By Thomas Ruys Smith

It’s pretty much a certainty that at some point over the festive period, you will encounter an adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

It’s one of the most famous stories in our culture, as much a part of our Christmas as the Nativity and Santa Claus. But this year, in the face of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and a plunge in charitable giving, maybe the Ghosts of Christmas Past will feel a bit too close at hand.

At the beginning of A Christmas Carol, two charity workers visit Scrooge’s office. They’re looking for donations “for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.”

After all, poverty is everywhere in Victorian London: “Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts.”

Sound familiar? Scrooge sends them packing without delay. After all, Scrooge argues, there’s a safety........

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