It has been clear from the outset that the aim of the con-dem project is to bring the Post War Settlement to an end.
It's not even a negotiation.
It certainly was not in the manifesto of either the Liberals or the Tories.
But at the end of the spending review, as George Osborne pointed at the Communities Secretary, the aim became clear, small government if not a small communities secretary.
Although if he keeps eating those burgers, especially if he cuts down on the exercise by parking in disabled spaces so he doesn't have too far to walk to the burger bar, then George Osborne may well be weighing down the bench that his honourable friend weighs down at the other end.
One can only hope that before too long it will be the opposition benches they are weighing down.
Today's Times, of course welcomes all the cuts, the welfare caps and swallows the abuse of the statistics without so much as a hiccough.
The Guardian is rather more critical as you might expect.
But the real question surely, is, what is true about all this?
The Post War Settlement reflects the fact that thousands of British Citizens paid an enormously high price to defeat fascism and when they returned to the UK after demobilisation, they demanded more and better.
My Father told me that when he was demobilised he returned to his job at Avro's in Manchester. At the end of his first week back, on a Friday afternoon, whilst leaning on his workbench chatting to workmates that he had not seen for years and doubtless reminiscing about those who had not returned, the foreman came over and upbraided them.
Not paying you to stand about chatting.
My Fathers response was clear and immediate, I didn't spend six years fighting a war to have to put up with this and with that he left. It was only a chance meeting with a friend that resulted in him finding a job as a Bus Driver which he did for the next thirty years.
But the Settlement, the homes for heroes, the nationalisation of industry, the health service and most importantly Beveridge's welfare proposals, celebrated in Ken Loach's film, The Spirit of '45, were a recognition that working people had paid a high price for Victory and the world had changed beyond recognition.
Now people were being offered security in health, security in their homes and security in their jobs alongside a promise made by the Government that full employment was guaranteed.
Now we have exchanged security for insecurity, insecurity in health, the post-code lottery, insecurity in homes, a housing shortage, withdrawal of housing benefit and the bed room tax, insecurity in jobs, with zero hour contracts, and redundancies growing and the only promise from this administration if you can't stand on your own two feet, we're not going to support you.
And the wallpaper millionaire continues to wallpaper over the cracks.
Margaret Thatcher once argued, there is no such thing as society, that is no longer an argument as becomes increasingly clear as the rhetoric of the con-dems builds into an assault on the poor, those without work and those reliant on benefits to survive, who will now have a week to wait before they can even claim their benefits.
Pensions, have been protected, but for how much longer will that continue?
I guess what is needed is a new Social Contract, a post crisis Settlement, but who would you trust to draft it?
Cameron and Clegg? Milliband and Balls? UKIP?
A recent survey in the Financial Times suggests that the coalition is winning the political argument as less people feel affected by the cuts than did a year ago suggesting that there is little interest in or appetite for the public debate we need.
Maybe that will change with the latest spending review because there is no sign of austerity ending anytime soon.
It's not even a negotiation.
It certainly was not in the manifesto of either the Liberals or the Tories.
But at the end of the spending review, as George Osborne pointed at the Communities Secretary, the aim became clear, small government if not a small communities secretary.
Although if he keeps eating those burgers, especially if he cuts down on the exercise by parking in disabled spaces so he doesn't have too far to walk to the burger bar, then George Osborne may well be weighing down the bench that his honourable friend weighs down at the other end.
One can only hope that before too long it will be the opposition benches they are weighing down.
Today's Times, of course welcomes all the cuts, the welfare caps and swallows the abuse of the statistics without so much as a hiccough.
The Guardian is rather more critical as you might expect.
But the real question surely, is, what is true about all this?
The Post War Settlement reflects the fact that thousands of British Citizens paid an enormously high price to defeat fascism and when they returned to the UK after demobilisation, they demanded more and better.
My Father told me that when he was demobilised he returned to his job at Avro's in Manchester. At the end of his first week back, on a Friday afternoon, whilst leaning on his workbench chatting to workmates that he had not seen for years and doubtless reminiscing about those who had not returned, the foreman came over and upbraided them.
Not paying you to stand about chatting.
My Fathers response was clear and immediate, I didn't spend six years fighting a war to have to put up with this and with that he left. It was only a chance meeting with a friend that resulted in him finding a job as a Bus Driver which he did for the next thirty years.
But the Settlement, the homes for heroes, the nationalisation of industry, the health service and most importantly Beveridge's welfare proposals, celebrated in Ken Loach's film, The Spirit of '45, were a recognition that working people had paid a high price for Victory and the world had changed beyond recognition.
Now people were being offered security in health, security in their homes and security in their jobs alongside a promise made by the Government that full employment was guaranteed.
Now we have exchanged security for insecurity, insecurity in health, the post-code lottery, insecurity in homes, a housing shortage, withdrawal of housing benefit and the bed room tax, insecurity in jobs, with zero hour contracts, and redundancies growing and the only promise from this administration if you can't stand on your own two feet, we're not going to support you.
And the wallpaper millionaire continues to wallpaper over the cracks.
Margaret Thatcher once argued, there is no such thing as society, that is no longer an argument as becomes increasingly clear as the rhetoric of the con-dems builds into an assault on the poor, those without work and those reliant on benefits to survive, who will now have a week to wait before they can even claim their benefits.
Pensions, have been protected, but for how much longer will that continue?
I guess what is needed is a new Social Contract, a post crisis Settlement, but who would you trust to draft it?
Cameron and Clegg? Milliband and Balls? UKIP?
A recent survey in the Financial Times suggests that the coalition is winning the political argument as less people feel affected by the cuts than did a year ago suggesting that there is little interest in or appetite for the public debate we need.
Maybe that will change with the latest spending review because there is no sign of austerity ending anytime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment