Keeping Calm and Carrying On

As economies across the world stumble and fall we’ve seen the first real quiver of the British stiff upper lip for a generation. This wobble currently being experienced by The Great Empire has given much cause for consternation for some time now and, once laid bare for the public, has caught many more by surprise as it dawns on them that we are actually in the shit. These people, distracted by a myriad of life’s problems individually are realising collectively that there is a real risk of our maligned way of life changing irrevocably and people, well, people just don’t like change.

The good times we’ve apparently been enjoying appear to be over and we’re poised to find out – as that Janet Jackson fellow once sang – that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. If you have a god, it’s suggested that you commence prayer immediately.

In the U.K we’re currently seeing the most drastic cuts to our budget for government spending in a lifetime. The proverbial belt will have to tighten for the majority of the population, not quite the ‘squeeze of the middle’ many were anticipating but a squeeze nonetheless and one which must happen. Now.

The lowest common denominator, the one thing which will inevitably affect us all is to be the basic cost of living. Food, public transport, petrol, utilities et al. are all set to increase in cost shortly, when many prices are already at a premium. With the V.A.T increase in January the cost of your weekly shop will jump upwards. Perhaps this is reasonable and something we can accept however, the real sting will be felt when the increasing cost of necessities is coupled with other factors.

Imagine if you will that you’re 17 years of age and into the final year of your ‘A’ Levels. Currently you’re juggling your coursework with anxiety over your pending exams and shortly you’ll begin your search for a suitable university at which to further your studies. Stressful is all that. You will also be delving into the often baffling world of student finance. You are probably looking forward to your first grant, (some will have already mentally spent it on, I don’t know, let’s say sweets) though at some stage throughout the process it will dawn upon you that rather than fall out of the other side with a 2:2 and a hangover with only £12-15k debt to your name, you now need to consider that all of this trying to better yourself will soon have doubled (even tripled) in cost. Worth it? Not so much at the moment but consider the alternatives…

Perspective students like your imagined self there are nervous for their futures however, to even get to the cusp of a university place many have so far relied on the Education Maintenance Allowance to financially enable them to maintain their studies/social life throughout their higher education. The EMA might not seem like much but it’s money in the pockets of people who need it. It incentivises pupils to stay on at school and try harder. This initiative is being abolished, not cut. It’s done and it’s dusted. Those in education or approaching higher education are a fair old percentage of the population for whom it just got harder to achieve (or even sustain) their ambitions.

How about the people who are widely considered to be content, who are perceived to be perhaps too lazy to better themselves? This brings us to welfare reform, I suppose. Certain sections of the British press frequently report on those many many migrants, work-shy folks and ne’er-do-wells being housed at the expense of the tax-payer. In doing so they have instilled within their loyal readership that this is ‘an outrage’ and ‘a bloody liberty’ etc. Regularly we’re confronted with stories of parents who ‘have never worked a day in their life’ or ‘have 13 children and 3 on the way’, that sort of thing. It’s all too easy to disregard the facts and presume that all involved in this so called ‘benefit culture’ are of a similar ilk and aren’t worth a jot when it comes to helping people live. It’s routinely ignored that the bulk of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance or housing benefit would actually like to work and support themselves.

This mindset makes it particularly easy to convince the wider public that welfare reform is the best foot forward regardless of the reformation taking place. It’s an easier sell still if you were to focus on a small percentage of people in a relatively small area say, London. All stories related to the cuts in housing benefit seem to focus on those recipients in London who may well be forced to (perish the thought) consider moving north in search of affordable accommodation. A ‘Kosovo style cleansing’ the Mayor of London called it. Whilst it’s true that some of those families in London affected may indeed have to move home, the changes in housing benefit will remove a considerable chunk of the cash received by low income families the breadth of the country. By focussing on London, the press create in the minds of all those outside it a sense of detachment, it’s almost as if it doesn’t affect them. Similarly, rather that housing benefit being viewed as a benefit received by people who do actually work for a living (albeit on a low wage) which in the main it is, it’s seen as a licence for people to live comfortably whilst not working. It seems that perception rather than fact is the key to the success of this particular reform.

Since 2008 unemployment has doubled. It hasn’t doubled because hundreds of thousands of working people eyed up the benefit system and thought ‘I’ll have some of that with my Jeremy Kyle’, it doubled because the recession has decimated their jobs. So it might seem like an odd time to embark upon an extreme overhaul of a system designed to help people get back into work, especially if you consider that there are blatantly other avenues to explore first. £1.6bn is lost to benefit fraud every year. £3bn is lost in the overpayment of benefit. You might expect that first and foremost we would save a few billion pounds swiftly by weeding out the fraudsters and ensuring that the system works but think how cost effective it would be to lump all claimants into the same category and slap the collective wrist…

3 strikes, JSA-wise, and you’re out, out of pocket enough to do literally any sort of work to stave off starvation. There are many opinions about this but surely to make work pay you have to ensure that there are enough well paid jobs to go around? Currently there just isn’t enough work. Luckily the common consensus will be that these folk deserve a strong hand approach rather than continue to be wet nursed by the state, due largely to the heinous stereotyping of the out-of-work by the national press. It’s lucky because without this perception there would be rioting in the streets and people wouldn’t stand for good folk being trodden on for too long. Thank Rupert for successful spin I say.

The Social Security system is designed to help people undergoing personal or economical changes, not leave them at a higher risk of poverty. These measures come into force in and around 2013 and won’t necessarily affect masses of people until after the next election so, a blue vote next time around might just be a nail in the coffin of someone, somewhere.

I’m not sure many people would disagree that to truly tackle unemployment it would be better to create well paid employment rather than scapegoat the disadvantaged. Perhaps the next government would consider closing tax loopholes or imposing windfall taxes on banks, maybe they’ll consider taxing the vastly rich on earnings made outside the U.K or on those large inheritances some enjoy. Hopefully they will hesitate when offered a place in bed next to Murdoch and forego the opportunity to decide how the news is reported. Ah, optimism, remember that?

Even so, those working in the public sector are having to face a few harsh realities too. If they work for a government department which isn’t closing or their homes aren’t at threat due to increasing rent, they will still have to endure a 2 year pay freeze, rising inflation, and the freeze in/removal of child benefit like most of us. If they do lose their jobs and can’t find alternative work within a year, they face a 10% cut in the JSA they receive. The public sector is too big. This is another fact we’ll have to face soon enough.

Certain demographics will undoubtedly be hit harder than some others, but feel the pinch we all must. I can’t stress enough that it appears as if 99% of the population will be affected by the cuts taking place. But different things affect different people in different ways. Some will look at recent student protests and deem them pointless. Some will see their point and others will think they’re doing absolutely the right thing. Points of view will differ on every opinion ever made and possibly we’ll never agree fully on some things but if this same issue impacts on everyone, no matter how differently, sooner or later we’ll all arrive at the same conclusion.

Apathetic anger is a British trait we can afford to shake off. If we truly are in this together more of us need a say. The danger lies in buying into the spin and thinking these problems affect us individually and not all of us collectively.