2020 Honours List

After an extended self imposed social media blackout over Christmas and New Year's, I awoke this morning to the same news as everyone else. That the architect of the dreaded Universal Credit and former head of the DWP Iain Duncan Smith is being knighted in this year's Honours list and as a claimant, I had to weigh in. 

This is a man who howled with laughter in the House of Commons during the bedroom tax debate, where support for the most vulnerable was cut. 

The same man who insisted he could live on £53 per week, the then weekly amount for Job Seekers Allowance, replaced by Universal Credit under Duncan Smith. Shortly after he claimed £39 on his MP expenses for one breakfast. 

He's most well known for creating Universal Credit. Six benefits rolled into one and the idea was to "update an outdated system". In reality it has left 1.9 million people worse off. 

At the time of writing this (December 2019) claimants are currently entitled to £79 a week, this is after a four year benefit freeze. 

As a claimant I am left with around £150 a month to pay bills, buy food, gas, electricity and travel. Spending £39 on a single meal is way beyond my means. That's some disparity. 

To put it in better perspective;

2015

MPs salary: £67k

UC: £4,108

2019

MPs salary: £79k

UC: £4,108

On top of their generous salary, MPs get access to a taxpayer fully subsidised bar and restaurant. Plus expenses, which I won't go into as I could write entire blog post about MP expenses alone. 

 

Going back to the New Year's Honours list, past recipients have included Jimmy Saville and Cyril Smith. I think that's a fair reflection on how institutionally messed up the whole thing is. 

That's without mentioning what the British Empire represents; colonialism, monarchism, exploitation, slaughter of indigenous people, racism. Slavery - the British Navy helped transport slaves to the US and John Gladstone - William Gladstone's father, was a slave owner. 

There are of course people reject honours as a stand to what the British Empire stands for. Including Ken Loach, David Bowie, Michael Faraday and Alan Rickman.

As a working class Northerner who's never voted Tory, I can't fathom why the architect of such endless and needless suffering is being 'rewarded'. I mean I know why, I understand how politics works, MPs get knighted or even a peerage, for their time in government but it isn't right when people are dying and suffering needlessly. 

There is one silver lining to this shit show; Nigel Farage didn't get the knighthood he was promised.  

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