in David Cameron's Witney constituency
I had decided to write about something other than
politics in my next post but after reading the comments on my previous post I
decided I still have a few things to add to the mix.
I am over the initial shock of the general Election. It
was a disaster for the left and I am in no doubt that it was a crushing victory
for the right. Now Cameron will be pushed hard by the right wing of his party
to enact the Thatcherite policies they long for. It will make life interesting and perhaps only then
will the last minute Tories realise they should have held firm and not
succumbed to the scaremongering.
I hope the SNP will play it's part in curbing
Tory excess but only time will tell. Perhaps there are Lavender Tories out
there who secretly hope that someone will curb Cameron excesses but he has made
a start hasn't he? His new anti extremism law is about due. The war on radical extremism? No more demos?
History tells us that the development of new ideas of
governance and government require people to think radically. Extreme views are
necessary to test the wisdom of the mainstream. Would those who oppose
homosexuality or multiculturalism or feminism be accused of threatening values
of tolerance and equality?
Under the proposals, ministers would be able to silence
any group or individual they believe is undermining democracy or the British
values of tolerance and mutual respect.
We can understand a government's determination to
prevent extremism that might lead to radicalisation and terrorism. But where to
draw the line? And indeed, how do we draw up a definition? Yesterday Cameron announced new plans to limit Trade Union powers.
Europe is already ridiculing Tory overtures towards a
hearing for the UK request for European Union reform. George Osborne has been
accused of "making ridiculous interventions". At this time, there
doesn't appear to be much fertile ground for new negotiations with our European
partners.
As one of my favourite comment writers on here
wrote, "we must accept the majority
decision". I do, but it doesn't mean we have to accept the ensuing policies
that will widen the gap between those who have and who have not. The very
concept of austerity policy is
increasingly falling out of favour and is subject to damning criticism from NGO's. Many fiscal experts say continuing with austerity policy will damage growth in the UK and threaten a new recession.
A recent Red Cross report stated that Europe is
sinking into a protracted period of deepening poverty, mass unemployment,
social exclusion, greater inequality, and collective despair as a result of
austerity policies adopted in response to the debt and currency crisis of the
past four years.
"Whilst other continents successfully reduce
poverty, Europe adds to it," says the 68-page report from the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "The
long-term consequences of this crisis have yet to surface. The problems caused
will be felt for decades even if the economy turns for the better in the near
future … We wonder if we as a continent really understand what has hit
us."
Oxfam say "European austerity programmes have
dismantled the mechanisms that reduce inequality and enable equitable growth.
With inequality and poverty on the rise, Europe is facing a lost decade. An
additional 15 to 25 million people across Europe could face the prospect of
living in poverty by 2025 if austerity measures continue. Oxfam knows this
because it has seen it before. The austerity programmes bear a striking
resemblance to the ruinous structural adjustment policies imposed on Latin
America, SouthEast Asia, and sub-Saharan African in the 1980s and 1990s. These
policies were a failure: a medicine that sought to cure the disease by killing
the patient. They cannot be allowed to happen again. Oxfam calls on the
governments of Europe to turn away from austerity measures and instead choose a
path of inclusive growth that delivers better outcomes for people, communities,
and the environment".
From July to September 2014 11,100 people lost their homes due to welfare
cuts. The homelessness charity Shelter estimates that over 1,300 people a day
(560 households) in England are put at risk from eviction or repossession.
We have a choices. We trust those who we know have a
vested in interest in profit over all else to decide who gets what or we
resist. We look only to ourselves and our own for confirmation that all is well
or we include others who are struggling. We accept that if a person has nothing
to sell and cannot work they must suffer or we make sacrifices that will ensure
access to properly resourced services for those for whom care and support is
necessary. We create a caring society or we slip backwards.
Already Labour are acknowledging that they did not
appeal to the aspiring. "Those who want to get on" said Chuka Umunna.
Aspiration is a broad term. Perhaps we
should set our aspirational targets higher than mere personal gain and
"getting on". Is the Labour party going back to Blair's Tory values
where the outcomes of the middle path
and the fight for the middle England vote, always favoured the well off? Chuka supports much of Blair's ideology. On
aspiration, let us hope Chuka might aspire to telling the truth rather than
twisting and turning his rhetoric to fit what he thinks voters want to hear.
Yes, I know, they all do it. I would
like it to change.
I spoke about resisting. How do we do that and can we
be bothered? Are you content with the way things are? Who agrees with Tory
austerity policies?
From the Oxfam report.
THE TRUE COST OF AUSTERITY AND INEQUALITY-
As a result of the tax and welfare changes to be
implemented between 2010 and 2014, the poorest two-tenths of the population
will have seen greater cuts to their net income, in percentage terms, than
every other group, except the very richest tenth. The Institute for Fiscal
Studies found that the net direct effect of the coalition government’s tax and
benefit changes will be to increase both absolute and relative poverty. Over
the decade to 2020, an additional 800,000 children are expected to be living in
poverty – almost one in four British children. Over the same period, an extra
1.5 million working-age adults are expected to fall into poverty, bringing the
total to 17.5 per cent of this group. When incomes are adjusted to account for
inflation, absolute poverty has already seen its largest year-on-year increase
in a decade.
Finally ( I promise ) In Witney they still talk of the
day David Cameron went empty-handed to the local foodbank in his
Oxfordshire manor.The patch’s Conservative MP and Prime Minister broke an
unwritten rule by turning up without a donation to help desperate families. Most
visitors, especially politicians and dignitaries, look in their own cupboards
or pop to the shops to take a few things to give the modern-day soup kitchens.
Jo Cypher, a mother of four who founded the Oxfordshire
West foodbank in a Witney church three years ago, recalled: "He was very nice,
very polite but I’m not sure he was taking any notice of what we were saying".
