One of the phrases that bugs me at the moment is 'hard working families'.  Gordon Brown uses the phrase often, usually to preface an announcement of what he's going to do to 'help them'.  I think I'm right in thinking that I've heard other parties use the same phrase.  This suggests to me that those who aren't 'hard working' aren't worthy of support (with mortgage struggles, income challenges, improved wages and the like.

So, what does or does not qualify as a 'hard working family'?  I haven't seen a definition, so let's try and formulate one.

Presumably, pensioners are not included, since they don't work.  That would be unfair, given that their fixed incomes have come under severe challenge recently, with interest-rate cuts, to say nothing of the collapse in the value of their capital and the destruction of dividend income.  In any case, they might not be 'hard working' now, but you can bet they 'worked hard' in the past, and therefore contributed their fair share of taxes, so why shouldn't they qualify?

Presumably, those out of work are not included (and I include here even those who sadly have lost their jobs), since they do not work...?  I can't see a Government of this colour agreeing with this one, so the phrase comes instantly into disrepute, as the 'working' bit doesn't fit.  In any case, most of them would have 'worked hard' until they lost their jobs and therefore again would have contributed in the past.

I guess those in the working population that have reached a good level of income (however potentially at threat) are not included, because that would mean the Government would have to extend the level of assistance, etc. to them too, and I guess they are preparing to milk them instead.  This is spurious, though, because many of those people have a) got there through hard work and b) are still putting in all kinds of hours, commuting long distances, taking pressure decisions and generally working under high stress levels.  If that's not 'hard work', I don't know what is.  These people continue to work hard and contribute; ususlly far more than many others.

They SHOULD exclude the wasters that have never had a job, that never tried to get good qualifications, and so on, but you know, somehow I imagine they're in the definition...?

I believe that the phrase was ill-conceived and has already fallen into disrepute.  Therefore, either the Government and all other politicians should define what they mean by 'hard working families', so we all know where we stand, or stops using the phrase altogether.  It might sound good on telly, but when you sit back and analyse it even just a little, you can see how absurd it is.

Maybe then we can have a proper debate as to who gets help, in what form and to what extent.