Heroes: Election #6 – The Message 

 

“ Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice 

Rats in the front room, roaches in the back” 

 
We live in a democracy. The word democracy comes from the Greek words “demos”, meaning people, and “kratos” meaning power; so democracy can be thought of as “power of the people”: a way of governing which depends on the will of the people. Therefore, in a democracy government represent the people, not some but all. 

If this definition is the benchmark for this country’s democracy, the last 14-yrs of Tory governments have failed the people miserably. 

In “Election #5: Fantasy Politics”, I wrote about this country’s shameful record on infant mortality, which can be summarised thus: 

• The OECD calculating that the UK ranks 30th out of 48 countries for infant deaths. 
• In 2021, the Nuffield Foundation reported that Britain’s rate of infant deaths was 30% above the median across EU countries . 
• Many of the children that do survive are growing up in poverty; Britain ranks 37th out of 39 for child poverty in the EU and OECD; only Turkey and Colombia rank lower. 

Infant mortality is just part of a bigger picture; inequality. 

In the UK, the bottom 50% of the population owned less than 5% of wealth in 2021, and the top 10% own  57% (up from 52.5% in 1995). The top 1% alone hold 23%  

Source: World Inequality Lab, 2022 

In 2022, The OECD found that the UK had the 9th most unequal incomes of the 38 OECD countries. 

Today, the Tories published their election giveaways manifesto, and, surprise, surprise, the richest 20% of families will gain most from their tax plans, according to the Resolution Foundation 

“Total tax giveaways announced in the manifesto today amount to £17.2bn a year by the end of the decade. RF analysis of these tax cuts (which excludes the one-off Stamp Duty cut for first-time buyers) shows that the biggest gainers overall are the richest fifth of households, who are set to gain £1,300 on average, compared to the poorest fifth who would gain £150”. 
 

‘In the UK, the bottom 50% of the population owned less than 5% of wealth in 2021, and the top 10% own  57% (up from 52.5% in 1995). The top 1% alone hold 23%’

 
It summed up the plans thus: 

“The tax and spend pledges announced today sit on top of already announced tax rises worth £23bn, and an implied £21bn cut to unprotected departments (given today’s commitment to increase defence spending), all of which would be needed for an incoming Conservative government to meet its key fiscal rule of having debt fall as a share of the economy in five years’ time (a rule reaffirmed in the manifesto). 

This would leave the next parliament as a whole as one of modest tax rises, major spending cuts, and heroic efforts on the part of both HMRC and DWP to find £6bn of extra tax avoidance and benefit cuts in nine months’ time. The Foundation cautions that even if this were to be achieved, if key fiscal risks – such as lower productivity growth – become fiscal reality then this could blow another £17bn hole in these plans”. 

And for those poor, letdown souls in the Red Wall, Farage isn’t your saviour, he sees you as little more than cannon fodder, there to deliver him votes. 

The bank of choice for him is Coutts, for many others it’s the food bank! 

“4.3 million children (30% of all UK children) were in poverty” in 2022/23, “up from 3.6 million in 2010/11”. The group’s press release continued:  
 

• 69% of poor children lived in working families. 
• 46% of children in families with three or more children were in poverty, up from 36% in 2011/12 

 
Source: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/child-poverty-statistics-causes-and-the-uks-policy-response 

Many of these children start the day hungry, they go to school hungry, with teachers finding them exhausted and unable to study for lack of nutrition. 

Most do not have the luxury of school breakfast clubs. The charity Magic Breakfast, which serves 30m breakfasts a year to 200,000 children, has been forced to reduce its service owing to shortages of supplies.  
 

‘Many of these children start the day hungry, they go to school hungry, with teachers finding them exhausted and unable to study for lack of nutrition’

 

• 25% of state school pupils in England now qualify for free school meals.  
• At least 800,000 more schoolchildren who are living in poverty go hungry because they are not eligible. 
• During school holidays there are too few out-of-term lunch clubs to pick-up the slack. 

 
Gordon Brown refers to them as “austerity’s children” – millions of children living through the “hungry 20s” “in food bank Britain.” 

As Gordon Brown said, “There are 850 cinemas in Britain today and three times as many food banks. There are 1,200 hospitals and twice as many food banks. There are more food banks than there are public libraries.” 
 

 
 

Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8585/ 

All of this is the result of Tory mi-government started by the austerity of Lord Cameron of “poverty and misery”, aided and abetted by George Osborne. Their successors, Messrs May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak have only made matters worse. 

When Cameron came to power in 2010 there were 35 Trussell Trust food banks, this number increased twentyfold to 650 in 2013 and then doubled again to 1,300 in 2019. With the addition of independent food banks, today there are 2,800 food banks and emergency food suppliers. 

Recent government statistics show that 7.2 million UK citizens suffer from food insecurity, an increase of 2.5 million people since 2022. If you focus on those who face “very low food security”, the near destitute, need is up by 68% – 1.5 million more hungry people in just one year. 

Why? Well, in the last 3-years, overall prices have increased by 20%, while food prices are up 30%, but until this April benefit rates had gone up by only 13.5%. So even with this year’s uprating of 6.7%, benefits lag behind need, and ONS data shows that the most basic foods such as sliced white bread and semi-skimmed milk have increase by 35% and 49% respectively. 
 

‘When Cameron came to power in 2010 there were 35 Trussell Trust food banks, this number increased twentyfold to 650 in 2013 and then doubled again to 1,300 in 2019’

 
Alongside these increased bills for food, there are rising rents, sky-high energy bills, and increased internet charges if kids are to do their homework and parents are to look for jobs and escape being sanctioned by the DWP for failing to update their online journals. 

Poverty isn’t just about being hungry, it is also about ill-health and squalor. With families struggling to feed themselves, they cannot afford to buy basic toiletries. According to The Hygiene Bank, 3 million people are experiencing hygiene poverty, liquid soap now costs 13% more than it did a year ago. That is why many food banks are now providing toilet rolls, nappies, toothpaste, soap and shampoo. 

Don’t be fooled by right-wing politicians and the fawning media, those in poverty aren’t all good for nothings, lazy and unemployed; 70% of poor children are in working families. 

Of course the right will seek scapegoats to blame for their own misgovernment, and the fact that they simply don’t care about the majority of the electorate. I am fed-up of mealymouthed Tories telling us what they are doing for the country, its only for the few: 

“Today, the Tories published their election giveaways manifesto, and, surprise, surprise, the richest 20% of families will gain most from their tax plans, says The Resolution Foundation” 

Instead of solving the problem they deflect them, finding scapegoats, usually immigrants…”over here, taking your jobs, scrounging all the benefits”, etc., etc.. 

Following is dialogue from a German documentary shown last week, by a documentary-maker named Philipp Awounou, entitled “Unity and Justice and Diversity.” 

“The team is no longer German,” explains an older gentleman in a baseball cap, calmly loading shopping into the boot of his car. “If you look at how many Germans still play, it’s a joke.” 

“How do you define who a German is?” asks the presenter. 

“For me,” the man replies, “a real German is – and I don’t want to offend you – light-skinned.” 

“Why can’t I be a real German?” 

“Because your parents can’t be German.” 

“My mother is German,” Awounou protests. 

“OK, yes, good,” says the man with a shrug. “That’s possible, of course. But … where are the light- skinned Germans who can also play football?” 

The person interviewed sees nothing odd about his views, and is perfectly happy sharing them with whoever. And he isn’t alone, not in Germany, and not in many countries, the UK included. Their “racism is not a badge of shame but something to be blazoned, proudly and without apologies.” 
 

.Their “racism is not a badge of shame but something to be blazoned, proudly and without apologies.” 

 
The documentary included a poll in which 1,304 respondents were asked whether they agreed with the statement: “I would prefer it if more white players played in the German national team again.”  21% agreed, 65% disagreed. 

The number agreeing is far from a surprise, the far‑right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD”) party has been polling at C.20% this year, and finished second in this week’s European elections.  

As a result of the AfD’s increasing popularity, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, from the centre-left SPD, has taken an increasingly hostile stance on immigration in recent months, promising to “deport” migrants and foreign-born criminals on a large scale. 

As I wrote in “ Deutschland, Deutschland….Oh Not Again, Surely!”, and “Europe and the New Right”, the reaction of the government in Germany is to be expected. As the hard-right makes ground centre parties, in their desire to cling onto power adopt what were unthinkable polices making them the norm. 

The UK is no different; look at how far right Sunak has tacked in 18-months on immigration as he tries to fight-off Reform. 

Last week we commemorated the people who fought for our democracy, and who, 80-yrs ago, on D-Day, invaded Nazi occupied Europe. Only we don’t remember, we forget, instead we have gone back 90-yrs, to the days when swaggering fascist bullies strutted around. 

Labour many not be the answer but there cannot be another Tory government until they learn that democracy is for all not just the chosen few! 

“Got a bum education, double-digit inflation 

Can’t take the train to the job, there’s a strike at the station” 

An unexpected, but much welcomed bonus from Philip here:

‘You can’t keep a good man down. I couldn’t let yesterday pass without comment.

The Tories really need to stop pretending. They simply don’t care about the majority of the population.

If they have so much free money, which  is  clearly fantasy politics, why not aim the tax benefits at those in need, and completely ignore the wealthy? It’s simple, the poor aren’t their priority, they just make the place look untidy.

Sunak is robotic, he has no inclination towards people. Add that to being the “golden child” and you end up with the worst politician in memory.

He didn’t have Sky growing up, oh dear. But, that’s smoke and mirrors, he was born in 1980, even allowing for the fact that he might have considered himself as still growing up at 18, how many people had Sky in 1998? Not many.

Poor Rishi is so misunderstood. Take D-Day; people need to realise that by gracing them with his presence he is doing them a favour. Yes, they might be old, and fought to protect democracy, but he’s the golden child, they should be honoured he found anytime for them at all.

The message today is simple; the Tories are simply incapable of being able to govern fairly.

With that point in mind, lyrically, we have just one song:  “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Enjoy! Philip’

 
@coldwarsteve
 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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