Today's guest columnist, Nadeem Murtuja: Systematic inequality is not really a choice

Well, well, well, after years of organised and systematic abuse of the most vulnerable people in our society, finally we find a Tory with a conscience that (almost) confessed that the welfare cuts proposed on the disabled are not only ideological they are simply indefensible.

Iain Duncan Smith or IDS has single-handedly exposed Cameron’s vision of a Big Society, which is principally about creating a two tier state where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer – I get a feeling that IDS will soon be known as IBS to this Tory Government Talking about a two-tier system, I’m afraid we have similar problems in Doncaster too, that have nothing to do with the Government, for example in a recent report published by the Council it stated that despite the fact that Doncaster’s population is only half the size of Sheffield’s we have twice the people in long term care. One has to ask the question how can this be possible, why do our elderly people have such poor outcomes compared to people living only 19 miles away? It would be unfair to pin this completely on the Council, but one has to ask what do we get for the £140m that the Council spends, and why is that £4.7m overspent, is the incompetence of people to not able to scrutinise and manage budgets the fault of the Government or the hard working struggling families that now have to suffer an increase in their Council tax bill, whilst many have to balance that with a trip to the food bank?

People in power would have you believe it is the fault of austerity. If that’s the case one has to ask the questions is it austerity that took away one’s competence and moral conscience to collect intelligence so that services could be properly commissioned, is it the fault of black and ethnic minorities that health needs assessment are still more than 10 years out of date? Were these people in these highly paid positions on holiday, asleep, weren’t they paid - the answer to all of this is NO!!

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Did you know for decades people living in our poorest neighbourhoods on average die 10-15 years earlier then someone only living a street away, that specific people are more likely to suffer type 2 diabetes, that young girls in those areas are likely to get pregnant and many children and young people will continue to suffer academically, whilst at the same time we have services for women fleeing domestic violence shutting down? So the next time you see our leaders celebrate an erection of a road, ask this: “how will this change anything for the most vulnerable and deprived people in the Doncaster family?” The fact is inequality for these people is not a choice, it is systematically imposed, if that’s not the sign of a two-tier system then I don’t know what is.