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| Some things never change... |
a) start writing another Solent Welfare Rights Project novel, taking my regular characters through the roll-out of Universal Credit,
b) cast off with Daph on another 4mph thriller or
c) create a new Welfare Rights Lit cast facing UC far from south Hampshire, perhaps in a North Midlands city not unlike Stoke-on-Trent.
d) leave the grown-up stuff for a bit and write more blogs and stories for Sonning Bear, who is both cuter and probably far more commercially viable than those leftie humans I write about.
If we are to take the intervention of the Eastleigh MP in last weeks UC roll-out debate at face value, a) is not an option. All is well with UC in Eastleigh - in fact, it's a jolly good thing for all concerned. According to Mims Davies (Conservative...)
"Eighteen months ago, I visited Radian, a housing association in my constituency. Radian expressed to me and to our hon. Friend the Minister for Employment concerns about the impact of universal credit on tenants. Eighteen months later, those people are in work, paying the rent and working with the housing association. The outcome is positive. Labour Members are simply scaremongering."
Should we therefore picture Martin, Hilary et al sitting in their office, drinking even more tea and coffee than usual, playing Solitaire on their computers and discussing nothing more contentious than their plans for the weekend, while Father Cornelius, Tom and Paula package up the remains of another day's community meal for the freezer, having served only their own staff and a couple of loyal social workers, while unneeded tinned stuff for the foodbank gathers dust in the storeroom? Not much material for a novel in that, is there? Of course, those notorious scaremongers The Trussell Trust have been making wild claims about how demand for foodbank support has rocketed where the full UC service has rolled out but hey, what do they know?
My home area is still inflicting UC only on those unlucky enough to slip into the UC lobster pot via the Gateway Conditions, so in 'the day job'* I have little experience of it. Hence the idea of creating a new cast of characters in an area still waiting for Full Digital UC roll out. I imagine it would turn out rather like a benefits-themed version of Neville Shute's On The Beach. If I set it locally, I could also link it into Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be City of Culture 2021 (something that I whole-heartedly endorse) although I'm not sure a story about claimants and advisers laying into the injustices of Welfare Reform is the kind of culture the current Council regime wish to encourage.
The most appealing option is another adventure for Daphne. I have notebooks crammed with observations from narrowboat journeys and plot outlines based upon them, plus several computerised drafts of opening chapters and exchanges between characters. The second most appealing prospect is writing Sonning stories, because they're jolly, escapist fun and I enjoy setting up photos of the bear to illustrate them so much that he's pretty much taken over my personal Facebook page.
The deciding factor may be this comment from the Solent Welfare Rights Project's Facebook page. The fictional advisers put up a post wondering if, since I was on short time throughout November (NaNoWriMo) I might write them into another novel. The response from one reader was a cry from the heart:
"Please please please I'm currently reading the books again for something like the seventh time I need more!"
That's really very touching. In all seriousness, apart from Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake I still don't think there's much fiction being written that reflects the fall-out from Welfare Reform and I'm not sure there's anyone else telling tales where the claimants and advisers usually win the day.
So sorry, Mims Davies, you're out-voted - again! It's (almost) time to get the kettle on at the Solent Welfare Rights Project!
PS. The whole series of 'Claimant Commitment' stories, what was to have been the last novel about the Solent Welfare Rights Project, is free to download for Kindle tomorrow (29th October).
The first part is here...
*The Day Job, with the CAB, is currently exactly that - one day per week - as I'm sharing my half-time post with a colleague to avoid either of us being made redundant, at least for now!
