A Freudseye view of the world

Referring to Lord Freud’s disgraceful comments on the worth of disabled people one Facebook user believes that disabled people should be willing to sell their labour for whatever the market offers. Apparently starvation wages are better than no wages at all.

“His language was totally inappropriate, but the underlying point mustn't be lost by shrill PC activists - we could work for less rather than not at all!”

 

Lord Freud feels some disabled people are worth only £2 an hour 

More importantly here we have a man charged by the government to oversee the reform of the welfare system who harbours views shared by Nazis and supporters of euthanasia.

How exactly can we work for less? Should we set our sights so low that we remain forever on our knees? Our dreams; our aspirations. Don’t these count for anything? Why should we surrender to a fate dictated to us by unfeeling people who seek only to profit from others? People whose view of the world is distorted by balance sheets. People who judge us to be worthless because we are viewed as unproductive and a drain on resources. Worthless because we are unable to jump through the hoops they design; or surmount the unclimbable barriers they erect to keep us on our knees.

Personally I say fuck the attitude that would value me less than my worth as a worker and a human being. I say fuck the views of a man born into privilege who has not known want; who has not gone hungry. And I say fuck the defeatism of ‘some crumbs are better than no crumbs’; the kind of mind-set that accepts the myth that we’re all in this together.

Boris Johnson is a nasty Tory...the avuncular image is a front

Why are we calling the privileged vicious neo-lib Johnson 'BoJo', or even Boris? All this does is add to the chummy matey image he has cultivated for himself. Such familiarity, especially the chirpy 'BoJo', lends a sense of Johnson being one of the crowd, someone who's approachable, a man of the people.

Yes, Johnson does have a personality; for that matter you’ll probably find shit-house rats who have personality. He is also charismatic; but then so were Rasputin and Hitler. He undoubtedly has a sense of humour; as did Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson.

Come on people let’s expose Johnson for what he is, a racist misogynist who is not too fussy about setting violent thugs onto his enemies. We should tear down the genial façade he has erected to cover his nastiness; rip off the mask of the ditzy funny man he wears, and expose the bare bones of the repugnant Tory bastard he really is. 

Living wage as opposed to minimum wage

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ed-miliband-a-labour-government-would-raise-minimum-wage-to-8-an-hour-9746657.html

Well done Miliband, it’s a start.

But, why isn’t Labour talking in terms of a living wage when calculating the level of the minimum wage? Most people on minimum wage struggle greatly to survive. Even by government’s own reckoning the minimum wage is insufficient. This is why people working full time are forced to claim tax credits and housing benefit in order just to live.

By pitching the minimum wage so low we end up subsidising bad employers. Therefore allowing scab companies who turn a profit and pay their shareholders a dividend and board of directors obscene bonuses to abuse the tax payer.

In most areas of public spending we hear the Tories defend the hard done by tax payer. The welfare state is being dismantled because we’re spending too much of hard earned tax payers’ money on public services.

The NHS is being sold off because, again, too much valuable public taxes are being thrown into the service; and the private sector can do the job more efficiently. Just remember that’s how they sold off our national rail system; and look at how much more that is costing today in both fares and public subsidy.

The other area that sees tax payers’ pounds being syphoned off to the bank accounts of Tory landlords is housing benefit. As rents in some areas of the country outstrip take home pay more working people are reduced to claiming HB. Yet we don’t hear howls of righteous indignation coming from the government benches as they denounce vampire landlords’ excessive rent demands.

Of course this Tory-led public-schoolboy packed government doesn’t cry ‘Foul!’ in the direction of scum employers and vampire landlords. They are after all their own kind.

However, Labour has no excuse. Labour could bring in rent controls. Such a measure tied to a programme of building a million council homes would put an end to the crazy cost of renting in areas of the country; and create thousands of decently paid jobs in construction.

Raising the minimum wage to at least £9ph (or even £10ph) along with the housing policy would take hundreds of thousands of workers out of the benefits trap. Our hard earned taxes could then go back into the welfare state and serve the many; not into off shore bank accounts that serve the few.

"I don't know"

A situation arose recently when I found myself in a position saying to people I deal with “I don’t know”. This is to do with a situation where people are waiting for something to commence and have been given start dates. However each time these start dates have failed to materialize and new dates later in the year, and beyond were given.

A couple of days ago I spoke to someone who should be in the know. He told me the expected date was in January and to pass this on to my group. While quite sceptical by nature I said I was loathe to give out this new date as I’d passed on three dates which hadn’t been met.

When I told the person in the ‘know’ that I’d told my group ‘I don’t know’ the date he accused me of not being professional.

An interesting development has now arisen. I’m not privy to decision making. Dates for an event have been announced, even at public meetings; but the dates are, time after time, missed. A group of people look to me for advice and information. The information I’m given is not sound; therefore what I pass on is unsound.

If it’s unprofessional to honestly state “I don’t know”, how professional is it to continuously give people information gleaned from an official source that turns out to be wrong?

The people in my group look to me for guidance. Getting it wrong as often as I have dents my credibility and I lose the trust of my group. Therefore I will continue with the honest line of “I don’t know”; and if this tarnishes my professionalism, then so be it. 

What is the Ice Bucket Challenge in Aid of?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/als-ice-bucket-challenge-over-half-of-brits-polled-did-not-donate-to-charity-afterwards-9696690.html

This ALS challenge says more about people’s desire to be seen to be doing the right thing. Most of those I know who I’ve watched on Facebook subject themselves to the chilly dousing will also put their hands in their pockets for what they feel is a worthy cause. Fair play to them.

However, my concern’s for the peer pressure activities such as these place upon individuals. So far I haven’t been challenged; and being the moody git I am nobody will take the chance. Though that’s not the issue.

There are several reasons I don’t subscribe to actions such as the ALS Challenge. The first I’ve mentioned; that is, the faddish nature of such actions has a knock-on effect where individuals feel compelled, coerced even, to participate. Which isn’t the idea of charity.

All too often, and this is borne out with this challenge, people aren’t actually donating any money but treating it as either a social challenge or being nudged into taking part so as not to feel ‘left out’; or different.

But Brother McGovern, you plead, it’s for charity. CHARIDEEEEEEEEEEEE! Well my answer is…NO IT’S NOT! Charity has nothing to do with the exploitation of people’s consciences. That’s not charity; no that’s trying to impose your values on others.

Charity isn’t about people carrying out acts of kindness and asking for recognition. Or corporations presenting outsized 2 meter long cheques on prime-time TV to worthy causes. Corporations who then enter charitable covenants for tax relief, such is their sense of giving.

This is the point I’m making. Charity is not just about giving. No real acts of charity are unconditional. The reward for the act is the act itself.

Finally, as a Socialist I firmly believe that the state should be responsible for health, welfare, education, social security as well as areas such general protection of citizenry. Research, whether for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or as more familiarly known to us in the UK, motor neurone disease, as with cancer, or heart disease, or Alzheimer’s should be carried out through government funding, not left to the caprice of social or mainstream media.

Labour Must Make a Commitment to Taking National Rail Back into Public Ownership

Back in 1993 John Major's Tory government committed one of the most flagrant acts of mugging ever. They smashed our rail system into almost one hundred parts and sold them off to franchisee’s, many of whom became millionaires; and to their friends in the business world, who again became very rich almost immediately after the sales.

The myth perpetrated, one that Thatcher popularised, was the old chestnut that insisted that all our industries, utilities and services would be better managed, cheaper to run and more profitable in the hands of the private sector.

Chart 1: rail subsidy (2011/12 prices)

Yet 21 years on from the second great train robbery we can see from the chart above that far from being cheaper to run the public subsidy going to this privately run service is greater today than it has ever been. So I suppose the system is more profitable in that shareholders and the people at the top of the rail companies are raking in fortunes from a repeatedly mugged public.

One could be forgiven for thinking: OK the subsidy is very high, but aren’t passengers getting value for their money with cheaper fares. The answer is: no we aren’t!

This chart shows the year by year upward rise in rail fares in the UK

Fares are set to rise by 3.5% in January 2015, that’s 2.5% RPI and the 1% rail franchisees are permitted to levy. That’s a staggering 24.7% rise since the ConDems came to power in 2010. Many of these rises are hitting working people who have not seen a pay rise for several years; so unless they get a decent pay rise this or next year the rise in their season tickets will in effect act as a further pay cut.

Back in 1993 it was argued that British Rail was a moribund service whose only hope of rejuvenation was selling it off to the private sector. Of course British Rail was a failing system. Decades of disinvestment into infrastructure and rolling stock had set BR up to fail. Add to this the right wing press and political spin that vilified and mocked everything about the system. Then you are presented with a fruit ready to be plucked from a very low branch – the way the NHS is being fitted-up is parallel to just how easy it is to off load a service if its deemed to be failing.

Labour must as a matter of urgency take the national railways back into the public sector and give rail travellers back a service that they can afford to use; and give tax payers a holiday from coughing up exorbitant subsidies that go into the coffers of private companies and into the back pockets of a few profiteers at the top. 

ConDems Guilty of Grave and Systemic Abuses of Disability Rights

Disabled people in the UK know that this ConDem government is guilty of abusing the rights of disabled people. Back in June it took a Hungarian Professor, Gabor Gombos*, to confirm what disabled campaigners in the UK have been raising for four years and more, that our government is guilty of "grave or systemic violations" of our rights.

During a disability law summer school in Galway in June the Professor made the following statement in relation to the UK:

"Where the issue has been raised and the government did not really make effective actions to fix the situation... it is a very high threshold thing; the violations should really be grave and very systemic."

Such statements are not made lightly; and scores of thousands of disabled people in the UK would be able to testify to and concur with the statement.

Indeed in July Just Fair’s ‘Dignity and Opportunity for All: Securing the Rights of Disabled People in the Austerity Era’ report found that this government in breach of its international human rights obligations (to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of disabled people) under both UNCRPD and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

For more than four years disabled activists, grass roots groups such as DPAC, trade unions and some politicians have highlighted this government’s failings of disabled people.

Tenacious campaigning against the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) managed to drive away ATOS, the notorious deliverer of the WCA. DPAC, Black Triangle and the trade unions, amongst others, forced ATOS to abandon the contract.

The Spartacus Report ‘Responsible Reform: Changes to Disability Living Allowance’, compiled by disabled people, exposed the ConDem’s consultation findings on planned changes to DLA as disingenuous. In their own words the government plans for the DLA replacement, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to cut at least 20% from the benefit.

The Bedroom Tax, despite reassurances to disabled people, did exactly what we predicted. It hit thousands of disabled people who needed a ‘spare’ room for partners or carers use; or to house bulky disability equipment such as wheelchairs, hoists, etc.

Another violation of our rights is the abolishing of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) planned for next year. In November 2013 a High Court decision found the closure of ILF unlawful. Earlier this year, after manipulating ‘new’ equality analysis and evidence, the government announced the closure of ILF in June 2015. There is, however, another challenge to keep ILF currently being made by individual disabled service users.

The above is not an exhaustive catalogue of abuses carried out by this government against disabled people. But it goes some way to highlighting the fact that this government is guilty of breaches in its international human rights obligations (to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of disabled people) under both UNCRPD and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

*Professor Gabor Gombos, co-founder of Voice of Soul, Hungary’s first organisation for ex-users and survivors of mental health institutions, and co-chair of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry

Of Mistakes Repeated and History Ignored

George Santayana said of war, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". Variations and paraphrases such as “Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them.” have all too frequently been invoked as conflict after conflict reap their bloody harvest of humankind.

Simply put Santayana and others were saying the study of history is necessary in order to stop mankind endlessly repeating the mistakes of the past - especially the 'bloody' mistakes. And for years I observed these prophetic words, usually as I read or heard of yet another conflict tearing humans from this life.

In the past few weeks however I’ve began to revise my views on these quotations. The latest conflict, that is the relentless bombardment and slaughter of innocent civilians in Gaza by the IDF, has caused me to change my understanding of George Santayana’s words.

It isn’t a matter of Israel not remembering its past. Nor is it a case of Israel being ignorant of history’s mistakes. How would they considering their history of persecution, pogroms and the holocaust.

No, it goes deeper than that. Israel, the US and the UK, countries with bloody pasts, don’t enter into conflict situations misguidedly. They haven’t perused the books of history and somehow misinterpreted the message.

We need only to look at the way the Tories are trying place a revisionist spin on the ‘Great War’. Instead of viewing this war, as much of history does, as a bloodbath on a mass industrial scale waged by belligerent Empires vying for power, the Tories are now trying to sell it as a ‘just war’.

In conclusion, people and more particularly countries don’t forget or repeat the mistakes of the past. Instead they set out wilfully to add their own to an already oversubscribed catalogue of wanton death and destruction. So maybe we should begin to regard history and its lessons merely as theoretical abstracts whose only purpose is to hold up the past as a mirror of what will surely happen in the future.

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."

Shame on you George Takei

As George Takei, he of Star Trek fame, is a gay man and a proponent of LGBT rights, I’d at the very least expect him to have some kind of empathy with other minority groups. Takei has also won a number of awards and accolades for his work in the human rights field, especially Japanese-American relations.

Is because she is not Japanese or LGBT?

But instead we find George undermining people as with this disablist joke on Twitter.

George, don’t you understand that in the world of minorities, of groups targeted for their differences a hurt to one is a hurt to us all? 

Bias at the BBC

The BBC is guilty of acting in a cowardly fashion in the way it reports global issues such as the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Rather than objectively reporting this conflict, it instead reports the situation as through the wrong end of a telescope.

Anyone new to the conflict might be forgiven for thinking this is an equal contest fought between two age-old enemies. The BBC will take a couple of minutes describing a massive explosion in a UN compound in Gaza that has killed half-a-dozen children (this being one of many such explosions) while horrendously injuring scores of others; then it will devote several minutes explaining to its viewers the inconvenience that Israeli’s suffer having to go to bomb shelters to avoid the missiles sent over by Hamas.

Reporters aren’t getting to the heart of the matter. They’re not explaining that the Israeli Iron Dome defence system (mostly funded by the USA) is so successful that they are not experiencing deaths and wounded, let alone the industrial levels being slaughtered in Gaza.

No, the BBC chooses to show balance by covering up the scale of atrocities in Gaza while playing up the hardships that the Israeli’s are undergoing.

The BBC also refuses to give due coverage of the massive demonstrations in the UK sparked by the IDF's murderous attacks on civilian targets. When scores of thousands of people march on the Israeli Embassy in Kensington to show their anger for innocent people being butchered; for showing human compassion for a defenceless people who are corralled in a small strip of land as one of the world’s most sophisticated armed forces showers death and destruction.

When this happens and still the BBC refuses to give it proper air time. When the BBC affords an anti-IDF march of 1,200 Germans in Berlin a 412-word coverage while affording a 64-word report on a march of 15,000 on the Israeli Embassy in London. Then we know the BBC is not fulfilling its charter as a public service broadcaster.

If the government of the day decides to sell off the BBC tomorrow, I will not come to its defence.   

The State of Israel was Created through a Programme of Terror

Many modern day commentators overlook or choose to ignore the fact that the State of Israel was founded on a stitch-up by the UN; and that many of the actions that brought the UN to its decision were regarded as acts of terrorism.

In November 1947 the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine. The Arabs, today’s Palestinians, were to receive 43% of the land; and the Jews, today’s Israelis, received the lion’s share, 57%. To say the partitioning was a stitch-up would be an understatement, especially when we realise that in 1947 Jews made up a mere 32% of the population of Palestine while the Arabs accounted for a whopping 60% - almost double the population yet allotted less than half the land.

Since 1948 Israel has increased its share of the land, by illegal settlements that have driven out their rightful Palestinian owners, to 77%. Is it any wonder that Palestinians, squeezed into ever-shrinking areas of land are indignant; as their militarily aggressive neighbours blockade a part of their country, of course they are angry.

History shows us that when pushed into a corner by mightier powers, the oppressed have few choices. In 1944 the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto knew their choices. They chose to resist the cruel and oppressive might of the Nazis. The Maquis in occupied France in WWII also chose to fight the aggressor. The Irish have for centuries fought against the imposition of its bigger, often belligerent, neighbour Britain.

All these examplas have been acknowledged as true resistance causes, to a greater or lesser extent, by most of the world at one time or another. Indeed Yitzak Shamir went as far as adopting Collins’ urban guerrilla tactics; and even using the code-name ‘Michael’ during Israel’s usurpation of Palestinian lands.

There is certain irony to Israel’s excuse that they are fighting terrorism considering they achieved statehood not by negotiation. They didn’t become a state through peaceful means at all. No, Israel won its 57% of Palestine by using the very terror tactics it accuses Palestinians of using today.

The Irgun argued that ‘political violence and terrorism’ were ‘legitimate tools in the Jewish national struggle for the Land of Israel’. They killed and injured hundreds in their fight for Israel.

The Haganah, from 1920-1948 this bunch of vigilantes acted as henchmen for the British Mandate in Palestine actually helping to quell Arab revolts that took place from 1936 to 1939.

Similarly, the Lehi committed many crimes in the name of freedom. It was this gang of freedom fighters who assassinated Count Bernadotte a UN Peace Negotiator in 1948.

Finally, the Stern Gang went as far as seeking contact with the Nazis in an attempt to subvert the British Mandate. This gang committed bank robberies and assassinated British figures.

As a Socialist I will not criticise any group who take up arms against oppressive colonialist regimes. My argument is not with the Jews who fought against the British Mandate of Palestine. No, my argument is with a people who after seeing off the colonial power then proceed to become the oppressors themselves. I oppose Israel’s indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians; and, I also call on the world to show its anger at the US and UK for arming Israel.

Seán Hannity Fox TV's Resident Bully

Over the past few weeks Russell Brand, politicised British comic and actor, has added his voice to the ever-louder shout for the Israeli’s to stop killing innocent Palestinians in Gaza. Brand is obviously getting his message across here as well as in the USA. So much so that he has incurred the wroth of Seán Hannity, a right-wing TV commentator who hosts a cable news show, Hannity, on Fox News Channel.  

Recently, in order to put ‘D-List Actor’, Russell Brand in his place and counter Brand’s views on the Israeli attacks on Gaza, Hannity invited a trio of what he expected to be through-and-through true-blue pro-Israel’s-right-to-bomb-Gaza-out-of-existence commentators onto the show.

Watch how Hannity couldn't even get that right. Also watch and listen to Brand’s own take on the show: 

Why aren't American TV viewers up in arms against this dangerous fool, Hannity. The man has no qualifications as a news presenter; he's certainly no idea of journalistic objectivity. He cannot string a coherent sentence together; nor put forwards an unbiased point of view. The man is rude and hectoring towards interviewees; and uses cheap constructs such as straw man fallacies to twist an opponent’s argument.

You would think that Americans had learned a lesson when they tried to take George Galloway apart at the Senate Hearings he attended back in 2006. Of course Galloway, in his inimitable style, took those American’s apart with his wit, argument and articulation.

I dare Seán Hannity to invite Russell Brand onto his show and attempt to outwit this very astute young man. 

A Mother's Anguish

Looking at images of grief consumed mothers in Gaza I put a few thoughts into words. Though I feel words become meaningless under such unendurable grief.

Palestinian Mothers' grieving...

A Mother’s Anguish

Another mother

Left bereft

Her child taken

She, forsaken.

All words

Of comfort

Lose their meaning

As they turn to dust

Against such deep loss.

Her feelings

Her thoughts

Frozen in a point of time

Before the crime

That stole away

Her beloved child.

Her face

A trace

Of how she looked,

Now contorted

Into a mask

Of torment etched lines

That serve

To carry

Away her tears.

A heart that once beat

To the drum

Of a child’s joy

Her boy

He that kept

Her heart alive

Now tearing

At its strings

As though

To tear it

From her breast

For her

To join him at rest.

Violence even against the most heinous of prisoners is wrong

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/april-jones-killer-mark-bridger-3631652

April Jones' Killer Mark Bridger

Let's not get too carried away here. Mark Bridger committed an horrific crime and in my view should spend the rest of his days in prison. However, as a prisoner he has the right to safety. What right do other convicted prisoners have to mete out their brand of justice? Anyone who believes that prisoners who beat up or violently injure a child killer, child molester or rapist do so out of any sense of decency or justice is mistaken. Violence in prisons serves one purpose only, power. 

Tories use Social Control Tactics in their ideological war against the many

This post is in response to a very good article from the link below:

http://jaynelinney.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/an-exercise-in-social-control-the-real-agenda-behind-benefit-fraud-campaigns-3/#comment-3795 (please read this piece and join the campaign against the demonisation and vilification of disabled people) 

Jayne, we can go back the Benefits Integrity Project (BIP) (a misnomer as it lacked integrity and benefited nobody) introduced by the outgoing Conservative government in 1996 without proper consultation or Parliamentary scrutiny. The BIP cost a small fortune to set up and run, and it failed to uncover the massive fraud committed by recipients of DLA; or indeed recover enough monies to cover even its own running costs!

The BIP and the mentality behind it rubbed off on the Blair government who began witch-hunting disabled people almost from day one of their coming into office. This culminated in the debacle of ATOS and the WCA, sadly Labour initiatives.

A great shame of the 1997-2010 Labour administrations was their unstinting use of propaganda to attack disabled benefits’ claimants. This punitive approach made it easier for the ConDems to continue the attack on us, despite the fact, as you rightly point out, that levels of benefits fraud by disabled claimants barely register on the fraud radar.

Thus Jayne, your observations that the whole exercise of attacking benefits’ ‘cheats’ is a form of social controlling is correct. This social controlling being just another component in the wider ideological war being waged by the Tories in their quest to impose neo-liberal policies upon the majority.

Come on Labour, deviate from the path of ‘caring’ capitalism; get divorced from the mock marriage of neo-liberalism; and if you feel you need a ‘scapegoat’ look no further than Amazon, Vodaphone, Philip Green, Barclays, etc and their tax cheating ways. Don’t piss around chasing less than a £1 billion in benefits’ ‘fraud’ when you could be seeking out the £120 billion fiddled by big business and billionaires!

IDS Covers Up Yet Another Failure

He's hiding yet another failure. IDS's life is a succession of failures. He lied when he claimed he had studied at Perugia University; he failed in the army where he was known as Iain Drunken-Smith; and of course he flopped as the leader of the Conservative Party.

Iain Duncan-Smith, liar and failure of the first degree - the prerequisites of a good Tory Minister

Smith is hiding the fact that his string of failures has increased with his idea of a Universal Credit failed. He won’t admit what most people in the disability and anti-austerity movement knew from the very inception of this crackpot idea.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with a universal benefits’ system. Anything that takes the bureaucracy out of our benefits’ system and instils it with some ease of use and, as importantly, fairness, should be supported. However, IDS’s idea of a universal credit was not to create ease for the claimant but rather as a punitive measure that stigmatises the very act of benefit claiming making it so difficult to access that only the desperate would bother.

Welfare State to Blame for Food Banks

Does Tebbit really ‘eat humble pie’ after earlier attacks on benefits’ claimants abusing food banks by accepting “…emergency handouts to save money which they then spent on junk food.”?

Lord Tebbit applies charity model to food bank recipients

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/top-tory-lord-norman-tebbit-3597647#ixzz32d93IQH5

Lord Tebbit, after visiting a food bank Trussell Trust food bank in Haverhill, Suffolk, lavishes praise upon the staff and the procedures they use to dole out food. He observes: “There was no slap-happy handing over of boxes.”  Which in the code of those with a charitable disposition means ‘responsible spending of tax-payers’ money.’ Or in the language of the hungry ‘give the buggers just enough to survive’; in other words, don’t over indulge them.

In Tebbit’s view starvation in itself is not sufficient reason enough to claim food from a food bank. No, the applicant must prove they have a genuine need to this resource and how they have arrived at this sorry state. In this respect the hungry person isn’t short of genuine reasons:

·       Wages from work being so low people can’t afford the basics of life

·       Benefits completely cut by job centre sanction

·       Benefit slashed as a result of wrong decisions made at WCA

·       Bedroom tax imposed upon social housing tenants

·       Qualification for new disability benefit, PIP, denied due to introduction of stricter qualifying criteria

·       Income so low that rent, travel, etc eats up most of money.

Thus, when Tebbit admits:“Some had fallen foul of the bureaucratic processes of welfare support, leaving them waiting for, or even denied, the cash support to which they were entitled” he appears to recognise that a problem exists. However, his judgement of the situation is disingenuous in that he places the blame on the welfare system.

Lord Tebbit, our welfare state has existed, despite constant Tory opposition from day one, for almost six decades. It is your party, the Conservatives, along with their partners in crime, the LibDems, who have created the need for food banks.

Your government’s policies are forcing benefits’ claimants to wait longer for their claims to be processed, thus placing them in penury.

Your government’s policies are sanctioning more and more claimants, quite often for spurious reasons, all too often for minor infringements of benefits’ rules.

Your government’s policies are wrongly finding sick and disabled people fit for work, thus reducing the amount of benefits they receive.

When a leading Conservative speaks out against the draconian policies his government has imposed upon some of the poorest people in the country; against groups of people least able to defend themselves, then and only then will I recognise any humanity coming from the words or deeds of a Tory.

Suppliers' Demands

So, just when I think everything is hunky dory at chez Seán another load of hassle. An email from my energy supplier informing me that “…an objection to the electricity transfer has been raised by your current supplier.”

The fact is that I’ve only just moved into the property and signed up to a new energy supplier at the same time. Yet there is an assumption by energy companies that new tenants somehow know the previous occupants of the property. For instance when I tell my supplier I haven’t a Scooby as to the name of my predecessor they generally sound quite surprised.

But why would I know the person who occupied my new drum prior to my occupancy? They then ask whether my landlord knows the previous tenant. Of course the landlord knows who lived here prior to my moving in. However, why would the landlord know from whom their tenants purchase energy?

This next bit is quite worrying. 

“Unfortunately, an objection to the electricity transfer has been raised by your current supplier. An objection can be raised for a number of reasons, so don’t worry. Your current supplier may have already contacted you regarding this, but if they haven’t we would advise you to contact them to discuss the reason for the objection.”

First my supplier, who know that I’m new to the property and have no idea who supplies energy to my home, insists on speaking in terms of ‘Your current supplier…’ (no pun meant), as though I had any say in the matter.

Then I’m told an objection to the transfer has been made. On questioning my supplier as to the nature of the objection I’m reliably informed that ‘my current supplier’ (honestly no pun intended) is not obliged to name the objection.

Look, it matters not a jot to me what the previous tenant got up to in the privacy of his or her, now my, crib. But isn't the idea of energy companies raising objections without offering up an explanation a bit strong? 

Parking Bay Squatters

Things have been going swimmingly with my move. All the boxes emptied and contents stored away. BT phone and BB up and running. TV reception excellent. The place feels like home.

At first I thought having a car parking space outside my flat, effectively my own car port. Prior to moving a red BMW driver had taken the spot as his own free parking bay. My housing officer managed to have a friendly word and he ceased parking there.

Since Wednesday several cars have taken advantage of my PAs going about their business in my car and parked up when they’ve spotted it vacant. On one occasion the car was parked so far back that I couldn’t get around it in my wheelchair; thus I was effectively trapped in my home – fortunately this inconsiderate person didn’t park for too long.

What happens when someone parks up for the weekend and I’m trapped in my home? Or if I can’t get out of my home to get to work?

Sadly it’s Friday night and my housing office won’t be open until Monday morning. In order that they’re aware of the situation I’ve sent them a lengthy email requesting that the landlord fixes a lockable folding parking post at the end of my parking bay to put a stop to squatting drivers.

Simple solution to parking bay squatters

Better Bus Design for Wheelchair Users

A little while ago Liz Carr ran into problems on a bus because she wished to travel in her wheelchair facing the driver, as most normies do, but the bus driver insisted she travel facing towards the rear of the bus with the back of her chair against the cushioned pad.

Liz then received the following:

"With regards to Transport for London (TfL) policy concerning the positioning of wheelchairs on buses, I must report that the drivers are correct in insisting wheelchair users travel facing rearwards, with the back against the backrest and brakes applied. This is a legal requirement that needs to be enforced. Drivers should of course be polite and helpful in doing this and they are all being trained on this issue as part of our new ‘All Aboard!’ training this year.

It may be of use for you to arrange for one of our Travel Mentor team members to accompany you on a journey, and look to see if there is a better way for you to travel. Though ultimately, I’m afraid that legal reasons dictate that this is facing rearwards for the reasons explained. The travel mentoring team might be able to provide alternative options, such as our door-to-door Dial-a-Ride service, if this is felt to be appropriate."

I don’t mind which way I’m facing on a bus, although I draw the line at facing the ceiling, or floor. However I fully appreciate Liz’s desire to travel facing the driver; and I also agree, given the inherent dangers of travelling on public transport, that Liz should be given the choice of her own fate – that is to be mashed up backwards or smashed up forwards.

What pushes me over the edge and into a frenzy of uncontrollable red-mist can’t-recall-a-single-thing-afterwards rage is the fact they want us to sit the wrong way; and in doing so make it next to impossible to manoeuvre our chairs into the designate area.

Why do bus companies insist on placing an upright pole a third of the way along the wheelchair space? This pole makes it incredibly difficult for me to enter the bus facing forwards; attempt to turn 130° in a tight turning circle; reverse into the space, impeded by the pole; and back onto the cushion. All this usually on a moving bus.

The offending upright pole is on the left of the photograph - coloured green

One bright spark told me the pole was there to arrest my fall in the event of the bus breaking sharply and my brakes giving way – which they do anyway with some drivers at which time my chair behaves like a rodeo horse. So if you hear someone shouting YEEE HAW as an 88 nips sharpishly along Whitehall, that’ll be me.

Oh, by the way. If the bus breaks and I’m thrown from my bucking bronco, I’d rather hit the floor than a bloody pole which would probably drive my ribs into me vitals!

Problems Inherent in Using Independent Gas Suppliers

Still no luck with identifying the gas supplier to my new flat. Contacted my new suppliers yesterday but sadly their computer system was down; on Friday their free phone number was out of order. Hope I've not bought a pig in a poke. 'U Switch' recommended the supplier. Stating their rates were competitive and, in my as important, they had an excellent customer service.

The fact that the previous tenant, apparently, used an independent gas supplier means the property does not appear on the national gas customers' register. However, there are another couple of avenues that my supplier can explore, but not until Tuesday, the day before I'm due to move.

BBC: Sack Clarkson Now!

Ask yourself the question, why was Jeremy Clarkson recorded reciting a nursery rhyme? His actions are those of a not particularly bright school boy, the one who as he coughed shouted 'wanker'; who when confronted by the teacher then claimed he had only coughed. While the lad courts the laughs and guffaws of other school boys; Clarkson's remarks are more sinister as they pander to the racist elements amongst his TV fans and readers of rags such as the Sun and Mail. 

A couple of wankers maybe, but they are dangerous wankers who have a public stage from which they can propagate their nasty and vicious right wing agendas

Clarkson has been acting the cunt for years, sailing ever closer to the wind just to see how far he ca push the envelope of accepted behaviour. Slagging off people of various nations is a favoured pastime. But of course all carried out within a context.

The context, of course, being the Clarkson context bluff no-nonsense uttering made by a laddish TV presenter which renders racist and xenophobic words and statements as harmless and disposable jocularity.

Likewise jibes about lorry drivers killing prostitutes; or shooting bus drivers in the face; or even that public sector strikers should be shot in front of their families. Just Jeremy being Jeremy.

Now Nigel Farage of the crackpot UKIP Party is defending the BBC presenter’s use of the word nigger as merely "just typical" of Clarkson.  

OK Farage, in which case you’ll not object if I state that you’re a racist and xenophobic bigot leading a party which is in reality the Waffen SS wing of the Conservative Party composed, for the greater part of scumbags, assorted sociopaths, oddballs, misfits and crackpots – these being the better elements.

I’m sure you won’t mind, after all its "just typical" of me to wander too close to the borders of offensiveness.

Moving House Blues

Over the past couple of days feelings of déjà vu are seeping and creeping into my dreams and even my waking moments. Ten years ago I moved into my current address, a place I’ve never considered home. One of the reasons I’ve attached no feelings of domesticity to the property is the hassle I endured when moving into the place.

Back then Lambeth agreed to do certain enabling works to allow for my disabilities and waived the rent for a number of weeks prior to my moving in. Which was just as well considering the nightmares I was to face trying to get an electricity connection.

On receiving the keys to the flat, prior to the enabling works, I needed a floor put in as well as decorating carried out. First things first, I opened an account with British Gas (BG). However, there was no electric power coming into the flat. The lights didn’t work nor did the electrical sockets – and the little wheel on the meter wasn’t going round and round the way it would if there was power.

Back on the blower to BG, explained little wheel static. Yes, all the fuses were pointing the correct way…up. But they maintained they were supplying me from there end. This was not their issue it was a problem for the landlord to sort out – Lambeth Council.

Chatted to my housing officer advised me to sign up with an energy supplier – tosser. After explaining my conversation with my supplier, BG, he gave me an over-the-phone-shrug-of-the-shoulders stating that Lambeth had carried out its obligations.

Back to BG I go, a little despondent with my faith in humanity a bit dented but not at major motorway pile-up level yet – this would come about in painful increments over a period of 22-days. BG were awfully sorry to hear of my dilemma; they took another butchers at my account and carrying out a conscious Pontius batted me back to my landlord.

This toing and froing continued for another few gruelling sets before an umpire (a third party I’d got involved so as to salvage a soupcon of sanity) suggested that Lambeth re-checks the electric power to my flat. The electric engineers, the Wild Bunch or Magnificent Seven as I recall, were called back; after doing their tests they reported that all sockets and light fittings were A OK and in working order.

The only problem was, nothing worked. Light bulbs shed no light upon switching the switch. The radio emitted no sound upon hitting the on button. The hob no heat did it throw out when flicking the switch. Indeed, the little wheel in the meter cupboard stubbornly lay still as though in a torpor unable to complete a revolution.

“What can we do?” Whined the Wild Bunch moseying on out of my flat down the road apace. But of course the manager had a solution, that’s why he spent the inspection on his mobile having the craic with a mate while his desperadoes carried out the work. “We’ll get EDF in. This is obviously a problem that’s on the outside of the property – or in other words, we haven’t got a Scooby what we’re doing let’s mug the billy bunter off with someone else.

In other words they had carried out two electrical tests of the premises; and though finding everything in order on both occasions, and signing certificate to this effect. They were now saying the fact I had no power was due to external influences – outside the drum. Yet all sockets, etc inside the drum were registering live.

Along comes EDF to check the outside electrical ting and ting. Big geezer comes to my door and hands me a very large fuse, about the size of a 1.6 v battery. “Here you go mate. Nuthing wrong wiv yer fews. See, clean as nun’s conscience”.

Indeed, it was.

So, looking at the meter, which was still, well still. Flicking a light switch, and there being no light I asked the electrician why the meter wasn’t working and the lights not coming on.

“Not ma problem, cheef” chirps this fidgeter of fuse boxes. “It’s inside yer ‘ouse; I only do outside”.

“Any ideas where or what?” I quiz; attempting to tantalizingly trick him into giving up the secret of the missing leccy from 25 Pisspot Way.

“Well, it could be…” as he launched into the lingua franca of Sparkyland.

“Whoa, slow down. Let me write this down. Just a minute.” I pleaded.

“…behind yer fuse panel”. He finished as he turned on his heel and naffed off.

“Hang on. I didn’t get any of that. Give me a fucking break, pal”. I pled. Had I bled it wouldn’t have moved this smug bastard. The kind of fucker who measures his pleasure by the misery of mourning mothers.

Lines of demarcation have a place within our industries; teachers should teach children; nurses nurse sick people; chippies swing doors; plasters spread walls; brickies to do things with frogs that brickies do; and electricians to wire up.

However, I wasn’t asking this guy to come into my place and do the work of another tradesperson. No, I was pleading with him to impart his knowledge in lay language so as I could get my problem sorted.

Anyhow, another couple of days went by. The third party assisting me managed to get the electrical engineers out, for a third time. At first they ignored me as I pointed to the meter uttering “the problems in the meter cupboard!”

No, they went through their esoteric rituals of poking their devices around sockets and gaining great satisfaction when a light lit up the device. It was their version of the entrails of a dead goat giving out an auspicious reading.

Satisfied with a job well done they attempted to leave the flat. No way Pedro. They were not going to pass until the wheel on my meter went round, round, round.

“The meter. Check the fucking meter. The problem is with the meter!” I screamed. By now I was frantic. This was after all day 22 without electric. “You’re not leaving here until there is electricity in this fucking place!” Roared a man teeting on the edge of a breakdown.

Slumping on the floor with my back covering the lower half of the front door, thus blocking their exit I sat, daring them to even try leaving without looking in the meter cupboard a couple of feet away.

“You’ll have to fucking kill me if you want to leave. And you know what? At this point in time I don’t give a fucking monkey’s for myself. So the choice is yours.” All said with a steely calmness; a kind of acceptance of my fate. The resignation of a beaten man.

“Alright mate, calm down. I’ll have a look but don’t blame me if the fault isn’t in the meter. My money’s on the ‘Erbert from EDF bollixing it up”.

Sparky opens the door of the meter. Whips out his trusty sparky-driver and whips off the panel over the fuses and says:

“Oh, yeh of course its blah blah sparky lingo…there you go mate, problem sorted…”

Flick! On comes a light. A radio in another rooms springs to life. The sparks help me up and I watch, with tears in my eyes the meter almost imperceptibly turn, the start of a revolution.

Almost ten years on from this very distressing situation I’m moving house again. Guess what? No, I have electricity in the flat. This time nobody, that is Ovo (my new supplier, EDF nor Which?Switch (who have a database containing a record of all energy suppliers and customer addresses) can find any trace of gas ever being supplied to the property.

All three have told me to get a MPRN (a meter point reference number) which is a unique number to a given meter and from this they can determine who supplied gas to the previous tenant.

After several days I discovered my gas meter resided in a kitchen cupboard, too low for me to access. But even if I could, what does a MPRN look like? It’s a series of numbers, I’m reliably informed by someone who works for an energy company and is familiar with the jargon and ways of her sector.

With this handy tip in ascertaining MPRN’s I take several photographs of the gas meter. One figure, 2005 followed by a colon and six numbers, isn’t the series of figures I need. Obviously the meter reading itself doesn’t qualify as a MPRN due to its mutability. Then aside from stickers with dates on them, maintenance information, there are no other numbers visible on the apparatus.

While I’m being batted to and from various energy suppliers and allied trades I’m explaining to my housing officer (HO) that I have a real problem developing. The HO, an extremely helpful young woman repeatedly assures me the problem will be sorted, before I move in on Wednesday next, 7^th May.

Somewhere down the chain, as it transpires, there is talk of the previous tenant having used an independent gas supplier. This explains why each time I’m asked for my address the energy company agent cannot find any record of gas being supplied to property.

“Are you sure you have the right address?” I’m patronised.

“Well if it isn’t, I’ve been doing a burglar Bill turn for the past week” I respond in an concealed attempt at light banter – the fact I’m hitting high notes as I spit out my responses is a bit of a giveaway.

“OK. And you’re sure it’s a gas meter?” She inflects in that falling fashion made fashionable by Aussie soaps.

“Gas meter? I thought I was arranging a funeral for Fluffyfattybum my recently departed Liptov Baldspotted Rabbit!” drawled I, not attempting to mask the sarcasm.

“Sorry, what was that?” comes back she lazily, with equally indifference as she lavishly laced her mocking mock question.

“Yes, it’s a gas meter. Several things suggest this including the SI unit for gas measurement. But mainly the words Gas Meter printed on the device”. Spoken without irony as by now the fun had escaped from the situation and I was coming down from the natural high generated when I enter a fight.  

It’s late now. My problems are unresolved. There is little or nothing I can do until Tuesday, the day before I move into the new property.

So fuck everything.

I’m going to do something I’ve not done for a long time.

I’m going into my living room and get rat-arsed, hollering and hooting, tearing and swearing, rabble rousing, neighbour disturbing, beastly drunk!
       

You notice I’m referring to the new property as ‘home’. Because if I have the same problems as before it may never become my home, just another flat in which I rest my head.

OT Problems

This rant concerns an Occupational Therapist (OT). Last week I went for a viewing of a wheelchair accessible property. This was the second viewing as the first was conducted sans OT. As it was a lovely spring day the housing officer suggested we wait outside for the OT, who as though to cue pulled up on his bicycle.

Staring at me with something of a quizzical look he asked me how long I’d been using a wheelchair, “About seven or eight years” I gestimated.

“When we met three years ago you weren’t in a wheelchair” replied the increasingly medical model sounding OT.

“Ah, that’s because we met in my current home” I responded “and one of the reasons you were assessing was due to my inability to fully utilise my home due to lack of wheelchair access”.

“In fact you recommended me for a wheelchair standard home over my current mobility standard flat.”

“But you were not using a wheelchair when I visited you last, were you?”

A sense of déjà vu was seeping into this conversation.

“To reiterate. You came to my flat back in 2011. The purpose of the visit to determine whether or not my home could be made accessible for wheelchair use. You measured various areas and launched into all the reasons why it was impossible to structurally alter the property, blah, blah, blah – which as I come from a construction back ground I was fully conversant with; and probably also better qualified.”

Adding to this I told the OT I’d had very bad experiences with OT’s in Lambeth over a number of years. That in the past they have ignored my needs. Indeed on one occasion an OT had conducted an assessment that took two hours to complete. He then copied me in a the assessment report, which turned out to be word-for-word identical to a report made three years earlier, all except he had changed the names.

Anyway, approaching the front door of the property, and stone me if Ove Arup doesn’t come out with another ‘qualified’ statement, remember at this point the front door was still closed:

“The hall is too small for you to make a three-point turn” prejudged he - even though a full turning circle for a wheelchair is not the same as a three-point turn.

The housing officer opened the front door and I entered the flat span around and gave the OT a mental ‘V’ sign.

As you can see achieving a turning circle in a wheelchair is not the same as carrying out a three-point-turn

Things just went down-hill after this. Mr Medical Model put obstruction in the way of obstruction. The doors were too narrow because I pull myself into the room by way of the door frame. This is a habit I have; and I do this at work, in public buildings, whether or not the door widths comply with Approved Document M.

He then picked up on me using my feet to open doors. Well, yes I do. What is the purpose of a kick plate anyway? Especially when the doors are fitted with Perkins door closers.

He persisted in asking me questions and not satisfied with the answer, attempted to get the answer he wanted by couching the question in a different way:

“Do you cook?”

“No. I have problems standing; and with a weakened left arm do not feel confident handling hot pans.”

“How about heating meals in a microwave?”

“Same thing, difficulty safely handling hot dishes.”

“You must make hot drinks, surely?”

“No I don’t. For exactly the same reasons I’ve just made.”

“So who cooks for you?”

“My PAs” – by now I’m getting the right hump.

“Are you his PA?” he asks directing the question at the only other person in the room.

“Yes, I’m one of Seán’s PAs” says my PA.

“Tell me…” and before he could finish the question, my PA interrupts with: “you’d best ask Seán”.

Of course I jumped in and told him to direct any questions about me to me.

At this point he accused me of being blasphemous to Lambeth OTs. Yes, he said ‘blasphemous’! Now I’ve met a good few consultants who fancy themselves as God; and not too few physio’s who are the devil incarnate – only joking Lesley, physio’s are all lurvelllly…

I’m supposed to be signing the tenancy agreement on Wednesday. Wouldn’t be surprised if the OT puts the kibosh on things stating the property is not suitable; and telling the HA that the council will not carry out any adjustments to the place.   

"Sod the 'cradle of humanity'..."

“The worrying thing is that its [Africa] supposed to be the 'cradle of humanity' as the earliest humanoid fossils were found there. Considering that that means that people have lived there longer than anywhere else, the place is remarkably backward in health, education, political stability....in short, all the things the rest of the world have in far better condition. Sod the 'cradle of humanity' - I'd rather have the comforts of 21st century civilization!!!”

A contributor to Facebook

So, far from being the 'cradle of humanity' Africa is reduced to an uncivilised continent that has contributed nothing to the civilising of humanity. That is humanity as measured by someone cosy with the comforts of Western civilisations.

I wasn’t aware that the 21C had been reduced to a single civilisation.

However, that aside for now. Let’s examine the comforts of this century, shall we? What about that darling delight coming our way, Global Warming? On the bad side a great swathes of land submerged in water which will either displace or kill billions. On the good side… there is no good side.

Pollution is already out of control in many of the developed countries on this planet. Now that China, India and Brazil are in the race to produce more goods the use of fossil fuels will rise over-proportionally given the size and scope of these economies.

The real threat of desertifaction of massive areas of the USA and Central Asia; and a creeping southwards of the Sahara Desert in Africa. Attendant on desertification will be reductions and loss of vital water supplies. In volatile regions such as the Levant and Middle East this will exacerbate existing relations between states, relations that are already tenuous or even non-existent in some cases.

Then there’re the other great comforts afforded by 21C civilisation. Neo-liberalism and the growth of greed to ginormous heights. The division of wealth that today sees awning gap the size of the Rift Valley between the rich and poor. Over 1,000,000 people were forced to resort to food banks in the UK, the 7^th richest country on earth, in the past year.

In the world’s richest economy, the USA, 3.5 million citizens experience homelessness in a year. 18% of US citizens have no medical insurance. Some 50 million Americans struggle with hunger at any one time.

Those are the real “…comforts of 21st century civilization!!!”

Finally the very real threat of another war engulfing much of the world is never too far away in this 21C idyll in which we exist. Since it is so backward and that Africa has contributed the least to many of the great achievements of the 21C will this undeserving continent then be excluded from the great comforts such as global warming; air and water pollution; and destruction in a nuclear holocaust?

A Definite Disconnect Between the Wealthy and the Poor

Kate Humble the star of the TV programme, Lambing Live, believes food is too cheaply priced. Humble argues that the public does not value food due to its cheapness and the fact they are disconnected from the farming process.

These are the views of a successful TV presenter who is married to a TV director both of whom also own a 117-acre, ex-council, farm in Trellech, Monmouth. So little fear of food banks for these two.

Kate Humble in the haystack in which she lives with the lambs she purchased  from 'Lambs 'R' Us'

OK, Mz Humble let’s apply your logic generally. Firstly we’ll raise the cost of farm labourers because you do not value them due to their cheapness and the fact you are so disconnected from their financial needs. Then we’ll raise the duty on agricultural diesel, as it’s obvious that you haven’t a clue about the oil industry, thinking that diesel simply comes from a tanker; and you’re totally disconnected from the intricate process of fuel taxation.

Ignorantia legis neminem excusat - unless you're a government Minister

Mrs Miller is the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; and has been an MP since 2005. This means she has worked in the Westminster village for almost a decade. That’s almost ten years in a job that involves the making and enacting of laws.

Yet, like so many of her parliamentary associates Mrs Miller appears unable to distinguish between right and wrong herself. How is it that MPs, people for whom the law is an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, have such difficulties in understanding their own expenses procedures?

Mrs Miller making her less than contrite apology -
not for claiming £40,000 more than her entitlement,
but for her attitude towards an inquiry into her expenses

As a rule ignorantia legis neminem excusat, unless you’re a government minister. In which case a fraudulent claim in excess of £45,000 can be reduced to a repayment of £5,800; with a less than contrite 30-second long apology that sounded more like a stroppy teenager’s ‘whatever!’

Yet while MPs are allowed to get away with cheating on a vast scale, benefits’ fraud of under £20 K can carry a prison sentence of up to 12 months. There is talk of increasing the sentence for benefits’ fraud to ten years. In supporting such Draconian sentencing the political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, Jonathan Isaby argues that:

"This is people stealing from taxpayers - stealing from vulnerable people. A message needs to go out that this is unacceptable and increasing sentences will act as a deterrent."

Most of us know the ‘us and them’ model which underpins most areas of life in Britain. All that the Miller case does is to confirm that it extends to Parliament. So Us and Them-ism runs through education, employment, health, housing, welfare, policing, the judiciary and Parliament. Good to know those at the top are able to maintain consistency.

Turn Left, Labour

"Ed Miliband risks losing next election and Unite support, says Len McCluskey

Labour is at a crossroads and may lose union's financial backing if it offers 'pale shade of austerity', general secretary warns"

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/01/ed-miliband-election-unite-financial-support-len-mccluskey

In the 2015 general election voters may feel, 'Why change buses half way through the journey when both buses are headed to the same garage?'

The Labour Party is in need of an epiphany; whilst Ed Milband could do with a road to Damascus experience...and soon!