Alec Shelbrooke - Cigs, Booze, Telly and the Bookies

Up until a few weeks ago I'd never insulted anyone on Twitter.  There were many spats that I'd viewed - even been entertained by - but to get involved, no matter how strongly I felt about something, seemed foolish, and finally, quite pointless.  Changing someone's mind about something doesn't seem to happen that much, and in the instantaneous and still very much unaccountable environment of the Internet, it's even rarer.  

Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative MP for Elmet and Rothwell, changed that.  I felt moved and angry enough to tweet the following:

Alec Shelbrooke, M.P.

Mr Bumble

"Never insulted anyone on Twitter, but I'll make an exception for @AlecShelbrooke - what a vile, horribly out-of-touch man he is! #Dignity"

The reason for this was a Bill that he had drafted, one that would change the law to allow welfare payments to be made on a new 'welfare cash card', the use of which could be restricted by the Government.  Like a modern day Mr Bumble commenting on the 'feckless poor' and feeling the sanctimonious urge to add to the debate of "What is to be done?", Shelbrooke told MPs that  by "introducing a welfare cash card on which benefits will be paid, claimants will only be able to make priority payments such as food, clothing, energy, travel and housing.  The purchase of luxury goods such as cigarettes, alcohol, Sky television and gambling will be prohibited."  

Well, there's Owen Jones' 'demonization of the working classes' in a nutshell: cigs, booze, telly and the bookies.  That's surely what the unemployed do all day: fritter away a few paltry ten pound notes on these 'luxuries'.  Once again, it's the people on the very lowest rungs of society who are to be blamed for the 'mess' that this country is in.  Not the captains of finance, or duck-island owning, expenses pilfering politicians, or the tax-shy coffee houses and search engines, but those who are unfortunate enough to find themselves out of work in a deep recession.      

Even the Conservative leaning Spectator ran an article asking if Shelbrooke was the 'nastiest (and stupidest) Conservative MP in Britain?', the tone of the article going on to answer clearly in the affirmative. With friends like these?  

The 'feckless' poor are a staple of many an outraged tabloid story.  Disgust and fury are generated by these isolated anecdotes that are supposedly representative of the whole.  Well, instead of getting angry at Shelbrooke, I thought a brief anecdote of my own might well redress the balance in favour of dignity on the dole.  And it also might flag up the idiocy of Shelbrooke's rancid Bill.   

About a year ago I met an unemployed friend for a drink.  He wanted me to take a quick glance at his updated CV, and to look over a job application that he'd been working on.  Owning no computer he'd spent the morning at the local library - yes, those local libraries - working on these documents.  I got two beers in, sat down and offered my input.  Half an hour later, with the application and CV taken care of, he asked me if I wanted another drink.  Not to allow him to return his round, or to tell him something along the lines of "You're on the dole ... get me one in when you're back in work!" would have been unthinkable.  If you don't understand why, you really are a poor excuse for a person (however, a quick glance at the hash-tag on the end of my tweet might provide you with a clue).  I, of course, had time for another drink and readily accepted.  We talked of other things: football and music but not his current situation.  We then went our separate ways.  Three months later he was back in work.  

So, a non-sensationalist, dignified, little anecdote, that is far more representative of life on the dole than Shelbrooke or any tabloid would have you believe. And hopefully a far more effective response than lurching into the realm of Twitter insults.