A recent post on the social media site nextdoor.co.uk starts off with the sentence:

“I don’t normally post but Rishi sunaks proposal to bring people back into work, when they are not sufficiently well is bizarre to say the least.“

This was posted in response to this story, published by the beeb, who did not realise they were being right wing, bless them.

Cue lots of unfortunate pushback from some people with phrases like:

• “lazy fit people are taking public money from us all.”
• “Sick Notes are the new small boat.”
• “hangers on who can work but sit on there [sic] arses and live off our taxes”
• “billions going to people that claim false benefits and sit on their fat arses playing playstation on their 55″ TVs paid for by government.”

These were followed by a fair defence of the original posters point by the grown ups in the room who had not succumbed to Thatcher Syndrome.

My interjection was as follows:

“This whole debate, 94 comments and counting so far, is an excellent example of how politicians have recreated an old story with a fresh narrative so we have someone to point the finger at.

It has stirred up anger and debate and disagreement between decent people, so as to misdirect them from the truth that they are being bled dry by neo-liberal capitalists.

It is victim blaming.

If you are blaming a few people on the dole – even the few that might be playing the system for the ills in society – you are falling for misdirection and sleight of hand.

All that money that was spent during Covid, has it magically disappeared?

No.

Has it vanished into thin air?

No.

Where has all the money gone?

The money spent on that 55” flatscreen still exists and has now found its way into the bank accounts of the rich and powerful. They don’t need it. They haven’t really earned it themselves, underpaid workers did, as they toiled so they could buy cheap, poor quality food, as that is all the wealthy masters could give those Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

If you want to blame someone, blame the people that perpetuate the system. The wealthy media, the politicians which hide behind the thin veil of so called democracy they use once every few years to lead you into the false belief that you actually have a say in what happens in this country. And one more thing. If anybody plays the system so as to avoid work , you might want to ask why?

The so called work-shy were probably disengaged by an education system designed to take the inputs of delightful little children and produce young adults who know how to wear a uniform, conform to rules and take orders from a so called superior. The work-shy wouldn’t be quite so work-shy if their individual talents had been identified and valued.