Good morning. Welcome back to Survival Guide. Isabella McRae here.

Worried about inflation rising to 3%? You shouldn't be. At least, that's the overwhelming reaction I’m hearing from experts. Prices have indeed gone up, but it is still close to the target inflation rate, and temporary fluctuations are normal.

I recently spoke to a number of economists because 10 years ago, in February 2015, inflation hit 0%. What they told me is that such a low inflation rate is actually quite a bad thing. We want a little bit of inflation because that means that the economy is growing – people are spending money and that means companies can afford to pay their staff. 

The extremely low inflation rate also gave the Conservatives a bit of political cover for austerity measures – and we certainly don’t want a return to those sorts of cuts. My piece goes into depth on this time period and what Labour can learn from it.

Also in this week’s newsletter, we visit an incredible food project which has been lunched in a food desert in South London – an area where access to fresh and affordable food is sparse. It is run by Sistah Stella Headley, who is influential in Rastafari Movement UK and has experience of homelessness. 

Chef and entrepreneur Levi Roots (who you might recall seeing on Dragons’ Den) told me he was blown away by everything Stella has done with the project. 

And read to the end of the newsletter to meet kinship carers who wheeled empty trollies in protest through Westminster, after shocking figures showed that one in eight may have to give up caring for a child because of a lack of financial support.

If you’ve got a story to share, we want to listen. Get in touch at isabella.mcrae@bigissue.com or share your story here.

This is the 'most thoughtful and inspiring' food project celebrity chef Levi Roots has ever seen

Sistah Stella Headley first had the idea for a food hub when she was facing homelessness in 2017. She had reached a level of poverty where she was counting the number of cookies in her fridge and calculating when she could have another piece.

Eight years later, she is changing the lives of people experiencing homelessness and food poverty, and has launched a groundbreaking food and wellbeing hub in Downham, in Lewisham, South London.

“We deliver what we deliver with love and kindness. I know what it’s like to be homeless. I know what it’s like to be hungry. With all the experiences I’ve had, it allows me to be compassionate in the work I do. I can give people hope, and they can teach me as well,” Stella says.

Downham has a rich and diverse community but it is classified as a ‘food desert’, with few local shops selling a wide range of foods or catering to different diets and cultures.

I visited the launch event of the INI Food and Wellbeing Centre, which is run by Rastafari Movement UK alongside Action Against Hunger. At the heart of the project is a social supermarket, which will offer fresh, healthy and culturally-relevant food at a rate of £4 per fortnight. It also has a fruit and vegetable garden, workshops and social spaces.

At the launch event, celebrity chef Levi Roots – who rose to fame after successfully pitching his Reggae Reggae sauce on Dragons' Den – was a special guest. He said has visited many food banks and community projects over the years but called this “the most thoughtful and inspiring one I’ve ever seen”.

Read the full story about the food and wellbeing centre here.

In case you missed it

Brits feel just as poor and miserable as they did last year. When will things get better? According to new data, we all feel just as poor, isolated and disenfranchised as we did a year ago – but Labour are continuing to promise change. Get the story.

Bring in a four-day work week to beat Reform in next election, Labour told: 'There's no catch here'. The polls are looking bad for Labour. But could a four day work week win the the next election? Find out more.

The gentrification of EastEnders: How life has changed for people in the real Albert Square. In 1985, EastEnders burst onto British TV screens, but the East End of London is a very different landscape today – and a pint will cost you more! Read about it.

This ice sculpture makes a powerful point about pensioners after winter fuel payment cut. A charity has installed a frozen version of pensioner Rob Trewhella outside the Tate Modern to raise awareness of elderly people left in the cold this winter. Get the story.

Healthy foods 'more than twice as expensive' as unhealthy foods, report finds: 'We're in a bad place'. The most deprived Brits need to spend 45% of their disposable income on food to afford a healthy diet. Here’s the latest.

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'Love alone doesn't pay the bills': Kinship carers plea for financial support amid surging poverty

When Sarah and her partner Matt first took over care of her two-year-old nephew, she was given just 48 hours’ notice to step into the caring role, with “no support”, “no guidance” and no financial assistance.

“We were left scrambling to find a bed, clothes, a car seat. Financial support we’d been promised disappeared into thin air. I had to drain what little savings I had left,” Sarah says.

Unlike foster carers, kinship carers do not routinely receive funding from the government, which charity Kinship claims can “plunge many loving families into a life of poverty”. 

According to the charity, one in eight kinship carers may need to make the “heart-wrenching” decision to give up caring for a loved child due to lack of support.

More than 50 kinship carers staged a march in Westminster last week to call for the government to provide vital financial support for families. They pushed empty shopping trolleys with a giant “shopping list” of the essential things that the average kinship family has to pay for each month, such as food, clothing and heating.

Read the story here.