It was always my intention to make sure that this blog was as humorous as I could make it.
But the actions of the coalition over the past three (is it really only three?) years make it very difficult to retain a sense of humour.
We are seeing a new kind of conviction politics, they are convinced that they are right so, whatever the evidence, they press on with policies that damage social cohesion, confirming rather than challenging prejudice and ensuring that they demonise whoever gets in their way, the poor, the immigrant, the ill and the old.
I once attended a conference in London which was addressed by Mr Ian Duncan Smith. He spent the first part of his speech rehearsing a set of prejudices as facts, a set of strategies as a substitute for compassion and a set of conclusions that were frankly scary.
I recall asking a question to which the answer was incomprehensible and debating whether to stage a walk out but before I could decide he had left, I suppose that I stayed because the the whole speech was so barking that neither I nor anyone else believed that these ideas could ever be seriously proposed by a serious contender for Government and were just plates being spun by the latest in a series of failed Tory Party leaders during the post Thatcher lost years when Blair was in his pomp.
Now those scary ideas are policies and are inflicting untold damage and misery on people who are struggling to get by, raise their families and hold on to whatever zero hours job they can find.
The newspapers carry numerous stories and commentaries on the flaws in the coalition's claims and yet again and again in the right wing press the same old, same old, hackneyed phrases are rolled out presenting prejudice as fact and stirring up deep seated resentment and animosity aimed at the poor and the stranger in our midst.
It may be that people are wising up. The latest salvo from the Chancellor, that he will not raise tax because he can continue to cut welfare to pay down the deficit, is apparently according to one comment that I read, not widely believed. Nevertheless the continuing narrative representing Labour as the party who left a financial mess and the party of welfare continues to undermine Labour's standing in the polls.
Sadly, despite his image being so successfully undermined by Vince Cable , the facts of the matter are that the financial tsunami that swept across Western Europe which began with the tectonic plates of sub-prime mortgages crashing in the USA was largely held back from swamping the European economy by Gordon Brown's intervention.
Far from being the party who left the mess Labour was in fact the party that ensured that the mess didn't completely swamp the British economy.
There is a large measure of agreement that complex financial instruments, the packaging and selling of debt, hedging and arbitraging were responsible and no-one has gone to jail for it.
And as for Mr Duncan Smith's cynical description of Labour as the party of welfare.
Well the Milliball's should be celebrating. What exactly is wrong with being the party of welfare?
Surely the welfare, the well being of society as a whole is what Government should be in the business of ensuring and protecting.
Apparently IDS as he is widely known is planning to restrict family allowance to the first two children, apparently the scheme is drawn up and will be introduced if the Tories win the next election.
So then we can add to those named above, children, as their welfare is put at risk by short sighted, mean spirited policies.
It is truly hard to see where the humour is in any of this?
But the actions of the coalition over the past three (is it really only three?) years make it very difficult to retain a sense of humour.
We are seeing a new kind of conviction politics, they are convinced that they are right so, whatever the evidence, they press on with policies that damage social cohesion, confirming rather than challenging prejudice and ensuring that they demonise whoever gets in their way, the poor, the immigrant, the ill and the old.
I once attended a conference in London which was addressed by Mr Ian Duncan Smith. He spent the first part of his speech rehearsing a set of prejudices as facts, a set of strategies as a substitute for compassion and a set of conclusions that were frankly scary.
I recall asking a question to which the answer was incomprehensible and debating whether to stage a walk out but before I could decide he had left, I suppose that I stayed because the the whole speech was so barking that neither I nor anyone else believed that these ideas could ever be seriously proposed by a serious contender for Government and were just plates being spun by the latest in a series of failed Tory Party leaders during the post Thatcher lost years when Blair was in his pomp.
Now those scary ideas are policies and are inflicting untold damage and misery on people who are struggling to get by, raise their families and hold on to whatever zero hours job they can find.
The newspapers carry numerous stories and commentaries on the flaws in the coalition's claims and yet again and again in the right wing press the same old, same old, hackneyed phrases are rolled out presenting prejudice as fact and stirring up deep seated resentment and animosity aimed at the poor and the stranger in our midst.
It may be that people are wising up. The latest salvo from the Chancellor, that he will not raise tax because he can continue to cut welfare to pay down the deficit, is apparently according to one comment that I read, not widely believed. Nevertheless the continuing narrative representing Labour as the party who left a financial mess and the party of welfare continues to undermine Labour's standing in the polls.
Sadly, despite his image being so successfully undermined by Vince Cable , the facts of the matter are that the financial tsunami that swept across Western Europe which began with the tectonic plates of sub-prime mortgages crashing in the USA was largely held back from swamping the European economy by Gordon Brown's intervention.
Far from being the party who left the mess Labour was in fact the party that ensured that the mess didn't completely swamp the British economy.
There is a large measure of agreement that complex financial instruments, the packaging and selling of debt, hedging and arbitraging were responsible and no-one has gone to jail for it.
And as for Mr Duncan Smith's cynical description of Labour as the party of welfare.
Well the Milliball's should be celebrating. What exactly is wrong with being the party of welfare?
Surely the welfare, the well being of society as a whole is what Government should be in the business of ensuring and protecting.
Apparently IDS as he is widely known is planning to restrict family allowance to the first two children, apparently the scheme is drawn up and will be introduced if the Tories win the next election.
So then we can add to those named above, children, as their welfare is put at risk by short sighted, mean spirited policies.
It is truly hard to see where the humour is in any of this?
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