Marlyn Glen : Austerity and another Lourdes

Marlyn Glen : Austerity and another Lourdes

20 July 2012


Scotland became less unequal last year.

The gap in incomes between the rich and the rest, fell in 2010-11 , reversing a trend of growing inequality in recent years.

The gap now stands where it stood in the halcyon days of Labour’s General Election victory in 1997.

The gap in incomes, as measured by the Gini coefficient was 30 per cent

(A Gini coefficient of 0 per cent would mean equality of incomes, 100 per cent would mean complete inequality of incomes. 30 per cent is still far behind Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden with much lower income gaps.)

The UK gap narrowed only because , while the recession has lowered all incomes , it has hit the very wealthy the most, percentage-wise.

But austerity amongst the rich must be many shades lighter than it is amongst the remainder, and at the centre of the UK of government austerity policies , more cuts, this time of a much larger scale, are looming.

The Glasgow-based Centre for Public Policy for Regions (CPPR) estimate that around three quarters of cuts in spending on services in Scotland have still to take place - just under £3billlion by 2016-17, with the deepest coming after the proposed Referendum.

Inevitably, the health of the most vulnerable will suffer.

One health board’s evidence submitted to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance Committee examining the effects of the Welfare Reform Act concluded that “ illnesses in adults and children requiring inpatient care are likely to increase as a consequence of the health impacts of the Welfare Reform Act.

“These include mental, cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses resulting from low income, income inequalities, housing difficulties and fuel poverty and specific additional obesity-related illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis and cancer arising from poorer nutrition.” (NHS Highland )

A recent review “General Practice at the Deep End” gathered information from GPs working in the 100 most deprived areas in Scotland on the consequences of austerity for their patients’ well-being.

Patients ranged from those in work feeling the pressure of cuts in public spending, seeking additional work to make ends meet, and displaying “presenteeism” ( turning up for work when their symptoms indicated that they shouldn’t have) to those with recognised long-term health problems but classified as “fit for work” and their benefits cut.

While the GPs’ priorities were patients’ health, the patients’ priorities were lack of money for food and heating.

Observations included,

“ Perhaps most striking is the growing number of individuals and families experiencing fuel poverty – the combination of increased costs and falling benefits resulting in a choice between heating and eating.

“Practices reported cases of an elderly patient going to a friend’s house in order to wash; families relying on relatives to pay for food and cigarettes (unable to stop smoking due to stress);….

“In my surgery I am hearing from patients who for 2–3 days a week cannot afford to heat their houses (many use metered cards which are more expensive than direct debit payments). “

Assessments carried out under the Work Capability Assessment had a dramatic effect on the health of those whose benefits were cut, with mis-matches between people’s clinical condition and the assessments finding that they were “fit for work”

Corunna House , the Glasgow Disability Benefits Centre where the Work Capability Assessments are carried out, was known locally as “Lourdes” because “all of the sick emerge from it cured.”

GPs, through BMA Scotland , have called for the Work Capability Assessment to be scrapped, saying that the system needs to be replaced by “a more vigorous and safe process which takes into account the needs of long term sick and disabled patients.”

The biggest single group facing the fiercest brunt of the cuts, are women, with a triple whammy - cuts in jobs in the public sector where women are the majority workforce, reductions in the public services used by women, and women being left to ”plug the gaps” with their own personal efforts when council provision falls because of cuts in services for dependents, all of which is counter=productive to maintaining personal health.

So there is wealth of evidence and experience to indicate how the next wave of austerity cuts will impact upon health.

However, what of those on the other side of the story of the cuts, whose actions lie amongst the root causes of the prevailing austerity?

Before The Crash, there was a high-octane macho culture in casino banking whose banality of vision was the size of the bonus earned, even when the reward was for failure, and the strategy was reckless. These ultra-competitive men, were the “wealth creators”, the magicians of the market, proclaimed to possess “special skills” that were not subject to dispute.

The “Guardian” columnist George Monbiot refers to the work of Nobel Economics Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman which starkly challenges the illusion of omnipotent thinking at the top in the financial sector.

He studied the performances of wealth advisers over an 8-year period to determine whether or not “there were persistent differences in skill among them and whether the same advisers consistently achieved better returns for their clients year after year.”

He found a correlation of zero, saying

“the results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill. .

“The subjective experience of traders is that they are making sensible educated guesses in a situation of great uncertainty.

“In highly efficient markets, however, educated guesses are no more accurate than blind guesses.”

There was no correlation, no connection, no consistency.

In short, success depended heavily on luck, not on evidence, never the basis for a secure future, and so it has proved , to the detriment of us all.

There are no shared sacrifices in this austerity , no choices for the wealthy between having to eat or heat.

Instead it’s tax cuts for them rather than benefit cuts.

And it isn’t working.

In a recession, cuts in spending do not just magnify falling demand and reduce business investment.

They also diminish people’s health and well-being.

Women and the Referendum

Marlyn Glen

Women and the Referendum

29 June 2012

Media froth claims that the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK has the alleged deficiency of “lacking passion” compared with that of the pro-independence movement.

Passion, however, is no substitution for reason, and we have been here before regularly in politics.

For “passion” read instead :

Style rather than substance

Personalities rather than policies

Assertion rather than evidence.

We are entitled to expect a case based on reasoned argument to be the mainstay of the pro- independence campaign, and the largest single group in Scotland that the pro-independence campaign needs to persuade of this is women.

Opinion polls in Scotland have consistently shown that women are far more sceptical than men of the case for independence.

Indeed, YouGov’s poll of those who voted SNP in last year’s Scottish Parliament elections found that that while 71 per cent of male SNP voters woud vote for an independent Scotland in a referendum, only a minority of female SNP voters – 45 per cent- would .

With women holding the key to the outcome of the Referendum, issues such as family, health, education and care of the elderly in an independent Scotland should be of primary concern.

So far though, much of the debate has focused predominantly on membership of NATO , and the size and location of Scotland’s armed forces, predominantly of interest to men.

Men were for the main part the front of the launch of the pro-independence campaign.

Male international stars jetted in or gave a video message to talk about their passion for Scotland, while at the same time unwittingly lending support to the observation that some of those who are the most enthusiastic for constitutional change are those who live furthest away from it.

The only matter even approaching a "women’s issue" if it could ever be called that, to be raised so far , concerns just one woman – Elizabeth II – who would remain head of state in an independent Scotland, according to the First Minister who now talks fondly of "Elizabeth, Queen of Scots"

Much of the media coverage of the referendum campaign has consisted of the process of the Referendum .

While they have engrossed themselves in matters such as one or two questions, Salmond meets Moore, devo-max, challenge in the courts, wording of the question, Alex Salmond may hold his own referendum , etc., etc., people in Scotland have told pollsters what their own real, important issues are - the economy (51%) ; Unemployment ( 21%); education (21%) , public spending cuts ("20%) and independence only 16 per cent) - Future Scotland poll.

And it appears that most have already made up their minds on how they’ll be voting in the Referendum.

Polls tell us that amongst those expressing a voting intention for any party , only 13 per are undecided on how they will vote.

The figures drops to 11 per cent amongst those who say they are certain to vote.

Polling predicts that turn out could rise to almost 80 per cent

So, if these polls are accurate, then the rival campaigns will be competing for a relative small minority of voters.

Undecided women voters who are still waiting for the debate to begin on their preferred issues of importance, will also have the record of the Nationalists in power to consider.

Women make up the majority of the workforce in many parts of the public sector such as the NHS and local government.

The experience of women there has been the loss of thousands of nursing posts in the NHS , and thousands too in councils across Scotland.

Political representation should mirror civic society.

Yet, the gender balance amongst SNP MSPs is only 19 women out of 69 in toal ( just over 1 in 4 )

Jenny Marra’s amendment to the Police and Fire Reform Bill, calling for a minimum representation of 40 per cent women and 40 % men on the new single police board was voted down by the SNP at the Bill’s committee stage.

At present, the pro-independence tactic is to soothe away fears and misgivings about separating with a "you won’t notice the difference" assurance - the £ will be retained ( under foreign control), the Queen will remain as head of state, and Scotland will be a member of NATO.

Such " the more things change, the more they remain the same" approaches are double-edged, which will leave many women concluding, "Why change at all, then?"

And there’s yet another matter of importance to women.

I’ve written before that ,

"It's the heckling, name-calling, rudeness, finger pointing, aggressive, competitive, ego-preening behaviour of some male politicians that turn a lot of women off politics."

The broadcaster, Lesley Riddoch, in that vein, makes this important observation on what may await women over the next two years of the campaign.

"Women are generally dubious about men with an overriding sense of mission or a throbbing vein on the forehead when they speak.

"Toughing out controversy and appearing to spoil for a fight may earn respect from male commentators and small armies of cyber-angry, anonymous men.

"Clever dick answers, snide-sounding put downs and swaggering arrogance turn off watching women as swiftly as they appear to engage watching men. "

Let’s hope as well that the referendum campaign can produce a new national identity that replaces the obstinately masculine Scottish identity through symbols such as Wallace, Bruce, and a separate Scottish international football team.

Let’s include women in that identity , let's celebrate their achievements and their potential in post-Referendum Scotland .... and let's be aware that Scotland’s male international football team’s FIFA world ranking is currently 41; Scotland’s international female football team’s FIFA world ranking is 21.

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