Unemployment is an endless misery that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the Englishman’s opium.
 George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). copy citation

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Author George Orwell
Source The Road to Wigan Pier
Topic misery unemployment
Date 1937
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200391.txt

Context

“That is how your mind works when you are at the PAC level. White bread-and-marg. and sugared tea don’t nourish you to any extent, but they are nicer (at least most people think so) than brown bread-and-dripping and cold water. Unemployment is an endless misery that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the Englishman’s opium. A cup of tea or even an aspirin is much better as a temporary stimulant than a crust of brown bread. The results of all this are visible in a physical degeneracy which you can study directly, by using your eyes, or inferentially, by having a look at the vital statistics.” source