The Wardman Wire

JK Rowling, millionairess author of the Harry Potter books, has given Gordon Brown his one piece of good news in weeks: she has donated £1 million to the Labour Party.

And her reasons for this? Because Labour has, she claims, “reversed the long-term trend in child poverty, and is one of the leading EU countries in combating child poverty.” Yet that’s actually a load of complete bollocks:

Gordon Brown’s flagship anti-poverty campaign [has] received a triple blow… with news that a rise in both child and pensioner poverty had left Britain a more unequal country than when Labour came to power in 1997…

The IFS said inequality in Britain was equal to its highest level since figures were available in 1961. (The Guardian)

And because she opposes the Conservative proposals of tax breaks for married couples, ignoring the reasons for this to encourage couples to stay together where possible, rather than to financially reward them for breaking up.

JK Rowling has shown that even though she is a very good fantasy writer, she obviously hasn’t paid any attention to reality. In her fantasy world, Labour has ended poverty. In the real world, it’s worse than ever.

I’m not bothered by her donation – £1m isn’t much of either her fortune or anywhere near enough to help the financially-stricken Labour Party – but because of her fallacious reasoning. If she had really wanted to help end child poverty, she would have given her money to charity rather than the Labour Party, who have patently failed to do anything about it, even after eleven years.

A Facebook group has been set up by Tory Bear encouraging a boycott of her work. Even though I have purchased her work, I won’t be purchasing any more.

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