Am I the only person who wonders if somewhere in the nether regions of Whitehall there's a small but dedicated task group whose primary responsibility is to examine carefully the social capital of this country and work out ways of dismantling, reducing, diminishing, eliminating, erasing or rubbishing those features of our common life and common good that are inconvenient to their ideology, constituency or economic interests.
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for example, is now a target for disempowerment in our own country should we elect a Conservative Government in 2015. The ECHR is enshrined in British Law since 1998 - but it's European, nuff said, and it gets in the way of policies and UK Court decisions so should be replaced by a much more convenient and less legally awkward Bill of Rights. The UK is a founding member of the Convention - the moral argument for supporting it rather than disaffiliating is overwhelming. British Parliamentarians and lawyers were key participants in its drafting. The shame on a country which walks away from such a high moral position is deserved, and will have a long half life.
This comes out on the very day newspapers are leading with the emotive headline that terminally ill people whose life expectancy is over 6 months, can be required to do work experience or risk reduction of benefits. I thought that was just another odf those scare stories - but it is yet another floated proposal to add to the other welfare and benefits changes that are beginning to look like obstacle courses aimed at reducing life to a series of economic calculations related to deficit, austerity and welfare cuts.
Oh, and waiting in the car for Sheila today, I listened to a profoundly deaf business woman speaking through a Communication Support Worker (CSW) explain what happened to her. Without consultation, her allowance had been cut for the provision of a CSW to enable her to conduct her business (by answering the phone and facilitating conversations) and so have access to work. This from a Government which prides itself in encouraging and enabling people with disabilities to work by ensuring there is access through such support.
Any Government impatient with a Human Rights Convention is already suspect in my world view; any correlation between benefits, work experience and terminal illness is straight and simple immoral; trumpeting access to work provision, and withdrawing it by stealth is at best hypocrisy and at worst planned dishonesty.
My problem is, these three case stories all hit the news on one day. That's a lot of threatened social capital in 24 hours. And that's why I think there is a little cottage industry somewhere in Whitehall, where people with no sense of the real hard world many live in out here, manufacture new improved misery, construct more effective obstructions, dismantle the defences of the already vulnerable, and, while drinking their coffee to go and munching their 400 calorie muffins, are oblivious of the new growth industry out here, food banks.
I know. I'm guilty of caricature. You think? Frankly, for such stories as these three to even emerge with credibility from the frantic posturing and vote chasing of Westminster is itself a damning critique of a Government whose moral imagination is firewalled by selfishness and the arrogance of self-conferred omniscience about what's good for the rest of us.
I read isaiah 1.21-23 and wonder at the scary fit between the prophet's words to the city and our experience of the City:
See how the faithful city
has become a prostitute!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross,
your choice wine is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
partners with thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow’s case does not come before them.
Wow such truth and passion and it sums up the people running what is called the great and wonderfull UNITED KINGDOM all politisions should live on bennifits before being allowed to run the country.I regularly recieve email from 38 Degrees its a site we all should sign up to it lets us know what were not told and petitions to sign. My last emailinformed the goverment are talking about giving out vouchers instead of money so we can only spend where they say
Posted by: [email protected] | October 14, 2014 at 10:54 PM