You sometimes wonder if Brexit is the least of our problems. I found these notes I made a few weeks ago and they make bloody gloomy reading when linked together.

In just one single edition of the i newspaper (6 July, 2017) there were three utterly depressing stories. They revealed a shocking if unsurprising lack of empathy by central and local government plus a FTSE 250 company.

All of these organisations are generally run by white men aged between 35 and 60 who enjoyed an expensive education and will not be worrying about how they will be able to afford their rent or how to fund retirement. Sweeping generalisation? Totally. Largely accurate? Absolutely.

Firstly, women in their 60s were told that they should apply for apprenticeships if they can’t afford to retire. Well, they will only be graciously granted the full state pension if they have paid full contributions over their entire working life which many won’t have done due to myriad non-workplace, home-based duties. Well-off white men will have paid in full and enjoy a workplace pension too.

Secondly, there was news that there is ‘poor’ care in one in three nursing homes, according to the Care Quality Commission. You can be sure none of the elite will be checking into any of these places, staffed by minimum wage Filipino workers. They can self fund the luxury option.

Finally, the people who clean four London hospitals asked for 30p an hour more pay to cover their rent, food and travel costs. Yes, you read correctly, that was 30 pence an hour.

This was rejected by Serco, a FTSE 250 company. The company also scrapped their tea break in a move that would have made Marie Antoinette blush with its callousness.

Serco recently offered £2 extra a week. It reported an underlying trading profit of £81 million for 2016.

Rupert Soames, group chief executive, (Oxford, Eton, brother of MP Nicholas Soames, ‘base salary’ £850,000 in 2016) said of the results: “The road back to prosperity was always going to be long and winding, with many potholes and boulders, but we are making good progress.” Well, he certainly is, on a personal financial level.

An analysis by the Equality Trust found that FTSE 100 chief executives are paid 165 times more than a nurse, 140 times more than a teacher and 312 times more than a care worker.

Some argue that there should be a limit on the amount chief executives earn, equating to ten times the salary of the lowest paid worker in the organisation. That would presumably leave Mr Soames £200,000 a year at most to squeak by on.

It might, however, have the effect of nudging up the pay of many cleaners and care workers, frequently among the lowest paid workers. Most of these posts are also occupied by women and so consequently these women might have access to a better pension and not have to become ‘apprentices’.

This will, of course, never happen. Because the people in charge of making the decision about it are … well-off white men. I told you it was depressing