… although they do so unwittingly and indirectly
Harry Shannon
On March 1, The Guardian published an opinion piece by Gordon Brown, the former UK Prime Minister. It was sad reading. The title was: “First food banks, now bedding banks: in my time in politics, this is the worst poverty I’ve seen.” Brown reported that families that could not afford to heat their homes and needed “blankets, sheets, duvet covers and sleeping bags” to keep their children warm.
There’s been much attention paid to increasing inequality in Western societies. It’s often justified on the grounds that wealthy people create jobs and everyone benefits from the increase in GDP. But Brown’s article makes clear that this is not true, at least in the UK. And it’s not as if poverty is an inevitable result of ‘the market.’ As Brown wrote: “… leaders are knowingly imposing hardship they will not experience themselves on those already too poor to protect their families.”
Of course, you won’t read such direct criticism of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government in right-wing media. Here are some headlines from stories last year that aim to support Johnson and his policies. They’re about efforts to deal with supply chain problems:
From the Daily Mail:
Sept 29: Boris in a battle to save Xmas.
Oct 6: French threat to sink Xmas, by cutting off crucial Christmas supplies to Britain.
And in the Daily Express:
Sept 11: Save Christmas! Scramble to stop shortages.
Sept 25: Boris loses his patience, with the sub-heading: PM backs crisis plan easing visa rules to fix driver shortage … AND save Christmas.
Sept 29: We’ll save Christmas, about Johnson’s plans to deal with supply chain issues.
Oct 9: No pressure! It’s your job to save Xmas, as Johnson hired a former supermarket head to sort out supply chains.
Oct 12: Don’t panic! We can fill shelves for Christmas.
Oct 14: Get your skates on for a happy Christmas, and the first sentence of the article states: Shoppers are being urged to buy their Christmas presents early as the supply chain chaos intensifies.
Several things strike me. (I’ll ignore the excessive use of exclamation marks by the never-knowingly-understated Express, and the paper’s conflicting stories on October 12 and 14.)
Firstly, the focus on Boris Johnson. You’d think that he’s a one-man government.
Then there’s the obsession with Christmas: multiple stories, especially in the Express. And the only thing that matters about Christmas is the consumer fest. Nothing on the religious side, from people who’d likely complain bitterly if you said: “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
But the most important point links to Gordon Brown’s article. From three months out, what really matters is Christmas. There’s so little to enjoy in Britons’ regular lives that it’s only a brief holiday interval – and looking forward to it – that can bring them happiness. Supply chain problems today? Just part of your normal existence – because you can only afford those little luxuries once a year, anyway. You can’t, as Brown pointed out, afford even the basics like food and heating.
So suck it up. The Mail and the Express, even though they don’t mean to, are telling you that life is miserable.