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Since the year 2010, I have slowly, found myself descending into a dystopian nightmare. The biggest growth industry under this government is food banks. What in the world is going on?
How many Tory MPs are doing photo opportunities at food banks stating they are delighted to be there? Jacob Rees Mogg thought food banks were fantastic because it showed how caring people were.
Photo shoots at foodbanks
My MP went to one, listened to people talking about hardship, and murmured sweet nothings. He then went to the House of Commons and voted to keep kids hungry during a pandemic. I am sure we all know an MP who has done a photo shoot at a food bank, gurning into the camera, then getting into a chauffeur-driven car and popping back to parliament for their subsidised food and drink.
And then we hear patronising comments from MPs like Lee Anderson telling us that we are pretty rubbish at cooking and budgeting, And my MP (Matt Vickers) supports him. Apparently, you can buy and cook food for a day with 30p!
Inflation is apparently running at 10 -11% at moment, however in reality for a huge number of the populace it is more like 40%. Just check out the price of milk, rice, pasta, flour etc.
Compassionate conservative?
One of the most popular Tory slogans seems to be “compassionate conservative”
They seem to believe that if you keep saying something then it will actually come true…
”Click your red shoes together three times and you will be back in Kansas!”
So a huge number of British people are in the Hunger Games, whilst the Tories are on the Yellow Brick Road on their way to the Emerald City. I think that sums up how disparate our realities are.
Austerity 2.0
To add insult to injury to discrimination against the poorest and most disadvantaged we are about to embark on Austerity 2.0. The cost of heating and lighting our homes is going to rise by another 20% approximately. How many more are going to be dragged into poverty?
How many more will stop eating out, going to gyms and so on? How many more will find themselves cancelling subscriptions and stopping donating to charity and food banks?
This all has a knock-on effect. It is a recipe for total carnage.
If we can only afford to eat and heat and not have any treats, how many more pubs and businesses will go bust? What is the point of just surviving, if we have nothing to look forward to, then depression and despair are sure to follow.
Austerity 2.0 could be the nail in the coffin for so many. It could also be a killer! Disabled people who rely on electricity to keep them alive, the elderly and infirm who will not dare to put the heating on.
Is this GREAT Britain in the year 2022?
Austerity is a choice, a choice between looking after the vulnerable and the ‘just getting by’, or plugging the hole by closing tax loopholes, non-dom status, etc.
The mega-wealthy would not miss an extra 1-2% on their earnings and many have said so. It is time the ones with the broadest shoulders got us out of the mess that 12 years of Conservative government has got us into.
Levelling-up is a sick joke
I live in the Tees Valley, where our Mayor is about to get a peerage. He has spent tens of millions on what appear to be vanity projects, with no discernible positives to the average Joe or Josephine. However, child poverty is the highest in the country. Walk through Middlesbrough town centre and imagine what it used to look like, all shops open, no shutters down. It is now unrecognisable and it makes me want to scream.
Levelling up is a sick joke, the key to it becoming reality is taking people out of poverty not putting more into it.
I worry that I am being a realist.
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