The galumphing sound of lefties jumping onto this bandwagon

Never underestimate the ability of the left to dumb-down complex political arguments into yah-boo abuse and shallow stereotypes.

Latest in this sequence is the so-called "petition", led by George Monbiot and others, to "shame" a Cabinet Minister into living as a benefits claimant.

One is almost deafened by the galumphing sound of lefties jumping onto this bandwagon:

In the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2013/apr/03/iain-duncan-smith-petition-ids-stunt

In the New Statesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/economics/2013/04/iain-duncan-smith-been-there-done-he-hasnt

In the Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/grant-shapps-and-iain-duncan-smith-say-they-could-manage-these-cuts--so-lets-see-them-prove-it-8557033.html

I am so familiar with the shallow cliched things that Kevin Maguire is going to say on this subject that I could almost write his Daily Mirror column for him.

If I were advising the Conservatives on PR I would call the lefties' bluff.  I would indeed purchase a former council flat (perhaps in Woodberry Down estate) and not only have cabinet ministers living there for a week on benefits-level budgets, but also have it continuously occupied on a weekly rota by backbench MPs and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates.  A week at a time is not very onerous, and such a practical exercise would reveal all sorts of ammunition and anecdotes the Tories could then use against the Opposition (especially as the Shadow Cabinet is just as divorced from ordinary people as any other elite political group).