Outbroke Britain 2: Keep On Working!

Yesterday a brown envelope arrived. Wafted through my door on a breeze of indifference. The machinations of the DWP are immune to Covid. Of course I didn't need X Ray vision to tell what it contained; a sixth sense has been honed over the years. Not the bite of a radioactive spider, more the kiss of death.

Even descending pandemic and subsequent economic upheaval do nothing to deter the bureaucracy of the rulgin class. There is no escape from their attentions and so in three weeks an appointment - albeit over the phone (something at least) - will materialise. Conjured into being by people whose expectations seem...bizarre. What exactly do they expect to discuss? Have they been somewhere else these last few months? I can't even complete my assessment with the Aspergers people, booked at the start of the year, because of the situation. I have no idea what they can reasonably expect people to do in the current environment.

Maybe they will relent. The person could just be ringing me up because that's what he has to do. That's the best case scenario but it all it does is demonstrate how profoundly out of touch they are. You might think it reasonable to just leave people alone for a while, perhaps even a year, while this virus thing resolves (hopefully!). But no, even a pandemic is no respite.

Ok enough histrionics. The reality is that I knew this was coming. I also know the DWP is a crushing bureaucracy that isn't built to help people find work; it's purpose is to mitigate as many claims as possible while maintaining the reserve army of labour intrinsic to capitalism (whether or not the DWP understands this is another matter). However, let's be pragmatic: what on earth can this achieve? Yes there are jobs to be had, but there's also looming recession and virus. Can the jobcentre really guarantee my safety? Ought we not be focusing on keeping people safe? I can't imagine there are too many work programme type schemes currently active, and if there are where are they? How do I get there if I can't even get an appointment for an Aspergers diagnosis?

It would be strange priorities that health care provision is (understandably) compromised - but the mechanisms to coral the unemployed into providing acceptable results continue regardless. I don't know if that's actually the case, surely not?