Sometimes I suspect that not a syllable escapes the lips of Rachel Reeves unless it somehow encapsulates the pitch for the latest Channel Four eat the poor documentary while simultaneously disgusting a sizeable chunk of Labour activists. Most recently, her declamation that Labour is not the party of the welfare state and doesn’t represent those out of work – or in work and on benefits, for that matter – has horrified many socialists.
Worse than that, it has horrified many people who fall into those categories and are still considering how to vote on 7 May. Moreover, Ms Reeves has got previous as long as your arm. In her very first interview on her appointment as work and pensions spokeswoman, back in 2013, she promised to be tougher than the Tories on cutting the welfare bill. Vote Labour, get IDS, only that bit nastier. Continue reading
There are 1.09 million people between the ages of 16 to 24 who are neither earning nor learning. They can’t find jobs, but are unwilling to retrain. There are some who have, since leaving school, actively refused to improve themselves through the dignifying act of work and plan to live, forever, on jobseekers’ allowance. This is a terrible, expensive state of affairs. But there is no need to worry, because as was made clear at The Conservative party conference, the Tories are planning to swoop in and give them what for.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, as the Kevin Spacey character argues in The Usual Suspects, is convincing the world that he doesn’t exist.