'It Could Be You' - the
slogan used by the National Lottery to encourage us into gambling,
looking for a life-changing win that would see us financially secure
for the rest of our lives.
However, the same
slogan can apply at the other end of the financial scale. You may be
doing okay at the moment. You have a job, a regular income, a nice
home, a car. You're working, earning a living and looking after
yourself and your family.
That's great, long may
it continue. Today, though, work is becoming increasingly insecure.
Pay-levels and workplace conditions have been eroded under successive
Labour, Tory/Lib Dem and Tory Governments. Zero-hours contracts,
with no guarantee of work or pay, are now extremely common. The UK
is also one of the easiest places to sack workers, for any reason,
including if the boss simply doesn't like someone's face.
How long do you think
you'd be able to manage, financially, if the boss suddenly took a
dislike to you and decided to 'let you go'?
In a shocking report,
the much-respected housing charity, Shelter, has revealed that over
one-in-three workers could not pay their mortgage for more than a
month if they lost their jobs. Poor and poverty-level wages mean
people are living from week-to-week, often day-to-day, and cannot
afford to save.
A spokesperson for
Shelter described the situation: “The depth of the financial
pressure and insecurity felt by people across the country means that
millions are living on the edge of a crisis, only secure in their
homes for a matter of weeks.”
The charity's research
shows that families with children are at most risk of losing their
home.
In the insecure,
low-wage economy of 21st Century Britain, 'It Could Be
You'.
One of the main actions
of the UK Conservative Government has been to divide and conquer the
working class. The poor and unemployed are demonised as work-shy
spongers, living the high-life on supposedly-generous state benefits.
Hard-working 'strivers' are encouraged to look-down on the lazy
'skivers' next door. Tory MPs frequently trot out the line about the
decent and deserving person going out to work, while the apparently
indecent and undeserving unemployed person next door enjoys a cosy
lie-in.
The reality is that the
unemployed person is likely to have recently lost their job because
of savage austerity measures introduced by the Tory Government or as
a result of bosses seeking to maximise profits by laying-off workers.
The reality is also that the 'decent and deserving worker' could
easily join their neighbour on the dole without much, if any,
warning.
In 21st
Century Tory Britain, 'It Could Be You'.
Of course, were the
worst to happen and you lost your job, you would be different from
all those 'lazy skivers' already unemployed. Sorry to shatter that
illusion, but you would be no different. In the eyes of the Tory
Government in London – the government with just one MP in Scotland
– you would instantly become just another of the idle unemployed,
sponging off the state.
Don't expect different
treatment. The people you were willing to accept as 'lazy skivers'
were, in fact, previously in the exact same boat as you. They, too,
worked but lost their jobs. You are now a 'lazy skiver', and your
neighbours in employment will be told to look down on you.
Do you think you will
be 'special', that you will be given help to get you back into
employment? Think again. You will be bullied and pushed to accept
any minimum-wage job within ninety-minutes travel time of where you
live. That is any job you could do, not specifically one where your
academic qualifications would be of benefit; not one where your
experience and skills would generate for you a higher income; not one
that would provide you with a long-term career path – any
minimum-wage job. In fact, you could be 'sanctioned' if you don't
apply for any job you could do, including positions advertised on the
Government employment site that turn-out to be self-employed
positions offering no guaranteed hours or wages.
A 'sanction' is a
period of time – up to three years – where you would be denied
any financial support while you attempt to rebuild your life.
Sanctions actually mean instant destitution – no money to feed
yourself and your children, no money to pay rent or utilities bills.
Look how quickly you
went from doing okay in employment to being a social pariah. Look how
quickly you moved from a decent 'striver' to a shameful 'skiver'.
In 21st
Century Tory Britain, 'It Could Be You'.
Our enemies are not our
neighbours who find themselves without a job. Our enemy is the
uncaring Tory Government in London, which has created a situation
where more-and-more people are living a precarious existence, fearful
of losing their job and being plunged into desperate poverty.
The Conservative &
Unionist Party is called the 'nasty' party for a very good reason.
Its members are nasty people. They don't care about others; the
only thing that matters is the rich should get richer. The poor are
expendable.
Scotland has
democratically rejected the Tories at every election over the past
fifty-years, but for the majority of that time we have had Tory
Governments imposed on us by voters in England. Currently, the
Tories have one MP in Scotland, yet that party continues to force
onto us its policies of austerity, while spending billions-of-pounds
on nuclear missiles of mass destruction, which it intends to house in
Scotland, against the wishes of Scots.
All of this can only
happen while Scotland remains part of the British Union.
Remember, in 21st
Century Tory Britain 'It Could Be You', but it doesn't have to be
that way.
By retaking Scotland's
status as a normal, independent nation, we retake all of the powers
we need to radically transform our economy and society. We retake
the ability to build a progressive country where the interests of the
people come before the profits of multi-national corporations. We
can restore hope and opportunity to everyone in Scotland.
As an independent
country, free from malign Tory rule, Scotland can also be a beacon to
rally our working-class neighbours in England. They, too, can
overthrow the Tory/Labour/Lib Dem elite that governs in the interests
of the rich.
Don't let it be you.
Fight back, take control; build a better country, a better life for
you and your family.
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