Surfing the net this weekend, I came across a clip of the Tory hardliner Iain Duncan Smith laughing like a drain when the then Chancellor George Osborne announced a living wage of £9 per hour.
The usually sullen and cold, ‘quiet’ man looked as if he was at a particularly funny stand-up comedy gig. In fact, he was just too well pleased with himself, the ghastly Osborne and his party.
Work was going to pay! Those who had been on long-term benefits would be set free! Hallelujah. That was four long years ago.
IDS, a practising Catholic, really did seem to believe that he was a deliverer, born to save the poor and wretched of our nation.
I wonder if he repented his ungodly pride over this Easter break. Probably not.
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
As John Wayne says in the film, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon: “Never apologise, never explain – it’s a sign of weakness.”
And the weak and vulnerable, as we know, are to be despised and punished. That is the Tory credo.
Their mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey – raised on a council estate – has now become more Tory than a natural-born Tory.
Last week, he dismissed homelessness as a “hype”. Not smart when you are trying to sell yourself as a man of the common people.
Today in-work poverty has risen sharply, partly because of savage cuts in benefits.
Nearly four million kids across the UK are living in poverty and school holidays leave a good number of them going hungry.
This week, Emma Thompson will be telling politicians just how much British kids are suffering in the sixth richest country in the world.
Rising homelessness is directly attributed to austerity measures, so too other terrible suffering.
On Easter Sunday it was reported that Stephen Smith, 64, had passed away.
He had multiple serious illnesses and was emaciated, yet the Department for Work and Pensions stopped some of his benefits and forced him to look for work. He had to fight for these benefits in court while seriously ill.
Never mind.
A DWP spokesman says their “…thoughts are with his friends and family”. So, sorted then.
Yesterday I saw a mum and eight-year-old girl begging in West London.
They were northerners who had moved here and then been evicted from their rented flat. Kind people bought them food and talked to them.
Abject scenes we used to see in third world countries are now here, on our streets.
In the coming years things are going to get even worse for the poorest. This is planned,
man-made hardship.
The Tories have committed crimes against their own populations. It’s as serious as that. Pride in Britain? Many of us these days feel only shame and rage.
