Vile product of privileged middle England:

Child killer, Mick Philpott was an unemployed, benefits claiming, abusive ex- convict, living a life of a celebrity, enjoying a reputation created in reality TV offices. After several appearances on programmes such as Jeremy Kyle, Philpott 56, enjoyed a reputation of a bit of rogue, living his sordid fantasy with a wife his mistress and many of his 17 children in a council house. He was thought to be claiming up to £60,000 a year in benefits.

Is it the fault of TV executives who chose to put him on screen despite it been clear that he was completely devoid of any morals or is it the fault of the benefits system that allowed him the luxuries he enjoyed without forcing him to work?  Or is it simply nobody’s fault but Mick Philpott’s?

Yesterday, the Daily Mail bigots declared in its obscene headline that Philpott was a product of the welfare state – implying that the actions of an evil man who killed 6 of his own children was typical of people on benefits.

For decades the rich, privileged, middle class, well bred, privately educated journalists have tried to paint a picture of working class Britain, that bares absolutely no resemblance to anything few actual working class people have ever seen.

Multi- millionaire Chancellor George Osbourne could barely conceal his glee when appearing on TV to state that Mick Philpotts’ conviction justifies changes to the welfare system.

   I have lived on council estates for 42 years. I have never met anyone who has burned down their house. I have never met anyone who has 17 children. I, have never met anyone who lives with his wife and mistress nor have I ever met anyone that has appeared on Jeremy Kyle. Mick Philpott was not the norm. Mick Philpott was, thankfully, an exception – a very bad exception.

Last year when heavy snow made the steep road on which I live, impassible, it was not the council that came to clear it, it was the residents. Young, old, employed and unemployed, whoever was able, did what they could. Men and women together shovelled the ice and snow until road was clear and passable so that the elderly and the vulnerable could get about safely, so that the children could get to school. While the able shovelled the unable brought out cups of tea (and cigarettes for those that smoked) and sandwiches and biscuits. It took a couple of hours of hard work in freezing cold temperatures but we came together as a community to help each other achieve a common goal. It made me proud to belong to such a community. Neighbouring private estates were left untouched for days but on my council estate the working class men and women had joined forces and to completely clear all traces before the gritters even arrived.

That community spirit which made feel proud to be a part of, did not represent the picture that the Daily Mail journalists and deluded politicians want us to believe in. The benefits culture where shirkers are laying in bed watching their plasmas is simply not what is happening. The workers leaving home in a morning are not passing the closed curtains of people better off without a job. They are usually passing curtains that are closed because the unfortunate souls living behind them cannot afford to put on the heating, and have no reason to get out of bed because there are no jobs. Many of the scroungers living a life of luxury on benefits that the Daily Mail describes as scum, are recently unemployed  as a result of bad Government policy. Many more are employed but claiming benefits because they do not earn sufficient money to pay extortionate fuel bills and put food on the table for their families. Many of these low paid, forced to claim hand outs, workers will be even worse off if Tory plans to reduce minimum wage and do away with workers rights are pushed through.

Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith says the poor are over exaggerating their plight and that he knows because he has lived on the breadline, being unemployed twice. Living on benefits for a couple weeks after years serving in the military earning a decent living, and being the son of a Navy captain, is not the same as living in absolute poverty because you don’t have any friends or relatives who are well off enough to bail you out. His ludicrous claims are yet another example of just how far out of touch with the lower classes the middle classes and political classes are.

A survey on the BBC website, this week claimed to be able to judge your class with 5 simple questions based on whether you own your house, if you have a job and if you go to the theatre. Absolute nonsense! If I work 70 hours a week as a security guard on minimum wage and my wife works part time in a chip shop giving us a combined income of about £26,000 allowing us to visit an art gallery once every three years does not make me middle class. The media and the politicians of all parties have sought for decades to make working class a dirty tag to be ashamed of, telling us all that we should aspire to be middle class. If being a judgemental, bigoted fool that discriminates and looks down his nose at people worse off than himself, that points the finger of accusation at the decent majority when the bastard minority act appallingly, is what being middle class means than I don’t want to be it.

I will take the security of a council estate where jobless neighbours knock on your door at midnight to ask you if you realised that you’ve left a window open. Where elderly people and fit and able people do as much as they can to help make each other’s existence a better experience. I will continue to work while ever I am able and pay my way honestly and decently while striving to provide financial security for my family and I will gladly continue to be working class. The outrageous sewing's of hatred and conceit from the middle classes this week should make decent people sick. Tarring all people on benefits with the same brush as Philpott or trying to justify benefits reform because of him is akin to saying all Italian footballers must be fascists. Owen Jones, the baby faced (working class) author of the best- selling book “Chavs” used the comparison of Dr Harold Shipman being held up as a benchmark for the middle classes.. It is of course a ridiculous idea. The fact is that some wealthy, well educated people with good jobs will commit awful crimes. There will be middle classed monsters and there will be poor, unemployed benefits claiming monsters. There is no connection between a man’s class and a man’s ability to be a monster. Likewise, there is no link to a man’s class and a man’s ability to be an honest decent compassionate human being.