Trade unions have given “huge benefits” to the British economy, said Conservative Government Business, Innovation and Skills Spokesperson Lord Popat in Parliament on Monday 7 July 2014. Here is my letter published on 25 July in the Essex County Standard. It was in a big red box (for emphasis, not socialism or for being wrong!).
8 Jul 2014
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.
6 Jul 2014
World War One - the warring cousins
In 1914 the rulers of the world's three greatest nations were
all first cousins: they were all grandchildren of Queen Victoria .
- King George V of
- Tsar Nicholas II of
- Kaiser Wilhelm II of
As the BBC History page says, Queen Victoria was sometimes called the Grandmamma
of Europe, and there was hardly a Continental court that did not boast at least
one of her relations. During World War One there were no less than seven of the
old Queen's direct descendants, and two more of her Coburg relations, on European thrones.
World War One was like a feud among a band of warring brothers: imperialists
rather than the capitalists that Marx was referring to when he coined the phrase.
4 Jul 2014
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.
2 Jul 2014
Ram Dass on judgement
When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you
see all these different trees. And some
of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are
evergreens, and some of them are whatever.
And you look at the tree and you allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get
enough light, and so it turned that way.
And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get
near humans, you lose all that. And you
are constantly saying “You’re too this, or I’m too this.” That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into
trees. Which means appreciating them
just the way they are.
1 Jul 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
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