IDS = irrational despicable scumbag

Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith has written an essay about welfare reform for a national newspaper.  It makes painful reading.

He observes: Britain’s benefits system used to be a source of pride but after 13 years of Labour it became a way of life for some.

It may have escaped this horrid man's attention, but living on handouts was a way of life for millions of people under the last Conservative government, just as it is under the present coalition government.  The evil prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major made it very hard for unemployed people to find work, presumably because they were evil.

Now the evil prime minister David Cameron is making it hard for unemployed people to find work, presumably because he is evil.

IDS also notes that: The Claimant Commitment transforms the relationship between the claimant and the system. Claimants will sign an agreement to undertake certain activities in order to get their benefits in return.

This is misleading.  The claimant commitment appears to be nothing more than a rehash of the jobseeker's agreement, which has existed for years.  IDS continues:

Our advisers have the power to sanction people who don’t uphold their part of the bargain. No longer can people just turn up to claim benefits with no onus on them to better their situation.

This also is not new.  For many years now the jobcentre have been able to sanction the benefits of people who are perceived to have broken some rule or other.  I have met one young lad who had his benefits stopped for two weeks because he missed a Work Programme appointment BECAUSE HE WAS ILL.  A few years ago I met a man who had his benefits stopped for four weeks because he failed to apply for a particular job vacancy, even though he maintained that he had applied for it.

IDS is happy for people to starve while the government continues to make it very hard for people to find jobs.  If he cared about full employment, he would abolish the Work Programme.