ROD Slater’s excellent letter (Viewpoints, M.E.N. 7 June) makes the compelling point that this government (like others before it, of all stripes) is not considering “the dangers inherent in an unfair society.”
I’ve recently been rummaging around in the archives of the Working Class Movement Library, and can confirm the truth of the old adage “the poor are always with us.” What’s remarkable about the current situation, after 40 years of neoliberalism, is that the previously “secure” middle classes, for whom the systems largely worked (after a fashion), are also getting shafted. A good example of this is the report by Sophie Halle-Richards about leaseholders and cladding (“Demos over ‘unsafe’ apartments, M.E.N. 7 June).
I have a good friend who taught me an important saying – “you get exactly as much justice as you can compel.” This has always been the case, and is the challenge for those who know that we need a very different set of decision-making processes and priorities if our species is to survive much longer (I know that sounds like hyperbole, but it isn’t).
Marches, petitions, rallies, even letters to the newspaper – they are all necessary, but not sufficient. What will be sufficient is not so clear…
Dr Marc Hudson
marchudson.net 
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