#SwindonsSundaySermon: how are the lesser of two evils getting on?

The question that asks if the Labour Party is just as cruel, callous and inhumane as the Tories is no longer up for debate. Just look at the news from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Labour: the lesser of two evils?

If the hand-job under the table for Trump didn’t convince you, nor the removal of the winter fuel allowance from some of Britain’s poorest and most vulnerable pensioners, the continuing privatisation of your National Health Service, the open support for Neo-Nazis and terrorist states, *and* this new, most vile assault on sick and disabled people has still left you somewhat unsure, you’re best to stick to making shit TikTok videos and leave any attempt at resistance to the socialists.

It wasn’t that long ago that these betrayed and humiliated Labour supporters insisted that they would happily take the lesser of two evils in the shape of Keir Starmer.

How’s that working out for them? The lesser of evils is still evil, and is the lesser evil *really* any less evil than the egregious, contemptible, degenerate Tories that they replaced, not even not even nine months ago?

The answer is a resounding no.

It wasn’t that long ago that these deluded and desperate Labour supporters laughed in our faces when we told them that they needed to get the Tories out of the Labour Party to have even the slightest chance of getting the Tories out of power.

How’s that working out for them? Foreign lobbyists are deeply invested in our democracy. Keir Starmer — THEIR prime minister — is itching for a scrap with a nuclear-armed superpower whilst whispering sweet nothings into the ear of the satsuma-coloured Washington neofascist.

If it looks like a Tory, talks like a Tory and walks like a Tory there’s a fucking good chance Keir Starmer is no less a Tory than David Cameron and Michael Heseltine.

Not the first time we’ve seen social murder

If Labour’s utterly senseless cuts don’t kill you, Labour’s Assisted Dying Bill most probably will.

This is hardly the first time the ruling classes have dabbled in a bit of social murder.

The horrific Grenfell Tower inferno and the imposition of austerity under the Conservatives are just two recent examples of democide in the UK.

If you look across the pond and cast your minds back to Trump’s first presidential term it can be easily argued that Trump and other Republican Party leaders are guilty of democide and wilful cruelty and indifference in terms of their response to the Covid pandemic which resulted in the loss of at least one million American lives.

You see, it takes a disturbing, fucked up mindset to think a person with Multiple Sclerosis deserves a state attack on their dignity and independence.

Disabled people have just been through fourteen catastrophic, democidal years under the Tories.

Degenerative conditions such as MS and Parkinson’s were deemed by the DWP as conditions that a person was likely to recover from and be fit for work in the future. Perhaps the renowned miracle worker, Ian Duncan Smith, really was Jesus fucking Christ?

The clue is in the word “degenerative”. Satanic cunt.

The Tories’ incredible healing powers didn’t just stop at MS and Parkinson’s, far from.

Shameful

Declan, who is 19, permanently confined to a wheelchair, lives with Down’s Syndrome, cerebral palsy, a hole in his heart, and scoliosis of the spine, was told to attend the DWP Jobcentre with a sick note from his GP.

One can only assume they were hoping he had made a full recovery?

The Tories’ — already convinced they can cure MS, Parkinson’s, Down’s Syndrome, and Cerebral Palsy — went one step further and sent a letter to a woman in a coma, Sheila Holt, demanding she make an effort to find work.

Do you get where I’m coming from here, Mr Starmer and Ms Kendall? Disabled people have had enough of this state barbarism to last us five fucking lifetimes.

Some people with particularly short memories may need reminding of the fact that it wasn’t just Conservative Party governments that engaged in targeted attacks against the disabled people of Britain.

Back in 2010, in the dying days of New Labour, version one, then-secretary of state for work and pensions Yvette Cooper set out plans to make the degrading Work Capability Assessment much harder to pass.

We shouldn’t be surprised by Labour

The plans included, and I quote:

Docking points from amputees who can lift and carry with their stumps. Claimants with speech problems who can write a sign saying, for example, ‘The office is on fire!’ will score no points for speech, and deaf claimants who can read the sign will lose all their points for hearing.

Meanwhile, for ‘health and safety reasons’ all points scored for problems with bending and kneeling are to be abolished and claimants who have difficulty walking can be assessed using imaginary wheelchairs.

Carry things with their stumps? Imaginary fucking wheelchairs? This an insane level of vindictive hatred for sick and disabled people that ultimately paved the way for fourteen years of Conservative DWP misery.

Cooper’s cruel and inhumane Work Capability Assessment was no better than what the Tories put me through.

I remember when friends of New Labour, ATOS, did one of mine. The official health assessor was a literal chiropractor. He asked me to memorise four unique items, of which I did successfully, but what on earth has that got to do with osteoarthritis and the prospect of a double knee replacement?

Cooper’s new way of doing things ended up with a terminally ill gentleman being classified as fit for work. The Citizens Advice Bureau found cases of people with advanced Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, severe mental illness and even a person awaiting open heart surgery all being told they were also well enough to get a job.

So maybe we shouldn’t be quite so shocked by Labour’s gruesome and catastrophic assault on Britain’s sick and disabled people?

‘Responsible government’

This is what they call “responsible government”. Targeting the most vulnerable with the least while offering concessions and favours to the elite with the most just isn’t the behaviour of a responsible government.

We cannot allow the feckless scrounger narrative to rear its ugly head when there are 801 sitting parasites in the House of Lords and a further 600 plus servants of the dodgy and rich in the House of Commons that cost the public purse so much more than a person with no limbs or a single mum living with chronic pain and mental health struggles.

Sick and disabled people aren’t an enemy of the British taxpayer. The unemployment rate for disabled people in the UK is just 5.6%. That’s lower than the overall unemployment rate in the EU.

One report that I read indicated that a quarter of global tax dodging is enabled by the UK and British Overseas Territories. If you really want to track down your enemy you could do a whole lot worse than to start digging around here.

Labour supporters should feel deeply ashamed by their government’s latest act of political violence against the sick and disabled people of Britain because this isn’t just a matter of government policy, but a whole new battle for survival.

Featured image via Rachael Swindon