Am working on a project which covers the many hours of interviews I’ve recorded over the last few years, so posting here will be light for a bit. Might post parts of the recording transcripts where relevant.
Feel free to keep leaving comments. Also am still available via the contact form on the About page of this site if you want to get in touch etc.
Back soon.
Good luck with it Kate.
Please keep doing what you’re doing & showing people the actual TRUTH of what is happening in this once great country of ours.
Sadly, a homeless person threw himself to his death off a multistorey carpark close to where I live yesterday as he felt he just couldn’t cope anymore with all the shit he faced day after day.
This government has the blood of many thousands on their evil hands!!
Cheers Ritchie! Will do. Have got heaps of detailed interview recordings re: the way benefit claimants have been treated in austerity and it’s those I’m working on, so there’s plenty more to be published. Takes a while to transcribe, is the thing. Talk soon x
Condolences about the deceased homeless man.
Thanks, Kate
For now I note that it costs half a billion pounds to launch one missile strike against Syria, and if Theresa May & Co really wanted to “not stand aside while others suffer at the hands of their own government in Syria,” she should surely have prioritised ensuring that her government’s own fiscal policies not damage the life prospects of UK citizens?
There is also the matter that as former UK diplomat Craig Murray argues there is no explicit proof of Syrian government culpability in the acts for which Theresa May is acting like an international gang leader more than a Prime Minister while youth violence is reportedly on the increase in the UK.
Heather, YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! Syrian government culpability or not, Priority no.1 is at home.
She can’t even pay for our NHS and police, yet Theresa May can find the money to start a war abroad? British people pay their taxes year in and year out on the basis that there will be money, housing and healthcare, should they need it. They don’t pay tax on the basis that public spending will be plundered to fund the agenda overseas.
The worst part is that our Prime Minister KNEW she did not have the support of our democratic representatives, so she bypassed them and declared war like an autocrat. How can we promote democracy overseas if we don’t stand by it here at home?
Even my dog-beating Tory acquaintance thinks the Prime Minister did the wrong thing.
There was a very good article on the whole Syria crisis in the Observer last Sunday 15th April, by Andrew Rawnsley.
Worth reading, and shows up the reality of doing nothing in these situations. Also the pointless reality of the United Nation argument, with Russia prepared to veto any enquiry or UN action, again and again.
These journalists should give more coverage to the realities of doing nothing for the vulnerable people in the UK.
I totally disagree. Theresa May did exactly the right thing in making a carefully-targeted strike at Assad’s chemical weapons factories.
In reply to Peter, and bringing the conversations back to what Kate’s blog is, our viewpoints are largely affected by what we are given to understand of the world and what is happening.
Former UK diplomat Craig Murray writes about international politics and is deeply skeptical about Assad’s supposed involvement in launching a chemical weapons attack on Syrians. For me, what Craig Murray writes of investigative journalist Robert Frisk in some ways parallel Kate’s work in talking with people dealing with public spending cuts, and the work of John Pring of Disability News Service in reporting on what the Chair of the UN Disability Committe has said about human catastrophe for disabled people in the UK.
As but one example, Murray writes in Robert Fisk Reports Head of Douma Clinic Denies Chemical Weapons Attack, “If you care to search for Robert Fisk on twitter, the attacks on his reputation and integrity at this very moment from neo-cons and media lackeys are astonishing and achieve nothing. He is in Douma – they are at their desks. ”
I’d say that there are strong parallels there with how Kate gained her HANGBITCH hashtag, and also John Pring’s human catastrophe for disabled peopleexposure of Conservative Government’s responses to the Chair of the UN Disability Committee’s declaration of human catastrophe for disabled people in the UK.
Conservatives have been lashing out at benefit claimants for a long time, first with smear attacks, then with inhumane policies.
Largely, what we are experiencing in the world in many aspects of life (not least at every level of Politics, domestic & international) is the polarization of thought in a subjective Reality, as Edgar Cayce said back in the 1930s.
Thanks for all you do Kate to expose the wrongdoings of this evil government and the DWP.
In the Jobcentre today I overheard a young man applying for Universal Credit,asking the Adviser about the 35 hours of jobsearch & what he was meant to do – “do I have to sit here for 35 hours?” – “no, no, you can travel to Leeds, spend the day walking around Leeds looking for work, put down your journey time, you’ll probably find you’re doing more than 5 hours, that’s what your target is, 5 hours a day, just spend time phoning around..” . The lad told him he didn’t have a phone and was of no-fixed-abode. Honest to God, these JCP Advisers talk out of their fucking arse. How can someone on the dole afford to catch trains to other cities for the sake of it, and is he supposed to do that everyday, what about the other 6 days? It’s absolute utter bollocks.
Thanks Trev. And you’re right – the whole so called system is utter bollocks.
Thanks for all you do, Kate.
Cheers both. Thanks for all your comments and contributions to the site. They are much appreciated.
It’s amazing when you think that in the future 7 or 8 Million people are going to be doing this every day. Travelling around with their CV’s, phoning agencies and firms up, visiting factories, offices, shops and warehouses. On the train, on the bus, on foot, round and round for 35 hours a week. All of them treading the yellow brick road
of Iain Duncan Smith.
It’s sheer lunacy Alan, no one can do that 7 days a week and keep it up nonstop. On the other hand, after signing on today I went to the library (where the computers actually work properly, unlike the Jobcentre) & managed to apply for a job that might suit me, at an interesting company. Trouble is I have no transport so it will involve a 20 min. walk plus 2 buses to get there. Good job though, if I get it.
20 minutes’ walk is good exercise. You should do that anyway.
The buses could be more or less reliable, depending on how frequent they are. I expect the bus fares will turn out to be fairly expensive for you, but a good job would pay you enough to make up for that.
Once, I went to the Jobcentre and the man there was AMAZED I didn’t have a mobile phone!!!
Yes, I had an Adviser who was surprised that I don’t have broadband internet at home, & he asked me why not. I told him I can’t afford it, it’s an extra Bill, but then he said you can get some cheap internet deals now. But you have to get a landline connection fitted & pay standing charge on that, & if you then make any phone calls too that bumps your Bill up , plus the internet fee & VAT on top, you can easily end up with a Bill of £50 per month!
So, Trev, as he was a Jobcentre adviser, surely most people he spoke to had no home broadband? Am I missing something here? Were you the first one who broke the news to him? How did he miss it with everyone else he spoke to?
Work coaches don’t get paid that well anyway. Doesn’t he have to cut back on things himself? It wouldn’t take many brain cells to work out that home broadband might cost too much.
They’re always telling us to manage our spending better if we’re short of money, but then it turns out we already do that far better than they ever could!
You can get BT Basic, but only if you can persuade them to send you the form. They get nasty on the phone and tell you it’s lost in the post. Once you’ve made a few written complaints, your form arrives. You pay £5 per month line rental and you get a small amount of free calls. Be careful because they frequently get the bill wrong (in their favour, of course)! If I wanted to, I could pay £10 per month for both phone and broadband, with a small amount of free internet use.
Trouble is, BT charge £120 or more to reconnect you if you don’t use your landline at the moment. It can be sitting there in the wall, with a working connection, but BT will still charge you £120 just to turn it on!
I know it’s unbelievable for him to be so out of touch. It was the Adviser I first spoke to when making a new claim at this Jobcentre after moving back from another city.
More DWP comedy requirements. Who says they haven’t got a sense of humour ?
Yep, they’re a laugh a minute.
Mobile phones for jobsearch reminds me of the big difference between my 2008 ‘New Deal Intensive Activity Programme’ supplier as a North London jobcentre areas claimant and the ‘bonuses’ my counterparts in West London jobcentre area received on theirs.
A4E Holloway (North London jobcentres contractor) did not grant their inmates any ‘freebies’ except possibly as competition prizes for compliance. Ingeus/Work Directions (West London jobcentres contractor) granted their inmates free mobile phones to facilitate contact with prospective employers, and also free passports to help with ID checks.
Ah, those were the days!
I remember New Deal only too well, it was awful, soul-destroying . Thanks Tony Blair.
I correct myself: For “West London jobcentres” read “West Central London jobcentres.”
But that means he has to do 5 hours of job search 7 days a week – no day off!
Yes Alison, 7 days a week jobsearch, that’s what they are telling people in my Jobcentre. No consideration for lack of money/transport/access to phone & internet, no consideration for family commitments or for people who have religious beliefs – church, mosque, synagogue.Or the sheer stress of it all. It’s completely unreasonable and unrealistic. Everyone I’ve spoke to who is on UniversalCredit say that theymake up their jobsearch, there’s no other way to do it.
No dignity. No entitlement. No right to a family life.
I’d say this country is going to the dogs, but that would be an insult to dogs.
People at the top don’t care about us. They only care about foreigners.
“They only care about foreigners.”
The latest debacle from this inept Government of Rightwing extremists is to attempt to detain and deport the Jamaicans (and other Caribbeans) who have been here for 50 or 60 years, people who have worked hard, paid their Taxes, made their home in this country and contributed to Society, who were granted permission to come and stay here when we needed them but in many cases weren’t given any paperwork. It’s outrageous and unbelievable to now treat them like this.
Trev, you’ve just made my point for me. People who are effectively if not officially British are losing their jobs and homes and getting imprisoned and deported. Yet all we hear about from politicians is what OTHER COUNTRIES are doing wrong to people on the other side of the world.
The Isle of Dogs ?
And they only care about bankers in skyscrapers on the Isle of Dogs.
It’s just designed so that the unemployed are put under pressure all the time. So they don’t get an easy time on benefits, and either get a job or get lost.
Either is good from the Jobcentre view.
Or to drive people insane in the hope that they will commit suicide.
I’d say that this Government’s handling of ‘foreigners’ is in a way similar to their attitude to benefit claimants.
In a cartoon by disabled cartoon artist Crippen, then Disability Minister Maria Miller confronts a group of disabled people in a room and says, “When we want your opinion, we’ll tell you what it is.”
I was very impressed with what Jeremy Corbyn had to say about the Windrush scandal on TV yesterday. I think he really cared about it very deeply as well.
Also, the council tell you to phone estate agents, in spite of the cost.
The DWP call it self-marketing. Where the penniless claimant uses their mobile phone day after day, cold-calling companies to ask for employment.
Then takes to the street for the remainder of the five hours, walking around giving out CVs to shops and supermarkets.
You’ll get no apologies from the DWP as this cruel system is introduced across the country. They still feel that they are doing the right thing by being tough on benefit claimants. They give ground here and there when they absolutely must, like the reduced waiting times for Universal Credit. But even then it is only small changes, a week less waiting time, no charges for the enquiry line etc. Almost £16 Billion spent so far, and still no end in sight ! Like some vast construction project that is just being pushed through regardless of cost. True believers in the social change they think that they are making.
We should have had a referendum on it: £16 billion on Universal Credit or £16 billion for the NHS?
Yes, and the Jobcentre advisors just the same. They have all swallowed the DWP propaganda about work being the great solution to everything.
Arbeit Macht Frei
In the end it comes down to this. Is it better to take a measured response against the horrendous crime of chemical weapons as Theresa May has done ? Or sit back and do nothing as barrel-bombs of chlorine and nerve-agent rain down on innocent, defenceless civilians ?
‘ Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?’
William Shakespeare – Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1
Shakespeare. Anti-Semite. His politics are not my own.
To war or not to war?
To bomb or not to bomb?
To consult Parliament or not…?
Corbyn is not fooling anyone with his pious comments about the United Nations.
This is a dead-end as long as the Russians have a Security Council veto.
It’s not about agonising in Islington over regulations and procedure. It’s about doing something to stop a brutal war crime. Labour has a strong tradition of intervening in humanitarian crisis, with military force if necessary.
It certainly is a brutal horrific war, it’s disgusting, but these latest missile strikes aren’t going to end the war. I don’t know what the answer is, and I don’t think anyone else does either.
I thought there was no money left? The NHS is in a right mess round here. The government ought to sort out problems at home.
Oh there is money Alison, we are still the 7th richest country in the world. It’s just of question of how that money is spent.
Well, can we start by spending more on the NHS, then?
You don’t end war by starting it.
And you don’t end it by sitting in your allotment doing nothing either. # Russian Hat
Your obsession with exotic Millinery is bordering on fetishistic.
Ushanka !
Good hats to have in Winter, got one myself, not a Russian one though, got mine in Tesco about 10 years ago, fits like a glove…erm..an hat.
#SensibleHaberdashery
Nobody bother searching for that hashtag either!
Haha, you got me, I confess I did make up that hashtag 🙂
#fictitious
You have no shortage of a sense of humour, Trev.
#IdontevenuseTwitter
Neither do I use Twitter. But you can search for “#stayinlabour” on the general internet and their Twitter page comes up.
That’s it, Trev! Explains all.
Greg, if I look up “# Russian Hat” on the internet, all I find is an Instagram page with photos of dogs in hats that look nothing like Jeremy Corbyn’s stylish headgear. If you’re going to post a link, do make sure it’s a real one!
I know several older people who wear the same hat as Jeremy Corbyn wears. It’s not really a Russian style at all.
As for your comment about allotments, if the Syrians were to spend all day tending an allotment, there would be no war in Syria. Peaceful activities like gardening have kept Europe peaceful since the Second World War.
If people on this forum spent less time whingeing about Corbyn and more time growing their own vegetables, we might at last start to reduce our consumption of single-use plastic. The creatures of the sea don’t want us to bomb Syria. They want us to start cleaning up their water.
Whenever I attend the garden where I do my volunteering, I have to carry out a massive litter-pick to remove all the wet wipes, bottles, cups, tin foil, plastic this, plastic that… Please can people use a bin?
Alison, do you have a problem with hats ?
#IronicTag
Me? Alexander, I think you meant to reply to Greg.
And you don’t start war by ending it.
This is the problem with Corbyn, he has a long history of opposing any military intervention.
#StayInLabour
“Problem”? Corbyn is popular because his views are those of the majority of the British people, while New Labour have become increasingly detached from their own voters.
It might help if Britain refrained from international arms dealing.
https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2018/04/11/mays-hypocrisy-use-of-uk-sold-chemical-weapons-in-syria-gives-her-an-opportunity-for-mass-murder/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/24/uk-sales-of-arms-and-military-equipment-to-saudi-arabia-2017
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-is-now-the-second-biggest-arms-dealer-in-the-world-a7225351.html
https://www.redpepper.org.uk/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-uk-arms-trade/
It might help if our country sorted itself out before trying to fix everyone else. Didn’t we learn anything from the days of the Empire?
The Empire? You mean that little cinema that used to be in Huddersfield in the 1960s? I saw some good films there, One Silver Dollar & The Girl Who Couldn’t Say No, both Italian dubbed into English. Ah, fond memories, those were the days. It was about 3′ 6d to get in.
Ha-ha-ha, Trev!
Round here, it’s £15 to go to the cinema, or £4 if you go to the weekly pensioners’ film.
By the way, I don’t live in Islington, but people round here don’t like what the Prime Minister did either.
Just to say that if your on UC or JSA bt + broadband is not bad £10 per month nothing else to pay, 15GB data allowance plus unlimited access to the mobile hotspots and a phone call allowance, not a fan of BT but the best deal I can find.
Anyway back to the subject.
Totally agree with everything negative said about the DWP can only describe it as a deliberate attempt to wipe out a section of society on the cheap by making life so hellish people see suicide as the only option to escape the stress and pressure.
A safety net ? really ? it is a shark infested net at best.
Yes billions spent based on the lies that it is for humanitarian purposes but it ok to kill using conventional methods so the 5-600,00 who have been blown to pieces don’t count as much as the 2-300 that have died due to chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons scare the elite they have bunkers and protection for the bullets bombs.
Killing is killing no matter what the method.
Paul, my thoughts entirely! Some people only see the suffering of children on the other side of the world. They have a blind spot when it comes to suicides, starvation and preventable health-related deaths in our own country.
And what about all the sea creatures who die as a result of choking on plastic waste?
Scientists have created an enzyme that eats plastic waste, so there’s hope.
Let’s hope the scientists discover an enzyme that eats the Jobcentre!
Did you get a chance to enjoy the sunshine, or were you too busy trailing around doing your 24/7 job search?
I did manage to see a little bit of the sun this aft but wasn’t out in it for long. It took me a while to get going today then I spent an hour in the library doing jobsearch, found nothing to apply for, then when I got back I had stuff to do, cooking late lunch, washing dishes, then sat out back & had a cuppa & a rollie before nipping up the shop to get a lotto ticket & coming back to watch a repeat of Ghost Adventures. What a full & meaningful life I lead. I’ll be working at the foodbank tomorrow, then more jobsearch (for the sakeo
How will you fit in your volunteering if you have to do 35 hours job search per week?
HEY, WHAT’S ALL THIS?
I just logged on to UJM and it says Universal Job Match will be replaced by Find A Job on 14th May and your UJM account will NOT be transferred.
No one at the Jobcentre has even mentioned this!
They mentioned that years ago, actually, Trev. They pledged to phase out Universal Jobmatch from 2016 because half of the jobs on it are just fakes and the government has been paying foreigners a fortune to post fake jobs. (That’s why you don’t get many responses.) Also, the system is very insecure, so criminals can harvest your data every time you post your CV on it.
I was assuming it was just another broken promise…until you mentioned it now!
Oh I wasn’t aware of that Alison, I had no idea they were phasing it out. I seem to recall that they originally paid Monster several Million £s to develop UJM, so I wonder who has been paid to create its replacement (‘Find A Job’), and how much has it cost? Is this an admission of failure, that UJM is ineffective and not up to it?
They should’ve used the Monster £millions to pay people’s benefits. So much for having no money left.
N.B. There’s an upfront cost to buy a reuter.
Yes forgot to mention that, am not a affiliated with them in anyway lol, with bt basic + broadband it is not upfront costs as such your first months bill is £20 inc router and £10 a month thereafter.
They did it all over the phone and installed a week later without even checking if I am on a applicable benefit, and said if I move from benefits in future to inform them.
I hope I do not forget to do that with the excitement of securing employment.
I am single JSA 24 years and older, so whereas I had £2.25 per day for food and job hunting after bills the savings now mean I have £3.00
I use to spend £5pw on PAYG so it has cut my monthly data bill down by 50%.
People talk about about fuel poverty but data poverty can also have a major impact in a digital economy.
It sounds quite reasonable, Paul. Maybe I should get myself home broadband!
‘ Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey MP, is facing calls to apologise after cruelly claiming that forcing women to prove they were raped to receive benefits gives them an “opportunity to talk” about their traumatic ordeal.’
Another horrible piece of DWP spin.
I listened to McVey saying that on the TV. Dreadful.
Trouble is, the two-child policy is too mechanistic. This notion that you plan your reproduction to the nth degree is not real life. As a Scottish MSP pointed out, some women will have big families anyway. If tax credits are cut, it won’t stop them. Their children will just suffer even worse poverty.
Now there is this:
“Disability charities that sign up to help deliver the government’s new Work and Health Programme must promise to “pay the utmost regard to the standing and reputation” of work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, official documents suggest.
“The charities, and other organisations, must also promise never to do anything that harms the public’s confidence in McVey (pictured) or her Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
“Disability charities like RNIB, the Royal Association for Deaf People and Turning Point have agreed to act as key providers of services under the Work and Health Programme – which focuses on supporting disabled people and other disadvantaged groups into work – and so appear to be caught by the clause in the contract.
“At least one of them – RNIB – has also signed contracts with one of the five main WHP contractors that contain a similar clause, which explicitly states that the charity must not “attract adverse publicity” to DWP and McVey….”
Source: https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/charities-delivering-dwps-work-programme-must-promise-not-to-attack-mcvey/
Incredible. I’m (almost) speechless. This smacks of Dictatorship, where no one is permitted to criticize the Leaders. But also shows how afraid they are, vulnerable to exposuretof their incompetence & unfairness.
DWP is a bit like a dictatorship. Suddenly, the rules of justice no longer apply.
In a different context — as a member of Green Left, the ecosocialist tendency within the Green Party of England & Wales — I’ve just been alerted to the National Union of Journalists’ Code of Conduct.
I believe we can agree that NUJ member Kate Belgrave is an excellent role model of what an NUJ member should be and do.
I thank you. I must remember to show you emails in which Newham council described me to the NUJ as an aggressive and very bad NUJ member. #Winning
Perhaps, in the immortal words of Mandy Rice Davies, “Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?”
I believe it would also account for why you chose to go freelance rather than continue working for local government?
I wonder how NUJ members working for disability charities signed up to the Health & Work Act feel about their work?
On the bright side, while I am not a trained journalist myself, that news item from John Pring of Disability News Service did give me a cue for writing my new local Hereford Times (HT) in response to a letter from a Tory who concluded his attack on North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin’s attacks on press freedom, particularly in relation to HT, with the words, “I am so sad that I’m a Tory.”
Using the gagging of disability charities contracted to deliver the Health & Work Programme to indicate that Bill Wiggin’s attempts to muzzle critics is standard Tory practice, and drawing on the fact that with ‘full roll-out of Universal Credit’ [sic] hitting Herefordshire this June, responsible journalism is ever more vital.
(I only sent the letter yesterday, and publication day is Thursday.)
I would have less confidence in Kate if she were working for a council. She could be thought to be reporting what the council wanted her to.
There’s a petition on 38 Degrees to scrap Universal Credit, it seems to have been running for a long time and hasn’t got many signatures, which seems a bit odd, and I don’t know how effective this is going to be but you may as well sign it anyway:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/abolish-universal-credit
I didn’t make it to the Jobcentre this morning to see if there’s any demo taking place (DPAC – Universal Credit ‘Day of Action’), which I doubt there is, as I wasn’t feeling very well and got off to a late start.
Whoops! I forgot about the demo!
There was no advanced coverage of it on TV.
I observe that the BBC covered a stay-in-EU demo on the news, but I have been to anti-austerity demos many times bigger that never made it onto the news! Unfair or what?
The mainstream media are rubbish at covering anti-Government or anti-Establishment protests, probably because they are part of the Establishment themselves. I was on a massive demo in 1996 that brought Brussels to a standstill for a day, and it didn’t even get a mention on the BBC, just a few seconds on Sky, and there were at least 20,000 people involved,all on motorcycles, outside the EU building, making a lot of noise. All the roads were closed off to other traffic, hundreds of Cops lining the route, and not a mention.
Trev, what were you protesting about in Brussels in ’96? Was it about the Euro?
I was an avid motorcyclist & a member of the Motorcycle Action Group, formed to oppose discriminatory legislation & protect riders Rights. The EU were trying to legislate that all motorcyclesbe fitted with compulsory “leg protectors”, which had been proven to beuafe *unsafe* (phones going dicky) as upon impact they clamped the rider to the bike, resulting in chest & head injuries. Also they wanted to
..omcompulsory EU approved dayglo clothing, and compulsory daytime headlights. None of their proposals ha been dproved to work, no evidence, just politicians trying to make a name for themselves, Herr Bangermann was one of the main ones behind it all.
Herr Bangerrman wanted you to have your hair raised in an old banger, not a shiny motorcycle!
Here is another good reason to leave the EU.
The DPAC Universal Credit demo seems to have been completely ignored by the media. I just Googled it under ‘News’ in the last 24 hours and it came up with “no search results for DPAC Universal Credit demo protest” . Wow.
Yeah Trev, difficult to say what effect it will have. It looked fairly small in the online videos of the London demo. Maybe 80 or so ?
This is nowhere near enough. Small local demos outside Jobcentres around the UK, but again just local paper stuff. Unfortunately this level of action isn’t enough to really change very much. It won’t get a £16 Billion programme written-off.
Public apathy, disinterest or whatever you call it. Still no real sign of any great public anger over Universal Credit. Nothing like the mass Poll Tax demos.
It’s not fair to assume people were not interested in the demo. People work. It was a Wednesday morning.
I didn’t notice Mr Corbyn at the demonstration ?
#RussianHat
Were you there, Maz?
Perhaps you didn’t recognise him because he wasn’t wearing a Russian hat.
Oh no! I said it twice!
Were you there, Maz?
Perhaps you didn’t recognise him because he wasn’t wearing a Russian hat.
Maz,Corbyn isa Socialist, Russia isn’t Socialist. Hator no hat.
Trev, I reckon that crazy phone of yours is Russian! (Ha-ha)
The church could have done more. A timely statement from The Archbishop would have helped.
Psalm 1:1 – How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
No scoffing at Jeremy Corbyn, then!
That would go down well with all the Tory churgoers, not least the Prime Minister!
Can’t help but agree Harold. Good attempt by DPAC and a few supporters, but really where is the public outrage over all this ? Shows the amount of damage that has been done by years of skiver / striver propaganda. And a truly disgraceful attack on the whole concept of disability.
Believe it or not there are still whole swathes of the public who remain quite oblivious to the effects of welfare reforms. I was chatting briefly to a nurse the other day (whilst having a blood sample taken) and was shocked by her lack of awareness of Universal Credit, Benefit Sanctions & foodbanks. She said ” oh I don’t knw anything aBout all that, I don’t understand it”. I didn’t have long to explain much, but she said it was a good thing that we’ve got food)banks, completely missing the point that they are the symptom of a failed State.
Absolutely Trev. There is often no real knowledge of what has happened among those who are not affected by it. And I think also a reluctance to find out.
We tell them all the time. Their eyes just glaze over and it goes in one ear and out the other. They start talking about “people who are covered in tattoos and smoke weed all day”.
SHE SOUNDS LIKE A TORY! That’s exactly the sort of thing my Tory acquaintances say. You can tell straight away, from comments like that!
The Poll Tax Riots were known for their violence. If we do a violent protest against Universal Credit, they’ll say Momentum members are evil militants and they’ll kick us all out of the Labour Party. It wouldn’t help Jeremy Corbyn’s chances are staying Labour Leader at all.
I doubt Jeremy Corbyn would be too keen on anything violent, either. He believes in PEACE.
The best way to end austerity is to vote Labour on May 3rd and again at the next general election. If you want to go anywhere to take a stand, make sure you go to the polling station and vote Labour on May 3rd, carrying ID if they require it in your area.
Also, people like Trev make a big difference by volunteering to help people who have no money as a result of austerity. We hear a lot in the media from charitable organisations like the Trussell Trust, Citizens Advice, Shelter/Crisis/Glass Door homeless charities, as well as much smaller local groups. They really make a difference to the public discourse. Any help you can give them goes a long way, both to help vulnerable people and to shape the political debate.
Write to your MP, whether Labour, Tory or anything else. MPs gauge public opinion by the numbers of letters and emails they receive about different issues. Make sure you put your message in your own words and provide your full address. It doesn’t matter if there are spelling mistakes – what they care about is that it is written by YOU, not by some distant internet campaigner.
Also, journalists like Kate Belgrave do a very important job by exposing these injustices. The general public wouldn’t know there was anything to get upset about if it weren’t for the work of journalists.
I searched for the demo on the internet last week, but I wrote out “Disabled People Against Cuts”, not DPAC.
Maybe your phone is under the control of your alien friends again, Trev!
The political damage from scrapping Universal Credit would be huge. The massive cost, the loss of the central policy of the benefits reforms. And in many ways the whole neo-liberal psychology which underlies it. It would be an admission of failure on a grand scale.
Biblical prophecy predicts the Rapture is April 23rd 2018. Christians look forward to the end of the world, when they will rise in the sky and meet Jesus.
Don’t forget, wear something warm ( it gets colder at altitude), and try to stand in an open space. Look out for overhead power-lines or tree branches.
Some sound advice there Stanley.
Air traffic control have issued a statement.
We would advise those who consider themselves chosen to wear a hi viz jacket.
We are aware of the safety issue and pilots have been informed to be extra vigilant.
Department of Work and Prayers have also issued a statement.
Please be aware that once you arrive at the kingdom of glory you must inform us within 5 days so your claim can be transferred as swiftly as possible.
We do not expect any delays in setting up your claim as the majority of claimants we deal with on daily basis on Earth are clearly sinners.
God has also issued a statement.
Please note that due to circumstances beyond my control Date and Time may be subject to change.
Paragraph 5 was funny, Paul. Not sure about the rest.
Good one Paul.
I’m a Christian and I can guarantee you all that Monday is NOT the end of the world. We will still be here on Tuesday. Bills still need to be paid. Commitments still need to be kept.
Every year, someone says it’s the end of the world. They were saying it when I was in school.
On a lighter note, Monday IS St George’s Day! A great opportunity to celebrate our history and remind the foreigners what country we’re living in.
“On a lighter note, Monday IS St George’s Day! A great opportunity to celebrate our history and remind the foreigners what country we’re living in.”
Totally agree, divisive,raciest, flag waving, oppressive, depressive, war mongering country that trade arms to hoard their filthy lucre whose citizens idly stand by as long as they are all right jack.
Makes you proud doesn’t it , almost bring a lump to the throat !!
Every country has its problems, Paul. There’s Trump in the USA; Rocket Man in North Korea; a president for life in China; no real choice and plenty of violence at elections in Russia; war and widespread violence and widespread rape in most countries in the Middle East and parts of Africa; killings all the time in South Africa; drug wars in Central America, children sniffing glue on the street in Brazil; violence against the Muslims in Myanmar; the rise of the Far Right in Poland; extreme poverty in Romania; etc., etc., etc. Many countries have political corruption far worse than our own. I think we should celebrate the good things about our own country – or is that too much of a break with our long tradition of self-depreciation? In that case, let’s be PROUD TO BE BLIGHTY for a day!
How can you guarantee that ? Don’t forget a lot of people on this blog have been to some effort on their jobsearches.
Will those still be valid ?
None of our jobsearch has been valid. It’s all being deleted on 14th May, apparently. Nice of them to tell us.
That’s interesting Trev. Asking people about it now – end of Universal Jobmatch and if anyone knows anything about it
Yes I wonder wtf they’re playing at. Having us all for a bunch of mugs as usual. If they said we now have to stand on one leg for 35 hours we’d have to do it.
Yup, Trev. Spot on. Rights and entitlements need to be re-established. We need a real safety net.
No benefit unless you turn into an owl and stand on one leg all day and hoot all night.
The fact that they can make impossible demands and then stop your benefit unless you meet them is WRONG. It needs to be stopped. We need an end to conditionality and a return to the RIGHT to the dole.
Once again we see the work of the Red Circle.
?
Red Circle? I’m afraid you’ve lost me there.
Trev, I don’t know, but I’m guessing they’re suggesting the Russians hacked the computer system and they think everyone who supports Jeremy Corbyn was in on it. They think half of the country consist of a circle of red flags fluttering round a campfire, with a strong aroma something that’s not tobacco…
I don’t know about any “Red Circle” Dave, but I think you might be talking out of your brown circle.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Good one, Trev!
Well they do say ‘On earth as it is in heaven’, so presumably if you have an earthly claim it would still be valid. Not sure about signing-on though.
Ha-ha. This is funny, too, Derrick!
I don’t profess to guarantee anything that happens at the Department for Worry and Persecution – sorry! They’re a law unto themselves.
Happy to enter into a bet as to whether or not we’ll still be here on Monday! I start at £1 million.
If I win, I’ll get a home of my own 🙂
It might be someone’s prophecy but it’s certainly not Biblical.
Actually Trev it is in the Bible:
1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. The final words are: “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
And does it say all this will come to pass on 23rd April
2018? Nope.
You forget the celestial alignments, and the planet Nibiru.
Neither of which are a part of Biblical prophecy.
Yes, but the Bible does not provide a DATE for that.
There are many ways to interpret such a passage. It might be an illustration of the joys of Heaven that await us if we complete our life on earth with pious endeavour.
Some nutter can always find something in the Bible by twisting the words hard enough. Just like extremists find what they want to find in the Qu’ran.
I remember, before the EU referendum, our vicar had to read out something from the top of the Church of England. It said God wanted us to vote “remain” because Jesus said, “No man is an island.” !!! [yawn, yawn, yawn]
Some Irish bloke got fired from the priesthood because he decided the Bible said Hitler did what God wanted! He turns up at demos sometimes.
Only believe half of what you see, a third of what you read and a quarter of what you hear. On that basis, I don’t know what I’m talking about either!
We all hold a grain of the truth, but it is only a grain. Just a little sparkle of something better. We all have a choice. We can aspire to follow that sparkle, even though we keep falling down along the way. Or not. I know what I would choose.
Wise words.
So no more Universal Jobmatch. Why no advance warning or notification of this? JCP said nothing. I haven’t seen any press announcement from the DWP. So all those pages andpages of Activity I have saved were all for nothing, no one will ever read any of it, and the whole thing is about to be deleted!
Some journalists got the Jobcentre to accept a work search diary that was just a shopping list once! They seldom read any of it anyway. It’s all just pointless work to make it harder for you to claim and easier for them to sanction you. Just like in the workhouse, digging holes only to fill them in again. Or attending A4E courses where all you do is read the paper.
Very true, pointless activity for the sake of it.
If they told you in advance, Trev, you would’ve sat in the sun, instead of bothering with all that clicking away on the computer! You don’t think they’d grant you a holiday, do you? 35 hours of job search every week, no holiday time, only £2 per hour… The achievements of the trade union movement haven’t penetrated the world of the unemployed yet.
Could the prophesy actually mean not the end of the world, as such, but the end of ‘Universal’ Credit ? And the part about people rising to heaven, being symbolic that they will leave it behind and be free of it forever ?
Ha-ha, Rob! It would be nice, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up!
It’s all the work of The Red Circle. #RussianHat
Sorry, Tony. This one is the work of the blue government!
More a fan of the White Star-Tetrahedron myself, though I suspect the existence of a Pink Trapezoid.
#TyroleanTrilby
No you’re talking hats Trev. #BritishBowler
We might all be living in a simulation engineered by a Cosmic Being of vast unimaginable abilities. So everything we take to be life is actually happening online as it were. This makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
Sorry, Gordon, the way, the truth and the light is NOT inside of your computer!
It’s disgusting that the Red Circle are allowed to carry on in public like this.
As opposed to the Blue Square, or the Green Rectangle? Let’s not forget the Black Triangle.
Don’t forget to make a cross inside 3 black squares on May 3rd.
Noisy brown circles tonight!
There is only one way to stop the Red Circle, and that is to prevent them interfering with party politics.
There’s no such thing as the “Red Circle”, it’s the interference of the neoliberals we need to guard against. There’s no Red under the bed, this isn’t 1950s America!
The Nazis blamed the communists for a fire in 1933 and got them all kicked out of the Reichstag. That’s how the extreme right went from an opposition party to the government of Germany.
We need to guard against the right using smears and conspiracies to rid themselves of their opponents again today. We are a democracy.
Thomas, that is only if this so-called “red circle” that you speak of ever really did exist and ever really did interfere with our politics. At the moment, all I am reading is a bunch of conspiracy theories. How are members of a non-existent “red circle” going to be kicked out of politics if they don’t exist in the first place?
Agreed Harry. It’s not right, but who is going to stop them ?
Not the Labour Party you can bet.
It’s wrong all this hidden politics stuff. They should be doing these things out in the open, and not sneaking about.
It’s like the freemasons. People don’t vote for secret societies within mainstream political parties.
@ James K
“doing these things…”
What things?
James, you think it’s “hidden” because it doesn’t even exist!
I wouldn’t bet on it. Why should they ?
The Governor of the Bank of England says the squeeze on household incomes is easing.
Fake hashtag out of touch or what?
‘The pictures we have taken of Mars show it to be quite dusty and dirty. It’d be terribly embarrassing if a team of men arrived to find it in that state. That’s why women should land first and tidy the place up a bit,’ said Debra Ellis, a domestic engineer at NASA.
Once the cleaning operation has been completed, a team of male astronauts will be greeted with a glass of scotch and a cooked dinner before they plant the American flag.
Slightly random post here, Gerald!
Mars is known as the RED planet, and spheres look like a CIRCLE, that proves it, Aliens are Socialists!!! It’s a conspiracy!
We the public should be allowed to know who exactly is a member of the Red Circle. And what their true purpose is. If they have nothing to hide then why does it have to be so secret ?
Where are you getting your information from, what makes you think that this so-called “Red Circle” actually exists? Did they assassinate JFK? Are they behind the Alien cover up? It’s pure conspiracy theory, just Rightwing paranoia! Unless of course you know different….Shhhh they might be listening!
Harry, to answer your question, it’s Casper the Friendly Ghost and his purpose is to haunt you until you return to your senses.
Personally I enjoy getting naked, having a few glasses of vodka and then putting on my Russian Hat.
Whilst plotting the downfall of Capitalism, I hope Basil?
Indeed Trev.
I enjoy getting muddy in the garden. The first Saturday in May is World Naked Gardening Day: http://www.wngd.org There are always thorns about, so you’d be wise to wear your Russian hat.
There’s some further info on the demise of UJM on Refuted website and on a blog by someone called Frank Zola, Sorry I can’t post links on this crappy phone but you’ll find it on Google. I
It appears as though UJM’s replacement, ‘Find A Job’ (or Faj for short) is to be run by Adzuna. There may be Data Protection issues regarding Analytics provided to DWP in place of checkbox permission to view user account.
This could be dodgy Trev. At the moment about half of claimants lock them out of their online account. If the Jobcentre can get individual account analytics, they might not see exactly what you have written, the actual text etc. But they will be able to see the days & times someone accessed their Find A Job Account, how long they were logged in for. How many applications they have made for the day/week. This could be a sneaky way of getting round the data protection rules, and stopping people from giving them access.
Yes exactly David, like you say Analytics will provide real-time data on when the account was accessed and for how long. How this can be used against Claimants, and how it will affect data protection, remains to be seen, but where the DWP is concernd we can’t be too careful . You can bet it’s not going to be to our advantage.
Keep the new job site open in the background while you do something else with your phone/computer/tablet. People who rely on the library will be at a disadvantage compared to those who can keep a device on at home all day.
But it might automatically log you out if the account is inactive for 20 mins. I’ve had that happen with UJM.
Click on a job ad every 19 minutes.
I thought job-seekers were required to give DWP access to their online account as a condition of benefit! ??? I thought DWP checked people logged in every day. There was a story in the news that someone got sanctioned for not logging in on Christmas Day!
I do wish the government would see sense and leave the likes of Monster, Adzuna, etc. to run their own websites. If people on the dole need/want to search for jobs online, surely they should just visit the websites of Monster and Adzuna?
I am now able to post a relevant link about the demise and replacement of UJM:
https://mrfrankzola.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/official-universal-jobmatch-to-be-abolished-may-14th-2018-but/
and this:
“The service will offer a fast, simple experience and powerful search using Adzuna’s technology, matching jobseekers to employers’ available roles quickly and effectively. The new service will be rolled out across the country this summer.
The tool will continue to provide jobseekers with the ability to search for work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Jobseekers will be able to create an account to which they can upload CVs, create relevant email alerts and view their previous account activity. Changes to the user registration process will see a simpler, more modern way of accessing and managing job seeker accounts. The free job posting process for employers will also be streamlined.”
http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/startup-job-search-engine-adzuna-wins-contract-for-universal-jobmatch-service
Looks like everyone will get a chance to post 250 words about exactly what they think of Universal Credit / The DWP / Jobcentres etc as a final farewell message in their Universal Jobsmatch account.
Remember the new rule is you can’t say anything disrespectful about Esther McVey.
Fester McVile must be obeyed!
So much for freedom of speech.
very tempting but I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d dearly love to tell the bastards to stick their jsa & their jobsearch up their arse and to go fuck themselves with a ragman’s trumpet, but not until I either Retire or win the lottery.
Here is a good example of how a brutal dictatorship uses fear to grind people down until they lose the will to speak out against it.
Be careful, Jon. If you miss out an apostrophe, they’ll sanction you for 3 years!
The DWP have always been frustrated by the inconvenient fact that people were able to deny the Jobcentre access to their online UJ account.
They put a tiny tickbox, about as small as possible, for a claimant to tick to deny access. And try every trick in the book to get the claimant to give them access to their UJ account. This ranges from telling them outright that they must allow it. (Completely false, and yet when it first came out, many people were sanctioned for denying access ! That is until the work of welfare advisers and claimant groups brought into public awareness the fact data protection law meant that a claimant could legitimately deny the DWP access, and not be sanctioned ).
To trying to write into the Claimant Commitment the fact that you will give them access ! – again a deliberate trick on the unwary. To trying to persuade a new claimant, who will be under some psychological pressure, to give the Jobcentre access, and ‘co-operate’ with them.
That is a concern. Will the DWP only be able to extract non-identifiable data from the Find A Job accounts ? Or will they be able to zoom in on individual FAJ accounts by name/number or whatever ?
It could be sanction city if the latter.
The main fault of Universal Jobsmatch from the DWP point of view, is that data protection law prevented them from being able to access the claimant’s account and see exactly what they were doing in their jobsearch. It was Iain Duncan Smith’s master plan, that the new system would effectively put the claimant under close observation . So preventing any deliberate skiving by the unemployed.
But he overlooked the Data Protection laws, which meant that people, if they knew what they were doing, could stop this by refusing the Jobcentre access to their UJ account. And this fact has irritated the DWP ever since. It would not suprise me in the slightest if they have found some sneaky way to get round this.
Plus the fact that UJM didn’t record the times that you logged on/off, or how much time you spent on there, only the dates that the account was accessed. I could spend 30mins. on there & then put down in my Activity that I’d spent one & half hours, plus the time it takes me to walk to & from the Jobcentre/Library. But if Faj records the exact times it makes life more difficult for all of us.
Ooh, Trev, DWP might be reading this!
Well I hope they are. Fuck ’em. Everyone I’ve spoken to who is on Universal Credit I’ve asked them how they manage to do 35 hours jobsearch, and every single one of them has said “I make it up”. I’m sure they will eventually plant microchips in our hand or forehead – the Mark of The Beast.
Of course they do Trev. They make it up, because Duncan Smith’s system is so stupid that they have to. Goes along with pointless token ‘applications’ designed to keep the weekly numbers up and avoid a sanction.
We are watching it.
Claimant Online Surveillance Team – Directorate A
You are being monitored from the inside of a Go To Work van. On the outside, it is plastered with threats against the unemployed. Inside, those caught sitting on a wall between the hours of 9 and 5 are detained in stocks.
Yeah. It’s easy to imagine a jobseeker turning up at the Jobcentre with a supposed 35 hour a week jobsearch. Only to have the Work Coach turn round and say, ‘ But according to our data Mr.Jones you have only logged 15hrs of jobsearch this week , can you explain this ?…’
Make sure you write down in your activity log that you trailed around the high street looking for job ads in windows every day.
There was recent legal case where the UC claimant had only recorded 16 hours of Job searching as opposed to 35 but had carried all the steps in the claimant commitment, the case won on the basis that the work coach was at fault and should have increased the number of steps rather than sanctioned them.
What a victory for the claimant eh lol
You shouldn’t lose benefit after doing 16 hours of job search. It may be part of the system,but it is not reasonable. The spirit of the dole is a safety net. 16 hours of job search is looking for work.
The Tories are trying to use technology against us, by constructing an online virtual prison to enslave us. I come from an area where there was a lot of Luddite activity back in the day, I wonder what they would have made of all this? They would have probably broken into the Jobcentre and smashed all the computers with ‘Enoch’s Hammer’!!
Absolutely. Duncan Smith and his crew from ‘Social Justice’ did this all quite deliberately. He saw the benefits system acting like a giant security camera pointed at the unemployed. So that their every move could be seen and recorded. And psychologically, they would know that they were under close observation all the time.
This is what happens if the poor don’t vote.
IDS is a coward because he picked on the weakest people. A braver man would have shifted his focus to the tax-dodgers. Not your average hairdresser or taxi-driver making a mistake on a tax return, but the millionaires and billionaires who hide their money on tropical islands and keep reminding us they haven’t broken any laws. The bankers. The multinational corporations whose addresses are tropical islands, while their offices are huge buildings in London.
The 35 Hour jobsearch is completely unrealistic, certainly for those without internet access at home. It’s just a sanction minefield for the claimant. I can’t think of anyone I know who puts in anything like this.
In those days, the unemployed and homeless were locked in the stocks and the public would throw stones at them all day.
or the Workhouse.
Whoops! You’re right, Trev. I got my dates muddled!
By then, it was the Workhouse.
It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called. (1.5.65) George Orwell 1984
Terry, this happens in real life at the airport. Watch Pick (channel 11) on a Saturday evening and you’ll see what I mean. They stop people because they look shifty.
I get nervous about being frisked. That’s why it’s always me they pick on to frisk. Once, I was travelling with someone wearing a poncho and they let her through, but they frisked me, even though I was only wearing a skin-tight top and tight trousers!
The dogs are far better than all this 1984 profiling. The dogs sniff everyone. If a dog indicates on a person, contraband will always be found. Always.
That’s the problem with the DWP, it’s just work, work, work all the time.
The Department for Worry & Persecution Disapproves of Wild Parties held by the Directorate of Wasters & Pissheads. Dossers Will be Punished.
Detectives for Workshies and Piss-takers have you at the top of their “most wanted” list!
“We believe that this Trevor may be found smoking a rollie outside of a public library. The question is WHICH library? Detective work is ongoing.”
It seems these jobseekers have no rights. They are required to do 35 hours of work every week, without being paid the minimum wage, without access to holiday time, sick leave or even one day off in every seven!
The Department for Worry & Persecution frowns upon the Destitute Workless Poor.
I’m keen to hear more comment from the Directorate of Wasters and Pissheads.
They are completely obsessed with it Gary. The next thing their advisors will be going door-to-door telling you about the wonders of work, and asking if you would like to come into the Jobcentre to attend a day of work celebration. Like those religious people do, the ones that won’t have blood transfusions.
A few years ago, I watched TV footage of council officers going door to door on council estates, scaring people senseless about the Bedroom Tax and trying to drum up some interest in getting a job. Needless to say, the reaction wasn’t great. One family of immigrants took up their offer of some sort of referral to the Jobcentre so they could find a job and avoid the Bedroom Tax, but the British people didn’t take too kindly to it. One man summed it up perfectly:
“Well I can’t pay, can I?”
Council: “Sir, if you don’t pay, we will take steps to evict you.”
“Well I can’t help that, can I?”
“But, sir, you will be homeless!”
“Well that’s the government’s fault, then, ain’t it?”
[BANG!!! went the door]
I’m sure I would have reacted in exactly the same way. If you’re faced with a bill you can’t pay, the last thing you want is the wolf turning up at the door, just to make sure you really can’t take your mind off it, even it the privacy of your own home. No wonder we have a national problem with poor mental health and suicides.
In the 1930s, the British government set up a series of work camps for the unemployed—supposedly to make them fit enough to work. New arrivals at one camp received a typical speech, “It’s our job here to help those of you who’ve become soft to get back to that state of fitness in which you can hold up your end of a job.” – Everything changes, but everything remains the same.
I wouldn’t put it past the Tories to reintroduce 1930s style Work Camps, if they manage to stay in power it’ll happen. There is also a 1935 film called ‘Off The Dole’ where George Formby gets Sanctioned! They want to turn us back to those days.
I am hoping once driverless vehicles become common place I will be able to sit at home while my car does the taxiing for me.
Once I own my own robot then it will open up the world of work for me.
Technology is moving at such a pace and moors law still holds true,
As the power of technology doubles every 3 years, the price halves.
I think a cheap manakin head from local charity shop and a raspberry PI with a couple of add ons. I could build a far superior work coach for less than £100 that would know every guideline,regulation, law FOI request, could detect micro expressions, measure your pulse ,your pupils dilation, and breathing then adjust the interrogation accordingly.
It would have the combined knowledge of doctors, lawyers, judges and be merciless in applying intense psychological pressure.
CyberCoach UC2022 look out for it in github near you.
Technology is no match for the flexibility and adaptability of the human brain.
Except when it comes to winning the world’s most sophisticated board game like GO, Chess or jeopardy and many others areas where computers have proven they can outmatch the best human brains.
10 -20 years ago I would have agreed with you but not now.
It is not something to fear it is something to embrace !!
“It is not something to fear it is something to embrace !!”
It all depends how it is applied, and to what agenda.
About a century or so ago the esotericist Rudolf Steiner said that technology is a Satanic plot to dehumanize Mankind.
We taught the machines how to play these games. They can work out all the moves faster and more methodically than we can, but they can’t replace all the things that humans can do. For example, a robot could read out a lesson, but it would struggle to engage with a class full of children and it certainly couldn’t do discipline. A robot could not do gardening, nor coffee morning for old people, nor the work of a priest, and ESPECIALLY NOT BEING A MUM!
Your hi-tech Cyber Coach sounds like the Yul Brynner Android from the movie West World !
What ever happened to the notion that advances in technology will result in lightening the workload, increased leisure time, a shorter working week, early Retirement?
I think that Schumacher made some valid points in his early-70s book ‘Small Is Beautiful’, a little out-of-date now in some of the terminology he uses – referring to the “Third World” and talking of “intermediate technology”, for example, as we know many people in ‘Developing countries’ already have mobile phones, laptops, satellite tv, computers etc. , but what he said about creating economies that put people and the Environment before Profit still makes sense and is worthy of consideration.
Well, Trev, considering how we treat our unemployed, our society is not ready to embrace the idea of working less. In fact, our society is very busy trying make us work MORE. Where real work is not available, we create pointless work like A4E courses, the Work and Health Programme, work-focussed interviews, Work Capability Assessments, benefit appeals, 35 hours of “job search” every week… These are all symptoms of our society’s inability to accept that there are more people available for work than there are jobs to do.
Even though many companies have invested in technology & automated aspects of the production process I still see jobs that want you to work 12 hour shifts, or rotating shifts where you do 6 – 2 one week, then 2 – 10 the following week and then a week on nights 10 pm to 6am, sod that for a game of soldiers, you wouldn’t know if you were coming or going. By now we ought to be able to work 10am to 4pm 3 days a week & get a full wage that’s enough to live on, and Retire at age 55.
The multi billionaire geeks that now dominate the advances in technology have read the book seen the movie and fully understand the dystopian perils technology can bring. But they also understand the benefits.
The technological utopia you speak of will be achieved within a few more generations in my view. A digital economy with infinite stock levels has prevented further erosion of the environment as materialism will be eventually be replaced by digitaltarinism which is a word that I have just made up.
Like fire technology is double edged sword but the benefits to mankind will ultimately outweigh the negatives.
Sources:
Acid
Star trek
Remember what happened when Skynet became consciously aware ? It nuked all the humans on Judgement Day.
Paul, just say no to the acid next time.
Materialism is a weakness of the human condition. No matter how much technology we have, people will still find a way to amuse themselves by acquiring all sorts of things they don’t really need. It would have made sense in the days when man and woman were hunters and gatherers. An expedition would lead to the acquisition of food and firewood. Nowadays, people go down to the shops and buy all sorts of useless tat, as well as more food we don’t need, so that we end up fat, poor and worried sick about what we’ll do with all the junk we’ve collected when we move house or move on from this world.
Yet another death due to the DWP, and also confirmation of the startling revelation that the LibDems sold us down the river by agreeing to tougher Benefit Sanctions in return for 5p charge on plastic bags:
https://voxpoliticalonline.com/2018/04/19/here-is-another-death-to-add-to-the-dwps-body-count/
Hope it shames those ( but I know it wont ) those that take the time to petition for badgers and boatymctwatface.
But yes a revelation indeed and it goes further towards eroding this present regimes grip on the public.
Soon the choice will be clear that we should consider governing ourselves and end the farce they call democracy.
1) Democracy is good. Don’t like the Tories? Vote Labour.
2) Badgers are very important. How would you feel if you were a badger and your friends and family got shot for no good reason? Surely you would spend all day and all night cowering in your sett, terrified of a violent, painful death.
I would consider the survival of badgers to be of the utmost importance.
Democracy is one of the worlds greatest evils, it implies the majority have rights over the minorities or more impotently the individual.
What should become of those who do not subscribe to the state, disagree with the laws and regulations, who want autonomy and the right to self govern, what of those in a democracy ?
Rule from the bottom up not the top down.
I am surprised you support the state considering you are a Christian.
To quote Tolstoy: “Christianity in its true sense puts an end to the State. It was so understood from its very beginning, and for that Christ was crucified.”
Still that in part could be due to my ignorance of your beliefs.
Paul, if you don’t support democracy, what system would you prefer?
Jesus advocated respect for the rule of law, e.g. Render Unto Caesar.
I wouldn’t say that Democracy is “evil”, maybe a ‘necessary evil’, as it is not intended to be the end-all and be-all, it is a stage along the way as it’s still a case of ‘work in progress’ when it comes to creating Utopia and an enlightened Humanity that no longer needs Laws or Governance because each individual has reached the position (or state of Being) so as to be able to Govern oneself and live responsibly. We all want freedom but few people realize that the flip side of Freedom is Responsiblity. Crowley’s Thelemic dictat of “Do what thou wilt” would never work. Democracy is certainly flawed though, as Plato pointed out (in the Republic), describing it as an “imperfect system” and saying that it ultimately leads to the rise of the popular champion and paves the way to Tyranny, which we could perhaps see in the case of Trump, and most definitely with Hitler for example. Farage might have been another example had he got away with it.
Judas party prepared to lick the Tory boots for a taste of power.
Here’s a more comprehensive account of what Polly Mackenzie said:
https://twitter.com/pollymackenzie/status/986902635969118208
I am also struck by her willingness to overlook the bad policy of tougher benefit sanctions. I am also skeptical of anything we are told by a spin doctor, especially only weeks before an election. It doesn’t make sense that the plastic bag charge would need to be traded in with tougher sanctions because it would earn the Treasury money anyway. As it happened, the plastic bag tax revenue was hypothecated and the charge/tax was introduced in the devolved nations first, so England would have had a tough time resisting the policy, sanctions or not.
Alison for some reason there is no reply button to your last comment.
You said: Jesus advocated respect for the rule of law, e.g. Render Unto Caesar.
He was not advocating respect for the rule of law at all but a clever way of getting around an awkward question.
The coin belonged to the state so in essence he was correct, rid yourself of the coin and you rid yourself of the state which could be another way of interpreting what he actually meant.
Jehovah witnesses also used the same excuse to idly sit by and take no stand against the Nazis.
Regarding hours of jobsearch, in 1998 at a poverty pimping training company called Direct Computer Training (DCT) in Central London we were told to complete a ‘jobsearch portfolio’ every week, listing a minimum of 16 job leads per week. We were told by Head of Jobsearch that that was stipulated by the then Dept for Education & Employment (DfEE), and that if we did not meet that target we would be “terminated” from the course.
That arbitrary figure offended me on two counts: 1) I have a very slow output speed; and 2) quality of outreach is much better than quantity.
One week I spent several hours attempting to book extra computer and printer access to customise my CV to a particular job application, while DCT ran 4 classes per day for 2 hours per day through each ‘machine room’ on antiquated hardware that kept crashing. In the interests of ‘number crunching’ we were instructed to send off photocopies of the same CV for every job application.
I also took a whole weekend doing six HANDWRITTEN drafts of the covering letter, as stipulated in the job ad. My behind the scenes work was rewarded by my being invited to job interview for a post higher than that for which I’d actually applied, but which I did not get.
My jobsearch portfolio only recorded the one, genuine, job application that I had applied for, to which Head of Jobsearch replied that I had clearly not done enough jobsearch for the week.
So that November I wrote my MP to complain, while I also ‘stepped up my game’ by my getting a list of employment agencies that were specified as disability friendly, and use my learning to create a ‘mail merge’ speculative letter. introducing myself; that stepped my output up to 12 letters per week. In the meantime, my position as a ‘machine room assistant’ giving support to other trainees was taken over by one of the backlog of DCT ‘graduates’, and people I had helped by, say, proofreading a trainee’s CV told me, “You’ve given me far more support than this place ever has!” (Quite a lot of the notice board items supplied by DCT jobsearch staff were replete with spelling errors. Also, a ‘machine room assistant’ colleague with MSc in Marin Ecology asked jobsearch staff for help getting a placement relevant to her MSc. “What’s Marine Ecology?” came the reply.)
Reregistering at the jobcentre, I complained about the way I had been treated, and the clerk I reported to said they would speak to DCT about my concerns. So I had a much easier job of ‘explaining myself’ to the jobcentre staff than DCT’s Head of Jobsearch led us to believe we would get, as exploitation by DCT was backed up by bullying.
I also got a few speculative interviews as a result of my well-targeted mail merge campaign, but no job interviews. One agency, Step Ahead, also allowed me to use their facilities for occasional typing speed tests.
In New Year 1999, I got a letter from MP citing DfEE results of ‘enquiry’ into my complaint. They had believed Head of Jobsearch when he said the jobsearch portfolio was ‘not presented as mandatory’, even though former colleagues I’d shown that letter to in the pub showed me a poorly photocopied letter from Head of Jobsearch warning them that they were in peril of being ‘terminated’ if they did not meet the 16 jobleads per week target. That letter from Head of Jobsearch was marked CONFIDENTIAL, for some reason or other.
😉
I sent my only copy of that MP letter and ‘investigatory report’ to the then Lib Dem Spokesperson on such matters, without taking a copy of it for myself. The stress of it all had led to my having chickenpox at age 45.
Sounds typical of the nonsensical BS & runaround one encounters on such employment schemes, of which I have endured many. As for Chicken Pox ( & subsequently connected Shingles) I am very sure there is a relation with Stress, in my experience, I got Chicken Pox at age 16 when I had just started working & Shingles at age 49 whilst under immense stress from a few different directions at the same time, inc. the Work Programme.
We waste far too much taxpayers’ money on these nonsense courses, run by people who are thick as two planks. I believe our money should be spent on our benefits instead. Stuff conditionality. Bring back the RIGHT to the dole!
As a badger, I feel I should point out that it’s no fun having to walk round at night, half-expecting to be shot by a sniper. I’ve lost count of the friends and relatives I’ve lost in the woods and over by the local farm. It’s murder that’s what it is, pure and simple. All we want is a chance to root around at night, dig up a few worms, a slug or two, and mind our own business. But no, thanks to humans who think they own this world we can’t go out at night without running the risk of the laser gunsight.
We totally support the campaign to stop killing badgers.
Condolences, Mr Badger. Lovely to hear from you again. I agree with you completely. The Welsh government have the right approach.
I wish all dairy and beef farmers would embrace the virtues of grassland grazing and a vegetation-only diet. I think it would result in healthier cattle. I buy all my milk/butter/cream at Waitrose because they pay dairy farmers to allow their cows the freedom of the field for at least four months of the year.
Say no to the badger cull. Say no to cow batteries. Say no to sows in tiny crates. Say no to all confinement practices in agriculture. If you’re rich, buy organic. If you’re poor, sxd the jeers from your friends about your Waitrose tastes and £40 shopping bills because the quality of life of our animals must NEVER be overlooked. Or else go vegan.
Alison, it is human beings like you that give me hope for this world. A world where no badger, human or indeed any animal need walk in fear. Best wishes from myself and all my neighbours in the forest.
Dear Mr Badger did you ever have any concern for those poor creatures you consider a snack ?
They are parents, children, grand childen and all have a right to live much the same as you do.
And while I sympathise with you plight would you put the well being of slugs and snails before your own family ?
Rest assured that when the time comes man and beast will coexist in harmony as we have done with our fish friends thanks mainly due to George bush and his .
And let us be honest here, I personally do not think your are a badger and therefore not really qualified to speak on their behalf, but I will have to give you the benefit of doubt.
Most badgers I have spoken to in other forums welcome the end with open paws scratching about the dirt for the odd bit of protein is no life at all in the 21st century.
I think this badger sounds convincing.
I like digging in the soil. So does Jeremy Corbyn. I’m sure most of the badgers of this world do as well.
You have to be very careful with Artificial Intelligence. It goes to the role of human beings in a future world where we are no longer necessarily the dominant species.
‘End-of-contract data extraction At the end of the contract we are able to provide copies of any desired user data. This may include for example details of job adverts added or removed, or user activity logs.
End-of-contract process Any end-of contract data extraction and provision is included within the cost of the contract.’ Get you later from the DWP ?
THat sounds rather ominous.
It does Trev. I have a sinking feeling that the DWP have managed to get under the fence here, as it were. They have always hated the whole idea that claimants can block them from access to their UJ accounts with a simple tick in the box. Universal Credit as originally designed by Duncan Smith, started from the basis that the DWP would have full access to everything 24 /7. They had to reluctantly put in the tick-box for refusing DWP access after the law on data protection was explained to them. It remains to be seen how this is all going to work in practice.
Well roll on a change of government and a change of policy on all this. I’m sure Jeremy Corbyn would scrap most of this conditionality-mad nonsense that the Tories have been following ever since IDS dreamed it up.
In particular, I am concerned by the fact that Universal Credit recognises NOBODY as not well enough to do whatever the Jobcentre tells them to do, until a Work Capability Assessment has taken place, months down the line. This is regardless of whether or not the claimant has a doctor’s note. So someone who is housebound due to ill health could be unable to claim sick benefit because of being unable to attend the Jobcentre to agree a Claimant Commitment. Even if a sick person manages to sign the Claimant Commitment, he/she is likely to be sanctioned before receiving any money due to being not well enough to attend meetings, undertake training or do whatever else the fit and able job-seeker is expected to do.
Does anyone know anything about this?
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2017/05/25/shock-as-universal-credit-rules-treat-sick-as-fit-for-all-work-related-activity-against-gps-explicit-orders/
It says that someone who is sick with a doctor’s note can be required to seek work/attend training for 35 hours per week and can be sanctioned for being unable to do so.
I’m aware of Black Triangle but don’t know abouthis particular issue, wouldnt put it past the Tories though, they’d be digging up the dead if they could.
And then putting them to work. A vast army of zombies, moving slowly through the streets and fields of Britain.
On workfare placements, training courses, motivational seminars. On zero-hour contracts, those for whom the last hour had already come. And creeping about in cemeteries the agents of the workfare providers. Checking that graves had been emptied and that zombies were at work. Still chasing the contract, the commission. Still making money…. even from the dead.
Dying too young is a Sanctionable offence.
Brilliant Jeff !!
And who’s making £millions from this, Jeff? These workfare contractors, such as A4E, Reed and Igneus, who are well-known for making endless telephone calls and sending endless text messages to the severely mentally ill and the dead.
Death Work Project.
Well, Trev, don’t be surprised if you see a skeleton or a white sheet next time you go to the Jobcentre!
On a serious note, this issue is very worrying because potentially millions of sick and disabled people could find them unable to claim any benefits at all due to not being well enough to attend the Jobcentre at the specified time to sign a Claimant Commitment. Imagine if someone has had a stroke and is now housebound. How is that person going to get to the Jobcentre to sign on? At the moment, that person or his/her carer can apply for sick benefit by post or over the telephone. Under Universal Credit, he/she will be unable to claim without attending the Jobcentre.
Always puts the unemployed under pressure. Never at their ease on benefits.
It might be OK if these people should be moving into work anyway, but we are talking about people who are SICK and DISABLED, so they CANNOT work, so they SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE AT EASE ON BENEFITS.
I know Alison, it’s disgusting. Some of the people I’ve seen attending the Jobcentre are clearly unfit to work, a man on crutches barely able to walk in a lot of pain told me he has Rheumatoid Arthritis & been declared fit for work, another a very overweight 60 yr old man with a pacemaker, and a guy I knew at school now in his late 50s/with an heart condition, on 4 tablets a day , all forced to look for work & attend Work Programme etc. It’s absurd.
Well at least these people CAN get to the Jobcentre when their benefit depends on it.
For many, many people, attending the Jobcentre is simply not an option. That’s why they commit suicide.
This lady committed suicide. Her benefit was stopped because she missed her Work Capability Assessment because she was in hospital. DWP did a Mandatory Reconsideration after she died and said there was not enough evidence not to stop her benefits. DWP kept leaving messages on her mobile for months after she died.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/dwp-probe-launched-over-tragic-14484231
I think what we need is a roll call of all those who have died as direct result of a work coaches actions and name and shame said work coaches, see if that might make others pause for thought before they pronounce a possible death sentence.
Yes, a national memorial day, on which the names are read out of all those who died after a benefit decision.
///There was a report compiled 2 or 3 yrs ago by DPAC & published on their website. Itlisted every death between 2011 and 2015 inclusive where th Coroner had said that Wel£fare reforms or concerns about Benefits hadcontributed to the death. There were over 50,000 deaths. The Government 5took legal action and forced them to take it down off their site.
Utterly disgraceful and wrong. Typical of the way that hounding of the unemployed has gone beyond any sense of proportion or justice.
Very wrong. And the Tories aren’t in the least bit sorry for they have done either. They still believe it all.
This is the same dreadful system that cheerfully cut £30 a week of the ESA of sick and disabled people in order to force them into work. Even though they were not physically capable of doing so. The twisted humour of the DWP. Do it even though you can’t, or we will punish you.
“Food Bank Need Rockets as Universal Credit Hits Benefit Claimants.”
https://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2018/04/24/food-bank-need-rockets-as-universal-credit-hits-benefit-claimants/
Trev, the graph at the top of this article says it all.
For those who don’t have time to read the whole thing, it says foodbank use has gone up 52% in areas where Universal Credit has been introduced.
This shows the bitter reality of Universal Credit. Far removed from the DWP spin about being better off.
Dave, Universal Credit is a flawed concept right from the beginning. The bright idea of a rich man to control the only life-line income of the por by lumping Benefits together then payingi monthly in arrears, and the plain stupid idea of lumping Housing Benefit in with it instead of keeping it separate and therefore safeguarded, is obviously a recipe for disaster. Especially when you also consider that UK Benefits are underpaid by 40% to begin with. It needs to be paid weekly, with Housing Benefit kept separate, as anyone with a brain can see. IDS wants fucking stringing up.
Alison, and those are just the figures from Trussel Trust foodbanks, some of the independently run ones reporting even greater increase, over 300% in Huddersfield since Universal Credit roll out last year.
Solution to all this is to abstain from the system completely, do not slave, do not give your consent to be governed, become a parasite and suck from the system, do not give anything back.
Help your fellow human beings not for profit but because it is right.
Reject materialism. Drain the lifeblood that keeps this system alive.
Millions of people are dying each year globally because of democracies.
You might not change the world but you will have some peace of mind and a taste of real freedom, contentment and peace.
Paul, if people do not take part in democracy, the Tories will stay in power for ever and all the poor people will have committed suicide or starved to death. Utopia may be ideal, but in real life it is very important to vote and take part in the democratic process. Otherwise, nothing will get better.
True Alison unfortunately. Staying away from the polls just lets the Conservatives in again and again.
You can always do some voluntary work. It’s a way of helping people and gives you something to do and a way of meeting people & interacting. It also keeps the Jobcentre happy to a certain extent, for a while at least.
It does have its uses Trev. Looks like you want to work & are getting a reference etc.
Cuts down on your jobsearch too as they allow a certain amount of the 35 hours jobsearch to include voluntary work.
Yippee!
Yes that’s a good point Sam.II’ll definitely look at increasing my hours when I end up on Universal Credit. At moment I’m on JSA & do one morning a week at the foodbank plus extra days as required. Next week I’ll be doing about 12 hours over 3 days, and I always put it down in my Activity.
Who can forget their first earthworm caught by moonlight ? The deep shadows of the forest. Secret paths that lead through the trees. Small sounds of movement in the undergrowth. A glimpse of silent wings moving swiftly through the treetops, as the night-owl hunts.
Breathing in the sharp night air. Scents of earth, soft moss and long-buried roots.
Pushing through wet grass cold to the touch, brushing against the fur.
Then feeling the vibration of an earthworm moving just below the surface. Coiling and pulsing in the darkness. Dig him out ! Scrabbling in the earth. Yes !
The worm caught and dragged into the open.Twisting and writhing.
A strong paw raised and claws extended for the strike. Now ! And again !
Then the first bite. Sudden stillness, and the rich taste of earthworm.
Sounds like the relationship I have with my work coach except this worm bites back.
I could smell the scent of pine wafting reading your wonderful lucid account and took me right back to my youth, clearly you are indeed a badger, please except my apologies for my doubts.
Paul Pigeon
Paul, I read some confusion as to whether you are a worm or a pigeon!
The point you make about feeling like a worm at the Jobcentre is pretty spot on! I’m glad to hear you bite back.
I was using the expression “this worm bites back” as a useful metaphor for Mr Badger but fully understand how it may confuse , my apologies.
Do I bite back, well I have been a professional shirker for 30 odd years live hand to mouth, own nothing to stop the bailiffs and had more battles with the DWP and their cohorts than I care to remember.
My hope is to go down in history as the longest serving jobseeker without a doubt being raised let alone a sanction and the last person in the country to be on JSA.
Then when I pass on, I want to be disposed of by the council at the local incinerator.
UC I fear will be the straw that could break this camels back (metaphor) but I am a survivor so I have had to come out of the woodwork (really I am not a worm) to gather enough intelligence to face the final battle.
Another 14 years to go and I can officially retire relax and take it easy, although unofficially I retired when I left school.
Paul, I was complimenting you on what I thought was a clever play on words. I am not an idiot. I know what a metaphor is. The comment about pigeon versus worm was a JOKE.
Think nothing of it, my dear chap.
What a beautiful description of the wonders of God’s creation, Mr Badger! The perfection of the cycle of life if only we humans were to allow nature to flourish more often.
End the badger cull.
One of the saddest things is that the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can’t eat eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours – all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy.
– William Faulkner
Clearly Mr Faulkner has not lived the life I have.
Alison I have no doubt all that you understand the meaning of the word metaphor, I was clarifying the metaphor to avoid ambiguity (open to more than one interpretation; inexactness)
With regards to politricks and demonocracy
John T. Wenders explains it well when he wrote,
“Democracy is two coyotes and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.”
And further
“Democracy evolves into kleptocracy. A majority bullying a minority is just as bad as a dictator, communist or otherwise.”
If there was a tick box to end democracy then I would cast my view but if the only choice is government on the ballot paper then it makes no difference to me who is in power.
I will just be voting for one oppressor over another. Voting also implies I consent to be governed and support the system, I do not !
I personally do not blame or hate anyone whatever side of the political divide they come from we are all shaped by our breeding and privileges. We are all victims in a way, I see the system as the real enemy.
I was bred to work in the factory or pit, working class, housing estate, state school, free meals so naturally I tend to lean towards the left, arguably you could say extreme left on the political spectrum, but I also have no illusion that were my circumstance different and I won the lottery of birth and secured privileges my views would more likely be entirely different.
I am aware that people do crossover but on the whole it seems set in stone for the majority.
Until recently I have never engaged in anything political and just kept my head down. But the current regime is far more vicious than I have ever known in my lifetime and see the misery and pain it is causing week in week out over the last 6 years and I need to add my voice to end conditionality whoever is in power, help people fight back if possible, but also as an opportunity to debate alternatives.
I get frustrated that people complain about the quality of service but yet still go to the same restaurant.
I will leave it up to the reader if that was a metaphor, an analogy or just a moan about my local takeaway.
But if we don’t have democracy then what else is there ?
I know it has faults as a political system. But rule by a voting majority does seem generally fairer, or at least less unfair, than rule by a single individual. Or some unelected political committee, religious sect or military force. Communism became nothing less than dictatorship in Russia and Eastern Europe, and people were glad to abandon it. You have only to look at Saudi Arabia to see the realities of life under Islamic extremism, as also Iran and Indonesia. While the world abounds in unpleasant military regimes, where all pretence of individual or political freedom has simply been abandoned.
This is true. I mean what other alternatives are there ?
It’s not really a free country though unless you havelots of money. The rest of us just have an illusion of freedom. I heard a quote on Radio 4 recently , “Freedom has no meaning in an environment lacking in opportunity”. Can’te remember who said it but the programme was about Trump and who voted for him, which turned out to mostly be affluent middle class rather than the ‘forgotten’ poor whites in ‘Rustbelt’ America.
Yeah. But relatively speaking Trev, James is right. We do still have a lot more freedom than say, Russia or China. You can say what you like about Theresa May’s abilities as PM.
Try saying that in Moscow about Putin, or in Beijing about Xi Jinping, and see how long it is before the secret police arrive.
Yes David, that’s what I mean by an illusion of freedom. You have the right to protest, or to vote for whichever candidate or party you like, and to openly criticize our leaders, but you are still either a wage slave or a slave to the Benefits system no matter which party is in power.
We have the freedom to vote for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader and we have the freedom to vote to leave the EU. The global elite can’t bear it.
We have the freedom not to be chained up and made to work, even though Andrew Percy MP said he would like some of us to be.
These Progress people would like to impose a Labour Leader of their liking, but we have the freedom to say no.
We have the freedom to deny the Jobcentre access to our Universal Jobmatch accounts.
The council can ask us to accept a flat in Birmingham or a slum with toadstools or a hole in the roof, but we have the freedom to say no and sleep rough instead.
The olds can tell me to pinch the pennies and shop in Lidl, but I have the freedom to get the hell out of Lidl and shop in Waitrose if that’s where I want to go.
People who smoke have the freedom to smoke, even if the NHS and the GP and society at large disapprove. Trev has the freedom to have a rollie, even though I make disapproving noises about it.
I have the freedom not to get married and not to do what my dad wants. Under IS in Syria, a woman could try to leave her husband, but, if he wanted her to stay, she would be returned to him. Women without husbands were rounded up and sold as slaves, to be owned by men.
I once did have a bedsit with a hole in the roof & toadstools growing out of the walls & ceiling. It was pretty grim & affected my health. Took 3 months to get rehoused.
You’re lucky you got rehoused at all. The council don’t give a $€*# about me. They said, “If you’re on the street, WE DON’T CARE!”
PMQs again, and Corbyn still can’t seem to make anything stick. He’s in the right on the treatment of the Windrush generation, he even managed a bit of anger. But somehow Theresa May slipped out of the net again. It’s unreal.
May should resign, reminds me of that old song “you’d better go now, go now…”.
I do wish he was better at this to be honest.
So do I, it’s the elephant in the room for Labour.
Thank goodness for Progress.
I am sick of Progress descending on our forum in droves. Why do you all come here? You don’t even discuss what Kate posts about! If you want to discuss the Labour Party, can’t you find a blog post that relates to the Labour Party?
I say “Progress”, but my belief remains that you are the Tory youth wing.
Jasper, I really do not give a monkeys what was going on at Prime Minister’s Questions today. No I’m not going to change my mind about Jeremy Corbyn and neither are most of his supporters, even if spends Prime Minister’s Questions standing on his head. I will not be ALIVE if this punitive approach to ordinary people carries on much longer. All this started under New Labour, so we need a Labour Leader who really is from the left of the party and really does offer something better, not more of the same.
I don’t care what people say about Jeremy Corbyn didn’t sound prime ministerial, blah-blah-blah. My mind is made up.
The rest of our country does not have the luxury of sitting at home watching Prime Minister’s Questions all day.
What if Blair were to come back, just for a year or so to sort things out ? Then we could have another election for leader.
Ken J.
I do hope you are joking. Blair fucked this country over. He and Mandelson effectively staged a Silent Coup, and took over the Labour Party, changing it from a Socialist party to a Rightwing neoliberal one masquerading as Centrist. Corbyn and McDonnell have shifted the Labour party back to where it should be.
Trev, I’m ever so glad we have the freedom NOT to be imposed upon by Tony Blair.
But I’m not sure who these people claiming to be from Progress really are. Now that one has meowed at me and I notice they’re all male, I don’t see how they would get along even for 5 minutes with most of the Labour MPs. It’s the Tories who make animal noises at women. The UKIP/Mogg types. Daily Mail readers. They’re not neo-liberals, they’re VERY conservative!
Perhaps we’re talking to a bunch of Oxfordshire Tories and they’re pulling our legs claiming they’re liberals! It’s no surprise those types don’t approve of Corbyn because they don’t approve of most people in our country: most people are either female or non-white or non-straight or working-class or Northern or Welsh or Scots or Irish or foreign or vegan or pro-choice or anti-hunt or pro-welfare…you name it!
I think this “Progress” set are living in a time warp.
Maybe we’re talking to your alien friends!
Yes, Trev, and the results of the leadership and national elections show that the Labour Party is now heading in the right direction.
It’s no good being bitter about Prime Minister’s Question Time. Just because Corbyn is not that great at it.
More to the point what are Labour going to do about it ?
Roger, I’m not actually bitter about Prime Minister’s Questions. It’s boring, actually.
What annoys me is all these endless comments about Jeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister’s Questions and whose answer bounced twice and whose answer went in the net. It annoys me because many of us are worried about many more important things and we start discussing them and posting about them. Only to get YET ANOTHER comment about “Jeremy Corbyn missed the ball.”
People have the right to post whatever they want and I am not trying to silence anyone. But forgive me for getting annoyed – or catlike, which I don’t understand? Am I purring like a cat? Is this what men said to women in the ’70s? Or has 1970s sexism come back among our young men of today? Bercow does Tories for harassment for barking (literally) at female MPs, but that went out of fashion decades ago in every other workplace in the country. Perhaps I should get offended for being meowed at, but I love cats. It’s ironic he calls his faction “progress”, though! And I don’t hear from any FEMALES on this forum saying they’re from “Progress”! Maybe they call themselves “Progress” but they’re actually a network of chauvenists…
This is a typical Momentum avoidance tactic. Change the subject and talk about something else. Next we’ll have Iraq.
Progress stand for gender neutral common-sense politics. It’s just that there are still some dinosaurs in the Party who won’t see simple common sense.
You lot came in and changed the subject. You always do. That’s what I was complaining about.
I’m not a political ACTIVIST and I don’t speak for Momentum. Please don’t interpret me as speaking for anyone other than myself.
Nice to see a female name. I’m not convinced it’s genuine, though.
N.B. To help you out a bit, the term “common-sense politics” has long been used by the far right. It’s a euphemism for what they believe, which the rest of us call “racism”.
Miaow !
Sorry, Jasper, I don’t understand what the meow is in relation to.
I think you’ll find Alison that he was being ironic.
Adam, irony involves the use of the English language, not an animal sound.
Alison, for your own sake, for the Party’s sake, join Progress and let us solve things together. #StayInLabour
Richard,
Progress represent the sort of post-Blairite neoliberalism that has infected the Labour party and needs to be weeded out and got rid of.
Have you seen our website ? We are only trying to do what is best for the Party.
Corbyn can’t win, and Labour can’t afford another election defeat. We are the moderate centre, not the extremists.
You’re not the centre, you’re the right; you’re the Conservatives and I do wish you’d give up on this forum, since it has nothing to do with what you want to talk about.
From my perspective Corbyn is the moderate centrist.
I have put my hands over my ears and am humming The Only Way Is Up (Baby).
They should also end the Benefit Freeze. But this goes back to the Tory view of being unemployed as basically a problem of personal behaviour. Without any reference to the real circumstances behind it. This is why they are not going to stop the roll-out of Universal Credit. Partly the enormous cost, partly out of political pride, but also because they will have every single claimant under strict conditionality.
Whatever they think about the unemployed, the reality is that those hardest hit are NOT ABLE to work.
Too true. It was deliberately held down again this year. Just a punishment for the unemployed. No excuse for it at all. It’s a cut really with inflation and other costs.
Agreed.
My budget for food was @ £2.50 per day a few weeks ago recent price increases between 10%-20% has now slashed that to £2.00 in real terms.
I reclaim food from the local stores bin whenever possible but after a recent brush with the law I am more wary.
Sensibly they let me on my way but would not let me take my booty.
So Guerilla gardening and foraging is the next todo on my list, living in a first floor flat doesn’t help.
They lock the bins too. So you can’t get in without a key. Disgraceful the amount of stuff that they throw away.
A cinema near me has about 10 bins locked in a CAGE! I wonder what they’re hiding in their bins!
Why is it so important to stop the hungry getting fed?
It would be a lot more to the point if the supermarkets gave away the out of date stuff at the end of the night. Say in the last 15mins before closing.
Just hand it out round the back of the store.
Yes – and Costa Coffee as well. It’s amazing how much they throw out!
Yes that would be a good idea or make a final reduction to 1p for the last hour so at least it saves some the embarrassment of waiting for the hand outs.
My local store is a coop they make the best reductions overall and what they do throw away they only use a strong new clean plastic bag and put that in a clean green wheely bin which only holds these bags.
So the food is clean and unspoiled items are also in their own individual packaging.
And the bin is not locked and in a public area so easily got at.
Weekends I can end up with £100-£200 worth of every conceivable sandwich they sell, 10-20 loaves of bread and various rolls, meat, fish, pies and sadly end up throwing some away myself if I cannot freeze it.
Ideally I should barter the food the I have left but for some reason people are not keen once they know the source.
But yes it is a outrage and moral crime to let this food go to waste while others starve.
Tesco are the worst offenders in my book they hardly make any decent reduction so the food does not sell at the end of the day and throw far more away than coop, and the bins are in locked cages so impossible to get at.
The police should be fighting real crime and seizing real contraband, not harassing you in your harmless attempt to recycle. I can’t imagine any logical reason for taking rubbish off you. Maybe the police were hungry too.
It’s suprising that even now there is so little public outrage over the whole benefit reform brutality. People left starving for weeks on end, death and despair.
Universal Credit or Universal Misery as it should be called, still being rolled-out regardless of suffering. With just a few small token changes made.
The Tories continue to get away with it all, week after week.
Yes, exactly, Darren, and if the so-called “Progress” people don’t want Jeremy Corbyn to run the country, perhaps their type ought to concentrate more on what the Tories are offering to the public and less on how that offer is communicated to the public.
Don’t listen to her Darren. Momentum is full of these left-wing harpies. Progress is the only way. Centre politics for a balanced way forward.
Corbyn is a Centrist in the truest sense, in comparison to the post-Blairite Rightwing neoliberalism that masquerades as ‘Centrism’.
The voters will decide anyway.
“Fiona”,
Here are links to some articles that might educate you on the subject:
https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-rise-of-post-blairism/
http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/centrism-is-bust.html
Does anyone know what happened to the Rapture ? I spent some time in the garden on the 23rd standing on a wooden box, dressed in a warn jacket and scarf and holding my Bible. Ready to go. But there was nothing. No choir of angels or anything. Just everday noises from the houses nearby, some traffic on the road and a dog barking. After a bit I started getting tired, so I got down off the box and went back inside to make a cup of tea.
Quite right, Harold.
I didn’t bother to say it, but I told you so!
Oh Russian Hat,
My Furry Love,
I run my fingers through you,
I try you on and prance about,
And then I try to woo you.
I love you so, your warm delight it never fails to thrill me.
Oh Russian Hat be always mine and let us live together,
A secret place where we can share a joy in freezing weather.
I’m sure there are many homeless people who would be glad of a warm hat .
Timothy, that is real poetry, it brought a tear to my eye.
A man and his hat, what could be nicer ?
I remember years ago when I had a fur hat, but not Russian.
It was beaver, really nice.
Good poem. Unusual, but nice.