tygerland.net

John Harris wrote an interesting article, in today’s Guardian, on the current class model in the UK, and what he termed “Nu Snobbery.” Harris highlighted comedies and satires, produced by the middle-class media (the so-called liberal intelligencia), which mock the proletariat, or as we now say, the so-called “Chavs” and “Pram Faces.”

From Harry Enfield’s Wayne and Waynetta Slob, to the current phenomenon, Little Britain, post-Thatcherite Britain is comfortable to ridicule the poor, and giggle from the safety of their Habitat sofa.

At this point is probably helpful to read, or at least glance at the article - here.

Finished? Ok.

Harris covers a great deal, and I don’t want to walk a well-trodden argument, so I’ll concentrate on the main political problem Harris hints at, but doesn’t quite nail: the long-term political ramifications of alienating the poor.

The middle-classes are the darlings of Westminster. In Blair’s Britain they have swelled. Uninterrupted growth, and the sale of council houses under Thatcher, has created a huge affluent and bloated midriff within the British society. New cars queue on our motorways, plasma screens adorn our sitting rooms, and mini-breaks to Prague are de rigueur. The upper-echelons of what used to be the working classes, now own their own homes, wash their cars on Sunday, and have red-wine with dinner (and not just at Christmas). They are now truly middle-class, and good luck to them – we shouldn’t begrudge prosperity and endeavour.

Of course most of this affluence is leveraged on huge swathes of consumer credit, and fuelled by a rampant, yet surprisingly robust, housing market. Personal debt now stands at £1,174bn, growing at 10.3% per-annum. The British people are now much more comfortable with debt, and helped by low interest rates (secured by foreign capital) and consistent economic growth, are able to continue to refinance to fuel further spending.

So it is this nouveau riche, that our politicians pander to, when they refer to the “middle ground” or “centre.” And it is those outside this new-affluence, which are stereotyped and derided, in the modern media. And if the liberal middle-classes no longer fight the corner of the poor, then who will? The poor, both working and state dependent, as Harris explains number in excess of 10m; all potentially disenfranchised, but all empowered with a vote. If Westminster no longer represents them, then they will find someone who will, namely nationalistic parties such as the BNP.

It matters little if the poor are nourished by a bloated welfare state, if they are excluded from discourse, ignored by political rhetoric, and scoffed at by the media. They will no doubt catch the eye of the empowering political forces who do not insult them, value their presence, and address their issues – chiefly the ethnic balkanisation of our inner cities and towns, drugs, and crime - i.e. hard-line white supremacist movements.

Labour’s enormous welfare state has dislocated the poor from the meritocracy; child tax credits, and other state-handouts, devalue promotion and hard work, supplementing meagre and non-existent incomes, they have discouraged people from taking low-paid employment, or accepting marginal advancement at work. When I worked as a production manager we were unable to promote a candidate, because he refused the role - as he would lose over a hundred pounds in benefits. It was not commercially viable to match his loss of earnings, and why would he then take on the extra responsibilities, for zero net-gain? Explain to me again how Gordon Brown is encouraging and helping business?

The minimum wage and the excessive welfare state; have both contributed to the cultural gulf, and mutual disdain, between the middle-classes and the poor. Labour, instead of pulling down the barriers of class, has erected new heavily buttressed divisions within British society - divisions that threaten the stability of our society, by providing a disenfranchised section of people, on which nationalism and bigotry can feed.

So when you next chortle at Vicky Pollard, and sneer at the chavs in your towns, think of the implications of this prejudice, and where this cultural divide, you are helping ferment, will lead us.