A few days ago, I was chatting with a man who has Huntingdon’s Disease. It’s the most terrible condition imaginable, an inherited genetic condition that causes brain cells to break down and die. It’s going to shorten his life considerably and in all likelihood as the disease progresses and takes hold, the latter stages of his life will be unbearably difficult and distressing. To make matters worse, this man was in food poverty, struggling to exist on a pittance by way of state benefits. Imagine living with a terminal condition that you know is going to overwhelm you in the years ahead and not being able to afford to eat? It’s criminal. Yet some people still think the benefits system is far too generous and should be pared back dramatically.
People like Kemi Badenoch and the far right leaning Conservative Party and, inevitably, the nicotine-stained man frog and all round fascist Nigel Farage, who owns a company called Reform UK Party Ltd that masquerades as a political party, feel that way, too, as do a number of business people. The latest one being Sir Big Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire businessman and part owner of Manchester United.
Ratcliffe says he has “lost confidence” in Britain, describing the country as “on the slide”. Moaning how filthy rich toe rags, like him, were being driven out of the country, he blamed the benefits bill as being something that country had to deal with. Well, thanks, Sir Big Jim. As a billionaire tax exile – Big Jim lives in Monaco – worth £15 billion, who doesn’t pay a penny of tax in this country, it’s interesting to hear him rail against people he plainly considers to be the deserving poor. But perhaps he is onto something. Maybe the fault really does lie with the shirkers and not the workers?
I imagine Big Jim would like people without legs to stand on their own two missing feet. Those suffering from terminal cancer should have their benefits stopped and stop leaching off the country. Just cancel that chemotherapy and get back to work. Their sense of entitlement is mind-blowing. And as for those with serious disabilities, just look: there are countless jobs out there they could do if only they could ditch their wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Let us be completely clear about this. When politicians and business people want to cut benefits, these are the people they are saying are getting too much money off the state.
Tory shadow minister and complete halfwit Helen Whateley said, completely unchallenged, on the BBC: “Conservatives would end free cars for tennis elbow, acne and ADHD.” What can you say about that? People with tennis elbow, acne and ADHD GETTING FREE CARS FROM THE TAXPAYER! It’s a disgrace, an absolute joke. Oh, and it’s also a complete lie. Whateley either knows this really and is shit-stirring or she is an idiot. I rather think she is both. However, these are not “free cars”. The money comes from part of a claimant’s benefits. I’ll accept that there is an argument, which even as a soggy, bleeding heart liberal I can accept, that the Motability Scheme does need to be reviewed. It has the biggest fleet of vehicles in Europe and the second biggest in the world after the Chinese Army and all the best cars, luxury, high-end models, along our road are Motability vehicles which most folk could never afford. But let’s not pretend the sick and disabled have it easy. They don’t. Yes, the government should do more to help many sick and disabled people into work because work is generally A Good Thing but it is dangerous and cruel nonsense to suggest that there is a large, or even small, army of skivers taking the piss out of the benefit system.
I see every week at first hand at our food bank the levels of poverty among the sick and disabled. I saw it for most of my working life whilst employed by the Department for Work and Pensions and when working for various charities. You would not believe the conditions under which many people live. Making them even poorer would not be a constructive solution for them or society in general.
Perhaps, if the likes of Big Jim Ratcliffe paid their fair share of tax – in his case any tax at all – then everyone’s life might be better, even his, maybe, feeling as if he actually contributed to making people’s lives better or maybe just less unbearable.
The poor, the sick, the disabled are not responsible for the problems they are going through. That’s down to all of us, but mainly down to successive governments, especially the Tory one from 2010 to 2024, which hollowed out the state and pulled millions into poverty. Food banks were barely a thing until the vicious austerity-heavy Conservative government under David Cameron, in which the Liberal Democrats including ‘Sir’ Ed Davey were “proud” to serve, fucked the country over. Never forget that when Davey bangs on about the state of the nation: it’s his fault for being there at the start and tamely nodding it all through.
Big Jim speaks for the super rich, nobody else. I doubt that he volunteers at the local food bank or donates a penny to good causes. He could do that through his taxes if he really cared. But he just wants to get even richer. When it comes to sport, as he is proving yet again at Manchester United, everything Big Jim touches turns to shit. He wants to do his bit to turn the rest of Britain to shit, too. But let’s not fall for it. Performative cruelty, as expressed by the populist right, should be rejected. And, as an economic migrant to another country, Big Jim should also be ignored.
