shameful levels of poverty in the North East of England.

The effect of politicians' preoccupation with Social Mobilty and climate change. All parties equally to blame.
 
Anton_Berg said:
The effect of politicians' preoccupation with Social Mobilty and climate change. All parties equally to blame.
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Sorry but this opinion is a big part of the reason we are in the mess we are in.

Whilst people lazily think all parties are the same or all equally bad then they are not motivated to vote for a party with a better track record of looking after the vulnerable in society.
 
I think the denial of problems and the veneer of normality that things like Social Media enable are part of the problem, because Person A, who is struggling 'normalises' their life to others then the problem is dismissed as non-existent, how many times have you heard that people can't really be in poverty because they have a mobile phone or a car for example, through my wife's work she comes across all sorts of things that I was totally oblivious of, suburban prostitution for example.

Whilst 10 years of austerity is a primary driver, I think the attitudal shift into an almost Stockholm Syndrome like mentality is relevant as is the way that 10 years of deprivation and neglect by central Government was turned into a blame shift towards the EU, opposition MP's and local authorities, Johnson campaign was based on the belief that the countries problems lay at the feet of the EU and removing that barrier would represent change, his promise of levelling up removed from many the memory of who had put them there in the first place and a split Labour Party pulling in every direction but towards Downing Street contributed to the situation we find ourselves in.

We blame others too easily, and all of us at times have fallen victim to con artists and misplaced faith in promises never meant to be kept, the problem of poverty is real and the more honesty that we have about it the better placed we are to be able to tackle it, debt creation was the policy of Thatcher, to create a Neo-feudalistic state, those with money have always had power extending credit facilities meant widening that circle of influence and control, we are now seeing a generation later the end game of that policy.
 
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It's not getting better anytime soon. Preventative and Early Help services have been stripped away meaning families are only getting input from services when they are in crisis point, by this time it is often too late. The whole system is broke and stretched beyond capacity. Read the most recent Ofsted report on Middlesbrough Children's Services, inadequate across the board. Children are being let down and left in environments you wouldn't want a rat living in.
 
I agree with a lot of the point made by American Mary but I feel anger with nearly all those in power. The Labour years (1997-2010) were difficult in the North East too, from what I view as a semi-outsider. Labour appeared to be Tory Lite. I can understand Scottish people when they retort "those in Westminster" been too isolated and detached and lumping most MPs together. A lot of MPs will say things like its awful and something must be done, but deep down they are not willing to push through major change and somehow the rich areas get richer and the poorer areas get poorer. I have a suspicion not enough of them are really interested in other areas of the country outside their own worlds.

To me a multi faceted approach is required, that raises opportunities, public and private investment, initial welfare support, education and training, change in taxes to benefit poorer regions and local government. To much seems to based on patronage on who you know especially in the public sector and its all very centralised in Westminster.
 
Redwurzel said:
I agree with a lot of the point made by American Mary but I feel anger with nearly all those in power. The Labour years (1997-2010) were difficult in the North East too, from what I view as a semi-outsider. Labour appeared to be Tory Lite. I can understand Scottish people when they retort "those in Westminster" been too isolated and detached and lumping most MPs together. A lot of MPs will say things like its awful and something must be done, but deep down they are not willing to push through major change and somehow the rich areas get richer and the poorer areas get poorer. I have a suspicion not enough of them are really interested in other areas of the country outside their own worlds.

To me a multi faceted approach is required, that raises opportunities, public and private investment, initial welfare support, education and training, change in taxes to benefit poorer regions and local government. To much seems to based on patronage on who you know especially in the public sector and its all very centralised in Westminster.
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The labour party 97-10 brought in the minimum wage, which the tories said would bankrupt the country, brought in working tax credits, invested heavily in education and the NHS after over a decade of tory neglect. They did more for those at the bottom than anybtory government.
Could they have done more ? Of course but domestically that period was one of the best for the country.
 
jam69 said:
The labour party 97-10 brought in the minimum wage, which the tories said would bankrupt the country, brought in working tax credits, invested heavily in education and the NHS after over a decade of tory neglect. They did more for those at the bottom than anybtory government.
Could they have done more ? Of course but domestically that period was one of the best for the country.
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They also increased pensions after almost two decades of below inflation rises.
 
Anton_Berg said:
The effect of politicians' preoccupation with Social Mobilty and climate change. All parties equally to blame.
Click to expand...
The country decided to change the way it operated in 1979, it was a Tory government leading the way.

Since then we've had 13 years of disappointing Labour leadership under Blair, basically a Tory wet.

We decided to move away from the post war idea of progress and development for all because those at the bottom were becoming confident, living without fear and more importantly less subservient.

It had to change and those who were being pulled out of the life of 40 years previous decided to ignore history and the behaviour of the priveleged.

The warnings of how society would develop were given at the time. It was dismissed as scare mongering. Now it's here.

The priveleged are taking the pish, poverty is on the rise, food banks have developed in one of the world's richest nation's yet the attack on society continues unabated.
 
Jam 69

I know where you are coming from, there were additional funds for state education and the NHS got some rises but some of it was built into long term debt ref PFI. I thought Tax credits only replaced family credits. I felt New Labour still continued the trend of the 1980s and earlier 1990s they just slowed it down - they didn't address how to cope with increasingly de-industrialisation that led to lower job opportunities - it was get some qualifications and move to London/SE for young people with ambition. The minimum wage introduced was good bit it was low £3.30/hour even lower for the under 25s. A lot of regional unemployment reduction was hidden by putting people on disability benefits which became a problem by 2009 when these benefits starting getting taken way. Parts of the UK had 30% of the working population on disability benefits. The City of London was allowed to do what he liked in the hope it would generate to taxes to pay for it all. Rather than properly address regional imbalances imported labour was used on a scale never seen before in recent years to plug skills shortages and worker shortages in areas of the country that were over heating or jobs were moved overseas in large numbers particularly in manufacturing and call centres. Regional inequalities seem to increase and there was no sign it was going to change. Of course it got even worse under the Tories who know many of the problems but are frigthened to address a good number because of vested interests e.g reducing legal tax avoidance and using the money to help fund poverty. Look how little carers allowance is. £4,000 a year (just checked it only £67.50 per week or £3,350 so sad), but someone earning £80,000 a year can claim around £16,000 a year back from the government in pension tax refunds. Labour ran this level of tax perk too. I fact they introduced a new one called Enterprise Investment Scheme.

American Mary makes an interesting point about the power of debt. I have seen how it can be a snake that slowly squeezes the life out of many people, with interest payments taking more ands more of a family's limited income. How the financial services companies like banks and credit card companies pay day loan companies pick off the endebted after they have encouraged them to spend spend spend, so these companies control the lives of the poor if they ever drop their guard. I love to see more empowerment by local working class communities with their own credit unions. Lessons at school in budgeting, eating better for less and for all people in local colleges etc. The Rochdale Pioneers helped working class communities with the start of the Co-op and it can happen again today, but Governments can play a part in encouraging local communities and individuals to fight back.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
The country decided to change the way it operated in 1979, it was a Tory government leading the way.

Since then we've had 13 years of disappointing Labour leadership under Blair, basically a Tory wet.

We decided to move away from the post war idea of progress and development for all because those at the bottom were becoming confident, living without fear and more importantly less subservient.

It had to change and those who were being pulled out of the life of 40 years previous decided to ignore history and the behaviour of the priveleged.

The warnings of how society would develop were given at the time. It was dismissed as scare mongering. Now it's here.

The priveleged are taking the pish, poverty is on the rise, food banks have developed in one of the world's richest nation's yet the attack on society continues unabated.
Click to expand...
Thatcher was the catalyst that began the demonisation of the working classes, the poor, the sick and the needy.
 
Agree its Thatchers legacy she pulled the rung from the most disadvantaged whilst making others richer. Now we have 2nd and 3rd generations who feel they are worthless and have little opportunities to escape poverty
 
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