As we enter 2013 I ask myself the question “will things be better this year or are we just going to continue as we have been doing?”  It becomes a difficult question to answer if you consider it from the perspective of some-one who has a job.  The question becomes more involved, “will I keep it”, “can I afford it” and one that increasingly appears to be raised “why should I work to keep others on the dole”.  I remember a conversation recently with a young girl in a shop.  She said she did not like her job and was thinking of quitting but would not get dole money for a few weeks if she did.  When I pointed out to her that whilst she had a job she was a) a productive member of society, b) occupied and so not bored and getting in to trouble; idle hands and all that;  and c) I was not seeing my tax being given to her for doing nothing.  However, she replied she wanted a better job.  I said I could not disagree with that but quitting was not the answer, after all would she give me money to stay at home, whilst she continued in her current job?  No she said.  I can understand her frustration when increasingly the shops are switching to machines at the check out and customer service is not something Boardrooms are bothered about, all they want is your money.  But having a job and providing people with the skills and knowledge to gain and hold down a job has to be the bed rock of any society.

So will things get better?

Well there are a number of things the government could do.  For example we have recently seen a number of fatal accidents at railway crossings why not employ some of the unemployed as railway crossing keepers. I had a colleague some years ago who prior to becoming a nurse was a railway crossing keeper and he said the job was simple it entailed “beating the train to the gates”.  Even if paid such people were paid a living rather than the minimum wage it would be cheaper than keeping them on the dole, bored, unproductive and importantly for taxpayers would save lives.  It is pretty difficult to drive through a solid wooden gate. 

Another possibility is to employ people as boarder control staff.    They could check every person and item entering this country, as they do in places like New Zealand and Australia, and by doing so ensure that those who are illegally trying to enter the country or trying to bring in illicit goods could be stopped at the boarder and sent straight back to where they came from.  We are an island and as such should be able to protect ourselves from unwanted guests.  I can hear the cries from the libertarians and as a Liberal Democrat I have some sympathy with those cries.  However, some years ago I suggested to the then Home Secretary that the answer to those looking for asylum was to have centres in their countries where they could start their asylum process.  The system would be simple enough people would report to the centre in their own country; this could be classed as a diplomatic mission and so provide security; and from there they would start the process of proving that they really were at risk and not just looking for a better life on the cheap.  Then if their claim checked out they could be offered asylum either in the enlarged diplomatic mission in their own country or brought to the United Kingdom.  This offers a number of solutions.  1) the diplomatic missions could be large enough to provide accommodation, employment and financial input in to a country that might be struggling to develop.  2) anyone being offered asylum would know from day one that if they failed to abide by British law they would be returned to their own country.  3) it would result in foreign aid being targeted at people in need and provide positive outcomes.  Such developments would also provide examples of how to be seen to be caring without simply just removing the problem.

But what of the original question if you are some-one without a job.  The future continues to look bleak.  The politicians continue to fight rather than come up with solutions.  The bankers continue to make money for themselves and leave small and medium businesses to struggle.  Senior managers in private and public sector continue to give themselves massive pay rises whilst failing to provide more jobs.  In fact in many cases senior managers and company executives are cutting jobs and with it the services people provide.  We see this in the shortage of police officers, nurses, teachers but also in lack of shop assistants, guards on trains and buses, the latter ones being in the private sector.  So there are potential jobs out there for the unemployed if only the politicians would think laterally or even think.  If, as we hear, there is to be a cap of £26,000 net a year on benefits, why not have the person you are paying £26,000 to working.  All the jobs I have mentioned about pay less than £26,000 gross.  So by moving the benefit money to the NHS or police or boarder agency we would be able to provide jobs directly and offer people employment.  It becomes a win win for everyone.  The unemployed get a job, society has more people providing services and the Treasurer saves money because it gets tax and national insurance back from the workers rather than just hand out money, an increasing percentage of which ends up in the hands of the bookies.

So “will things be better this year or are we just going to continue as we have been doing?”  I can only hope they will and that the ideas people have are taken up by the politicians.  But if the politicians and society continue blame each other and fail to work together, then the rich will continue to get richer by keeping their head down and the poor will continue to get poorer and increase in number so their head will continue to hang low.

It is time to make changes but maybe now the only way is for ordinary people to start making their voice heard.

Happy New Year.