campaign against welfare cuts and poverty

[Frankie Jack]

You can bet it isn't and won't be just the Tories and their media backers fulminating against any negative findings, as well as against the idea that the general council might receive such a report at all. All of the mainstream political parties will.
They'll do so on two bases, AFAICS.
1) On the basis that it's external interference that threatens the sovereignty of Parliament (a spurious argument, but the media, especially the right-wing media, will run with it).
2) On the basis that given the overwhelming neoliberal bent of the politics of the mainstream parties, their policies will be implicitly (and perhaps explicitly) criticised by any adverse findings in the report, and will be shown up as the inhumane and sometimes fatal piles of shit that they are.

If they won't listen to us.. why the hell would they listen to anyone from the UN.


Should the government scrap their bedroom tax policy?

88% Yes
12% No

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

If they won't listen to us.. why the hell would they listen to anyone from the UN.

Should the government scrap their bedroom tax policy?

88% Yes
12% No

If they do, they'll only replace it with something equally as vicious

 

[Frankie Jack]

If they do, they'll only replace it with something equally as vicious

Spare room tax for everyone in social housing like New South Wales perhaps?

PUBLIC housing tenants with spare bedrooms will be charged a weekly tax as the state government commits to moving 500 people a year into smaller accommodation.
Community Services Minister Pru Goward will today announce details of the controversial bed tax, which will be charged to all public housing tenants who have an extra bedroom and refuse to move to a smaller property.

Singles with extra bedrooms will be charged an extra $20 a week, and couples will be charged an extra $30 a week under the tax.

 

[treelover]

I would love for the civil servants, etc who constructed the WCA as well as the politicians to have to attend some sort of investigation into it.

 

[treelover]

Spare room tax for everyone in social housing like New South Wales perhaps?

Australia is at the 'cutting edge' of welfare cuts/harassment, etc, Howard wanted the right for officials to be able to enter disabled claimants homes at any time, without permission, N/L went there many times for ideas/collaboration and together were central to the global 'welfare reform' movement,

Expect even more from Abbot.

 

[Libertad]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/grieving-mum-who-lost-nine-year-old-2284300

Grrrrrr...

 

[treelover]

Labour cannot be defenders of status quo on welfare, says Liam Byrne
Shadow work and pensions secretary claims party could save £5bn from benefits bill by raising employment levels

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/19/benefits-employment-liam-byrne

Liam Bryne is to outline plans for benefits if they come to power, very right wing blairite stuff, disability insurance for disabled people, time limited benefits, and probably one of the most significant,(which some of us have been predicting) 'localisation of welfare, some of this is backed up by stats from the 'left leaning, IPPR, wtf, how can what they do be in anyway described as left?

Its a Wintour article as well which means no comments...

 

[treelover]

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blo...unce-plans-to-sack-atos-and.html#comment-form


Sue Marsh, "Diary of a benefit scrounger' blog/campaigner" seems to be have taken it by it in relation to the plans for disabled people.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blo...unce-plans-to-sack-atos-and.html#comment-form


Sue Marsh, "Diary of a benefit scrounger' blog/campaigner" seems to be have taken it by it in relation to the plans for disabled people.

Yeah, I ain't gonna get excited. Labour dreamt up half of these ideas in the first place, and you only need to look back on the Parliamentary debates and voting records to see just how much they gave a shit then (with a few exceptions like Gilmore and a few others, but I can't remember their names)

 

[Frances Lengel]

Who are all those dicks in the comments bit thinking it's good? They're going to get rid of Atos? So what, they'll only bring some other wankers in to administer the WCA anyway. I'm not sticking up for Atos in any way, but most of the problems people are having started when the WCA replaced the PCA not when Atos first came on the scene (which was some years earlier).

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Who are all those dicks in the comments bit thinking it's good? They're going to get rid of Atos? So what, they'll only bring some other wankers in to administer the WCA anyway. I'm not sticking up for Atos in anyway, but most of the problems people are having started when the WCA replaced the PCA not when Atos first came on the scene (which was some years earlier).

Have you read them all?

These lot don't seem overly optimistic

1. Wheelie21 September 2013 18:51
   I dunno. I'm still deeply skeptical of pre-election promises.
   
   Peter Farrington21 September 2013 19:01
   Just hoping this is not de ja vous all over again given the "promise" of an incoming Labour government being so looked forward to by my fellow social work students in 1993-6 and my thinking about the turkeys voting for Christmas once we all saw what that translated to in reality.
   
   Trickster21 September 2013 19:59
   I don't want to burst anyone's bubble , but it was Labour who gave ATOS the £500 million pound contract to kick the crap out of the sick and disabled in the first place . It was Labour who came up with WCA , it was Labour who introduced the bedroom tax(2008 for private rental) and it was Labour who bailed out the banks rather than protecting the worse off in society . Don't believe it , the intention maybe there , but this is electioneering , plain and simple . I hope I'm wrong , but doubt it .
   
   Reply
   Replies

 

[Frances Lengel]

True, there's a few dissenters.

 

[ViolentPanda]

True, there's a few dissenters.

Some of us are old enough to remember nu Labour, prior to winning the '97 election, promising to get rid of JSA.

16 years later...

 

[treelover]

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/

some new horrors highlighted on the Voids site, inc the DWP boasting to employers that UC will get them cheap flexible labour.

 

[Urbanblues]

I met with Liam Byrne last week at the TUC and stated that getting rid of ATOS was only part of the problem; that the WCA needed scrapping and replacing with a transparent and fair assessment. Byrne agreed with this. I'm guessing (or is that hoping) that today's announcements on ATOS are only part of an overhaul of assessments.

The issue of standardising benefits and services criteria also came up in the discussion. An idea of having one assessment to cover DLA/PIP, ESA, A2W, support packages (also making these portable), etc was discussed. Byrne agreed that constant assessments were wrong.

 

[Greebo]

I met with Liam Byrne last week at the TUC and stated that getting rid of ATOS was only part of the problem; that the WCA needed scrapping and replacing with a transparent and fair assessment. Byrne agreed with this. <snip> Byrne agreed that constant assessments were wrong.

The thing which you need to remember about Liam Byrne is that when he was in a position to actually do anything for disabled people or carers, he did nothing. I don't blame him for being a careerist politician, I blame myself for ever having expected better of him.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yeah, they're all very good at sitting there agreeing with you, but has anyone looked at his voting record or has he put his views out there anywhere?

 

[BigTom]

More attacks on job centres - links to 5 newspaper articles from the past month on this reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingd...attacks_on_job_centres_with_the_last_4_weeks/

Weepiper's not the only one feeling the rage by any means.

 

[ViolentPanda]

More attacks on job centres - links to 5 newspaper articles from the past month on this reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingd...attacks_on_job_centres_with_the_last_4_weeks/

Weepiper's not the only one feeling the rage by any means.

Some utter douche nozzles on that reddit thread.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Strangely enough the DWP Press Office
didn't go to town on this top story....


Had this been a benefit claimant the DWP Press Office and their beloved Daily Mail editorial team would have been all over this. What better story could you have than someone in a position of responsibility being party to cheating the revenue out of nearly £900,000? A hefty custodial sentence hanging over another fraudster would normally get pumped out by the DWP Press Office to show us all how tough their anti - fraud measures are.

Except of course when it's one of the DWP's fraud investigators who's been up to her eyes in cheating the tax payer out of thousands of pounds, the DWP has a knack of going all silent on us.

http://ilegal.org.uk/thread/8150

Fraud investigator told to expect jail over £885,000 tax con
25 Sep 2013 16:54
Elizabeth Lewis, 38, warned she faces 'immediate custodial sentence' after being found guilty of four counts of fraud after trial at Cardiff Crown

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/fraud-investigator-told-expect-jail-6094777

 

[Treacle Toes]

The Mirror continue to ramp it up...

 

[treelover]

There were also opportunities to meet with people from various disability charities such as RNIB, for whom Sue was on a panel at a fringe event, Mind and Scope. Sue Marsh works her backside off. She doesn't do it for any monetary gain, fame or notoriety. "The Marsh", as I refer to her, does it for every single claimant affected by ESA and DLA changes. Sue does work even when she's poorly in hospital. And you know what? Not once did I see her complain about pain. I think I can safely say she ran on adrenaline throughout the conference. However, her mobility scooter driving skills did have myself and Stef laughing lots!
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/

I know plenty of people have concerns about the disability benefits campaigner Sue Marsh's closeness to the LP, etc,(she is a member but much more) but its worth reading this to see just how much she does despite having a terrible condition.

though it does show just how close she is to the leadership, etc and the LP

 

[treelover]

We met Liam Byrne, Dame Anne Begg, Anne McGuire, Sheila Gilmore, Lord Glasman, Jon Cruddas and several other political figures including John Prescott and Alastair Campbell.

No Left M.P's, etc, though this may be the article writers 'starstruck' take on it.

 

[Greebo]

Apologies for the slight digression (and the short notice, I've only just heard the trailer) but R4's Money Box 3-3.30pm today will be answering questions about claiming benefits. It was very heartening to hear benefits being described (for once) as something which any one of us might need at some point in our lives, instead of the usual scrounger rhetoric.

 

[treelover]

hope they use the term, social security,

M/B is usually pretty good

 

[Frances Lengel]

Check this guy out...

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ews/conservative-mp-paul-maynard-food-6124177

Emergency food parcels should not be given to people – because they could get too reliant on handouts, a Tory MP has said.

- This seem unambiguous but in all fairness, the "reliant on handouts" bit is the papers own words.

My main concern for the immediate future is that people have the most money in their pockets as possible.
“I do not believe that immediate food relief should be the role of the government. We can’t make food banks part of the welfare state.
“What I don’t want to do is normalise food poverty.

- this bit though is more interesting. One could read that as him saying that food banks have no place in the welfare state because people should be paid proper benefits. In actual money. That's probably not what he means though.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Check this guy out...

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ews/conservative-mp-paul-maynard-food-6124177

- This seem unambiguous but in all fairness, the "reliant on handouts" bit is the papers own words.

- this bit though is more interesting. One could read that as him saying that food banks have no place in the welfare state because people should be paid proper benefits. In actual money. That's probably not what he means though.

Yup. I think he's more worried that the need for food banks will reflect badly on government, and therefore doesn't want them around, full stop.

 

[existentialist]

Yup. I think he's more worried that the need for food banks will reflect badly on government, and therefore doesn't want them around, full stop.

Paul Maynard, who works for Minister of State Oliver Letwin, said people could start going to food banks out of habit rather than helping themselves.

When he says "helping themselves", is he referring to the five-finger discount option?

Somehow, I doubt it - but I do wonder what these fuckers are expecting people to actually do by way of "helping themselves". Why has no reporter ever said to one of them "Look, sunshine, there are several million less jobs than people - if you put something in the water that gave everyone a raging work addiction, they STILL COULDN'T ALL GET WORK" - and kept on saying it every time they wriggled out of answering it?

I am just amazed that these cunts are able to trot out this stuff completely - or so it seems - unchallenged.

 

[audiotech]

It's not just tory's who come out with this guff. A self-employed builder friend said to me at the weekend and there's me with multiple, some chronic medical issues: "create your own Job". I'm no whippersnapper either, so what job do I create I asked? Stumped and deathly silence was the response. It's all this CBT idiocy that's hitting the streets and institutions. Think positive by jove and everything will be alright, no matter how many whoops you've jumped through so far. My hoopla stall is in receivership thankyou very much.

 

[existentialist]

It's not just tory's who come out with this guff. A self-employed builder friend said to me at the weekend and there's me with multiple, some chronic medical issues: "create your own Job". I'm no whippersnapper either, so what job do I create I asked? Stumped and deathly silence was the response. It's all this CBT idiocy that's hitting the streets and institutions. Think positive by jove and everything will be alright, no matter how many whoops you've jumped through so far. My hoopla stall is in receivership thankyou very much.

FWIW, though that might be what people's perception of CBT is, it isn't what it's about. At least not proper CBT - I have no idea what they are doing with the bastardised nonsense that is the IAPT train crash.