Well, then my merry fuck wits what havoc will you create on this day with your small-minded petty prejudices? Or perchance will you confound me by giving birth to a new England that is generous and tolerant and wise and fare?

The choice is yours now.

The caller told James O’Brien about getting out of poverty – and listeners said it was a must-listen for political parties.

John called in to talk about his experience of growing up in poverty.

He said that he grew up with stepfather figures who were heroin “addicts” and “dealers” and you could not imagine a “more impoverished estate”.

He said: “I am one of seven. The other six are all adults now. In and out of prison, drug addicts, alcoholics. Every single person, more or less.”

He added: “The reality is that we talk about the kind of life expectancies going down, things were that bad then now and they’re only getting worse now.”

When he was a kid, he said, £30 a week meant that he could afford to eat and go to college.

He explained: “The means that were available to assist me in climbing out of the hole I was born into have been stripped away systematically and continuing to be stripped away systematically.”