A quarter of a million people have lost their job since Christmas. This was being hailed as fairly good news, because it’s less than expected, even though it’s the biggest rise in unemployment over 3 months since 1981.
The double-speak was confounded with talk of other promising signs of a slow down in the recession. Simply being positive about something isn’t helpful. Unemployment is the last thing to fall after a recession, and in the 80s it continued rising for nearly half a decade.
My only real memories of the news from that decade are of gloomy looking graphics demonstrating another rise in jobless numbers, juxtaposed with images of excess debauchery of twats with pink striped shirts. I may be mixing up two different time periods, but the images are still strong in my mind.
If you’re under 30, you may not remember the 80s at all. Which means it’s a good time to read up on your history, and see how much devastation the Tories did in that time. I urge you to Google the word Stagflation. It’s the under 30s who are going to be hit the worst. A decade of growth and boom has made us gently forget harder times, in the same way we forget quite how wonderful our liberties are. You only appreciate them when they’re gone.
The TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber says, “Unemployment is the country’s number one emergency and the government must use all possible means to address it.”
So, in spite of what lazy journalists are telling you, and without wishing to dent the egos of our MPs, their expenses are not some kind of national emergency that need to be fixed, your claims for bath plugs are irrelevant. I don’t want to see Cameron posturing behind a podium, or Gordon trying to force things through, nor do I want to see them arguing about who came up with what plan first. I want them to focus on getting people out of strife.
Now.
