Out of touch Tory?

"Out of touch Tory" is not a phrase Calton usually associates with Murdo Fraser MSP, however the man does seem to be out of touch with the stark choices facing many people this Christmas when he tweeted this:

Dear everyone. If you want to wish me a Happy ChrIstmas, buy a card and a stamp and post it. Don't send an email to your address list. Ta
— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) December 19, 2013

When families are struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes, never mind buy presents for the kids, suggesting that the only way you can wish someone a proper Merry Christmas is by spending 50p on a stamp is, quite frankly, demonstrating that you don't know what being poor is. OK, it is a bit crass (and lazy) to write a one-line email and then send it round your entire email address book with one click. Calton can see Murdo's point in that regard but, the reality is, even those who are fortunate to have a job these days are becoming reluctant to use Royal Mail to distribute their Christmas wishes at 50p a pop. Even a very modest Christmas card list of 40 names would cost £20! Many people are opting instead to send e-cards or personalised email greetings and either save the money or give it to charity and Calton is wholeheartedly in agreement with this, even although it means that the old eyrie looks a bit bare compared to Christmasses past when you couldn't move for cards falling about your ears. So, please don't be offended if your Christmas greeting from Calton Hill arrives over the internet - apart from anything else, the Barn Owl who usually handles Calton's mail is still recovering from delivering the White Paper!

Don't forget the poor singles

Calton is not at all surprised that those in poverty are now more likely to be working than on the dole. He's also not surprised that they are likely to be single, childless adults. If you don't have children, you lose all benefits as soon as your income goes over about £100 a week but you don't qualify for working tax credit unless you work at least 30 hours a week. That is becoming increasingly difficult in these days of zero hours contracts and part-time work. The result - a lot of single people stuck in a poverty trap. It is good that child poverty has fallen, according to the latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, and pensioners are also better off, however a truly just, fair society will look after all its members, something which British society is currently failing to do. If we don't end the scourge of low wages and under-employment, we are stoking up a problem for the future when poor single people reach pension age and do not have anything apart from the state pension to fall back on. Perhaps the new Universal Credit should recognise the reality that full-time employment remains a dream for many people and include a graded benefit rather than the current step-change at 30 hours a week. Now that would be progressive.

SNP energy policy - getting warmer

Well! They say a week is a long time in politics. It's less than a week since Calton said don't hold your breath for the SNP to remove unfair subsidies from consumer fuel bills. Now Nicola Sturgeon has announced just that, at the SNP's conference in Perth. Perhaps they've been reading this blog. Whatever the reason for today's announcement, it is very welcome in Calton's opinion. It is manifestly unfair that poor people should be paying more on their fuel bills in order to help even poorer people, especially now that we know that children of working parents are more likely to suffer poverty than those of unemployed parents. Some of the people struggling the most to pay their bills are now people who earn just enough to stop them receiving benefits but not enough to cover the rising cost of living. Calton is not against helping those in fuel poverty but the help should come out of general taxation, not through our fuel bills. Subsidies for home insulation should also be means-tested. In this respect, Nicola is thinking what Calton is thinking. Now all we need is for Westminster to take a lead from the SNP and the SNP to remove subsidies for windfarm builders. Calton is still not holding his breath.

SNP - changing direction with the wind?

Well that was quick. No sooner has the First Minister told us that oil and gas are important to the Scottish economy when a leaked Scottish Government document says that we need to move away from "price volatile fossil fuels". Calton tends to think that the leak is more trustworthy, since it is more in line with the SNP's policy of covering the countryside and coastline with windfarms, subsidised by the Scottish consumer. If the SNP are serious about tackling fuel poverty in an independent Scotland they can start by removing this subsidy, which hits the poorest hardest, and telling windfarm developers to stand on their own two feet financially. That's exactly what English consumers will be telling us to do if we vote for independence but expect them to continue subsidising our renewables industry! And just where is the evidence that Scots are more pro-windfarms than the English? Is this just another 'wishful assertion' by the SNP? Or, to put it another way, yet more hot air from a government which does not listen to the electorate? (And, while we are on the subject of renewables, the link Calton put for the tidal project at Kylerhea in an earlier post ceased to function shortly after he linked to it but it seems to be back up again and can be viewed here.)

The poverty trap

Calton is not convinced that poverty is the cause of poorer health. Rather, poverty and poor health are both symptoms of a deeper malaise - low self-esteem and hopelessness. If you don't have any self-esteem you will find it very hard to get a job and work your way out of poverty. Ditto if you feel hopeless and you believe that there are no opportunities. It's easier in those circumstances to rely on the state for handouts and drink/drugs/food to dull the pain of a miserable life. If we really want to lift people out of a life of poverty and ill-health we need to give them something to hope for and something to work for. An incentive to better themselves. The message that they have a choice, that it doesn't have to be this way. That hard work and effort pay. Somehow that message has got lost in this country, unlike the USA. Our welfare system has turned people into benefit dependent victims totally lacking in initiative instead of giving them a leg-up. The last Labour Government created a false economy where businesses didn't need to pay a decent wage because the government topped it up with working tax credit. Now we are in a situation where many workers are not paid anything like a living wage and so, for many, work doesn't pay. That has to change. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to repair the damage of the Labour years.

The poor ones

Lest anyone should think that Calton is totally against benefits, after his rant on Monday, he would like to say that he is behind Save the Children's latest campaign to get more help for low-paid families. They are the ones who are really suffering at the moment as their income fails to keep up with inflation. It is truly shocking that children are going hungry in 21st century Britain and an indictment on our benefit system. We should be supporting those who are working rather than paying for the unemployed to stay in houses bigger than they need. Iain Duncan Smith's reforms are a step in the right direction however it will take more drastic action than has yet been proposed to reverse the benefit culture bequeathed to us by Labour. The best route out of poverty is work, not benefits.

Cash for tidal power at a low ebb

The tourist industry in Scotland accounts for 10% of our GDP and employs over 200,000 people. Why then is Alex Salmond determined to jeopardise this vital industry by covering the coastline and countryside with windfarms? Does this make sense? Calton thinks not. Investment in renewable energy would be better spent in the wave and tidal sector which is struggling at the moment for lack of cash up front to allow development to continue. At a time when fuel poverty is increasing rapidly it is also criminal to be adding to household fuel bills in order to line the pockets of windfarm landowners. If the Scottish and Westminster Governments are serious about helping the hard-up (and industry) they should start by cutting windfarm subsidies and lowering electricity bills.

The cost of island life

Coming originally from the west coast, and with relatives on the islands, Calton is all in favour of the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) because living on an island is not cheap, even for a sea eagle. He therefore welcomes the announcement that it is to be extended to more islands and more ferry routes, however it seems that Transport Minister Keith Brown is giving with one hand and taking away with the other, since larger commercial vehicles are facing a 172% rise in fares from April 2012. Given that hauliers are already being hammered by the high cost of diesel, such a price hike will only end up being passed on to island consumers, who already pay a premium for the necessities of life. Pensioners and families are not paid extra pension or child benefit because they live on an island. Poverty is not just an urban phenomenon. If we don't want to see our islands depopulated we need to give them some support and continuing RET for HGVs seems a sensible way to do it. Hopefully Keith Brown can be persuaded to agree.