THE MIDDLE CLASSES : ENDANGERED SPECIES ?

In an interview to be published in this weeks Tribune the Prime Minister states that the Tories, if elected, would ' betray the Middle Classes.' The message being given is therefore that it is the Labour Party, if elected, that will defend the Middle Classes. Aside from the issue that the Labour Party now and ever since its re-election in 1997 has clearly put the interests of the Middle Classes as central to its policies rather than its traditional constituency of the conviniently ignored working class,
I was not aware that the Middle Classes were under any great threat.
Are the Middle Class an endangered species ? While certainly the recession is effecting all surely those that are most keenly feeling its icy grip are the working class, if, indeed they are still in work. With Corus closing down today one is seeing free market callousness still very much alive and the destruction of thousands of jobs where people do actually make things, rather than those precious so-called middle class occupations where people manage things. This chimes with my earlier post about 'You and Yours' that having to get by on slightly less and perhaps rethink that third holiday in some far flung unspoilt paradise ( before it is spoilt by large numbers of visitors )and maybe buy just virgin olive oil rather than extra virgin olive oil, is not being seriously disadvantaged, neither is it being 'betrayed' and it does not make the blessed middle class an endangered species.
What it does betray is the ideals of the founders of the Labour Party, who foresaw increasing inequality and wanted to put in place checks and balances through well considered socialy driven legislation and organisation, which are aimed not at maintaining the status financial or otherwise of any one defined interest group but that broadens wealth and well being as widely as possible. And if an idea is good, its good, ideas do not have sell-by dates, before inevitable cries of 'idealisim'.
I suggest that the middle class are a tenacious species that under the guise of mild manners will do everything that is necessary to maintain their position. Why the leader of the Labour Party and, naturaly of the Tory Party, should be squabbling over who can 'protect' them best is pretty damn ridiculous.

SMUG CITY : 'YOU AND YOURS'

The output of a mid-morning radio programme may not be the most important thing in the world but it realy is deeply irritating and an example of the ingrained editorial attitudes at BBC radio. Undoubtedly called one of their 'flagship' programmes, 'You and Yours' (the very title makes me uncomfortable), consistently runs content that is aimed so squarely and smugly at, well, the square and the smug that it is almost provocatively banal. Endless probes into how to save that extra pound on your car insurance, to get a refund when your holiday in Barbados was not quite as inch perfect is you expect it to be. It caters, by and large, for a section of the population who are already in a relative position of comfort and security and seeks to assist them in making themselves even more comfortable and secure. It is unbelivabley smug and self-righteous, never for a moment considering that plenty of folk, myself for one, dont have any insurance, never owned a car, never go on holiday to Barbados and find the travails of those who do and the seriousness with which their complaints and whinges, nearly always to do with money, which underpins the whole exercise, completely uninteresting and facile.
Today, for example, no doubt in the interest of some beserk idea of fair handedness, there was a whole piece on how business class travel is actualy not that great and can have its drawbacks, no doubt in response to the inane comments by Nicolas Winterton MP, who, incidently has been both a dolt and yet in that job for donkeys years.
The problems associated with those poor souls who have travel business class all the time are quite simply irrelevent and a waste of airtime. You can find someone to complain about anything, and the higher the price and the more they are ment be given special treatment the more likely they will complain. On this subject one train operator has got it right by abolishing 1st and 2nd class, adjusting the fares and giving everyone a decent traveling experience while filling the trains.
This is just one example, but 90% of the programme consists of features aimed so obviously at the same decile that the major political parties aim at : the reasonably well-off middle class who actualy need the advice and support being offered far less than many, many others. Why is'nt there a programme aimed at the millions of unemployed people struggling to survive on starvation level benfits ? They are more likely both be at home listening and could do with some moral support and practical help.
I recently got a letter from the DWP regarding my JSA. It is going up in April. By how much ? By £2.60 a week.
Do a feature about that, you and your smug bastards, how was that worked out ? What difference is £2.60 a week going to make? A return ticket from where I live in Zone 2 to Waterloo recently went up from £3.50 to £4.80. And that is not travelling business class. That is lucky to get a seat class.

WAR PR

Listening to the spokesperson, it was a man, in fact, for the British Forces in Afganistan after a rocket that 'went astray' killed 20 people.
This was said : 'Tragically, in warfare you cannot guarantee that there will be no loss of life.'
This PR-speak just defeats me. Warfare is about violence and loss of life, trying give the impression that it can be conducted without loss of life is absurd.
Who is this sort of statement aimed at ? Granted there is no total control over war reporting as has been the case in the past, but this sort of 'proffessional' PR approach is facile and pointless.
Again, it reminds me of business gobbledegook.