I tried to explain the impact of housing benefit cuts in London which will result in the "cleansing" of the poor from much of London. Wataru understood this concern and expressed his view that one of the notable things about London is that the poor and the rich lived next door to each other unlike other more polarised capital cities such as Paris.
We also discussed that in the UK many public services such as the care and support of the elderly and the disabled are provided by the third sector ("not for profit" Housing associations and charities). Yet currently there was a race to the gutter by some providers and commissioners of such services. Decent providers are being undercut by rogues (Rachman Employers) who win contacts to care for the vulnerable by sacking and demoting workers while also slashing their pay and conditions.
Wataru had not heard of the book "The
Spirit Level" and its praise of Japan as being the most equal society
in the world with regard to income inequality and the benefits that come from
this. I said that in my understanding in Japan unlike the UK if an
organisation has genuine economic difficulties then their managers will usually
act as leaders and volunteer for pay cuts before asking their staff for sacrifices.
In the UK some care and support charities cut the pay of their
(already low paid) staff and then go on to pay their senior management team bonuses for
reducing such costs.
Wataru accepted that in Japan mangers did take their responsibilities
carefully but in recent year’s most new jobs had been on short term agency
contracts so many Japanese are very worried about the future direction that their society will take.
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