100% Unemployment

Day two of unemployment. Going well so far. Yesterday I went out for a celebratory breakfast. The full English. I considered it a rite of passage. I also realised that if I am to survive this ordeal I need some structure to my day. So last night I set the alarm. First task of the day is a brisk walk for an hour. I need to keep up with my exercise levels. Don’t want to turn into a slob. Then I’ve spent the day searching for jobs. Trying to get to grips with the DirectGov website which is actually a pile of piss and very user unfriendly. A bit like the ConDem government so no surprises there then!

Tomorrow I have my initial ‘Job Seeker’s’ interview. Wish me luck. I think I may need it and a nosegay apparently.

The coalition isn’t working

To the unemployed person it doesn’t matter what the level of unemployment is as for them it’s 100%. Today’s unemployment figure of 2.62 million people might well fit nicely with the Tory economic model but these are real people, real people that are being denied the right to work. My lady is one of them, a victim of the Tory local government cuts. A large proportion of this unemployment has been created by the government when it didn’t need to be so. There are alternatives we just need a government with some courage and a sense of fairness.

This government is destroying lives. You do wonder how ministers manage to sleep at night. I suppose it’s because they really don’t give a shit!

Are we all totally fucking mad in this country?

Yesterday the BBC reported that “Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has claimed £535,000 of taxpayers' money over the last five years, government records have shown.” She is not alone of course, other ex-PMs are at it as well, milking the expenses scam that John Major set up when he was in office. Thatcher’s claims are particularly galling because of what she did to this country and its people, bringing large swathes of the population to their knees. It’s as if our noses are being rubbed in it! I don’t actually have a problem with ex-PMs claiming expenses in principle, like I don’t have a problem with MPs claiming expenses, as long as they are fair and reasonable, but £535,000 over five years is taking the piss big time. I suppose it’s a case of once an evil cow, always an evil cow.

As if that wasn’t bad enough we awoke this morning to the news that “Pay for the directors of the UK's top businesses rose 50% over the past year, a pay research company has said.” Whilst most of us have suffered minimal pay rises or none at all, which has effectively eroded our real income, company bosses have been dipping into their proverbial tills with gay abandon. Thanks to the recklessness by the financial institutions of the world we are in a recession, profits are down, companies are making thousands redundant and yet company directors see fit to up their pay by an obscene amount. It is immoral. But not only that, it doesn’t make good business sense either; there is no logic in upping the pay of those that are measured by results when they are currently not performing. Just remember every £1Million of bonus paid out to some festering fat-cat could pay the wages of 50+ people; food for thought.

These are just two examples of nest feathering at their most offensive. The rich and powerful are raping and pillaging this nation. The majority of us aren’t filthy rich. The majority of us don’t hold public office. The power and wealth in this country is held be an elite few. And, we allow that!

Yes, we allow it. We must be mad to do so. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Ultimately it is us, the majority, who hold the real power. We just need to wake up and exercise that power.

Oh yes, now, what was that ConDem motto again? Oh, that’s right, “we’re all in this together”. Like fuck we are!

Pedestrians are worthless scum

Well that’s certainly how it feels to me. As a car driver, very occasional cyclist and mostly pedestrian type person it would seem to me that the liberty of the latter has all but been lost. And no doubt this ConDem government will with its actions consign us to permanent perambulatory serfdom. This government is supposedly pro-motorist. Their idea of being pro-motorist is a strange one, but then they are Tories so why wouldn’t it be? Basically their big idea about being pro-motorist says, ‘if you commit a motoring offence we’ll ignore it’. In the name of liberty they are encouraging people to break the law. Motorists are being given the freedom to oppress; a very shallow freedom indeed. The removal of speed cameras, the cuts in police numbers and the financial castration of councils has and will continue to drive us down the road to total motoring anarchy. The evidence is very clear for all to see. Too many motorists now just ignore the law. They drive like speeding maniacs and then just park where and how the hell they like. In its urban homeland, the habitat of choice for the law-abiding pedestrian is the path and the pavement. unfortunately today’s motorist has no respect for the domain of others. Parking on the pavement is the fashionable thing to do these days, it is so prevalent, and  it’s going to get worse I have no doubt. Mark my words!

Public service announcement

It’s a shit time if you are working for the civil service or local government. And, it’s going to get shittier by all accounts. The Tory propaganda machine seems hell bent on rubbishing the work of public servants, whilst the Con-Dem collaboration plans to make as many as possible unemployed. This government is biting the hand that wipes its arse.

As if that is enough to contend with our much battered public servants have to deal with members of the public!

Square peg in a round hole

Before this all blew up I had decided that I didn’t like David Laws. Now that he has resigned I have realised why. With all the praise being heaped upon him from various Conservatives and their sympathisers it is clear the man is really a closet Tory. What on earth is he doing in the LibDems?

Credit where credit is due

Whilst I obviously don’t care much for the new government’s policies, there are two in particular that I actually welcome. The first is an issue relevant to where I live. They are going to scrap plans for Norwich to become a unitary authority. Norwich being given unitary status never really made any sense and I don’t understand why the Labour government was so keen on it. I’m not against unitary authorities in principle but the solution for Norfolk always seemed like a costly one for a small city and a not so densely populated county. The other decision that I agree with is the Con-Dem’s plans to curb excessively large salaries in the public sector. I hope that they tackle the nonsense that is bonuses in the public sector as well.

Before you start to think that I am in some way bashing those that work in the civil service or for local government, or you think I’m starting to turn from red to blue, fear ye not. One of the great achievements of the last Labour government was the introduction of the minimum wage. I personally think it is set too low but it doesn’t dilute the fact that it is a good thing. And, interestingly, the sky didn’t fall in when it was introduced, unlike the reactionary prophesies. Unfortunately the social chapter doesn’t go far enough because as well as a minimum wage it is my firm belief that we should also have a maximum wage. Not just for one section of the economy but for all. Wages should be controlled both for public and private sectors alike. Is it such a crazy idea?

There are no doubt lots of reasons why a maximum wage wouldn’t work, and people would find loopholes to get through it, but those loopholes could then be plugged by punitive tax measures. Just doing nothing can never be an option for those that want to build a fairer future for all. A society where one person earns more in a day, a week or a month than another earns in a year can never be cohesive or unbroken.