All you need is hard work

| by Victor Cherubim

( August 18, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) “All you need is love, love, love…. Love is all you need,” was echoed throughout the Games. Hardly a week having lapsed and the plaudits dying down, some 15 days to go for the Paralympics, life is back to normal again, in Britain.

"The benefits culture in Britain is now under threat and plans are afoot to introduce a culture of responsibility to the welfare system."

But none ever expected to read banner headlines: “Tories attack ‘lazy Britain.’ A group from the right wing of the party, comprising young MP’s, many born of second generation migrants, are already impatient of the work ethic of Britain and are taking cudgels against the party, for the state of the nation. This clamour is reverberating watching the fast growing Asian economies grow.

The mood of the country has suddenly changed like the weather. There is an air of hesitancy yet to challenge the Prime Minister, David Cameron, but there is no pussyfooting either. The legacy of years of Labour government inviting cheap but hardworking labour, from the new Europe including building the Olympic Village, had taken its toll in Britain. The dole queues are swelling, a quiet revolution is on the verge of taking place, which was restrained by the enchantment and the excitement over the Diamond Jubilee and the Games. This was all along expected, but not to occur, so unreservedly.

UK has more homes where nobody has a job, than anywhere else in Europe, but more families still go on holiday each year. The welfare system has become a means of achieving lifestyle choices for people who do not want jobs and who are reluctant to get up at six o’clock and go to work.

The benefits culture in Britain is now under threat and plans are afoot to introduce a culture of responsibility to the welfare system.

A somewhat dissimilar situation is reportedly expanding in North Sri Lanka. We are told the young are workshy, although putting blame on everyone except themselves, for their plight. They are the mobile-set who have been weaned over the years by the diaspora support and monthly handouts. None perhaps, has instilled in them, the difficulties their kith and kin have had to undergo to transmit hard earned wages, for supporting their countrymen in the North. It is not strange as observers visiting Jaffna have recently commented that it is difficult to induce the young to work. Until this problem is tackled head on, there will be no self respect or self worth for the people of the North. A suggestion mooted, is that they are required to work during the day, leaning skills and attend classes at night, to wean them out of their habit.

In addition to the woes in Britain, the Bank of England has now slashed its growth forecast and expects roughly zero growth in GDP as the recession continues to bite. Even at the end of 2013 the Bank only foresees growth close to 2% rather than 2.4% previously forecast, “as storm clouds roll in from the Euro zone.” Allowing the Bank to stimulate growth by cutting interest rates by even 0.25% and pumping in an extra £100 billion QE (now standing at £350 billion) into the economy, there is the hope that something may well happen by the concerted effort of government and business, to clear the uncertainty over Europe without unduly hindering investment and hiring staff.

The flip side of this equation is the fact that Britain has a proven record of resilience. Whenever there was a cause for concern, in British history, either during the 1930’s or the two World Wars, a sustaining force was always on call. We can name this British comedy. Humour, stand-up comics, gags; comedy heroes have been on standby, all aptly able to transform tragedy into comedy and vice versa. Many of us have heard the wry witticisms; most often it is about the Irish, the social class or for that matter “the mother-in-law”.

There is the time an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman all walk into a pub. That may sound like a joke to you, but to a publican that means there’s going to be a fight soon and he prepares for it. Then, we hear the old chestnut:”Why did the chicken cross the road? a gag related on many and varied occasions. Cheap laughs, gigs by well established story tellers like Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and now Rowan Atkinson and other household names, are well known to change any mood of the country and the feeling of the people.

All too often, those of us from abroad, spend ages, possibly lifetimes trying to fathom what makes Britain, British. It eludes us. The reason is that we often overlook the obvious, in the belief that we would have spotted what we want or need if it was in front of our eyes. The strange thing is that to be British, one had to be born and bred in Britain. But that has changed as it is presented as multinational, multi-faith, multi-ethnic – an inclusive society but with an exclusive work ethic.