A #legup from ‘The Last Leg’ – is it all that it seems?
Guest Joanna Lumley, with The Last Leg’s co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker, agreeing that #LegUp is a good idea. But is it?
On the face of it, it seems like a very good idea.
On Channel 4’s The Last Leg yesterday evening, Adam Hills revealed a plan to counteract the severely detrimental effects of George Osborne’s budget, from the ground upwards.
He said the budget removed government help from those who need it most, and reasoned that – if the government won’t provide, then ordinary people should step in and fill the gap.
He proposed a Twitter hashtag, #LegUp, where people could request – or offer – a ‘leg up’ from others who can provide it – or to others who need it.
The idea went viral within minutes, and within hours it was a global trend.
And that’s really good… BUT:
Isn’t this doing what David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ tried to achieve, back in 2010?
#LegUp has people doing – for no reward – what public services used to provide at a cost of millions of pounds, before the Conservative Government took it away.
Isn’t it doing David Cameron’s dirty work for him?
This Writer doesn’t think that is the intention. Look at The Last Leg and you’ll see that this is absolutely not a Tory-glory show!
Perhaps #LegUp is just a place to start.
If the premise was taken further, and into specialised areas, it may be possible to use it to starve Tory-supporting businesses; if their services can be provided freely via #LegUp, there would be no need to pay for them.
Plus, of course, there would be no tax gain from the services provided – that’s one huge difference from Cameron’s ‘Big Society’, which was intended as a way of helping Tory-donor businesses profit from the shrinking of the state.
Eventually – if it doesn’t prove to be a flash-in-the-pan fad – #LegUp could become an economic system of its own, paying lip-service to the economy that has been taken over by the greedy, while taking away the liquidity it needs to survive.
That would put ordinary people in a much better position to bargain with Chancellors like the mendacious Osborne.
Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
If you have enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
I thought the same about the similarity to the so-called ‘Big Society’ idea, but know at least the #Legup was intended to be helpful rather than profitable. My main concern is the lack of security for anyone accepting or offering help from Twitter users they have no clue about. The cynical side of me sees how easy it would be for bad people to turn that to their advantage, with potential for tragic consequences. How will people feel about the #Legup after the first rape, murder or robbery occurs after a vulnerable person invites a total stranger into their home with the hope of being helped out? Awful notion, I know, but the possibility is certainly there, alongside all those well-meaning and totally trustworthy citizens who just want to do some good, where the current government can’t be bothered.
One of the foundation corner stones of “being conservative” is that the church and charity look after the poor, its embedded in “its” culture.
The more people do this, the more this government will take away.
It will not be long before we see the Mumbai slums in major parks in our country.
How proud this government must feel that they are doing the right thing in the name of “Conservatism”.
Cause and Effect, will certainly catch up with you Osborne, Cameron, and all the other government elite who think that they are above it all.
Government will not protect you for ever…………….neither will your money.
Conservative ? to conserve ..is to remain the same….! While, New ideas, forward thinking, is against all that a conservative believes. Or in the case of this particular Conservative Government the meaning in reality is to go backwards .. back to the Grand old Imperial Times of the Victorians and the Empire.
As to ‘ A leg Up ‘ far more thought needs to be used, there are dangers . However on the Bright Side … Cooperatives are hardly a new idea and perhaps can be traced right back to the Cradle of Democracy.
Sharing all the concerns outlined above, I think there is one very powerful political aspect to #legup. Those who are genuinely willing to help will see the messages of poverty, distress, and isolation, and need of the disabled and chronically ill, and it may well open many eyes to the effect of dismantling the social security net over the last / next 5 years.
With the rise of the internet there will inevitably be changes to the way that things are done. We are better capable of joining with those who have similar views and thoughts these days, we are better able to discuss ideas and organise change and gather into groups capable of making a better world. Those are things for which we used to need a central government. When dealing with changes that will arguably have a greater effect than the invention of the printing press or the combustion engine there will be difficult moments when it might feel like things are going the wrong way, this may be one of them, but difficult moments are just hurdles on the way to something better.
Not sure of the ins and outs as I did not see the show, but currently charities are going more the way of business’ and even bidding for the £billion contracts to supply cancer care for example, whilst some apparently are spending more on high paid administrators than they are using for the reason the money was donated. Is there any safeguard that this will not deteriorate to the same level of “private” provision?