For over 50 years now Ken Loach has been making films that rage against social injustice in the UK and the world giving his voice to the downtrodden. His work has continually made us confront many of the issues we'd rather avoid. He retired in 2014, but made a return in response to the Conservative victory last year, and now wants us all to take a hard look at austerity Britain. Loach’s latest film, I am Daniel Blake is a story about a skilled working class man who, after having suffered a heart attack, is at the end of his tether as a result of his attempts to navigate an uncaring, remote and labyrinthine ‘work capability assessment’ process integral to the UK benefit system. The scenario is one in which many of us today have unfortunately have experienced directly or known of friends or family who have/are going through a similar nightmare.The harsh case for many people, at the moment in time is that they are being taken off benefits because they are deemed fit for work even though many are actually still too sick to work.
Last year alone 1.1m emergency food parcels were handed out. And as Ken Loach points out, the government is consciously responsible for it. The scale of the suffering is cruel and immense and the Tories simply don't give a damn.This is because it is deliberate and is ideologically driven which has led to the poorest and most vulnerable among us becoming the principal victims of savage cuts.There is simply nothing accidental about any of all this.
The above interview in which Ken Loach is joined by Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng to debate what's happening within Britain's welfare system today also serves perfectly to illustrate how completely out of touch with the real world the Tories are, and how they have actually started to believe their own pathological lies. The Tories are willfully destroying Britain and peoples lives, with their draconian callous punitive measures, it really could not be any clearer..
It is surely time to fight back against the Governments continuing 'conscious cruelty' towards the poor and the poverty and humiliation that is inflicted upon them on a daily basis by welfare cuts..
I can only comment that, I agree wholeheartedly with Ken Loach. It is 'Conscious Cruelty'. And it's purpose and drive is much the same as the troops being called in to the striking miners. To protect the rich preferential ig companies and banks, who are collectivley, technically thieves and robbers, and emain unpenalised. Of course I mean the bankers and the excessively rich tax avoiding friends and business partners of the Camerons and Mays and their cohorts. It is CONSCIOUSLY CRUELLY imposed!!! IOW, PURPOSEFUL!!
ReplyDeleteso correct, actually a planned , organised cruelty that is daily inflicted on the poor, a continuing relentless ideological agenda of divide and rule, devoid of compassion, any sense of reason, a callousness that must be continue to be opposed . II am grateful at least that at least Ken Loach has helped expose this injustice to the world.
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