Post by nickd on Jan 17, 2012 21:37:27 GMT 1
The perils of taking the wrong course
Whilst ignoring the hidden dangers which lurk beneath the surface
Few of would fail to be struck by the tragedy of the luxury liner Costa Concordia which overturned in close proximity to land
off the Tuscan island of Giglio on Friday night. It's being suggested the huge ship was perilously close to land and hit a reef hidden beneath the sea's surface. Thousands had a lucky escape, the fittest were able to swim to shore, many had to wait in chaos before clambering into the limited lifeboats available; sadly - others remained trapped and perished, it's thought further fatalities have yet to be recovered.
You may think it strange to make an analogy between the Costa Concordia disaster and government's welfare and legal aid reforms; - I would disagree. There are some striking similarities. (1) It seems highly probable that the vessel was on the wrong course (2) The vessel sustained fatal damage as a result of hitting something which the crew could not see. And (3) It has been suggested the ship was being steered near to the island in order to attract the crowds.
On all three counts I would argue there are distinct comparisons which can be made. Let me explain why...
Off - Course?
Captain Cameron and his coalition crew are sailing perilously close to the biggest social welfare disaster we will have seen in decades. It seems all those voting these dangerous reforms through parliament do so with complete disregard for the consequences of their actions. They are ignoring the impact these reforms will have upon thousands of people who need protecting from the state. Government has well and truly hoodwinked a gullible public into thinking they know all the answers to welfare and legal aid reform. It's no mere coincidence that government deliberately and wilfully engineered both sets of reforms to go through Westminster simultaneously so as to give poorly resourced campaigners little opportunity of taking government to task. Fighting one battle against a government which simply won't listen is difficult enough; - fighting two with limited armoury is nigh on impossible.
Social welfare campaigners know how dangerous bad reform is. Those who fight the state on behalf of thousands of disadvantaged individuals know only too well what the real problems are. Without social welfare benefit legal aid, advocates who stand against injustice will see their clients denied an effective mechanism for challenging bad decisions. If both sets of reform become law we get ourselves one step nearer to being unable to hold the state to account; - it's recklessly irresponsible.
Government mapped out its course long before its consultations on these reforms took place. In welfare reform, government set out from the outset to play dirty by demonising the disabled so as to promote a distorted perception that up to 75% on the sick are faking it; - there's far too much ignorance surrounding the true facts, so people just end up believing what they want to believe - callously government has fuelled the media with false stories which shock the majority into hating those reliant on state support. If you ask me it was all part of a government led deception aimed at promoting its wretched flagship 'WORK' programme; - it's a shame it won't do what the name implies. Like the Costa Concordia, what once looked mighty and impressive can all too easily end up a floundering mess with tragedy deep within its hold. Government plotted the course with privatisation in mind; - if anything would have Beveridge turning in his grave it's the idea of paying billions of pounds of public money to welfare to work contractors who con the tax payer out of far more money than benefit fraudsters ever will. The WORK programme will be falsified by contractors faking results to get their government payment by results, we've seen it all before under flexible new deal. Only today we hear unemployment has rocketed to a 17 year high at 2.6 million. The WORK programme will see at least another million claimants miraculously cleansed of disability as it relentlessly tasks the DWP with telling people they are fit for work after years of being out in the welfare wilderness. By default, our claimant count for the unemployed will rise even further; - government will blame it on Labour and Labour will probably accept the blame. No one actually seems to care where it leaves the genuinely disabled because successive governments have become very adept at manipulating the claimant count to tell the public what it is they think they want to hear.
And so it is with the legal aid reforms. Just as they did with welfare, Government decided from the very outset to protect the legally privileged elitite; - amongst them Cameron's brother who earned over £1 million pounds out of what we are told is a very limited legal aid purse. Government was never going to be brave enough to take on an army of eminent and influential silks who would have been more than a match in advocating their own cause; - they would have belittled the Ministry of Justice by drawing attention to the number of politically connected defendants who've cost us all millions of pounds in high cost fraud cases. The Ministry of Justice has secretly boasted the UK's legal professional in its generation of a staggering £23 billion pounds worth of income or 1.9% of our gross domestic product
Not only has government boasted over the promotion of UK's law services, it has positively assisted it by pumping in public money to help city corporate lawyers earn even more cash. Ken Clarke the justice minister kept quiet the opening of the Rolls Building in London last month, despite the Queen opening the very impressive new higher judiciary law courts in Fetter Lane; - the launch attracted very little publicity. It was due to be tweeted out under the hash tag #Rollsbuilding but once Ilegal and Mylegal followed it all when very quiet. The Rolls Building was sold to Legal & General for a shade over £300 million last September; - government is being somewhat secretive over it all, I wonder why.
The legal big guns have an association with one of the wealthiest ministers in the justice team - Jonathon Djanogly, who used to work with one of the big international law firms SJ Berwin. As a lucrative earner as a corporate lawyer you have to wonder why on earth Djanogly turned to politics. In plotting the legal aid way ahead you can be damn sure the corporates have had their say over which which way legal aid reform should be headed. Let's not underestimate the close association city corporate law firms have with government. When anyone does a deal you need a lawyer; - this is a government which can provide corporate law firms with rich pickings. Think about all those public procurement contracts, banking mergers, regeneration projects, the Olympics, privatised prisons & hospitals, welfare to work, energy contracts, contracts associated with infrastructure investment related projects like HS2 and let's not forget government itself when they too are embroiled in legal action. But government isn't stopping in the UK, it's spreading its legal wings and making sure we become a worldwide centre for legal wrangling all around the globe. It's a good way of getting a foot in the door when it comes to trading abroad, if laws are made in the UK you can be guaranteed government will be eavesdropping and be ready to muscle in when the time is right.
George Osborne set each government department a growth expectation in his comprehensive spending reviews. It's resulted in ministers being absolutely obsessed with reporting something positive back to Osborne. Let's face it Osborne needs growth more than thousands of genuine claimants need their benefits; - well that's how they'll see it. Growth generation has become the overriding priority. Thus we have a justice department which cares not one iota about justice and similarly we'll have others ministers who care very little about social security. For health you can see how the accent will all be on wealth.
Ironically, as the Costa Concordia remains languishing on the rocks with the dead yet to be recovered; - I wonder how long it is before corporate lawyers act as ambulance chasers in attracting insurers to settle salvage deals, settlements and pollution compensation claims; - these are all the kind of deals Clarke and his justice crew wants to bring to the Rolls Centre.
More to come...