Stop Whining...

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We're both full of winter colds [the first for years] at the moment and to be blunt pretty miserable, and for myself, almost completely lacking in motivation, so I'll keep this brief. We live in divisive times: I think that is pretty self-evident, but what is most disturbing to my mind is less the deliberate political divisiveness that fuels inequality at its heart, and which fosters discontent in the poorer two-thirds of society, than the willingness of those who stand to benefit from the safety-net of a welfare state should they at some time need it, to berate those who do and any policy that protects the rights that the state so enshrines; still characterising those who rely on benefits as 'scroungers'. God, when is that fucking sad, tired litany of right-wing tosh going to wither and die? I'm seventy-one now and absolutely sick and tired of working-class people - and it is, sadly largely thus, fuelled by the crass disinformation peddled by bad actors and amplified by 'social' media - doing down the very grouping that they feel lucky [just] not to be a part of any longer.

My parents - particularly my dad - came from backgrounds that were just one generation away from the unsupported poverty that was the lot of all working class people: no dole, no free health care at the point of need, nowt: no safety net, nada, nothing, zilch; just the workhouse to look forward to if things went south. The next time you find the cost of your weekly shop at the local supermarket too much to bear, think on and heed the words of Lord Blunkett, interviewed on Radio Four this morning. Bread and dripping for your main meal of the day. It was the reality for hundreds of thousands of post-war children in the UK, and is similarly and increasingly so for many today, even if the dripping no longer obtains: my point stands. If the budget asks those that earn to contribute a bit more to the welfare state in order to help our kids fill their bellies, then so be it. All I would just ask is that we collectively show more compassion and a decent modicum of patience. If you want to see society completely wrecked for good, then by all means go ahead and lobby for Farage and his bunch of self-interested toadies to get into power. On your own heads be it... 

Comments

  1. Anonymous28 November 2025 at 09:05

    Don't forget our print media that is controlled by Right-Wing shit-heads and the broadcast media which is similarly controlled with the public bodies controlled by the Desperately upwardly mobile crap-heads.
    ATB
    Joe

    ReplyDelete

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