In the London borough of Camden, 2816 men, women and children – 761 households in all – are about to be kicked out of their homes if they cannot find an extra £90 a week for rent.
No-one says they are bad tenants. These families are simply among the victims of the Coalition's benefits cap.
Camden's council says the households will have to be "relocated" up to 200 miles away, where rents are cheaper. The council, a Labour council, is sorry about that. Schooling, friendships, medical treatments, family bonds and jobs will be disrupted, but it can't be helped. And no-one in a position of power will talk about urban cleansing.
Elsewhere in London, the Minister of State for Work and Pensions, Mark Hoban, has declared it is "ridiculous" to describe mandatory unpaid work and "training" for the unemployed as forced labour. Quite how this graduate of the London School of Economics can find a permutation involving "work", "mandatory" and "unpaid" that allows for choice in the matter remains unclear.
No-one says they are bad tenants. These families are simply among the victims of the Coalition's benefits cap.
Camden's council says the households will have to be "relocated" up to 200 miles away, where rents are cheaper. The council, a Labour council, is sorry about that. Schooling, friendships, medical treatments, family bonds and jobs will be disrupted, but it can't be helped. And no-one in a position of power will talk about urban cleansing.
Elsewhere in London, the Minister of State for Work and Pensions, Mark Hoban, has declared it is "ridiculous" to describe mandatory unpaid work and "training" for the unemployed as forced labour. Quite how this graduate of the London School of Economics can find a permutation involving "work", "mandatory" and "unpaid" that allows for choice in the matter remains unclear.
