Listening to the shower of humbuggery cascading from the tory benches this week at the Mandela eulogy, stretched credulity way beyond reasonable. The unprincipled and shameful support of apartheid, cheer-lead by Thatcher, Tebbit et al - was mysteriously forgotten. No surprise there - this bunch are adept at rewriting truth and would have amazed even Orwell with their terminology.
As events unfold with continued attacks on the poorest and most vulnerable in our society this government is turning out to be one of the nastiest and divisive in our history.
Not convinced? Compare and contrast.
Homeless numbers = up. Bankers responsible for financial chaos = untouched.
Food bank take up = up. Bankers arrested for fraud = none.
Children in poverty = up. Tax avoidance = increasing and encouraged.
Benefits supplementing income = widespread and essential. Labelled ‘scroungers’.
Millionaire cabinet introduce bedroom tax. No mansion tax for the wealthy.
NHS under siege. Private medicine = encouraged.
Over 1 million young unemployed. Rich offspring can take up unpaid internships.
Zero hours contracts = up. CEO’s paying themselves mega bucks = up.
Distrust of politics/politicians = up. Policies of all 3 main parties alike. Leaders ‘out of touch.’
Public sector = hammered. Private companies can do no wrong - despite doing
wrong. Again and again and again.
Mandela did not simply campaign for freedom. He was also indomitable on poverty and the causes of poverty. With his experience he had a deep sense of injustice. The cutting back on legal aid for the poorest whether in civil cases, employment tribunals or the criminal justice system is yet more evidence of squeezing the poor.
The more the suits spoke, the vaster the gulf appeared between them and Mandela.
In all this unfairness and division there is one over-riding fact which should be borne in mind at all times:
We are many - they are few.
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