DOLE by nick-e melville

This is the statement I receive when I earn more than £71.70 per week (all bar two
weeks this year). My first question is this: what is the law to which this refers?
According to the OED (the) law is defined as ‘the system of rules which a particular
country or community recognises as regulating the actions of its members and which
it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.’ This definition led me to the formulation
of the following: how can there be a law which regulates how much money one has
coming in? How can one break such a law?
These questions have been bothering me for some time. I also thought I’d take this
opportunity to question the assumption that it is possible to live on £71.70 a week by
breaking down a week’s spending, before further exploration surrounding this sum.
Prior to this I would like to ask: how was this figure calculated? Did it take in to account
government recommendations about one’s 5-a-day for instance? I shall return to
other questions about what it may or may not have considered.
Here are my rough calculations of spending for one week:
Essentials
Cost
Electricity (coin meter) £7.00
Bus fares (five days at £3.50) £17.50
Internet (monthly breakdown) £9.00
Mobile phone ( “ ) £7.00
Soup (two or three lunches) £2.00
Breakfast (seven days, only toast) £2.20
5 a day (conservative estimate) £13.00
Eggs (ad hoc meals) £1.70
Meat (two meals) £4.00
Chicken (one meal) £3.00
Cheese (lunches) £2.00
Milk £1.50
Bread (mostly covered by toast) £0.50
Butter £1.00
Coffee/Tea £2.20
Total £73.60
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