Fear is the key

[David Johnson]

In the down time between watching Christine Ohuruogu and Usain Bolt, I came across this little snippet



in which the UK has had the 4th biggest drop in salaries in real terms of the 27th EU nations since the Tories got in.

The question that came to mind is why does the British people put up with this? Given millions have had no wage increases since 2008, that represents a huge drop once you include the effect of inflation.

The answer, it seems to me, is that in terms of domestic policy the Tories and their hapless Lib Dems colleagues have been the most successful government in living memory in spreading fear in the population.

What are the main ways they have done this.

1. Set workers against old age pensioners; private against public sector workers; employed against unemployed. Divide and rule is very important.

2. Spent a year trying to terrify the British population with stories that we are on the brink of disaster (6th/7th biggest economy in the world) and are just like Greece.

3. Sacked hundreds of thousands of public sector workers as part of a plan first outlined by Oliver Letwin to create "fear and discipline" in the public sector.

4. Cut welfare benefits to create terror for those who feel their current jobs are insecure. How are we going to cope if we lose our jobs?

5. Allowed the huge increase in zero hours contracts, now affecting over 1 million workers. If you want to see what this results in, do no more than watch Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront.

6. Ensure you have and retain the backing of 80% of the British press even if you have to stab the parents of Millie Dowler in the back to keep it.

7. Blame everything on the Labour Party and/or the EU.

8. Don't regulate the rental market but instead put caps on housing benefit for workers and the unemployed. This helps to increase the fear at losing your job. You will also lose your home.

9. Don't build social housing in any numbers. See point 8.

10. Allow moneylenders to charge 5000%+ interest to those taking their loans. Nothing like debt to increase desperation for any kind of job irrespective of the low wage rates offered.

11. Stimulate a housing boom by providing cheap, partial government guaranteed loans to hapless renters desperate to buy homes even if they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them. Then when the loans end and the house values drop, people are locked into their current jobs whatever the conditions are, in order to keep a roof over their heads.

An absolutely brilliantly executed strategy.

Do you think the British electorate will cotton on in sufficient numbers to get rid of this shower of shit in 2015?

[Arginald Valleywater]

Tell me about it! Full time job for nigh on 10 years, decent salary but in reality 3 years of below inflation (1 year got fuck all) rises and our bosses continually warn of job cuts to ramp up the fear.

However paying for some stupid war started by 2 neo fascists sorry George and his willy warmer Toenee, letting the banks go unfettered and opening the doors to hundreds of thousands of TB infested eastern europeans has fatally wounded our economy. With Labour at war with itself....come on Down Mrs Cooper...we now have 3 parties all interested in self promotion and not sorting the country....as for the EU and foreign aid.....

[David Johnson]

Okay we'll put a tick against Nigel Farage on your behalf.

That well known supporter of working people's rights.

[Gentleman]

The problem is that the majority of the electorate are morons and will swallow what Dave says and does.

Those who realise that when someone's pissing in your mouth and is telling you it tastes like champagne is actually lying where else could they vote?

Lib dems have been the quislings (all for that taste of power) that have enabled the Tories to totally hang out everyone who isn't in their inner circle so their no good as a protest vote.

The Labour Party? Well the problem is their just exactly the same as the Tories (admittedly to the left of) and we then Comeack to the stupidity of electorate which means that nothing useful such as living wage etc.. Can't even be proposed as the sheeple only can repeat the BS line that labour drove the world economy into collapse and so will end up doing Tory polices.

Howabout UKIP? Who are more right wing in their domestic polices than the Tories..of course the morons who vote for them just hear the out of Europe message.

Up until tony Blair came to lead the Labour Party I was a laboursupporter although due to our voting system (remeber the chance to chane the voting we had but the eectortae to stupid to understand why we needed to cange it) had to vote tactically which meant lib dem but no chance would I do that now.

Personally I would have preferred to have voted BNP than lib dem as a far better protest vote and scary as it sounds probably the most brutally honest of the parties without any of the big business/donor vested interests.

Ironically their politicians are doing what they doing for a genuine believe (no matter how misguided they may seem) in trying make the county better place (their view) rather than just a career move to gain more wealth through politics, after all think of the grief/misery their candidates receive for no obvious reward.

In there's no true democracy in this country only the same direction with either a fast or slower option.

In a slighter more optimistic vein maybe things could change slightly if people had to vote and/or proportional representation actually got put into place.

[number 6]

Excellent opening thread and post David,you nailed it completely. The sad thing is the tories have the bbc fully signed up to their agenda.

[David Johnson]

Agree with that, apart from the bit about the BNP and proportional representation. Any voting system that helps Cleggie and the Lib Dems is not a system that strikes me as being a wonderful improvement on what we already have.

[Gentleman]

Granted regarding lib dem but theoretically at least it would mean that everyone's vote would count rather than just needing to please the swing constituencies.

It could also encourage people to vote for other parties knowing that your vote means something, imagine how te green part would do.

[Gentleman]

Dont forget the changes to employment tribunals to complete the package

[David Johnson]

Would it mean that your vote really means something?

What proportional representation would likely do is to give us more coalition governments in which the majority party in this case the Tories, force through policies which are the complete opposite of what voters who supported the Lib Dems thought they were voting for.

All we have had for the last 3 years is a coalition "good cop, bad cop" routine as described by the Lib Dems. Well excuse me, but you bastard Lib Dem MPs voted the policies through!

[cockneygeezer2009]

What a pessimistic bunch you all are. Wave a magic wand and it'll be all right then. Running the country is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Why do you think our politicians hardly ever get it right.
Stop carping, get into politics and you'll really see how hard it is to change things.
Politicians in government are there to run the country. Not to make your life easy and happy.