WHY POLITICS MATTER PART ONE


An article last May in the Daily Telegraph established that ‘two thirds of the Cabinet — 18 out of 29 ministers — were millionaires.[1] The same article reported the entire net worth of the cabinet stood at £70 million pounds and that David Cameron’s own net worth was £3.8million, with liquid assets of £190,000.  Cameron’s wealth is somewhat comically described as ‘self made;’ this means that his parants left him a great deal of money which he increased by dealing in property. Buying and selling property is probably just about the least useful of social activities, property millionaires bear about as much relationship to the well being of the societies they inhabit as the fleas on a dogs back do to the welfare of a dog.

George Osborne is stated to be worth 4.5 million  in property, which he inherited. He has inherited an additional stake in a family-owned fabric and wallpaper designer business. This is the same man who has introduced a three-year welfare squeeze, with real terms cuts in income support payments, housing benefit, jobseeker’s allowance, child benefit and tax credits. He has decided to limit rises to 1% on all of these benefits. 
This government likes to talk in percentages as this disguises the reality of what people on benefits actually have to live on. The financial support provided by the state, for the unemployed and disabled in the UK is amongst the lowest in Europe.[2] For example a single person under the age of 25 is expected to live on £53.45; two pints of milk is now £1, a loaf of bread from 80p to £1.35. Tragically many people who have been pushed into severe financial hardship by the recession, having been misled by the tabloid press into imagining there existed a generous welfare system, have been shocked by the reality of what living on benefits actually entails.
Mr Osborne, who likes to depict the unemployed as shirkers and spongers, who lie snickering in bed behind closed curtains, is a man who sought to dodge paying his full train fare when journeying from Wimslow to London, travelling in first class on a standard class ticket. (It being clearly understood that Mr Osborne could not possibly travel with the unwashed masses).[3]His boss Mr Cameron thought it appropriate to claim from the public purse the full cost of his TV licence whilst in opposition.
Cocooned in wealth and privilege all of their lives they have no conception of what life is like for the average person of the country they seek to govern; though as the examples above demonstrate they do know what it is like to dodge a fare and sponge of the taxpayer.

Meanwhile,  like a clumsy First World War tank, the onslaught on the poorest and most disadvantaged continue. AJP Taylor said that whilst the labour movements in Western Europe preached class warfare, ruling elites practised it. The casualties in this war are not mere metaphors but real people whose lives are crushed. In an article in March this year Susan Poulton in the Mail Online[4] writes:-

‘…….there have been almost 150 deaths related to sick and disabled citizens who fear being plunged further into poverty as our benefit system - designed to protect the vulnerable - increasingly cuts people adrift leaving them to fend for themselves.’

She tells of several cases when claimants felt no other option than to take their own lives. Rather than repeat these stories here I commend the article to you. The British Medical Journal reports a clear link between unemployment, economic hardship and suicide rates.

http://www.thementalelf.net/populations-and-settings/poverty/strong-association-between-unemployment-and-suicide-shown-in-new-bmj-study/

In the year of my birth the country was ruled by old Etonians who knew little and cared less about the lives of the poor and marginalised. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose[5]

I hope that these realities make you angry, they certainly should. But if you are angry do something, don’t just shake your head in front of the computer screen. Politics matters, it is not a spectator sport, most importantly it is not just about voting every five years. Politics is a constant process of engaging with the realities of life, of fighting battles you thought, or wished were won. It means becoming engaged with the world. Never be a spectator when it comes to injustice. If all you do after reading this is to send an e-mail to your MP then treat that as a start.


[3] Mr Osborne’s fare was £189.50 the current rate for a single person over 25 on Jobseekers allowance is £71 per week.
[5] The more it changes, the more it's the same thing",
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