I find it funny and kind of fascinating when I encounter somebody who looks and behaves exactly like a particular animal. I have one friend, for example, who IS a koala bear in man form. When I was reading the news this morning, I encountered an article concerning Iain Duncan Smith and I was reminded powerfully of a snake, or a crocodile, or one of those other cold-blooded creatures that waits in the dark and the damp for some unsuspecting creature to happen by. He did, after all, proudly announce himself to be a quiet man. A determined, quiet man.
This particular quiet man who is now Secretary of State for Works and Pensions, sat smiling on Wednesday as Gideon announced the butt-rape of public services and the welfare system. The same quiet man more recently than Wednesday thought it would be wise to evoke Norman Tebbit's classic sensitivity and tell 'stagnant' towns like my own Merthyr Tydfil to 'get on the bus' and find a job. I'm disgusted at how insensitive and blind that statement it. It was the Tory party that caused Merthyr and the surrounding towns to stagnate in the first place. Furthermore, the public services are one of the biggest employers in these ex-industrial areas and with the many thousands of public service job cuts looming, it will be the same poor and struggling people, from the same poor, struggling communities that are tossed out on the street. Rather than address the stagnation, IDS' schemes are going to deepen it, reinforce it and guarantee the continuation of poverty and misery that has dogged by town since Thatcher.
In addition to this, IDS' statement made me wonder if any of Cameron's cabinet have ever left London. Has IDS, Gideon or Camerclegg ever tried getting a bus to anywhere in the Valleys? Let us consider this made up person who we will call Dai. Dai lives in the lovely village of Penderyn which is about 9 or 10 miles out of Aberdare. Dai and Myfanwy cannot afford a car since Dai lost his job at the pit, so they get buses everywhere. Dai cannot find a job in Aberdare or any of the surrounding villages, but IDS told him to 'get on a bus' and find one in Cardiff, which is after all, only an hour's train ride and those posh Londoners do commutes like that every day. Dai applies for some nine-to-five jobs in the city, but there are none of those buses that IDS talks about in Penderyn until 8am! At 8.35 he arrives in Aberdare and heads to the train station where there are ... wait for it ... TWO trains an hour to Cardiff. Dai's gets on the 8.51 and arrives in Cardiff at 9.54. Then he has to walk to his office, which is another 20 minutes away. So Dai cannot physically get to work any earlier than 10.30 unless he grows wings. To make up the time lost in the morning, Dai leaves the office at 6.30 rather than 5. He gets the 19.11 train back to Aberdare, where he is just in time for the last bus home, and arrives back in Penderyn at 21.12. His children are already in bed and Myfanwy has left his dinner in the oven. Unfortunately, they don't see much of each other anymore.
Here's my idea: Cameron and all his Tory mates should be billeted in houses (preferably on council estates) across South Wales and the North for three months where they must get a job, pay their rent and bills and try to form some kind of social life. Conditions: they can only travel on public transport, they are not allowed to earn any more than minimum wage, they may not use any private services for healthcare etc., and, just for fun, they must also look after two young children at the same.
Then they might have a right to tell me that 'we're all in this together'.
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