A few more thoughts about the trashed earth left by a political class currently seeking election to parliament:
I’ve just been listening to a recording I took at a northwest London jobcentre meeting a couple of months ago. I was there with an older man who has learning difficulties and who is claiming JSA.
It wasn’t the greatest jobcentre meeting I’d ever attended. The jobcentre adviser and the man I was with had an angry, if one-sided, confrontation – raised voices, exasperation, sarcasm, accusations, the works.
The man complained that the work choice providers at a course he’d taken had done little to find him work. The adviser said that the fault was his. She said the work choice provider had suggested several jobs for him and that it was not the provider’s fault if the man didn’t get the work. “It’s not up to them,” the jobcentre adviser said testily. “It’s up to you and what you bring to the job.” The jobcentre adviser accused the man of exaggerating his concerns about the work choice provider. At one point, she said to the man: “What is it that you want them to do? Do you want them to take you by the hand and take you to the job and get you the job?” No mention was made of the problems that make things difficult for this man – his deteriorating health, his literacy problems, the fact that he can’t use email, or computers, or that he finds change extremely difficult to handle and to navigate. He is sometimes defensive and can resist when told to make a change. His first response is often No, but there are reasons for that. You’d think that those reasons would be recognised and understood. They weren’t that day. Things were a little one-sided, as I say.
I’ve thought a lot about that argument in the weeks since it happened. The specifics of it don’t matter a damn – who was technically right or technically wrong if anyone was, or whatever. It was the fact that the argument took place at all – you know, that everybody involved lost it. That was everybody including the adviser. There was nothing professional about the “service” that the jobcentre offered that day. As I say, the man I was with has learning and literacy difficulties. I know him pretty well now. I certainly know him well enough to understand that he finds stress, pressure and a volley of accusations intolerable. I have no professional skill and am not pretending that I do, but we’ve spent time together for getting on for a year, and we’ve come to know each other. We’ve seen each other’s reactions to things. But I also know that adviser a bit. I’d generally found her reasonable. I don’t wish to make excuses for unacceptable behaviour and I don’t when I see it, but there was an ambiguousness to this situation that is very relevant to this post. I’d never seen this adviser get stuck into someone in such a personal, finger-pointing way. She looked exhausted that day and very drawn in the face and stressed. That’s no excuse, but there it was all the same.
I’ve been thinking more and more about these situations as I’ve made my way through the hours of recordings and transcripts that I’ve taken from these sorts of meetings over the last five years – jobcentre meetings, sessions at emergency housing offices, the works. They’re awful places most of the time. They’re often packed, loud and volatile. There’s a heavy security presence at most of them – a lot of big men in uniforms watching you and coming up to you and telling you No, You’re Not Allowed.
But here’s the thing. As we speak, the people who’ve created these places and these confrontational situations and/or support more of the same are prancing about the nation seeking parliamentary election. They slash services and funding, and then abandon people who use and provide those services to their hellholes to slug it out. The arrogance of the thing is quite amazing. They destroy a service, then leave. I don’t think they should be able to leave. I’m tired of the fact that they can. The truth is that all MPs who support a JSA sanction regime, or a cut to housing staff numbers, etc, should be forced to spend the rest of their lives either using or fronting the service that they’ve trashed. Their Spads should be shoved in there, too. Somebody suggested in a comment on one of my stories that I should take an MP or councillor along to each of these jobcentre or housing meetings, etc, once we’re delivered of whichever half-arsed administration ultimately takes the reins. I think that’s an excellent shout, you know. No more fancy dinners, or trips to property fairs, etc, for that lot. They can have the pile of shit they’ve left behind instead. Let’s see how they bloody well like it.
Thoughtful, sensitive, clear, passionate and constructive.
Although I’m unsure how many of my former colleagues on the Council would be capable of learning much if they were in that situation.
Fortunately – knowing both of them personally – that is not the case with our two candidates in my borough’s elections. As it looks like they’ll both be elected, I’ll be urging them to read your blog!
Yes line them up for me…time to take people along 🙂
Thanks, Kate
I have just included your concluding paragraph in a blog piece ‘Restorative justice’ and ‘key decision-makers’.
At election times, I believe, ‘key decision-makers’ includes not only MPs, lobbyists, corporate advisers to governments, pollsters, broadcasters as censors, but also voters.
Dude Swheatie of Kwug
I think your conclusion is absolutely right. Not so long ago, the man with learning difficulties would have had a support worker or an advocate to help him manage situations like this, but with cut-backs they are left to fend for themselves. It is completely wrong!
MP and councillors are inside a former feudal world, entrenched in a period drama that allows has something about the aristocracy of old in them.
…half-arsed administration ultimately takes the reins…
We have an opportunity in this general election in both UK parliament and councils, to vote in people who know all this suffering and offer something to the poor.
But there has been total medial blackout about those political parties and blogs are not awash with posts from those parties to inform people of their existence.
There are more candidates from these parties of the poor of the left than in the last 60 years on Thursday 7 May.
Not even the 6th biggest party in the UK, that is one of them gets national newspaper headlines or a mention on national TV news, anything like equal to UKIP or The Greens.
Both of whom offer the poor absolutely nothing. The Greens having run away from policies that would have ended starvation in May.
VOTE SWAPPING IN ENGLAND
Plaid Cymru in Wales and SNP in Scotland are against austerity cuts and have devolved laws to help against austerity and have saved their devolved NHS.
Here is the list of England parties who would ban sanctions, workfare, end benefits cuts, reverse rise in retirement age, pay decent state pension.
TUSC – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition – 113 MP candidates in England and over 600 councillor candidates
CLASS WAR
Socialist GB
The Left Unity Party
Mebyon Kernow in all of Cornwall
VOTER SWAPPING BETWEEN NATIONAL HEALTH ACTION party to vote for and the listed parties of the poor of the left
I have none of these parties where I live, but can vote for us all one of the few candidates running for the NHA party in England.
STAFFORD
NATIONAL HEALTH ACTION
Karen Howell
Former nurse, health visitor, charity worker for the elderly,founder of Support Stafford Hospital campaign
22,047 Tory win in 2010
20,428 did not vote in 2010
16,587 votes wasted on Labour
Lib Dems not running in 2015 so maybe their 8,211 in vote in 2010 could go NHA
Swap votes between us.
Ideas on my National Health Action page
http://www.anastasia-england.me.uk
NHA for TUSC or the others.
TUSC if no NHA.
No so-called big party won in 2010.
Most voting areas the people did not vote.
It is the working class who do not vote the most, and women even more than men.
TUSC OFFERS YOU ALSO
VOTE OUT MILIBAND – LABOUR LEADER – ineffective opposition to all this cruelty
VOTE TUSC candidate
Mary Jackson
Doncaster North
VOTE OUT MILIBAND – LABOUR LEADER
DONCASTER NORTH
19,637 Miliband – Labour win in 2010
30,198 did not vote in 2010
Total Voters 71,681
MEET YOUR CANDIDATE!
MEET TUSC MP CANDIDATE
MARY JACKSON
Tuesday 5th May,
7-00pm
Danum Hotel,
High Street,
Doncaster DN1 1DN
Speakers include:
Mary Jackson
TUSC candidate for
Doncaster North
Steve Williams TUSC candidate for
Don Valley
Mev Akram TUSC candidate for
Doncaster Central.
NATIONAL HEALTH ACTION PARTY
VOTE OUT PRIME MINISTER CAMERON
Witney voting area
Tories won with 33,973 votes
20,997 did not vote
7,511 votes wasted on Labour
11,233 votes wasted on Lib Dems
VOTE WITNEY:
National Health Action
Clive Peedell
consultant cancer specialist,
founder and co-leader of NHA Party,
on BMA council, (British Medical Assocation
chair of NHS Consultants’ Association
CANNOT DO THIS FORMALLY AS THE VOTE SWAPPING WEBSITE DOES NOT LIST THESE PARTIES
What these parties offer.
Over 100 new MPs
guaranteed anti austerity
Added to the coming near 59 all Scotland seats going to the SNP
and hoped for surge in Plaid Cymru in Wales
So bringing into UK government a group of parties almost equal in number to the predicted number of Tory or Labour MPs.
This is the way to utterly change Labour and bring in an
anti austerity government and lock the Tories and Lib Dems out of power.
THE RULES
326 MP minimum threshold to rule a UK parliament.
A group of parties can equally negotiate between each other and will not be forced to only talk with Labour about any policies.
A support and confidence type of coalition means each party keeps its own identity and supports Labour on a case by case basis. The most powerful kind of coalition, not over-ruled by Labour at all.
http://www.anastasia-england.me.uk