March 31, 2011

SPOT THE WORKING CLASS STEREOTYPE

“David Cameron has pledged to do away with Britain's "insidious" benefit culture and..... strip benefits from people who repeatedly turn down job offers, and ensure individuals are only classified as disabled if they really cannot work.”
Spot says:

There you have it me ducks  – hidden between the lines as usual, not one but three working class stereotypes for the price of one.
The “insidious” benefit culture – picture it now – thousands of working class people finding themselves on benefit, discovering what an easy life it is and then just becoming addicted to it!  Can’t say I know anyone like that but obviously David Cameron knows loads of 'em, after all he wouldn't go making stuff like that up, would he? 
And "stripping benefits from people who repeatedly turn down job offers" – now if you don't know any different - you read that and you think that claimants are refusing jobs all over the place and nothing's happening to their benefits - not trying to mislead people are you Dave? - I know you've never signed on - but surely your advisers and consultants have told you that under the current rules - refuse a job and your benefit gets stopped! 

And that's not all folks - don't keep a record of all the jobs you've applied for and your  benefit can get stopped - only the other week I'd applied for loads of jobs, from head chef to dog warden (woof, woof) but because I couldn't fill me job search record in due to repetitive paw strain my benefit got stopped!  I knew I should have got a note from me vet!

And finally me ducks, that owd chestnut that working class people go around pretending to be disabled or sick to avoid work and get their hands on those juicy benefits.  Well us working class people come in all shapes and sizes and abilities and we don't like it when any of us get targeted – so leave off those of us who have disabilities or are sick, Dave - the discrimination we get is tough enough without your implications that we are benefit cheats.
Now my grandma - bless her soul - always used to say: "Maybe anyone can get rich in this country - but not everyone can.  People in high paid jobs are not morally superior or more deserving than the rest of us - they are just luckier."  Let's face it, blaming working class people who claim benefits (whether they are unemployed, disabled or workers in low paid jobs) for their status takes attention away from the injustice of massive bonuses, super profits, tax avoidance and making the poorest in our society pay for the recession.  

Ooo er - is that the time?  Can’t sit around here nattering all day – I’ve got some serious benefit claiming to do – only another 96,150 years signing on – and I’ll have scrounged as much in JSA and housing benefit as Phillip Green allegedly scrounged through tax avoidance in the last year!
Yours Spot

Keeping the Spotlight on the stereotypes.

Myth: If we get rid of tax loopholes, charge a Robin Hood Tax on the banks, and increase bank regulations, banks and big business will leave the UK and this would be a disaster for the economy.

Greetings Citizens

If big businesses and banks “leave” the UK, it means they will no longer be operating in the UK – no Top Shops, no Boots, no Vodafones.  Those businesses are here because they have a market here and they are making profits here – that’s what they are paying tax on – the profits made in the UK.   If they move, other businesses whose owners are not so greedy will step in to fill the gap.  But Top Shop is not going to remove its shops from the UK, Barclay’s Bank is not going to remove its banks - their head office maybe – but with sensible tax laws that wouldn’t make a difference.  Where would they move to?  Somewhere where there aren’t already banks and Top Shops?  Somewhere were there isn’t a recession?  Or somewhere where there is lower corporation tax? – Well that excludes the USA, Japan, Germany and France for starters.  And if it’s so easy for them to leave, why do they put so much money into lobbying MPs about it?

FACT:Businesses and banks who threaten to leave the UK should be faced down not pandered to.  If they are not prepared to pay tax on the profits they make here, they should move over and make way for businesses who are.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩ    OVER AND OUT    ΩΩΩΩΩΩ

March 14, 2011

Myth: There’s nothing Local Councils can do about the cuts, they have no choice but to implement them.

Fact:  Local Councils can take a principled stand against the Government cuts by making a decision not to co-operate and to set budgets based on need.  The local elections in May can provide them with a mandate to do this.  Such a stand will affirm what we all feel in our guts – that the cuts are unjust and that there is another way.  It will  empower the whole community to unite and fight for justice on a single issue.

Greetings citizens! 
We have listened to our local councillors’ complaints about the 25% (in Nottingham) reduction in funding from the Government (and  further reductions in 2012 and 2013) and we have listened to how difficult it has been for them to have to choose between valuable public services.  But they are not the victims here; they are the ones who can make a difference.  Instead of giving up without a fight and following the government line, they have the power to set the agenda.  The question should not be, how much can we cut from domestic violence services or homelessness projects or day care facilities etc.  The question must be, how can we defend all our services, maintain our social infrastructure which exists as the result of years of social investment and show complete solidarity with the most vulnerable in our society. 
”Riding it out” over the next 5 years does not answer this question. It abandons the most vulnerable to bear the brunt of others’ mistakes, it leaves groups to campaign on their own against each other for massively reduced funds – local library against local library, voluntary sector against public sector, women’s refuges against day centres, it fails to challenge the vicious stereotyping and misinformation that the Government uses to justify these cuts, and it guarantees the destruction of our social infrastructure. Passing on those cuts is divisive, disempowering, inefficient and an abdication of responsibility.
Our Government have failed to take leadership and grasp the nettle of dealing with the banking crisis, instead they pretend to be tough by passing on the costs of this crisis to the poorest and most vulnerable in our society – to those who have the smallest voice, the least power and no lobby or mates in the cabinet.    
If the Government won’t grasp the nettle, our Local Councils need to.  This is a matter of principle.  They need to say “No!  - The buck stops here – we refuse to pass this on.”  They can do this by setting a budget which is based on need. The whole community – service users, school, college, university students, public sector, private sector and voluntary sector employees, parents, carers etc, can then unite to fight for the resources to implement this needs budget.  History has shown that taking such principled stands can make a difference – Poplar Council in the 1920s and Liverpool and Lambeth Council in the 1980s.  Liverpool Council succeeded in getting an extra £60 million from Margaret Thatcher’s government.   What is there to lose? Local Councils say that if they do this, commissioners will be called in.  Would we let this happen?  If it did happen, how will we be any worse off than now? 
It’s true that local councils have already passed their budget for 2011/12, but there is a local election in May.  This is an opportunity for local councillors to offer an alternative and let the community decide.

Ω Ω Ω Ω  Over and out  Ω Ω Ω Ω