Once government sponsored bullying had forced the majority of the people who have to depend on state benefits to have their money paid directly into bank accounts it was only a matter of time before the conspiracy to rip off the poor poor bastards came into the open. Of course the idea was foisted on the nation in order to take that work away from small, local Post Offices so that we would all have to jump in our cars and drive to town to post our parcels, buy stamps etc. thus paying more fuel tax and in some cases congestion charges too. Never mind that the local Post Offices provided a valuable service, they were inefficient, loss making and an obstacle to the Government's plans to sell the Post Office to big business for a knockdown price.
But with local Post Offices now disappearing faster than the ice caps it was only a matter of time before the banks reverted to type and came up with a scheme to rip off the poorest, most vulnerable members of society. People whose current accounts show a low level of activity, either failing to maintain a balance of £1500 or paying in less than £1500 per month will have to pay £10 per month for the privilege of being allowed to get their hands on their statutory subsistence allowance.
Remember we are talking about the very poorest here, not the duckers and divers who fill in the hours between appointments with the job club by selling dodgy DVDs, recreational pharmaceuticals or Latvian Lager, the kind of survivors excellently portrayed in "Shameless", but the pensioners who cannot afford to turn on their heating, the morbidly incompetent who should be in supervised, sheltered accommodation or the ones who with help might find a way back from the cruelties life has inflicted on them but temporarily are not coping.
There but for fortune etc. but isn't that why we have a welfare state? And Post Offices to pay out pensions and benefits?
The Banks never wanted the Shameless class of course. Oh they'll have disabled folks like me with savings and credit cards and such, they make good money out of me and they love the spend, spend, spend generation who have no qualms about running up crippling debts. While such people can service their debts the banks are always happy to up the credit rating.
But there is no profit in servicing the needs of the genuinely poor, which is why crooked Christmas Clubs can exist of course.
When even the political party that grew great on the strength of its promises to give the poor a fairer deal is happy to take their votes for granted as it sells out to big business and big money is their any hope for civilised values?