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As I was working out how to save a few pounds on my weekly shop this morning, two newspaper headlines leapt off the pages and slapped me around the face.
The first read: "Children are being dumped on Greece's streets by their poverty-stricken families who cannot afford to look after them any more".
The second: "A solid gold rocking horse and a Swarovski diamante encrusted high chair... Beyoncé and Jay-Z splash £1million on baby Blue."
Unbelievable isn't it?
PA
In one part of society, parents can't afford to feed their children; in another, mothers and fathers lavish luxuries beyond ludicrousness on their offspring.
Throughout history, there have always been the Haves and the Have-Nots in the world. But now the gap between excluded and excess is beyond extreme.
All parents want to give their children the best start in life. All parents want to spoil their kids rotten (especially their first-borns – it wears off by the time the second and third arrive!).
And in Britain we do just that – to the sum of around £5,000 in a child's first year. Nappies, clothes, nursery furniture and feeding and bathing equipment means mums and dads will part with that amount during the pregnancy and the first 12 months, according to recent research for Babydam bathwater barrier.
But what pop royalty Beyoncé and Jay-Z have spent on their first-born is TWO HUNDRED TIMES that – in just a few days.
The superstar couple are said to have splashed out on enough stuff to fit out THREE nurseries in their various homes - including a solid gold rocking horse and a diamante-encrusted high chair among a list of extravagant goods for their baby.
The couple spent £240,000 alone on the special bedrooms for the baby.
"Together they've bought a Swarovski-studded high chair by Carla Monchen for £10,000, and a Fantasy 'posh tots' coach carriage crib for £30,000," a source told Star magazine.
"Jay-Z bought Beyonce a solid gold handmade Ginza Tanaka rocking horse for £400,000.
"They've even splashed out on a £20,000 magical windmill playhouse for the garden and a mini Bugatti car, too."
On the same day that this outrageous display of wealth was being cavorted, it was reported that children were being abandoned on Greece's streets by their poverty-stricken families who cannot afford to look after them any more.
Athens' Ark of the World youth centre said four children, including a newborn baby, had been left on its doorstep in recent months.
It said one mother ran away after handing over her two-year-old daughter Natasha.
Four-year-old Anna was found by a teacher clutching a note that read: "I will not be coming to pick up Anna today because I cannot afford to look after her. Please take good care of her. Sorry."
And another desperate mother, Maria, was forced to give up her eight-year-old daughter Anastasia after losing her job.
She said: "Every night I cry alone at home, but what can I do? It hurt my heart, but I didn't have a choice."
If you think this disparity is something that just goes on in the rest of the world, think again.
The most recent study by Save the Children revealed that in some major cities more than one in four children live in penury.
The charity said 1.6m youngsters lived in "severe poverty" and described it as a "national scandal".
The Government defines severe poverty as a household with half the average income - for a family of four this would be pay of less than £12,500 - that also suffers from material deprivation.
For example, this would mean children were unable to take a holiday or invite friends home for tea and adults were not able to pay for repairs to fridges or afford insurance.
These are families that can barely afford to buy food and clothes, let alone ridiculous £30,000 carriage cribs!
Of course, most families in Britian don't live in poverty – but which of us is not aware of the need to tighten our belts during these straitened times?
On a personal note, I would love to splash the cash on lavish presents and parties for my three children – but I can't afford it.
They don't go short – but they don't get spoilt either.
I guess we're typical of most families, spending around £100 on Christmas gifts for our kids, who, on average, will cost us around £10,000 a year – that's £210,000 until they reach 21 years old (by which time they will have, hopefully, left home).
Or put another way, a fifth of what Beyoncé lavished on Blue Ivy with a click of her diamond-draped fingers.
But baby Blue isn't the only child who – by any definition of the word – can be described as "spoilt".
Twins Max and Emme Anthony (the children of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony) had their own personal masseuse when they were born two years ago, on top of 600-count Egyptian cotton cot linen, diamond-engraved rattles and two small Shetland ponies.
Christina Aguilera and her husband Jordan Bratman started spoiling their son Max before he was even born. Max came home from the hospital and straight into a custom-made 600 square-foot, sailboat-themed nursery.
And even though our own Victoria Beckham often states in interviews that she doesn't want her children to be spoilt, they live an existence beyond our children's wildest dreams.
When Brooklyn was born, Posh and Becks installed a US$50,000 fibre-optic ceiling to a bedroom already painted with 8,000 cartoon characters! And when not attending sports games or dressing up in designer clobber Brooklyn and his brothers play in a $20,000 tree house.
In the meantime, in Greece, parents are giving their children away.
Father Antonios Papanikolaou , of the Athens Ark of the World youth centre, told the Mirror: "Over the last year we've had hundreds of parents who want to leave their children with us. They know us and trust us.
"They say they do not have any money or shelter or food for their kids, so they hope we might be able to provide them with what they need."
Sick, isn't it?
What do you think about this gross disparity?