Oh dear, still no coherent or compelling narrative emerging to challenge the endless repetition of the Tory mantra:  it has to be this way, this is the only way, it was Labour’s fault anyway.  OK, I get that we don’t do Revolution.  It’s a bit cold and damp here for any of this Tahir Square-type stuff, too. I understand that.  And when I first came to Britain all those years ago, it was the all pervading tolerance was one of the things that grabbed me.  That and the general sense of communal responsibility.  Well we all know where that went, with the abrupt dismissal of the concept of “society” from the public discourse by Our Maggie.

But even so, we could oppose more forcefully, more coherently? Especially now, as the evidence of the harm and pain created by so many of the current policies grows daily.  This government doesn’t do evidence, it’s true,  dogma-driven as it is.  “Mr Cobber’s” message discipline is so strong that even when the Mental Health Minister, ostensibly bringing the failings of mental health services to the fore, based on his family’s personal experiences, he manages to blame the NHS for “letting us down”, rather than recognising that the inevitable consequences of decades of under-investment is a stressed out, over-stretched, patchy service.  When I first went to work for the NHS, back in the 70s, I was taught that Mental Health was a Cinderella service along with Mental Handicap.  It was managed then within Community Services, along with, I think – though the memory is a bit dim- the Aids (as in Incopads, not AIDS) Service. But what else could it be, when even to have a mental health problem has long been considered weak and shameful?  But to so cynically twist this “coming out” to blaming the service itself in order to promote a root and branch reorganisation with more private provision….Enough!

What have we gained, as a society, on balance through the policies of this Tory-led government?

• Inflation is lower
• House prices are back to pre-crisis levels
• Unemployment has fallen to 5.7%
• Youth unemployment is down from 19% to 16% (compared to 22%in the Eurozone)
• Waiting times for hospital appointments (ie Specialist medical Consultant opinion) are up
• Three quarters of Hospitals are over-spent at the end of this financial year
• Targets for A&E waiting times  and Ambulances have been overshot more often than they have been met this winter
• Waiting times for GP appointments are up to a week (in a good week)
• Cuts to Social Services budgets mean that more people are ‘stuck’ in hospital beds awaiting discharge to more appropriate places for their needs.

The Resolution Foundation (www.guardian.com/society)  reports that the majority of new jobs created under this government have been either part time or low paid self employed. The implication of this is that few of the much vaunted tax benefits will even reach people in these categories, further exacerbating the divide between well off and poor.

So, are we better off than before the election? Are we a healthier happier society now?