The news that rough sleepers and the homeless may face arrest if they smell, is a new low. The idea that the government can solve the problems that it has created by just banning them is both shockingly cynical and obviously completely impossible to achieve.
Being cold and dirty is just the consequence of being homeless, what are they going to do next? They could ban food banks to stop people being hungry, or they could stop doctors from treating the ill because it just encourages illness.
To be fair there was always a part of the Tory party that thought living in a tent was a “lifestyle choice” or that the poor are all lazy or that hungry children just have feckless parents.
The issue now is that those people used to be the stupid, embarrassing nutters that sat on the back benches for decades. Foaming about hanging almost everyone who was subsequently shown to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice, and the benefits of birching young men (something they seem worryingly fond of). Now they are in the Cabinet.
As a result the forthcoming election is going to be very nasty, but the result will be interesting to see. If the polls are right the Tory party is going to fight to the death to win the 15-20% of electors who would vote for them in any case.
It already has the gammon vote, the racist vote, the climate change denying vote, the bigots’ vote; so maybe we should look forward to more campaigns against smelly people.
Because nothing seems more likely to harden the opposition of the 80% who it seems will vote anything but Tory. Not everyone in this country is a good Samaritan but then they don’t have to be.
Remember those who failed to help the poor traveller who fell amongst robbers just passed by on the other side, they didn’t arrest him for smelling or blocking the pavement.
They didn’t care enough to help, but they weren’t proactively nasty, however this government is.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
By Jonty Bloom Media
I think someone called it performative cruelty.