Blair's Broken Society

We live in a broken society, according to Iain Duncan Smith and the Centre for Social Justice.

As quoted in The Times (full article available at http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article2075194.ece), Iain Duncan Smith says:

“I have been visiting many of Britain’s most difficult and fractured communities… I have seen levels of social breakdown which have appalled and angered me.”

One of the places Duncan Smith has visited is Glasgow, where 50% of income is unearned (i.e. it comes from benefits) and a third of people of working age are economically inactive. The same picture is being painted across the UK. Family breakdown is attributed to some of the reason for the growing gulf between rich and poor: children from broken homes are 75% more likely to fail school, 70% more likely to get a criminal record, 70% more likely to develop a drug dependancy, and 50% more likely to suffer alcohol problems…

…and Blair and Brown have spent the last decade encouraging this. A couple with two earners and a combined income of £35,000 would be £5,500 pounds a year better off if they split up, thanks to Brown’s crazy tax credit calculations.