Conservatives in Scotland and Poverty in the UK

The Conservatives in Scotland have been very quiet about UN Special Rapporteur Professor Philip Alston’s findings on poverty in the UK – 1.5 million people are destitute due to the UK Government’s ideological choice to inflict austerity on the most vulnerable – a Government which is run by their party.

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  1. Dougie Blackwood says:

    Sorry folks. There is no doubt that this is an accurate portrayal of the position within the UK. The rich get tax cuts the poor get their benefit cut.

    The problem is that it is not reported; when was it highlighted near the top of the news on the BBC, what papers reported it other than the National and maybe the Guardian? It is rapidly becoming yesterday’s chip wrapper.

    1. Josef Ó Luain says:

      “Meat-and-drink” for the SNP, or so you would imagine.

    2. Torry Joe says:

      Got it all in one Dougie, very succinctly put. Thanks.

  2. Jenny Tizard says:

    The report is absolutely damning of the British government, and makes some challenging comments about what’s happening in Scotland.
    Read it. It’s very well written:
    http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Poverty/EOM_GB_16Nov2018.pdf

  3. Joe Gibson says:

    The mouse has roared !!!!!!.

  4. Glen Garry says:

    As winter sets in, the message from our English rulers is simple – those of us without a home and living in the streets just need to huddle up and keep cozy; …better together.

  5. SleepingDog says:

    It’s possible that mass poverty is ideologically desirable by many people. People who believe in a Just World, often from a religious mindset, can believe that their own relative affluence is because they are “good”, and that those suffering poverty are deserving of it. Or people who are strong believers of authorized hierarchies (like lawful evil followers) need a mass of other people at the bottom to feel superior to. Even some people whose poverty coincides with a personal sense of guilt or learnt helplessness may be accepting of their condition.

    Of course, even almost all the poor in our country benefit from the labour and shocking living conditions of even poorer people around the globe. And exploitation of the living planet.

    Yet people who occupy the smallest ecological footprint, who mend and repair and make do, who share and reuse, are nothing like the problem that lavish, wasteful, greedy rich are. Once the trickle of super-rich bolting for their island paradises (or grouse moor fortresses, or volcanic bases) becomes more noticeable, expect a sharp change in public admiration for excessive personal luxury.

    1. JGedd says:

      I remember coming across comments by an adviser and Tory guru to Conservative supporters many years ago. He advised that what happens when people vote is often misunderstood or misrepresented. Voters will present themselves as voting for the general good of the country but it was his contention that that was not the reality. In fact, he said that people will primarily vote for their own interest and will persuade themselves that it does, of course, vaguely coincide with what is good for the country. However, he went further and suggested that in the situation in which there was no option to advance their own position, then they would vote to disadvantage others. Some might say, a typical Tory attitude.

      I have encountered that motivation over and over and over again with ordinary people talking politics, sometimes expressed openly or more guardedly, which is basically, that one way of preserving your own position in society is to keep others in their place, preferrably beneath you. Remember how happy New Labour were to utilise that disgusting and demeaning term, the “underclass” ? With the society we have at present which is fragmented and lacking the basis for traditional solidarity, many people have adopted this ” beggar my neighbour” attitude out of self-preservation. To be truthful, that has always been part of human nature but so has the capacity for empathy. The downgrading of empathy in our society has enabled the selfish “greed is good” attitude to dominate to the detriment of that society. The wealthy manipulators will, however, be very pleased with the success of their project for the new society, culminating in the Brexit vote. For others like myself, it is disturbing how retrograde in attitudes British society has become.

  6. Audrey Buchan says:

    Can’t wait for this pathetic useless, “uk” to be dissolved, scotland, ireland will be independent, england will be bankrupt !

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