Happy New Year from the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne

I feel the Tory members of the cabinet must have had a very jolly Christmas playing with their new board game, “Cuts to the Benefits for the Sick and Vulnerable” This came to mind when the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Right Honourable, not my words, George Osborne announced cuts to the Benefit system of £25,000,000,000 (£25 billion). Actually, when all the figures are collated it is over £60 billion.  

To quote George Osborne, he said "We’ve got to make more cuts £17 billion this coming year, £20 billion next year and over £25 billion further across the two years after. That’s more than £60 billion in total." The Telegraph

 Mr. Osborne said that 2014 will be "the year of hard truths" and that "Britain faces a choice".  The Government is on course to borrow £111 billion this year, almost double the £60 billion it was forecast to borrow when Mr. Osborne took office in 2010.  The national debt will hit £1.2 trillion by April, and is due to carry on rising, hitting £1.5 trillion by 2018. It means the Treasury is spending £50 billion a year on debt interest to Britain’s lenders. The BBC

What irritates me is so far, although I may have missed it, no-one either when interviewing the Chancellor or reporting this very important news challenges these figures and by how he came to them. I can imagine George, his friends and colleagues playing this game after a very good lunch quaffing the after dinner Brandy and cigars as they pull out a card with a figure on it, say £17 billion and deciding where it should go in the cuts to the benefits. Just like picking up a card of “Chance” in Monopoly and laughing at the choice.

A friend of mine is a carer for his brother who has severe mental health problems. Every time the Tory led Government announces cut backs or decide to revise the benefit system he fears the worst for his brother and himself. I feel they, the government, have no conception of how many people, through no fault of their own or by their choice, are doing their best to live a life as best they can.  

Not happy to celebrate over the festivities with this he decides to come up with another great wheeze this one concerning people Under 25s. The Chancellor full of “bon homme” decides he wishes to remove housing benefit from the Under-25s.   It is estimated that this will only save about £50 million after the people such as parents, victims of domestic abuse and similar are taking into account.   

Department of Work and Pensions figures show that 351,678 people under the age of 25 claim housing benefit at a cost of £1.8bn. Of these 55.6% are parents, which mean the cuts would not apply to them. Osborne's plan would therefore produce savings of £827.4m in this area. But Whitehall sources suggested this figure could be reduced to as low as £50m once other groups among the under-25s, such as victims of domestic violence, are excluded from housing benefit cuts. "It is laughable that you can get anywhere near £12bn in cuts this way," one source said.

Fiona Weir, chief executive of Gingerbread, which represents single parents, said: “Almost half of under-25s supported by housing benefit are single parent families with young children, for whom moving in with mum and dad simply isn’t an option.”

Alison Worsley, deputy director of strategy at Barnardo’s, said: “Any proposal to remove housing benefits from all under-25s risks leaving some of this country’s most vulnerable people stranded. We must not forget that many disadvantaged young people starting out in the world simply do not have a family that they can turn to.”

Once again I can see why the Prime Minister, David Cameron, stated that the Tory Party “is no longer the nasty party but the caring party.”

McTaggart

N.B.   1, 000,000,0000, (1 billion) = one thousand million.

In the U.K. a billion, (1,000,000,0000,) used to be one million million and some people still use it today.

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

Are the Irish politicians aware we are now in the 21st Century?

I ask this regarding the case of Pauline Conboy a 46 year old woman with Down’s syndrome who had her passport confiscated.  Her crime was to attempt to fly to Florida to visit her brother and family to see if she would like to live there.    

Pauline lived with her Mother until her Mother’s death last year. Pauline needs some support to live but is mostly independent. It was planned that if Pauline liked it she could live with her brother and his family in Florida.

Here comes the crux of the matter: for some reason the Irish passport office took Pauline’s passport off her denying her the right as human being to travel to meet her brother and family in the U.S.A. The reason for this to quote:  “The Irish Passport Office took my passport and my rights away just over a year ago because they claim they got a "report" but it's a secret report and they won't show it to anyone - I'm not kidding!”

Pauline’s plight has been ignored by the passport office officials and the Passport Office Director responsible for the passport office. The Director had the arrogance, or was it he felt embarrassed and shameful about the situation, to leave his office early on a Friday afternoon when he knew that Pauline and her sister in law were packing their bags and trying to contact him to leave on a plane to Florida.  No doubt he had to go to his weekend retreat and prepare for his evening dinner party.

The Irish passport office will not budge and appears to be hiding behind smoke screens and feeble excuses by stating that a disabled person needs to have a “legal guardian”. The Irish Passports Act 2008 allows people with disabilities to "duly authorise" anyone to fill out and sign an application form so there is no need in law to have a “legal guardian”.

Pauline Conboy says: “So it is not Irish law that is wrong, it is the Passport Office Director and the Minister for Foreign Affairs who don't seem to understand that I am entitled to the same rights as everyone else, so please don't let them get away with this discrimination and injustice.

I ask this question: Are the people involved in the decision to confiscate Pauline’s passport to embarrassed to admit to their mistake and stubbornly standing by the decision to save criticism and face?    

Is it not a fact that the Irish Government has allowed Pedophile Priests to leave the country without any questions, harassment or charges to travel to the other countries with their passports intact. 

From Pauline’s site:

Please call or email the Irish Passport Office at +353 1 671 1633, Email: Joseph.Nugent@dfa.ie, and ask them to give Pauline Conboy her passport PC8471397 back right away. It is so hard on me and my family to be kept apart like this for no reason.  We have done nothing wrong to deserve this.  I just want to spend time with my family who love me, just like I did in the past before my passport was taken away. It's not fair that I am now being stopped from leaving the country for no reason.  Thank you for helping me because by helping me you are also helping other people with disabilities as well as helping preserve everyone's rights.

Pauline Conboy says: “So it is not Irish law that is wrong, it is the Passport Office Director and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who don't seem to understand that I am entitled to the same rights as everyone else, so please don't let them get away with this discrimination and injustice.”
The Minister for Foreign affairs is Eamon Gilmore T.D. who can be contacted at:
Office of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Iveagh House,
80 St. Stephen’s Green,
Dublin 2.
Believe it or not he has a degree in Psychology from the University of Galway.

McTaggart

How Much Does Love Cost?

£20,000 says Theresa May, Home Secretary

From the 9th June 2012 a new rule came into force where anyone marrying a person from outside the U.K. or European Union will have to be earning at least £20,000 a year or emigrate. If the foreigner has a child then the earnings have to be at least £30,000 a year.

This is an attack once again on the low paid. 

The £20,000 a year figure works out at £9.62 per hour, which is £3.43 above the minimum wage for people aged 21 and over and £4.64 for an 18 to 20 year old.

The Tory-led coalition government wants to change the immigration rules to prevent lower-paid Britons from bringing in husbands or wives who they feel will be dependent on state benefits as soon as they arrive in the UK. Where is the evidence of this?

It again shows that the Tories feel that the people from the lower working class only live on state benefits and everything they do is aimed at claiming more money from state funds. How did the Prime Minister David Cameron, the Home Secretary Theresa May and the Coalition Cabinet decide on these figures?

The rules will particularly hit the low paid British workers such as nurses, cleaners, lower grade civil servants,  shop workers, office assistants and restaurant staff as well as part-time teachers and nurses who will no longer have the same right as their wealthier neighbours to choose whom they wish to marry, settle and have children with.

It is estimated that 46% of British workers earn less than £20,000 a year and 20% earn £10,000 a year or less:  

After years of working and paying taxes without ever claiming benefits people will find that they will be penalised because they have met a person, fallen in love and wish to marry but are deemed too poor to do so by the Eton-led millionaire coalition government.

Again the lower paid are an easy target for the Tories to strut, preen and crow that they are in control of lowering immigration to please the so called people of “Middle England” and the readers of the  Daily Mail and Daily Express.

So please remember the next time you go abroad or meet someone in this country from a country outside the U.K. or the European Union, do not fall in love unless you earn “lots o’ Lolly”.

McTaggart

TUC Anti- Austerity March Saturday 20th October 2012 London

Are you going to be at the Anti-Austerity march leaving from the Embankment, London at 12.00 p.m.to Hyde Park?

If not, why not?

There will thousands of people from all over U.K. arriving by coach, train and motor car to demonstrate against the Tory led Coalition government austerity cuts and the Tory dogma that it is the poorest who have to suffer for their austerity programme to work.

There is definitely a hollow ring to the Prime Minister David Cameron’s slogan “that we are all in it together”. Little or no pay rises cuts to social welfare funding and changes to how benefits such as Housing Benefit will be paid whilst cutting the tax threshold that the highest earners in the country have to pay.

The disabled, sick and the terminally ill being passed as fit for work by a biased and disgraceful medical assessment procedure.

Cuts to the N.H.S. budget meaning less staff, ward closures and worst of all hospital closures.  This week it was announced in several counties in England that ambulance stations will be closed in local areas and main “hubs” will replace them. This will mean an ambulance travelling many miles further to an emergency taking a longer tome which is often crucial in saving a person’s life.

Let us make it clear to the Government that we, the people are very unhappy with this Government’s policy on the economy and their programme for austerity cuts.

Join the march on Saturday 20th October at 12.00 p.m. at the Embankment London.

Remember, “We are many but they are few”.

Racism and the Republican Party Conference U.S.A. 2012

In Britain it is the conference season for the political parties to meet at a seaside resort and have their annual soiree, slap themselves on the back for saying how well they have done, state their aims for the future and slag off the other political parties.

One thing is for certain it will not have members of their party throwing peanuts at a black CNN TV camera woman as happened at the Republican National Conference, (RNC), in Tampa, Florida. Not only did two delegates, later denied by senior Republicans that they were delegates but attendees, throw peanuts at the camera woman but abused her verbally by saying “that is how we feed animals”. The two “attendees” were ejected from the conference hall by security guards.

What has baffled most commentators and the people who witnessed the attack on the CNN camera women, Patricia Carroll, is the lack of reporting of the incident and why it is being played down by everyone involved including CNN and the victim Patricia Carroll. There has been no Police involvement concerning the attack.

"I hate that it happened, but I'm not surprised at all," she told Journal-isms' Richard Prince. Carroll added that she did not want the situation to become political and that it could have happened at the Democratic convention. "This should be a wake-up call to black people," she said, describing racism as a "global issue."

Ms. Carroll stated that having more black leaders won’t change things, “We haven’t come that far. Black people have been in bondage longer then they have been free. Stuff like this will continue to be a part of the black experience".

McTaggart

It was Just an Oversight

Recently, a mother of a disabled child was prosecuted by the Department for Work and Pensions for not declaring earnings she received whilst claiming benefit. One could say the mother was 'on the fiddle'.

It was a part time job cleaning a pub for 10 hours a week to help her provide the extras needed for her disabled child.

The mother said it was an oversight and had intended to declare the earnings but just never got around to it. She had offered to repay the money she had received in benefit.

The mother was ordered to repay the money, which she had already offered to do, and was given a suspended prison sentence. The mother was spared a custodial sentence only because she had a disabled child and the child would probably have been taken into care.

“It was an oversight”, said Baroness Warsi after being caught fiddling her House of Lords expenses.

The good Baroness was claiming £165.50 a night for a room she never paid any money for! Baroness Warsi claims (?!!!) she only stayed there twice a week for 6 weeks. That amounts to £1,986.

Not just that, the person, her friend, whom she pleads she paid the rent money to, was living there rent-free.

Why should anyone pay rent money to a friend who is living there rent-free? Either he is ripping her off or there was no money paid, apart from the Tax Payer paying the Tory Party Co-Chairperson. Remember 'we are all in this together', preaches Baroness Warsi at every opportunity she can get.

The good Baroness is quoted saying: “Due to an oversight, for which I take full responsibility, the flat was not included on the Register of Lords’ Interests when its value and the rent received came to exceed the thresholds for disclosure.”

An oversight?

This is the woman who is Co-Chairperson of the Tory Party, the leading party of the coalition in government, who attends meetings at the highest level and steers the Tory party policies.

As yet no action has been taken against the good Baroness, either by the authorities or by the Prime Minister, David Cameron. He has decided there is no case to answer, no inquiry to be held, and defiantly no resignation.

The Baroness admits to the fiddle but as far as the good “Lady” is concerned that is the matter finished with.

No investigation, no charges brought, and defiantly no disciplinary action by the Prime Minister, he who promised to rid the House of Commons of sleaze and corruption, the Tory party or Uncle Tom Cobbly and all.

Compare this to the case of the mother with a disabled child, who was earning about £50.00 a week to help provide for herself and her disabled child. Who was hauled through the court system, photographed, D.N.A. samples taken and finger printed, and now has a criminal record. Spent months not knowing of her or her child’s future, as she may have been sent to prison.

This is a person who would be labeled by the good Baroness Warsi as a “scrounger” and “benefit fiddler”.

The £1,986.00 that the Baroness claimed probably illegally would take the mother working as a cleaner, at £50.00 a week, approximately 40 weeks, that is 10 months, to earn.

Can anyone see the comparison and discrepancies in the two cases of fiddling the tax payer?

McTaggart

Irony and the Paralympics

Does anyone recognise the name ATOS?

If not, then you have never had the courtesy of an invite by them on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions, for a Benefits Assessment Medical Examination. I use the words "Medical Examination” loosely as the "medical" is conducted by a question and answer interview prompted by computerised questions. A fully qualified doctor very rarely does this interview. It could be conducted by a nurse, a medical secretary, or, who knows, by someone just walking by with nothing else to do?

The company, which is being paid over £100 million a year, for at least 5 years, for this privilege, is the health care arm of ATOS.

The company is charged with getting claimants off the higher rate of benefit and into a “fit for work/able to work” category. This includes terminally ill people, I prefer to use the word people rather than claimant, who have died a couple of months after being classified as “fit for work”.

Over 70% of people who appeal the ATOS decision to withdraw their Disability Benefit win their appeal.

The appeal is funded by the British Tax Payer and not by ATOS, who still receive their payment in full, and suffer no financial penalty for their wrong assessment of the person who has gone through months of the mental and financial suffering of being on a low benefit (when you appeal a decision you are put on a low benefit until your appeal is decided), and not knowing if their appeal will be successful.

Appeals can often take months to be heard due to the increase in people appealing, and backlog of appeals due to the cut back in staff and resources to deal with the appeals.

Here is a statement, the first part of which I find laughable, from the ATOS home page:

We support the Department’s efforts to drive disability equality. Disability assessments for benefit eligibility are transformed by Atos-delivered business process outsourcing services. We are handling 1.2 million referrals a year and six million face-to-face assessments across 142 locations. 

There are claims, which have never been denied by anyone when questioned over this, that ATOS and the medical assessors receive a bonus for every person that is declared “fit to work”.

The Irony is that ATOS has been selected as one of the main sponsors of the Paralympics.

It is reported that ATOS paid a paltry £63 million for this privilege, which in reality is being paid for by the British Tax Payer, to promote the company as a benefactor for people with a Disability (if I may use the word for the context of this blog).

ATOS Worldgrid: promotes itself as a unique player delivering innovative services to the new smart energy market.

ATOS Worldline: advertises itself as using core expertise in HI-Tech Transactional Services (HTTS), as a specialist in electronic payment services, eServices, for customers, citizens and communities and services for financial markets.

• Nowhere does it mention about removing people’s benefits and forcing them into poverty or mental stress or depression. 

• Nowhere does it mention about any support, financial or otherwise, for people, communities, or organisations dealing with any Mental or Physical Health situations. 

McTaggart

The UCLH and the Olympic VIPs

How much do you know about the Olympic Games and the secret deals that have been done between the London organisers and the 'Very Important People' (VIPs)?

Do you know that for the duration of the Olympic Games that a whole ward at University College Hospital (UCH) will be reserved for the VIPs of the Olympics?

That includes people such as Sepp Blatter, Head of FIFA, the football world governing body. The doctors, specialist support staff, nurses, etc, will be hauled off the public wards and rushed to treat the VIPs in this isolated ward, whilst the people of London, NHS patients, will be neglected as top medical workers attend to the so-called VIPs.

The VIPs will be rushed to hospital along the reserved Olympic traffic lanes. Meanwhile, the emergency services, the Fire Brigade and Ambulance service, are not permitted to use these lanes for us mere mortals to have the quickest and best possible assistance and care.

Are they paying privately for this privileged treatment or is it being funded by the NHS, through our National Insurance contributions?

London is internationally known for its private hospitals and the high quality of treatment they provide. Why can the Olympics so-called VIPs not use one of those and allow UCH to get on with its duty to treat the NHS patients of London, who are already paying a high financial price for the Olympics?

What other deals have been done that have been hidden from the British taxpayer, who are paying millions of pounds to fund the games?

McTaggart

Standing room only at Westminster

I stood for Parliament last year along with around a dozen other SHP candidates and, remarkably, we all got in, albeit via an extremely impressive state of the art electronic screening system under the supervision of some of London’s largest policemen.

Mind you, once in, there was no lolling around on the comfy green benches of the House of Commons, baying at the rabble opposite, or relaxing on the even more sumptuous red benches reserved for those of noble birth (or more recently anybody whom the Head Prefect of the day deems worthy of ennoblement and, perhaps more to the point, who might be able to do them a favour in return sometime in the future).

In fact we didn’t take our seats anywhere – not for the whole two and a half hours we were there. You see sitting is not for the likes of us ordinary, decent, taxpaying, non-expense fiddling honest souls. Rather, it is for those chosen by a trusting electorate and who are seen as up to the Herculean task of dragging this great nation of ours from one self-made crisis to another, without ever loosing their nerve or giving a straight answer to anything.

However, whilst we may not have been permitted to sit in either Chamber at any time, neither MPs nor Lords are permitted to stand in their respective Houses without the permission of the Speaker.

Not that we saw any members of either house, except for one Lord who was showing another group around Parliament, presumably to earn a bit on the side since members of the upper house don’t get paid. No, the usual incumbents were off at the annual jamborees boasting about their achievements and making inevitably soon to be broken promises about our future governance.

But putting cynicism aside, it is a privilege to have strolled through this beautiful and immensely impressive place, where from time to time for over the past 1000 years decisions have been taken that have quite literally, shaped the course of world history.

All of us are grateful to the Camden MP and socialist stalwart Frank Dobson for sponsoring the SHP visit, and to our personal guide, Roger King, whose many delightful anecdotes put flesh on the dry bones of our colourful and sometimes violent constitutional history.


R.A.E.

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.

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.

Opposing the cuts

I have been greatly upset to read in the press that the rent for Council and Housing Associations might be doubled under the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government and that a council flat wouldn’t be for life anymore.

The new Government have put a cap on the amount of Housing Benefit that can be claimed depending on how many rooms are in your home. For a one bedroom flat, which most people from SHP would be moving into, the cap is £250 per week. I think this is reasonable as the average rent is around £100 per week for council accommodation in this area. However, if Councils and Housing Associations double their rent, it may go over the limit to housing benefit currently in place.

I recently moved  on from the SHP project and into a one bedroom council flat. I am worried that when I eventually start paid employment I won’t be able to afford to pay the rent, as I may no longer be eligible for housing benefit, and that I will be priced out of keeping a council flat in Islington. I might have to move to a deprived area on the outskirts of London and away from friends and a familiar community. I have been living in Islington since 1991/1992 and I came here to study drama. I have no contact with my family and Islington is now my home so I want to stay living here.

The Government claims that the housing benefit cuts will save the country £270 million per year. But over 50,000 claimants will, on average, lose £93 per week.

It’s not just the council and housing association sector that is affected by the cuts. A lot of people on housing benefit rent private accommodation. Jeremy Corbyn says, “ I am very concerned about the changes in housing benefit. Under the new levels of local housing allowance, I am fearful that the private sector will be too expensive for many and they will be forced to move out of the area. We need rent controls and more council housing being built to give everyone a secure home.”

I don’t know how things will pan out and whether there will be so much opposition and protest against the changes that the Government will back down or whether the cuts will go ahead, and may even be deeper than they are currently being proposed, but I hope that’s not the case. I think the public should oppose all the welfare cuts because they affect us all. No matter how much money you have, you never know when you might need the state to help you.

K

The time is arriving



Artwork by Mojtaba Karami

Many people are desperate with hunger and the desire to support their families. War is the only option out of a life of poverty for them and their family. I want to ask “Why is war the only option offered for a better life”?

Corruption does not come from the majority of the population. The majority simply suffer the consequences of decisions negotiated between Governments of different countries; Governments that have shared interests in opportunities to acquire land, petroleum, uranium, and other minerals which can be used to generate unimaginable wealth and develop new and more advanced technology.

Strangely, these very destructive things are fed to us by television, newspapers and radio stations as the “successes” of our world. For this I feel angriness deeply in my mind and heart. What is happening with our men’s direction, taking everybody to a final destruction? What kind of world is evolving for our decedents to inherit? They will pay the price for the greedy mistakes of others.

The common population only listen, but if nothing is affecting their own life then they do not act. But the time is arriving!  How much longer can we fold our arms, ignore the facts and go along with the wrongs of Governments? My suggestion is to take an active part in the urgent and necessary changes we have to produce in favour of stopping a possible third world war.


Patricia Rozo