I have the honour of having my Ch4 Dispatches documentary, now available online, reviewed by Michael White in the Guardian today. I think he was expecting me to lay into Labour, and critiques the show as if I did. In general, I seem to be charged with being in possession of opinions about inequality while being right-wing. I plead guilty, but would still like to offer up a few points in mitigation.
First, let’s take the original headline of his piece: ‘Fraser Nelson’s Dispatches show blames Labour for inequality.’ I don’t. As I say right at the start:
‘Decades of government policy intended to help the poorest is now hurting them instead.’
Blame lies with all parties: hence ‘decades’, which extend into the Thatcher years and the start of incapacity benefit buildup in the 1980s (the policy I had in mind in that sentence). To me, the heroes (and the villains) lie on both sides of the House of Commons.
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