What a shame the UN can’t end extreme hypocrisy

D'oh! David Cameron realises he has just described as problems all the conditions he is trying to create in the UK, after his speech to the United Nations. This photograph used because I couldn't find one of him sticking his own foot in his mouth.

D’oh! David Cameron realises he has just described – as problems – all the conditions he is trying to create in the UK, after his speech to the United Nations. This photograph used because I couldn’t find one of him sticking his own foot in his mouth.

The title refers to today’s comments by comedy Prime Minister David Cameron, who has stated that the United Nations needs a new set of international development goals to eradicate extreme poverty.

If he believes in this so fervently, why is he hell-bent on reinstating extreme poverty here, in his home country?

Before I go on, I should make it clear that I know poverty – as defined in the UK – is very much different from poverty in, for example, Africa. I know there are some in this country who would be very quick to get on their soapbox and warn that going without food indefinitely isn’t the same as going without a computer.

That’s all very well, but the fact is that changes made by the currently government will increase poverty massively, pushing hundreds of thousands of people below our extremely arbitrary poverty line. We will see increased malnutrition, and we will see a huge increase in diseases caused by lack of food, such as rickets (which is, itself, already on the rise).

People have already died – here in the UK – from the effects of changes wrought by Mr Cameron’s regime.

The BBC website’s report quotes Mr Cameron, who apparently said the UN must focus on ending factors that contribute to poverty, including “corruption [and] lack of justice”.

I bow to his knowledge and experience of corruption, because I believe he leads one of the most corrupt regimes the UK has had to endure in many a year.

Look at last week’s stories about the accounting firms that run the most tax avoidance schemes being allowed to write the law on tax avoidance (could this be because Mr Cameron and his part-time chancellor are well-versed in making money from such schemes? I think it could).

Look at the number of firms benefiting from Andrew Lansley’s changes to the National Health Service – how many Parliamentarians have a financial interest in those companies? (Hint: Many).

This is why I started the petition to ban MPs from speaking or voting on matters in which they have a financial interest* – and I think I touched a nerve there. It was the top-trending e-petition on the government’s website yesterday. From a standing start on Wednesday, it now totals more than 2,000 signatures, with more being added all the time.

As for lack of justice, let’s just remember this is the same David Cameron who is ending the right to Legal Aid for issues including debt, benefits, redundancy and landlord problems. If you’re poor and you end up with these problems, you won’t be able to rely on British justice.

He later added “conflict” and “lack of the rule of law” to his list. For conflict, let’s look at the riots of August 2011 – and hope that we don’t have similar scenes this year, after the effects of his buddy Iain Duncan Smith’s social security changes kick us all in the stomach.

As for the rule of law, I don’t think we’ve had that since the Coalition came into power and started writing laws that allowed its members and their friends to get their snouts in the trough at the expense of those of us who actually support the British economy.

How can cutting Corporation Tax by a quarter, or cutting the top rate of Income Tax by a tenth help our system? The people who benefit from that won’t be spending the extra money they’ll be keeping – they will bank it, most probably in the tax havens that part-time Chancellor Gideon Osborne has been busily creating while telling us he’s doing the exact opposite. This administration is exceptionally well-versed in doublespeak – saying one thing, meaning the opposite – but dismally slow at realising that we all understand exactly what’s really going on.

So: Corruption, conflict, lack of justice, lack of the rule of law. I do, in fact, agree that fighting these scourges on society – preferably by removing the regimes responsible – would greatly benefit the fight against poverty.

Perhaps the UN would like to start right here, in the UK?

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14 Comments

  1. Another Angry Voice February 2, 2013 at 5:19 pm - Reply

    Excellent article. Cameron is as hypocritical as he is obnoxious. He’s an outright liar too according to the UK Statistics Authority.

  2. Steven Logan February 2, 2013 at 5:54 pm - Reply

    ALL politicians, no matter their stripe, are liars, it goes with the territory.

    • Paul Jordan February 2, 2013 at 7:08 pm - Reply

      Almost all.

  3. colin February 2, 2013 at 6:11 pm - Reply

    very well stated im really bothered that this is happening and only a few people seem to take notice make s me wonder what they have to do before labour have a bit more than a grunt or have they all made a deal …is that why when cameron says we are all in this together he is talking to them not us why are people being quiet about it why arnt we rising up to take it off them …..i think they the polititions are taking the piss out of us and when we realise this the people will blow up and god help them when they do.saddam was killing his people and we the government hung him im diabetic and i need life giving drugs every day soon il have no money no home and no nhs with no rights to object so therefore me and my wife who is also diabetic will have to go somewhere and die well i want it to be known im not going to .we have already decided that we will have to commit a crime and go to prison ..we are both too ill to stand and fight….

  4. Workhouse February 2, 2013 at 6:30 pm - Reply

    I thought I would translate the above from – Ingsoc – to English…..

    Speaking to reporters this morning, Mr Cameron said: “The United Kingdom is a country that was absolutely devastated by Austerity, Corruption, Poverty, Corporate Greed and Rampant Cronyism.”

    “It is now recovering but there is still a desperate need to steal more money from the poorest in society.”

    “I think it is very important we keep a focus on eradicating the poorest in order to increase the wealth of the richest.”

    “Here in the UK, one in 10 children live in poverty.

    “But I also think it is important we focus on ways to keep them that way”

    “Conflict, corruption, lack of justice, these are our rules of law”

    “These things do not matter to us as its JUSTUS not JUSTICE, the poor cant afford JUSTICE”

  5. Workhouse February 2, 2013 at 6:32 pm - Reply

    When I said translate the above I was referring to Mr Camerons speech itself, sorry if I did not make that clear.

  6. colin February 2, 2013 at 8:48 pm - Reply

    maybe we should all ask the f*ckers to send /deport us all to Africa ….we might stand a chance of a better life there or even life itself……

  7. Angie February 3, 2013 at 6:33 am - Reply

    I don’t think they (government and the rich) understand that if they eradicating the poor the low paid who will make the money for these people to get richer, they may have to do something like work for a living.

  8. UFOHUNTERORGUK February 3, 2013 at 6:51 am - Reply

    Reblogged this on Ufohunterorguk.com.

  9. rainbowwarriorlizzie February 3, 2013 at 9:48 am - Reply
  10. Cookie Love McBride October 24, 2013 at 11:18 am - Reply

    Too true. What is going on in this country is nothing short of disgusting. We need a revolution. Enlightenment, love compassion and equality. Nothing short of that is acceptable. One love.

  11. peter stafford October 24, 2013 at 12:14 pm - Reply

    what is happening in the UK is the genocide of the working classes who are either. ..old,disabled,poor,ill,weak or vulnerable..the type of person needed during wars or the industrial revolution is now considered or is construed to be a burden on the state..

  12. dave October 25, 2013 at 8:03 pm - Reply

    It is a undeclared[?] civil war and the casualties are already piling up.

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