Fighting over the scraps
Yet more intrusion from Big Brother and Nanny State:
Parents who are out of work will have their home lives and their children’s prospects investigated…
Yet more infringement of people’s freedoms, liberties and privacy. When is this government going to leave us alone? Where’s David Davis, the doughty defender of democracy when you need him?
…under controversial Tory plans to tackle underclass Britain.
Oh.
Methinks the Tories are a little bit worried about being outflanked on the right by Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell and his Victorian bugger-grips on this issue.
Indeed, Purnell has accused the Tories of ‘cynically chasing headlines’. So where was Purnell yesterday? That’s right, not cynically chasing headlines on the front of the Sunday Times with ‘Welfare mothers to be forced to work‘.
Welfare issue is starting to look like the new crime issue for the political parties. Back when Jamie Bulger was murdered, Tony Blair clutched the corpse to his breast and declared Britain a depraved nation only he could save. The Tories, up until then traditionally quite liberal when it came to crime and punishment, were determined not to be outflanked on the right. This kicked off the arms race on crime policy that leaves us in the mess we are today. Titan jails and massive re-offending.
And so it is with welfare. The parties fight over the corpse of Baby P like children with a rag doll. They pull Shannon Matthews back and forth between them until her shoulders threaten to pop from their sockets. New Labour target the weak with the weapon of making the poor poorer. The Tories, not for a second willing to be shown as compassionate, suggest rifling through people’s private lives.
The rest of us stand by and watch, not really that bothered, because we’re sure these kind of actions will never be used against us. (A bit like the anti-terrorism laws really.) Just stroll on and keep those fingers crossed. Up to date on the bills and mortgage this month? Job still secure?
Be careful. A mishap here, a little bad luck there, a couple of false steps, and you’ll have New Labour and the Tories fighting each other to see who can knock you about the hardest. Don’t think it can’t or won’t happen.
Posted on December 8th, 2008 at 12:24pm under Eye Catching Initiatives, New Labour, Tories
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• 11 Comments |
The Tories, up until then traditionally quite liberal when it came to crime and punishment…
Really? What parallel universe was that in? If I ever get the chance to relive the ’80s I think I’d like it to be there.
I kid you not.
it raises the curtain on a way of life in some of our most deprived estates, of entire households who have not had any productive life for generations
Really? How many of them are there, do you think?
I like that whole quote, actually:
‘The Shannon Matthews case was a horrendous extreme and in no way typical, but it raises the curtain on a way of life in some of our most deprived estates, of entire households who have not had any productive life for generations. It’s a world that really, really has to change,’ said Grayling.
He’s not making massive generalisations on the basis of one case, oh no, no, no. Except he is.
Welfare issue is starting to look like the new crime issue for the political parties.
Not ’starting’, Justin – New Labour have always given vent to their inner Peter Lilley – at one point they made something like six ‘benefit crackdown’ announcements within less than 12 months, soon after taking office. All those ‘we’re watching you’ ads with the Mysteron rings – just a continuation of the reassurance to Daily Mail readers that the scrotes will be kept in place that the Tories offered for so many years. And in Karen Matthews, they now have their new poster child.
Oh yeah, you’re right. It’s just that since Purnell came along we seem to be having an escalation of hostility.
You’re ignoring the likes of John Hutton, and the Freud ‘review’.
Not consciously. I think I may have unwittingly suppressed the memories.
I wonder what Purnell and Woolas are going to do when New Labour lose the election?
I can just imagine them forming some sort of get-the-bastards party on the lines of New Zealand First.
Talking of Purnell, Jackie Ashley seems to have had a touch of the Toynbees:
it seems clear enough that for all his image as a Blairite boot boy, James Purnell recognises that the current climate means he cannot clobber people on benefits, or force them into inappropriate job
When you say “clear enough”, Ms Ashley, do you mean “clear enough” to anybody but you?
Parents who are out of work will have their home lives and their children’s prospects investigated…
Stinks.
[...] at Chicken Yoghurt has a couple of good pieces (Fighting over the scraps and Avoiding, evading, dodging the issue) on the tendency of mainstream politics to demonise the [...]