A Big Boy Did An' Ran Awey...

Why do the Lib Dems get all the dirty assignments? .. Silly question. A more pertinent enquiry would be: why do the Lib Dems accept all the dirty assignments? Do they like them? Are they so keen to serve their Tory "friends" that they volunteer... Me Sir, me Sir, oh please Sir...!

Anyway. I watched Danny Alexander on the Politics Show earlier today. He had been put up to defend the latest workfare scheme from the ToryDems. The new system means that work previously done by criminal on Community Service will, in future, be done by unemployed people... or else their benefits will be cut.

It's an American scheme which has been bought by Iain Duncan Smith and it shows all the humanity for which American social policy is renowned.....no wonder the ToryDems have adopted it as their own.

I only watched the beginning of the interview (better things to do....neuter the cat, count the autumn leaves falling on the patio...), but Danny's defence became clear very quickly. It was Labour's fault. By not bringing in a workfare system before now, Labour was condemning "these people" to ... something nasty, something Danny didn't actully describe or identify, but nasty just the same. And it was all Labour's fault. Did you get that? Labour did it, it's their fault...

We've grown used to every coalition minister parroting the mantra that the recession is the fault of the last Labour government. They've rehearsed it and, by gum, if there's a microphone in the vicinity, they're going to say it, loud and clear. Did the bankers play any part? A banker? What's that? No, it was the last Labour government that made the UK mirror Greece...

Now it seems that "Labour did it and ran a way" is becoming the all purpose excuse for any policy that might be a tad unpopular. So when unemployment goes through the roof, or your grannie gets her home help cut, or the council is forced to cut the number of teachers or social workers, or the police melt away from your street, the cry will go up from ToryDem ministers:

"It was Labour wot done it. It's our policy, but it's their fault....".

Got it?