"No attempt at ethical or social seduction can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin."
So said Nye Bevan in 1948, a man from a Welsh mining background who had experienced and witnessed in his lifetime the human consequences of poverty, despair, and misery inflicted on working class people by past Tory governments. If he were alive today to see the current Tory-led coalition government in power, there is little doubt that the harsh words he had for them back then would not change by as much as one syllable.
For how to describe the latest Tory policy of cutting Housing Benefit for under 25s at a time when long term youth unemployment in Britain has gone up by a staggering 874% since 2000, according to recent TUC figure? It currently stands at 21.9% and shows no sign of coming down anytime soon.
With this in mind, what kind of perverse logic would even countenance slashing benefits for young people. It certainly isn't logic driven by any desire to uphold any semblance of economic or social justice for the victims of an economic crisis who were not responsible for its cause. Nor can it be justified on the grounds of morality either, at least not unless you've swapped your moral compass for a mince pie lately.
No, the only conclusion to be drawn from the government's latest wheeze with regard to cutting Housing Benefit for under 25s is that the Tories' hatred for the poor has led them to the point where they are no longer able to conceal it. "Enough of this namby-pamby stuff, they've obviously decided, the gloves are off. Never mind pretending that our aim is to eradicate poverty. Let's be honest and start eradicating the poor."
The short to mid term consequences of this blatant attack on young poor people will of course be to drive up the crime and suicide rates. For every pound saved, more will be spent as the NHS sees its workload go up exponentially with mental health and stress related illnesses. Meanwhile, in the long term, who knows how deep and severe the damage to the nation's social fabric will be?
It's as if the government is inviting young people to riot. A mass social experiment in human despair is not the same as an economic or social policy. Nor is it appropriate to have sociopaths running the country.
Welcome to Tory Britain in the 21st century.