Stop killing the poor
Today, June 17, 2017, I joined a ‘Protest Against Theresa May’ outside Downing Street that was called by the journalist Owen Jones and the writer Sara Hanna-Black, where there was no shortage of witty and angry placards aimed at Theresa May, especially after her disastrously poor response to the terrible fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on Wednesday.
What a difference two months can make in politics. When Theresa May called a snap election at the start of April, she was 20 points ahead of Labour in the polls, and presumed that she would win a landslide victory. Then, on the campaign trail, she was wooden, aloof and unsympathetic, and her manifesto was a disaster, containing a provision for care funding for older people that was instantly dubbed the “dementia tax”, and was vilified by many of her own supporters, and even by the media that generally supported her unconditionally.
In the end, she lost her majority, requiring her to woo the religiously fundamentalist Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to stay in power, and fatally eroded her credibility, while Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, found an enthusiastic welcome for his anti-austerity message. May, meanwhile, clinging onto power, failed to provide leadership after the Grenfell fire, visiting the site and meeting the emergency services, but failing to meet any of the survivors, in complete contrast to Jeremy Corbyn, who, as usual, showed the common touch - and evident empathy - that led to him increasing Labour’s share of the vote in the General Election by the largest margin since Clement Attlee after World War II.
How long, I have to ask, can Theresa May last - and, just as importantly, how can we make sure that a disaster like Grenfell can never happen again, given the corruption and profiteering of so many of the parties involved in providing social housing to poorer people in the UK?
For my article about the Grenfell disaster, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2017/06/16/deaths-foretold-at-g...
For my article about the General Election, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2017/06/09/corbyn-rises-theresa...
For a 38 Degrees petition calling for action from the government, see: speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/grenfell_tower
Also check out the video of my band The Four Fathers playing 'Stand Down Theresa’, a rough but passionate (and updated) cover of The Beat’s protest classic, 'Stand Down Margaret’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVb06VXkOM
For my most interesting photos, see: www.flickriver.com/photos/andyworthington/popular-interes...
Stop killing the poor
Today, June 17, 2017, I joined a ‘Protest Against Theresa May’ outside Downing Street that was called by the journalist Owen Jones and the writer Sara Hanna-Black, where there was no shortage of witty and angry placards aimed at Theresa May, especially after her disastrously poor response to the terrible fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on Wednesday.
What a difference two months can make in politics. When Theresa May called a snap election at the start of April, she was 20 points ahead of Labour in the polls, and presumed that she would win a landslide victory. Then, on the campaign trail, she was wooden, aloof and unsympathetic, and her manifesto was a disaster, containing a provision for care funding for older people that was instantly dubbed the “dementia tax”, and was vilified by many of her own supporters, and even by the media that generally supported her unconditionally.
In the end, she lost her majority, requiring her to woo the religiously fundamentalist Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to stay in power, and fatally eroded her credibility, while Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, found an enthusiastic welcome for his anti-austerity message. May, meanwhile, clinging onto power, failed to provide leadership after the Grenfell fire, visiting the site and meeting the emergency services, but failing to meet any of the survivors, in complete contrast to Jeremy Corbyn, who, as usual, showed the common touch - and evident empathy - that led to him increasing Labour’s share of the vote in the General Election by the largest margin since Clement Attlee after World War II.
How long, I have to ask, can Theresa May last - and, just as importantly, how can we make sure that a disaster like Grenfell can never happen again, given the corruption and profiteering of so many of the parties involved in providing social housing to poorer people in the UK?
For my article about the Grenfell disaster, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2017/06/16/deaths-foretold-at-g...
For my article about the General Election, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2017/06/09/corbyn-rises-theresa...
For a 38 Degrees petition calling for action from the government, see: speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/grenfell_tower
Also check out the video of my band The Four Fathers playing 'Stand Down Theresa’, a rough but passionate (and updated) cover of The Beat’s protest classic, 'Stand Down Margaret’: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpVb06VXkOM
For my most interesting photos, see: www.flickriver.com/photos/andyworthington/popular-interes...