With new commentary, Austerity Bites 10 Years On assesses on the true scale of the damage austerity policies have inflicted on the country’s most vulnerable groups, public institutions and on the wider society, reflecting on where we have been, where we are now and what needs to happen next to undo the damage and avoid the same mistakes again. "For most of our media, entrenched poverty is a second- or third-order issue; for Mary O’Hara it is the most urgent story of our time and our nation and she tells it brilliantly." Melissa Benn, writer, teacher, campaigner “The scars of austerity are seen across the UK today in broken infrastructure, shoddy housing, collapsing schools and much diminished lives. Mary O’Hara shows us how Osborne’s austerity policies broke Britain and the most telling growth numbers today are the number of billionaires and food bank users. That is the true legacy of austerity.” Mark Blyth, Brown University “O'Hara brings her journalist skills and burning anger to bear on the staggering damage done by austerity – a political choice.” Professor the Baroness Ruth Lister of Burtersett “Commanding, crucial reportage that reveals the devastating human cost of pernicious government policy – a rallying cry to prevent further harm.” Saba Salman, journalist and author "A savage analysis of how this cruel and inhumane policy has devastated the UK's most vulnerable communities." Stu Hennigan, author of Ghost Signs: Poverty and the Pandemic “This new book will echo within my work, and be a clarion for change. Mary is a G for this!!” Conrad Murray, writer and musician “This new book will echo within my work, and be a clarion for change. Mary is a G for this!!” Conrad Murray, writer and musician Mary O’Hara is an award-winning journalist, author and producer. Her journalism appears in publications including The Guardian and Mosaic Science. She is the author of two books: The Shame Game: Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative (2020) & Austerity Bites: A Journey to the Sharp End of Cuts in the UK (2014) and is founder of the multi-platform anti-poverty initiative, Project Twist-It. Mary has directed/produced short films, run a comedy club, been a Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley and a producer and consultant on Getting Curious podcast with Jonathan Van Ness. In 2020 she was named Best Foreign Columnist at the Southern California Journalism Awards.