Who are we paying for?
Published 25 Aug 2011 09:30
Well woop de do! Scotland is doing better in the old unemployment figures than the rest of the UK.
Only by around 1,000 mind you, but still it kind of lulls you into a false sense of security, doesn't it?
Not if you are one of the 24,000 that have lost their jobs mind you.
If you are a woman, however, there is a higher chance that it was you that lost your job.
Research has shown that women's unemployment is at its highest in 23 years and as women make up two thirds of public sector workers this is no doubt going to increase.
Not only that, but the people securing jobs are far more likely to be male.
Not that you would deny anyone a job, it is just how they use statistics to cover up their mess that frustrates me.
When I was looking up the figures for this article it struck me how every year the media cries out about increases in unemployment. 'Jobless rise highest for 17 years' in 2008.
'Unemployment hits highest since 1995' was the headline in 2009.
Not that I am belittling the current situation it just makes me wonder what it is we actually want to do about it?
So the recession, by some miracle, reduces in three years, what then?
Will we go back to the glory days of 1999 when only 1,204,000 were unemployed?
If the riots of the past few weeks have told us anything it is that when you treat communities like factory fodder and use people until they are no longer needed, they get kind of annoyed.
Not that there is any excuse for the burning of families out of their homes.
It is always the sad result of the abuse of communities that they often turn in on themselves first.
What happens next, however, is anyone's guess.
The ConDem and their cronies' approach of jailing a mother-of-two for five months for receiving a stolen hat does not instil confidence that this is the last we will see of riots.
How we move away from the focus on profit to a focus on people is hard to see, but what is clear is that communities need leadership.
We don't seem to be able to rely on elected politicians or council officers to help us through this nightmare.
While West Dunbartonshire Council continues to consider handing over housing stock to Clydebank Housing Association, at least one of their tenants is threatening a rent strike due to inadequate storage heating. In 2011 surely the least someone can expect is to be able to switch on their heating in Scotland?
Or maybe I'm asking for too much?
Should we expect to be treated with respect, compassion and humanity or are we on this planet to pay for David Cameron's £1m house, the banker Fred Goodwin's £342,000 pension and to allow Sir Phillip Green, who owns practically every high street shop on the planet, to avoid paying any tax?
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Opinion archives.
