Eye of the Storm 1: Sanctions are back!

They plan to fine you if your kids don't go back to school in September.

Will that money be used to help poor kids who can't get a meal? Will it help society in any way? No. This just another revenue stream designed to go only one way. File under Domic Cummings Disaster Fund.

Meanwhile, Jobcentres are to reopen and, with predictable nastiness, sanctions will be reinstated (assuming they ever went away, which I seriously doubt).

We are in the eye of the storm at this point, but there is no calm. Instead only uncertainty. Being called in for a Work Focused Interview, which, in normal times, would be on the horizon over the end of the Summer, isn't something I imagine I can escape. If I cam called in, and the Jobcentres are indeed open, that means i will be obliged to travel. Whether they will make exceptions for people like me I don't know. But then who does; there is no negotiation with these people. The edicts of cruelty come from on high. A privileged denizen of Whitehall with no fucking clue as to what impact her policies hold. Instead it's the usual "sanctions help people" mantra. Never mind that we are staring down the barrel of a collapsing economy and labour market. They may have a hell of a time pushing this through.

Animals tend to live in fear, in nature. Not a comforting thought, but that is what it means to live as prey. Sadly we are that. To live in the working class can be endless stressful precisely because of the nature of that class: lacking the means to self sufficiency because it was historically stolen by capitalists. As if three months of corona lockdown and nationwide hardship (and death) wasn't enough, you now face financial ruin if you don't comply. This could - and should - get very ugly.

How will social distancing work in these places? Will they reopen the WCA centres? The one in town has a waiting room that would preclude social distancing for sure. How easy it would be for belligerent assessors to use the crisis to accuse a client of bad behaviour. Will you be expected to wear a mask? What if you turn up and start coughing? Could be an interesting, if contentious, way of getting out of an appointment?

I cannot imagine a Work Focused Interview being productive given the current climate. Can they mandate people to attend courses? How can they guarantee their safety? There are so many questions that of course the Tories will not have considered. All that matters to them is to see business as usual. Indeed one could argue that it is in their interests to manage claimants more severely so as to keep the predicted unemployment rate from skyrocketing. It is set to mirror levels during the 80's when Thatcher cooked the books, transferring people from the dole to the sick so they didn't count toward the official figures. Now with Universal Credit that can't really work so the alternative would be the micromanage their claim malevolently; essentially cutting people off state support altogether.

Watch this space.