The cost of success

Trevor Phillips is a Labourite. Discuss.

This is not a slant on the man, a personal attack, or a shallow attempt to call into question his inegrity as chairman of an independent body, it is a fact. He is a Labour man. So much so, that at one point he stood to be Labour's candidate for London Mayor. So there is the link, not hidden, not tenuous, BIG AND BOLD, right in front of you, Trevor Phillips = Labour.

So how on earth can he be appropriate to head up the Equality and Human Rights Commission (and formerly the Commission for Racial Equality)? How can he make statements such as those he made today on World at One, where he said that he/the organisation wants extra powers to help tackle inequality, when all he has used the statement for is to attack the "wealthy and educated middle class", in a deeply political way?

He claims that the economic slowdown is hitting everyone, but hitting those at the lower end of the financial spectrum harder...which I can't really disagree with, but when he says that
"Everyone is happy to take some of the pain as long as that pain is shared fairly..."

Happy to take the pain? Yes, Trev, I'm just giddy at the prospect. Quick, whip me with a bit of wood, I just love the fucking pain!

What a stupid way to put it. But then, it's what follows that really gets to me.

"People can see the economic slowdown coming. Everyone is happy to take some of the pain as long as that pain is shared fairly and what we want to do is to make sure that the burden doesn't fall unfairly on some groups rather than others.
(It would) mean taking on the wealthy and educated middle class who are adept at playing the system to the advantage of their families."

"Taking on"? That's fighting talk.

I am not rich, I don't have a big ol' house, a car, I earn less than the average annual wage, I went to state school and don't have a hyphenated, double-barrelled surname. I am not "wealthy" or "middle-class" but these measures are just another attack on the Tories politically, and the successful socially.

Or are you just helping out GB, saying something indirectly targetted at the Tories, but designed to pander to the poor/anyone who feels affected by the credit crunch?

This is another Labour motion towards, "Don't bother doing anything with your life, we'll just get the rich to pay for everything".

Yes, the economic climate right now is going to be a problem, to varying degrees, for everyone. But we aren't a socialist country. You aren't entitled to a comfortable living. You have to get out and sometimes scrap really hard to get by in life. You can't just say, if things get a bit worse we can just tax the rich more, windfall tax Tesco or Shell. GB has taken the Tories "work for your benefits" approach, which is grand but after such inverted snobbery being shat out the mouth of the Labour appointed equalities body, we all know it'll end up being a fudge, with GB wimping out at crunch time, and pandering to Labour's poor-man's chew-toy base.

No, if things are tough, then things are tough. Labour needs to tell it's base/Glasgow East to shut the fuck up, get off your arse, go out and work and stop thinking that you're owed a living and blaming your poverty on those better off.

For every pound the average 'poor man' earns, about 4% of it taken as tax.
For every pound the average 'rich man' earns, about 38% of it taken as tax.

Trevor, don't talk to me about equality. Some people more than cover their social burden, whereas some people are their own social burden (while also being mine as well).

Those better off (aka 'educated middle class'), have worked through school, university, jobs, promotions etc to get where they are. They've worked to achieve something, and when you puteffort in, rightly you should expect to reap rewards. Labour's base doesn't get that. These are people who believe that the rich should get taxed 50% of their wages because "it's more than they need".

Jealousy is not a policy. Fact.
Rich people are not bad. Fact.
Being educated is a good thing. Fact.
Trevor Phillips isn't a Labour mouthpiece. False.