Fundamentally we all would like to go through life as "good Samaritans" - surely! By "good Samaritan" I mean someone who spontaneously (or even systematically) helps other people who are struggling and cannot cope - people who have had a setback beyond their own ability to help themselves.The deserving - those in need. As 4 nations I believe the UK has always been a compassionate country and I have no doubt our heart is in the right place.
However there are increasingly other considerations too. It is natural that no one enjoys being made a fool of - of being hoodwinked - of being gullible. There is also the reality of precious resources - time, money, infrastructure, space/land and housing stock in short supply - they should be used wisely of course. How do these considerations impact on our spontaneous "good Samaritan" instincts.
Well I think a deep lying cynicism has set in with the general public. This feeling has been built up over many years (and is in fact a core motivation in the Brexit vote.) I count myself as one of them affected. No longer do I feel an easy and truly spontaneous willingness to help the needy. The willingness - the desire to help is still there - but my compassion has been affected (and probably diminished) by a belief that too often our generosity has been misplaced and in fact what is really happening is our gullibility is being too often exploited as weakness by the self interested chancers, by the feckless and by the criminal. Complicit too is an over weaning political correctness and stifling "victim mentality" pedalled by the great and the good - and of course the doctrinaire socialists still fighting a class war. Their naivety is costing us - both emotionally and financially - and in fact it is costing the truly needy too.
Before I attempt to put some meat on the bones of my argument I want to tackle head on the much banded about statement - " the UK is the 5th richest country in the world." In GDP terms that might be true. In reality our national debt is terrifying. £ 1,690,771,327,225 (£1.6 trillion) - about £60000 of debt for every individual working in the UK. Each year the government is spending (despite so called austerity) £80 billion a year more than our income. This equates to over £3000 extra indebtedness per year for every person working in the UK. See the UK National Debt Clock http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/ Our national debt is increasing by about £5170 per second. Now are we one of the richest countries in the world? The average person in the UK realises we are not - realises we are perilously close to bankruptcy - and the responsible thing to do is to try and get it under control rather than burden future generations with our excesses. This is the backdrop - this is the reality on which our charity has to draw. (the cost of our help will either be paid by increasing our national debt - or by cutting spending elsewhere/increasing the tax take.) I here hollers of Trident, HS2 and bankers bonuses from some. ( I do not have the space to counter these calls now - save to say they are a cheap shot - and not credible as a solution to our wider and ongoing budgetary problems.)
I also want to make a point about population density. London is in the top 25 highest populated cities in the world and the largest city in Europe. England is the 2nd densest populated country in Europe and the SE of England the most densest populated area in Europe. We are only the 11th largest EU country in geographical size terms - France and Spain are twice our size and Germany more than 50% bigger. With current trends by 2030 it is projected we will have the largest population in the EU. Net population growth is running at plus 300,000 extra migrants per year. We are increasingly gridlocked. Productivity is hopeless because our infrastructure is creaking and consequently so inefficient. All areas are under pressure for building. Vast urbanisation is on the march. There is a massive shortage of houses because there is a shortage of land if you want to preserve areas of natural beauty and the green belt (which most people believe is essential).
Ok - back to benevolence - back to giving - and the increasing malaise. The first consideration now when faced for a request for help often is - is it a genuine need or am I being duped?
As examples of my thinking I have chosen two topical areas where as individuals and as a society we are being asked to be good Samaritans on a massive scale. They are welfare benefits and refugees.
Welfare - who would deny helping someone who have previously contributed to the system when they could - but have fallen on hard times - who are now unable to work for health or disability reasons or who are trying their hardest to find work. Very few. Not me. I believe in the original concept of the Welfare State. I want to support it. I am proud of it. I want to help people like this.
Refugees fleeing death and persecution. Of course we want to offer sanctuary - in the UK if it is the best solution but usually by helping to create/fund sanctuary at the nearest safe haven to their homeland so that in due course they can return when it is safe. We believe it is our human obligation to do so - we want to help of course.
But then the BUTS.
People believe in the Welfare State but many also believe it is out of control. They believe there are too many people exploiting the system - claiming help when it is not really justified or is outright fraudulent. They believe there are too many people making a benefits funded life style a life style of choice. They believe there are many people claiming disability benefit that are actually fit to work in some capacity. They believe the high level of benefits can be a disincentive to work. They believe the words "living in poverty" bar is set too high - they are living in relative poverty maybe - but not actual poverty.
Most people believe we should help genuine refugees - but for practical reasons not economic migrants (or refugees not motivated primarily by safety needs but by a desire to just to be in the UK and are prepared to break in to achieve it). They see we are not looking after our own properly and it is easy to be upset when migrants jump ahead. Recently there was the episode of clearing the Calais camp. For a start many people questioned whether they were genuine refugees rather than economic migrants in the first place. What did create a negative was the refugee charities and media referring to "help children" - only to find out the children were strong looking young men obsessed with getting to the UK and nowhere else would do.
CONSEQUENCES of the BUTS
If the public lose faith in the administration and fairness of the Welfare State it tends to create wide spread negativity towards benefit claimants (and the agencies and politicians that support them) - including of course the ones in genuine need. This is not good - the good Samaritans compassion becomes jaded. He or she can no longer see someone in need of help - but first thinks - scrounger - or are they trying it on. They resent politicians who argue for increased welfare and helping the poor. Everyone who is on benefits is tarred with the same brush - they are all at it - all ripping us off!
When it comes to refugees many people have lost faith in a system that appears to be unable to properly differentiate between someone needing to be here because their life is imperilled and someone one that wants to be here to improve their economic lot. Consequently many people are fed up with the whole refugee/migrant issue and want to pull up the drawbridge regardless of need.
SOCIETY HAS BECOME POLARISED
There are people who believe in Welfare - and are negative towards any system of testing or rationing. They refer to the poor (not relatively poor). Others increasingly believe benefit claimants are scroungers - full stop - and a dead weight on the country.
There are others who feel migrants are all the same. They are here as a lifestyle choice.They are economic migrants. We don't need them. The country is already too full. Others argue we are all citizens of the world. What is ours is theirs - we are all sharing the same planet. They believe there is no real difference between refugees and economic migrants - they are just one and the same people - looking for a better life.
CAN WE GET BACK TO ALL BEING GOOD SAMARITANS ?
What will it take? How can we arrest the jaded and often negative reaction to those in need? I think the answer is this:
Those that make the case for welfare and helping refugees need to acknowledge there is a problem of compassion fatigue - that society is becoming polarised - that many of the public have lost faith in the merit of helping - that we are being gullible - that the tax payer - the citizen - is being ripped off.
There has to be some acknowledgement that financial resources and space resources are in short supply in this country - that we cannot help everyone - that there has to be a system that manages and distributes the resources we have to the people that most need it.
If the advocates of welfare do not do this but continue to heckle and bully society to give a blank cheque book they will loose support for even the real needy by default. It is happening.
Those who have become jaded deep down want to be compassionate - they do want to help the needy but they need reassurance that their compassion is not being abused.
THE NEED FOR VIGOUROUS TESTING
It might be unpalatable to some - "an infringement of human rights" - how dare you question me - test me! - but I see the only way forward if we are to overcome this polarisation and bring the country together in a common and good purpose is to ensure we are not being gullible and to be able to prove it as such - to be able to demonstrate that those receiving help properly qualify.
So for example - "the Calais children" needed to be children in the terms the public understood. There needed to be some sort of test when there was doubt. As there was doubt - the public feel conned. Negativity created towards all the migrants.
When it comes to benefits - of course those claiming disability need to be checked. Of course co habiting people claiming to be single have to monitored. Of course there has to be a benefit cap. Of course those that claim they cannot get a job have to be seen to be really trying to get one.
The general public understand the more people get away with things - the more they swing the lead - the more people will do it - more and more will jump on the bandwagon. This is very unhealthy for society and in the end will cost the ones who most need genuine help too.
THERE IS COMPASSION AVAILABLE - WE ARE ALL GOOD SAMARITANS AT HEART - BUT PLEASE DON'T TREAT US AS FOOLS!
However there are increasingly other considerations too. It is natural that no one enjoys being made a fool of - of being hoodwinked - of being gullible. There is also the reality of precious resources - time, money, infrastructure, space/land and housing stock in short supply - they should be used wisely of course. How do these considerations impact on our spontaneous "good Samaritan" instincts.
Well I think a deep lying cynicism has set in with the general public. This feeling has been built up over many years (and is in fact a core motivation in the Brexit vote.) I count myself as one of them affected. No longer do I feel an easy and truly spontaneous willingness to help the needy. The willingness - the desire to help is still there - but my compassion has been affected (and probably diminished) by a belief that too often our generosity has been misplaced and in fact what is really happening is our gullibility is being too often exploited as weakness by the self interested chancers, by the feckless and by the criminal. Complicit too is an over weaning political correctness and stifling "victim mentality" pedalled by the great and the good - and of course the doctrinaire socialists still fighting a class war. Their naivety is costing us - both emotionally and financially - and in fact it is costing the truly needy too.
Before I attempt to put some meat on the bones of my argument I want to tackle head on the much banded about statement - " the UK is the 5th richest country in the world." In GDP terms that might be true. In reality our national debt is terrifying. £ 1,690,771,327,225 (£1.6 trillion) - about £60000 of debt for every individual working in the UK. Each year the government is spending (despite so called austerity) £80 billion a year more than our income. This equates to over £3000 extra indebtedness per year for every person working in the UK. See the UK National Debt Clock http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/ Our national debt is increasing by about £5170 per second. Now are we one of the richest countries in the world? The average person in the UK realises we are not - realises we are perilously close to bankruptcy - and the responsible thing to do is to try and get it under control rather than burden future generations with our excesses. This is the backdrop - this is the reality on which our charity has to draw. (the cost of our help will either be paid by increasing our national debt - or by cutting spending elsewhere/increasing the tax take.) I here hollers of Trident, HS2 and bankers bonuses from some. ( I do not have the space to counter these calls now - save to say they are a cheap shot - and not credible as a solution to our wider and ongoing budgetary problems.)
I also want to make a point about population density. London is in the top 25 highest populated cities in the world and the largest city in Europe. England is the 2nd densest populated country in Europe and the SE of England the most densest populated area in Europe. We are only the 11th largest EU country in geographical size terms - France and Spain are twice our size and Germany more than 50% bigger. With current trends by 2030 it is projected we will have the largest population in the EU. Net population growth is running at plus 300,000 extra migrants per year. We are increasingly gridlocked. Productivity is hopeless because our infrastructure is creaking and consequently so inefficient. All areas are under pressure for building. Vast urbanisation is on the march. There is a massive shortage of houses because there is a shortage of land if you want to preserve areas of natural beauty and the green belt (which most people believe is essential).
Ok - back to benevolence - back to giving - and the increasing malaise. The first consideration now when faced for a request for help often is - is it a genuine need or am I being duped?
As examples of my thinking I have chosen two topical areas where as individuals and as a society we are being asked to be good Samaritans on a massive scale. They are welfare benefits and refugees.
Welfare - who would deny helping someone who have previously contributed to the system when they could - but have fallen on hard times - who are now unable to work for health or disability reasons or who are trying their hardest to find work. Very few. Not me. I believe in the original concept of the Welfare State. I want to support it. I am proud of it. I want to help people like this.
Refugees fleeing death and persecution. Of course we want to offer sanctuary - in the UK if it is the best solution but usually by helping to create/fund sanctuary at the nearest safe haven to their homeland so that in due course they can return when it is safe. We believe it is our human obligation to do so - we want to help of course.
But then the BUTS.
People believe in the Welfare State but many also believe it is out of control. They believe there are too many people exploiting the system - claiming help when it is not really justified or is outright fraudulent. They believe there are too many people making a benefits funded life style a life style of choice. They believe there are many people claiming disability benefit that are actually fit to work in some capacity. They believe the high level of benefits can be a disincentive to work. They believe the words "living in poverty" bar is set too high - they are living in relative poverty maybe - but not actual poverty.
Most people believe we should help genuine refugees - but for practical reasons not economic migrants (or refugees not motivated primarily by safety needs but by a desire to just to be in the UK and are prepared to break in to achieve it). They see we are not looking after our own properly and it is easy to be upset when migrants jump ahead. Recently there was the episode of clearing the Calais camp. For a start many people questioned whether they were genuine refugees rather than economic migrants in the first place. What did create a negative was the refugee charities and media referring to "help children" - only to find out the children were strong looking young men obsessed with getting to the UK and nowhere else would do.
CONSEQUENCES of the BUTS
If the public lose faith in the administration and fairness of the Welfare State it tends to create wide spread negativity towards benefit claimants (and the agencies and politicians that support them) - including of course the ones in genuine need. This is not good - the good Samaritans compassion becomes jaded. He or she can no longer see someone in need of help - but first thinks - scrounger - or are they trying it on. They resent politicians who argue for increased welfare and helping the poor. Everyone who is on benefits is tarred with the same brush - they are all at it - all ripping us off!
When it comes to refugees many people have lost faith in a system that appears to be unable to properly differentiate between someone needing to be here because their life is imperilled and someone one that wants to be here to improve their economic lot. Consequently many people are fed up with the whole refugee/migrant issue and want to pull up the drawbridge regardless of need.
SOCIETY HAS BECOME POLARISED
There are people who believe in Welfare - and are negative towards any system of testing or rationing. They refer to the poor (not relatively poor). Others increasingly believe benefit claimants are scroungers - full stop - and a dead weight on the country.
There are others who feel migrants are all the same. They are here as a lifestyle choice.They are economic migrants. We don't need them. The country is already too full. Others argue we are all citizens of the world. What is ours is theirs - we are all sharing the same planet. They believe there is no real difference between refugees and economic migrants - they are just one and the same people - looking for a better life.
CAN WE GET BACK TO ALL BEING GOOD SAMARITANS ?
What will it take? How can we arrest the jaded and often negative reaction to those in need? I think the answer is this:
Those that make the case for welfare and helping refugees need to acknowledge there is a problem of compassion fatigue - that society is becoming polarised - that many of the public have lost faith in the merit of helping - that we are being gullible - that the tax payer - the citizen - is being ripped off.
There has to be some acknowledgement that financial resources and space resources are in short supply in this country - that we cannot help everyone - that there has to be a system that manages and distributes the resources we have to the people that most need it.
If the advocates of welfare do not do this but continue to heckle and bully society to give a blank cheque book they will loose support for even the real needy by default. It is happening.
Those who have become jaded deep down want to be compassionate - they do want to help the needy but they need reassurance that their compassion is not being abused.
THE NEED FOR VIGOUROUS TESTING
It might be unpalatable to some - "an infringement of human rights" - how dare you question me - test me! - but I see the only way forward if we are to overcome this polarisation and bring the country together in a common and good purpose is to ensure we are not being gullible and to be able to prove it as such - to be able to demonstrate that those receiving help properly qualify.
So for example - "the Calais children" needed to be children in the terms the public understood. There needed to be some sort of test when there was doubt. As there was doubt - the public feel conned. Negativity created towards all the migrants.
When it comes to benefits - of course those claiming disability need to be checked. Of course co habiting people claiming to be single have to monitored. Of course there has to be a benefit cap. Of course those that claim they cannot get a job have to be seen to be really trying to get one.
The general public understand the more people get away with things - the more they swing the lead - the more people will do it - more and more will jump on the bandwagon. This is very unhealthy for society and in the end will cost the ones who most need genuine help too.
THERE IS COMPASSION AVAILABLE - WE ARE ALL GOOD SAMARITANS AT HEART - BUT PLEASE DON'T TREAT US AS FOOLS!
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