Thread by @shaunjlawson

Incidentally: on the whole 'any Labour government is better than a Tory government' thing: here's a very personal example.

At the end of 2009, I walked away from my PhD. I was drained, exhausted, had hated every minute of it... but still felt ashamed of failure.

Much more to the point: I had no idea what to do. My background was so academic that I was stupidly overqualified for the kinds of jobs advertised in the jobcentre: which they themselves recognised too.

But there was also the old employment catch-22: I didn't have enough experience, but how does someone get experience until they're given a chance? I was confused, scared; the future looked bleak and very uncertain.

What did the jobcentre do? It gave me the chance to figure it out. Sent me to job fairs, workshops, seminars: all of which have since been cut by the Tories. It didn't put pressure on me; it recognised how complicated my situation was.

And at length, I figured it out. My landlord's wife mentioned English teaching. The jobcentre pointed me towards a TESOL course, the fees for which were 90% funded by the EU. And suddenly, I had a plan:

- Become a teacher
- Save up in the UK
- Move to Uruguay to live and work

Once I had that plan - with intermediate, measurable goals - I was transformed. I had so much energy; I had real hope again, and could start focusing on the future.

Yet all this while, what had been keeping a roof over my head? Housing benefit.

Which I'd felt embarrassed to apply for at first. But which, back then, was enough for my studio flat: in fact, exactly enough to pay for rent and the monthly internet charge (the flat was kinda in the middle of nowhere, so the rent was low).

What would I have done without the security which that gave me? I have no idea. How could I have gone about changing my life in the way I did without it? I don't think I could've done.

At the end of the course, we received 100 quid if we found work, which I quickly did. Having a professional qualification instantly opened so many doors which were previously bolted. And I even received another 100 quid for becoming self-employed, as I did as an academic editor.

Now run through what's happened since.

1. Housing benefit is derisory, disgustingly low, traps claimants in scandalously bad accommodation which often endangers their health.

2. JobSeekers' Allowance comes with a whole host of demands which many claimants find impossible.

3. Both have been rolled up into Universal Credit: which is absurdly low, not so much a poverty trap as a destitution trap, and denied claimants for 5 weeks. During which time, what are they supposed to do? Starve.

4. Any claimant is made to feel like scum for claiming at all.

5. People are sanctioned constantly for all sorts of Kafka-esque reasons; many die as a result.

6. The seminars, workshops etc which helped me so much no longer exist.

7. Nor does EU funding: without which, I couldn't have afforded the teacher training course.

8. Nor does the 100 quid self-employment bonus I mentioned - which gave me a critical cushion as I came off benefits but had to wait a month or so to be paid by clients.

In fact, here's something else. Which also illustrates how different things were back then.

Remember how the jobcentre referred me to the teacher training course? Very unusually, the tie-in between them meant that while on the course, my benefits would continue.

Except that someone made a boo-boo and they got abruptly stopped in week 1 of the course.

I went into a blind panic - but it was all sorted out within a couple of days. It was an administrative cock-up.

Compare that to now. When administrative 'cock-ups' happen so often, they're very likely deliberate; and it takes weeks and weeks to put them right.

And now, there's pretty much no chance whatsoever of someone receiving benefits while in education or training, no matter how short the course (mine was 5 weeks in length). Which in an ever-changing economy demanding updated skills, is absolutely insane.

Here's the bottom line. The welfare state SAVED me. Which it also did in terms of surgery I had on the NHS: in a hospital, the John Radcliffe, which is now under absolutely crushing levels of pressure.

Maybe I shouldn't consider myself as such - social security is, I'll always believe, a human right, not a privilege - but compared with anyone now, I was extraordinarily fortunate. Above all in what an understanding jobcentre and job adviser I benefited from.

But when, in the face of that, people insist that New Labour did no good at all, I think to myself: "So what are you saying? That you'd rather I'd suffered like so many are suffering now?"

New Labour got loads of things horribly wrong... and loads of other things very right.

They were, in that sense, like most governments. It's just that every government since hasn't been like most governments at all. They've all been far, far, FAR worse.

It doesn't make me a 'centrist' to say that. Centrism has no answers now at all. 20 years ago, it had some.

Politics is not a game. Politics is about people's lives. That government helped transform my life, so I'll always be grateful to it. Governments since have wrecked millions of lives, and I'll never forgive any of them for that.

All those people throughout the country desperate for help. Desperate for some support. Frantic to escape their substandard accommodation, landlord from hell, zero hours job or the sanctions which leave them needing food banks just to survive at all.

Those people are our priority. MUST be our priority. But we can't help them in any way without winning the support of millions of others: those who are just getting by, who know about the misery all around them, but just didn't regard our offer as credible.

Owen Jones always talks about a coalition of working and middle class voters. He's right. But I'd go even further: I'd talk about a coalition of working class voters, middle class voters, small and even big business... because the Tories are economically illiterate beyond belief.

That makes them BAD for business. Very bad. If business can't see that now, it will do before long with Brexit on the horizon.

We have to be economically credible AND have radical redistributive green policies. We need a professional, focused leader AND a transformative agenda.

But if we focus only on our base, we won't get the chance to deliver anything whatsoever. And that would be the most unforgivable betrayal of all those who desperately need a Labour government.