is the level of inequality. There is substantial evidence to support
this. The collective wealth of the populous is unevenly distributed and
those worst offer suffer considerably worse life outcomes.
What does that mean in reality? The rich live longer. They live
healthier lives with less suffering. They live free while the poor are
fettered. Their potential is never realised. The change in the UK
government to a right-wing ideology as the main part in the coalition
government could mean this situation gets even worse. The assumption is
a right-wing party will aim to benefit the rich and thereby increase
Britain's spread of unequal opportunity, quality of life and quantity of
life.
Changes to the Legal Aid system over the last decade have begun a shift
towards greater inequality before the change in government. The Legal
Aid system was the guarantee that the UK justice system was fair and
that Lady Justice was truly blind. Wealth would never tip her judgement.
It meant that the legal system was able to be accessed by the poorest
people, many of whom had mental illnesses and learning disabilities.
Recent changes to the system and the cutting of the Legal Services
Commission's budget during the last few years of a Labour government
during a time of prosperity has meant the availability, access and
quality of service has been slashed for the poorest and most disabled
people. The impact of this change has yet to be fully assessed.
Private medical care is the privelidge of the wealthy and I've had
private mental healthcare. It is considerably better than NHS mental
healthcare and forms what NHS care should be striving towards. Now I use
NHS care and very rarely. It is a totally different experience. It is a
decade or two ahead of NHS care and it is not surprising given the
higher costs. The wealthy (and, in my case, those privileged by a
medical family) can afford a higher level of mental and physical
healthcare. The vast majority of the UK population who use NHS services
get worse results: they die sooner, they're more ill and they suffer more.
The impact of the inequalities in the UK, inequalities that are not
unsolvable, is perhaps most significant for those on state welfare and
on minimum wage. They will live the shortest lives. There will be many
more of them suffering intolerable pain than the percentage of unhappy
rich people. Their lives will be limited, their ability to partake as
full members of society fettered and their potential to contribute to
the common good wasted by a nation so blind as to think any person is
more or less equal and therefore deserves more or less in life.
The impact of inequalities is probably worse felt in the children of
those on benefits or disabled. They will live considerably shorter lives
and will likely be disadvantaged on every measure. Children who are
supported by the state, i.e. looked after by social services, are most
vulnerable to shifts in funding caused by changes in government
priorities. Anyone who's ever been in a psychiatric ward has little to
complain about if they've ever been in a childrens home.
As I've written this my mood has dipped and I have a degree of fear for
those at the very bottom of UK society. I know that the ideology of the
party doesn't matter as much as what they do in practice and this is
where my hope lies. My hope is that the political coalition will offer
more opportunities for the power of the people to make change. Lobbyists
will also have more power but they whore their power to the highest
bidder and only the few true idealists will fight the good fight for
those most in need.
I hope my mood turns to anger. Expect a few rants.
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