Pretty sure Iain Duncan Smith has decided these people shouldn’t live #SaveILF

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Kate B

To the Royal Courts on the Strand today, where Disabled People Against Cuts, Independent Living Fund recipients and their carers turned out in very good numbers to support disabled people who are taking a second court case against this repulsive government’s second decision to close the ILF.

Part way through the day, disabled people went and sat on the Strand and brought the traffic to a standstill. I only hope Lord Freud was out in London in some overpriced government vehicle right at that moment and found himself stuck in a lane somewhere.

The Independent Living Fund is the pot of money that profoundly disabled people use to pay for the extra carer hours they need to live their lives as independent adults. For many people, ILF money tops up council funding for care. Unfortunately, this government dislikes the idea of disabled people living like grownups in their homes and working, studying, socialising and doing their thing like everyone else. In fact – I think we can safely say that this government dislikes the idea of disabled people living at all. God knows Iain Duncan Smith has put an extraordinary effort into getting rid of the ILF. I’ve been writing about the ILF battle for several years now. I expect nothing from IDS and understand that he’s an extremist, but even so, I’ve found the government’s continued and renewed assaults on this group of people difficult to fathom.

The ILF closure makes no sense, unless you understand that IDS is malicious and such an ideologue that he actually wants blood on his hands. The number of people who get ILF funding is small – about 18,000 (the fund was closed to new applicants in 2010, so the number of recipients is not growing). The average cost of the ILF each week is about £345 – which, as Inclusion London says, is considerably less than the average weekly cost of residential care. A lot of ILF recipients will end up in carehomes if they can’t afford high-cost support at home.

And they won’t be able to afford that care at home. Councils certainly can’t pick up the tab for people with high support needs. I’m already talking to people who rely solely on council care and are left dangerously short of support. Cutting the ILF could be deadly. It really is that simple. So – why pursue this group of people with such venom? Could it be that IDS wants to punish them for not going quietly? Is it that he wants to get them simply for existing and needing financial support?

“The reason coalition ministers don’t mind slashing entitlements for disabled people, are quite happy to use them as guinea pigs for new benefits that don’t work, and to chuck them at incompetents such as Atos, is because they couldn’t care less,” Aditya Chakrabortty wrote this week. I think it is partly that. I also think it is part of the general plan to eradicate anyone who needs help from the state (anyone who isn’t a banker, that is). A generous view would be that it’s a combination of the two, but I don’t always feel very generous. I’ve been writing about this evil for too long.

Last year, the court of appeal overturned a government decision to close the ILF and noted the adverse effect the closure would have on ILF recipients. The government came back in March this year and announced again it would close the fund. So, disabled people are taking the government back to court. The case started today and carries on tomorrow. I hope they win. They must win. There is a crucial truth at the centre of this fight. It represents a turning-point for all of us. Saving the ILF is not just about saving a pot of money. It’s about saving the idea that disabled people deserve to live like everybody does. Once you abandon that concept, you abandon the idea that everyone counts and that everyone deserves to live.

Which is one of the reasons why disabled people and their personal assistants turned out in very good numbers on a weekday to give their support to people taking an all-important and potentially life-saving court case. That June 2015 ILF closure deadline is getting nearer.

And listen to these people talk about their lives and the ILF. Dunno about you, but I think that Iain Duncan Smith has decided they shouldn’t live.

We’re NOT all in this together: the story of the closure of the Independent Living Fund from Moore Lavan Films on Vimeo.

Excellent photos from the vigil today here

Join the vigil to save the Independent Living Fund today #SaveILF

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Kate B

Today from 12.30pm, there is a vigil to support disabled people who are taking the government to court to fight for the Independent Living Fund. Join the vigil at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, WC2A 2LL.

The ILF is a fund that profoundly disabled people use to pay for the extra carer hours and personal assistants that they need to live independent lives. Without that fund, disabled people face lives in carehomes.

This government is intent – to an extent that defies any logic whatsoever – in closing the ILF. At the end of last year, the court of appeal threw out an earlier government attempt to close the fund. Needless to say, the government is trying again. That’s why people are taking the second court case today.

New film on the fight to save the ILF:

In the Mirror today, there is a feature about the new film I’ve made at False Economy with Ros Wynne Jones, Disabled People Against Cuts, Inclusion London and Moore Lavan Films on the fight to save the Independent Living Fund.

You can watch the film here. Please share!

We’re NOT all in this together: the story of the closure of the Independent Living Fund from Moore Lavan Films on Vimeo.

Disabled People Against Cuts says:

“Whatever the outcome of the court case today, the fight to save ILF is far from over and disabled people refuse to allow themselves to be railroaded into care homes or worse to Dignitas just to satisfy the whims of millionaire politicians.”

Inclusion London says:

“Without the ILF and in the context of the crisis in social care, disabled people will be entirely reliant on already over-stretched local authorities to meet their support needs.

The amount that the government has committed to devolve to local authorities to help them meet their new responsibilities is short of the amount spent by the ILF on direct support for disabled people. It also does not take account of all those disabled people who would have been eligible for support from the ILF before it was closed to new applicants in 2010. Since then disabled people have ended up trapped in their homes without basic needs such as washing or feeding being met.”

Does Lord Freud realise disabled people take the government to court this week over funding cuts?

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Kate B

…Probably not.

This week on Wednesday, disabled people take the government to court AGAIN over the government’s decision to close the Independent Living Fund. The ILF is the fund that profoundly disabled people use to pay for the extra care hours they need to live independent lives.

Quite a few disabled people use ILF money to pay for the personal assistants who support them in work. The government’s plan to shut the ILF fully illustrates the bollocks Lord Freud talks when he comes out with this sort of thing: “I am proud to have played a full part in a government that is fully committed to helping disabled people overcome the many barriers they face in finding employment….” Rubbish. Total shit. Lord Freud and this government are committed to nothing of the kind.

A government committed to disabled people would leave the ILF alone (let’s not forget that last year, the court of appeal threw out an earlier government attempt to close the ILF). Without the ILF, thousands of disabled people with high support needs will be permanently excluded from education and employment and the right to participate in life generally. It is only a few days since Lord Freud said that disabled people were not worth the minimum wage – a statement which totally fits with this government’s general approach to disabled people. Think about this attempt to close the ILF. Think about the destruction of disabled people’s lives by the Atos fit-for-work regime. Think about the abject failure that has been the introduction of the so-called personal independence payment and the untold misery that has caused. These tossers are committed to one thing and one thing only. They want disabled people out of the picture.

On Wednesday, ILF recipients and supporters including Disabled People Against Cuts, Inclusion London, the National Anti Bedroom Tax and Benefit Justice campaign, Winvisible and Taxpayers Against Poverty will gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice at 12.30pm to show solidarity with the disabled claimants taking the case. Tomorrow, DPAC will hold a Freud Must Go protest outside Caxton house from 12.30pm.

Here’s a short film I recently made with Ros Wynne Jones and Moore Lavan films about this government’s assault on the Independent Living Fund. We’ve got a longer film coming out this week which has more ILF recipients talking about the ILF closure and the reasons why they’ll fight the government until they win.

We’re all in it together – aren’t we? from Moore Lavan Films on Vimeo.

Nadia Clarke, who is aged 22 and has cerebral palsy and a hearing impairment says: “in the future, I want to travel the world, study at university, become a working advisor for disability rights and have a relationship and children. Without the ILF, my parents will end up looking after me and may even have to give up their paid work.”

Mark Williams, 49, is a school governor and former social worker. He says: “The ILF means I can be an active school governor. With all the other cuts in benefits, if the ILF closes, I’m worried that I’d only have my basic needs met. David Cameron has no idea. He hasn’t a clue because he doesn’t have to worry about money.

Angela Smith, who also has cerebral palsy, said: “Am I really living in one of the richest countries in the world? Why is my life so undervalued?”

Very good question. I don’t like to think about the answer to it.

Daily JSA sign on: more sadism for the hell of it from the DWP

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Kate B

This is a report about having to sign on every day for jobseekers’ allowance – an entirely pointless “process” that seems to be taking hold:

On Wednesday, the Kilburn Unemployed Workers’ Group and I went to talk with JSA claimants at the North Kensington jobcentre.

Almost as soon as we got there, people brought a significant fact to our attention: the North Kensington jobcentre appears to have instigated a daily JSA sign on regime for some people. Daily sign on does, or at least is, pretty much what it says on the tin – it means that people must present themselves at their local jobcentre every single day of the week and sit and wait until they see an adviser for a brief time. Their attendance is noted and there’s a (very) quick catchup about people’s jobsearches. And that’s it.

Daily sign on was one of the platforms government’s ironically-named Help To Work platforms. The Help To Work scheme was launched in April to much fanfare (by government) and consternation (by reasonable people). I wonder if we’re seeing evidence now that it is underway, after a fashion. We’re certainly seeing evidence that people were right to dread it. The daily sign on exercise is nasty and utterly pointless – certainly as far as helping people into work goes. The three people who I talk about in this article reported that absolutely nothing happens at their daily signon appointments. I think we’ll say that again – absolutely nothing happens. JSA claimants must turn up at their jobcentre and have their attendance noted. One person reported a quick chat and check with a jobcentre adviser about jobs applied for – “and that’s ridiculous, because they can check everything that I am doing online,” he said. “They forced us to use [Universal] Jobmatch, so they can check everything already.”

When that’s done, the person is given a time for the next day’s appointment. After that, it’s all over until the next day. (A man I spoke to at length at the Clacton jobcentre recently reported exactly the same experience). Talk about an exercise in humiliation and futility – like people who must use the already-degrading JSA system needed another one.

People can’t use jobcentre phones to call employers (the man who described daily sign on process as “ridiculous” had got into trouble with security for demanding that the jobcentre let him use a phone to call prospective employers), no employers are rung on their behalf, no job interviews are arranged. I can well believe that – I’ve attended a few sign on appointments with people now and have seen how this system “works.” I don’t think I’ve been to one that has lasted more than ten minutes. Which means that daily sign on is not about finding people work. It’s about taking people by the scruff of the neck and keeping a very tight hold. It’s about letting people who are out of work know that their lives are no longer their own – that once people are unemployed, they’re not entitled to even a few hours’ peace of mind, or relief, from the DWP. It’s about disrupting people’s lives and making sure that they get up each day not knowing whether they’ll still have JSA at the end of it. It is depraved. Nobody we spoke to on Wednesday knew from day to day what time their sign on appointment would be. They were given a time for the next day’s appointment at the previous day’s appointment. That means people can’t plan their week, or even from day to day. They’re not allowed to plan their week. The subtext is that people who find themselves out of work have no lives – and, perhaps more to the point, are not entitled to lives. If you’re unemployed, you must forfeit your right to yourself. The people we spoke with were absolutely furious about it. I am too, just by the way. I think we’re very much at the point where the DWP should be forced to open the doors on all of this. This regime exists to deliver stress and panic, and nothing else. That needs to be fully revealed.

The first man we talked was in and out of work, as so many people we meet at jobcentres are. He was 46. He worked in marketing and business development – “anything. I will take it.” He found work himself and was hoping that a few leads he was following would pay off soon. His problem was that he could only get short-term contract work. I find that again and again.

The daily sign on (he’d just started) was angering him badly and very disruptive to his actual jobhunting: “it is so time-consuming and it doesn’t serve a purpose for me or them. It costs me and them time and money for me to be here every day.” Because of that, he’d asked the jobcentre if “it was possible for them to provide me with additional services while I’m here – where I can use the phone for basic things.” Using a phone for half-an-hour or so would mean his daily attendance wasn’t a complete waste of time. Unfortunately, this suggestion was not well-received. He raised his voice and management was called down. “The lady decided to that I was being awkward and she walked away and she calmed down.” That, he said, was ridiculous. “All I wanted was access to a phone. There’s nothing there. I don’t think I was being awkward asking them what provisions they have.” As I say, his actual appointment was a complete waste of time. “They went onto the computer to see whether I had done any jobsearches. But I said that I want them to provide a service.” Continue reading →

I have to sign on every day. I was sanctioned for six weeks when I was homeless

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Kate B

More stories from the jobcentre:

To Clacton now – and a long conversation outside the jobcentre with Paul, who is 56. There is a transcript from that conversation below. Paul has mental health problems. He has been in and out of street homelessness for some years, in different parts of the country. “I’ve been travelling for about 35 years,” he says. His face is seamed and his teeth are broken. He says that he was sanctioned for six weeks about 18 months ago when he was homeless in Manchester. He was born and raised in Newcastle.

Now living in Clacton, he must sign on every day at the jobcentre. This daily-signon setup is utterly pointless. It won’t lead to work. It can’t. Nothing goes into it, or comes out of it. It’s a process for the hell of it. Paul says he goes into the jobcentre each day and waits around until jobcentre staff “check all that out and say “I’ll see you tomorrow” and tell me a time to come in tomorrow and that is it. It’s a pain in the arse. It’s pointless.” Indeed. So many of these jobcentre exercises now are meaningless: exercises to be gone through to meet a criteria, not a useful result. I’ll be posting more on this next week. “I don’t know what I got to come up every day for. I just say thank you very much and then go.”

During our discussion, Paul – like so many people I speak with now – says that Britain has reached a crisis point. He thinks that Britain has become weak. More specifically, he says the problem is that Britain is filled with immigrants who think that Britain is easy. So. I hear people say this sort of thing more and more now. It’s important to keep pointing this out – the extent to which this dislike of immigrants has taken hold. I used to hear it every now and then. These days, I hear it all the time. I hear it in plenty of places other than Clacton, too. I hear it in places where there’s not enough to go around – at jobcentres and from people who can’t find work, or housing. And it is hard to see how things will improve while a terrified political class devotes itself to keeping stride with Ukip, rather than, say, to addressing the housing crisis in a genuine way.

“Enoch Powell was right, you know,” Paul tells me. “It will spread like a cancer. He should have been prime minister. But lots of people are worried about it [immigration]. They are taking our things off us. We get in trouble for having our things – for having crucifixes in our rooms. [But they] are walking up the street with their face covered with a mask. [When you have a face veil on], I don’t know who you are or what you’re going to do. And they moan about people wearing crucifixes.”

So.

Says Paul:

“I have to sign on five days a week. Every day, I’m here at a different time and all. It’s twenty to two today and then I’ve got to go upstairs. They took me off the sick and all. I can move and all that, but my mind is sick. I got mental problems. They took me off the sick and said “you can work.” I can move about. I can have a conversation probably.

“I was on the sick because of the depression. I went for the medical and they took me off. That was in 2010 and they knocked me appeal out. So, I’ve got to come up here and jump through their hoops, which makes my depression worse. But if I don’t, they will stop my money. I have been sanctioned before for not getting [applying for] five jobs a week and I was on the streets at the time and all. I was living in a nightshelter – this was in Manchester. They sanctioned me, because I wasn’t applying for five jobs a week. My priority then was getting something to eat and somewhere to live. You know, instead of jobhunting. It’s somewhere to live, innit. I’m all right [for somewhere to live] at the moment. Continue reading →

More work programme provider shamelessness…

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Kate B

Sharing this story, because I love it so much:

Angela Smith is a woman with a Master’s degree and a long history of working in policy and disability support. She also has cerebral palsy and uses an electric wheelchair to get around. I’ve been accompanying Angela to her compulsory fortnightly Wembley jobcentre signons and meetings with the Reed Partnership, her work programme provider in Harrow. We’ve shown how difficult London buses can be for disabled people to use. We’ve also shown how pointless those fortnightly meetings at the jobcentre and the work programme really are when it comes to finding work.

Anyway. Angela has a new job. She got it without any help whatsoever from the jobcentre or the Reed Parntership. She found the job advertisement, filled in the application form, went to the interview and got through.

She did the whole thing entirely by herself. But that hasn’t stopped the work programme provider from trying to claim the result for itself. I went with Angela to her final meeting there a couple of weeks ago and saw this in all its glory. Her work programme adviser – a pleasant enough woman – congratulated Angela on finding a job. Then she said something along the lines of: “look, I know we haven’t helped you get this job at all – but would you be prepared to be featured in our Success Stories poster campaign? We could get your photo done and get a poster made. That would be really good.” There were posters on the office walls of people working at various jobs and saying things like: “I’m now running a successful business.” Angela and I decided that they must have been a bit short on successful-placements-of-disabled-people-in-work stories so they’d figured they’d have hers. Pity they had nothing to do with it.

Why writing off the #FocusE15 campaign is dangerously lazy behaviour from Labour

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Kate B

A few thoughts and interviews:

I’ve spent some time in the last week talking to people in Stratford who are not involved in the Focus E15 campaign, but who also have housing problems. Some of the transcripts from those interviews are posted below and I have more to add. The views of these people are important. They will give you some insight into the extent not only of the housing problem in this part of the world, but of the fury those problems have generated. They will give you an idea of the mistake Labour makes in running from the Focus E15 campaign (as it did last night again at a Newham council meeting) and pretending that its current problem is merely a “bunch of trots,” or “agitators and hangers-on.”

As it happens, I hear chilling talk when I speak with different people about their housing and income problems. I hear anti-immigration talk. I hear concerns about racism from people who worry that they will be treated badly if they are moved from the places they live in now to areas where they feel they will not be welcome. (“My daughter-in-law was sent to Brentwood and they put her next to a lovely man,” one Newham woman told me last week. “Racist as anything, he was. She wants to come back.”) I hear from new immigrants about the problems they face.

I took the three interviews below at a coffee morning on the Carpenter’s estate last week. One of the back rooms at the community centre is open for several hours on a Tuesday morning and people who are homeless, or needing food, or support come in for sandwiches, coffee and tea. I talked with people for a while. Not for the first time, it occurred to me that the likes of the Focus E15 campaign might just prove a sort of buffer against less positive tides: fascism, out-and-out racism and the aggression I always see when there isn’t enough to go around. Because I can tell you this – Labour isn’t providing that buffer. So. I’d imagine that Ukip is on Labour minds at the moment: certainly as you head towards Clacton and a byelection. I wondered of those sorts of issues were in Robin Wales’ mind when he took a moment during his recent ice-bucket challenge to implore council staff to vote Labour:

Anyway. A housing shortage and austerity generally does not bring out the best in people. Keeping so many properties in the Carpenter’s estate closed for so long was a bad move on the council’s part. People now know that a number of flats there were perfectly fine to live in. Exposing that has been the great achievement of this part of the Focus E15 campaign. Politicians can write a group of young housing campaigners off as a bunch of trots if they want and even drive through them in the mayoral auto, but that’s the lazy approach when you get down to it. It’s a dangerously lazy approach. It will not change the fact that many people now know that serviceable homes on that estate were closed. Nor will it change the fact that social fallout from a housing crisis and rising inequality is inevitably unpleasant.

It already is.

I’m going to add more interviews to this post as I go along. These three are to start:

Tony, 57, unemployed. Lives in Plaistow in a council flat. Angry and reluctant to talk in the first instance.

“Immigration is the problem. There’s too many immigrants. Housing is the problem and jobs. It has changed a lot here. Not for the better, either – no work. I want to get into the CCTV [to work as a security guard]. I’ve got my [security guard] certification, but I haven’t heard back from them.

“I’m 57, nearly 58. It’s hard now. I have to pay council tax now. It’s £10 a month what I wasn’t paying before. My rent went up 30p and the benefit rise was only 70p. I have to pay £2.50 in council tax. I live in a council flat. It’s okay. There are druggies upstairs, but it is okay. It’s not bad. It’s somewhere to live.

“With the work – I want to get into security. I passed all the courses. I got the badges in security, but they don’t want to know, because I got no work experience. It’s that I’m getting older now. I’m 58 this year. I got four children. I can’t give my kids money. I’m on the dole and that. It’s about £72 a week. About £144 a fortnight. You can’t do anything. You know what I mean. You can’t have a night out, or even go down the pub. So, you know. What can you do.” Continue reading →

Learning and literacy difficulties, no computer – but must do jobsearch online with no help

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Kate B

Local people were ignored – why an 83-year-old man is occupying a carehome & why politics is losing everybody

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Kate B

Update 24 September 3pm: Just spoke to Michelle Robson, who is 84-year-old Don Robson’s daughter-in-law. Don is an 84-year-old ex-headteacher who has been occupying the Newtown house carehome in Durham since last Thursday in protest at Durham council’s plans to close the carehome (see posts and interviews below). Apparently, council security at Don’s 84th birthday party at the occupied Newtown house carehome is heavy – see the 23 September update post below for more on the warning letter about security for the party that Durham County Council sent the family yesterday. There are six – SIX – bouncers from a private security firm present. Michelle says Don’s great granddaughter and daughter were denied entry to the party. She also said that the council was trying to stop local press from covering the story now. Don and his family are due to be evicted from their occupation at 6pm. “It’s a fine day when upstanding people like ourselves have to do this to make our point,” Michelle just told me (there’s a long interview with her on the reasons for this occupation at the end of this post). She had heard about the Focus E15 occupation of the Carpenters’ estate and sent greetings to the Focus E15 campaigners. “Tell those ladies I’m with them in spirit.” I’m thinking that Durham county council is with Newham council in spirit…they don’t want campaigners and occupiers and people protesting at service and support cuts in their neck of the woods. If this is Labour reaching out to people, they may need to refine their approach.

Update 23 September: Well. I suspect that fear of a Focus E15-type occupation has spread north. Mr Robson’s family have received a letter from Durham county council which places very tight restrictions on his planned 84th-birthday celebrations tomorrow AND gives him his marching orders. The letter, which I’ve reproduced below and will post a copy of tomorrow (posted below now), says his occupation must end after his birthday party tomorrow and that the council expects him out. Don Robson and his daughter-in-law Michelle have been occupying the Newtown house carehome in Durham since last Thursday in protest at council plans to close it. You can read about that and an interview with Michelle after this transcript of the letter:

The letter from the council:

“I write to confirm that Durham County Counciil are prepared to consent to a birthday celebration being held for Mr Robson at Newtown House on 24 September 2014 between the hours of 12 noon and 6pm.

Since you spoke, however, we have been made aware that the party has been publicised in local, national and social media. This causes us to have serious concerns as to the management of the party and accordingly, we believe it is necessary for us to make our consent to the party conditional upon the following:

– No more than 15 people shall be permitted entry at any time to Newtown House for the purpose of celebrating Mr Robson’s birthday.
– The council consents to you inviting press to attend the party. However, please note that the restriction on numbers covers all attendees, whether press, family or other persons.
– The party will take place in a lounge to be designated by DCC staff.
– You are responsible for ensuring that no damage is caused to the property by the visitors.
– You are responsible for cleaning up after the party.

Please note that the council will be providing security personnel to protect its staff and property. Should these conditions not be complied with, the security personnel will be authorised to bring the party to an end.

For the avoidance of doubt, the council does not consent to your occupation of Newtown house beyond 24 September 2014 and reserves the right to deal with your unlawful occupation after the party if you don’t leave at that point.”

Well.

—————————————————————————

September 21 – this occupation is still going on…

—————————————————————————

Original post

So… while everyone is talking political upheaval and inclusive constitutions and disillusion with the left and the right and the Westminster elite – an 83-year-old Durham man called Don Robson is occupying the Newtown House carehome in rural Stanhope with his daughter-in-law Michelle. The two have decided to sit in to protest at a Durham county council decision to close Newtown House. They’ve been there since Thursday. They are still there today. Don is the last resident left at Newtown house.

Don has lived in Newtown house for about 21 months. He was supposed to leave on Thursday, but has not. Michelle and her husband received a letter from the council saying that they had to find Don another place to live by 18 September. Michelle says their plan is to stay at Newtown house until Wednesday next week at least, which is Don’s birthday, and for an occupation of Newtown house to continue after that. Don will celebrate his 84th birthday on Wednesday. Michelle told me that they’ll hold a party for Don at Newtown house: “we want to celebrate that big-style with the community and get people to come here and have a party for him. That’s the plan.”

The ultimate plan is for Don to move in with Michelle and her husband. They’ve prepared a room for him in their home. Michelle says that is their only option. The next-nearest and most appropriate carehome for Don is a 50-mile round-trip from her home. That’s no good: Michelle and her husband like to visit Don daily, but they won’t be able to if each visit involves a 50-mile round-trip. The council told local ITV news that it couldn’t afford to keep Newtown house open.

Michelle says that the council is going ahead with the closure, because it is a Labour council and wants to be in a position to blame cuts “on the coalition government.” She says “the majority of opinions voiced over the closure were in favour of keeping Newtown house,” but that local people were ignored.

I’ve heard that sentence an awful lot over the last few years from disgruntled people around the country: “local people were ignored.” So. This is where loathing of politicians comes from, people. This is how it starts. It starts when local people who are trying to hang onto a much-admired neighbourhood service are loftily informed by their local councillors that the service is surplus to requirements and that’s the end of the story. I suspect that the political class thought it would get away with dismissing locals of all political stripes in this way forever. I wonder if the political class feels a little differently about that after the scare its main parties had in Scotland. An elderly man sitting in at a carehome is an interesting event. In its way, it is as relevant as the independence debate in Scotland has been. People get tired of hearing that they don’t count. They really do. Continue reading →

This Sunday – #FocusE15 birthday celebration following by a top secret housing action…

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Kate B

The Focus E15 campaign invites you to join a day of fun and music on the almost-empty Carpenters Estate in Stratford….

I’m going to post some photos we took recently of parts of that empty estate. It’s disgusting that the estate lies empty when so many people desperately need homes.

Later in the afternoon on Sunday, partygoers will become activists as they will be led to a top secret housing action in the Newham area…

Join the women as they continue to fight for social housing for all.

Meet at:

Sunday 2pm
Carpenters Estate, Stratford, London, E15

Will post more on this soon. Wifi is a bit average where I am atm. Here’s a video to enjoy in the meantime, though – Newham Mayor Robin Wales running away from the Focus E15 women as they lobbied for social housing at a council meeting. I really like this video. That man is not good under pressure. Look at him run.

Kate Belgrave

Talking with people dealing with public sector cuts.

Category Archives: Public spending cuts