ATOS, GET TO F***!!!

ATOS, GET TO F***!!!

I have a friend and she is not well in the slightest.  She has great difficulty breathing and is also in tremendous pain due to an undiagnosed lung problem.  Back in 2010, this lady had two medicals to access her health for the DWP.  One assessment was for ESA, which was assessed by ATOS ,and the other assessment was for disability Living Allowance.

A couple of weeks later she received the results through the post.  She was awarded DLA at the higher rate with mobility component. ATOS found her ‘Fit for Work’ from her ESA assessment.

Anyone who has campaigned on the streets will have heard countless stories similar to this lady’s story.  A quick search online will also show thousands of heart-breaking stories that reflect so badly on the Government’s Work Capability Assessments (WCA).

There is an argument that there is little point blaming ATOS for the way the deal with disabled and ill people as they are not the organ-grinders. It is the Tory-led Government who has decided on this policy and ATOS ‘only follow the rules’ set down by them by the Government.  I believe that this argument is false and ATOS should be thoroughly attacked at every possible occasion.

Many, many moons ago I was a medic.  It was drilled into me how a medic should conduct themselves. There is an unwritten oath to treat patients and casualties with respect, dignity and humanely. Don’t get me wrong, we were no Florence Nightingales but we conducted ourselves with pride in our profession.

Those in the medical professional should have
 pride in their work and empathy when treating sick and disabled patients.

And so I look at ATOS and they sicken me. It repulses me that this repugnant IT firm has the stomach to enter the medical profession and to treat sick and disabled people in such a degrading manner.  I can’t get my head around how a nurse, the profession that is synonymous with empathic care, can look a disabled person in the eye knowing that their decision is going to have such a devastating effect on the life of that person.  How can they sleep at night?

ATOS needs to go. There is no place for them in our medical sector; they are an embarrassment, tainted by their gruesome WGA regime. Quite simply, ATOS get to F***!!!!


The solution:  This isn’t rocket science of radical thinking, it is simple.  Take disability and sickness benefit out of the hands of the DWP and, instead, have medics treat the ill and allow the NHS to administer disability and sickness benefit.  There is absolutely no sense in the Department of Works and Pensions having control of benefits with are not work or pensions related especially when the support that sick and disabled people can be very complex and require different agencies to work together.

So say after me, “ATOS, ATOS, GET TO F***!!!”

Lets have medics treating the ill and disabled

“The Energy Market Needs to be Nationalised.”

“The Energy Market Needs to be Nationalised.”

I bet that I wasn’t the only person who said, ‘Nationalise the Feckers’, when the news broke that SSE was raining energy prices by 8.2%.Yes the company that was fined £10.5M by OFGEM in April for ‘prolonged and excessive’ misselling had increase the energy prices so that the average fuel bill for their 10M customers in the UK rose by £106.  But don’t worry, they still had enough to pay their CEO a bonus of £1.8M last year.

One energy expert has said that this is ‘the final nail in the coffin ofaffordable energy’ while the citizen’s advice are expecting an ‘avalanche’ of energy rises from the Big Six.  The charity’s chief executive said that she hopes ‘other energy firms should anunderstanding of their customers’ financial situation but no raising their pricesthis winters.’ Sadly, there is no chance of that happening.

The conduct of the Big Six over the last decade has re-opened the debate over nationalisation of the energy market and we are now at the stage where I believe that it is essential that ‘public ownership’ should be seriously considered.

The Big 6 now have a monopoly over our energy market and have no issues over holding the country to ransom.  We saw the reaction when Ed Miliband spoke of prices freezes.  The Big 6 openly told the public that they would raise their prices to and (even more) inflated price to recoup future losses while also threatening ‘black outs’.  They believe that they have the right to bully, cajole and ignore our democratic systems.

Who doesn't dread their energy bills?

This needs to stop and never again must an essential asset of the UK be left to ‘market forces’ susceptible of being manipulated for profitable means.

Our energy infrastructure is in crisis. Lack of investment by the private sector has allowed an impeding energy crisis to come over the horizon.  To the shame of the Big 6, our energy rich country can no supply the energy demands of our nation.

The energy market is a complex market with different areas having different needs. TO ensure that all these area’s needs are met there needs to be leadership and direction for the long term strategy of the UK.  This can be done far more efficiently if the energy market was renationalised.  Rather than having an energy market that is geared towards profit making, we can have and energy market that is considerate to the customers’ needs and the needs to other stakeholders.

Over the last few years there has been a trend in Germany to ‘remunicipalise’ parts of the energy market.  Over 400 stadtwerke companies have been created since 2007. This new form of company, a public/public partnership between cities and regions has a constitution that prioritises the interests of the citizens over the interests of private enterprise.


We need to learn the lessons from the past and look at other successful nations to ensure that our energy market is commonly owned to benefit society as a whole and geared towards social needs not profitable needs.  We need a co-ordinated strategy to ensure that our energy market can provide sufficient energy for our nation’s need while tackling climate change and providing a real alternative to our carbon based economy.

Can Labour Learn from It’s Mistakes from the Past?

Mr Atlee, winning in '45

After winning election in July 45, Clement Attlee told a celebratory crowd that Labour had a ‘socialist principle of place the welfare of the nation before that of any section and of dealing with every problem in a practical and business-like manner.’

His deputy, and grandfather of Peter Mandelson, Herbert Morrison supervised the part’s program of nationalisation.  First the Bank of England was nationalised followed by civic aviation.  The NHS was created as was the National Coal Board, which created 90% of the UK’s energy supply.  By 1951 the iron, steel and gas industries were brought into public ownership as were there railway, electricity sector, canals and road haulage sector.

As well as this period of nationalisation, the Atlee Government also embarked on a house building program that we have not seen the likes of since.

The party fulfilled their promises of 45. They deal with political problems with enthusiasm and common sense while retaining their socialist values.

Aneurin Bevan visiting a young patient in the newly created NHS

Times have changed, politics has changed and the Labour party has changed.  It is no longer a socialist party, rejecting its own ‘public ownership’ and becoming a democratic socialist party.

It could be argued that the issues facing the present Labour Party are greater that the issues faced by the Labour party in 45.  The country is ‘penniless’, politics is ruled by apathy and the Labour party is tarnished and tainted due to its actions of the past.

Labour triumphed into power in 1997, finally taking over a country which had been ruined by Thatcherism.  The manufacturing sector was in ruins, the public sector on life support due to lack of funding while whole generations were ‘lost’ due to the policies of successive Tory Governments.

Mrs Thatcher reaped devastation within working class communities 

For all the positives that Labour achieved they also made serious errors which remain in our memory.  Policies such as allowing the UK to a lapdog for the USA, the lies that justified UK troops invading Iraq, refusing to repeal anti-union laws and bringing in ATOS to assess our sick and disable, all forced labour voters and members away from the party.

And it is more that specific policies.  The parliamentary Labour party was no longer reflective to their voters.  The party created by trade unionist no longer appeared to represent the labour movement. The party of the workers has been manipulated so that it now appeared that they are the party of big business.  Socialism was replaced by Democratic Socialism that was replaced by neoliberalism.

A failed election campaign where the highlight for the Labour party was Gordon Brown telling an elderly woman that she was a ‘bigot’ and Tory-led Government that is on par with Thatcher’s for its nastiness and vindictiveness has forced the Labour party to reassess it’s values and ethos.  Finally in 2013, the ‘s’ would was mentioned by a Labour Leader. Ed Miliband proclaimed that he was bring socialism back to British politics. 

Gordon Brown minutes before his infamous 'bigot' comment

So is this a new dawn for the Labour movement and party?  Has Labour learned their lesson?  Will they put people before profit, people before power or are they grandstanding to willing crowd, demoralised by constant Tory attacks?  Will the follow through with their vision of a modern socialist Britain or will their turn their backs on their voters and members again?

This is a pivotal moment in the history of the Labour party.  I believe that they will win the 2015 general election and the onus will be on them to prove, by actions not words, that the Labour party will proud stand up for their values and beliefs.  If they do, they will welcome in a new era of British politics.  If they don’t, then the Labour party will end as we know it and a new party that does represent our views will be formed.

Ed Miliband: A new Dawn for Labour?

This is Labour’s last chance…but will they blow it?

Resign Iain Duncan Smith, Resign!!

IDS needs to go!

Back in the early 2000s, the quiet man of politics, Iain Duncan Smith, was sacked as the Tory leader but, rather than remain in political wilderness, he began working on his return to front-line politics.

In 2002, Iain Duncan Smith went to the Glasgow scheme, Easterhouse to 'experience poverty first-hand'.  It was claimed that IDS had an ‘Easterhouse Epiphany’ when her ‘began to appreciate the scale of social breakdown occurring in Great Britain’ after visiting Easterhouse.

It was on the back of this visit that he created the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), an ‘independent’ think-tank which would promote and shape Conservative welfare policy.

So how did Easterhouse change IDS’ view on welfare?  In 1994 he wrote an editorial in the Mail where he:

Decried the growth in welfare spending

Claimed that the present welfare system betrays the intention of Beveridge

That is was defrauded on a large scale

Creates a ‘class’ of people incapable of helping themselves.

SOLUTION: “One income assessed benefit”

Speaking in 2010 as Dept. Work and Pensions Secretary where he:
               

                Decried the growth in welfare spending

Claimed that the present welfare system betrays the intention of Beveridge

That is was defrauded on a large scale

Claimed that the welfare system created a generation who were dependent on welfare

SOLUTION: Universal credit



Cynical people may claim that IDS’ “Easterhouse Epiphany” was nothing more that the whimperings of a man scrambling for political relevance.

Let’s have a look at a couple of aspects of Mr Duncan Smith’s management of the Department of Works and Pensions.

ATOS

There is an old joke in Glasgow that the ATOS assessment building in the city should be renamed ‘Lourdes’ as even the most ill and sick people are suddenly cured after visiting ATOS.


But this is no laughing matter.  There is a culture within ATOS, uncovered by secret filming by the Guardian, of staff being monitored to ensure that an ‘excessive’ number of applicants are not successful.  Those unsuccessful with their ATOS assessment are thrown to the mercy of the Tory’s work program without the access to the support that they need to ensure a quality of life.  Sadly, this culture has resulted in many deaths within the disabled community.

Michael Meacher MP told the House of Commons that 7,100 people died after being put into the support group after their ATOS assessment and that 1,300 died after being put in the work related group after assessment from ATOS.

THE BEDROOM TAX

The bedroom tax was brought in on the same week as the Tories gave a tax cut to their millionaire mates.  This policy, a housing benefit cut, affects the vulnerable, the poorly paid, the disabled and anyone else who has a home in the social sector that had a ‘spare’ bedroom’.

The Tories claimed that it was only ‘fair’ that tenants took responsibility for the housing crisis that was created by short-sighted politicians.

The bedroom tax is now politically isolated with all the main parties, except the Tories, coming out against this vindictive and blatantly unfair policy.


UNIVERSAL CREDIT

There are legitimate arguments for a simplified benefits systems but NOT this creation by the Centre of Social Justice.  Already there are reports that over £200M of taxpayer’s money has been spent trying to implement this policy.

Critics have warned that Universal Credit will be a disaster.  The plan to pay rent directly to the tenant rather than the landlord has increased rent arrears from 2% to 11% in the areas that this was trialled.  Experts have warned of the rise of homeless people and a leaked memo from Eric Pickles claimed that all savings from this policy will be nullified by the additional cost borne by local authorities dealing with their increase in homelessness.

Charities have criticised the planned change that Universal Credit would be paid monthly rather than weekly/fortnightly while the conditionality and sanctions attached to Universal Credit have been called punitive and unnecessary.


Iain Duncan Smith is a liar.  His political CV shows him to be an opportunist with little political substance.  He is either a very cold and heartless man of completely incompetent.  Either way, he should do the honourable thing and RESIGN NOW!!

Liam Fox MP: The REAL Leech on Society!

Liam Fox MP: The REAL Leech on Society!

Did you read the news recently?  Is seems as if the party that have shoved the false claim that there is a ‘culture of entitlement’ within benefit claimants, the party that tells us that we are a bunch of leeches, suckling at the state, are hypocritical cockwombles.

The Tory’s golden boy, the former £134k-a-year Defence Minister (who had to resign due to some dodgy business involving his ‘adviser’ Adam Werrity), had the audacity, the temerity, the sheer cheek to apply for travelling expense for a 100 meter journey.  And worse, he was paid 3p for this arduous trek.

It came to light from the Ipsa (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) that Dr Fox made a grand total of FIFTEEN successful claims of £1 or less for car travel in 12/13.

When confronted by the Sunday People, Dr Fox cowardly tried to blame his ‘office’ for the travelling expense claims.  “I don’t do my expenses’, he whimpered, looking for any way not to take responsibility for his actions.


Last week, when trying to justify his hair brained and dangerous plans to remove all employment and housing benefits to ALL under 25, the PM attempted to be of some relevance and claimed that there was a ‘culture of entitlement’ within working class youths. He was wrong, very wrong.  If the PM really wants to find the real scroungers, the real leeches of the state, he needn’t look very far. 

In total, Dr Fox claimed more that £160,000 in expenses in 2012/13.  That is the equivalent of the cost of JSA for 44 claimants for one year. 


The news that some MPs take a ride out of the taxpayer comes as no surprise to anyone.  We, the public, were promised that there would be a new and improved expenses system put into place after the Telegraph exposed the expenses scandal in 2008.

We were promised a raft of political reforms that would improve and modernise the Parliament, a full review of the political and democratic system and ‘a radical redistribution of power’. We got Ipsa…


Again, we have been failed by hypocritical, conniving Parliamentarians who just cannot be trusted.

Divide & Exploit. The Tories tactic to attack the vulnerable

Divide and Exploit

The Tories have often employed the tactic of “Divide & Exploit” since 2010. This isn't a new tactic, far from it.  This tactic is very similar to the divide & conquer that has been used for many, many years to control people.

Divide

·         The Government looks for sections of society that would be susceptible to this attack.

·         Once section of society is identified, the Government uses their friends in the media to highlight specific   outlandish cases which is then used to generalise the whole of that section of society

       Using a convenient excuse (savings, cost,efficiency), the Government withdraws/cuts funding to services that support that section ofsociety.

·         Any and all criticism is ignored or ridiculed.

At this stage, the section of society is isolated, under attack from the mainstream media and Government while struggling as essential services have been removed.

Protests after Leeds care homes and day centres closure plans are approved.

Exploit

Now that the propaganda has seeped into the people’s psyche the Government can overtly attack that section of society.
·         Direct financial support is removed or rationed.
·         Indirect support is reduced, removed or rationed.
·         Government lies and blocks any investigation into the impact of their policies has on that section of society
·         Scapegoating society’s ills onto the section of society that is isolated.

DPAC occupied the BBC yet received no media attention.

An ideal example of this tactic would be the Government’s treatment of the disabled.  The Governments friends in the media pumped out stories showing ‘benefit cheats’ and heavily implied that this fraudulent activity is prominent within the disability community.  At the same time funding was removed from carers’ centres and other services, leaving disabled people feeling under attack and isolated.

But the Government never expected what came next.  Instead of being isolated and under attack, the disabled community got together to protect their own and fought back.  DPAC, Black Triangle, Glasgow against Atos, community group led by disabled people, fighting for disabled people.

I think that we can all take inspiration from the disabled community and how they fought back against the dive and exploit tactic by the Tories.

Petition to have a street renamed after Mary Barbour in the village of her birth, Kilbarchan

***Click Here to Sign The Petition***

Mary Barbour: Kilbarchan's Greatest Daughter.

Political activist Mary Barbour (née Rough) was born 22nd February, 1875 in Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

She is noted as a 'Red Clydesider' and one the leaders of 'Mrs. Barbour's Army' who through rent strikes fought against rent increases in 1915.

Mary was the first female Labour Councillor on Glasgow Town Council and as well as being the first woman Bailie on Glasgow Corporation she was also appointed one of Glasgow's first women Magistrates.

But in the village of her birth, Kilbarchan, there is no lasting reminder of Mary Barbour. I believe that there should be. I would prefer a monument in her memory but appreciate that times are hard.  Renaming a street in her memory was provide a lasting reminder to this great woman.