Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Cuts and Politics

The Lib Dems have kicked off the debate among the political parties as the conference season gets under way. The Unions had a go last week. Unfortunately the argument is becoming narrow and polarised. First comes the question when?

When is now. A record level of government borrowing for August of £16 billion underscores the scale of the crisis. Of this a staggering £4 billion was paid interest on debt. That is £4 billion in one month, doubled in just one year and rising. Every month the accumulated debt grows bigger and the interest payments mount. There is no argument for delay, because of the rising cost. Cut and cut now.

The next is the argument that the poorest and most vulnerable will be hard hit. There is no need for that at all. There a huge swathes of public activity which do little if anything for the poor and the vulnerable. There are nearly 10,000 public servants earning more than the Prime Minister. They are neither poor, nor vulnerable and either they or their pay should be cut. 

There are quangos and regulators running ludicrous bureaucracies which can be slimmed down and which will work better. There is such a degree of over management in the NHS that they are now engaged on managing themselves and each other. There is a defence posture geared to offence which gets stuck in foreign wars which can be lost but not won. We can cut a good deal there. There is a Chief of Defence Staff being paid nearly a third of a million pounds per year. This is utterly obscene. There are well off people receiving benfits they cannot possibly need.

The argument should not be about when or how much. The argument should be about what. The poor and the vulnerable and the needy, to coin a buz phrase, should be ring fenced.

Gay Rights in the U.S.

The Senate is debating an amendment to the law to allow openly gay people to serve legally in U.S Forces. Passions are aroused on all sides. There is talk of filibusters so that the bill runs out of time and falls.

Once again this reveals the other side of the coin of the nation which has done so much to promote the cause of freedom and has shed so much blood to advance that cause. In its freedom lies the freedom to be prejudiced, backward and blinkered, yet also to be acceptable and respectable. Constantly throughout history America has managed to be both in the vanguard of enlightenment and yet at the same time behind the curve.

The last civilised country to end slavery, it is promoted as the nation which, in a tragic civil war abolished it for everybody. It fought the Nazis and the Japanese with all Black regiments, as its armed forces were segregated until the 1950’s. In a country with no established church it appears easy to set up your own and proclaim wicked prejudice as eternal truth.

In the race for the Senate in Delaware the Republican candidate, anointed by Sarah Palin, is discovered now to have dabbled in witchcraft alongside her quirky Christian fundamentalism. In Europe today, often derided by the U.S. Right as ‘old’ and out of date, these folk would stand no chance. Most of the time they would be outside the law. The law to protect every citizen from discrimination and to prevent incitement to prejudice and hatred against minorities on the grounds of sex, orientation, age, colour or religion.