Just as planned by the government, my family now face a pretty dire financial situation, and I haven't even lost my ESA (Employment Support Allowance or sickness benefit) yet. As I've warned many times, sick or disabled people are already much more likely to live in poverty, so there was precious little room to accommodate the squeeze that Osborne is convinced we need.
So despite nights spent tossing and turning, evenings with notebook and laptop and spreadsheets, I just can't see any way out. We've spent years juggling and ducking and diving, we've already sold our house and any other assets we had. I can only see two choices left:
1) Go bankrupt. In about 6 months, our meagre little chunk of equity will all be gone and we won't be able to pay our rent any more. We will have to default on the bit of credit we have and presumably, throw ourselves on the mercy of the state.
2) I will have to get a job.
I've looked at some job sites lately in desperation. I usually end up faintly hysterical as I scroll through page after page of work that would probably kill me. I can't work full time, almost certainly wouldn't manage part-time and haven't seen a single position where I could work from home.
Nonetheless, as planned by the government, I have no choice.
So which shall I do? I don't think my pride will allow me to do No1 and I'm sure my body won't let me do No2.
And this is the bit I don't usually mention. How exactly is that different to a eugenics programme? If we all end up with no choice but to work ourselves to death, if sick and disabled people are forced into work they clearly cannot manage?
Think of it this way. There's a lot of talk about pensions being unaffordable. We know we have to work longer and find a way of paying more.
Now imagine in a few years time, the government decide an ESA type programme should be applied to pensioners. If you can work you must. If you are found "fit" to do any kind of work at all, you must do it until you drop or you'll forfeit your state pension. 69 and unable to walk? That's OK, you can type! 73 with cancer? That's OK, unless you take chemo by transfusion you can still do something. 82 and not senile? Well you could work in a shop!
It's exactly the same thing and believe me, if it seems totally unlikely and shocking now, that's exactly how severely unwell people feel. Of course in theory, we can be found "fit for some kind of work" just as an 80 year old could be, but does that mean we can actually work or that anyone will employ us? Would you employ a slightly incontinent 78 year old who takes twice as long to do anything as a 22 year old? Could you honestly argue that making 70 year olds find work would not shorten their lives?
Surely there would be outrage? Accusations of breaking our nation's covenant to protect the frail and the elderly? Claims of ageism and cruelty?
But perhaps, just as now, people would look away? Perhaps they would be convinced by the logic of such a bizarre suggestion?
There can hardly be a comment thread where someone somewhere hasn't resorted to this quote :
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.
and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me -
and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.
and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.
The German anti-Nazi activist,
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Well, the quote is wrong, because first they came for the disabled. But no-one thinks they are going to get sick or become disabled. So they don't speak out. Would they speak out for the pensioners too or would it be too late by then?
