Whenever Governments change, there is always a slow but discernible change in political culture. Some things that had been taken for granted subsequently become questioned and new 'truths' are developed. Many people reading today's headlines concerning an increase in the number of people living in poverty:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15242103
will naturally be appalled by story and will automatically make the link between the removal of Government support and the drop in quality of people's lives. A growing number, however, will do their best to blame anyone but those responsible.
When this story broke on the BBC, I noticed that there was a debate about it on a message board that I occasionally contribute to. One person was falling over themselves to absolve the Government from any blame, stating that "poverty doesn't happen in one year". Well, yes it does. It can happen very quickly. There are countless stories of people suffering job loss, illness, accidents or other personal tragedies which have signalled a startlingly accelerated descent into poverty and misery. Taking away someones livelihood is akin to taking away their liberty. Governments are effectively treating people in the same way that prisoners are treated and the knock on effects are awful. Children are often the ones who suffer most, from the simple if sad reality that their parents cannot afford the same treats and presents that others get, right up to having to wear clothes that are long past their use-by date, making them and their situation an obvious target for their mean spirited contemporaries.
Reading more of the message board, I was struck by one comment which denied the very existence of poverty on the basis that "they've all got plasma tv's and playstations". Now unless someone has visited every household in the country, that sort of remark is ignorant at best and just plain stupid at worst. However, we live in a time when this kind of comment can be passed off as accurate. The only people who benefit from this kind of stupidity are those who stand to gain from poverty. There are employers who gleefully welcome high unemployment as it means they can drive wages further and further down; the increase in the number of people needing Housing Benefit is sometimes a green light to unscrupulous landlords to increase rent; some Tory M.P.'s delight in compounding the situation by blaming the poor themselves, making out that, despite having the worst possible start in life, they can miraculously transform their situation by working harder. To paraphrase Ed Miliband, it's a mistake to suggest that you make the rich work harder by making them richer and the poor work harder by making them poorer.
This change in the political culture has had other effects, too, with institutions that have been cherished for years suddenly becoming battlegrounds. A theme that was in vogue earlier this year concerned libraries. As Local Government budgets were slashed, libraries found themselves on the receiving end, with all kinds of right wing nuts coming out of the woodwork to wield the axe. One debate on Radio 4 centred around whether we need libraries at all. They could all be closed, said one guest, as Charity Shops sell books. Leaving aside his stunning ignorance about the type of books available in your local Cancer Research (and the fact that there are more books available in wealthier areas compared to poorer areas), he built on this idiocy by then suggesting that books themselves were no longer necessary. A Kindle for all was his solution. When it was suggested that these items can be very expensive, his idiotic response was that "poor people can be given a Kindle".
Yes, we now live in a society where stupid right wing ideas can be brought out into the open. After keeping them under wraps for a decade, we're now subjected to anti-social ideas on a daily basis. Of course the Daily Mail and Daily Express have been hammering away at such themes for years. The problem for them is that no-one ever took them seriously. Now, however, there is a danger that when extreme views are put forward, they act as a Trojan Horse for something equally obscene. Okay, we won't close your library - we'll just sell off half the books.
It's up to those of us who value our social institutions and who sympathise with those in terrible situations to speak out. It's no good crossing our fingers and hoping that everything works out for the best. The sort of offensive ideas that this Government floats - changes to Employment Law, scrapping the Human Rights Act, changing planning laws unfairly - need to be challenged at every opportunity. If not, today's nutty idea becomes tomorrow's palatable truth and next week's Government policy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15242103
will naturally be appalled by story and will automatically make the link between the removal of Government support and the drop in quality of people's lives. A growing number, however, will do their best to blame anyone but those responsible.
When this story broke on the BBC, I noticed that there was a debate about it on a message board that I occasionally contribute to. One person was falling over themselves to absolve the Government from any blame, stating that "poverty doesn't happen in one year". Well, yes it does. It can happen very quickly. There are countless stories of people suffering job loss, illness, accidents or other personal tragedies which have signalled a startlingly accelerated descent into poverty and misery. Taking away someones livelihood is akin to taking away their liberty. Governments are effectively treating people in the same way that prisoners are treated and the knock on effects are awful. Children are often the ones who suffer most, from the simple if sad reality that their parents cannot afford the same treats and presents that others get, right up to having to wear clothes that are long past their use-by date, making them and their situation an obvious target for their mean spirited contemporaries.
Reading more of the message board, I was struck by one comment which denied the very existence of poverty on the basis that "they've all got plasma tv's and playstations". Now unless someone has visited every household in the country, that sort of remark is ignorant at best and just plain stupid at worst. However, we live in a time when this kind of comment can be passed off as accurate. The only people who benefit from this kind of stupidity are those who stand to gain from poverty. There are employers who gleefully welcome high unemployment as it means they can drive wages further and further down; the increase in the number of people needing Housing Benefit is sometimes a green light to unscrupulous landlords to increase rent; some Tory M.P.'s delight in compounding the situation by blaming the poor themselves, making out that, despite having the worst possible start in life, they can miraculously transform their situation by working harder. To paraphrase Ed Miliband, it's a mistake to suggest that you make the rich work harder by making them richer and the poor work harder by making them poorer.
This change in the political culture has had other effects, too, with institutions that have been cherished for years suddenly becoming battlegrounds. A theme that was in vogue earlier this year concerned libraries. As Local Government budgets were slashed, libraries found themselves on the receiving end, with all kinds of right wing nuts coming out of the woodwork to wield the axe. One debate on Radio 4 centred around whether we need libraries at all. They could all be closed, said one guest, as Charity Shops sell books. Leaving aside his stunning ignorance about the type of books available in your local Cancer Research (and the fact that there are more books available in wealthier areas compared to poorer areas), he built on this idiocy by then suggesting that books themselves were no longer necessary. A Kindle for all was his solution. When it was suggested that these items can be very expensive, his idiotic response was that "poor people can be given a Kindle".
Yes, we now live in a society where stupid right wing ideas can be brought out into the open. After keeping them under wraps for a decade, we're now subjected to anti-social ideas on a daily basis. Of course the Daily Mail and Daily Express have been hammering away at such themes for years. The problem for them is that no-one ever took them seriously. Now, however, there is a danger that when extreme views are put forward, they act as a Trojan Horse for something equally obscene. Okay, we won't close your library - we'll just sell off half the books.
It's up to those of us who value our social institutions and who sympathise with those in terrible situations to speak out. It's no good crossing our fingers and hoping that everything works out for the best. The sort of offensive ideas that this Government floats - changes to Employment Law, scrapping the Human Rights Act, changing planning laws unfairly - need to be challenged at every opportunity. If not, today's nutty idea becomes tomorrow's palatable truth and next week's Government policy.
Of course if you give every one a Kindle, the 'welltodo' will just point out that they work hard and don't get a free kindle, etc...
ReplyDeleteI'd like to point out to the world that we're impoverished and don't have a Plasma TV or a Playstation, but will accept either gratefully. :)