Ed Miliband’s commitment today to set out concrete policy steps in this next year is certainly needed. But the really essential point is that they must deal with the fundamentals, given how dire and precarious the state of Britain has now descended into. The worry is that both the main parties are now fixated on symbols which, though important in themselves, are not central to the current pressing concerns of most of the general public. The Tory party has impaled itself once again on the EU question, as though withdrawal from Europe were somehow a panacea for the cure of Britain’s woes – an idea so fanciful, whatever one thinks about the EU, as to be risible. The Labour party has adopted the theme of ‘One Nation Britain which certainly draws on the injustice and hurt of profound inequality, but gives very little sense of the huge structural transformation that is needed if both national and individual prosperity is to be restored. Above all, sheltering beneath a popular and heart-warming slogan cannot be a substitute for confronting the profound failures that are daily pulling down Britain.
The single most important point for Labour to make, and one for which the whole country is waiting, is that prolonged austerity is self-defeating; even the government’s own OBR has recently predicted that on current policies the structural deficit will still be £99bn in 2015, only £10bn less than it was in 2010 – a policy of ruthless attrition with virtually no reward whatever. Labour should commit instead to create a million jobs within 2 years, funded either by diverting QE into direct public investment in infrastructure or housing, or by taxing the 1-2% super-rich, or by borrowing a very modest £0.15bn at ultra-low interest rates to raise £30bn to turn the economy around.
Second, the drastically hollowed-out UK economy (with a deficit in traded goods this year of some £110bn, or 7.5% of GDP) should be repaired by switching from over-dependence on financial services, which produced the epic crash of 2008-9, to a massive programme to reinvigorate British manufacturing. There is no other way to safeguard British living standards and to restore a full-employment economy.
Third, Labour should commit to radical reform of the banks to ensure they serve the real interests of British industry, not their own self-interest through wasteful and destructive financial speculation and tax avoidance.
Fourth, Labour should make clear its commitment to re-draw the boundaries between state and markets by ensuring that the objective of market efficiency is properly balanced by the ethos of public service and community interest, either through regulation, taxation or public ownership as most appropriate.
Fifth, the yawning inequality of income, wealth, power and opportunity must be addressed by whole company pay bargaining, tax on extreme wealth, a new charter of employment rights in the workplace, and a classless and open education system.
Michael Meacher MP
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Britain Is Most Unequal In Europe, New Figures Show
Official figures released today showed that Britain is the most unequal country in Europe.
And the Office for National Statistics analysis showed that some regions are up to 10 times poorer than London according to its Gross Value Added (GVA) measure, which tots up industries' contribution to the economy.
The Wirral and West Wales and the Valleys are Britain's poorest areas, with just over £11,000 in GVA per person compared to the inner-London figure of £111,000.
It means the wealth gap between Britain's haves and have-nots is twice as wide as any EU member state.
The other areas propping up the poverty league tables are Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, Tees Valley and Durham, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.
London, the north-east of Scotland, the home counties, Cheshire and some parts of the West Country enjoy the highest average wealth levels.
While GVA inequality was at its worst in 2009 the Con-Dem coalition government has stunted growth since.
Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP slammed successive Westminster governments' failure to tackle inequality.
He said such differences were "immoral" and showed a complete failure of economic planning.
New TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "These regional inequalities are making whole areas of the country unaffordable, creating employment black-spots in other parts and are holding back our economy.
"We need a new growth plan that ends our reliance on financial services and encourages growth across the country.
"However, this will not be achieved on the back of sluggish wage growth and cuts to vital benefits that will serve only to entrench existing inequalities."
The Wirral and West Wales and the Valleys are Britain's poorest areas, with just over £11,000 in GVA per person compared to the inner-London figure of £111,000.
It means the wealth gap between Britain's haves and have-nots is twice as wide as any EU member state.
The other areas propping up the poverty league tables are Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, Tees Valley and Durham, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire.
London, the north-east of Scotland, the home counties, Cheshire and some parts of the West Country enjoy the highest average wealth levels.
While GVA inequality was at its worst in 2009 the Con-Dem coalition government has stunted growth since.
Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP slammed successive Westminster governments' failure to tackle inequality.
He said such differences were "immoral" and showed a complete failure of economic planning.
New TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "These regional inequalities are making whole areas of the country unaffordable, creating employment black-spots in other parts and are holding back our economy.
"We need a new growth plan that ends our reliance on financial services and encourages growth across the country.
"However, this will not be achieved on the back of sluggish wage growth and cuts to vital benefits that will serve only to entrench existing inequalities."
Miliband's new year message counters Tory welfare myths
Labour leader's message challenges the stereotype of the welfare 'scrounger'.
The first big political event of the new year will be the Commons vote on the Welfare Uprating Bill, which will enshrine in law George Osborne's plan to increase benefits by just 1 per cent per annum for the next three years (well below the rate of inflation). Ed Miliband's new year message, which you can watch above, offers further evidence of how he intends to challenge the Conservatives' welfare myths.
The Labour leader draws on a recent visit to a food bank to reject the stereotype of the welfare 'scrounger' presented by the Tories' recent campaign ads. He says:
I also met some of the people using the food bank, some of them out of work and some of them in work.The story that stuck with me the most was a man who told me his story he said: “I walked eleven miles to a job interview because I couldn’t afford the bus fare, I got the job then I walked eleven miles back," he was still looking for somewhere to live because he hadn’t got his first pay cheque and he was using the food bank.Such a long way away from the normal stereotype you’d have about the people using food banks.When Miliband raised the subject of food banks at the final PMQs of the year, some Conservatives accused him of painting an implausible picture of a Dickensian Britain of poverty and woe. But the Labour leader's decision to return to the subject shows that he believes the growth of food banks, which have increased six-fold in the last three years, is emblematic of all that has gone wrong with the UK economy.
Perhaps the most striking line in Miliband's message is his assertion that "They want you to believe that we have a good government being let down by bad people. We don’t. We've got a bad government that is letting down the good people of this country." Given the propensity of some Tories (most notably the Britannia Unchained group of MPs) to blame Britain's declining economic fortunes on the indolence of its people, it's an argument that could begin to resonate.
As the leader of a party which holds just 10 out of a possible 197 seats in the south outside of London, Miliband also repeats his declaration that one nation Labour is "a party of the private sector as well as the public sector, a party of south as well as north". But don't be surprised if you no longer hear the Labour leader refer to the "north-south divide". As today's Times (£) reports, a review of the party's performance in the south of England by former cabinet minister John Denham, who now serves as Miliband's PPS (and who recently blogged for The Staggers on Labour-Lib Dem relations), and Labour general secretary Iain McNicol has found that the phrase alienates southern voters.
Denham explains: "It used to be quite common to hear people talk about the north-south divide. If you think about that, the message is that everybody in the southern part is doing okay. If you use that language, it sounds as though you represent the northern bit.
A classic mistake for the party for a long time was using that sort of language — and then wondering why people in the south didn’t think we were talking about them."
The phrase "one nation" appears no fewer than nine times in the five minute message. With an eye to the charge that his party's policy agenda remains ill-defined, Miliband promises "concrete" announcements in 2013 on areas "from business to education to welfare". If the Labour leader is to offer more than what David Miliband, writing in the New Statesman earlier this year, described as "defensive social democracy", he will need to fulfil that pledge in full.
New Statesman
Disabled Man's Suicide Over Jobcentre Bullying
A “VULNERABLE’’ disabled man who took his own life felt pressurised by changes to the benefits system, says his partner.
Christine Graham discovered Peter Hodgson dead at his home just a day after he received a text telling him to attend the Job Centre.
“After the text, he just said: ‘I give up’,” said Christine, who was with Peter for 13 years. “I didn’t realise then just what he meant.”
Mr Hodgson, 49, of Cleator Moor,was unable to work after he suffered a brain haemorrhage and a stroke and had his leg fused following a football injury. He had previous worked as a life-guard and at Brannan’s Thermometers.
“He was very vulnerable,’’ Christine said. “After the stroke he was not the same person and I would help to keep him going.’’
Last July, Peter was called into Whitehaven Job Centre to see whether he would be suitable for volunteer work. “I went with him as he was very worried,’’ Christine said. “Physically, his leg was fused and he struggled to move around. He couldn’t properly grip with his hand and was due to have a calliper fitted to his foot. You only had to look at Peter to realise he couldn’t work.
“He was terrified they would stop his money as he had four loans. He couldn’t handle stress and would worry.’’
Peter received the text on the afternoon of November 26. The message didn’t state a date but a subsequent letter was sent days after Peter’s death with an appointment for December 17.
Christine said Peter rang her the day he received the text. He sounded low and told her he was going to bed early. “I didn’t think anything of it,’’ she said. But the next day when she couldn’t contact him, Christine went to his home when she discovered his body.
“He didn’t plan to kill himself,’’ she said. “I believe the text triggered him. It was the fear of what would happen to him. I’ve been unemployed, and he would support me when I felt down.
“The government need to stop picking on the wrong people. Peter was not well enough to look after himself and I did his cooking and shopping. Now his life is over and it is too late.’’
Christine herself currently does three jobs because she does not want to claim benefits. “I understand they have to look into claimants, but not everyone is the same,’’ she said. “Some people are stronger than others.
People need to understand just how vulnerable others are and treat them with respect. They are not just a number.’’
After Peter died, Christine was clearing his house when she found the Christmas presents he had bought her, including a ring which she now wears.
“I love Christmas and we always used to have a great time,’’ she added. “At the moment I just feel numb but I will have to keep going.’’
Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has said he is determined to introduce radical reforms to disability benefits which will see more than two million claimants reassessed in the next four years. He said the number of claimants has risen by 30 per cent in recent years and it is estimated almost 80 percent are either fit for work immediately or in the future.
Under the reform plans, the existing benefit will be replaced with a simpler “more focused” allowance and only those medically assessed to be in genuine need of support will continue to qualify.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Duncan Smith explained his department will now replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (Pip) which will have tighter criteria and a simpler approval system.
He said: “It’s like incapacity benefit, we’ve got to be careful because these are vulnerable people. There has been a lot of nonsense talked about it in the last few months, lots of letters asking about it. It’s now just beginning to seep in what we are doing. There are all sorts of scaremongering going on about how we are getting rid of it, slashing it, cutting it. The reality is that for the most part that’s not true.”
Queen’s Christmas betrayal of Jubilee Workfare forced-labourers
The truth of the Jubilee ‘volunteers’ – unemployed people on the disgraceful Workfare scheme, bussed into London under darkness and ordered to sleep in the filth under a bridge before working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain, with no rest or toilet facilities. This is a cause for shame, not celebration.
Whoever wrote the Queen’s Christmas message this year should be hung as a traitor for making her appear to be another uncaring exploiter – like her current government.
Confused? Allow me to explain. The message might seem to be full of praise for the UK’s efforts to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee year – and it was – but it also contained this passage, referring to the Olympics and the Jubilee event on the Thames:
“The success of these great festivals depended to an enormous degree upon the dedication and effort of an army of volunteers. Those public-spirited people came forward in the great tradition of all those who devote themselves to keeping others safe, supported and comforted.”
In the case of the Olympics, her words might well ring true – people did come forward freely to take part in that great sporting event.
However, the regatta is a very different matter. We learned very shortly after the event that many – if not all – of the ‘volunteers’ were in fact nothing of the kind. They were unemployed people who had been coerced onto the government’s Workfare scheme and then misled into taking part, under the belief that they were being paid for it.
They were bussed into London at night, told to sleep under a dirty bridge before taking part in a work shift that lasted 14 hours, with no toilet facilities, and only a wet campsite awaiting them as rest facility afterwards.
They were originally told they would be paid for their efforts, but then the organisers revealed that the weekend was just a “trial” – no extra money would be forthcoming for what – let’s face it – was their suffering. The Duke of Edinburgh was hospitalised for days after this event, and he only had to endure four hours of it!
It’s doubly disappointing to see the BBC reporting Her Majesty’s speech in glowing terms. ‘Queen’s message praises 2012 “army of volunteers”‘ read the report on the corporation’s website.
“The Queen has praised the ‘army of volunteers’ at the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” the story stated.
Was this the same BBC that reported ‘Jubilee stewards “humiliated” by the pageant experience’? This report stated “A group of unemployed workers at the Jubilee river pageant were left to shelter under a bridge in the middle of the night. The unpaid volunteers say they felt humiliated by the experience.”
Was this the same BBC that reported Lord Prescott’s fears that such cheap labour could be used at the Olympics? That report stated on June 7: “Volunteers bussed in from Bristol, Plymouth and Bath were reported to have spent part of Sunday night under London Bridge in cold and inhospitable conditions.”
“The appalling treatment of staff working for free over the Diamond Jubilee weekend highlights the damage that unpaid work experience risks causing people who are desperate to get back into proper employment, as well as the exploitative treatment that they can face,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber in the report.
So let’s have a bit of consistency in our news reports, please. What happened to those so-called “volunteers” can’t be a travesty in June and a triumph in December.
And let’s have an apology from whoever wrote the Queen’s Christmas message – not just to the nation, but also to the Queen.
Source
Friday, December 28, 2012
Firm paid £73m to find work for unemployed has exactly one apprenticeship vacancy for the whole UK
A firm which was set up by two Tory donors and won contracts worth £73m from the coalition government to find work for unemployed people has exactly one advertisement for apprenticeships on its website.
Just one. For the whole of the UK.
ESG (employment and skills group) has a section on its website for vacancies. On it there is just a single vacancy for the whole of the UK – for a ‘salon assistant’ at a hairdresser’s in the north west.
There are no vacancies at all for any of the other regions of the country – including London and the whole of Scotland:
You can have a look at the website for yourself here.
And you can read the whole sleazy story of ESG and the Tory donors here.
Actually – to be honest – there are a couple of other jobs advertised elsewhere on ESG’s website. Jobs working for ESG itself.
Not surprising really as they must have plenty of taxpayers’ money left over from their £73m to spend on salaries for their own staff.
Mind you, this question does rather spring to mind:
How many staff do you need to help you keep track of just one vacancy?
Reblogged from Pride's Purge
Just one. For the whole of the UK.
ESG (employment and skills group) has a section on its website for vacancies. On it there is just a single vacancy for the whole of the UK – for a ‘salon assistant’ at a hairdresser’s in the north west.
There are no vacancies at all for any of the other regions of the country – including London and the whole of Scotland:
You can have a look at the website for yourself here.
And you can read the whole sleazy story of ESG and the Tory donors here.
Actually – to be honest – there are a couple of other jobs advertised elsewhere on ESG’s website. Jobs working for ESG itself.
Not surprising really as they must have plenty of taxpayers’ money left over from their £73m to spend on salaries for their own staff.
Mind you, this question does rather spring to mind:
How many staff do you need to help you keep track of just one vacancy?
Reblogged from Pride's Purge
Black Triangle Campaign: Unite the Resistance! For a general strike against austerity ~ Turn words into action!
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| Unite the Fights |
Black Triangle Campaign will be attending an initial planning meeting on Saturday the 12th of January 2013 in the Piper Bar on George Square, Glagow at 11am to discuss establishing Unite The Resistance (UTR) in Scotland in the New Year.
We wish to explore whether there is support to launch UTR with a major event, possibly towards the end of February in Glasgow.
There have been a series of very well attended conferences held south of the border (see website uniteresist.org and below for details of speakers and supporters from across the trade union movement and community campaigners).
There have been a series of very well attended conferences held south of the border (see website uniteresist.org and below for details of speakers and supporters from across the trade union movement and community campaigners).
This year’s TUC Congress voted by 4 to 1 to consider the ‘practicalities’ of a general strike against Tory austerity.
Meanwhile, George Osborne’s latest budget statement unleashed another onslaught against working people.
Austerity is set to last till 2018 and beyond. Now the ConDem government have put measures into place from April, to make it even easier to sack workers, with a bare 6 weeks’ consultation’.
Meanwhile, George Osborne’s latest budget statement unleashed another onslaught against working people.
Austerity is set to last till 2018 and beyond. Now the ConDem government have put measures into place from April, to make it even easier to sack workers, with a bare 6 weeks’ consultation’.
We urgently need a co-ordinated response from our trade unions.
On 14 November, millions of workers across Southern Europe took part in a general strike against austerity. That’s the kind of mass action we need here.
It’s time for the General Council of the TUC to turn words into action.
On 14 November, millions of workers across Southern Europe took part in a general strike against austerity. That’s the kind of mass action we need here.
It’s time for the General Council of the TUC to turn words into action.
If you would be interested in putting your name to an initial letter to go to thousands of trade unionists in Scotland, and/or getting involved from the start in planning/building for UtR events in Scotland, please reply to Penny Gower at pennygower1@gmail.com. Many thanks.
Yours fraternally,
Penny Gower (EIS-FELA President, pc)
Angela McCormick (EIS – FELA, NEC, pc)
Neil Davidson (Vice President, Strathclyde University UCU, pc)
The Right to Work Campaign Black Triangle Campaign
About Unite the Resistance
We are a group of trade unionists from the NUT, PCS, Unison, Unite and UCU who called a national convention to discuss the coordinated strike action set to take place on 30 November 2011.
The conference brought together trade union activists, anti-cuts campaigners, young people, students, disabled activists and pensioners in order to build the widest possible support for the strikes.
We called a UtR conference for 17 November 2012, to discuss how to take the fight against austerity forwards after the TUC demo on 20 October 2012. Over 1000 trade unionists attended from all over the UK.
In solidarity,
Unite the Resistance steering committee:
Alex Kenny NUT NEC, Dave Harvey NUT NEC, Gavin Reid UCU NEC, Liz Lawrence UCU NEC, Sean Vernell UCU NEC, Sue Bond PCS Vice President, Zita Holbourne PCS NEC, Andy Reid PCS NEC, Paul Holmes Unison NEC (pc), Karen Reissmann Unison NEC (pc), Jon Rogers Unison NEC (pc), Max Watson Unison NEC (pc), Sara Bennett Unite EC, Martin Mayer Unite EC, Jane Stewart Unite EC, Mark Wood Unite EC
Supporting organisations
The following organisations sponsored the national conference organised by Unite the Resistance on 17 November 2012.
Waltham Forest TUC, Ucatt Maldon branch UFO75, Derby University UCU, University of Liverpool UCU, Sheffield NUT, Barnsley College UCU, Lambeth NUT Branch Executive Committee, Hackney NUT, Edinburgh Unison, PCS EHRC national branch, Lewisham Trades Council, Hull and District Trades Union Council, Unite Bristol Health Sector branch, Unite Norwich Central LE/1880, Haringey TUC, PCS R&C Euston, Birmingham NUT, CWU Eastern No.4 branch, Plymouth Trades Council, Southend on Sea LG Unison, Cambridge and District Trades Council, Unite London and Eastern Construction branch, PCS DFT Nottingham branch, PCS Land Registry Computer Services, PCS Home Office group executive committee, Wakefield and District NUT, Barnet Trades Council, Fire Brigades Union London region, Unite IT & Comms National Industrial Sector Committee, Unite the Union branch EM/10-465, Unite Fujitsu UK Combine Committee, Chesterfield & District Trades Council, Peterborough Trades Council, Unite Fujitsu North West branch, Tower Hamlets Unison Local Government branch, Manchester Metropolitan University UCU branch, Hampshire Unison, Disabled People Against Cuts (national), Black Triangle, Manchester Metropolitan University Unison, Unite 1/854 branch, Portsmouth Trades Council, Bristol and District Anti Cuts Alliance (BADACA), Portsmouth City Unison, Unite London and Eastern Aerospace and Shipbuilding Industrial Sector, Notts Trades Council, Ashfield Unison, Cuffley Anti Cuts Campaign, Doncaster Unison, PCS Defra Southern branch, PCS DWP Liverpool, Unite SC 151 Scottish Housing Associations branch, UCU London Metropolitan University, Lewisham Trades Council, Dudley NUT, DWP Bradford PCS branch, Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, Ealing NUT, Unite Manchester area activist committee, Dorset Trades Council, Socialist Teachers Alliance, UCU London Region, Islington NUT, City and Islington UCU, PCS DWP Avon, Dorset, Weymouth and Portland TUC, USDAW North Hertfordshire, Derbyshire Anti-Cuts campaign, Unison London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Unite the Resistance North Wales, Greater Manchester Unite the Resistance.
Unite the Resistance steering committee:
Alex Kenny NUT NEC, Dave Harvey NUT NEC, Gavin Reid UCU NEC, Liz Lawrence UCU NEC, Sean Vernell UCU NEC, Sue Bond PCS Vice President, Zita Holbourne PCS NEC, Andy Reid PCS NEC, Paul Holmes Unison NEC (pc), Karen Reissmann Unison NEC (pc), Jon Rogers Unison NEC (pc), Max Watson Unison NEC (pc), Sara Bennett Unite EC, Martin Mayer Unite EC, Jane Stewart Unite EC, Mark Wood Unite EC
Source
Source
Blaze survivor turns to Christmas food bank after his JSA is cut
GARY STIRLING sat down to a Christmas dinner of macaroni and chocolate after his benefits were stopped following new government guidlines.THE post-traumatic stress disorder sufferer’s payments were axed after he was deemed fit to work, forcing penniless Gary to rely on charity.
Benefits chiefs insist they stripped the 27-year-old of his jobseeker’s allowance twice as he didn’t keep a proper record of jobs he applied for.
But Gary claims he’s gone after more than a dozen posts and is now facing homelessness because of his plight.
In desperation, he went to a food bank and was given four tins of soup, a tin of spaghetti, a tin of macaroni, a selection box and six mince pies to see him through the festive period.
But he has no electricity at home for cooking or heating as he can’t afford it and his rent has not been paid.
He said:
“It has been murder. It was -7C one morning in the house. I have a few tins, mince pies and not much else. That’s all I have for Christmas.”
Gary was on incapacity benefit until last month when he was told to get a job by the Department for Work and Pensions following an Atos medical.
The Daily Record has highlighted the plight of hundreds of Scots following controversial fit-for-work tests carried out by the firm.
Gary received £176 a fortnight before the reassessment but since then has only had one payment of £130 and a hardship grant of £28 to last two months – about £20 a week.
He suffered burns to his hands and severe smoke inhalation saving his dog from a blaze at his home in 2008.
He said:
“I was put in a coma after the fire to prevent me from having a heart attack. I inhaled quite a lot of smoke and I still get breathless.”
The former loading bay operator applied for a string of retail jobs after being told his incapacity benefit would stop. But the Jobcentre said he hadn’t tried hard enough and stopped two benefits payments.
Gary, from Paisley, feels he and thousands of others should be getting more support from the Government.
He added:“They are going to end up putting me out on the street.”
A DWP spokeswoman said Gary was free to appeal. She said:
“Sanctions are only used where people have not adhered to jobseeker obligations.”
Atos said the firm do not make any decision on an individual’s entitlement to benefit.
Gary is just one of thousands of people relying on food banks to get them through the festive period.
Rutherglen and Hamilton West Labour MP Tom Greatrex branded the situation a disgrace.
He said:
“Time and again we hear harrowing stories of people being hounded by the Government rather than helped.”
"You, David Cameron, Will go to Hell" - Letter
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| "You, David Cameron, Will go to Hell" |
From Katy Anchant
Dear Mr Cameron,
You will never receive this letter. Much as the oppressed can find no way to speak up to the oppressor for fear of reprimand, you will never know my true contempt for you. The wife raped nightly by the frustrated husband, the child mistreated by the alcoholic parent – they will rarely speak out through fear, but worse, through apathy and through an inherent understanding that Things Don’t Change – untrue, perhaps, but undeniably real while you are going through it. Through knowing that whatever they have to say will fall on deaf ears.
For what you are doing is not just stamping out the workshy and the plebs who feel they are owed a living. What you are doing is destroying the hope and work of generation upon generation of ordinary working folk – the folk who started out as farmers, who toiled on the land and who answered to their landlord with supplication and generosity. The folk who lived in tiny homes and brought their children up not with the finest of food and clothing, but with the most genuine and honest of love and kindness. These are folk who nurtured and encouraged their children to be more than they had ever been before, and in answer these children did great things. They became nurses and civil servants, soldiers and teachers. They worked and supported their parents through their later years, providing them with a little warmth and comfort in the winter of their lives.
These are generations of kind, decent human beings, who supported and nurtured their families in the only way that they could – with love. You, Mr Cameron, are single-handedly destroying all of that work. That little wealth that they had accrued, that tiny bit of pride that they felt in having done a good day’s work. The parents whose bodies finally gave in after years of work, the worn backs, the tortured limbs, the over-worked minds, who now you treat as scroungers and liars. The blood of the ordinary man drips from your hands, Mr Cameron, while you declare your humility.
You know no humanity, Mr Cameron. The people who are now dying, left bereft, declared fit for work, ineligible for even the most basic of human kindness are not the scum left over from New Labour’s rule. They are the people whose families have worked for generations, whose parents wished for more for them, whose wives and children loved them and believed in them. You never gave them a chance to prove a thing to you. You have pointed the finger and incited mistrust and hatred. You have vilified and criminalised ill-health and hopelessness. You have made it something to be hated instead of pitied.
Can you imagine, Mr Cameron, the people who you and your party have killed? Can you step back for even a moment and accept responsibility for all that you have done? Generation upon generation upon generation, who ended at one poor hapless soul who was deemed not good enough to receive Housing Benefit under your rule. Who is dead or on the street or living on a friend’s sofa with not a hope in the world as a result of your policies?
You, David Cameron, will go to Hell.
Katy Anchant
Source
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Tens of Thousands back CAP Welfare Campaign
The Community Action Party campaign to oppose welfare reform has so far received the backing of tens of thousands of people throughout the UK. Wigan based Community Action Party have teamed up with the campaigning group “Say No to Disability Living Allowance Reform” to oppose the savage cuts imposed by central government on benefit claimants, in particularly people living with disability.
Details of the petitions are as follows :-
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38182 - “Stop the abolition of Disability Living Allowance for Personal Independence Payments”. This petition has so far collected over 21,000 signatures of support.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41600 - “Repeal the Welfare Reform Act 2012″. This petition has attracted over 5,500 signatures.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42863 - “Increase Benefits by Rate of Inflation.” So far over 2,000 signatures have supported this petition.
Michael Moulding, who lives in Ashton-in-Makerfield and Deputy Leader of the Community Action Party says “Millions of people living with illness or disability are going to be hit hard by the reforms. It is estimated that around one million will lose much needed financial support for the addtional costs associated with being unwell, sick or disabled. The government has confirmed they want £8 billion wiped off the DLA bill and before 2015, 130,000 people will lose all their benefit and 140,000 people will have their current benefit reduced.”
“Their reforms have nothing to do with fairness but everything to do with wiping billions off the welfare bill. Many people are already losing their lives as a result of government cuts. We urge everyone to sign the petitions.”
To follow this and other campaigns by the Community Action Party on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/COMMUNITYACTIONPTY
Wigan Gazette
No Christmas at home for disabled
Cruel government cuts could see severely disabled people forced to celebrate Christmas away from home following the abolition of a key source of independent living support, campaigners warned today.
The government took a swipe at society's most vulnerable last week and decided to close the independent living fund (ILF) and instead devolve responsibility to local authorities.
ILF currently provides £330 million a year in cash payments for personal care or domestic help to almost 20,000 disabled people across Britain.
But disability campaigners warned local authorities are not able to provide the same level or range of support through their current systems.
Local authorities have widely expressed concerns that without ring fencing there will be a loss of support for existing ILF users and for some individuals no option but to go into residential care.
ILF recipient Anne Novis, who received an MBE for services to the community, said: "I definitely will not be able to contribute to society, have my grandchildren over to stay, or even have a life worth living."
Hammersmith & Fulham Coalition against Community Care Cuts chairman Kevin Caulfield said: "The announcement of the closure of the ILF is yet another nail in the coffin of the increasing numbers of disabled people being discarded into isolation, social exclusion, deteriorating health and premature death.
"This is more evidence that we are so far from being all in this together."
The government's decision to push ahead with the plan comes in spite of overwhelming opposition from disabled people and their families.
Campaigners claimed the consultation was unlawful and an urgent hearing has been scheduled by the High Court to go ahead on March 13 and 14 2013 where the decision will be challenged.
Morning Star
ILF currently provides £330 million a year in cash payments for personal care or domestic help to almost 20,000 disabled people across Britain.
But disability campaigners warned local authorities are not able to provide the same level or range of support through their current systems.
Local authorities have widely expressed concerns that without ring fencing there will be a loss of support for existing ILF users and for some individuals no option but to go into residential care.
ILF recipient Anne Novis, who received an MBE for services to the community, said: "I definitely will not be able to contribute to society, have my grandchildren over to stay, or even have a life worth living."
Hammersmith & Fulham Coalition against Community Care Cuts chairman Kevin Caulfield said: "The announcement of the closure of the ILF is yet another nail in the coffin of the increasing numbers of disabled people being discarded into isolation, social exclusion, deteriorating health and premature death.
"This is more evidence that we are so far from being all in this together."
The government's decision to push ahead with the plan comes in spite of overwhelming opposition from disabled people and their families.
Campaigners claimed the consultation was unlawful and an urgent hearing has been scheduled by the High Court to go ahead on March 13 and 14 2013 where the decision will be challenged.
Morning Star
Record demand for food banks as families struggle to feed themselves at Christmas
The emergency food providers estimated 15,000 would be seeking help – almost double last year’s figure of 8,454
Record numbers of people are turning to food banks to feed their families at Christmas this year.
The emergency food providers estimated 15,000 would be seeking help – almost double last year’s figure of 8,454.
Lily Mockett, who runs the Weymouth and Portland Food Bank, said: “We had some families with four and five children who were absolutely desperate coming in on Christmas Day. It’s heartbreaking.
“A lot of people have struggled since the changes to the benefits system earlier this year.
“One minute they’re getting a certain amount of benefit and then the system changes and they’re left with nothing.
“In the last year we’ve fed over 800 people and that’s an indictment on the government.”
Charity the Trussell Trust has almost doubled the number of food banks it oversees from 149 to 293 in the last year.
Stockport Food Bank opened this year in time for Christmas.
One mum-of-four from the town said: “For months I’ve struggled to feed my children.
"This year I was given a hamper from my local food bank three days before Christmas.
“The day after was the first day I can remember not feeling scared about feeding my family.”
The Trust’s Molly Hodson said: “Christmas food is such a simple thing but it has a massive impact.”
Demand on the Trust has increased almost 10-fold since the economic downturn in 2008, from 26,000 in 2008-09 to an estimated 230,000 for 2012-13.
Mirror
The emergency food providers estimated 15,000 would be seeking help – almost double last year’s figure of 8,454.
Lily Mockett, who runs the Weymouth and Portland Food Bank, said: “We had some families with four and five children who were absolutely desperate coming in on Christmas Day. It’s heartbreaking.
“A lot of people have struggled since the changes to the benefits system earlier this year.
“One minute they’re getting a certain amount of benefit and then the system changes and they’re left with nothing.
“In the last year we’ve fed over 800 people and that’s an indictment on the government.”
Charity the Trussell Trust has almost doubled the number of food banks it oversees from 149 to 293 in the last year.
Stockport Food Bank opened this year in time for Christmas.
One mum-of-four from the town said: “For months I’ve struggled to feed my children.
"This year I was given a hamper from my local food bank three days before Christmas.
“The day after was the first day I can remember not feeling scared about feeding my family.”
The Trust’s Molly Hodson said: “Christmas food is such a simple thing but it has a massive impact.”
Demand on the Trust has increased almost 10-fold since the economic downturn in 2008, from 26,000 in 2008-09 to an estimated 230,000 for 2012-13.
Mirror
A&E queues crisis as Tory cuts leave hospitals as breaking point
More than 35,000 ambulances have been forced to wait more than 30 minutes outside a hospital in just the last six weeks
| Care: But NHS staff are under severe pressure |
Thousands of patients are waiting in ambulance queues outside hospitals this Christmas because casualty departments are too busy to admit them.
As David Cameron’s cuts leave staffing levels at breaking point, official data obtained by the Mirror shows many patients who dial 999 are being failed despite being rushed to hospital by paramedics.
More than 35,000 ambulances have been forced to wait more than 30 minutes outside a hospital in just the last six weeks.
This compares to 24,000 over broadly the same period last Christmas, and 21,000 the year before.
And the knock-on effect of the queues outside A&E meant one male patient waited so long for a crew he was eventually taken to hospital by police, a senior NHS source told the Mirror.
The figures come as hospitals and ambulance crews face growing winter pressures, with the flu season and worsening weather increasing demand.
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP said: “I am worried some hospitals will simply not get safely through the winter and patients will suffer unless ministers take urgent action to stop job losses and support the NHS front line.”
Department of Health data reveals more than half a million people endured longer than four hours’ wait in emergency units since the start of the year, and more than 19,000 people have suffered agonising “trolley waits” in the last six weeks, where patients waited over four hours to be admitted or treated after being seen by A&E.
The revelations raise fresh fears over the Coalition’s attempt to cut £20billion from NHS budgets.
Christina McAnea, head of health at Unison, added: “These figures are a symptom of this Tory-led Coalition’s destructive cuts.
"Waiting times will not improve unless urgent action is taken to shore up our NHS.”
The DoH’s own safety guidelines state that ambulance queues outside hospitals are “not acceptable”.
Since the start of the 2012/13 year in April, 546,000 patients have waited more than four hours to be seen – a rise of 75,000 on the previous year.
Andy Burnham added: “The evidence is mounting of an NHS struggling to cope with the toxic combination of cuts and re-organisation.
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of The Patients Association, said: “These scenarios are becoming the norm, rather than the exception, which is simply disgraceful.
“Waiting means huge stress, discomfort and pain to those already feeling unwell. Ambulances and A&E departments must be fast lane NHS services putting patient safety first.
“The Government can no longer ignore the devastating impact of its £20billion cuts.”
The DoH said: “Patients shouldn’t face excessive waits for treatment. Where there is extra demand on services, hospitals and staff are working together to ensure that patients get the care they need, and we are providing additional funding to the NHS to help it cope with winter pressures.”
Savings are a false economy
By Tom Sandford, director, Royal College of Nursing in EnglandThese figures show a system running at capacity which cannot cope with any extra demand or reduction in resources.
Winter is difficult for the NHS but people should not have excessive waits to be admitted and treated.
Removing staff is a false economy.
Delayed treatment can mean added complications and longer hospital stays which further increases demand and costs.
What we also need is investment in community nursing which can keep people out of hospital in the first place.
Yet we are seeing the opposite. The NHS is becoming more fragmented and the number of community nurses is going down.
This lack of investment and planning will end up costing the health service more money in the long term as well as compromising patient care.
Government Could Face Another Welfare Rebellion In The Lords – Spectator Blogs
 |
| Peers may revolt over changes in eligibility for Motability cars |
Remember those rebellions in the Lords on welfare earlier this year? Well, the fight hasn’t disappeared entirely from the Upper Chamber. Secondary legislation filling in the detail of the Welfare Reform Act is the new battleground, and I understand another uprising could be on the cards over regulations affecting disabled people.
Baroness Thomas of Winchester, who regularly cropped up on the Naughty List last year when peers revolted on the welfare reform primary legislation, is calling on the Government to think again about its regulations for the mobility component of the Personal Independence Payment, the benefit replacing the Disability Living Allowance. A last minute change to the regulations means that only those who cannot walk, with the help of aids, more than 20 metres will be entitled to a Motability car. Thomas tells Coffee House that she is annoyed that this change was made without prior consultation:
P.S. I’m told that Labour also plans to table some of its own motions in the Lords: these will be ‘motions of regret’ which open up the debate in the House.
Spectator
‘The government have been very good at publishing the PIP criteria in draft and consulting – we saw the first two drafts – but they have changed one key criterion at the last minute. I thought we were going to see the third and final draft before the regulations proper were published, but this didn’t happen, and two weeks ago they published the regulations.’She has tabled a motion calling on the government to consult further on the regulations before implementing them. The motion reads:
To move to resolve that this House calls on HMG to consult further before asking Parliament to agree the draft Social Security (Personal Independence Payment ) Regulations 2013, specifically on the number of points allocated to the Moving Around descriptor which will have the effect of denying thousands of disabled people enough points to qualify for a Motability car.The Lib Dem peer is confident that she could win a vote on this, as she has had indications that Labour could well support her motion. It’s quite a technical issue, but as the government needs to get these regulations laid pretty sharpish, a defeat in the Lords will be inconvenient as well as embarrassing.
P.S. I’m told that Labour also plans to table some of its own motions in the Lords: these will be ‘motions of regret’ which open up the debate in the House.
Spectator
Germany 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes
Pensioners are being sent to care homes in Eastern Europe and Asia in an austerity move dismissed as 'inhumane deportation'
This is a country that Cameron wants to emulate, well the success side but this comes at a cost to us all. What next shifting the poor out of the cities, whoops they’ve done that already, sound familiar…..
Germany 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes
Growing numbers of elderly and sick Germans are being sent overseas for long-term care in retirement and rehabilitation centres because of rising costs and falling standards in Germany.
The move, which has seen thousands of retired Germans rehoused in homes in eastern Europe and Asia, has been severely criticised by social welfare organisations who have called it "inhumane deportation".
But with increasing numbers of Germans unable to afford the growing costs of retirement homes, and an ageing and shrinking population, the number expected to be sent abroad in the next few years is only likely to rise. Experts describe it as a "time bomb".
Source: guardian
This is a country that Cameron wants to emulate, well the success side but this comes at a cost to us all. What next shifting the poor out of the cities, whoops they’ve done that already, sound familiar…..
Germany 'exporting' old and sick to foreign care homes
Growing numbers of elderly and sick Germans are being sent overseas for long-term care in retirement and rehabilitation centres because of rising costs and falling standards in Germany.
The move, which has seen thousands of retired Germans rehoused in homes in eastern Europe and Asia, has been severely criticised by social welfare organisations who have called it "inhumane deportation".
But with increasing numbers of Germans unable to afford the growing costs of retirement homes, and an ageing and shrinking population, the number expected to be sent abroad in the next few years is only likely to rise. Experts describe it as a "time bomb".
Source: guardian
Flaw in the Queen’s Christmas Message? [Pride's Purge]
Didn’t anybody else notice the flaw in the Queen’s Christmas message?
In it, she pointedly praised the volunteers who stewarded the Diamond Jubilee celebrations – in particular the river pageant.
So what was the flaw?
Well, everyone seems to have forgotten that a lot of the volunteers she was praising hadn’t in fact volunteered to work on the river pageant at all.
Many were unemployed jobseekers who had been bussed into London and forced to work as unpaid stewards. Some had even had to sleep underneath London Bridge on bare freezing cold concrete the night before the event.
Remember this:
But – according to the Queen – the success of the event depended to an enormous degree on the dedication and effort of an army of ‘volunteers’.
Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought volunteers were people who had actually volunteered to do something – not been forced or blackmailed into it.
Of course, it’s entirely possible the Queen wasn’t aware that people had been forced to work as unpaid stewards during her jubilee celebrations.
If so – isn’t it about time someone told her?
Reblogged from Pride's Purge
In it, she pointedly praised the volunteers who stewarded the Diamond Jubilee celebrations – in particular the river pageant.
So what was the flaw?
Well, everyone seems to have forgotten that a lot of the volunteers she was praising hadn’t in fact volunteered to work on the river pageant at all.
Many were unemployed jobseekers who had been bussed into London and forced to work as unpaid stewards. Some had even had to sleep underneath London Bridge on bare freezing cold concrete the night before the event.
Remember this:
Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought volunteers were people who had actually volunteered to do something – not been forced or blackmailed into it.
Of course, it’s entirely possible the Queen wasn’t aware that people had been forced to work as unpaid stewards during her jubilee celebrations.
If so – isn’t it about time someone told her?
Reblogged from Pride's Purge
Cancer patients who struggle to pay their energy bills: Thousands are behind with one in four owing more than £200
- As much as £2.8million is owed by sufferers to heating companies in the UK
- Three in ten said that they have had to turn off the heating in the last three months
- According to Macmillan Cancer Support a third wore outdoor clothing inside
As much as £2.8 million is owed by sufferers, according to Macmillan Cancer Support
Thousands of cancer sufferers are caught up in a £3million energy bills nightmare after falling behind with their payments, claims a leading charity.
Around 27,000 cancer patients in the UK are behind with paying their fuel bills - with the debts of one in four exceeding £200.
As much as £2.8million is owed by sufferers to heating companies in the UK, according to new research by Macmillan Cancer Support.
A YouGov poll of cancer patients in the UK found over half (54 per cent) of those diagnosed within the last two years are worried about the cost of heating their homes this winter.
Three in ten said that they have had to turn off the heating in the last three months even when they needed it on to keep their fuel bills down.
Worryingly, one in three surveyed said that they had even put on outdoor clothes while inside their homes to try to keep warm.
This is all despite the fact that people going through cancer treatment feel the cold more and spend long periods of time at home, says the charity.
Read more...
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
UK National Insurance Fund Surplus is used to Bail out Banks & Government [Reblogged]
An intriguing question found me looking over what National Insurance pays for but low and behold it led to another of greater importance because we so often hear that the welfare system is unaffordable but from the pages of Wikipedia jumped the figure that as a separate fund the Government Actuary's Department has forecasted that this will be in surplus and will grow to over £114.7 billion by 2012.
Off a far more serious nature was the idea that the government was ripping people off as this surplus is loaned to the government through the Debt Management Office which is part of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt in Call Notice Deposits but the peoples return on this has actually meant the surplus figure has been revised down in recent years due to errors in assumptions by the GAD and now is forecast to be just £30 billion by 2016.
As stated in previous years the surplus was invested in gilt-edged securities with the obvious connotation that they were secure and yielded a high interest rate for a decent return. However if the government is now just borrowing your money at the zero/0.5 interest rate they set we can see how they are stealing the silver, your insurance money for the NHS, Pensions and Unemployment to bail out the banks and government.
Links to Wikipedia pages;
National Insurance
National Insurance Fund
Off a far more serious nature was the idea that the government was ripping people off as this surplus is loaned to the government through the Debt Management Office which is part of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt in Call Notice Deposits but the peoples return on this has actually meant the surplus figure has been revised down in recent years due to errors in assumptions by the GAD and now is forecast to be just £30 billion by 2016.
As stated in previous years the surplus was invested in gilt-edged securities with the obvious connotation that they were secure and yielded a high interest rate for a decent return. However if the government is now just borrowing your money at the zero/0.5 interest rate they set we can see how they are stealing the silver, your insurance money for the NHS, Pensions and Unemployment to bail out the banks and government.
Links to Wikipedia pages;
National Insurance
National Insurance Fund
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Benefits Prohibition Card Era: Hints & Tips #1
Courage, me hearties, people have survived and beaten oppressive governments before:
Or watch the entire film:
Christmas day in the workhouse...
’twas christmas day in the workhouse,
the pudding came in view,
the raisins, they were many,
the currants, they were few,
up spake a brave old trooper,
he was as bold as brass,
I don’t want your christmas pudding,
stick it up your @rse!
the pudding came in view,
the raisins, they were many,
the currants, they were few,
up spake a brave old trooper,
he was as bold as brass,
I don’t want your christmas pudding,
stick it up your @rse!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Will Welfare Reform Collapse Due to IDS’s Blundering?
Some much needed Christmas good news has come from the DWP of all places with the announcement that next year’s benefit cap is to be delayed for up to six months in most parts of the UK.
The cap, which restricts benefit levels regardless of how big a claimant’s family are, or the soaring costs of renting, is expected will threaten thousands of children with homelessness at a stroke. Whilst the announcement is only a delay, it does at least give those whose lives are about to be plunged into government inflicted chaos, a little longer to prepare for the onslaught.
The cap will sadly still go ahead in Enfield, Croydon, Haringey and Bromley, three London boroughs already suffering rising homelessness.
The hold up, according to The Guardian, is due to concerns about computer software. It’s seems more likely that the practical administration of co-ordinating cuts to housing benefit – currently processed by local councils – and other benefits, some of which are paid by the DWP, and some by HMRC, has not been adequately thought through.
Once again another of Iain Duncan Smith’s crazy schemes had fallen at the first hurdle because the Secretary of State doesn’t understand the benefits system he’s reforming.
This announcement follows the Universal Jobmatch shambles. IDS is believed to have paid Monster Jobs approaching £20 million for the bodged website that he’s now having to pretend is great.
As anyone with even the most basic knowledge of the internet could have warned him, with no safeguards in place, the website has become a target for scammers, spammers and spoof vacancies.
IDS announced recently that it will be mandatory for those on Jobseekers Allowance to sign up to the website in the New Year. However there will be no requirement for claimants to tick the box giving Jobcentre staff access to snoop on their account, so don’t!
The website uses cookies, small computer programmes which track how a website is used. Under recent laws, it is not legal for a website to force anyone to use cookies if they don’t want. If you refuse to accept cookies then Universal Jobmatch doesn’t work. This means that whilst the Jobcentre can force you to sign up to the website, they can’t force you to use it, or monitor if you do.
A piece of legislation that Iain Duncan Smith was either was unaware of, or chose to ignore, has put a digital spanner in the works of the endless jobseeking activity to be expected of all claimants when Universal Credit is launched.
Many people wondered how the DWP would have the manpower to police the new regime. Disabled people, parents, part time and self employed workers, will all now be expected to search for more, or better paid work, as a condition of receiving benefits. Universal Jobmatch was the answer. And they’ve fucked it up.
Building a basic website, and introducing a benefit cap, are far from the most difficult challenges facing Universal Credit, which involves the construction of the largest government IT database ever created anywhere in the history of the world.
You might even call them the basics. The ongoing shambles won’t protect many claimants from having lives thrown into chaos by the incompetence of the DWP. But there remains at least a chink of hope that this ineptness will ultimately mean the collapse of Iain Duncan Smith’s precious Welfare Reform Bill.
Reblogged from The Void
(USA) Are you a “potential terr0rist”?
Originally submitted by George Washington to ZeroHedge.
Before you even think that the below is just happening in America, open your eyes and look around you, because its all playing out exactly the same here in the new style corporatist/fascist/socialist state formerly known as the UK.
There have been so many anti-terrorism laws passed since 9/11 that it is hard to keep up on what kinds of things might get one on a “list” of suspected bad guys.
We’ve prepared this quick checklist so you can see if you might be doing something which might get hassled.
The following actions may get an American citizen living on U.S. soil labeled as a “suspected terrorist” today:
- Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security; and see this)
- Criticizing the government’s targeting of innocent civilians with drones (although killing innocent civilians with drones is one of the main things which increases terrorism. And see this)
- Stocking up on more than 7 days of food (even though all Mormons are taught to stockpile food, and most Hawaiians store up on extra food)
- (Not having a Facebook account may soon be added)
- Liking the Founding Fathers
- Being a Christian
- Being “anti-nuclear”
- Being “anti-abortion”
- Being “anti-Catholic”
- Being “anti-global”
But as the above lists show, this isn’t true.
When even Supreme Court Justices and congressmen worry that we are drifting into dictatorship, we should all be concerned.
Source
How IDS measures up to Catholic Social Teaching
From Ekklesia
As Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith probably has more influence over the lives of the least fortunate members of society than any other person in the country. His decisions have a life-changing impact on poor, sick, and disabled people: the section of society that has least power and influence.
The DWP has the largest budget of all government departments and is a prime target for spending cuts. As a percentage of GDP, however, welfare spending is now much lower than it was in the 1980’s so the welfare ‘burden’ is not out of control.
As the man responsible for implementing cuts and reforms to welfare, Mr Duncan Smith is obviously dedicated to his job, turning down the post of Justice Secretary in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. Unusually for a member of the Cabinet, he is known for his religious beliefs, and even more unusually, for his Catholicism. This is interesting because through its social teaching, developed over more than a century through various Papal Encyclicals and other documents, the Catholic Church has had much to say on the issues Mr Duncan Smith is wrestling with every day. So it seems reasonable to look at how the Secretary of State’s policies compare with Catholic Social Teaching (CST).
CST really began in 1891 with Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical on Capital and Labour. It was an attempt by the Church to avert the violent social upheaval it feared would be the result of widespread poverty and the gross exploitation of workers. Although written to avert a revolution, its tone and ideas would be seen as extremely radical in today’s globalised, corporate world. This is how Pope Leo described conditions in his day:
"By degrees it has come to pass that working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labour and the conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the labouring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself."
The Church promoted the dignity of labour, but recognised that having a job was not a blessing if it failed to pay what it considered a fair wage, one that allowed a man(sic) to maintain himself and his dependents in decency. Perhaps the modern equivalent would be the Living Wage.
As his own response to today’s problems, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which has been influential on Conservative party policy. Many of the CSJ’s leading lights are known for their Christian beliefs and the think tank places a heavy emphasis on work as the route out of poverty. It pays much less attention to the plight of the working poor, and has said little about the fact that more than half of children living in poverty are in working households, and that growing numbers of working families depend on benefits to make ends meet.
Mr Duncan Smith has carried his belief in the primacy of work from the CSJ to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Most of the DWP’s spending goes on state pensions and benefits for working people on low incomes. Out-of-work benefits and benefits for disabled people are a small percentage of the welfare budget, but they have arguably attracted a disproportionate amount of attention. Indeed
the DWP has been criticised for a less than careful use of statistics and language, portraying benefit claimants as workshy scroungers.
Sanctions (having benefits cut or suspended) have been introduced for those who do not fulfill the increasingly onerous conditions placed upon out of work claimants, and even sick and disabled people are now subject to these sanctions.
In 2010/11, 10,300 sanctions were applied to sick and disabled people on Employment Support Allowance.
Christian advocates of this tough approach often quote St Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, "If any man will not work neither let him eat.", but Catholic Social Teaching specifically refutes this. In Quadragesimo Anno, written in 1931 as the world suffered the effects of the Stock Market crash, Pope Pius XI stated "we must not pass over the unwarranted and unmerited appeal made by some to the Apostle when he said 'If any man will not work neither let him eat.' For the Apostle is passing judgment on those who are unwilling to work, although they can and ought to, and he admonishes us that we ought diligently to use our time and energies of body, and mind and not be a burden to others when we can provide for ourselves. But the Apostle in no wise teaches that labour is the sole title to a living or an income.
"To each, therefore, must be given his own share of goods, and the distribution of created goods, which, as every discerning person knows, is labouring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered propertyless, must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice".
(Quadragesimo Anno para 57/58)
This principle promoted by the Church, that everybody, simply by virtue of being human, and irrespective of work, has a right to a decent life, would appear to be a completely alien concept to Duncan Smith, the DWP and the CSJ. As sick and disabled people and the unemployed face increasing hardship, and feel increasingly stigmatised and pressured, his department really does seem to be wielding a sledgehammer to crack a rather fragile nut.
Another group of people that have attracted much adverse attention are Housing Benefit claimants, with David Cameron in his Conference speech portraying this as a lifestyle choice by people who won’t work but expect to get their own home at the taxpayers’ expense. This is completely at odds with the fact that over 90 per cent of new Housing Benefit claimants are working, but the DWP never seeks to correct this misconception.
Quadragesimo Anno gave an analysis of the imbalance of economic and political power which could have come straight from the Occupy movement. Speaking of a "despotic economic dictatorship" it says:
"This dictatorship is being most forcibly exercised by those who, since they hold the money and completely control it, control credit also and rule the lending of money. Hence they regulate the flow, so to speak, of the life-blood whereby the entire economic system lives, and have so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it were, of economic life that no one can breathe against their will.
"This concentration of power and might, the characteristic mark, as it were, of contemporary economic life, is the fruit that the unlimited freedom of struggle among competitors has of its own nature produced, and which lets only the strongest survive; and this is often the same as saying, those who fight the most violently, those who give least heed to their conscience."
To restore social justice under such conditions is a herculean task, but Mr Duncan Smith seems to be confident that he is the person for the job, and Universal Credit, his great project, will be the way to do it. This will be his legacy, and his reputation will rest on it. It is intended to simplify the benefits system and ‘make work pay’.
But under Universal Credit, it is claimed that many more disabled people will be pushed into poverty.
There are some very disturbing features about the treatment of disabled people under Universal Credit. For instance, "A disabled person who uses a manual wheelchair and can self-propel this 50 metres will be treated as non-disabled and will no longer qualify for any extra support under Universal Credit".
Of course it is important not to write disabled people off as incapable, but to ignore the difficulties and extra expense they face in trying to live with their disability is callous.
Chris Edwards, an economist and senior research associate at the University of East Anglia, has published “The Austerity War and the impoverishment of disabled people”, in which he finds that ‘over four years to 2015 the poorest 20 per cent of the 2.7 million households receiving disability benefits will lose 16 per cent of their cash income plus benefits-in-kind. This percentage loss is four times as big as the loss for the richest 20 per cent of households’.
Concern about this has led to the foundation of The Hardest Hit, a coalition of disabled people, their families and supporters, calling on the government, and particularly Mr. Duncan Smith, to reconsider their plans.
Despite everything the government says, all the figures suggest they really are balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, and Mr Duncan Smith is at the forefront of this approach. He seems to spend much of his considerable energy and intelligence on judging and trying to alter the behaviour of the poor, whilst maintaining, in the face of all the evidence, that the last thing the poor need is more money
Unlike the Church’s condemnation of a ‘despotic economic dictatorship’, one rarely hears anyone from the government questioning the morals or behaviour of the rich.
Perhaps this is the crucial difference between Mr Duncan Smith’s approach, and that of Catholic Social Teaching. The Church recognises that to achieve social justice, one must first establish economic justice, whereas the Secretary of State appears to reject this basic principle.
To be fair, many devout Catholics, perhaps the majority, are largely unaware of the thrust of the Church’s Social Teaching. If this is the case with Mr. Duncan Smith, one can hope that at some point he will take a moment to pause and consider his policies in the light of that teaching.
------
© Bernadette Meaden has written about religious, political and social issues for some years, and is strongly influenced by Christian Socialism, liberation theology and the Catholic Worker movement. She is a regular contributor to Ekklesia.
As Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith probably has more influence over the lives of the least fortunate members of society than any other person in the country. His decisions have a life-changing impact on poor, sick, and disabled people: the section of society that has least power and influence.
The DWP has the largest budget of all government departments and is a prime target for spending cuts. As a percentage of GDP, however, welfare spending is now much lower than it was in the 1980’s so the welfare ‘burden’ is not out of control.
As the man responsible for implementing cuts and reforms to welfare, Mr Duncan Smith is obviously dedicated to his job, turning down the post of Justice Secretary in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. Unusually for a member of the Cabinet, he is known for his religious beliefs, and even more unusually, for his Catholicism. This is interesting because through its social teaching, developed over more than a century through various Papal Encyclicals and other documents, the Catholic Church has had much to say on the issues Mr Duncan Smith is wrestling with every day. So it seems reasonable to look at how the Secretary of State’s policies compare with Catholic Social Teaching (CST).
CST really began in 1891 with Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical on Capital and Labour. It was an attempt by the Church to avert the violent social upheaval it feared would be the result of widespread poverty and the gross exploitation of workers. Although written to avert a revolution, its tone and ideas would be seen as extremely radical in today’s globalised, corporate world. This is how Pope Leo described conditions in his day:
"By degrees it has come to pass that working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labour and the conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the labouring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself."
The Church promoted the dignity of labour, but recognised that having a job was not a blessing if it failed to pay what it considered a fair wage, one that allowed a man(sic) to maintain himself and his dependents in decency. Perhaps the modern equivalent would be the Living Wage.
As his own response to today’s problems, Duncan Smith established the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which has been influential on Conservative party policy. Many of the CSJ’s leading lights are known for their Christian beliefs and the think tank places a heavy emphasis on work as the route out of poverty. It pays much less attention to the plight of the working poor, and has said little about the fact that more than half of children living in poverty are in working households, and that growing numbers of working families depend on benefits to make ends meet.
Mr Duncan Smith has carried his belief in the primacy of work from the CSJ to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Most of the DWP’s spending goes on state pensions and benefits for working people on low incomes. Out-of-work benefits and benefits for disabled people are a small percentage of the welfare budget, but they have arguably attracted a disproportionate amount of attention. Indeed
the DWP has been criticised for a less than careful use of statistics and language, portraying benefit claimants as workshy scroungers.
Sanctions (having benefits cut or suspended) have been introduced for those who do not fulfill the increasingly onerous conditions placed upon out of work claimants, and even sick and disabled people are now subject to these sanctions.
In 2010/11, 10,300 sanctions were applied to sick and disabled people on Employment Support Allowance.
Christian advocates of this tough approach often quote St Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, "If any man will not work neither let him eat.", but Catholic Social Teaching specifically refutes this. In Quadragesimo Anno, written in 1931 as the world suffered the effects of the Stock Market crash, Pope Pius XI stated "we must not pass over the unwarranted and unmerited appeal made by some to the Apostle when he said 'If any man will not work neither let him eat.' For the Apostle is passing judgment on those who are unwilling to work, although they can and ought to, and he admonishes us that we ought diligently to use our time and energies of body, and mind and not be a burden to others when we can provide for ourselves. But the Apostle in no wise teaches that labour is the sole title to a living or an income.
"To each, therefore, must be given his own share of goods, and the distribution of created goods, which, as every discerning person knows, is labouring today under the gravest evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the unnumbered propertyless, must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norms of the common good, that is, social justice".
(Quadragesimo Anno para 57/58)
This principle promoted by the Church, that everybody, simply by virtue of being human, and irrespective of work, has a right to a decent life, would appear to be a completely alien concept to Duncan Smith, the DWP and the CSJ. As sick and disabled people and the unemployed face increasing hardship, and feel increasingly stigmatised and pressured, his department really does seem to be wielding a sledgehammer to crack a rather fragile nut.
Another group of people that have attracted much adverse attention are Housing Benefit claimants, with David Cameron in his Conference speech portraying this as a lifestyle choice by people who won’t work but expect to get their own home at the taxpayers’ expense. This is completely at odds with the fact that over 90 per cent of new Housing Benefit claimants are working, but the DWP never seeks to correct this misconception.
Quadragesimo Anno gave an analysis of the imbalance of economic and political power which could have come straight from the Occupy movement. Speaking of a "despotic economic dictatorship" it says:
"This dictatorship is being most forcibly exercised by those who, since they hold the money and completely control it, control credit also and rule the lending of money. Hence they regulate the flow, so to speak, of the life-blood whereby the entire economic system lives, and have so firmly in their grasp the soul, as it were, of economic life that no one can breathe against their will.
"This concentration of power and might, the characteristic mark, as it were, of contemporary economic life, is the fruit that the unlimited freedom of struggle among competitors has of its own nature produced, and which lets only the strongest survive; and this is often the same as saying, those who fight the most violently, those who give least heed to their conscience."
To restore social justice under such conditions is a herculean task, but Mr Duncan Smith seems to be confident that he is the person for the job, and Universal Credit, his great project, will be the way to do it. This will be his legacy, and his reputation will rest on it. It is intended to simplify the benefits system and ‘make work pay’.
But under Universal Credit, it is claimed that many more disabled people will be pushed into poverty.
There are some very disturbing features about the treatment of disabled people under Universal Credit. For instance, "A disabled person who uses a manual wheelchair and can self-propel this 50 metres will be treated as non-disabled and will no longer qualify for any extra support under Universal Credit".
Of course it is important not to write disabled people off as incapable, but to ignore the difficulties and extra expense they face in trying to live with their disability is callous.
Chris Edwards, an economist and senior research associate at the University of East Anglia, has published “The Austerity War and the impoverishment of disabled people”, in which he finds that ‘over four years to 2015 the poorest 20 per cent of the 2.7 million households receiving disability benefits will lose 16 per cent of their cash income plus benefits-in-kind. This percentage loss is four times as big as the loss for the richest 20 per cent of households’.
Concern about this has led to the foundation of The Hardest Hit, a coalition of disabled people, their families and supporters, calling on the government, and particularly Mr. Duncan Smith, to reconsider their plans.
Despite everything the government says, all the figures suggest they really are balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, and Mr Duncan Smith is at the forefront of this approach. He seems to spend much of his considerable energy and intelligence on judging and trying to alter the behaviour of the poor, whilst maintaining, in the face of all the evidence, that the last thing the poor need is more money
Unlike the Church’s condemnation of a ‘despotic economic dictatorship’, one rarely hears anyone from the government questioning the morals or behaviour of the rich.
Perhaps this is the crucial difference between Mr Duncan Smith’s approach, and that of Catholic Social Teaching. The Church recognises that to achieve social justice, one must first establish economic justice, whereas the Secretary of State appears to reject this basic principle.
To be fair, many devout Catholics, perhaps the majority, are largely unaware of the thrust of the Church’s Social Teaching. If this is the case with Mr. Duncan Smith, one can hope that at some point he will take a moment to pause and consider his policies in the light of that teaching.
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© Bernadette Meaden has written about religious, political and social issues for some years, and is strongly influenced by Christian Socialism, liberation theology and the Catholic Worker movement. She is a regular contributor to Ekklesia.
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