The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

No More Mr Nice Bloke

Well, that's a relief. Apparently the recent electoral successes have persuaded Daveybloke's Cuddly Conservatives that it's safe to drop the mask a bit. Given that it looks exceptionally bad for New New Labour, and given the extreme unlikelihood of the Glorious Successor or any of his right-wing ragbag of crooks, PR men and thugs having sufficient courage or imagination to change for the better, Daveybloke seems to have decided that he can afford to put a stop to at least some of that silly pseudo-liberal posturing and get back down to good old comfortable Conservative nastiness.

Daveybloke's spokesbeing for abolishing welfare, Chris Graybeing, is going to announce "boot camps" to kick unemployed young people into shape. He "plans to ask private sector companies and voluntary organisations to run the intensive training centres - with the £5,000 it costs to support a single person on the dole being offered to the company or voluntary group once the person has been in work for one year". In other words, the money that used to go towards helping the unemployed will now go to private contractors. Obviously, this will save the taxpayer a good deal. Graybeing also plans "a big move to privatise provision to help the unemployed", thus pumping taxpayers' money into private companies in return for public benefits along the lines of those already provided by the likes of Railtrack and the Private Finance Initiative.

Those who are unable to find work within three months "will be referred automatically to a specialist employment provider, where they will be expected to take part in an intensive programme of work-related activity" or, in Oldspeak, unpaid labour. There will also be "much tougher policies than Labour to get single parents and the disabled back to work". It might be amusing to hear how Daveybloke's fiscally-cuddly Conservatives plan to fund the necessary day-care and workplace adaptations; but no doubt Gordon or one of his crooks, PR men and thugs will find a way once they've announced Graybeing's measures in the next Queen's Speech.

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