silverclaws":2qvzva5y said:
So, if it is not really about saving money what could it be ?
It's about trying something,
anything, other than just shrugging our shoulders and accepting that some people are going to spend the rest of their lives living on state benefits and watching daytime TV. The country cannot change direction by staying on the same course. This government is trying to solve the problem. They might make some mistakes, they might have to alter the plans as they go, but they're trying
something.
To hear the lefties in this thread squawking about wasting money is just about as ironic as it gets. If we went to my birthplace of Middlesbrough, I could give you a guided tour of the arts projects, the NHS projects, the civil service projects and the infrastructure projects that Labour has poured mind-blowing sums of tax-payer money into -- all under the auspices of "investing in growth and jobs".
And what has resulted from this colossal spending spree? The square root of f**k all, that's what.
The borough of Middlehaven in the Labour stronghold of Middlesbrough has the shortest life expectancy in England (57 years). Middlesbrough in general has one of the worst unemployment levels, one of the worst drug problems (coupled with high levels of teenage prostitution to pay for those drugs) and one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the country. My hometown is a place of unending despair. The oldest employer in the region, Corus Steel has -- under a
Labour government -- just shut its doors with the loss of 1,600 jobs.
I suspect that RBers who live in other places that have been voting Labour since Adam was a boy could tell similar stories.
There have been arguments in this thread that there is some kind of conspiracy against the working class by toffs in top hats. It's bollocks.
If you want to see a conspiracy against the working class, keep your eyes on the socialist intellectuals of the Labour party who in some misguided act of charity keep
generations of families conditioned to the easy money and absence of routine that comes from living off state handouts, while taxing the crap out of the small and medium sized businesses that could offer those working class people the chance of employment -- and all of the feelings of dignity, worth and participation that employment brings.
As it stands, those human beings who watch the clock go round day in, day out lead a life that's little better than that of a house plant. It may be that this plan to give unemployed people a taster of a working life is exactly what some of them need to feel human again.