07-03-2024, 06:17 PM
A few years ago I read Harry's last stand, written by a UK bloke who at the time was I think about 90. He's since died but his book is full of his memories of those earlier hard times prior to WW2, & how the Labour govt after the war brought about changes, which continued until the advent of Neo Liberalism.
Harry’s last stand; how the world my generation built is falling down & what we can do to save it, Harry Leslie Smith
"The govt wants the public to believe that the cause of our recession was not the gluttony of the financial sector or corporations refusing to pay their fair share of tax, but the fault of the lowly benefit seeker. This is why the govt has made it harder for the newly unemployed to collect welfare, Now they’ll have to wait 7 days before they can sign up to their job-seeker benefits.
It is a punitive measure that is intended to humble the unemployed.
For the unemployed thee are dark, grim days, especially in the economically ravaged north. The cause is not, as some politicians have reported, that the British born job seekers are too demanding when it comes to employment. It has nothing to do with lack of initiative or sloth; it is that the job market has become so competitive that employers are not compelled to offer living wages with decent benefits.
Foodbanks, loan sharke
When I hear of payday loan sharks, of food banks, of housing shortages, of medicine as something you pay for or go without & of a decent education as something only for a certain sort, it is not shock I feel but a sense of recognition.
Nothing ever changes.
unemployment
It was crass, inhumane & malicious of this govt to show no mercy to the unemployed, the disabled, & the disadvantaged during the financial crisis. That it continues to behave like a bully to those down on their luck makes me think the govt’s cruelty is deliberate. They want to change society to reflect only the interest of our corporations & the 10 percent of the population .
The current financial tempest has not been caused by a natural recalibrations, but by a deliberate attempt to readdress the rights earned by workers & the middle classes since 1945. The chains of ignorance & the fetters of poverty that my ancestors & my generation wore are being refitted to modern citizens. Why is this so?
In my opinion it is because the common people’s right to a dignified life is no longer protected by law or custom. This country once had a vision & a road map to lead each of us to future prosperity. That map has been replaced with a kind of neo liberalism that is frog marching us back to a time that was best left to history.
This emergency is as dire as the economic crisis of 1933 or the threat we faced in 2939. Our survival as a people & nation is at risk, & unless we combat the forces that have monetized our social services & weakened our democratic institutions we will each suffer in our own separate ways. Many of us are suffering already.
It has to stop, & a strong anti-lobbyist bill has to be introduced. We have to have a law that bars former politicians, their spouses & their children from working as lobbyists for ten years after they have left Whitehall."
Harry’s last stand; how the world my generation built is falling down & what we can do to save it, Harry Leslie Smith
"The govt wants the public to believe that the cause of our recession was not the gluttony of the financial sector or corporations refusing to pay their fair share of tax, but the fault of the lowly benefit seeker. This is why the govt has made it harder for the newly unemployed to collect welfare, Now they’ll have to wait 7 days before they can sign up to their job-seeker benefits.
It is a punitive measure that is intended to humble the unemployed.
For the unemployed thee are dark, grim days, especially in the economically ravaged north. The cause is not, as some politicians have reported, that the British born job seekers are too demanding when it comes to employment. It has nothing to do with lack of initiative or sloth; it is that the job market has become so competitive that employers are not compelled to offer living wages with decent benefits.
Foodbanks, loan sharke
When I hear of payday loan sharks, of food banks, of housing shortages, of medicine as something you pay for or go without & of a decent education as something only for a certain sort, it is not shock I feel but a sense of recognition.
Nothing ever changes.
unemployment
It was crass, inhumane & malicious of this govt to show no mercy to the unemployed, the disabled, & the disadvantaged during the financial crisis. That it continues to behave like a bully to those down on their luck makes me think the govt’s cruelty is deliberate. They want to change society to reflect only the interest of our corporations & the 10 percent of the population .
The current financial tempest has not been caused by a natural recalibrations, but by a deliberate attempt to readdress the rights earned by workers & the middle classes since 1945. The chains of ignorance & the fetters of poverty that my ancestors & my generation wore are being refitted to modern citizens. Why is this so?
In my opinion it is because the common people’s right to a dignified life is no longer protected by law or custom. This country once had a vision & a road map to lead each of us to future prosperity. That map has been replaced with a kind of neo liberalism that is frog marching us back to a time that was best left to history.
This emergency is as dire as the economic crisis of 1933 or the threat we faced in 2939. Our survival as a people & nation is at risk, & unless we combat the forces that have monetized our social services & weakened our democratic institutions we will each suffer in our own separate ways. Many of us are suffering already.
It has to stop, & a strong anti-lobbyist bill has to be introduced. We have to have a law that bars former politicians, their spouses & their children from working as lobbyists for ten years after they have left Whitehall."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)