Guardian lunacy part 356,871. Now this is a ripper.

[redgunamo]

Not really. The lower orders have been subject to a programme of the most cack-handed social engineering (welfare, the NHS, comprehensive education, etc) for 70 fùcking years. All of which has served to destroy incentive and ambition and keep the proletariat nice and lumpen in a culture of dependency. This has rendered them politically apathetic and encouraged and sustained ignorance, while absolving individuals of responsibility for their outcomes.

None of that removes the need for individual responsibility, but it does explain how we've got ourselves into this mess.

Of course, the lower orders are merely a cat's paw here, to secure support and funding for "welfare, the NHS, comprehensive education, etc", before their betters then pile in. It's those that know, and can afford, better who ought to be ashamed of themselves. After all, the issues you describe there persist way up the social scale. Although, I suppose that could have been the plan all along.