Democide

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Democide is the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder. Democide is not necessarily the elimination of entire cultural groups but rather groups within the country that the government feels need to be eradicated for political reasons and due to claimed future threats. According to Rummel, genocide has three different meanings. The ordinary meaning is murder by government of people due to their national, ethnic, racial or religious group membership. The legal meaning of genocide refers to the international treaty on genocide, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This also includes nonlethal acts that in the end eliminate or greatly hinder the group. Looking back on history, one can see the different variations of democides that have occurred, but it still consists of acts of killing or mass murder. A generalized meaning of genocide is similar to the ordinary meaning but also includes government killings of political opponents or otherwise intentional murder. In order to avoid confusion over which meaning is intended, Rummel created the term democide for the third meaning.^[6]

The objectives of such a plan of democide include the disintegration of the political and social institutions of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups; the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity; and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.^[7]

Rummel defines democide as "the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder". For example, government-sponsored killings for political reasons would be considered democide. Democide can also include deaths arising from "intentionally or knowingly reckless and depraved disregard for life"; this brings into account many deaths arising through various neglects and abuses, such as forced mass starvation. Rummel explicitly excludes battle deaths in his definition. Capital punishment, actions taken against armed civilians during mob action or riot, and the deaths of noncombatants killed during attacks on military targets so long as the primary target is military, are not considered democide.^[8]

He has further stated: "I use the civil definition of murder, where someone can be guilty of murder if they are responsible in a reckless and wanton way for the loss of life, as in incarcerating people in camps where they may soon die of malnutrition, unattended disease, and forced labor, or deporting them into wastelands where they may die rapidly from exposure and disease."

Read more...

Dying Is An Option Thanks To DWP

Reblogged from enoughisenoughdwp:

Nothing left to do but die

It has taken 3 days to type this, I can't concentrate for long and can't be bothered to correct.

I suffer from crippling depression And anxiety. I also have problems walking  and standing unaided  because of a spinal issue. 

I rarely leave my home and spend most of my time in bed or in front of a Telly. I have lost contact with friends as I just want to be  left alone 

I haven't been paid any benefit since mid February when my ESA was stopped.

The reason they stopped it was because I didn't attend my medical assessment at Atos. This was because I never received my notification.

I am no longer at the address it was sent to, but when I lived there, mail could be very sporadic because mine and others on the street, would be sometimes delivered to different flats and houses on the street.

I appealed their decision but was refused twice and later told, they were not appeals, but  reconsideration, even though I filled out a GL24 form.

I have reached the point that some days I feel life is no longer worth living. I was evicted 3 Weeks ago and currently living in a mice infested squat because I didn't want to be parted with my dog.

If it wasn't for my pensioner mother, I don't know how I would have survived. She has helped me out with small amounts of money here and there, but it is not fair on her as she is also in bad health.

After several months I tried to apply for job seekers but was met by a very unhelpful and spiteful bitch called Saba who works at the Dalston Job Centre. I'm sorry, but after that woman did to me, it's the first word that comes to mind.

From the first meeting she showed no interest and didn't even look at me when I was in front of her.

Things came to a head when I attended  Dalston Job centre for my first sign on. Saba was unfriendly, barked at me. I told her I was unable to look for the required 8 jobs and only managed a few, because of my dire state of mind. I was on the verge of being evicted, suffering depression so bad that I spent most of the day with a duvet over my me. Compounded with arthritis and a bulging disc in my back, I was lower than low. Even standing at the kitchen sink was an ordeal. My only relief is when I'm lying down.

Saba reluctantly decided I would be paid, but scolded me like a child and told me to show up with proof of 8 jobs I had sought next sign on

She got me to sign something and when I handed the pen back to her, she claimed I threw it at her. In fact it dropped from my hand as I have problems holding on to things, even a phone because my fingers are numb most of the time  and feel like pins and needles.

She told me my JSA was being stopped because I threw a pen at her. I insisted on seeing her manager (she refused at first but I insisted). Her manager who overheard everything told me he had called her aside and spoke with her even before I requested to speak to him.

After two Weeks on JSA it was decided by my doctor I not try to work.

That is when the nightmare got worse.

How long am I supposed to live like this? I can't handle the stress of calling DWP, I can't handle the abuse from them, I can't handle sleeping on a mattress in a mice infested squat. I don't think I have enough pills left to take my life and not enough on my oyster card to get into my nearest tube station to jump infront of a train. The easiest thing is to walk in front of a bus on Kigslad High Rd nr the job centre What more do they want from me? My doctor has written a letter to them but that is not enough.

To our current government, Dwp, the staff at Hackney and Dalston job centre. My blood will be on your hands when I summon up the courage to leave this world.

I can't just blame them for everything, my problems began long before my dealings with Dwp. It hurts to be awake. I just want to sleep and never wake up.

It has taken 3 days to type this, I can't concentrate for long and can't be bothered to correct.

I rarely leave my home and spend most of my time in bed or infront of a Telly. I have lost contact with friends as I have nothig  to share

I'm out of money, can't pay for my mobile phone bill and can no longer pay for top up for mobile broadband,  basics like  personal hygiene and food

I don't want to be a burden to my mother anymore and cannot bare the thought of asking her for more money.

The following  people helped drive me over the edge

Dalston job centre, Hackney Job Centre, Francine (mare street jc) who was so cold and told me to kill myself if that's what I felt like doing , some woman called Begonia (mare st jc) who spoke very bad English and refused to give me her name yesterday and this morning, Jenny (mare st jct) who was rude some months ago and hung up when all I did was ask her a question.You are employed to help people not degrade them.

Rob on the Ajax Team at Mare St thanks for being very decent. Same goes to Delores at Dalston Job centre for being very patient and taking time out.

Harrington’s replacement helped devise ATOS ‘fitness for work’ test

The government has announced the name of the man who will continue the crucial task of reviewing its “fitness for work” test.

Dr Paul Litchfield will replace Professor Malcolm Harrington, who published his third and final annual review of the work capability assessment (WCA) in November.

Litchfield is chief medical officer and director of health, safety and wellbeing for BT, and his areas of expertise include the impact that mental ill-health can have on job prospects.

But Litchfield will be reviewing an assessment he played a part in creating.

He was a member of the mental health technical working group that was set up in 2006 by the Labour government as part of its plans to “transform” the personal capability assessment (PCA), which tested eligibility for incapacity benefit (IB).

He was also a member of a working group set up by Labour to help replace the PCA with the WCA, as part of the move from IB to employment and support allowance, the new out-of-work disability benefit.

He is also the joint author of a report for the Labour government on mental health and employment. His co-authors were Rachel Perkins, now chair of Equality 2025, the government’s advisory network of disabled people, and Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind.

Litchfield said he was “pleased and honoured” to be asked to continue Harrington’s work, and added: “Most of my career has been devoted to trying to help people with physical and mental health problems in the context of employment. 

“Any assessment not only has to be fair but must be perceived as being fair and I hope that I can continue the process of improving the work capability assessment.”

Farmer welcomed Litchfield’s appointment, and said his former colleague had “a wealth of knowledge and experience in the fields of occupational and mental health”.

But he said: “Although the previous reviews by Professor Harrington have made a number of recommendations which have been implemented to improve the WCA, there are still some key problems with the assessment for people with mental health problems that have been highlighted but have yet to be addressed.

“We look forward to working with Dr Litchfield in his new role to drive forward the implementation of existing recommendations as well as collaborating on identifying and correcting outstanding issues with the WCA.”

Neil Coyle, director of policy and campaigns for Disability Rights UK, said he was concerned with the areas Litchfield would look at in the fourth review.

He said: “The review has to be focused on improving the ‘user’ experience, cutting avoidable appeals and helping disabled people into work.”

Harrington concluded in December that progress in improving the WCA had been “slower than hoped for”, but insisted that he had not heard or seen any “compelling arguments or evidence” that the whole system should be scrapped.

Many disabled activists were critical of his failure to be more hard-hitting in his three reviews, particularly over the performance of Atos Healthcare, which carries out the assessments.

In the same month that Harrington published his final report, two evidence-based reports by disabled activists were far more critical about the WCA system.

The People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment found disabled people were still experiencing humiliating and inappropriate treatment because of failings embedded within the WCA.

And a survey of more than 700 people by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) revealed the “tricks, barriers and bullying tactics” being used to prevent disabled people having their WCAs recorded by Atos.
The DPAC report said there was “a clear theme” of individual claimants who viewed the WCA as a “war-like situation for their survival”.

Mark Hoban, the Conservative employment minister, said in a statement: “Dr Litchfield brings with him a huge amount of expertise and experience, so I am very pleased that he will be carrying out this review.
“We have already made considerable improvements to the work capability assessment, so this is a great opportunity to build on the progress made so far.”

Source

Protesters Gather at the Courts to Save the Independent Living Fund

Around 70 people gathered at a well attended protest outside the Royal Court of Justice today to demand a halt to the close of the Independent Living Fund (ILF).

The ILF is used to support the most severely disabled people live independent lives.  In what the Government claim is reform and everyone else knows means cuts, funding will be devolved to local councils. This funding will not be ring-fenced meaning that the money may well be spent plugging the gap in Town Hall budgets due to the already savage cuts.

Campaigners warn that disabled people could be forced back into institutions due to the closure of the fund as councils seek to cut costs..

Today’s protest, which saw speakers from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Inclusion London and the PCS Union, came as six people challenged the closure of the fund in the high court.  The case, which is ongoing, will argue that the closure of the fund will breach the United Nations Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities which provides the right to independent living and the right to an adequate standard of living and protection.

Lawyers will argue that the consultation into the closure of the fund was illegal due to a failure to provide adequate information about the changes.  The court will also hear that there has not been an adequate assessment of the impact of the closure of the ILF on disabled people’s ability to live and work independently.

For more information about the closure of the ILF and the personal testimonies of those affected visit: http://www.dpac.uk.net/blog/

The Void

An idiot speaks: Time for Europe to let British farmers grow GM food, says environment minister

'Genetically modified crops should be sold in Europe, despite consumers' concerns about 'Frankenstein foods’, the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson will say.

Mr Paterson, who has previously spoken out about the benefits of GM technology, has decided to make a high-profile speech in the hope of turning the tide on the issue.

It is understood he has the firm backing of Chancellor George Osborne, who believes GM food could provide opportunities for British farmers.'

Read more: An idiot speaks: Time for Europe to let British farmers grow GM food, says environment minister

Letter from Iain Duncan Smith:ATOS/DWP are doing a great job

DPAC's Website goes down - shortly after publishing a letter from Iain Duncan Smith

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Update 08 March 2013

http://www.dpac.uk.net/2013/03/letter-from-iain-duncan-smithatosdwp-are-doing-a-great-job/

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05 March 2013, 23:17:26

Letter from Iain Duncan Smith:ATOS/DWP are doing a great job

05 March 2013, 23:17:26 | admin2

We’ve been passed a letter from Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) to an individual’s local MP.  That individual has asked us to publish the letter because surprise, surprise IDS  is defending Atos and says they are doing a great job- we know that the reality is very different. We know the misery and distress that Atos is causing and we know that [...]

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WHY THE DWP-ATOS BROWN ENVELOPE CAN KILL: Broken Heart Death Syndrome

 

Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy

The government, DWP and Atos surely KNOW about this condition. By placing sick and disabled individuals under severe chronic stress, they are playing russian roulette with each and every life.

 

Daily Mail

 

Why a shock can kill you (even good news): Release of adrenaline after sudden discovery can lead to heart problems 

By Sophie Borland
PUBLISHED: 15:22, 15 October 2012 | UPDATED: 01:35, 16 October 2012

A shock can be fatal – and it makes no difference whether it's the trauma of a loved one's death or the excitement of a lottery win, experts claim.

Research suggests that a startling revelation can pose a danger to health whether the news is positive or negative.

And it seems women who have just been through the menopause are most at risk.

Researchers say they have identified how emotional trauma - from winning the lottery to losing a close relative - can trigger a potentially lethal catastrophe in the body they call the 'broken heart syndrome'.

German scientists say they have discovered exactly how a sudden discovery or traumatic experience can be fatal.

They say the news or event causes the body to produce large amounts of stress hormones including adrenaline, which narrows the main arteries which supply blood to the heart.

This paralyses the heart's main pumping chamber, causing a sudden change in rhythm similar to a heart attack.

The victim will suddenly find it very difficult to breathe, have sharp pains in their chest and may feel very weak. Some die, although many recover if given urgent medical treatment.

Scientists have been aware for some time of 'broken heart syndrome', or patients who apparently die from grief after losing a loved one, but they have not fully understood why it happens.

Professor Nienaber said broken heart syndrome mostly affects women who have gone through the menopause

Now, however, researchers from the University Clinic of Rostock, in northern Germany, have come up with a possible explanation based on studies of patients.

 And they say the reaction isn't necessarily triggered by a bereavement – it could also happen after winning the lottery or even having an argument.

Dr Christoph Nienaber, director of cardiology at the university, said: 'These patients suffer under a heavy emotional load, either positive or negative. Their hearts literally break. It usually happens within minutes to an hour of hearing the news.

 'The typical scenario is bad  news but there are reports of  both and we don't know what causes it most.

'We are very far from a conclusion however, this is only speculative.'

He added: 'It mostly affects women who have undergone the menopause and are aged between 50 and 70 when they fall ill.

'We are still unsure why it seems to affect this group the most.' One theory is that the female body reacts especially strongly to stress hormones after menopause.

It is estimated that 2 per cent of the 300,000 Britons recorded as having a heart attack every year have suffered from broken heart syndrome – amounting to some 6,000 patients.

The exact figures are not known as many will simply be recorded as having had a heart attack.
Dr Nienaber said that most patients in these cases survive, provided they receive swift treatment.

Daily Mail

Why you really can suffer from a broken heart

Last updated at 09:27 10 February 2005

Doctors were today urged to recognise the unique symptoms of "broken heart syndrome" in patients who appear to have suffered a heart attack.

Shocking events such as the death of a loved-one or being the victim of crime have long been known as possible triggers for medical conditions such as a heart attack.

Now researchers in the United States have found that sudden emotional stress can also lead to severe but reversible heart muscle weakness which mimics the symptoms of a heart attack.

The team, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, said that patients with this condition - stress cardiomyopathy or "broken heart syndrome" - were often misdiagnosed with a massive heart attack.

Instead they had actually suffered from a surge in adrenalin and other stress hormones that temporarily "stun" the heart.

The researchers, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said they while "broken heart syndrome" was not as common as heart attack, it probably occurred more often than doctors realised.

Dr Ilan Wittstein said: "Our study should help physicians distinguish between stress cardiomyopathy and heart attacks. It should also reassure patients that they have not had permanent heart damage."

The researchers found that some people responded to sudden and overwhelming emotional stress by releasing large amount of stress chemicals like adrenalin into the bloodstream, as well as breakdown products and small proteins produced by an excited nervous system.

They said these chemicals could be temporarily toxic to the heart, effectively stunning the muscle and producing symptoms similar to a typical heart attack - chest pain, shortness of breath and heart failure.

By examining a group of 19 patients with symptoms of "broken heart syndrome", the researchers found that it was clinically very different to the typical heart attack.

The patients, 18 of whom were women, had signs of an apparent heart attack after emotional stress, including a death, shock from a surprise party and an armed robbery.

They were compared to seven other patients who had suffered a severe heart attack.

Dr Wittstein said: "After observing several cases of 'broken heart' syndrome at Hopkins hospitals - most of them in middle-aged or elderly women - we realised that these patients had clinical features quite different from typical cases of heart attack, and that something very different was happening.

"These cases were, initially, difficult to explain because most of the patients were previously healthy and had few risk factors for heart disease."

Tests on these patients showed no blockages in the arteries which supplied the heart.

Blood tests also failed to reveal some of the typical signs of a heart attack - such as high levels of cardiac enzymes that are released into the bloodstream from damaged heart muscle.

MRI scans revealed that none of the stressed patients had suffered irreversible muscle damage. The researchers said of one surprise was that recovery rates in the stressed patients were much faster than typically seen after a heart attack.

Within a few days the patients showed dramatic improvement in the heart's ability to pump and had completely recovered in two weeks.

In comparison, partial recovery after a heart attack can take weeks or months, and often the heart muscle damage is permanent.

Levels of stress chemicals in the stressed patient group were also significantly higher than in those with a classic heart attack.

Researcher Dr Hunter Champion said: "How stress hormones act to stun the heart remains unknown, but there are several possible explanations that will be the subject of additional studies.

"The chemicals may cause spasm in the coronary arteries, or have a direct toxic effect on the heart muscle, or cause calcium overloads that results in temporary dysfunction."

The researchers said they expected the number of patients diagnosed with "broken heart syndrome" to increase as more doctors learnt to recognise its unique clinical features.

Daily Mail

 

Why a broken heart really can kill you and women are NINE times more at risk

 

• Condition brought on by sudden or prolonged stress can lead to heart failure

• Tests show dramatic changes in rhythm and blood substances typical of a heart attack, but no artery blockages

By Deborah Arthurs
UPDATED: 09:34, 18 November 2011

The end of a romance or the death of a loved one really can cause the heart to break – and women are the most likely to suffer.

Research shows that a shock or emotional trauma can trigger the symptoms of a heart attack or other cardiac problem.

Women are up to nine times more likely to suffer ‘broken heart syndrome’, the first large-scale study of the condition has concluded.

Women are seven to nine times more likely to suffer a heart attack from shock or distress - with no sign of blocked arteries or previous history of cardiac problems

Doctors say the classic case involves the death of a husband triggering a rush of adrenaline and other stress hormones that cause the heart’s main pumping chamber to balloon suddenly and malfunction. 

Tests show dramatic changes in rhythm and blood substances  typical of a heart attack, but none of the artery blockages that  typically cause one.

Most patients recover with no lasting damage, but 1 per cent of cases prove fatal.
Dr Abhishek Deshmukh, a heart specialist at the University of Arkansas in the U.S., studied the phenomenon after noting he had treated more women for ‘broken heart syndrome’ than men.

A trawl of records of 1,000 hospitals revealed 6,229 cases in 2007. Only 671 of these involved men.

Taking into account factors such as high blood pressure revealed women to be 7.5 times more likely to suffer the syndrome than men.  It was three times more common in females over 55 than those under.

Broken heart syndrome can occur as a result of shock - usually from bad news, but occasionally from good, such as a lottery win

And females under 55 were 9.5 times more likely to suffer it than men of that age, an American Heart Association conference heard.

No one knows why women are more vulnerable but sex hormones may be at play or men’s bodies  may be better at handling stress. The conference also heard that while heart attacks happen more in winter, broken heart syndrome is more common in summer. It can also be brought on by ‘good’ shocks such as winning the lottery.

The study looked specifically at heart problems but bereavement can also damage health in other ways, with men the weaker sex.

A British study found that losing a wife puts the widower at six times a higher risk of death, while a widow’s chances of dying are doubled.

The risk peaks for either surviving spouse in the first year after bereavement, with those married the longest in greatest danger. It is thought the resultant stress depresses the immune system, making existing medical conditions worse.

Ex-prime minister James Callaghan was said to have died of a  broken heart after he passed away aged 92 in 1995, days after Audrey, his wife of 67 years.

In 2009, the parents of Spandau Ballet’s Martin and Gary Kemp died within 48 hours of each other.Their father Frank, 79, suffered a heart attack. His wife Eileen, 77, was in the same Bournemouth  hospital having a heart bypass. Her sons told her when she came round and she died soon afterwards.

Daily Mail

Unum bragged about ‘driving government thinking’ on incapacity benefit reform

An insurance company set to make huge financial gains from incapacity benefit (IB) reform bragged about “driving” the government towards those reforms, evidence obtained by Disability News Service (DNS) has revealed.

The US insurance giant Unum has repeatedly denied attempting to influence IB reform over the last two decades, despite mounting evidence that it has done so.

Unum is the largest provider of “income protection insurance” (IPI) in the UK, and tougher welfare rules – including replacing incapacity benefit with employment and support allowance (ESA) – are likely to persuade more people to take out IPI, boosting the company’s profits.

Unum even launched a major media campaign in 2011 just as the coalition began a three-year programme to reassess about 1.5 million existing IB claimants through the new, stricter test, the work capability assessment (WCA).

Now DNS has secured a copy of a Unum document on the assessment of “incapacity”, which was published in 2005.

The document was written by Michael O’Donnell, then the company’s chief medical officer and now in the same role at Atos Healthcare, which carries out WCAs on behalf of the government.
O’Donnell says in the document that Unum has “always been at the leading edge of disability assessment and management”.

He adds: “We know that our views and understanding are not yet in the mainstream of doctors’ thinking, but Government Policy is moving in the same direction, to a large extent being driven by our thinking and that of our close associates, both in the UK and overseas.”

Unum has admitted there has been widespread criticism of its past actions in the US, mainly over its refusal to pay out on large numbers of genuine insurance claims by disabled people, a record mentioned in last month’s Commons debate on Atos and the WCA.

But Unum has also faced criticism in the UK. In a parliamentary debate in 1999, MPs accused the company of refusing to pay out on valid insurance claims from disabled people who had lost their jobs due to ill-health or disability.

Unum continues to dismiss claims that it pushed the government to introduce the ESA/WCA system.

In 2011, John Letizia, Unum’s head of public affairs, told Disability News Service (DNS): “At no time have we influenced the government on the design of the reforms to the welfare state or on the level of benefits that claimants receive.”

And in the same year, at the Conservative Party conference, Unum’s chief executive, Jack McGarry, said: “We haven’t tried to influence the welfare agenda around reducing welfare or making it harder to claim. To my knowledge we have not done that.”

This week, Letizia told DNS again that Unum had not attempted to influence the government’s welfare reform agenda.

He said: “We will never ever deny that there were discussions between Unum and the previous government and there continue to be [with the coalition].”

But he added: “In all the discussions going back over the last five years on welfare reform Unum made absolutely no attempt to influence government policy on the welfare debate, on the ESA or WCA or personal independence payment or disability living allowance, in setting the government agenda.”

After DNS shared the document with Letizia, he declined to comment further.

Mo Stewart, the disabled activist who has done most to highlight concerns about Unum, said the new evidence was “very significant”, and called for an independent inquiry into the role of the company in influencing UK welfare reform, particularly when it had such a “disturbing past history”.

She said: “This entire situation confirms the dangers of a government that confuses its priorities, and places the welfare budget as a much higher priority than the needs of its own chronically sick and disabled people.”

She added: “The WCA is a replica of the assessment system used by Unum to resist funding insurance claimants.

“It is a bogus, dangerous assessment and, with this evidence, it is now time that this DWP medical tyranny was ended.”

A DWP spokesman said: “The WCA was designed from the outset with the involvement of a wide range of experts and disability representative groups and has been subject to rigorous independent review.”

14 February 2013

Disability News Service

Welfare reform maze leaving claimants ‘in limbo’

THOUSANDS of vulnerable claimants are losing out on benefits because GPs are not filling in forms correctly, Scotland on Sunday has learned.

The massive reform process – currently reassessing the sickness benefit claims of thousands of people in Scotland and the UK – has already attracted widespread controversy, with some claiming they are being forced to look for jobs when they cannot work.

New details emerging suggest that a dysfunctional system is to blame, with benefits being wrongly withdrawn purely because forms have not been completed.

Atos, the company supervising the assessments, has suggested that thousands of people are being called in for a review of their benefits because GPs have not sent back forms setting out their medical history as requested. If they had, their benefits might have been left unaltered.

Critics of the government’s welfare reform programme have told MSPs that the welfare system is “broken” and have called for a better approach to helping people on benefits, who are missing out because of an overly complex system.

There is also evidence that when people appeal the loss of their benefits, some GPs are charging up to £100 for a medical report because it falls outside their contract.

There are also accusations that Atos, acting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, has failed to engage properly with GPs, leading to erroneous decisions being made. Others claim the views of medical professionals with knowledge of people’s cases – such as psychiatrists and specialist staff – are not being considered before claimants are assessed.

The row revolves around Britain’s 1.5 million claimants of incapacity benefit, who are having their claims reassessed as the UK government seeks to trim the welfare budget. Figures last week showed that a third are being adjudged capable of working, while a further 41 per cent have been deemed too unwell but told to consider a return to the labour market at a later date.

Evidence presented to Holyrood’s welfare reform committee has now pointed out a eries of bureaucratic errors in the process. It is understood that when considering a person’s benefits eligibility, Atos asks for GP reports in 15 per cent of cases as it seeks evidence on whether to allow the benefit to continue. MSPs have been told that, in as many as half of these cases, requests do not get answered.

Source; Scotsman

There’s No Pay At The Y-M-C-A!*

“By all means, pay companies incentives to employ young people, but do not take advantage of the vulnerable by using them as free labour.”

The above quote is from Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu and one of a growing number of  voices in the Church condemning this Government’s obsession with unpaid labour.

Unfortunately the Bishop is also the president of workfare riddled YMCA, as has just been revealed by @boycottworkfare.

YMCA are involved in the Mandatory Work Activity (MWA) programme – four weeks full time unpaid work for organisations with a ‘community benefit’.  This scheme is the teeth of the workfare regime, used solely as punishment for those who refuse ‘voluntary’ workfare or are judged to be not trying to hard enough to find work.  The evidence shows that MWA does not help people find a job, and it is not intended to.  Under current rules it is not possible to volunteer for MWA.

The YMCA (@YMCA_England) have remained silent about their use of unpaid workers ever since the workfare row broke out.  Dr John Sentamu can be found on twitter (@JohnSentamu).     Perhaps he will have the grace to tell the truth about how his own charity takes “advantage of the vulnerable by using them as free labour”.

*I really wish I could claim credit for the above headline, but that goes to @wolvopingu

Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid

The Void

ATOS Welfare Debate January 17th 2013

THE ATOS HEALTHCARE DEBATE

A briefing for the HOC debate to be held on 17th January 2013

CONSIDER:

Atos Healthcare, Unum Insurance, a Knighthood, a bogus assessment system copied from the US insurance industry and a very lucrative IT contract for the Olympic Games:

Executive Summary:

The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) are responsible for the disability benefits paid to chronically sick and/or disabled adults considered to be too ill or disabled to seek employment.

“Expenditure on disability payments has risen from the equivalent of £4.7 billion in 1972/73 to £14.0 billion in 2010/11.

The number of claimants on invalidity and sickness benefits has risen from 1 million to 2.4 million. Since the 1990s the number of new Incapacity Benefit (IB) claims has remained relatively static. However, the number of new claims exceeds the number of people leaving to return to work, leading to a net increase.

The DWP argues that people are becoming “trapped” on benefits, which is bad for claimants’ economic, mental, physical and social well-being.

Successive UK governments have been planning a reform of the welfare state since 1992. In the past, chronically sick and/or disabled people were awarded Incapacity Benefit (IB), often for life, without the need for regular medical reassessment. This was due to their condition being permanent and was allocated using General Practitioners (GP) as the medical expert opinion used to award the benefit.

The government have now introduced the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) to replace IB.

To claim or to retain this benefit, claimants are required not only to endure the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), as exclusively conducted by Atos Healthcare (AH), but are required to have repeated WCA tests, often for conditions that are permanent.

This has removed financial security from the disabled community and has produced
disturbing evidence of a seriously flawed assessment system. The under qualified DWP Decision Makers, by their own admission, fail to comprehend detailed medical terminology as provided in medical evidence offered by GPs and Consultants. Atos Healthcare are also the exclusive contractor used to assess disabled claimants for access to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which is not dependent upon employment.

1. ATOS ORIGIN are an IT corporate giant with no previous experience in healthcare prior to being awarded the exclusive government contract for the ‘medical assessment’ of all recipients of long term sickness benefit, disability benefit and War Pensions – which is NOT a benefit.

2. The IT company formed ATOS ORIGIN MEDICAL SERVICES, more commonly known as ATOS HEALTHCARE (AH), and the exclusive government contract with AH costs the Treasury a minimum of £110million per annum.

3. The ‘medical assessment’ as conducted by AH is known as the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The WCA, as introduced by the previous Labour government, consists of a formal face-to-face interview with an AH staff member to provide answers to a computer questionnaire at assessment centres across the UK. Most assessment centres are without local disability parking facilities and many fail to provide disability access to the building. It remains unclear how wheelchair users are expected to access a building that fails to provide wheelchair access.

4. Unum Insurance – previously known as Unum Provident Insurance are a US corporate insurance giant specialising in disability insurance and have a diabolical reputation. Unum Insurance (UNUM) use the highly discredited Bio-Psycho-Social (BPS) model of disability assessment and have 25 million clients in the US. Appointed as ‘government advisers’, UNUM are identified as the 2nd worst insurance company in the USA.

5. AH use the same highly discredited BPS model of disability assessment, hence the many and growing numbers of genuine chronically sick and/or disabled people who fail the WCA assessment. Benefit is removed causing needless anxiety, distress and financial hardship.

(1)  Assessing Capacity for Work: Houses of Parliament, Parliamentary Office of Science Technology POSTNOTE 413  July 2012:
www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/POST-PN-413.pdf

(2)  Welfare Reform – Redress for the disabled:
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/08/dwpunumatos-scandal-welfare-reform-redress-for-disabled-people-report-by-mo-stewart-wraf-rtd/

(3)  The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America – the American Association for JUSTICE:
http://www.justice.org/docs/TenWorstInsuranceCompanies.pdf

6. Due to the WCA causing such anxiety and distress to those who must deal with a chronic health condition and/or a permanent, profound disability, a multitude of disability support groups have been established online. Black Triangle, Spartacus, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), DLA Help Group and the Atos Victims Support Group are the principal groups, but there are many others. The UK Disabled People’s Council are gaining influence. Spartacus is the most influential and have produced a number of distinguished and detailed research reports. The support groups have welcomed and published my previous research reports.

7. Professor Sir Mansel Aylward recently received a Knighthood for “services to disability assessment”. This has caused outrage amongst disability support group members. The Professor was the SMO at DSS London from ’88-’90, the Director of medical policy at the Benefits Agency from ’91-95 and DWP (formerly DSS) Chief Medical Officer (CMO) from ’95-2005.  He was in post when UNUM were invited to be ‘government advisers,’ despite UNUM having a notorious reputation for ‘disability denial practice’ in the US over many years.  It was Professor Aylward who supported the transformation to the DWP ‘medical assessment’ for all claimants of long term sickness benefit, using the highly discredited BPS model of assessment.

8. The BPS model of disability: The Bio-Psycho-Social(BPS) model of disability assessment has no medical credibility and is the invention of the insurance industry.(5) The highly discredited BPS model of disability is actively promoted by Aylward, who has had a relationship with Unum Insurance for a large part of his career, who stepped down from the DWP to become the Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Research, initially funded by Unum Insurance for 6 years, and who remains a Director of the Health Claims Bureau.

9. Professor Sir Mansel Aylward seems to ‘change his tune’ depending on his audience. When met with activists following a conference last September, the Professor made certain claims, including the fact that the BPS model of disability assessment was “…unsatisfactory because it no longer addresses the real needs of disabled people.” This man has built his career promoting the BPS model and gives lectures around the world yet suddenly claims to have changed his mind.

10. Academic Gill Thorburn had a detailed response to the Professor’s unexpected claims.

11. UNUM Insurance had planned to swamp the UK market with blanket marketing once the British public had been left in no doubt that welfare support was not only being reformed but disintegrated. UNUM began their long awaited mass TV marketing, using the reduced welfare provision to promote Income Protection Insurance.(IPI) This was reported to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) by disability activists and the FSA responded and instructed UNUM to stop the TV adverts as they were deemed to be benefitting from ‘insider knowledge’ having been government advisers on the subject.

12. UNUM stopped the IPI adverts on prime time main TV channels and began advertising their BACK-UP PLAN, on the less popular ITV channels, promoting a system of insurance to be funded by direct payments from wages and as equally discredited in the US as are the IPI policies from this company. It is not known if the FSA also stopped these additional adverts, for a different insurance system, but they have been removed from TV screens.

13. According to a letter from the Manager of the DWP Commercial Management of Medical Services to a claimant, the Atos Healthcare contract has never been audited.

14. Despite claims that the award of the lucrative IT contract for the Olympic Games was following ‘rigorous’ investigation, it was a foregone conclusion that ATOS ORIGIN would be awarded thecontract.

(4) Welfare Reform – Redress for the disabled – Mo Stewart 13.07.2012
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/08/dwpunumatos-scandal-welfare-reform-redress-for-disabled-people-report-by-mo-stewart-wraf-rtd/

(5)  The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America: the American Association for JUSTICE:
http://www.justice.org/docs/TenWorstInsuranceCompanies.pdf

(6) Prof Sir Mansel Aylward, CB:
http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/a/25041/Mansel+AYLWARD.aspx

(7) A Tale of Two Models:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/jolly/A%20Tale%20of%20two%20Models%20Leeds1.pdf

(8) Memorandum on Disability Insurance:
http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosmemodisins.html

(9) UNUM/DWP/ATOS SCANDAL – Transcript of meeting of Prof Aylward with Black Triangle and DPAC:
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/15/unumdwpatos-scandal-transcript-prof-sir-mansel-aylward-defends-his-record-makes-pledge-whenconfronted-by-black-triangle-and-dpac-at-ifdm2012/

(10) A response to Professor Aylward’s statement to Black Triangle & DPAC, 11th Sept 2012:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/32109159/Aylward/ResponseToAylward.pdf

(11) Private Members’ Debate:
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11307&st=10:58:30

(12) Letter from DWP CMMS:
http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosletters.html#DWP20100909F – see response to question 103

Source

Banksters and ConDem genocidal policies [Video]

Every week Max Keiser looks at all the scandal behind the financial news headlines.
In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss austerity sandwiches and ‘fraud multipliers’ in the City of London.
In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Satyajit Das, author of Extreme Money, about MMT or Modern Money Tricks and about whether or not the people of Europe will ever rise up and stop the never-ending bailout of banker crimes.

Iain Duncan Smith's callous disrespect for the dead [Another Angry Voice]

I pretty much always attempt to write about politics in objective journalistic style. I feel that I engage more readers with this style of presenting facts, conducting rational analysis, and attempting to restrict my own personal opinion. However, in this case, I'm going to say what I really think.

The Tory Welfare minister Iain Duncan Smith is an odious shit.

Just take a look at the embedded video below, which is a clip from Question Time on 22nd November 2012. In the clip, the panel are discussing the question of government welfare policy and the author Owen Jones (who wrote Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class) tried to confront Iain Duncan Smith with the names and circumstances of death of just two (of the thousands) of severely disabled/terminally ill people that have died having been declared "fit for work" by the Tory - DWP -Atos "disability denial factory".

Iain Duncan Smith's response to these details of people's deaths was a palpable demonstration of the man's utter lack of human decency.

 

Here's a transcript of the discussion:

Owen Jones: "There is a point that has to be made about the treatment of disabled people in this country. There's two names I want to give Iain ... Brian McArdle, 57 years old, paralyzed down one side, blind in one eye, he couldn't speak. He died one day after being found "fit for work" by Atos. Another example, Karen Sherlock..."

Iain Duncan Smith: (interrupts angrily) "Hang on a minute, we've heard a lot from you..."

So there you have it, Iain Duncan Smith cares so little about the suffering and death of actual, real, named people that he would disrespectfully interrupt the description of the circumstances of their death with an angry political tirade. Viewers never even got to find out the circumstances of Karen Sherlock's death, thanks to Iain Duncan Smith's interruption and David Dimbleby's cowardly decision to shut down the debate (instead of chastising Iain for interrupting so disrespectfully, or intervening to allow Owen to complete his point, as any decent moderator would surely have done). For those of you that are interested in the circumstances of Karen's death, here are a couple of heartbreaking links detailing the appalling suffering of this poor woman, much of it directly attributable to Iain Duncan Smith's Welfare regime. (RIP Karen Sherlock, Karen's story, pieced together from her own words). Seriously, I challenge you to read either of these articles and remain completely unmoved by her suffering. If you do remain completely unmoved it must be that you, like Iain Duncan Smith, lack a single shred of empathy or basic human decency.

Anyone with a shred of decency would have waited for Owen to finish speaking of the dead, then offer condolences to the families of the dead before attempting a counter-argument, but not callous Iain. He clearly couldn't care less about the families of the deceased.

So there you have it; in video and in writing. Iain Duncan Smith has no respect for the dead, or for the families of the dead. In fact, hearing about the dead actually inspires him to launch into angry and defensive political tirades. One of the most shocking things for me, was the fact that Iain Duncan Smith's revolting display of disrespect for the dead actually elicited a round of applause from the crowd. I'm not normally one to blame the collective for the actions of individuals within the collective, however, as British people we should all hang our heads in shame that people amongst us would actually applaud such a revolting display of callous disrespect for the dead.

Lets try a simple thought experiment: Say a Question Time panellist is detailing the tragic circumstances of death of some British soldiers in Afghanistan, when he is angrily interrupted by another panelist who happens to be a Muslim. She points her finger and shouts "hang on a minute, we've heard a lot from you..." followed by a tirade against Britain's foreign policy. Even if the criticisms of British foreign policy made by our hypothetical Muslim panelist are entirely accurate, would you expect her to get a round of applause from the audience after disrespecting the dead? I hardly think so. In fact, I'm fairly sure that our hypothetical Muslim panelist would be booed by the audience and then be rapidly transformed into a national hate figure by the right-wing press for her display of contempt for the dead.

I really don't know what else to say. If you're a tribalist Tory voter, you'll continue to vote for grotesque people like Iain Duncan Smith, no matter what they say or do. If it is wearing a blue rosette, it doesn't matter whether it is a donkey or despot, you'll vote for it. No matter how demonstrably revolting the Tory regime becomes, and no matter what people like me say, you'll still jump to Iain's defence because you're so mired in confirmation bias, that you will continue to swallow every feeble Tory justification narrative and remain steadfastly incapable of even acknowledging any alternative side to the debate.

You lot are such die-hard Tories that you'd even applaud Iain's callous disrespect for the dead. you sicken me almost as much as he does, but your saving grace is your ignorance. Iain Duncan Smith is an intelligent man that knows exactly how harmful his disability scapegoating campaign has been: You are perhaps too intellectually challenged to accept the reality that thousands of people are dying after being declared "fit for work", 100,000s more are suffering unimaginable stress, the Tories and the right-wing press are deliberately  orchestrating a disability witch-hunt and, there has been a massive rise in disability hate crime and unprovoked violent attacks against the disabled. Even if that doesn't bother you, surely you can't approve of the vast waste of public money as 10,000s of absurd "fit for work" rulings are expensively overturned in court, at the expense of the taxpayer (at no cost to Atos, the company that made the often appallingly bad decisions to find so many terribly disabled and even terminally ill people "fit for work"). Perhaps, despite all this evidence you still side with Iain and prefer to continue blaming the victim.

I know I won't convince people like you with my usual strategy of explaining things clearly, presenting evidence and conducting rational analysis, so just this once I'll allow myself to express my feelings instead.

Iain Duncan Smith is a callous, disrespectful, self-serving monstrous shit of a man. It sickens me that a man with such a demonstrable lack of basic human decency could have risen so high in British politics. He is odious and obnoxious and vile. He is so malicious he sorely tests my pacifist stance. I sincerely believe that violence begets violence and almost always worsens any given circumstance. Despite this, I imagine that I'd find it extremely difficult to resist the urge to smack this guy hard in the mouth. If a nefarious cretin like Iain Duncan Smith can work himself into a rage when confronted with the names of dead people (real people with actual lives that have been lost, and actual families that mourn for them) then I think I can be excused for allowing myself, for a moment, to express my feelings of revulsion at this odious moral vacuum of a man in emotional (rather than objective journalist) language:

Iain Duncan Smith is an odious shit.

Another Angry Voice

ATOS-DWP DEATH TOLL: Nothing Short Of Barbaric

A Freedom of Information document from the DWP has revealed that rather than an average of 32 deaths per week as a result of Welfare Reform that figure has now risen to an average of 73 deaths per week!

http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/incap_decd_recips_0712.pdf


When is this going to stop?! When are people going to wake up and help us fight against this government?!  We need help!

Reblogged from Helen Sims
  How many more vulnerable, sick and disabled people have to die before something is done?!

As a disabled person, I don’t want to live in this country any more. We’re frightened of losing our benefits and our independence. It is happening.

People are being left with nothing! Vulnerable, sick and disabled people are being left destitute after having their benefits wrongly cut, by a cruel and callous government!

THIS GOVERNMENT (Aided by ATOS) KILLS!

As a person with Cerebral Palsy, who cannot walk or stand unaided, I know my turn for an assessment is coming soon…and I’m terrified! I know I will fail.

I’m luckier than some I know, because I have my wonderful husband (and his Pension Credit) to help us live, but there will be no more independence for me (what there is of it), because if I lose my Disability Living Allowance, I may as well close my bank account. There will be nothing going into it!

I’m going to be completely reliant on my husband, and feel even more of a burden than I already do. At the moment I can help pay household bills – just like any ‘normal’ wife does. I can get taxis to see friends, and attend appointments alone when I am able. It enables me to feel just like everyone else.

The government has already taken a lot of my self esteem, and my place in society. The constant, relentless lies about Disability Benefit Fraud has done that for me.

You see, the real fraud figures are very different to what the government would have you believe. In reality only 1 in every 200 claimants is committing fraud, but  the unceasing’scrounger’ rhetoric has made me, and many others feel virtually worthless, and very unwanted – no matter how genuine we are.

I hate this country and I’m beginning to hate myself again. I thought I’d accepted my life, it’s limitations and constant pain.

I know I will never be a mother and I know I won’t work again. I did work once – for a year. I was dedicated, hard working, and always there when needed, but I was exhausted and in agony. I came home…and slept.

My boss knew I was struggling. I was pale and losing weight. When my contract came to an end, they didn’t renew it.

I was heartbroken because I loved my job, but I was relieved at the same time. In reality I didn’t know how much I could take.

I’m exhausted now, and my pain (through wear and tear on my body) is worse. It is always there, and some days I can barely move, never mind get myself out of bed and get to work!

Who is going to employ me? I’d have  to take regular days off because I am mind numbingly exhausted and in agony. Not to mention the frequent hospital and GP appointments…!

How many times will my employer put up with me saying “I’m sorry, I can’t come in today”…before they sack me, in favour of somebody who CAN?!

This is not my fault. I didn’t choose my life – none of us did. None of us would! To cut our benefits now, in this economic climate when there are no jobs even for the able bodied, is nothing short of barbaric!

It is inhumane, callous and cruel to treat a whole section of society in this way. The fact that we are some of the poorest, most vulnerable people in society just makes it worse!

How can they do it? How can they hurt people like this? How is it right that this government is able to drive people to suicide (regularly) and hardly anyone bats an eye lid?!

Why is this not a real Human Rights issue by now? Surely it counts as one! It is the oppression of people, and that should be covered somewhere…somehow.

Where has the compassion gone? That’s what makes me saddest I think. People just don’t seem to care like they used to. Have we become that selfish and blinkered as a society, that we can close our eyes to the suffering of others? If we have, it makes me more ashamed of what is happening here!

I no longer trust people like I did, and I will never forgive this government for that. When is it my turn to become a statistic in the 20% national rise in Disability Hate Crime? I’m terrified it will happen.

Will I be one of the people who gets my property vandalised? Will I be verbally abused or physically attacked when I go out in my wheelchair? That thought crosses my mind every time I go out. People should not have to live like this!

We suffer enough, and now we have to deal with victimisation, extra anxiety and pure fear for our futures as well.

It is easy to make judgements. In my case, my disability is visible, but there are so many illnesses and disabilities that aren’t, and it is these people who are often victims of ‘Scrounger’ abuse, but just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

It is these people too, who will suffer most as a result of the assessment process. The suffering caused by mental illness or invisible disability is not as easily quantifiable – but it can be just as debilitating as any physical visible condition.

As for me, I don’t know what will happen to me on assessment day. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle questions based on a ‘tick box’ computer programme, that doesn’t allow for pain or variation and rarely takes a person’s medical records in to account. I know that I’ll be set up to fail.

I know that it could be a person who is not medically qualified and who, after meeting me for forty five minutes, will decide whether I get to keep my life, my independence, and my pride intact.

No wonder I wake up sweating, (that’s if I actually get to sleep of course)! No wonder I am plagued by anxiety that buries itself in the pit of my stomach every night and refuses to budge. I am fighting for my life. We all are. I’m waiting for an envelope to drop on the mat and tell me that it’s my turn.

Every time the letter box goes, I jump half a mile out of my skin! I am unable to open, or even look at official envelopes because I am so scared that it just might be it. It isn’t just me. The panic and fear I feel every single day is widespread through the disabled people of this country.

My only consolation, is knowing that I am not alone.

Disabled and ill people like me need your help now, We need the help of our Councillors, MP’s and society at large. This should not be happening to us.

Even if you feel that can’t get involved in our fight, you’d be surprised how much difference a few kind words of support can make. It gives people hope when it can feel like there is none.

I’m asking you – one human being to another – to not let them take our lives. There is no difference between you and I. Anyone can be struck by illness or disability at any time. No one is immune. It only takes a second for lives to be changed forever, and I hope that if it does, there will be someone there who is willing to fight for you.

Helen Sims