Dale-y Wail

I find Iain Dale's blog posts increasingly difficult to read due to a variety of factors, not least his pomposity. Yet, for some reason, he is one of those 'must-read' sites. Today he made a post which epitomises everything that irritates me about his blog - a post on a Daily Mail article about unemployment.

The article itself is a travesty of modern print-publishing. If I had the time, I'd take the article apart line-by-line. However, all I can afford is a couple of key thoughts based on quotes from the article itself:

1. "I wasn't expecting any sympathy. Just as well. I didn't get any. Just lots more questions about me, my wife, my children, my state of health, my nationality, whether I'd been abroad recently, how much savings I had."

If you weren't expecting any sympathy, why make a point out of the fact you didn't receive any. If you were expecting sympathy (which seems to be the case), why state the opposite?

The questions that were asked seem to me to be necessary in order to ensure that people do not fraudulently apply for benefits for which they are not entitled. This seems to me to be a sensible thing for a government to insist upon. Yes, it makes the process of applying for benefits slightly more burdensome for those with a legitimate claim than otherwise, but this is surely preferable to letting people (effectively) steal from the taxpayer.

2. "The 'system' that I had supported with tens of thousands of pounds over 35 years of work had treated me like a number".

The NHS assigns everyone a number. As does the DVLA. And banks. And schools, universities, exam boards. Modern databases require some form of unique identifier. Assigning such a unique number improves the efficiency with which services which rely on mass databases can operate. Such databases would not be possible if you did not uniquely identify individuals. Most people are 'treated as numbers' in most parts their everyday life and yet selectively complain about it. I find this bizarre.

3. "Outside I was overwhelmed with a sense of despair, humiliation, anger and helplessness. I called my wife. Although I find it hard to believe now, I uttered: 'I feel like throwing myself under a bus.'"

It seems to me that the reason the writer felt like this was because he was unemployed. Not because he'd had to answer a few questions at a JobCentre. Anybody who feels a desire to kill themselves because they are asked some personal questions for the purposes of receiving benefits should seek medical help.

4. "She had to fill in three potential areas of work for the job search she was going to conduct. I'm told that the workshy, feckless scroungers come up with all sorts of ambitious career goals so that they will never be matched to a job."

Does the writer consider himself a "workshy, feckless scrounger"? Applying such generalisations to those who seek help from the government in their time of need is unfortunate. Maybe some of the "workshy, feckless scroungers" referred to included individuals not too dissimilar to the writer himself? Most families receive some form of tax credit. We don't find derogatory ways of describing them, do we? A minority of people try and abuse the benefit system. However it is right that we have a form of social insurance in the event that individuals find their circumstances dramatically changed.

5. "The system"

Use of inverted comments, indeed use of the whole statement, makes my blood boil. It is unnecessary.

That Dale is so quick to promote shoddy writing and argumentation is disapointing from a self-styled right-of-centre pundit. I would have expected more thoughtful consideration. It seems to me desirable to have an efficient administration of our benefits system so as to minimise the impact on the taxpayer, and maximise the effectiveness of welfare programmes.

Dale evidently hasn't properly thought through the implications of providing some sort of one-on-one counselling for every claimant of Jobseekers allowance.

Benefits should be awarded on a firm but fair basis. The Daily Mail article gives me confidence that this is the case in reality, even if the writer feels ashamed for having to claim benefits.

That shame isn't the result of the Government. Rather, it is precisely the result of poor invective such as that exhibited in his own article.