No, wait - let us back the winner: Syria, the arms trade and the West

The United States of America, (U.S.A.) Congress has now agreed to supply arms to the Syrian rebels. There has been confusion as to whether the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom,(U.K.) would arm the rebels at all after France, the U.K. and the U.S.A. decided to arm the Syrian rebels.  It was recently announced: Telegraph.co.uk (blog) that the U.S.A. and the U.K. would not arm the Syrian rebels as they felt it was a lost cause.  

Recently France and the United Kingdom, (U.K.) voted and agreed that the anti-government troops in Syria may be supplied with military arms to aid their fight against the government of President Basher al-Assad.

This follows the decision by the United States of America, (U.S.A.), to supply the opposition rebels who are almost entirely Sunni Muslims with arms to aid their fight against President Assad’s Shiites Muslim government.

It can be no coincidence that the U.S.A., the U.K. and France are in the top six of world arms exporters. The U.S.A. being first, France 3^rd and the U.K. now sixth after dropping from fifth after China increased its arms exports.

It appears that once again money from the arms trade exceeds in importance to France, the U.K. and the U.S.A. in who they supply arms to. Have the ‘Big Three’ of the Western world arms suppliers not learnt from history how arming zealots can turn against you when they have accomplished or not what they aimed to achieve. Also how can they guarantee that the weapons do not fall into the hands of an extremist Islamic organisation or group of individuals who think nothing of killing and destroying any one, an establishment or a philosophy that differs from theirs?

Remember that they attempted to kill a 16 year old girl who was going to school and had the tenacity to speak out for her right to an education.  Fortunately she survived the assignation attempt and has recently spoken at the United Nations.

McTaggart

School Dinners, James Bond style

A school in the London Borough of Camden has announced that it will be using fingerprint technology to buy school dinners. Acland Burghley Academy inTufnell Park will be using the new bio-metric system which will record everything the pupil orders and their account can be seen by the school staff and the pupil’s parents.

Personally I feel this is the“Big Brother” syndrome at its worst. It is brainwashing young people to learn to accept that it is normal to have everything you do to be recorded, scrutinised and studied by the authorities and the establishment. I can imagine it being a bit of fun to an eleven/twelve/thirteen year old to walk up and press a finger or palm to a screen and order your lunch from a screen selection especially if it shows a view of the fingerprint.

What I find alarming is the that The Information Commissioner’s Office, an august body supposedly there to enforce an individual’s information rights, has come out in favour of this by stating “ the use of the system in schools taught pupils that giving personal information to those in authority was perfectly mundane and routine”.

“perfectly mundane and routine”?

I find it anything but“perfectly mundane and routine” as an adult to have my fingerprints taken never mind as a teenager. Can you imagine the scene as an officer of the establishment such as a policeman or an official of the council or government walks up and says to that pupil five or ten years later and says; “It is alright you had this at school for your dinners I have to take your ‘prints. You know it is harmless, you know it makes sense.”

MPs ask for an alcohol price reduction...for themselves

I thought I had gone back a couple of months and it is April Fool’s day.

M.P.s. are calling for the price of alcohol to be reduced in the Palace of Westminster bars. The current price for a pint of Becks Lager is £3.20 and a pint of John Smiths bitter £2.60. At the moment the bar prices are linked to a Wetherspoons pub in Victoria, London. Wetherspoons are renowned for their cheap beer prices compared to other pubs in the local area.   Most prices for a pint of Becks lager in the Westminster area would be close to £4 a pint if not a wee bit more.

The M.P.s are suggesting that the bar prices should be linked to pubs outside central London to make them cheaper.  Do they not realise that anyone who works in Westminster and wants a pint in the area has to pay the going rate. Very few, if any, people have access to subsidies canteen never mind a reduced bar.

MAGGIE'S FUNERAL

So much for “We are all in it together”, “Times of austerity”, “We must all face cuts and tighten our belts”.

After spending millions of pounds of tax payers' money on the Queen’s jubilee, an event that was mostly held and benefited London, the Tory-led coalition has decided to spend around £10 million on a funeral for one of the most despised Prime Ministers since the introduction of The Six Acts in 1819.

£10 million is the estimate that is without the cost of the security measures surrounding the event. All Police leave has been cancelled in the London Metropolitan Police force. Snipers are been deployed on the roofs along and around the route of the funeral procession, which has been named “Code True Blue”.

The name “True Blue” I feel reflects how the Prime Minister and the Tories feel about the Late Prime Minister Thatcher and how she was for the business community the City of London and the rich. The workers and their communities were seen as an obstacle to be oppressed by her and her peers.

The Prime Minister Cameron, the Tory Party and many of the right wing press such as the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Sun are appalled at some of the vitriol being expressed in the social media, (twitter, etc.), and by public figures and M.Ps such as Glenda Jackson and Morrissey. (Also look up “Margaret on the Guillotine” by Morrissey on You Tube music).

The pro-Thatcherites are outraged at this and use the excuse that a dead person should not be vilified as Thatcher is.  An example. I did not hear anyone saying this after Gaddafi's death as he was abused by the same press and media that are now attempting to silence the people’s voice about protecting and tempering criticism of the dead. Before anyone rises I am not in anyway comparing the late Maggie Thatcher to Col. Gaddafi, it is only an example of the hypocrisy of the press.    

The Tory right wing media are always banging the drum about democracy, free speech and freedom of the press of course this only applies when the “Press Barons” such as Rupert Murdoch, agrees with what is being said and represented. If The Sun and The Daily Mail feel you are attacking what they believe in, the establishment, the City and /or its leaders they will attempt to discredit the messenger by looking at their past and present lifestyle and occupation and smearing the person and leading a campaign for them to be sacked from their job if it is in anyway connected to public service. Such as the Drama teacher Romany Blythe and the Police Sergeant Jeremy Scott who has since resigned after the Daily Mail vindictively mounted a campaign to have them both sacked.

Police Sergeant Jeremy Scott has resigned.  He had served over twenty years in the Metropolitan Police Force and was facing possible suspension and an investigation into his twitter account @thinbluespeck..

Thatcher’s Grave

Let the bonfires burn bright,

The trumpets gaily play,
The Drummers drill away,
Let the Bagpipes blaw,
To be heard far away,

The children gaily play,

As I Dance on Thatcher’s Grave,

Monday was a beautiful day.

by McTaggart

The Tory Nasty Party are back: Lord Freud and the Bedroom Tax

I could not believe what I was hearing on the B.B.C.  Radio Five Live Victoria Derbyshire morning programme in a discussion with Lord Freud and Radio Five listeners about the imminent new Under Occupancy Act, otherwise infamously known as the Bedroom Tax. This tax comes into effect on Monday 1^st April 2013.

The Bedroom Tax is where people who have a spare bedroom and are on a benefit will have their housing benefit cut.

Lord Freud was asked specific questions by listeners regarding how the tax would affect them.

One had a son in the army and wanted to keep his bedroom for when the son was on leave so he felt he had a home to come back to. Another had separated from his wife and the 3 children stayed with him at the weekend, the school holidays and at other times.  Another had disabilities that affected his breathing and he had to use an oxygen tank and other apparatus to help him breathe. He had to sleep with his head raised on the bed so he slept in a separate room from his wife so they could both sleep without him disturbing her from the noise of the oxygen and his sleeping position in the bed. Another had a daughter going to university.

Lord Freud did not answer the specific questions asked by people on the phone but choose to give the bog standard Government answer such as “difficult times, times of austerity” we need to reform the system to stop the scroungers, [my words], living in luxury (?) with too many rooms that they don’t need.

Here is the solution that Lord Freud gave to the tenants:

To the father who has his children stay at the weekends and various other nights Lord Freud said: “He should move to a one bedroom house then buy a sofa bed so the 3 children could sleep in the living room.”

To the parents of the student at university he said; “Why don’t you take in a lodger.” So what does the daughter do when she returns home for a weekend visit and during the holidays? Sleep with the lodger? Obviously he is not aware that as a student living in student accommodation it is classed as temporary accommodation. The man with breathing and other medical problems he ignored.

It beggars belief that this Lord of the realm, who is the Prime Minister David Cameron’s Under Secretary of State (Lords) for the Department of Work and Pensions, who between January 2008 and February 2009 acted as an advisor on welfare reform to the U.K. government, is ignorant of the tenancy law; that he does not know that under the tenancy agreement between a tenant and the local council or housing association it is illegal to sublet any part of the accommodation. Yet here he is happily telling people to break the conditions of their tenancy agreement.  

Apart from Lord Freud’s lack of knowledge regarding tenancy agreements, I feel it shows the arrogance of members of the Tory party to tell people to say “It is alright, just take in a lodger”. Problem solved, easy peasy. 

Say it did happen. First of all it would lead to complications on any welfare payment they receive whether they are working or not.  Probably any welfare benefit they get would be cut or stopped including their rent and council tax payments. Would the tax man have interest in this extra income?

What about insurance cover? Many insurance companies will not insure you or the house if you have a lodger, or the premium is very expensive. What happens when the offspring comes home from University and the Army? Do they sleep in the living room or the bathroom? Do you want a lodger in your house using all the facilities?

This is rich coming from a man who owns two large houses. One, a country mansion in Kent, which is believed to be one of the oldest in England, has eight bedrooms. The other is a £1.9 million four bedroom house in Highgate, London that he shares with his wife. So that is a total of 12 bedrooms for two people which of eight are only used at weekends, holidays or for entertaining on special occasions.

What a hypocrite Lord Freud is. A man who owns two homes with twelve bedrooms for two people is plunging over 100,000 people into poverty, causing them extreme anxiety and leading to their illnesses becoming acute. 

Is this not a form of “ethnic cleansing,” this time done on a socio-economic scale rather than a race or religious doctrine?

Just to show this multi-millionaire’s arrogance and lack of feeling for the working class communities, vulnerable and people with mental or physical problems, Lord Freud stated in an interview with The House magazine, "We've got the circumstances now where... people who are poorer should be prepared to take the biggest risks - they've got least to lose."

The Tory “Nasty Party” is back with a vengeance.

McTaggart

Happy New Year? It was until the Tory-led coalition once again began its attack on the poorly paid

It was until the Tory-led coalition once again began its attack on the poorly paid.

In fact the attack on the low wage earner and the people on benefits began just after Christmas with the right wing Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne demanding that the National State Welfare budget be cut by £10 billion. Where did that figure come from? Was it just plucked out of the air as a good “sound bite” figure to ensure the headlines would follow in the Daily Express and the Daily Mail?

I have not seen any figures to justify this claim that it is £10 billion that needs to be cut from the Welfare budget. It appears to tally with the Tory led coalition aim to cut the loan deficit.

I am also astonished, as far as I have seen/heard at the way the media such as the BBC television and radio channels, Channel 4 or the ITV news have never crossed examined the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne on how he came to this conclusion.  Just a thought, I find it a wee bit strange that you never see George Osborne give interviews. Is that due to his past performances in live interviews and gaffe blown comments?

On Tuesday 8^th January 2013 the House of Commons voted to restrict any rise of benefits of working age to 1% over the next 3 years. This included Working Tax Credits, a payment by the taxpayer to boost the pay of low-paid workers rather than have the worker being paid a living wage by the large companies who make billion of pounds profit to pay their shareholders a large dividend at the tax payer’s expense.

When I say shareholders I am not talking about the person in the street who may have a few shares in a company but the very large global companies listed on the London, New York and the Tokyo stock exchange which make billions of pounds/dollars profit every year.

--McTaggart

A Keen Jobseeker's Story

One of our bloggers would like to share with Unheard Holler a complaint she is making about the long, difficult experience she has had as a Jobseeker.

There’s lots of details below about the mental distress she has suffered, what she calls the ‘incompetence’ of JobCentre staff, the debt she has got into following repeated, ‘unfair’ sanctions and miscommunications.

Read on to find out the reality of being a keen, dedicated Jobseeker...

To Whom It May Concern

I write to you to raise a complaint on the treatment I have received from both Job Centre Plus and Prospects staff whilst I have been on the work programme.

I have been on the work programme since June 2011, to date I am yet to be assisted to locate suitable employment or training opportunities to increase my chances of employment via the job centre and the work programme. I have been deeply dissatisfied with the treatment I have received from staff at both Job centre plus and Prospects my reasons are detailed below.

· I was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and had provided a letter from the home office to confirm this at the start of the work programme in June 2011. I also advised my JSA advisor that I had a letter confirming my indefinite leave to remain status but was never asked to provide this information and instead was placed on a sanction in July 2012.

· I was never advised reason for the sanction or how this could be appealed until I requested a letter be sent detailing the reason for the sanction. This was sent on the 21/08/2012 over a month since the sanction was put in place.

· Following a meeting with a JSA advisor and Job Centre Plus manager it was established that the job centre advisor had made a note on the system“claimant not looking for work” and raised a sanction.

· On the 21/09/2012 a letter of appeal was made this included copies of indefinite leave to remain letter from the home office, letters from the home office confirming they were looking into an application for a duplicate passport, and a copy of my sign on book that documented my efforts to search and apply for jobs on a weekly basis.

· The manager advised that this would be looked into and a decision made within 1 week from the 21/09/2012.

· No decision was made until the 19/10/2012 following meeting with another Job Centre Plus manager. The information presented in the appeal on the 21/09/2012 was presented again to the Job Centre manager and he recommended the sanction be lifted and a back payment was made for £923 the following week. The manager advised this sanction was raised following a miscommunication.

· It has established during the above meeting with the Job Centre Plus manager that another sanctioned had been applied for failure to apply for two jobs, yet no letter had been sent to confirm this and was first aware of this whilst in the meeting with the Job Centre Plus manager.

· Following a phone call to DWP I was advised the sanction would be lifted on the 07/11/2012.

During my time with the work programme my IT and literacy skills have not been addressed. Despite requesting help to locate training, to improve my chances of employment opportunities I am yet to have these needs met.

During my visits to the job centre, I was made to feel like a second class citizen. I often felt like I was being spoken to like something on the bottom of the staff’s shoe. Advisors never ensured I had a good understanding of what I was required to do. I would often get confused in sessions with advisors and relied on the assistance of my support worker to ensure I understood the content of the meetings with JSA advisors.

Due to the issues I have had in the past with the Job Centre Plus it was recommended by a Job Centre Manager that I attend all work programme and Job Centre sessions with my support worker. However when I requested my support worker be present at my next work programme meeting it was refused by the Prospects manager, I was aware my advisor contacted Prospects to discuss my sanction and action plan but Prospect staff were not forthcoming and I can only assume that Prospects do not approve of clients receiving support from other agencies.

This left me feeling extremely frustrated and annoyed that the manager of Prospects was denying my right to have my needs met by allowing my support worker to be present to ensure I had a full understanding of my role in my action plan with the work programme advisor and to advocate on my behalf ensuring my voice was heard in the action plan and the action plan was been completed.

I have no faith or assurance in Job Centre Plus or the Work Programme. I fear my benefits can be cut at any moment for no good reason.

Staff ignore me or show me attitude when attending the Job Centre. Once whilst in the Job Centre completing a job search I over heard a manager gossiping about me to an advisor in relation to my right to work in the UK.

During my sanction I felt I was going throw a mental breakdown and visited my GP about my state of mind, consequently I was advised that my cholesterol was high and was offered counselling.

I borrowed money from family members, which caused an already difficult domestic situation to become worse and put me at greater risk. Eventually my family ignored my calls for help, and I succumbed to pressure to take out a high rate cash loan, in order to cover fulfilments to my council tax and rent as I was being threatened with court action.

Whilst on my sanction I had to walk to all appointments, job interviews, as I was without money and often without food, but as I feared there would be further consequences to my benefits so I persevered with the walking. The constant walking has consequently caused health problems to my feet.

I have been on an action plan with the Work Programme for over a year and I have received more comprehensive support from my support work in aiding me to be in a better position to obtain work which include attend ETE workshops, locating suitable training opportunities, as well as emotional support around the sanction and dealing with job centre and work programme advisors.

The key points that I would like to make in this complaint are:

- I have not received basic support to prepare for work.

- I attended every single appointment and fulfilled job search requirements whilst on sanction.

- I was sanctioned unfairly, through Job Centre Plus staff incompetence.

- I did not receive communication of either sanction to my benefits.

- The sanction which was applied incorrectly was only corrected because I and my support worker challenged the sanction.

- My lack of knowledge of what I am entitled to and lack of confidence to challenge staff means I rely on my support worker and this was denied by Prospect staff.

- I was left with large debt following my sanction.

- My mental state was hugely affected by events that followed from the sanction to my benefits.

Signed,

 

A Keen Jobseeker

 

 

Riddle: what do the police, the Olympics, a man with Parkinson's and 182 cyclists have in common?

The Police arrested the man and the cyclists during the Olympic games.

Arrested man with Parkinson's Disease

A man with Parkinson’s disease was arrested during the Olympic cycling road race because the Surrey Police thought he was not smiling and enjoying the event.

Mark Worsford, 54, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, was arrested for not smiling. The former soldier and martial arts instructor was sitting on a wall when the Surrey Police arrested him for breach of the peace. Mr Worsford was dragged from the 7ft wall, thrown to the ground, handcuffed in front of the watching crowd and bundled unceremoniously into a Police vehicle.

The Olympics 2012 and Corporate Greed

I am not against the Olympic or the Paralympic Games. What I am against is the way the large corporate companies take over my and your lives.

These large capitalist companies believe just because they pay a few bob (which no-one asked them to, it is their choice to do this) then they can go against people’s rights and freedom with the implicit help of the Government and the local authorities, because they paid for it.

Did you or I ask for the disruption so the so-called V.I.P.s of the Olympic Mafia could drive by in their free limousines, digesting their sumptuous breakfast at the tax payer’s expense, whilst you, I and others are suffering the Tory-led coalition austerity cuts, and whilst the people who fuelled this are feeding us the nonsense that we live in free and democratic country?

Why are you and I being told that the corporate takeover of the streets of London by the so-called “Olympic Family “is for the benefit of the people who live and work in London every day?

People who have paid vast sums of money to have a family day at the Olympic stadium will have their food and drink confiscated so they are coerced into buying food and drink at extortionate prices because the greedy corporate companies such as McDonald’s feel they have bought the rights and therefore bought you, your friends and family. 

If you refuse to give up your food and drink you will be refused entry, with the help of the police which are paid for by the tax payer and not by McDonald’s or any of the corporate fat cats.

You will be treated as a criminal for trying to bring your own food into an Olympic event.

McTaggart

Unheard Holler takes to the streets - looking at the recent peak in unemployment

Last month several unheard holler video bloggers took to the streets of Ilford to ask local residents what they thought the reasons behind the current peak in unemployment are, as well as what the government should be doing to tackle it. A mixed bag of opinions, do you agree with any of them?

This video blog was produced with the assistance of On Road Media and UK Online Centre's community outreach programme.

Pass The Hot Water Bottle

Photo by David Ritter.
Photo taken from http://www.sxc.hu/

So much for the much heralded Energy Summit where, we were promised by Head boy Cameron, the Power Supplier would be brought to book over their rocketing prices and excessive annual profits. These have spiralled from fifteen pounds per household to an electrifying one hundred and twenty-five pounds in the last six months, when wholesale energy costs have, in fact, been steadily falling.

According to Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne, it’s our fault for not shopping around to get the best deal and not paying by direct debit. So much for coming to the aid of the hard-pressed consumer then.

With over forty different tariffs available, all based on an unintelligible formula which would baffle even the brightest maths graduate, selecting the best option for you is nigh-on impossible, whilst people on pre-pay meters are out of this savings loop altogether.

As for paying by direct debit, some twenty percent of the population – principally the elderly and low paid – do not have access to a bank account that enables them to take advantage of paying in this way.  What’s more, if they are largely reliant on the vagaries of Government benefit payments or have a shaky credit history, no matter how many years ago, banks are generally reluctant to accept them as a customer.

Photo by Graham Briggs.
Photo taken from http://www.sxc.hu/

If you do succeed, the maximum seven and a half percent annual saving you can expect pales into insignificance against the eight hundred percent profit trousered by suppliers from your payments.

So where to now? Update your heating system and improve home insulation.  Fine, if you are an owner or rent from a responsible local authority. But private landlords, even if they let property through a local authority, are not obliged to carry out these improvements: Nor are they likely to unless they are allowed to hike rents to unacceptable levels to pay for these costs.

So, for several million of the most vulnerable in our “Big Society” its time once again to pull on another sweater, blow on your hands and move further to the back of the queue.

R. A. E.

Unheard Holler Interview - Pauline Pearce

Last month some of us video bloggers were lucky enough to get an interview with the 'Hackney Heroine' herself - Pauline Pearce. We started by playing Pauline the now infamous youtube clip of her impassioned tirade against this summers rioters in Hackney, before going on to ask her about her opinions on the causes of the riots, what the government should be doing, and her recent experiences at the Tory party conference.

  

We really appreciate Pauline taking the time to come and talk to us, it was great to hear her interesting and constructive ideas, lets hope some of the people at the top took the time to listen to what she had to say. Do you agree with what Pauline said? Let us know in the comments below.

This video blog was produced with the assistance of On Road Media and UK Online Centre's Community Outreach Grant.