All posts by diana Stone

About diana Stone

Diana Stone is a performing composer and musician playing Piano Violin & Guitar. She currently plays with Orchard and The Sonic Boomers. Previously with Rock/Roots band Elephant Shelf and also the Delta Ladies who mixed roots acoustic music and electronica until the death of Vicky Martin who formed the band which was active for 17 years. Diana composes in a variety of styles from pop to rock to Jazz and and classical music. Diana is also expert in multi-media recording and music production.

Getting out of poverty

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.”