Understanding our Parallel Universe, Consistency and Contradiction

Yesterday I stumbled across an article which reported on a new quantum mechanics theory of the Universe (it’s to be called the MIW, meaning ‘Many Interacting Worlds.’) It says that parallel universes actually exist and more importantly (so it is said) consistently interact and affect each other.

I have to say that this is as far as I got with it. Ever since I watched ‘Horizon’ on BBC2 many, many years ago, which followed Dr Stephen Hawkins’ views on relativity and time travel, I have had a real interest in how ‘all this stuff’ works. My problem is I don’t understand a damned word, after, probably, the second paragraph.

I still avidly watch Horizon, when possible, in awe, for the first 5 minutes as I am hooked into the subject and then spend the remainder, wishing I could understand it.

So what the hell am I rambling on about here?

As a Housing Association Chief Executive, I often feel that I am living in a parallel universe, my staff may well agree, of course, in having to deal with the daily contradictions and conflicts that exist in ‘our’ world.

Let me share some of my confusion.

It is often said that Housing Associations are the most successful public/private partnership and bring significant private sector funding to bear on the provision of new homes.

That good Housing Associations go way beyond the bricks and mortar and provide fantastic schemes to support tenants and communities to increase their capacity and ability to enter the job market…and very many do, just that.

Yet, at best, politicians are somewhat ambivalent about us, some simply don’t like us, others don’t trust us, but, actually when they come and see what we do deliver on the ground, we can and do change perceptions.

Politicians accept there is a housing shortage and crisis, yet in 2011 the Housing budget was cut by 63%, not only that but a Bill is currently going through Parliament to extend discounts on the Right to Buy, which means that the most cost effective (to the hard-working taxpayer) form of housing provision is being sold off at ridiculously low prices, never to be replaced, but….

The Government says that we can replace every one social home sold with one newly built … now that is quantum mechanics.

That was the easy bit, “the first two paragraphs”

Fasten your seat belts as we now move into the next parallel universe, that is the world as seen by the Department of Work and Pensions, well here, you might just believe that time travel really does exist!

Of course, the “universe” we are all waiting for is the General Election, so in preparation, these helpful people in Government are providing us, hardworking taxpayers, with open and transparent information on how our taxes are spent.

Surprise, surprise, ‘welfare’ is a clear winner. But like quantum physics, welfare is a complex area, so no need to burden us tax payers with how the welfare budget is actually spent, that is left to our own imaginations, fueled by certain newspapers only too willing to put their spin on it and the second series of Benefits Street due to come to a (flat)TV screen near you, perception must be reality then?

A further contradiction, of course, is despite this huge spend, no political party can even attempt to openly debate it, because our media will just have a field-day and the British public will continue to be given small pieces of a jigsaw that can be put together in so many different ways to achieve so many different scenarios that suddenly fact and fiction become blurred and unclear. So quickly moving on through time and space to another topic close to my, and our tenants hearts…removal of the spare room subsidy, yes! The Bedroom Tax.

We still have 1500 tenants affected by the Bedroom Tax, and it is a real struggle for them. More and more of our time and energy is going into offering support and advice. The most worrying thing is what kind of long term problems are being stored up here?

Real Life Reform report 5; http://www.northern-consortium.org.uk/assets/RLR/real-life-reform-5.pdf highlights the growing dependency on short term credit and increasing debt, just to live.

With Christmas coming and the prospect of even greater debt being created this must be a real cause for concern.

However despite all that it is amazing to think that our democracy can kill off a Parliament-supported Private Members Bill on revisions to the Bedroom Tax, by linking it to a vote on a possible EU referendum, just how does that work then?

The DWP can fight (with highly paid barristers) tooth and nail to defend scores of Bedroom tax appeals on room size whilst another arm of government can issue guidance on size and usage definitions for bedrooms in new build homes?

Truly parallel? Not really, as they completely contradict one another.

We are told that the hard-working taxpayer cannot subsidise social housing tenants with a spare room, yet we can subsidise people having mortgage difficulties with ‘support for mortgage interest’ irrespective of house size and number of spare rooms.

… and in the same vein, we are told that social tenants must be more responsible with their money and as such, when Universal, (what another one?) Credit is rolled out, payment will be made to the tenant, not the landlord, yet with the aforementioned ‘support for mortgage interest’ this payment will be made directly to the lender. Surely not another sop to the big financial institutions, instead of support to the social housing tenant? No! that cannot be right

We are consistently assured that ‘Universal credit is working’ yet the pilots report significant problems.

A massive company that could not effectively deliver “fit for work” assessments, and received significant criticism which led to the termination of the DWP contract has now won another £125m contract with the Department of Justice. In the housing universe a company’s delivery record is quite an important consideration, actually, before we appoint…

So what else do we know about these parallel universes?

We all know it is better to be in work than be dependent on benefits, yet more than 50% of people in this country that are in work are also on benefits. Mmmm!

We all know that we must bring the Housing Benefit bill under control, yet we have the possibility of ‘hammering’ young people aged 21 and under, who may not receive any, at the same time subsidising unaccountable private landlords and having to cope with the ‘affordable rent’ regime, which pushes rents up.

We all know that we must tackle benefit fraud but continue to pay lip service to the huge multi-national companies that don’t pay their due taxes and very often don’t pay a living wage.

We all know it’s wrong that an ever-increasing amount of our taxes are going to subsidise big business, with in-work benefits, who refuse to pay their employees properly. I think that was £27bn at the last count.

We all know this ….. don’t we? Perhaps not? Perhaps this is the real meaning of the theory of parallel universes. People all living and surviving in different universes going about their business, some with power and influence controlling the information, controlling the knowledge, controlling everything it seems, whilst others trying to survive in a universe that is alien to the very wealthy and to those who are part of ‘middle Britain’, (what the hell is middle Britain anyway?), struggling to make ends meet, going from one low paid job to another, making the occasional visit to the food bank, trying to heat their homes and having the excitement of enjoying their £3.26 per day, which, according the Real Life Reform Report 5, is what’s left after life’s debts have been met.

When these universes do interact, what happens? Well that’s much too complex, it’s like the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, interesting but really doesn’t affect me, my universe is fine thank you!