A Fabulous Quote.

Many people who have failed the WCA medical have appealed but the exact figures aren't easy to find on the DWP website. But a quick online search suggests 40% successful appeals. Let me quote a parent who spoke about his own experiences of caring for his disabled son, in a speech to the 'Research Autism' conference in 2009. He said: "The very painful thing about disability – whether your own or your loved one's – is the feeling that the situation is out of your control. When the system that surrounds you is very top-down, bureaucratic, inhuman, that can only increase your feelings of helplessness ... but I do believe there are moments of despair, helplessness and frustration that could be directly alleviated by the work of government."

His name? David Cameron.




Source.

Tory Morals.

The Card-Players

Jan van Hogspeuw staggers to the door
And pisses at the dark. Outside, the rain
Courses in cart-ruts down the deep mud lane.
Inside, Dirk Dogstoerd pours himself some more,
And holds a cinder to his clay with tongs,
Belching out smoke. Old Prijck snores with the gale,
His skull face firelit; someone behind drinks ale,
And opens mussels, and croaks scraps of songs
Towards the ham-hung rafters about love.
Dirk deals the cards. Wet century-wide trees
Clash in surrounding starlessness above
This lamplit cave, where Jan turns back and farts,
Gobs at the grate, and hits the queen of hearts.

Rain, wind and fire! The secret, bestial peace!

Philip Larkin, 1970

Questions about Trevor Phillips and Unum.

Please see this link:

http://tory.fringelist.com/event/9343ee3788a1e515fd06f0295ec43e62

'This time it's personal: Welfare Reform and the personalisation agenda.'

Now please see the following Wikipedia link about Unum and the 'Controversy' section.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unum

1) What's going on here?
2) Why is Mr Phillips there? Isn't it a conflict of interest for him to be present?
3) Why is a company with this sort of reputation being used in reform that affects vulnerable people?

Any more questions that I should ask?

Disabled In The UK - The 'New Jews'?

Disabled In The UK - The 'New Jews'?

Info re: poster: "This poster is from the 1930’s, and promotes the Nazi monthly Neues Volk (New People}, the organ of the party’s racial office. The text reads: “This genetically ill person will cost our people’s community 60,000 marks over his lifetime. Citizens, that is your money. Read Neues Volk, the monthly of the racial policy office of the NSDAP.”

The Flaws of Economics.

I keep hearing (not literally) this claim from George Osborne that the private sector will be there to provide jobs for ex-public sector workers. I don’t pretend to be any sort of economics expert, but that seems such a sloppy and wishful hand to play when betting on people’s livelihoods and future.

At the same time as cutting jobs, Mr Osborne is also cutting welfare (or at least trying to.) I wonder if it could be argued that welfare can also be seen as a sort of ‘quantitative easing’ – people are given money to survive and they spend that money on products and services provided by the private sector. So it helps to keep the economy ticking over.

If welfare is cut, people will no longer have the money to pay for these goods and services, so that can hardly be good for the private sector, can it? With business quieter, they will be less likely to create new jobs, not the other way around.

So what will be the effect of job cuts? These are people who might be buying things from certain parts of the private sector. If they are put out of work they will be less likely to continue this trend. So the private sector is hammered again. And of course, if all these new jobs turn out to be one big mirage, then isn’t welfare spending likely to go up rather than down?

Let’s hope that there are big thumping flaws in my logic.

Early Day Motion on Disability Living Alllowance

Early Day Motion
EDM 1332

DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE CONSULTATION
24.01.2011


Williams, Hywel

That this House expresses concern at the presentation of the case for reform of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in the public consultation published on 6 December 2010; believes that the consultation incorrectly confuses correlation with causation between DLA claimants and employment levels or motivation to work; notes that DLA claimants tend to be older, less well-qualified, on benefits for longer and in poorer health than other disabled people; is of the opinion that many of the claims made in support of changing DLA are unsubstantiated in the consultation text or the supporting evidence; does not accept the argument that the identified problems with the present format of DLA are insoluble without the introduction of a costly new benefit; further believes that the presentation of the case for these reforms is highly flawed; and further expresses concern that the language used in the consultation may mislead readers when drawing conclusions from the evidence presented, and may therefore influence their response to the consultation.

Source.

The Return of Slavery

They're doing these young people a favour really(!)