Lord Freud: Crimes against reasonableness

Lord Freud couldn't be any more removed from real life if was to become an anchorite on another planet in a far off galaxy. A man from a privileged background first of all deployed by New Labour to review the welfare system; and then by the ConDems demolish the rest of the welfare state.

To say Freud has no concept of the hurt and damage his policies are causing would be to assume that the man had a scintilla of empathy or understanding of disability. He has neither. No instead Freud and his kind have an ideology so clearly defined in their minds as to protect them from contrary concepts such as fairness, decency, right and wrong.



This Black Triangle representation of Lord Freud as a 'Fraud' sums up
how many regard this man of privilege who is wrecking or welfare state

This is how Freud can dismiss someone with motor neuron disease asking for a reasonable adjustment, the right to an extra bedroom without incurring the bedroom tax, with this disgraceful comment: “The normal expectation is that a couple are able to share a bedroom whether or not one of them is disabled.”

 

There speaks a man devoid of any recognisable sense of compassion. A man to whom the test of reasonableness rests on "alternative options" if a "greater degree of choice" was needed by this family.

 

So, the needs of someone with MND are not measured in favourable outcomes, such as allowing the husband and wife separate bedrooms without the imposition of a bedroom tax penalty. They're measured in unrealistic terms such as "...negotiating with landlords and local authorities and taking proactive steps to find more suitable accommodation of the right size – for example, with a bedroom large enough for two single beds..."

 

Again Freud shows his complete ignorance of the spatial capacity afforded by the majority social housing accommodations. Firstly, there is a dire shortage of one-bedroom flats in social housing stocks. Second, council flats bedrooms are not over generous in size, making it difficult to fit two single beds in one room - that is if the person with MND could cope with a single bed. What about where hospital beds are used.

 

Thirdly, Freud completely dismisses the physical difficulties that someone with MND would experience sharing a room; and in reverse the difficulties a wife or partner would encounter trying to share a room with somebody with such a condition.

 

Finally, Freud falls back on the tried and trusted Tory way, that is they should take in a lodger. Failing this the person with MND or their partner/carer could find work or increase their hours of work. Though I'm not sure how a carer on call 24-hours per day, seven days per week could physically increase their hours of work.

 

Any suggestions, Lord Freud?