The Politics of Dancing

I was, I thought, prepared for this budget; however the depth of its mean spiritedness, malice and sheer naked chutzpah take the breath away. The pain, we are informed is to be spread equally!(Incidentally how is it ‘fair’ for the pain to be spread equally, surely fairness would dictate that those who have should be asked to pay more). This from a man with an estimated fortune in excess of £4 million ponds who spends his holidays in Corfu rubbing shoulders with Russian oligarchs, whom you can be sure do not charge him for the use for the use of his swimming pool. [1] We are already being indoctrinated with the twin mantras that these savage cuts, with there savage impact on the lives of the most disadvantaged, are inevitable and that ‘there is no alternative.’ Now where have I heard that before? Of course both these statements are nonsense, this is an ideologically driven budget with the primary aim of reducing welfare provision and more widely the provision of services by the state. P...

I have been putting off writing this blog, a follow up to my manifesto of May 18 th , primarily because I do not enjoy writing about my daily life, it is not what I started blogging for. Yet to ignore my current experience and write about political and social developments in the wider world seems both incongruous and lacking in authenticity. The process of falling out of the world of ‘gainful employment,’ out of the world of a salaried income, of direct debits, standing orders, cash machine slips, mobile phone gadgetry, the world of credit cards and conspicuous consumption can be traumatic, but it can also be interesting and enlightening and more importantly it can be liberating. The important thing is to stay engaged with the process, which given the level of stress involved can be difficult. I am now attempting to live on less in one month than I used to earn in a week. The first lesson is that less can be more, I am now spending 50% less on food than I did before, yet I am eating be...