Ocd Plus formlly oc -illnesses-and_creativity.net

 

Ocd and More

The on-line journal/blog of a sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD.

If writing did not exist, what terrible depressions we should suffer from.
Sei Shnagon c. 966 – 1013

 

 

 

 
 

From September 2010 onwards all quotes in blog entries will be included in
this coloured font. I have done this on my Sheep website and I think it makes it so much easier to identify quotations. In some entries there are a good number of quotations and it can get confusing.

Please Note: Somehow this month in a state of confusion all the fonts became green and it was rather difficult to differentiate quotations. My apologies for any confusion, I did not discover this until late in the month. I have gone through the entire page to rectify the problem but there still may be quotations not easily identifiable. No excuses but please do not forget I suffer with a number of debilitating medical conditions and from time to time get things rather muddled and it can take a long while to notice, let alone sort it out.

February 3rd

I watched the parliamentary welfare reform debate and was so shocked to see how few MPS were present for this crucial vote which if it went in our favour would at least mitigate some of the devastating cruel welfare reforms. I was too ill to come here and write much yesterday or the day before, but had I done so this entry would be peppered with abusive words and bad language aimed at these callous, insensitive, over privileged, inhuman, despicable people. A long list and I can think of more words that describe their appalling behaviour which induces in me an anger that I cannot describes as no words, not even the above, are adequate.

I have heard some of the reforms described as spiteful and indeed they are. I am just so shocked that all the amendments were overturned. However my greatest shock came as MPs voted against the house of Lords amendments that opposed the introduction of a twelve month limit to claim contributory ESA for people with cancer and the amendment that ensured that severely disabled young people continue to receive contributory ESA.

Now cancer patients will be required to undergo an assessment and be placed on a time liming ESA of one year. Young people with disabilities and chronic illness, which will mean they will never work, will be left with no income of their own, dependent on parents or a partner.

Can you imagine after having had a diagnosis of cancer confirmed that you now have to go to the job centre and undergo an assessment to get this meagre benefit. Here is a person fighting for his or her life, facing the terrifying prospect of death, who will be too ill to work but who now has to undergo a gruelling work assessment! Patients with cancer should automatically be allocated benefits as indeed should anyone with any diagnosis of any serious and life threatening condition. Surely in the struggle for survival the government could at least show some compassion.

It is outrageous that the amendments that at the least provided some small concessions that would have mildly mitigated the cruelty and evil welfare reforms could not even be allowed to pass. What good is our so called democracy if what the electorate wants is ignored.

There is no democracy. How is it democratic that MPs are told how to vote. Your MP is supposed to represent you. I would well imagine that the majority of people would have supported at the least the amendments not to include cancer patients in the one year limiting ESA or require them to go for an assessment and the amendment concerning severely disabled children who would never work. No I have not taken a poll or any other estimate of opinion but I think that I can safely say the vast majority of people would support these amendments, yet if your MP was a Tory he voted against your wishes, if he was a lib/dem he or she also most likely voted against your wishes.

I have spent hours since last Saturday preparing e-mails and sending them to MPs and as a result of my medical conditions even with the base of a template letter it has taken hours. Writing is difficult for me because of my OCD, even short comments on Flickr for example can lead to anxiety, let alone e-mails five pages long imploring a person I do not know to take action I know they will not take, a person who is more than likely to not understand and who has no empathy or compassion, a person who is set in his or her opinion and is unlikely to be moved by any of my ramblings. Saturday I pushed through the pain of a searing headache. Sunday I was exhausted riddled with obsessions and compulsions about what I write. Monday again I struggled with doubts, fear, pain, depression and all manner of sheer bloody torment. Tuesday except for the blog entry about the transportation of Monkeys I could do little of anything suffering from a migraine and severe headache from my jaw arthritis, but notwithstanding this I did post at least twenty e-mails to MPs. I wrote to all lib/dem MPs and about sixty conservatives and for what . Out of the whole bunch I got two personal helpful replies from  parliamentary assistants of two the MPs .

How could I really think I could make a difference. These people are arrogant, cold hearted, bloody cowards. I do not know what the consequences are for MPs of going against what they are told to vote but whatever it is it cannot be anything like as detrimental to what will happen to sick and disabled people because of their inhumane and callous reforms.

Shame on you, you bloody gutless cowards .

“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

Edmund Burke was an Irish politician who served in the British House of Commons and generally viewed as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism.

I wonder if Mr Burke if he were alive today would count present day conservatives, at least the instigators of these unfair reforms as “good men”. I very much doubt it.  I would imagine that he would be against this social injustice, one of the greatest of all evils.

Apparently there are no good men or few good man at any rate as none of the cowardly weak minded conservatives voted to uphold these amendments. Despite the dogged determination of a few core members of the government I cannot imagine that all Conservative MPs condone these draconian welfare reforms, yet none have opposed them

“The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich, the rights of workers over the maximisation of profits.”
 Pope John Paul II

I don’t give a dam about the national debt. Looking after the old, children, the sick, the disabled and vulnerable people comes first. It comes before waging wars to make sure you have enough petrol in your car, building endless bloody roads that devastate the countryside adding noise and pollution, it comes before the Olympic games or any other sporting event for the over privileged few for the profit of the few at the expense of the many. Looking after those who cannot look after themselves comes before the anachronism of the Queen’s Diamond jubilee. Wouldn't it be wonderful if just for once she came out and condemned the government’s cruel and unjust welfare reforms and the proposed privatisation of the NHS, assuming of course she is of this opinion. But we will never know because the Queen it seems is the only person who is not allowed an opinion or has the courage to offer it. Welfare most certainly comes before big fat cat wages, or letting off tax owed by big corporations, it even comes before education. Though on that point the government does not give a dam if your child is educated if it did not need him or her as drones mostly for the 'one percent'. It is certainly not interested in the 'masses' having a real, comprehensive education but simply the minimum required to enable people to fill poorly paid jobs for the financial benefit of those who mostly already have too much. Hence the student fees which are already seeing people from working class and even middle class families abandoning university education.

I have to ask. Who does the government owe all this money to anyway. Big corporations?. Other nations? Why is not this information available, I mean precisely word for word, figure for figure exactly who the hell do we own this money to. I bet many of these evil MPs have shares in the very corporations that we owe money to  and it is this of course that perpetuates the whole corrupt and evil system that enslaves us all, that results in one child a minute dying in Africa from want of food, clean water, and medication, that results in the loss of benefits and a plunge into poverty for millions of people here the UK and indeed worldwide as governments penalise the vulnerable to recoup money owned to God knows who. Is this information available under the freedom of information act? What would happen if we do not pay the debt

Does anyone have an answers to these questions

The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.

Abigail_van_buren_

Apply this to the evil five- Cameron, Duncan-smith, Freud, Greying and Clegg

How do they treat people who cannot do them any good... people who can’t fight back, the disabled, chronically sick, including children of course, the elderly and the unemployed.

This evil and morally bankrupt government could not have sank more low than to target the vulnerable in our society, those who cannot or would find it difficult to fight back. Particularly after tainting them with the labels of “ scroungers” and “frauds” an hideous and cowardly propaganda so effectively used by the Nazi in world war two for exactly the same reasons.

We must continue with our endeavours to campaign against these reforms, nothing is set in stone. The fight for social justice is often a long and arduous fight.

You can begin by signing this petition:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/5828

Read the latest blog entry on Diary of a benefit scrounger

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/02/warning-toxic-government.html

You could also write to Lib Dem MPs who voted with the government and let them know what you think of their capitulation. Though please be polite and not abusive, strongly and firmly state your objections. Abusive correspondence does little good.

http://beyondclicktivism.com/2012/02/01/liberal-democrat-wall-of-shame/

You could write to a few conservatives, all of whom without exception voted to over throw the amendments.

Contact Details of MPS can be found here:

http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

And you could write and thank the eight Lib Dem MPs who voted against the government during the welfare reform debate last Wednesday.

Now I have tried to find this information which is sadly less available than information about who sided with the government.

There is a list here in the Guardian blog of those MPs may have voted against the government:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/blog/2012/feb/01/welfare-benefits

So you would need to check this out yourselves, if I find any positive confirmation I will include it. 

Andrew George
Mike Hancock
Alan Reid
Adrian Sanders
John Leech
Bob Russell
Greg Mulholland
Ian Swales

 

February4th

Update

It appears that this petition to the Queen has been removed. I have left the blog entry for the time being. Why this has happened I do not know. if anyone knows please let me know

This is our last hope. The unjust and ill thought out welfare reform bill will plunge thousands of sick and disabled people into poverty and isolation. For people who are disabled, who are chronically sick or unemployed this bill is a serious detriment. Without exception, and this includes children, all will face a significant reduction in their income. Sick and disabled people will be found fit for work under the new Work Capability Assessment. Five hundred thousand will loose Disability Living Allowance DLA when it is replaced by Personal independence Payment PIP. Young people born with a disability or chronic illness who will never work will have no dependent income and will have to reply on parents or a partner. People who are suffering with cancer will be required to go for a gruelling assessment to claim benefit and be paced on a One Year time limiting Employment and Support Allowance. These are just a few of the devastating reforms that will seriously effect the lives of people who are suffering profoundly.

This bill will leave many homeless and destitute struggling on a pittance. The bill is a disaster in the making as without exception all disabled and chronically sick people and the unemployed will loose income at a time of rising prices, particularly of food, housing and heating costs. Many will loose their homes, face a deterioration of health and suffer the nightmare of fear and insecurity.

Most sick and disabled people would love nothing more than to be well and making a contribution but who by no fault of their own are dependent on society for help.

For of all who are dependent on the state for an income through no fault of their own the future is bleak.

Please sign the above petition and pass it on. Twitter, Facebook, My Space, blogs forums, any where you can place a link to this petition.

This is our only hope to stop this reform passing into law. If we do not act now the lives of many people including those of us who suffer with mental health problems will be a nightmare of poverty and deprivation with many forced to find jobs they are not well enough to do and which are not available.

February 5th

Urgent update February 9th

It appears that the petition below has been removed

If any of you have been writing as continually suggested here and elsewhere on the net in the last few months you know just how wearying it gets particularly if nothing much comes of it, though at the least there is more public awareness and sympathy for people who have to depend on benefits through no fault of their own. Now the public know that 99.05 percent of claimants are genuine. The label of " scroungers" and "Malingerers" used all too frequently by the gutter press and politicians is now no longer so readily accepted as the public are becoming more and more aware that the government's draconian welfare reforms are seriously and detrimentally destroying the lives of the chronically sick, the disabled and the unemployed, leaving people poverty stricken, homeless and desperate and suicidal.

The above petition in yesterday's entry seems a long shot but its worth it and is only a simple petition so please sign. I know for a lot of us it can be difficult to articulate, to get our thoughts out either by speaking or writing and though I write a lot it is one hell of a struggle. But often we just need to write something simple and not worry to much. This is one of my downfalls always trying to get it just right thinking it has to be well written, worrying if I have written too much, too little, too rambling or not appropriate. I know I worry about signing a petition or writing a letter and it can be sheer torture. Try and write something even if it is just one line.  Such as "please withhold your consent from the welfare reform bill as this will make the lives of many disadvantage people more difficult" or "Please help sick and disabled people by with holding royal consent for the welfare reform bill. Or" I suffer with...... and lead a difficult life which will be made more difficult if the Welfare Reforms are allowed to take effect" . " Words to that effect. .If you look at other peoples comments most are just from the heart, simple and sincere Though you can simply add your name. (You have an option for your name not to appear on the webpage).

Please sign this petition if you have not already done so

Today it is bitterly cold, heavy snow last night. Many people who are on benefits or on pensions or low paid cannot afford to heat their homes now! What will it be like when they have even less money to pay their bills and buy essentials such as food, housing and heating. We cannot allow this grave social injustice.

 
February 7th

As some of you may know - well you certainly will if you have visited this website for the last couple of months or so as most of this blog has been taken up with the Government's Draconian Welfare reforms - that Disability Living allowance DLA is to be replaced by Personal Independence Payment PIP. This new benefit will be less generous than DLA and will be even more difficult to qualify for. Moreover the government intend to reduce payments by twenty percent, this means that around 500,000 who now receive DLA will no longer qualify, these will be the people who now receive DLA at the lowest rate. There will be only two levels for PIP rather than the three levels we have now for DLA . Who are those on the lowest level who will be less likely to receive the new PIP? You guessed it, most likely people with mental health problems. However people with severe physical conditions will not find it at all easy to get PIP either.

Sue Marsh describes how someone with bowel disease will fair under the new PIP criteria

Read about by clicking the link below

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/02/brilliant-sam-barnett-cormack-has-been.html#comment-form

We must not panic or throw in the towel, we need to continue our quest for justice and a fair system of benefits. To this end I hope you will take part in the following:
 
The Government is asking for feedback on its proposals for PIP from sick and disabled people and other interested individuals and groups. We need to make sure that the Government gets as many responses as possible so your voices can be heard!
 
At the moment we just don’t know enough about what PIP is or what it might mean for us and our families.  The Government documents are difficult to read and even harder to understand, so there has been a small team beavering away at deciphering, summarising and putting the proposed PIP regulations into an easier to understand format.  It’s called:

Read more and access An Unofficial Simplified Summary of the Second Draft Regulations

http://wearespartacus.org.uk/2012/02/06/alone-we-whisper-together-we-shout/ 

More information about Simplified Version of Draft PIP Criteria

We hope it will give you all the information you need to decide how you will be personally affected by the change from DLA to PIP. Soon, we will publish a guide to the consultation too, so perhaps we can use this simplified version to start to think about what submissions we might make to the consultation.

Hopefully by later in the week, we can start writing our submissions when the guide to the consultation is finalised.

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/02/here-is-simplified-version-of-pip.html

Sometimes it is helpful also to read some of the comments. This is a difficult time for everyone whether you are suffering from a mental health problem or a physical one or you are unemployed or low paid, so many people are effected by these reforms.

Here is a good summary:

As the deadline for the Government to haul the Welfare Reform Bill through parliament draws dangerously close and its implementation looms large I want to make sure that YOU know how it might affect your life.

It is a government and media peddled myth that this bill is about the unemployed. It’s not. This bill will affect millions of employed people as well as millions of disabled adults and children. This bill is not designed to solve the problems of worklessness and benefit dependency as I will explain. this is about money, money for the treasury that none of YOU will see a penny of.

Read More

 http://darkestangel32.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/so-the-welfare-reform-bill-doesnt-affect-you-wrb/

If you are on DLA or think you may need to apply at some time for PIP or you are a carer of someone who this may effect please take part in the consultation.

If you are really keen and can't wait for the simplified version or don't need it you can access the DWP's consultation information though it will be more difficult to get your head round, at least it is for me.

Personal Independence Payment: assessment thresholds and consultation
This consultation is intended to seek views on the second draft of the assessment criteria for Personal Independence Payment and in particular on the changes that have been made since the first draft, the proposed descriptor weightings and entitlement thresholds and the draft regulations. At this stage in the development process we do not envisage making significant changes to the broad principles or scope of the assessment and so are not seeking views on these.

Please read all the related documents before responding to the consultation
 

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2012/pip.shtml

The Easy read version may help with the basics. I have read only this so far. However do keep in mind the government's rhetoric about making sure the money goes to those who need it. The whole benefit system is nothing other than a means of saving the government money.  The points system of the assessment looks rather similar to that of Employment and Support Allowance which has proved inadequate and grossly inaccurate. So in addition to the obvious detriment to the 500,000 who will be exempt from PIP the process of assessment is worrying.

They have actually admitted this

This is what the government has worked out.
• If we didn’t change Disability Living Allowance in 2013, by
the end of March 2016 there would be 2,200,000 people
aged between 16 to 64 getting it.
• The change to Personal Independence Payment will mean
that, by the end of March 2016, there will be 1,700,000
people aged between 16 to 64 getting it.
So, by the end of March 2016, half a million fewer people aged
16 to 64 will be getting Personal Independence Payment than
would have been getting Disability Living Allowance.

Page 11 easy read version

I find this just so bizarre, adding these facts here with such callous indifference as though this is of no consequence that thousands will no longer receive the help they need to enhance the quality of their lives or more likely need to barely keep them from plunging deeper into poverty. Do they think no one will question this? Surely they do not think people will consider this a good idea!

I am reading the easier read version as I am writing this entry I have to comment on page 12

Dealing with changing conditions
A person’s health condition or disability may sometimes be a little better, and sometimes a little worse.
To make sure the assessment takes this into account, the government thinks that the assessment should look at how a condition or disability affects a person’s daily life or mobility over a 12-month period.

Again this nonsense about the fluctuations of conditions. In my opinion I rather doubt that most people who would  qualify will have any significant fluctuations in their condition that would mean they do not need this benefit or any other for a time. Disability and chronic sickness are... well chronic which means long lasting, permanent. If you can't walk you can't walk because of a permanent disability, if you have bipolar you will always have bipolar and so on and on. Besides even if your conditions does fluctuate how the hell could you know in advance how your condition will vary, and by the time it takes for them to process benefits if your condition gets worse you will not have the money when you need it. Not explaining this very well. But anyone with chronic illness or disability should be granted a continuous entitlement as no one ever really has a good day do they, some days are worse than others but really how the hell can you have good days when you have a serious medical condition or conditions. Though unlike the DLA they say "a little better" rather than a good day, but honestly with a chronic illness or disability seriously "a little better" will not be significant enough to mean the person does not need help. What they are trying to do here is to save money by finding an excuse to reduce the benefit. There is a section to respond to this on page 19

Just now quickly looking at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/pip-assessment-thresholds-and-consultation.pdf  the more complicated version. Yes they are still referring to good days and bad days.

Also it does not look as though there is much provision for mental health, but we would need to read the more comprehensive versions.

It might be best to wait for the unofficial simplified version which I understand will be available later this week, plus there may be some advice upon how to comment.  So check both of the websites above in case I am not able to notify you here.

Just lately I have come to realise just how difficult it is getting my head round things as the saying goes, to comprehend so many things and to articulate. Mostly likely due to OCD and AS. Communication difficulties verbally are just awful and I dread to have to talk to anyone now. But lately it is getting more difficult to comprehend information and to articulate it even in writing. Hence it is better to give you links on important issues such a as the above.  Incidentally communication problems for those of us with mental health issues and those on the autism spectrum could well be a big issue when applying for PIP as the  application process I think will involve a face to face interview and people who find articulation difficult, particularly verbal and who do not have an obvious speech impediment, will need to ensure that other means of communicating are available as of course should be the case with other benefits such as ESA. Someone I know of, who is on the autism spectrum, has said that during the last ESA interview a couple of years ago he wrote everything down but that what he wrote was not commented on by the assessor and simply placed in a file and he rather thinks it was ignored in the assessment. At the present time DLA is applied for by filling in a form only which is of course much easier for those of us with communication difficulties.

Hope I have not complicated the issue by rambling on.

The main point is for you if you receive DLA or are considering applying for DLA or you are a carer of someone who needs or receives DLA please do take part in the consultation process. Not sure if anyone can take comment who is not in some way effected though I do not see why not, you would need to check this out and of course anyone can write stating what they think about this as they can any other issue.

I think we have until April 30th

February 8th

Concerning the government's welfare reforms I have just finished writing a letter to the Disability department of the United Nations, Enable . I shall e-mail the letter as I have included file attachments.

I along with many people consider that the governments reforms are a violation of articles 8, 9, and 25 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights  and articles 19 and 28 of the United Nations  Convention of the Rights of Persons with disabilities , the first major human rights instrument of the 21st century. There may be other contraventions, I am no expert on the matter.

Also the government's forced work schemes, Work experience programmes, are in violation of the UK's own human rights act Human Rights Act 1998 Article 4 .

“Prohibition of slavery and forced labour. 2)No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.” The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.

I am not sure about the EU human rights act, European Convention on Human Rights, as at this point in time I have not looked into this.

Now I know to many that may sound rather way out to write to the UN Enable but yes, you can write to them and I know of at least one other person who has done so and no doubt many more have. You do not have to be an expert just write and express your concern perhaps highlighting some of or even all of the issues. Regardless of experience or even writing skills the more letters they receive the more someone way take notice. Who knows it maybe worth a try. Yes it took me hours and I went over as much of the problems I am a ware of, my knowledge of which over the last couple of months or so has increased. Yes I feel the doubt about posting it, should I shouldn't I. Its daunting of course for people like us who have so many doubts. I never find it easy to post to anyone I do not know and the writing campaigns to MPs over the last few weeks have been challenging both emotionally and physically. But what can it hurt, they will reply or they won't.

Yes again I am very anxious, the reasons why are not easy to explain, some kind of paranoia perhaps. Well too weary to go into details but the OCD mind can sure conjure some pretty convincing scenarios. It does of course for just about any endeavour and we do have to struggle don't we all the time each and every day.  My anxieties are mitigated by my desire to help with the campaign to get a fair deal for benefit claimants and we are exhausting most of the remaining possibilities here in the UK. So why not write to Enable and the EU though I have not looked into the EU European Convention on Human Rights and how this reflects on the governments welfare reforms.

Important Update February 14th concerning the address to write to, the Enable address below is incorrect

Enable

And the contact details

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=175

You should instead visit http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crpd/pages/crpdindex.aspx and email: crpd@ohchr.org

Please See February 14th entry for more details

If you are obsessing as I am now about the appropriateness of contacting them please read:
United Nations Enable is the official website of the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (SCRPD) in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) at the United Nations Secretariat. The website provides public information on topics related to disability and the work of the United Nations for persons with disabilities.

As the Focal Point on Disability in the United Nations system, SCRPD (DESA) works to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in society and development, through key global instruments such as the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons (1982), the Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1994) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), as well as other relevant human rights and development instruments.

Continue to read from Enable: Our Work

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=17

And the introduction to Enables Facebook page

United Nations Enable provides information on the work of the United Nations to support the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development; to advance the rights and protect the dignity of persons with disabilities and; to promote equal access to employment, education, information, goods and services.

The work includes information on the implementation of the Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities adopted in 1994, and the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons adopted in 1982, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted in December 2006 that came into force in May 2008, as well as internationally agreed development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Please visit

http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Nations-Enable/196545623691523

So I think that it is appropriate to send a letter or an e-mail expressing your concerns. The welfare Reforms are grossly unethical and are a serious detriment to disabled people and the chronically sick and once again I remind you that that includes the mentally ill who may find it more difficult to challenge the changes that may effect them. The majority of the disabled community include mental health sufferers in their campaigning, highlighting our particular plight so please do support the campaign in all its facets. I have also included in my correspondence to Enable the effects the bill has had on the low paid and unemployed even though strictly speaking this is not a disability issue but which
nonetheless needs mentioning. Having said this of course some people with disabilities are able to work so yes this does effect disabled people. In fact the Work Experience Programme I believe involved a significant number of disabled people. Moreover it is highly likely that a person applying for Employment and Support allowance could very well find themselves declared fit to work as a result of the gross inaccuracy and possible bias of the Work Capability Assessment undertaken by ATOS.

Again though do what you can and think is appropriate. Write as little or as much as you like, a passionate plea to look into the matter or a long detailed account all will help highlight the draconian welfare reforms and their effects.

Suggest others also write, the more people who write the better so again here is were social media comes in.  The dissemination of ideas, suggestions and information is now more readily disseminated though I am still concerned about the number of people who are not aware of what is happening as still so many do not have internet access. Even those that do if they are otherwise occupied can be in the dark about matters such as the welfare reform bill, which was the case for me until three or four months ago. Also I think those of us with mental health issues tend not to be so aware as to what is happening regarding this type of development, even if it does effect us significantly. Most of the charities for OCD and other anxiety disorders seem to have made little mention of the problem. Even though the National Autistic Society has had their low key endeavours to correct some of the finer destructive aspects of the benefit reform that effects people on the autism spectrum, there is no prominent information about the welfare reforms or any kind of serious campaigning. So we need to continually spread the word.  As sufferers of a medical condition be it physical or mental health in this respect concerning the detrimental effects of the welfare reform bill we are " all in it together" and need to take action that benefits everyone, not just one particular group

Also spread the word in the usual ways Twitter, Facebook forums blogs about the PIP consultation mentioned in the previous entry February 7th. If you receive DLA or are considering applying for DLA or you are a carer of someone who needs or receives DLA please do take part in the consultation process and suggest others do so.

February 11th

I sometimes wonder what a psychologist would say about the content of this blog in the last two months and my frenetic drive and on-line activities to try and thwart the government's draconian welfare reforms and any minute now - well later in this entry-  the same, I am also about to focus on the government's equally unwelcome and much opposed plans to privatise the NHS.  He or she would probably tell me that I am exhibiting a manifestation of OCD called over responsibility.  Yes maybe to some degree, as is also the case with scrupulosity, I do appear to many to go to the extreme. However in this case my activities are not a lot different to those of others on the net who are campaigning with equal if not, and indeed in most cases, more fervour. Many have driven themselves beyond the limit and found themselves in hospital or driven to exhaustion.

I guess its the thoughts behind the deeds and yes I am getting somewhat anxious and driven to include information and the tone of OCD is setting in.

Nonetheless these are good causes as indeed are all the causes that I promote here. 

We need to oppose social injustice. This country was once thought of as a good place to live where in sickness and disability no one felt fear of destitution. No benefits have never been good, always the basic minimum and extremely difficult to quality for despite the nasty and malicious propaganda of the government to the contrary supported by most of the media with the exception of the Guardian Newspaper, which has supported the sick and disable throughout this nightmare of vilification. Nonetheless benefits were available even if you had to fill in a fifty page form for your DLA and did make the lives of disabled people more tolerable. Now however the disabled community are about to be cast into a dismal abyss of poverty and other detriments as without exception all loose income. The fight for the right to have enough income for a descent standard of living continues and will do so until justice is served

In addition to some measure of financial security and services for the sick and disabled here in the UK we were once secure in the knowledge that we have free health care and the NHS was the envy of the world. Yet radical and detrimental changes are planned, changes which most people do not want.

The Government proposes to bring about the biggest re-organisation of the NHS since it began in 1948. These plans will end the NHS as we know it. The government promised that they would not do this and yet despite clear opposition from just about everyone they are as usual forging a head with their ill conceived plans.  We need to make the Government listen before it's too late.

The NHS reforms present a worrying move to 'marketise' the NHS and bring in private providers introducing an American style system.

Most people are not in agreement with private companies providing our health care, their priority will be profit of course. Patient care should not be motivated by competitive greed, the very greed that has destroyed our economy and has already made the lives of many people a misery. Consequently people will suffer. The government of know of course that the vast majority of people oppose the NHS reforms. Their determination in this matter rather like the welfare reforms is deeply worrying, they push through their destructive agendas with out taking into account that doing so goes against the will of the people, which should be a priority in a democracy. The NHS was once the envy of the world. We need to keep it that way. We most certainly do not want an American system driven by greed and profit. What is happening and is about to happen to the NHS leaves many people feeling very insecure. These changes are not necessary, will not improve health care and in fact will be a detriment.

Time for a serious rethink. We need to tell the government not to privatise the NHS. The overwhelming majority do not want the NHS subjected to the greed and corruption of full-blown competition and market forces. Over the last 60 years the NHS has served us well, a revolution in health care for everyone, lets keep it that way. It is not perfect of course but the alternatives in the shape of this new bill will be much worse and the NHS we once knew and could reply on for free quality healthcare will be a thing of the past. This bill must be withdrawn, it is in opposition to the wishes of the vast majority of the public, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals and their organisations.

Action you can take

Lots of action included in the website below for you to participate in, petitions to sign, posters to download. Also details of how to contact MPS and Peers in the House of Lords. There is an on-line form for you to do so including advice about what write.  I consider emphasis should be on Dropping the bill

Please pass on the following link and the one below to others in the usual way though social networking , twitter, facebook,blogs forums and so on.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/pages/save_our_nhs_action_centre

At least sign the petition which has now over 500,000 signatures.

Also please sign the petition below

http://www.dropthebill.com/

The above is a labour party petition but this is not a partisan issue so do please consider signing regardless of political affiliation. Incidentally  many Tory MPs oppose the new reforms

Also

“Drop the Health Bill”
Responsible department: Department of Health

“Calls on the Government to drop its Health and Social Care Bill.”

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22670

If you can write to more than one MP or peer please do so either by e-mail or letter.

Here are the addresses of MPs and House of Lords peers:

Directory of Mps where you can also find the name and contact details of your local MP

Lists of MPs

http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

Lists of Members of the House of Lords

http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/lords/

Not sure about the damaging effects of the NHS reforms than read the following article:

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/01/health-bill-nhs-private-care

Information and suggestions for action you can take From the Green Benches Blog

These are the 150 MPs (click link further down) who will lose their seats if they do not help stop this NHS Bill. Email them & tell them.

I think we should use this list to focus our lobbying where it will have the best effect.

The NHS Risk Registers that Lansley has buried detail several serious warnings about the financial viability of Lansley's NHS reforms. GPs have little experience at commissioning, and the reduction of buying power that will result in the soaring costs after the dismantling of our health services will drive us to financial ruin and a worsening Post Code lottery. In some cases the NHS Risk Register warns that GPs could go bankrupt. The nation and the nation's medical professionals oppose this Bill. We need to force Lansley to publish the Risk Register to make these warnings & dangers public.

Read More and access the list
http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2012/02/these-are-150-mps-who-will-lose-their.html

I know I am weary with all the letter writing and have neglected many other on-line activities and my art work. And right now I have a shocking headache and should be resting. But what is happening in this country is a nightmare for those of us who are not fabulously wealthy and we need to vigorously oppose these changes which effect the most vulnerable in our society.

Even if you do not sign the petition Drop the Bill at least read the one to five detrimental effects listed at the bottom of the page. Even more worrying than I at first thought. Most worrying is number one:

POSTCODE LOTTERY
The Bill will break up the NHS and create an unfair postcode lottery. With no national standards, there will be widespread variation in the treatments available on the NHS. In some areas, people may have to go private to get services available for free elsewhere.

Read more:  http://www.dropthebill.com/ scroll to the bottom of the page

Leading medical organisations like the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of Nurses are now calling outright for Lansley's plans to be dropped.

We must act now to save the NHS

More Information including the progress of the bill

 

The Health and Social Bill is at the moment with the House of Lords .

The next stages are :

Feb and March – Report stage

March – Third Reading

March /April – Consideration of amendments

April/May  - Royal Assent

http://www.dropthebill.net/

Papers from the British Medial Journal require a subscription but there is some free info

January 13th 

Click the link below for ten actions you can take to help stop the privatisation of the NHS.

You have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
The words above were spoken by Winston Churchill in his first HoC speech when he accepted the role of Prime Minister in 1940. I think they sum up what each member of the public can do over the next 10 days to kill this NHS Bill. If everyone who opposes the Tory NHS Bill did half of what I lay out below, Lansley's bill will fail. On the 22/02/12 Labour have secured a debate & vote on the Risk Register. We will fight and we will be right. See the 10 things you can do to help below.

To continue reading and find out the ten actions you can take:
http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-have-nothing-to-offer-but-blood.html


Please check this out and be sure to watch the video link at the end of number 3

Please take as many of the actions as you can.

I have been e-mailing crossbench peers, and will continue on to e-mail lib/dem peers, Bishops and others and will try to take other actions. Yes must of course e-mail conservative peers, I rather think there will be those who have serious misgivings regarding this bill and perhaps a little public pressure may encourage them to stand against it.

Quite a few peers do not have e-mail. I appreciate that writing letter is more time consuming and more expensive but please write as many as you can.

Just do whatever you can.

February 14th

Concerning February 8th entry regarding letter writing to the UN's Enable . I received a letter from them which had incidentally ended up in the spam box, so if you have not received a reply it is worth checking there.

However this is not the most important point here. Apparently the enable e-mail address was incorrect. In the reply they gave me a link to more information and a different e-mail address to send your enquiry. 

The answer to your question is beyond the scope of this office. We would like to refer you to the experts at the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for an answer to your questions: Please visit http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crpd/pages/crpdindex.aspx or email: crpd@ohchr.org

So if anyone wants to write and express their concerns about the welfare Reform bill, please use the above e-mail address .Not the one I gave you in February 8th entry.

Hope I have not confused anyone. Today I have a headache and it is going to be a difficult day for me in one way or another and I simply cannot think straight to express myself too well in writing.

The main point is the enable contact details are incorrect. Please write using the above
e-mail. I am not sure about a postal address as I am really not up to exploring the above in any detail today. However if I find a postal address I will include it here.

Looking at the above webpage it does look complex, these things always are aren't they, nevertheless it can't hurt to write. Don't be put off. If i receive a reply I will let you know here.


 February 15th

There are serious and detrimental consequences to the NHS reform about which we do not know. These risks need to be made public.

E Petition launched calling for the NHS Risk Register to be published.

Andrew Lansley is blocking the publication of the NHS Risk Register by appealing the Information Commissioner's order that the Register be published. He is doing so because it contains grave warnings about the risks posed by his Health & Social Care Bill. I promise you that the content of that Register warns about the potential surge in costs associated with the NHS. The Register details a lack of experience in commissioning as well as a diminution in buying power caused by the decentralisation and dismantling of the old structure. The Risk Registers warn about a Post Code lottery affecting certain regions as they lose out in the new 'slice up' of funding arrangements. Most gravely, the Register warns about the profit element of the private provision 'driving up' costs as they siphon off profits from the NHS.
 

Continue reading more and sign the petition either on the Green Benches Blog

http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2012/02/e-petition-launched-calling-for-nhs.html

or here:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/27426

Please be sure to read the entire entry as it contains some important information.

I have just finished e-mailing all the house of Lords peers with the exception of the conservatives. I may write to them at some time as it should not be assumed that they are all in agreement with these reforms and cannot be persuaded otherwise, particularly as they become aware of public opinion. In fact I very much doubt that all of the conservative  party, MPs and peers, are in agreement with the NHS reforms any more than I believe that the welfare reforms were agreed upon unanimously by the consensus of every Tory MP.

What a shocking state of affairs, what a disgrace this government is. Not only have they made life extremely difficult, insecure and fearful for many of us who are sick and disabled and otherwise disadvantaged by unemployment and low wages, by their unfair welfare reforms, they are now hell bent on making life worse by destroying the NHS.  Alright for this government of millionaires and high wage earners who no doubt will be able to afford insurance and private health care.

 What kind of warped mentality is driving these people to take such destructive measures against those who are sick and disabled, and do not forget anyone at any time can become ill and unable to work and dependent of the state.

February 16th

More action you can take to prevent the privatisation of the NHS

Rally to Save Our NHS

7 March, 18.00-19.30. Central Hall, Westminster and streamed LIVE online

Those who work in the NHS and those who use it are telling the government they must think again about their controversial Health and Social Care Bill.

The Bill is still in the House of Lords and this is our best chance to change the proposals before it returns to the Commons, where the government can rely on party whips to get it passed.

Continue reading and register for either the rally or to take part in a virtual (on-line) rally

http://www.goingtowork.org.uk/rally-to-save-our-nhs/

Please Sign Pat's Petition

Please sign the on-line petition to "Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families."

This is a government petition which if the number of signatures reaches a 100,000 the government will debate the e-petition in the house of commons and review the matter, right now the signatures stand at only 30,000.

We need to get that target of 100,000 signatures so Please Please sign if you have not done so. Also please pass on to others by the usual social network routes.
You may also be interested in signing a similar petition created by Bob Reitemeier Chief Executive, The Children's Society, which has only about 7,000 signatures:
Don't let disabled children pay the price for welfare reform: reverse unfair plans to cut support by up to £27 per week for 100,000 disabled children
　

This is the greatest time in history in which we can really make a difference even if we are too sick or disabled even to leave the house. The internet has allowed many of us to have our say. Though of course many do not have access.

Sadly millions do not even have enough food or clean water.  Things can and must change and we should try even if it is only to sign a petition to make our voices heard so that in the future we can have a fair and just society were no person goes hungry, no one is exploited and the resources are used for the benefit of all at the expense of no one nor any other creature or the environment. We have to bring about an end to the voracious greed of the one percent and make our world a decent place to live. Every journey so the old Chinese proverb says begins with a single step. Please take at least one step and participate in one of the actions above or elsewhere on the website. Thank you

February 18th

I had to remove yesterdays entry. It was just a confused mess, riddled with errors. I did it in a rush, at least it felt like that though it took at least three hours. I am sitting here wondering whether to re post it as I spent more time in the afternoon trying to get it right. If you did not see the entry you of course have no idea what I am referring to.

Yesterday morning I was beside myself with anger because of the news that the government are about to force sick and disabled people into one of their unpaid workfare "work experience" programmes.  The shocking injustice of this, the crowning atrocity against people who are struggling with serious medical conditions and disabilities filled me with such rage that I had to write something.  It takes me a long time to really present a piece of writing though lately entries have appeared most days. They are not perfect by any means, none of my writings ever are, but yesterday was really such a mess. Sadly OCD doubts are immerging and more and more i question everything I write. Along with increasing exhaustion this is taking its toll.

Below is the revised entry

Of all the hideous Tory outrages against the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society, the latest prospect of the sick and disabled being forced into unlimited unpaid work or face cuts to their benefits of up to three months has to be the most disgusting inhumane and bloody evil aspect of the government's agenda of forced labour, in other words slavery.

It is bad enough that abled bodied young people are being coerced into work experience programs for no remuneration other than their Job seekers allowance. A thirty hour week no less, sometimes on a nightshift as is the case concerning a recent Tesco advert . The so called job was advertised on the Jobcentre Plus website and offered only expenses and Jobseekers' Allowance for permanent night shift work at a store in East Anglia.

Later after being inundated with comments via social media Tesco said it was an IT mistake. However at first Tesco had stated that the job was part of a government-backed scheme that guaranteed a job interview at the end of the placement. As if that justified this form of exploitation. Floods of irate postings appeared on the store’s Facebook page and the topic trended on Twitter. Read the full story

http://www.channel4.com/news/ad-for-job-with-no-pay-a-mistake-says-tesco

Ya sure, a mistake. As my mother used to say "I believe you but thousands wouldn't" Well no I don’t believe them of course. Whether advertised or not this happens, young people are working for thirty hours each week for their Job Seekers Allowance about £67 only £53 for under eighteens. This works out at a fraction over £ 2 and £ 1.70 per hour respectively.

Shame on Tesco. Boycott the store. Send back your points cards and coupons as I intend to do and tell them what you think of their participation in these so called Work Experience programmes.

More on Tesco:

Tescos accidentally reveals the exploitation at the heart of workfare
There has been huge outcry in response to a job advert from Tescos for a 30 hours a week nightshift UNPAID through the Job Centre Work Experience scheme. This isn’t a one-off. A year ago, Boycott Workfare spoke to someone at the job centre who had just finished seven nights on the trot of forced unpaid work at Tescos.

Please Continue reading this is a very informative article

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=404

Such programmes are nothing short of coercion

Yes coercion is not too strong a word if your benefits are withdrawn if you do not comply. In fact slavery is not an inappropriate description under such circumstances. Yes in theory you can refuse but in reality this is extremely difficult if you face loosing your only source of income.

Now the government want to enforce a similar practice on sick and disabled people who are claiming Employment and Support Allowance ESA who have been assigned to the Work Related Activity group

The idea of sick and disabled people participating in these grossly unethical forced labour schemes is surely the lowest the government have sunk with their vicious and uncompromising employment agendas.

Not even the terminally ill are spared

Did you Know that not even the terminally ill will be spared. Yes anyone on ESA who has more than six months to live will also be expected to participate in the governments forced labour schemes.

For goodness sake!!!!!!! Surely we can allow a dying person to make the most of whatever time remains to them without forcing them to work for the piffling benefit upon which they will by no fault of their own depend. Have the government no humanity, on feelings, no compassion, no sense of decency, no ethical code of conduct.

Seemingly not!.

I bet if you were sucked in by the Tory rhetoric and voted for them or the Lib/Dem you now regret it.

This morning I came across the following statements that Cameron said before the election, which in light of recent events seem now so utterly shocking in their insincerity.

Referring to his disabled son he said

“I help care for a severely disabled child – my son. It’s what I do at the start of each day. It’s sharpened my focus on the world of care assessments, eligibility criteria, disability living allowance, respite breaks,”

Later, in another interview, yet again he explains how his own personal experiences had shaped his views:

The very painful thing about disability – whether your own or your loved one’s – is the feeling that the situation is out of your control. When the system that surrounds you is very top-down, bureaucratic, inhuman, that can only increase your feelings of helplessness … but I do believe there are moments of despair, helplessness and frustration that could be directly alleviated by the work of government.

You have to ask yourself if what you are reading are the words once uttered by this man who along with Greyling, Osborne and Freud has mercilessly ran roughshod through the entire welfare system - which was already no match for the more generous benefit systems in the rest of Europe and also more difficult to qualify for - reducing the income of every single disabled person including children and leaving young people who are born disabled dependent on a parent or partner. Also implementing a flawed assessment that declares disabled and sick people as fit to work when they are not able to do so, with the result of many people committing suicide. His gross reforms will find the streets filled with homeless people as the changes to housing benefit force people out of their homes as they are plunged into poverty. The list goes on and on and I have wrote extensively here about these atrocities

I wonder what his policies concerning disability would have been if his son had not been disabled. His focus was sharpened alright, targeted to destroying the lives of the sick and disabled, not in the direction one would expect from the above sentiments.

It’s bad enough that the government have seriously destroyed the lives of chronically sick and disabled people including children as a result of their unfair draconian welfare reforms, without now resorting to force sick and disabled people into unpaid work.

This loathsome government are nothing more than greedy callous self serving cowards who follow the grossly inhumane politics of a leader whose own sanity surely must be questioned. The manipulative rhetoric of this man who used his own disabled son to win disabled voters confidence that he had their best interests at heart is so typical of the manipulative ways of a sociopath, what other explanation can there be. He is either a sociopath or he is evil, either way he is not suitable for his position as Prime minister and it is high time that some of the more moderate conservatives used their influence and find someone more suitable. A motion of no confidence perhaps.  I cannot in all honesty believe that every Tory MP is in total agreement with this callous man who along with Greyling, Osborne and Freud, have targeted the most vulnerable in society with their hideous agendas

Here are some comments about this latest outrage quoted in the Guardian Newspaper.

Neil Bateman of the http://www.nawra.org.uk/ said:

"Compulsory, unpaid work may worsen some people's health, with the consequences of the DWP's savings being passed on to the NHS at greater cost.

"If jobs are there to be done, people should get the rate for the job, instead of being part of a growing, publicly funded, unpaid workforce which, apart from being immoral, actually destroys paid jobs."

Neil Coyle, director of policy and campaigns at http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/, said:

The idea that disabled people should work but receive no financial recognition for contributing is perhaps a level of abuse in and of itself.

More information please read the Guardian article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/16/disabled-unpaid-work-benefit-cuts?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

No one, disabled or otherwise should be made to do unpaid work under any circumstances ! These work schemes are not a path way to work, merely exploitative slave labour which will be keenly accepted by all the usual unscrupulous money grabbing unethical retailers such as Tesco, Asada and Holland and Barrett, to name just a few of the retailers who will be all be only too willing to have another section of our vulnerable society to exploit.

It is time that charities spoke out against these programmes and stop beating about the bush and condemn these schemes for the injustices that they are

The governments so called work experience schemes contravene both the Universal declaration of human rights and the UK’s own human rights laws.

In the case of young people and forced labour.

Young people are working for as much as 30 hours a week of unpaid labour and have to be available from 9am to 10pm.

The same could well apply to disabled people as there is no limitation of Duration. But even if it is only a few hours for a few weeks it is still forced labour. Forced because it is under threat of loosing benefits for non compliance.

The sick and disabled need to focus on coping with their conditions and sometimes that is about all they can do and indeed all they should be expected to do.

There is no question in my mind. No disabled or chronically sick people should be forced to work for no wages on penalty of loosing their benefits. No one should be forced to work under such duress.

What with one thing and another the laid back attitude of some of the prominent charities throughout this crisis has had a serious impact on the ease with which this bill progressed through the house of commons. Most of the more rigorous campaigning was undertaken by sick and disabled people themselves. I have done nothing much except blog and write endless letters to MPs and the house of Lords members for weeks about welfare reforms and more recently regarding the privatisation of the NHS as have many others in desperate attempts to turn the tide of these unfair reforms.

Had more vigorous and more meaningful campaigns been launched to drop the entire bill by all of the main charities, would we find ourselves in the position we are today, on the brink of the most drastic and viscous wellfare reforms ever passing into law.

Labour enforced by the threat of withholding benefits surely constitutes a breach of the Declaration of Human Rights

Article 4. Universal Declaration of Human rights

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

This scheme also violates the UK’s Human Rights Act 1998 Article 4

“Prohibition of slavery and forced labour. 2) No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour.”

The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1

Also in a more general way the whole welfare reform bill must surely contravene Article 25

•(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
•(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

These and other forced labour programmes contravenes Article 4 and other articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights such as

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment,

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

Hardly equal pay for equal work is it, nor is it a free choice of employment. These work programs are compulsory, no choice, no equal pay, just your benefit ESA or JSA.

If you are outraged write to your MP

http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

More Action you can take

Please visit Boycott Workfare and get involved:

Boycott Workfare is a UK-wide campaign to end forced unpaid work for people who receive welfare. Workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst threatening the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work without a living wage. We expose and take action against companies and organisations profiting from workfare; encourage organisations to pledge to boycott it; and actively inform people of their rights.

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

Please sign this e-petition
Petition to Abolish Work for your Benefit/Workfare Schemes in the UK

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29356


 Take part in Consultations

There are a couple of consultations at the moment regarding aspects of welfare reform both inviting comments which you may wish to respond to. There may be others and if I come across them I will include them here. This is a chance to say what you think.

Work Capability Assessment: accounting for the effects of cancer treatment – informal consultation
 

This consultation seeks to gather evidence and views about proposed improvements to the way the Work Capability Assessment assesses individuals who are suffering from cancer.

The Department is keen to obtain the views of all interested stakeholders, including individuals who have been or are being affected by cancer, their families and carers, healthcare practitioners and cancer specialists as well as representative organisations and employers

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2011/wca-assessment.shtml

Closing date: 9 March 2012
 

In my opinion and that of most everyone else no one with cancer should be in the work capability groups. Patients suffering with cancer or any potentially terminal illness should automatically be granted benefits without the need for assessment. None should be forced to work under any circumstance.

Personal Independence Payment: assessment thresholds and consultation

This consultation is intended to seek views on the second draft of the assessment criteria for Personal Independence Payment and in particular on the changes that have been made since the first draft, the proposed descriptor weightings and entitlement thresholds and the draft regulations. At this stage in the development process we do not envisage making significant changes to the broad principles or scope of the assessment and so are not seeking views on these.

You can read more about this in February7th entry

I am concerned about the replacement of DLA with PIP , the most worrying aspect is the 20 percent cut back in funding which will mean about 500,000 people who now get DLA will not qualify for PIP

End date 30 April 2012

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2012/pip.shtml

Update

I had not noticed something that is just so shocking about the Workfare forced labour schemes that relate to the sick and disabled who are in the ESA Work-Related Activity Group WRAG. Unlike the young people's forced labour time limit of eight weeks, though I understand that in some cases it can be as much as two years, for people on ESA WRAG there is no time limit. In theory you could find yourself having to do unpaid work indefinitely. The length of time it seems is dependent upon the whims of your job centre advisor and the employer.

Though there is a brief mention earlier in this entry about this, this fact really did not sink in until I read the latest posting from the Diary of a Benefit Scrounger:

 
Eternal Slavery for Sick and Disabled
 Sue Marsh

Basically if you are sick or disabled and an assessment has found that you may be capable of some work at some point in the future, with the right support, you can now be forced to take part in the Government's "Workfare" scheme, working for free to make more profit for Tesco and Asda and Poundland! Yay! With Lupus or Schizophrenia or Leukaemia or waiting for a kidney transplant or.... well anything really. You're probably exempt with less than 6 months to live, but only if you can be sure it's not a day over 6 months.

Continue reading this satirical post which so well describes the situation

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/02/eternal-slavery-for-sick-and-disabled.html

Here is an excellent article from the Daily Mail!!!!!

For once the Daily Mail are being supportive by including this the article:

This is not wartime Nazi Germany and Cameron's attacks on the vulnerable and needy must be stopped

By Sonia Poulton

'...over the past week or so I have sat back and watched our Coalition Government surpass itself in its campaign of terror against some of the most needy in our society.

There we were thinking it impossible that David Cameron's Tory party could become even more dastardly, even more duplicitous, in their devastating aims against those in vulnerable groups - sick, disabled, single parent families and the elderly - but they have.'

'As a result of Cameron's spurious recent behaviour in pushing through crippling, quite literally for some, amendments to disability benefits, it has become clear that the attached issues are even more heinous that the blueprint of the Welfare Reform Bill, itself.
And it is this: disabled people will now face the prospect of unlimited unpaid work or they will be subject to cuts in their benefits. For millions that is nothing more than a line on a page but for many terrified and suicidal others, it is anything but.'


Be sure to read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2102484/This-wartime-Nazi-Germany-Camerons-attacks-vulnerable-needy-stopped.html#ixzz1mk5TMxEc

Many thanks to both Sue Marsh and Sonia Poulton respectively for excellent and passionate articles.

Also very grateful for this clear description of what is happening from A Latent Existence

Which if you have not already read it by clicking the Link in Sue's blog  above please do so now:

.latentexistence.me.uk/government-taps-sick-and-disabled-people-as-source-of-free-labour/#comments

Also

.latentexistence.me.uk/government-work-placement-schemes-little-more-than-slave-labour/

and

http://www.latentexistence.me.uk/who-benefits-from-the-work-programme/

Please note this paragraph from the above webpage that so well describes the reality of the Workforce programme and the advantages to employers at the expensive of unemployed youth and soon people on ESA WRAG

People sent on these placements are often doing the same jobs as people paid a full time minimum wage, except that is becoming rarer because many businesses that take part in the scheme have laid of temporary and part time staff in favour of free labour from the scheme. Instead of paying their staff, these big businesses are getting paid to put people to work. This might perhaps be just about acceptable if the people on the schemes were given a job at the end of the placement, but the norm is for them to be sent back to the job centre and a new unemployed person put to work in an endless cycle of free labour. It is baffling why our government thinks that paying businesses money to exploit people and making people work a full time job to the benefit of private industry for just their £53 per week job seekers allowance is a good idea. Even if the DWP do require people to work in return for their benefits (And I don’t think that fits the ideal of ensuring that no one is destitute) I do not think they should be required to work for more hours than they receive the equivalent money for at minimum wage. Indeed, it may well be illegal for these people not to be paid minimum wage and I hope that there are some successful legal cases against the scheme soon.

Be sure to read the whole article latentexistence.me.uk/who-benefits-from-the-work-programme/ were you will find examples of people who have worked along side paid employees doing exactly the same jobs.

I am so outraged by this turn of events that I had to include the above. It is vital that everyone knows just how low this morally bankrupt  government have sunk.

This morning I sent the letter mentioned earlier to Tesco returning a coupon and store points card cut in four letting them know I will not set foot in the store until they pull out of the workfare scheme.

Please consider if at all possible boycotting as many retailers as you can who are involved in the workforce scheme.

February 20th

Today is World Day of Social Justice.

While we know that there are many serious social injustices throughout the world this does not mitigate the devastating effects on the sick and disabled and the unemployed here in the UK with regard to the government’s vicious welfare reforms.

Might be a good day to write to the UN about this though I still have not had a response to the e-mail I sent recently. Which is disappointing since I had a quick response the first time when I sent it to the wrong department who within a day or two sent me the correct e-mail address below.

However it is early days and perhaps if more people write they may take more notice

Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the body of independent experts which monitors implementation of the Convention by the States Parties.

http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crpd/pages/crpdindex.aspx

email: crpd@ohchr.org

The following are links to information concerning the UN World day of Social Justice which some of you may find interesting. Though it is a good thing that these days highlight problems worldwide, sadly nothing ever seems to change.

http://www.un.org/en/events/socialjusticeday/

http://www.ilo.org/global/meetings-and-events/campaigns/voices-on-social-justice/lang--en/index.htm

There is a segment of the video that focuses on disability.

This is a very moving video. It is a tragedy in this world of plenty when so many go without life enriching opportunities and indeed more often than not the very basics of life such as food, clean water, shelter and life saving medicine while the minority, the one percent, have far far more than they will ever need.

Don't be overawed by the thought of writing to the UN, you have as much right to express your views and request intervention as anyone else.

February 22nd

Urgent Action for today

I received the following notification from 30 degrees on Monday I either did not notice it or it has only just appeared in my e-mail box. So there is only this morning to take any action.

The action required is though simple.

Read through the information below that I received from 30 degrees and sign the form letter. You can use your own words for more impact, it is a simple one paragraph letter. However if you can't cope with this just send it as it is

This Wednesday, (today)there's a crunch NHS vote in Parliament. MPs will vote on whether to demand the publication of a secret government report into the risks facing the NHS. That could be another nail in the coffin of Andrew Lansley's plans - so let's pile the pressure on our MPs to vote the right way.

Right now, Andrew Lansley is in a tricky position to defend. He wants MPs and Lords to back his plans for the NHS. But he's refusing to let them find out what the risks are. If we work together to put our MPs under pressure, there's a decent chance they'll refuse to do Lansley's dirty work for him.

This vote could go either way - send your MP an email asking them to back publishing the secret report - it takes two minutes:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-risk-report

 The vote will take place on Wednesday afternoon. That means we've got just over 48 hours to convince enough MPs to vote to publish the secret report. The more of us that email our MPs right now, the more likely we are to succeed.

38 Degrees members, doctors, nurses and academics have all been warning for ages that Lansley's plans put our health service at risk. We know there's a secret report that could prove that we're right - so let's work together to get this report published before it's too late.

 Write to your MP and tell them to vote the right way at the risk report debate on Wednesday:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-risk-report


 Thanks for being involved,

David, Johnny, Hannah, Marie, Cian, Becky and the 38 Degrees team


PS. Last week we managed to get e-petition past 100,000 signatures. Now there's a crunch vote on the risk report - so email your MP:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-risk-report

Pass on to as many people as possible by social networking: Twitter, facebook, forums, websites, e-mail

February 23rd

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

 Aristotle

Looks like no matter what the public want, if it is not in keeping with the government’s agenda they will take no notice.

Is this democracy? What actual say do you and I have? Very little it would seem as yet again the government run roughshod over the will of the people.

The Government has thwarted attempts by the labour party, who on this issue are supported by the vast majority of the British Public, to force it to publish an internal assessment of the risks posed by the controversial NHS reforms, reforms that rather like the recent welfare reforms the government is hell bent on imposing on an unwilling public.

Concerning the failure to force the government to publish the NHS risk register you have to ask yourself the question: If there is nothing to hide than why not publish it?

What an absolute scandal. Yet another blow to democracy.

There are no ifs buts or ands. It matters not what the government want regarding NHS reforms or anything else, in a democracy it is what the people want. An estimated Eighthly five percent of the British public are against the government’s NHS reforms. The majority. At the end of the day this is the one and only criterion that counts. If your MP and the government do not take heed of the majority of people we are not a democracy. Each and every MP from Cameron down to the back bencher’s duty is to represent the people, if he or she is not doing so they are failing in their duty to you and to the British people and have no right to represent you.

I along with many others have written letter after letter, e-mail after e-mail until my arms and back have ached and I am exhausted. I have written protesting the NHS reforms as I have written to oppose the welfare reforms and nothing changes as they go about their agendas in total disregard for what the people want. The whole thing is a mockery of democracy and social justice. This point is even more valid as the coalition government do not have a mandate, they were never elected to represent us and hopefully never ever will be again, at least for a dammed long time. I rather doubt that either the Tory’s or the lib deems will be elected next time round, I doubt the Lib/Dems will be elected as an overall majority for decades.

The result of privatising the NHS will be catastrophic for most of us except for the government and other members of the greedy one percent who consider themselves better than the rest of us, worthy of more money, better housing, education and health care, these parasites who prey off the rest of us will no doubt have their medical needs catered for with Bupa or other private health care. The rest of us are not as fortunate:
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham claimed regional and local risk registers, which have been published, were "appalling and shocking".

Some of the regional risk registers "predict poorer treatment for cancer patients", he said.

The NHS Lincolnshire report identified a risk to "the continuation of the cancer service improvement, cancer network and the achievement of cancer waiting time target". The risk was rated 16, which meant it was "extreme, likely to happen with major consequences".

Read More

google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/

The NHS is just fine as it is, there are the odd exceptions but over all it is an excellent system of health care free to everyone. No one wishes to have the private sector take over the administration of the health service or the care of patients. At least the vast majority of us who do not earn or have huge amounts of wealth at our disposal. Again the government are running roughshod over the wishes of the vast majority.

Those of us who are sick and disabled, which could be anyone at any time, depend on the NHS and on welfare benefits in order to have some semblance of a life. The detrimental reforms to both are a disaster for everyone, but the combination of the two for people who are chronically ill and disabled cannot be over estimated.

We must continue the pressure despite feelings of hopelessness .

Continue writing, remind MPs that this is a democracy and they should reflect the wishes of the people, not some private agenda that will benefit no one save the privileged few.

The government is supposedly elected by the people, to work for the benefit of the people. If they do not drop the NHS reform bill, officially called  the Health and Social Care Bill the government are deliberately ignoring the will of the people which is an outrageous and blatant violation of democracy.

Never give up, we still have hope:

Lansley suggested to MPs that he might refuse to release the risk register even if instructed to do so by a tribunal due to meet in a fortnight to judge on his dispute with the information commissioner, who has instructed him to publish.

guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/22/andrew-lansley-nhs-risk-assessment1

Let see what happens at the tribunal

Actions to Take

Keep an eye on 38 degrees to see what new campaigns they have organised in opposition to the NHS and Welfare reforms.

www.38degrees.org.uk/

Continue lobbying MPs Remind them that this is a democracy and they should therefore comply with the will of the people

www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

Petition Drop the Bill   epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/22670

 

More information

http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2012/02/31-million-voters-want-nhs-risk.html

.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/21/doctor-nhs-reforms-disciplinary-action?newsfeed=true

February24th

I know some of you may well be fed up with all the political themed entries, though if you are a sufferer of a mental health problem or any other condition you will at some point need the NHS and may need some kind of benefit in order for you to simply eat. And sadly that is about all you may hope to do if the welfare reform bill is passed. With the reduction in income for every disabled or sick person including whole scale looses of entitlement to benefit you may find yourself struggling even more to pay those extortionate prices in the shops and for your gas and electricity, your rent... well just about anything and everything. Whether sick and disabled now, either mentally or physically one day the vast majority will need the services of the NHS . So this does concern you.

I am though on the verge of signing up for a blog which will focus on human and animal rights and I will than direct my comments there with just a link to the new blog as new entries are posted. After which I hope to return to the usual type of blogging here.

Even if something does not concern you directly does not mean it is not your problem and that you should not do what you can to stop whatever injustice that it is. And sadly the things that one day we think are not your problem can so easily without you realising become so.

Such as those nasty exploitative work experiences schemes commonly called workfare as mentioned in an earlier entry. Which were once targeted to the young and which will eventually be targeted towards the sick and disabled

Please read entry in the Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: They don't like it up 'em

diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/02/they-dont-like-it-up-em.html

Be sure to click the link to the Daily Mail article written by Duncan Smith

Why not include the link directly here you may ask

The answer is that I would like you to read the blog entry, Sue Marsh the author of the blog is an excellent writer and will provide you with a more informative commentary with a little satire

The Daily Mail article concerns comments by Duncan Smith criticising the recent attacks on the government's so called work experience schemes labelling them exploitative slavery

In the article Duncan smith says he is "enormously pound" of the government's work experience schemes.

Umm I expect the plantation owners in the seventeenth century looked out over their vast plantations and felt enormously proud to be able to reap huge profits from the sweat of another man's labour, enforced labour, slavery. No not the same thing maybe but the principle is the same is it not, enforced labour is enforced labour regardless of the method of implementation. Tesco and the rest are having work carried out on their behalf by people who receive no remuneration for their efforts. The piffling so called payment the person receives in the form of his or her benefit to which he is entitled is not paid for by Tesco or the other retailers in the scheme but by you the tax payer. Tesco are having free work to help them make millions each year paid for by those of us who pay tax. Usually the hard working, working and middle classes not the super rich who are having their taxes written off.

Duncan Smith claims the work is voluntary

It is up to young people to decide, voluntarily, whether they wish to take part in the scheme, and they can pull out of their placement during the first week without sanction.

Taking part in this scheme is not optional, not voluntary.  On the whims of your Job Centre Plus advisor you may have to take part in the work experience programme and if you refuse to comply you will loose at least 13 weeks and and potentially 26 weeks of your benefit. This could be extended to up to three years under the welfare Reforms bill. Moreover you do not choose your placement . Despite propaganda to the contrary highlighting one or two rarities as you will read in the article, most of the placements involve work that requires no training or minimal trainings such as stacking shelves and washing floors and such like which require little other than basic instruction, certainly not thirteen weeks and most definably not six months or two years!!

Even if this is so and it was voluntary that still leaves young people who are receiving only £53 per week JSA working along side other employees doing the same jobs for thirty hours per week, and the time range for this is between 9am and 10pm when surely an unsociable hour rate of pay would than be applied in normal circumstances for the stint until 10am. This works out at about £1.70 per hour. Would if Duncan Smith would like to work for that. These placements can last for 8 weeks to two years in some cases.

 The Work Programme itself involves placements that can last up to six months and job seekers can be assigned to the programme for two years.

Read more

.latentexistence.me.uk/who-benefits-from-the-work-programme


Later in the article IDS says

This is why the scheme has been so successful. The fact is that 13 weeks after starting their placements, around 50 per cent of those taking part have either taken up permanent posts or have stopped claiming benefit

Yes they have stopped claiming benefits alright, who would want to go through that again and although I do not know the facts I imagine these schemes are not one off and if you were not offered employment at the end of the placement you would likely find yourself on another scheme at some point. Besides if there is a job available packing shelves or whatever than Tesco and the others involved should advertise the job and employ someone in the usual way, with the usual rate of pay for the job. What happens is that when the term of one placement ends and the person is not offered a job another work experience placement takes his or her place. Wow! all that free work, these retailers ,it seems mostly retailers, are really on to a good thing and unlike the plantation owners of old who had to provide a place to live, cloths and food, albeit in meagre rations, its all free. Absolutely free.

In this article Duncan Smith picks the successes which are are in reality few

Take, for example, 20-year-old Samantha Davies, from Neath, South Wales, who took a Work Experience placement at a local nursery. She impressed them so much that she was offered a job, and now she has signed off Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Now take for example

Here is a less favourable case and one which is the more likely outcome:

I went to [her] leaving do … We were all so sorry to see her go. She was an older lady and was one of the most hard-working and genuinely helpful admin staff we’d ever had. Worked her hours plus more and nothing was ever too much trouble for her. We honestly didn’t know why she was leaving after only six months. She’d worked a minimum of 37 hours per week (often more) and been the backbone of service delivery. The basic starting wage for that level is around £17,000 but for the work she was doing I would have expected her to be started at a few thousand more. Yet all she was getting was JSA and the fares for her lengthy bus journeys, while people doing identical work were getting a salary, paid leave and pension contributions. We were horrified.

Wrongly, we assumed this woman would be hired back as proper staff within days. The role was needed, she’d proven herself to be a fantastic worker, was well regarded and knew the systems. But no, the post was suddenly deemed no longer required and this lady never came back to us. She did exactly the same job as paid staff, yet didn’t get the same salary. This is illegal if the reason is age or race, but perfectly acceptable if someone has claimed a state benefit. It’s exploitation and it’s repellent. [Quote taken from Coporate Watch]

Segment from Latent Existence blog entry: Who Benefits From the Work Programme

latentexistence.me.uk/who-benefits-from-the-work-programme/ Also other examples

IDS Goes on to praise the efforts of these profiteering business as though they are serving some great humanitarian cause.

The firms who have offered work experience to young people on this scheme have been absolutely brilliant and, most importantly, they are making a difference in terms of helping the young unemployed get into work.

If these firms really wanted to help young unemployed people they would offer them a job. If there is work for a workfare placement than there is a job, a paid job. So interview the applicant and if suitable give him or her a job, it is as simple as that.

Duncan Smith claims that  :The thinking behind the initiative is the recognition that when considering whether to take a young person on, employers will highly value any relevant work experience

The key to the above nonsense is relevant. Work experience filling shelves will only give you experience to fill shelves. So offering such as a means of work experience to give an employed person a means of demonstrating to an employer that he has experience will hardly convince an employer that the applicant has experience in any thing other than shelf filling, not much use if you are considering a career as an electrician, a white collar worker, a mechanic, gardener, whatever, anything other than in retail.

Duncan Smith boosts of the 300 placements given a permanent job with Tesco's out of 1,400 as some sort of a achievement. What about all the free labour from the remaining 1100 who will be replaced by another workfare applicant while they themselves will I assume go to another placement at some point. Yes I am going to continue to call this scheme workfare after the American equivalent which Duncan Smith protests is not the same. Sounds the same to me enforced labour at some point in their term of unemployment. Besides 300 out of 14000, not what I would call an achievement.

In an even more lame attempt at justifying this form of exploitation Duncan Smith says:

Sadly, so much of this criticism, I fear, is intellectual snobbery. The implicit message behind these ill-considered attacks is that jobs in retail, such as those with supermarkets or on the High Street, are not real jobs that worthwhile people do.

How insulting and demeaning of the many thousands of people who already work in such jobs up and down the country

What is insulting Mr Duncan Smith is your condescending attitude, do you seriously think that anyone is going to believe that intellectual snobbery is the reason behind the protests.

In plain English:  The opposition to workfare programmes is based upon the fact that people are being forced into labour, and moreover for less than the basic minimum wage. In fact no wage from the employer. If the entire work experience programmes where all entirely voluntary and paid the same pay for the job by the employer that other workers receive for doing the same work than I would imagine that it is very unlikely anyone that would object.

Really Mr Duncan Smith, how insulting of you! Do you think we are all stupid and will actually fall for this rhetoric which serves as one of your usual distractions. Intellectual snobbery! Really!

Yes as Duncan Smith goes on to point out, maybe Tesco's former Chief executive began life scrubbing floors at Tesco, but he was not forced to so for no pay .

What is even more insulting is that Duncan Smith considers that  we are caught in a battle between those who think young people should work only if they are able to secure their dream job and people like himself who think that all jobs are of value, and instil a sense of purpose. Yes to employers all jobs are of value but sadly these days with low wages and long uncompromising hours there often appears little value to the lives of workers who have to endure these circumstance in order to pay huge mortgages or rents and somehow try to feed their families against the onslaught of escalating bills for food and heating , which sadly is these days the only purpose for many in going to work. As for waiting to secure their dream job, seriously the delusion regarding such high expectations presents as he well knows in a minuscule percentage of the population.

The ultimate insult or attempt to malign the legitimacy of the opposition to workfare is the  idiotic suggestion that there are those who believe that being a celebrity and appearing on X factor are the only worthwhile pursuits of life. Yes again there are always the dreamers, there always has been, but to suggest such ideas exist to a great extent in the general population is as deluded a notion as the idea itself.

I really have to quote the final sentence

The belief that you can just sit at home or wait to become a TV star and that work simply lands in your lap, in turn, feeds the pernicious idea that success is not related to effort and work.

Well not for most of the conservative MPs, most of whom were born with a silver spoon in their mouths.

Read the entire article from the Daily Mail. I hate giving links to negative articles or ridiculous propaganda but sadly my own keen sense of ethics and copy write accreditation requires I do so.

dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2104022/The-delusions-X-Factor-sneering-job-snobs-betray-young.html

Are you enraged . Yep I sure am.

Please visit:

.boycottworkfare.org/

Lots of action for you to take on March 3rd also other actions

.boycottworkfare.org/?page_id=82

Remember it is not only young people, some kind of work experience programme is planned for those allocated to ESA Work Related Activity Group WRAGS

Incidentally I have not heard from Tesco, my husband and I sent them a letter retuning our coupons and points card cut into four stating that until they stop the workfare programme we would not set foot in the door. Still have received no reply.

We have also boycotted Holland and Barrett, which is not easy as I am a vegan and my husband and son are vegetarians which means for some of our requirements we will need to go on  forty mile trip and shop less often.

If we can stop retailers and others doing this the government will have no other choice than to provide a more fair scheme or simply provide real Job training or jobs for that matter.

February 25th

Great news as Tesco and other retailers change their stance on Workfare placements.

 Tesco said that although it was sticking with the coalition's work experience scheme, it would now offer jobseekers a choice of remaining on benefits or taking up paid work with a guarantee of a staff job at the end of the four-week placement if the trial was successful.
Meanwhile, Argos and Superdrug said they were suspending their involvement pending talks with ministers from the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that the scheme, which has been personally championed by senior coalition figures, is voluntary and that jobseekers would no longer fear having their benefits removed if they pulled out of placements after the first week.

Please read the complete article:

Work experience scheme in disarray as Tesco and other retailers change tack
Supermarket offers paid work to unemployed people on coalition scheme, while Argos and Superdrug suspend involvement

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/21/back-work-scheme-disarray-tesco

At last we can feel as though we are making a difference and bringing about a positive change to one of the many grave social injustices perpetrated against the people of the UK . Despite the campaigning by Duncan Smith, Greyling and Clegg to undermine the campaign these latest developments are encouraging and show the government they cannot do exactly what they want.

It just shows what can happen if people get together to protest against social in justice.

Unfortunately Holland and Barrett remain stubborn and at the time of writing continue with the Workfare scheme.

Today I have written to them expressing my concern regarding their unethical behaviour in continuing with a scheme that is nothing short of enforced labour, slavery. I have reminded  them that as a retailer of vegan, vegetarian and ethical products many of their customers are likely to be opposed to this exploitation. I for one am prepared to go to an independent health food store involving a eighty mile round trip rather than set foot in their shop.

Even if you are not a Vegan, Vegetarian or a purchaser of environmentally friendly products this is an ethical issue for everyone and anyone who has a sense of social justice . The more people who write the more chance we have that they will drop the workfare Programme. We have had success with Tesco and others, so we should not be discouraged.

So why not write them a letter:

Samuel Ryder House
Barling Way
Eliot Park
Nuneaton
Warwickshire
CV10 7RH

Or e-mail

You could you either e-mail  customerservices@hollandandbarrett.com.

Or recruitment@hollandandbarrett.com.

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/contactus.asp?linkpos=row1

More Action

Below are more companies that continue to be involved in the workfare slave-labour scheme.  Below is a convenient and quick way to Tweet them

These companies use Workfare – help us tell them to stop using it
by Sunny Hundal

Why are they not on the list? Tweet at them to ask them!

Read More and Take action

http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/02/24/these-companies-use-workfare-tell-them-to-stop-it/

February 26th

Please Note: Somehow this month in a state of confusion all the fonts became green and it was rather difficult to differentiate quotations. My apologies for any confusion, I did not discover this until late in the month. I have gone through the entire page to rectify the problem but there still may be quotations not easily identifiable. No excuses, but please do not forget I suffer with a number of debilitating medical conditions and from time to time get things rather muddled and it can take a long while to notice, let alone sort it out.

I am now so exhausted. Please in future if anyone notices any errors kindly take the time to let me know. Thank you

February27th

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
 Benjamin Franklin

There is a day of protest on Saturday March 3rd against the government's workfare scheme. More information from Boycott Workfare:

Boycott Workfare is a UK-wide campaign to end forced unpaid work for people who receive welfare. Workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst threatening the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work without a living wage. We are a grassroots campaign, formed in 2010 by people with experience of workfare and those concerned about its impact. We expose and take action against companies and organisations profiting from workfare; encourage organisations to pledge to boycott it; and actively inform people of their rights.

boycottworkfare.org/?p=359

Don't forget letter writing/email. Letters if you can as they are not as easy to ignore.

Here are the postal contact details of some of the retailers and others mentioned in the above webpage who are involved in workfare.

For e-mail addresses scroll down or click E-mail Addresses

Postal Addresses

  Asda :

Customer Service, ASDA House,
Southbank,
Great Wilson Street,
Leeds LS11 5AD

Primark:

Primark Stores Limited
Primark House
41 West Street
Reading Berkshire
RG1 1TZ

Argos:

Argos LTD,
489-499 Avebury Boulevard,
Central Milton Keynes,
MK9 2NW.


Royal Mail:
As bizarre as this may seem I cannot find a postal address for the Royal Mail!
You can find the e mail included on the list further down.

Maplin:

Maplin Electronics, PO BOX 534, Manvers, Rotherham, UK, S63 3DH

I will find more postal addresses later. Today I am not at all well . Please check future entries or use the information below to conduct your own searches for postal addresses of retailers involved in the scheme.

E-mail Addresses

The link below contains a handy list of the e-mail addresses of offending retailers involved in the workforce scheme. You will need to scroll down for the list
boycottworkfare.org/?p=488

If you are not convinced this is a worthwhile cause please read the information below

If you thought the bankers were bad, the companies implementing workfare through the Work Programme and Community Action Programme will have you raging

boycottworkfare.org/?page_id=517

Also be sure to read people's stories of their workfare experiences

boycottworkfare.org/?page_id=31

It never ceases to amaze me just how many people continue to support these exploitative governments schemes. I think most of this is due to ignorance about what is actually happening. Many people including myself get bogged down in our own suffering and these days fit or disabled most people's lives are difficult and it can take us all our time to just to cope with our own problems. However if we do not take some action and stand and be counted as the saying goes, the  exploitation of the Workforce schemes and the social injustice of welfare claimants and others will continue and get worse and along with it we will loose the NHS as we know it.

 

February 29th

Earlier this month I wrote in my blog concerning the government's Personal Independence Payment (PIP) consultation. Basically the government is asking for feedback from disabled, chronically sick and other interested persons and groups on its proposals for PIP . It is important that the government receives as many responses as possible. This is an opportunity to have our opinions heard.

PIP is the benefit that replaces Disability living allowance DLA. However PIP is much different from DLA. So it is important that as many people as possible respond to the consultation. Yes it looks daunting and complicated however there is help in the form of an unofficial guide to help you complete the consultation which has put together by a small team of disabled people.

You have about eight weeks as the consultation deadline is April 30th.

Click the link below for more information

wearespartacus.org.uk/pip-consultation/

Even if you feel you cannot cope with the task of participating in the consultation it is vitally important that as many people as possible know about it, and indeed about PIP. I would quite imagine that many people who do not have internet access know very little, even nothing at all about the changes and what it will mean for them. So we need to get the message out.

The target for participation in the consultation is 10,000.

So for both these reasons and others as many people as possible need to know.

On the website in addition to the simplified guide to the consultation there are posters like the one below sized for you to print out.  The idea is for people to display them in places frequented by people whom this effects, including not only disabled people themselves but doctors, therapists and other health care workers. So your GPs surgery is a good start. Any group though is ideal, even a poster in a local shop window. There are suggestions included in the above website for places to hang your poster.

Please disseminate this information in the usual way by twitter, facebook, forums, blogs and websites as I have done here. Anywhere and everywhere.

You can use a smaller version of the poster as I have done here to attract attention on your website or blog if you have one or know someone who does. Unfortunately this is the smallest I can reduce the imagine before it becomes less clear. Perhaps someone with more expertise in graphics programmes may do better.

 

Again visit the website above for more complete information and help in participating in the consultation.

This is very important as we need to tell the government what we think about the new benefit
 

The Government’s consultation on the criteria for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), which will replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) runs until 30 April 2012. As the new benefit is so different from DLA, it’s really important to publicize it  and  encourage as many as possible  to respond – not just claimants but people who  might support them like Occupational Therapists etc.

As the official consultation documents are difficult to read and understand, the Spartacus team have produced unofficial guides and advice to help as many people as possible to respond.

Responding is important for two reasons:

Responding is important for two reasons:

1.The government have given assurances about taking responses into consideration so they get the criteria right. This is our big opportunity to avoid the dreadful mess ESA (Employment Support Allowance) has become
2.If it becomes obvious that they haven’t we can then hold them to account and push them to honour the commitment

wearespartacus.org.uk/pip-consultation/

As one participant said:

Its not about sending 10,000 I hate PIP and its all terrible - its about being considered and explaining exactly where the gaps are, how the system they have devised might impact in practise.

There is quite a bit of information, do not feel overwhelmed, take a couple of days or so to familiarise yourself. I know when I see a lot of information I panic, as it is often not easy for me to comprehend quickly and recall what I have read and at first it all looks more complicated than it is. So do take your time and complete a section each week if that is easier. There are forums on the website were you may share information, ideas and problems.

It is important for us to at least try to do this if we can. I am not going to say here and now that I am up to the task only that I am going to look at what is required and have a try at participation, but again if you can't at least try to publicise this information in the ways described above and in the: We are Spartacus: Disabled people's views on welfare reform, website above.

Mental health issues as usual are perhaps more difficult to claim for and qualify successfully under the new system. So those of us with a mental health condition need to point this out. It's no good depending on MIND or any of the other charities, which I feel have been very laid back in defending the people who they are supposed to support and represent against the onslaught of the government's determination to disqualify as many sick and disabled people from receiving this and other benefits and reducing the amount of income to people who are unable to support themselves through no fault of their own.

Incidentally MIND along with several other charities were once participants in the workfare scheme. Though MIND has announced it has pulled out, many charities continue to use this form of forced labour. I find it shocking that charities such as MIND were involved in such exploitative ventures which most certainly would have involved people with mental health conditions whom they should be protecting against such an appalling violation of human rights. Though the thought that any charity was and continues to be involved is utterly shocking

johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/charities-and-workfare-the-sad-truth/

I have an awful headache and my fibromyalgia symptoms and jaw arthritis have flared up this week, so for me all this is not easy.  I have endeavoured for weeks now to assist the various campaigns against the devastating policies of this corrupt government who ignore the will of the people and have set themselves up as a dictatorship.

Read an entry from the Green benches website concerning the governments refusal to debate a petition against the NHS reforms :
http://eoin-clarke.blogspot.com/2012/02/lib-dem-mp-rejects-163000-strong.html

Please do the best you can with the consultation and publicise it in any way you can.

The people responsible for all the work involved in providing the information are sick and disabled people. A huge task for anyone but when you battle with illnesses and disability of any kind this is even more so.

To get an idea of the huge effort that has gone into this please read the following:

Sometimes you come across something that inspires and uplifts you. I have struggled all day to write something uplifting, something inspiring that would spur you into action, not only to respond to the Government’s consultation on PIP but to take it further and inspire others too.

I was shattered and ready to go to sleep after nearly 15 hours of hard slog, preparing to launch the documents on which the small but dedicated team of volunteers have been beavering away, when I stopped to read a post. The bone weary tiredness vanished and I was inspired by this:

“Please, please, please, please, please, please…. let this be the way for advocacy. We have waited so long for a consolidated effort.“

How true. Each of us has our own reason for being involved or wanting to make our voice count. Perhaps this is the first you’ve heard about what’s happening and can’t quite believe it; maybe like many you’re scared and feel so powerless that fear translates into a worsening of your condition.
Please continuing reading:

diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2012/02/spartaci-we-need-you-to-get-message.html#comment-form

Update

Below is an e-mail I have received from 38 degrees concerning their NHS campaign. It is better that I cut and paste it straight into this blog rather than try and explain. Particularly as my headache is getting so much worse.

David Cameron is trying to ride it out. He knows his plans for the NHS are a disaster. [1] But after more than a year of phoney listening exercises, aggressive spin and backroom deals, he thinks abandoning the plan now would simply be too embarrassing.

But there’s one thing that politicians care about more than saving face: saving their jobs. At the moment, Cameron is gambling that it’s best to force through the changes - then hope that it doesn’t cost him too many votes later on. We can shift this calculation by proving to Cameron that the NHS is already an election issue, and a losing one for his party if they refuse to listen.

Elections for the Mayor of London are fast approaching. Cameron desperately wants the Conservatives to win. Together, we can buy billboards all over the city, on the very streets where Cameron bought billboards promising the NHS would be safe with him. The adverts can warn potential Conservative voters that most doctors and nurses think the changes will make our NHS worse.

 Click here to preview the powerful advert and chip in to take it to the streets.
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-billboards

 


 

We’ve tried everything else. Now we have to bring it back to something we know Cameron will understand – winning over undecided voters. He knows that a big national issue like the NHS could play strongly in a major local election. And that if it does, it will set the tone for a long time to come.

If Cameron sees thousands of us donating to put up adverts, it might make him finally decide the game is up. The adverts carry a simple message certain to grab the attention of the kind of voters Cameron wants to keep on board: doctors and nurses are begging him to drop the dangerous NHS plans.

If 5,000 of us chip in over the next 48 hours, we can get these adverts up next Monday. So please donate now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-billboards

Cameron knows that losing the trust of voters on the NHS is bad news. Opposition to the plans is already overwhelming among health professionals -- including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of GPs. [2] Last month, 38 Degrees commissioned an independent opinion poll of NHS staff which found that 66 per cent think these plans will make the NHS worse [3].

So we’ve brought in a top advertising agency to make sure local voters get the message. If we raise enough money, we can target these ads to prospective Conservative voters, and place them in high-profile, prominent locations across the capital. Best of all, our campaign won’t star an actor, but a real-life London GP and 38 Degrees member.

Imagine the stir on Downing Street when these people-powered billboards appear across the capital. Please chip in now to make it happen:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-billboards


Thanks for being involved,

Marie, Johnny, David, Hannah, Becky, Cian, James and the 38 Degrees team


PS: Sometimes 38 Degrees members come together to pay for things which otherwise only big companies and political parties can afford. Earlier thousands of us chipped in to hire a crack legal team: their report made the front page of The Observer. This helped force Lansley to back away from plans to scrap his legal duty to provide our health service. Now we can take one big, bold message to the voters Cameron cares about most. Our health service is priceless – so please chip in if you possibly can: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-billboards

PPS: Earlier this month, thousands of 38 Degrees members voted to choose things we could do to help save the NHS. Raising money for billboard adverts, and sounding the alarm in London in the run-up to the mayoral election, were both voted into our top 5 tactics. So let's make them happen! Chip in now: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/nhs-billboards

NOTES
[1] The Guardian: David Cameron changes NHS bill? http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/27/david-cameron-changes-nhs-bill
[2] BBC: NHS plans: Unions move to 'outright opposition' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16618207
[3] Source: YouGov poll, paid for by 38 Degrees members. Poll carried out online on a sample of 1601 adults who work in the NHS in Great Britain between 17th and 26th January 2012 https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/NHS-poll


Please chip in if you can