had to really doubly prove it to other people that I was happy because I was single, even though I was genuinely having the time of my life. And I also do just think that also

If you're dating If you're going out and doing all that stuff That's even more expensive That's like another tax on top of it Because you've got a door of your beauty And your outfits And you're probably going out more Like when you're single

You naturally do Because you don't necessarily have a partner Living with you at home You probably are Even if you're not like socialising And with your friends You're kind of doing You're out and about more

It's just more expensive In that way as well Whereas when you're with a boyfriend You can just sit Or a girlfriend You can just sit and watch TV in the evening And not feel lonely Like there's a massive

It's annoying because there shouldn't be such a price on it. But in order to avoid the loneliness, you actually have to spend quite a lot of money, especially in a city like London. And yeah, I kind of forgot about that, but I really related to that. There is a sense of like, as a single woman,

you've kind of got to prove how much fun you're having to earn your single stage. So it's like, well, I'm actually enjoying all of the fruits of my freedom. Whereas when you're in a relationship, it's like, well, obviously I'm not doing things shacked up. Yeah, it's kind of more like socially acceptable to just be boring AF when you're coupled up. Which is cheap.

Yeah. That is so true. And it was such an interesting point. I'd never thought about it that way. From a few listeners we had in couples, we got a message from Ian who said, it's not the reason I got into a relationship and have stayed in one. But the difference is the opportunity and flexibility we have as a couple compared to what was available as single people is crazy.

The things I used to fantasize about whenever I bought a lottery ticket no longer feel unachievable. And then we had a message from Eloise, who said, couples tax is having to buy your evil mother-in-law a gift every holiday, being suspicious about that before anyone attacks me. Do not attack Eloise. She did a disclaimer, FYI. She is funny.

Yeah, it's all, it's, it's, it's so many things that you forget about. For instance, like a hotel room when you're going abroad, you can share that with someone, your food, your taxis, your travel expenses, the two together rail co-op card. We should actually campaign about that, because that is really bad. There should be, also, it just shows how much of a scam, because you can basically get 30% off for, like, all of your life, except there's, like, 20 years where you're not allowed, because I think I don't know what you're supposed to do

doing that and maybe driving a car but they clearly don't need to be that 30% more expensive there should be because what does it go? 16 to 16 to 30 then you can either be two together I think there's a family one

there's a network rail but I don't know I'm this closer joining the army I miss it so much I miss my discount so much where your army discount no but if I join it I'll have a bit of a discount again

I think you're like I miss my army I miss my 30 under 30 discount yeah don't miss being under 30 discount I do miss that sweet, sweet saving. Yeah.

They think they've got me because it means I'll buy the tickets. Listen, bitch, I'm staying in London. I'm not moving anywhere. I'm not going anywhere. I'm sat in my house. That's so true. See, I always have to go. Obviously, don't have to, but I go to see,

to child them to see my sister. And when I, before I got that two together, I was like, this is hundreds of pounds every time ago. Yikes. That is so expensive. At my big age, I'm on the coach to London to see my boyfriend. And it's fine. The coach is fine, but you're kind of like,

this says something I don't, something about this does not feel like what I thought. life would be. The coach is kind of better for me because it goes directly to Victoria even though it's an hour longer but I can't bring Astrid which is really annoying

so if I'm travelling with her I have to get the train very quiet I have thought that can I just shove her in a bag Oh my God she's stuck in I know to be honest

I have put her in a bag and stuck her into place she wasn't allowed to be before and no one noticed because she just will put her in a tote bag and to go into Strasbos in Edinburgh no one knew she literally just sat in the bottom of the toe bag

she knows the drill but she's not that in supermarket Yeah maybe you could you could get a two together with Astrid yeah oh that's true But then you'd have to pay for a ticket. Yeah.

I do think everything, oh, that's so true. I do think everything is too expensive. That's a part of this. And actually, like, I left London thinking, okay, I'll go and live by myself somewhere. And it never, it hasn't come to fruition yet. And it may still, but it is, it is that incredible burden of watching my friends look for the flats

and they're sort of saying like, hey, one bedroom and seeing the price and then dividing it in two. And you go, that's mad. I know it's just a fact of life, but it's also a fact of greedy landlords and things being just that much more expensive. It goes from being like, this is quite expensive for a couple

to this is prohibitively expensive. And now I live at home with my parents. And it's all connected and I do feel angry. I think it's women's behalf mostly because you fight this long for a free life. And then you go, oh, I can't actually afford it. It's so true. I'll find a husband.

It's going back to the Bridget Doe thing that she's supposed to think she's a fucking loser because she's single at 32 living in that gorgeous fat in the middle of Borough Market, working her lovely little PR job. And we were supposed to think that she was... That's the thing we're all aspiring to be. It's like you couldn't even dream of being that thing

that was apparently so embarrassing. So we've managed to turn Bridget Jones into like a culturally cool icon. Being single at 32 is sick. Her job is really fun. Like everything she's doing is amazing. But actually at the point that it's become cool, it's just totally unaffordable. It's like unrealistic to be Bridget Jones now.

It's simply financial as well. Like it's literally because the economy has made us look at her as aspirational. How depressing is that? in the space of like 15 years. It's so true everything you said. And I just feel so angry and quite pissed off because I feel like being like hopeful young version of me, I felt like I had all these aspirations for life would look like.

And I feel like all of these things interlinked, whether it's like the creative industries that we've started off as and then AI has fucking taken all our jobs. It has now. It is confirmed. I have seen it firsthand. It has. Or, you know, just the economy or these like back-to-back,

non-recession recessions, all these things. London just becoming so unaffordable. single people having no right to be single in today's age financially. I just feel quite pissed off, to be honest. It's like, okay, yeah, I am getting married. I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do, and I'm also still finding it hard, let alone doing something that is slightly transgressive

to what is the normal path for a woman. It's kind of irritating and infuriating. We had a message from Francis who said, I've been single for over 15 years, and I'm lucky enough to have lived alone for the last 10. I own a very average salary, but I'm lucky to live in the north, where things are a little bit more affordable.

I see living on my own as a luxury. It's pretty much my only one, but I do love it. Having said that, I am about to have a lodger move in with me, is splitting the bills right now would be really handy. I am queer on the ace spectrum, and though that does not mean I wouldn't like to be in a relationship, finding one for the ease of paying the bills is out of the question. The single tax makes me so angry if I think about it too much.

I always stay in hostels if I go away, and holidays over three days long are very rare but I try to stay grateful I do love my life and society will not be changing anytime soon the hardest part is when couples people assume you're loaded because you live alone they have no idea how financially tough it can be

I think that thing about the couples is probably I mean I'm probably guilty of this I mean maybe not actually because I'm not living with my partner but whenever I see someone living alone I am like you are so lucky I probably don't I'm probably not being insensitive but maybe someone thinking you have no idea though like I've got one pound left at the end of, but I do, I'm always, I find myself,

it is so aspirational, I'm always just like, that is amazing, I would love to be doing that. But probably the reality is sacrifice, off sacrifice, no holiday, really no disposable income, staying in jobs, you don't really want to stay in because you need to pay, to live in a way, like there's no barrier. And probably, yeah, it's, I mean, couples put their in all the time, couple people, and I think that's probably just another in the long list. It must be so fun to go on date or like, can I go on your dating apps or whatever? It's probably so lucky to live alone.

Even I hate the fact that my situation, because my partner earns the Slat is now different because I can kind of stay there a lot of the time, basically kind of have half moved in but haven't. But like if we break up again, I'm back to school one. So it's like that is the other problem. It's like you can kind of, I've now got access to or maybe I'll have this more settled life.

But if we break up again, which, you know, anyone could at any point in time, my career has not been literally enough stable enough. I doubt anyone will give me a mortgage because my salary is too lumpy and I'm self-employed and freelance. That just adds it all into the fun. So I also do hate the fact that a bit of me hates that I couldn't just access.

Because I really am quite stubborn. I would love to think I've just done this all by myself. But actually, I don't really know anyone that's able to have gotten to that place as a single woman unless they had, you know, some support from a different, whether it's like parental or whatever it is. There's very few people now making enough money. I mean, and it's that depressing thing. like the lucky people among our cohort, like millennial and Gen Z, are people part of the inheritocracy,

which is sort of like, it's the double-edged sort of like, well, you will wait until someone you love, probably love, dies, and people are living longer and longer. So you're going to be maybe an old age, and then your parent dies, tragic, terrible thing. And then you might have a chance at a part, because your parents probably had multiple children, because it was still okay to do that, and it was so exciting to do that, you might get a part of the sale of a property, not a property. It is such, it scraps. It really is, I can't believe we.

not setting fires and more things in this country, not inciting that. It's actually very wrong to do. We would never. I do think what you said about Mamdani taxing unused residences that are like mansions in New York is, why aren't we doing that? London is the worst for that. Like, the data on it is so egregious. I know we love that word egregious. One thing I did see recently was this video about how London's becoming less and less is becoming more hostile to billioners, basically, which is like, I don't want to be rude, but boo fucking who. Um, sorry. to the moment, but it is interesting the finances of it because I guess loads of these capital cities want to kind of court billionaires to help their GDP and to kind of like host them all

and it kind of feeds back into the system. But at what cost is that? The cost is like there is so much unused property in London when there is like a literal housing crisis. Renting in London is insane. I know we always talk about London but I do think it is a particularly interesting case. And when you brought in Mamdani, I just, I keep thinking about that. The billy that thing is I've try to, I'm not clever enough because sometimes they say this thing about the billionaires. People are like,

we need the billionaires. It's really bad when they leave that actually ruins the economy as much better to have them here. They're not have them here if you tax them too much. They then go and that causes something bad.

I don't know. I'm not clever enough to know about it. But also everyone always says, you know, it's the market. People are willing to pay it. And I'm like, that is changing. I don't know if you've seen this on Twitter's, all these accounts now talking about these houses

and nunas that just won't sell. Because people... People decided that they want. People are now saying like, you've got to just... A house is only as valuable as the person buying it decides it is, and that market is changing. So it could depend that,

but the problem is if you have enough percentage of wealthy enough people willing to pay enough rent. I think they have changed the laws now with rents that you can't bid above asking. Is that right? I knew that that was going to come in. I'm pretty sure you're right. If it hasn't come in already, it's going to because that is absolutely wild. And when I was renting, I remember the flat I was renting in. I fucking love that flat,

but they had not done anything to since like the 70s. And they were just randomly just increased the rent. I was like, you've definitely paid off the mortgage on this flat about 30 years ago. And I just randomly going, oh, I guess it's worth more now. It's just greedy. It's fucking greedy. Yeah, the last place I rented in Crystal Palace,

it was like, I think the tail end of COVID, and it was so competitive because people were moving back from having moved away, we had to put up three months of rent up front, which we had savings at the time. That obviously decimated it. And we still had to give above asking. It was such nonsense. And they just made it really clear.

Like, well, we have loads of people coming in. Yeah. What more can you offer? It was so messed up. And again, I was in a couple so we could pull our assets together. Yeah, imagine three months of rent. I'd have no chance. I'd have no chance at all.

Such a hostile world. And they do feel like these sort of like socialist policies like roll in slowly. Like Labor has not been uniformly useless, even though I will slag them off, Kirstnomer especially forever. But they are, it's that snail's pace. And like at the moment, I think a lot of these rent and reforms are coming in now. So landlords are having this like last bid at being assholes. but it just feels like, again, scraps of hope at the same time. Not that we should feel hopeless.

And as Chanty writes in the piece, like more women are buying a loan than ever before. And I think she's in the piece, and maybe this is a hopeful way to sort of round it off. She ends it by saying, things won't get easier unless everyone is invested, but there is a complacency that romantic love breeds, which I would agree with,

encouraging tunnel vision that closes the unit off from the world. A world that is more affordable and fairer for single people means leveling out what it's possible in a relationship and as a person on your own. Until then, we have to understand community as more than a buzzword, but a necessity. I really like that. And I do think there is a point

when you're in a relationship and you forget any moment you could be out of that relationship and it's not just about, I mean, it is about fighting on behalf of other people, but it's also about being a bit wiser and being like,

if I am a single person in my later life, I don't want it to be this situation. I do not want, because I will actually just walk into the sea. I don't have it in me. I don't have that dog in me. We also had a message from Becker

who said, this isn't so much concerned with the singles tax, but there is something of a double dilemma related to this for disabled people. If you are a disabled person who cannot work and you receive benefits, you lose them if your partner moves in with you, despite the very obvious fact that your disability does not go away just because your partner moves in. Because of this, myself and other disabled people find ourselves in a very strange double bind. I get barely anything to live on being a disabled person out of work, yet I would lose any access to my own finances, the very little financial freedom I do have if I wanted

to live with my partner. Also, stats show that disabled people are more likely to be subjected to domestic violence and putting them in a position where they have no financial means to leave when they are already vulnerable is horrifying. I think it's really interesting and I think it's exactly what we've all been saying, Enchante's piece, which is community is not a buzzword and yes, it's bizarre that this is almost like the opposite, the inverse of what we're talking about with singles tax. Disabled people are penalised for being in a couple when that is very much the natural inclination when you are penalised for not being able to access the job market employment. I think all of these things are related, even though the situations are different, we all have

to kind of challenge the status quo that subjugates people to these situations, you know? I was going to say, because it kind of assumes the partner is then the carer, which is like absolving the state of actually providing by being like the minute you get into a couple, you're sort of then, that's not how it should work. That's a good, that's a really good point. I mean, they do, and they, in the show that I've talked about a few weeks ago, we might, you might regret this? We might regret I should know that. They do talk about this and they talk about how different, how many hoops to jump through, like whether actually it is in your best interest not to be married to the person that you love, whether it works to gohabitate, what you lose, what you gain, what then they have to do. It's, it's complete minefield. That's the thing, that's the thing, that's the thing to come out of, that's a thing is, like, however difficult anything is, like, this society has made it, however many times more difficult for disabled people. It's just, yeah, it's just, yeah, it's really infuriating. I think the saddest thing to come out of this conversation is so much of, how money really does buy you happiness in a way that it's getting worse and worse and worse.

So it's like you look every single time someone is needs something more from the state, needs more assistance, needs more help. It just gets more and more difficult. It's harder and harder to access benefits or any kind of state pay for whatever it might be, whether it's like child support or anything. As long as you're fucking minted,

none of this matters. But the less money you have, the harder it is to access. Not only is it difficult to access, but it also means you've got to make really weird decisions around what you can and can't do, how you can and can't lead your life. Like some people talk about,

you know, is there any point me going back to work if I'm then going to lose this benefit, which then means I can't do X, Y, Z. Like, it's, the, the way it works is just ridiculous. And more and more people are being pushed below what we used to call poverty. I mean, the arguments on Twitter at the minute, I don't know if you've seen it where people are saying

35K is a massive salary and kind of having this huge argument around, it's the crabs in the bucket thing, like, 35K, it can be a good salary. But in London, it probably isn't seen as a very good salary. And then on the other end of it, you've got people saying, like, 100K is nothing, it's not enough. And I just think we'll, if you practically apply what this money means,

I want everyone to be earning more than that much money because that is not going to get you very far in this economy. And I think there's a really odd thing going on with money at the minute where I think we need to be more realistic and more honest. Yeah. About how hard it is to survive and how much money people should be making. Yes. And how much things cost. I think it is people looking at this.

Don't live in London who have retired on a really decent, safe pension. who were going, well, we made it work. And you go, you do not know. A pack of mini eggs, fucking 12 quid now. You do not know. The 500 gram one. Yeah, exactly. It's a completely different world.

And it is, I think it basically is. It's like there was a point when genuinely money couldn't buy you happiness because you would have, like, a lot of people were able to access a home and a holiday and, like, weekends off. Some nice experiences in France. And then it's like, anything more than that really is not going to make you that much happier. Now it's like, actually a bit more money would make me happy because I could have. stability and yes well let's move i think new york

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