There was yet another report in the newspapers this morning, of another millionaire quitting the UK with his family, to move to a tax haven. As usual, there’ll be typically around 300 comments, as it is on these articles. 95% of the comments were people saying “well done, yes, good move, the country is finished anyway, this government is awful!”. Ok. Do these people know how taxation works? That social housing (council flat) that you say you have to wait years to get, the benefits you say you need because you can’t find work etc.; where do they think the money spent by government on those come from???
I have been paying income tax for decades and I am happy to pay, because it is what funds the less privileged in society. It is also what funds the services that keep the country ticking. For people to make millions in the UK, from UK consumers, and then flee off to tax havens because the government isn’t to their liking, as they feel they could get taxed more, is just laughable really! If everyone does that, what’s left?
But more importantly, the lack of understanding is just shocking!
It seems that on one side we have people who say they get it and are well educated, but believe everyone else is too stupid to get it, so, why bother explaining it to them? On the other side you have people who say they get it and are also well educated, but choose to lie to everyone else so that they can whip up the anger, hate and bile. In the middle, is everyone else; what they like to refer to as ‘working class’, some have a bit of education but majority are barely educated and are quick to jump on social media to spew hate and utter what they now refer to as “hurty words”.
One side show up with Climate Change targets and carbon reduction targets that drive up living cost for the folk in the middle, but do not feel they need to explain the needfulness to them. The other side tell them there is no such thing as Climate change and that the carbon targets are stupid and not necessary.
One side says migration is great and we should provide refuge and asylum to those who ask for it – but they neglect to explain to the working class, that the real problem is that we have, for decades, not kept up with developing the economy, creating jobs and lifting the poor British people out of poverty AND that in truth, 40,000 illegal migrants crossing the Chanel into the UK each year, should not be a talking point as it should not really impact a country of 70million people! – and that the real emphasis should be placed on how we can reenergise the country and build up our infrastructure: schools, housing, health care etc. It ain’t the migrants choking those services, it is the chronic lack of investment and foresight! (but YES, alongside that, we must find a way to end the Chanel crossings and get everyone coming in, to use the correct routes apply and be vetted etc). The other side say migration is terrible and it is directly responsible for every problem the country’s facing! That 40,000 coming in annually (which will take 10 years to add up to 400,000 in a 70million country) is the only thing we must consider and fixate on; it is what must swing every election and dominate everything we discuss, even though our housing, schools, healthcare etc., has been on it’s knees for decades prior to the first ever migrant getting on a rubber boat to cross the Chanel into the UK. They tear they very fabric of society apart with the rhetoric and we have now become a country where we are so ready to erupt and tear each other apart! At the bottom of all this, you’ll find: MONEY!
It seems that neither side want the folk in the middle (the working class) to start asking the real questions: how do we create more jobs? how do we ensure no child born in the UK lives below the poverty line? how do we build more houses? how do we build more schools? how do we get the NHS functioning again?
None of the above is solved even if migration to the UK is cut to ZERO and nobody comes across the Channel into a rubber boat!
The industries of old, that kept many towns in the UK thriving e.g. coal mines, are sectors that have shut down. They have not been replaced by anything else. As those folk are sat there wondering where their next meal will come from, they read of 40,000 people crossing the channel in inflatable boats, getting here and being put up in hotels (and some of those hotels are luxury hotels). Nobody cares to explain that we do need to put people up someplace as we are not animals. But it all flares up. It gets whipped up into a frenzy and defy any logic at that point and it has become the only topic. But is is clearly NOT the actual problem that we need to fix, which is to create other industries and create jobs that people living in Hull, Bradford and those places where old industries such as fishing, dress-making (China now do it for a fraction) coal mining etc have collapsed, so that they can build a new future and stop fixating on migration.
There are critical, long term solutions. But unfortunately, the government is stuck in the distraction caused by the demand for short term, immediate solutions, which as we have seen over the past 25 years, have simply not done anything to tackle the actual underlying problems
It is unfortunate. It is sad.
But how do we get out for it? It has become an unending spiral. The migrants have become a very convenient whipping bag and nobody now want to even take a look at the actual, real problems that if tackled, can get the country back on its feet
Knowledge can improve the world we live in 