A journalist from The Mail on Sunday apparently asked Liz Kendall about her weight.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/liz-kendall-brands-journalist-unbelievable-over-questions-about-her-weight-10399838.html
She told him to "fuck off."
I hope that's true. I want it to be. She goes up in my estimation massively if that is the case. The same journalist; also according to The Independent obviously has a bit of a thing about weight as he had not only asked George Osborne a similar question , but also compared Liz Kendall to Catherine Middleton. Does it make it a feminist issue?
This is tricky. We have to be careful nowadays. It's not ok to be a bulimic or an anorexic. We used to have them at school, but now those conditions are treated as part of the increasing range of mental health issues that we face every day in school and are expected to be included in our normal teaching duties. And at least that means that we seem to recognise some of the complicated nature of these conditions as being about control and not just unrealistic visions of beauty.
It's also not ok to be overweight. We have no respect for fat people. We seem to approve of fat children being taken into care to save them from their evil parents. Fat politicians are a bit of a joke. Look at the response to Eric Pickles. Look at Cyril Smith; not so funny now.
Liz Kendall doesn't have children. That doesn't bother me. I still believe I may have more in common with her than David Cameron. I don't care how heavy she is. None of my fucking business.
I have been depressed recently and need to get back to blogging or I may explode with rage. I am not clinically depressed - at least I don't think so, I was depressed about the Tory government and the Budget 2015 may have just finished me off.
This summarises pretty much everything I disagree with about ... well, not the Conservatives, not exactly anyway, I think it's Capitalism, or Thatcherism or something similar. I believe that this budget was all about keeping up in our place, making sure that the working class stay working class, that the non-working class stay non working as long as possible.
Not everyone thinks this, but I don't want think we need to be aspirational. Why should we have to aspire to be at the top? It is just not ok to be earning so much money that you can't spend it. When I bought my first house I saw a Jaguar for sale for the same price. No one needs a car that costs more than a house. That is a thing that doesn't need to exist. People need somewhere to live and they don't necessarily need to own it. I'm not saying that we shouldn't all want to be something, or to do something, but why do we need excessive financial recognition.
Back to my specific problems with the the budget and why I believe it is part of a government policy to generally oppress the working classes and keep the richest people exactly where they want to be. Firstly it's the duties on tobacco; according to the 2014 hscic statistics (http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB14988/smok-eng-2014-rep.pdf); although about 1 in 5 adults smoke, it's around 39% of unemployed people and between 1980 and 2013 household expenditure on tobacco has increased fourfold. I don't really think that there is a government conspiracy to increase the level of smoking in the unemployed to kill of the population, but I do think the rise in tobacco duties disproportionately affects the unemployed. Electronic cigarettes may be as saving in the long term, but the initial outlay is usually greater than a packet of fags. And clearly the government are not able to stop us smoking and are unprepared to take any kind of brave stance on drugs and tobacco, so that statistic is unlikely to change any time soon.
Oh yes, but petrol's frozen, so if you can afford a car then you've got it made. as long asyou have enough money to pay for your new or second hand car outright. For those of us who can only afford a small amount each month, and so may have been able to afford a new car on the hire purchase scheme, the reduction in tax for new cars is changing.
That may be superficial, but the attack on working class children is much greater than that. The government have abolished any grants for university, potentially this could just maker it harder for working class children to even consider going to university, or at least going away from home. If they live at home because it is cheaper for their parents then they are only experiencing half of the fun of university. University gives you the rehearsal for life. You learn to be a grown-up, to move away from home and see what it is like away from your small community. If only middle class children get that experience then only they will gain that confidence to move away from home and take on greater challenges. Anecdotally, I can think of lots of girls from school or girls I have taught who have ended up staying at home and marrying local boys who didn't go into any further education. Think of the teachers you know who taught someone's dad, whose children go to the same school, I'm falling into the same pattern myself, but at least I lived in a few cities first.
It's okay though, the government have thought of this. They are intending to set up lots of cadets training for kids, they are making sure that businesses are responsible for providing apprenticeships. I know I should be applauding these opportunities, but it doesn't sound to me like widening, broadening or improving opportunities for working people or non working people, it sounds like we are conspiring to ensure that the less able children in our society are being kept in their place - cannon fodder and manual labour. As a useful side-effect; if we have fewer well-qualified Brits then we can stop getting ideas above our station and be happy to sweep the streets and pick strawberries; all the things for which we currently have to import all those foreigners.
I am one of those who is guilty of having three children. I shouldn't expect any extra money for that. The government is operating a two-child policy to make sure that only rich people breed in excess. We used to get tax credits a few years ago. It was about £200 a month before we had our third. It didn't cover the £700 a month childcare costs, but it made a dent as I was part time, earning about £1000. I realise that means I was earning about £75 a week, but I couldn't think of any other way of getting £75 a week and being able to contribute to my pension. They changed the rules half way through the year and by the time we came to renew, we were no longer eligible. Not only that but we owed them £1200 for the overpayment that they were proposing to take in one go from our account. Good luck with that. This meant we were £200 down a month on our childcare and having to pay back £100 making us £300 a month worse off and although I eventually managed to increase my hours it didn't make it an easy year. I didn't know how to find £300 a month, I still don't, it has pretty much built up on the credit card ever since.
So the budget doesn't affect me much, but it doesn't stop me from feeling depressed about the erosion of opportunities for any change in society. I just see the people at the top barricading themselves in their ivory towers and shutting the rest of us out. I'm off to make a doctor's appointment, the holidays are coming and I should be able to get one before I go back to school. I need to do it now while there is still an NHS.
