ITV 2 show, The Only Way is Essex.
Vile.
But I’m going to rise above the content of the show and look at the people who are in it:
Vile.
But they aren’t just vile; they’re also…
Extremely poorly educated.
These people ever went to school?
I find this impossible to believe.
Anyway, speaking of thick people.
I took a late lunch today – working at home prepping for a big day tomorrow – and as a result I *cough* accidentally caught an episode of Jeremy Kyle.
The show’s host nicely summed up the aspirations of the incredibly chavvy, multi-offspringed 17-year-old girl who was the focus of today’s lie detector test.
‘It’s not all about trainers tats and trackies’.
Solid gold alliteration, and a devastatingly accurate summing up of the girl’s life-goals.
So here’s a big question.
If the welfare system is broken and if the welfare system needs reform, why are we still funding it?
Really, think about this for a moment.
If you had a thing that was broken and needed replacing, would you really keep spending money on it?
And indeed, why are we still using it?
Just wondering.
For eight years I worked at the sharp end of social services in a deprived area of Bristol, and we understood that sometimes there came a time when we needed to say ‘no’.
Sometimes the best form of intervention is not to intervene.
Give support through practical means, help to achieve goals and assist the service users to deliver their own plans?
Absolutely.
But fund habits and wasting lifestyles through the continued application of unlimited public cash?
Not under any circumstances.
I’m just thinking out loud.
Don’t get me wrong, when the circumstances warranted, we undertook, and I participated in delivering, serious intervention into the lives and homes of some people.
But sometimes the best thing to do to get people to start helping themselves, is to turn the tap off.
I watched one episode of The only way is Essex and I had to change partway through because they got on my wick. What is the point of these people and their strange meaningless existences? Most of them looked like they’d bought their fake tan at B&Q and there was more botox floating about than is necessary. Jeremy Kyle is a bit like bear baiting but with less intelligent animals. You’re right, the time comes when we should stop throwing money at these people and make them stand up and take some responsibility for their own lives. I’m not sure when the state took over the job of running people’s existence and paying for it if they didn’t fancy it themselves but I really think it’s time it stopped. It’s now what the welfare state was ever designed for.