Is Karen Matthews A By-Product Of Our Class Divide.

When Tony Blair became prime minister we were promised that the benefit reliant class would be eroded, no longer would mothers have children to get a house and shy away from work, teenagers would not come out of school just to live off job seekers allowance and the working class would no longer be defined as those living off benefits.
Yet a decade later there is no sign of Labourite Tony Blairs promises even making a dint in those that rely on benefits. It is not just the credit crunch that has increased the amount of adults 'signing on', or our recent influx of immigrants. Britain, although it claims to be cosmopolitan is a class divided society. Stereotypes force those who need help and support in to a social bracket that then defines the path that their lives follow. It is quite easy to sit on a middle class perch and say 'They can help themselves, they should see that relying on benefits is no way to live'.
Although stereotyping cannot account for every individual that does not work, our snobbery goes a long way towards putting people in their place and keeping them there. I recently watched a documentary called 'Rich Kid, Poor Kid' on channel four. This showed the class divide at its worst, two teenagers living at different ends of one street. One was blonde, thin, in private school and spoke with a plum in her mouth. The other was black, fat, a school drop out and living in a benefits reliant home. Although it is easy to assume that the young girl living on the council estate was simply lazy, it really was not the case. This girl had grown with no father, he had died when she was young. Her mum became depressed, she had to take care of her brother who had learning difficulties which was a one way street to poor education and no social graces. She spoke of a society where everyone she knew had become familiar with muggings,rape and murder. Despite this young womans poor social situation, did anyone pause to help? Surely instead of stereotyping and turning our noses, those of us in Britain should be helping young women in her situation to gain better education and see a better way of life. Unfortunately, those who sit in their over sized houses climbing on to their high horses do not think or are unaware of the harsh reality of life. So this girl did not end up on benefits aged eighteen with no GCSE's because she saw it as the best way of living, she had no choice and had no help. Instead of charity she was cornered in to a school on the special measures list and spent more time worrying about her brothers educational welfare than her own.
Every time a young girl has a baby they are a pram face, not someone who was brave enough to not have an abortion. Someone with no GCSE's is stupid, not misguided or disadvantaged. Britain assumes that everyone on the edge of poverty deserves to be there. The most upsetting thing about the case of Karen Matthews is that our society overlooked how those of Dewsbury Moor pulled together, gave money they could ill afford, petitioned, supported Karen...they truly believed they could help a woman pining for her lost daughter. There was no witch hunt that we saw with Madeleine Mccann, tabloids did not furiously seek to blame Ms Matthews or Mr Meehan. Society pulled together, which proves that despite their far from aesthetic appearance and downtrodden lifestyle, the dreaded British working class is capable of compassion and solidarity.
I am not saying Karen Matthews was completely blameless when we think of what Shannon was subjected to, but society needs to now be more forgiving and less harsh towards our 'benefits state', because the stereotyping and lack of help will produce more Karen Matthews', more Baby P's and more Shannon Matthews' until we realise it is too late.