The key challenge is to ensure everyone in our communities can afford a roof over their head and food on the table, as businesses and jobs go under, through no ones fault. And charities stay afloat.
Judging who deserves help and who can help themselves is expensive to administer, and we have learnt that universal credit, when allowed, can not feed someone and pay the bills. So it must be cheaper to give everyone a set income, of say £1000 a month.
Some people, like myself, do not need this money. But I will give it to my favorite charities. This too will save the government deciding which charities need help and which do not, many of which support our local governments who have little or no money in the pot either. It will also enable more people to afford to give their time to charity, allowing others to concentrate on on the fewer jobs available.
It may also help do away with food banks and the school meal arguments. Brilliant for emergancies but no way to feed the population of a civilised country.
In Finland, an experiment of this type did suggest the economy was not much improved, but people felt significantly happier. What a way to cheer the country up! And happy people will eventually spend more, and use the N.H.S. less.
A major opportunity provided by the COVID 19 pandemic is that we have all at last understood that we are all important and valuable, from the meat packers and cleaners, to the nurses and managers. Disabled or not. Let us capitalise on this – show everyone we are all important and we are all in this together.
Thank you for listening.
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