Visceral Class Hatred

So this is the latest wheeze the Tories have come out with. Apparently it’s a vote getter to come up with some vacuous slogan that nudges at prejudices but actually says nothing. Who’d have thought it? The truly sickening thing about this is how mainstream the idea will become. Despite the fact that you cannot get benefits if you refuse to work; Despite the fact that claiming the pitifully low Job-Seekers Allowance (under £50 a week) requires providing evidence of actively seeking work, jumping through myriad hoops and after a while attending courses and work placements; Despite the fact that given how insensitive the working environment is to the varied forms of disability that exist it is likely that the overwhelming majority of those claiming disability benefit are genuinely disabled; despite all of this, decent, sensible people will find themselves admitting that ‘maybe there is a problem’ or ‘well, those people really could work if they wanted to couldn’t they’. The preposterous premises that lie behind this nonsense will frame the debate.

We have to question it. And it’s simple. I’m in favour of giving money to poor people. People who need money because there are no jobs, or no jobs that they can do. I’m in favour of giving them money, and more money than they get now. I’m in favour of taking money from the wealthy to achieve this. Generally I’m in favour of taking it proportionally from across the wealthiest people, but when I see something like this I’m more in favour of taking it all from David Cameron, and making him live in a bedsit on £48.50 a week for the rest of his life. But I suppose that’s the politics of envy for you.

In other news, more people are refusing to work in a different way, a way that the Tories hate even more. That’s the way to beat these bastards.