Providing a decent safety net is maintained for those people who genuinely need it, I think the UK government's reforms to the welfare state make a lot of sense. However implementing the changes in a country where for so many, both in and out of employment, 'playing the system' has become a whole way of life, may be a great deal harder than many believe.
Where the public sector has grown so large that it now dwarfs the private sector, and percentage-wise is nearly twice the size as can be found in places such as even China, change may not come without a fight. Today, with so many jobs depending on the state and state intervention, we have a situation where more than half the electorate, fearful of losing their jobs, could turn on the government, possibly bringing it down.
We must never forget, in the UK we are ruled by consent. No matter how much sense they might make, other than by setting the troops against the people - one order our military bosses would probably not obey, the government could find many of its objectives unattainable should that consent be withdrawn by even a sizeable minority.
The recent fifty-thousand strong students' protest, where rioters occupied Conservative Headquarters on Millbank and forty-one police officers were injured, might need to be a warning. Demonstrations have a nasty habit of snowballing into riots. The police were unprepared for the sheer size and force of the demonstration, and could and should have handled it better. However were such a vibrant and determined demonstration to kick off in several places at the same time, simple arithmetic suggests the police would have little hope of maintaining law and order.
Many will sit back and tell you such a thing could never happen here, the British are not like that, but I cannot find any comfort in their confidence. We have become a different nation since the minority demonstrations of yesteryear, those such as the miners' protests against Mrs Thatcher's policies, and these proposed changes affect a much broader church. The poll tax riots of twenty years ago, where the government was forced into submission, were bad enough, but may yet seem as nothing if the government fails to keep the majority of people on its side.
Our health service is now amongst the worst found in Europe, our education system fast going that way, and according to a recent survey, Britain has become the worst place to live bar Ireland. Everybody agrees something needs to be done, but unfortunately: so long as it doesn't directly affect them.
Regular followers will know, I always maintained the general election would be a good one for the Conservatives to lose. I still believe I was right. Mr Cameron's decision to fight and form a government might yet be his biggest mistake. Yes, without his determination we may very well have been bankrupt by now, with everything in short supply and millions more out of work, and quite possibly our everyday affairs being ruled directly by Europe - shades of 1976, and Labour's Callaghan administration, however from that position there is only one way to go. In that situation the people will unite and strive to improve matters. Today I fear too many don't know of those dark times, or have forgotten them, and may need a reminder before fully backing some of the government's radical changes.
Things can only get better - but they may need to get worse first!