universal basic income

Following up on my earlier 2019/03/universal-basic-income blog, I just looked up "universal basic income" on the websites of the three big welfare rights charities I used to work for: CPAG, DRUK and Working Families. Searching for "universal basic income" at cpag.org.uk and workingfamilies.org.uk yields no results, while disabilityrightsuk.org does best with its round-up, 18 March 2019, of two new reports about Universal Basic Income. 

The deliberate production of ignorance

Agnotology, says Wikipedia, is the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data. 

Examples of the deliberate production of ignorance:

• the tobacco industry's conspiracy to manufacture doubt about the cancer risks of tobacco use
• the debate in climate science that we don't have enough evidence yet, we need more research, etc 
• 'The Myth of “Broken Britain”: Welfare Reform and the Production of Ignorance' by Tom Slater, 2012

I guess Adorno would claas these as products of the culture industry. 

Benefit Cap letter in Essex County Standard Friday 5 June 2015

Colchester has the dubious distinction of being home to the first victims of the new Tory government’s Benefit Cap, as reported by the Daily Mirror on 28 May.

Housing crisis in Colchester and beyond

1. Daily Mirror story about Benefit-Capped homeless family in Colchester
2. Social housing, not social cleansing’ – the case of the Focus E15 Mums

IDS and sin

Iain Duncan Smith,work and pensions secretary said on 11 Nov 2012 that it's a "sin" that people fail to take up work when it is available. This was as he prepared to introduce the most severe welfare sanctions ever imposed by a British government.

Glasgow away day 29-30 April 2015

Dawn and dusk from Premier Inn near George Square. Looking south over River Clyde with twenty or more wind turbines on horizon.  George Square is like the Trafalgar Square of Glasgow.

Get housing on the agenda for ITV Leaders' Debate on Thurs 2 April

Housing is one of the top 5 issue in the polls nationally but, according to what I heard, it wasn't mentioned last Thursday on the C4/Sky Jeremy Paxman TV debate. To get it on the agenda for the ITV Leaders' Debate on Thurs 2 April 2015 at 8pm, please e-mail debate@itv.com and put in a question on housing. (Shelter are asking people to do this.)

25 million child benefit records lost in 2007

Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 went missing on 20 November 2007.

Nearly 100,000 children affected by benefit sanctions in 2013/14

Methodist Church - Nearly 100,000 children affected by benefit sanctions in 2013/14

Mon, 2 March 2015

A new report from a coalition of major UK Churches has revealed that around 100,000 children were affected by benefit sanctions in 2013/14. It also shows that in the same period a total of nearly 7 million weeks of sanctions were handed out to benefit claimants. The new data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, will feature in this evening’s episode of Channel 4’s Dispatches, entitled Britain’s Benefits Crackdown.

Tories propose taking £3bn off the poor to fund £3bn tax cuts for the rich

According to BBC News the Tories propose taking £3bn off the poor to fund £3bn tax cuts for the rich.

Britain's five richest families own more than poorest 20% - Oxfam

In a report, a Tale of Two Britains, Oxfam said the poorest 20% in the UK had wealth totalling £28.1bn – an average of £2,230 each. The latest rich list from Forbes magazine showed that the five top UK entries – the family of the Duke of Westminster, David and Simon Reuben, the Hinduja brothers, the Cadogan family, and Sports Direct retail boss Mike Ashley – between them had property, savings and other assets worth £28.2bn.

PIP 20 metre rule case

High Court challenge to PIP mobility 20 metre rule fails. Judge finds gov consultation was not unfair or unlawful bit.ly/WCnUEL

The court case at Birmingham High Court on Wed 16 July was unsuccessful. But there were some interesting exerts from government documents released in the judgement. That includes the submission made to Ministers by civil servants to summarize the responses to the mobility criteria consultation. 

Having noted the impact of the loss of benefit on disabled claimants, it said (at paragraph 64): “… [T]his was recognised from the outset. In developing the PIP assessment we were aware that the vast majority of recipients of DLA were individuals with genuine health conditions and disabilities and genuine need, and that removing or reducing that benefit may affect their daily lives. However, we believe that these impacts can be justified as being a logical result of distributing limited resources in a different and more sustainable way…” [emphasis added]

Mentally ill people hounded by DWP

Polly Toynbee, The Guardian, Tuesday 8 July 2014: Ministers promise 'parity of esteem' for mental and physical health services. Instead the reality is scandalous cruelty ... “Neglect of the mentally ill is bad enough, but now consider how the Department for Work and Pensions deliberately torments them … Letters are sent to the vulnerable who don't legally have to come in, but in such ambiguous wording that they look like an order to attend. Tricks are played: those ending their contributory entitlement to a year on ESA need to fill in a form for income-based ESA. But jobcentres are forbidden to stock those forms. These ill people's benefits are suddenly stopped without explanation: if they call, they're told to collect a form from the jobcentre, which doesn't stock them either. If someone calls to query an appointment they are told they will be sanctioned if they don't turn up. 

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/08/mentally-ill-need-help-not-bullying-by-the-state

More than half of disabled people out of work

More than half of disabled people out of work but just one in ten receiving support, say Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion in Fit for Purpose: Transforming employment support fordisabled people and those with health conditions published 3 July 2014.

Public sector good, private sector bad, admits Tory Gov!

The DWP press release for the launch on 30 June 2014 of the new Child Maintenance Service, which is under the direct control of the government, includes the following:

Chaos at the DWP

• after £612 million being spent, including £131 million written off or written down, the introduction of Universal Credit is now years behind schedule 
• the Minister of State for Disabled People admitted to the Work and Pensions Committee on 11 June 2014 that over 700,000 people are still waiting for a Work Capability Assessment
• the Office for Budget Responsibility in March 2014 found that projected spending on Employment and Support Allowance has risen by £800 million since December
• the Committee of Public Accounts in its First Report, HC 280, found that Personal Independence Payment delays have created uncertainty, stress and financial costs for disabled people and additional budgetary pressures for Government
• the Work Programme has failed to meet its targets
• the unfair bedroom tax risks costing more than it saves

We will all benefit - StingRadio - My radio interview

My radio interview on Tuesday 24 June is at http://www.mixcloud.com/StingRadio/stingradio-show-24062014/

It starts at 36.45 minutes and ends at 45.35 and is followed by one with David Bryceland of Oxfordshire MIND (who I know and have worked with) which lasts till 48.40.

Part of the We will all benefit Campaign (not to be confused with Who Benefits).

The slippery slope fallacy and charging for NHS prescriptions

The slippery slope fallacy is a way of ridiculing an argument that says, “If we allow A to happen then Z will eventually happen too, therefore A should not happen.” The typical example is, “If we allow same-sex couples to marry, then eventually we'll be allowing people to marry their parents or their pets.”

Mandatory Community Work Placements

UK charities were urged not to take part in the government’s new ‘workfare’ programme launched on Monday 28 April. Community Work Placements require that jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) claimants do six months work placement or risk losing their benefits. Unite calls the scheme “nothing more than forced unpaid labour”. 

JSA Sanctions not working

“The number of JSA Sanctions are at a 12 month high, and probably the highest ever on record. Yet, we don’t even know if these Sanctions are working. There have been many examples of people being sanctioned and not knowing why. If the aim of a sanction is to change peoples’ behaviour then people need to know why their benefits have been stopped otherwise it is just a punitive punishment which is trying and save money.” 

Dame Anne Begg MP, Aberdeen South MP, Fri, 4 April 2014 MPs Press Release