I can understand the general confusion and apathy regarding politics. It is very difficult to know who to vote for when the right wing press are so omnipresent, politicians from all parties break promises, lie and continually abuse their expenses and none of them seem to be able to commit to anything beyond sound bites and ill thought out excuses for policies. However, we have the right to vote. Historically and to this day people have (had) to fight for the right to vote and so we must vote as we are privileged to have the opportunity to make our voices heard. Otherwise known as democracy.
The NMW ought to be a living wage. In 1999 when it was brought in the right wing press bleated on about how so many small businesses were going to go out of business. They didn't. Their profits just weren't as big as they might have liked.
Child and working tax credits helped so many working families and continue to do so yet there are some of these same people benefiting from them who either don't know which government brought them in or have got so used to them they don't even care. In my line of work I see large numbers of ordinary household income and expenditure statements and large numbers of people the length and breadth of the country who are able to keep their heads above water or at least put food on the table due to those credits.
The NHS is on its knees. Cuts to funding, to staff, to entire departments, to budgets for life saving operations and treatments, all range of health services. E-rostering, use of agency staff, knee jerk reactions in place of basic management practices whilst more and more pressure is piled on, all against a background of having to save the trust several million this financial year. Increased waiting times and chaos in A&E and clinics. Sick people waiting longer and longer for operations. The postcode lottery dictating whether you can get treatment. No speech and language therapy if your child is autistic - why waste the money when they might not speak anyway. Yet still layer upon layer of pointless managers many of whom are still furthering their careers studying for MBA's paid for by the NHS. Of course, the Daily Express will say the NHS is struggling because of immigration. Presumably they are the same immigrants who are doctors in our hospitals, care workers for our elderly and disabled, cleaners in the hospitals etc.
Social care is in crisis. The vulnerable in our society who rely on community services are ignored and trampled over as yet another life line gets cut. Care staff having to choose whether to wash or feed people because of the ever ticking clock and cost of care. The bedroom tax pushing disabled people and their families further in to debt and poverty. Councils with no money to build smaller homes for those who don't need the extra room.
Education being pulled and pushed in different directions: academies with the purchasing power to focus on the private consultancies who can get them the Ofsted ticks in boxes or give them a seminar on high level bean counting; reduced SEN funding making inclusion even more of a financial burden for those head teachers who up until now have tried their utmost to focus on the children rather than the balance sheet; free schools - private schools paid for by the state and largely set up by people with no knowledge whatsoever of education but who want to feel a bit special (at the tax payers' expense!). Increased free school meals from September but without the kitchen facilities in the schools to produce the meals and no extra money for the LEA's to give the schools to improve the kitchens. Although the Torygraph will no doubt have a marvellous editorial from Michael Gove about his vision for the British Baccalaureate.
The legal system, meanwhile, is like the Ritz, "open to everyone". Employment Tribunal fees introduced to keep the workers in their place. How strange that there's been a 79% drop in claims since the fees were introduced last summer. So let's see, you get unfairly dismissed, you've lost your job and income but you've got to find £1350 just for fees plus more money if you want legal advice and representation rather than Googling (finger in the air time) and hoping you find the right law on t'internet. Further increases to court fees, so if someone owes you some money whether you are a small or large business or an individual, it will cost you even more just to issue the claim and recover what you are owed. Cuts to Legal Aid leaving devastated families having to battle their way through the court system often at the expense of children caught up in the middle of it all. Reductions to criminal legal fees. How can you be innocent until proven guilty if you can't even access legal representation? So the government is cutting Legal Aid and increasing all these court and tribunal fees, presumably to reduce public spending, yet the reality is that there are more and more litigants in person who have no idea how to present their case. The overburdened court system has ended up with judges spending more and more court time which they do not have, explaining the procedures to people with no legal training in a Court system which is crippled by closures, cuts to staff and budgets.
And then, of course, there's the state of the economy. How many years later do we still have to hear the blame being laid at Gordon Brown's door? (He'll be the tax credit bloke by the way) He happened to be the PM when the largest global financial crisis hit yet it's ok for George Osbourne to blame the global crisis for the state of the economy when his government is in power but for the last government it was Gordon's fault. That'll be the Daily Wail again. How on earth can the greed of the reckless, self interested, money grabbing excuses for human beings in some parts of the financial services and property sectors be his fault? What role exactly did he play in sub-prime mortgage lending in the United States? The arrogance and selfishness of the finance industry is so far removed from anything remotely close to a person like Gordon Brown. I remember a few years back reading a Defence form from some property developer bloke with a handful of buy to let residential properties who ended up in a bit of a mess when the crash happened. He didn't think one of his properties should be repossessed even though he was way behind on his mortgage payments because of the, and I quote, "one-eyed Scottish twat". Nothing to do with your greed during the boom years then? Of course, the last PM was vilified by the right wing press because he didn't take a great photo or have a snappy sound bite and often looked, well, awkward.
Still, if Dave says he's doing the right thing (for the one million six hundred and fifty nine thousand, eight hundred and thirty fourth time), we're to believe him. Listen, if Dave says this is right because he says so, put your finger in the fire.......