4 ms·

What are you taking issue with? Keep in mind we're discussing the UK.

• the_af 12y ago
  The middle class cannot give what is not theirs to give. What if the working class stopped working?
  • ripb 12y ago
    Their taxes are theirs. It's through generosity that social programs are created and paid for through the general revenue. Although admittedly it has now backfired, as it's now easier to have children on welfare than it is for many working would-be parents. The working class WILL stop working and in the very near future, as basic jobs such as checkout staff, or taxis, become automated. It's an impending crisis.
  • pjc50 12y ago
    Well, what if the middle class stopped working? Have we forgotten the teachers strikes? Admittedly it doesn't have the same immediate effect as the miner's strike turning the lights out. But healthcare and education are very stereotypical middle class occupations.
    • keithpeter 12y ago
      Trying to organise teachers to strike indefinitely is basically impossible as no teacher wants to damage the chances of their students. So a replay of the miners' strike of the mid 1980s will not happen (and I'm sort of glad about that given the permanent polarisation that action caused in the communities most affected). In the modern UK, an indefinite school teachers' strike would cause significant disruption as most families have both parents working. My colleagues might manage a token one day strike now and again, but basically that is your lot. What is termed 'action short of a strike' can actually be more effective in certain circumstances. Cutting off the flow of data really bothers the management but the everyday work of the institution continues; students continue to be taught, to have work marked and to receive feedback designed to improve their understanding of the material.