Fuel Poverty Action actions for Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th Nov 2016

Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) brings the risk of greenhouse gas emiting Canadian tar sands furthering global warming.
https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?p=tar+sands+CETA&fr=yfp-t-fp-GB-en-GB-def

The below is a response from Fuel Poverty Action to being forwarded their receiving a reminder that CETA brings the risk of highly pollutant Candadian tar sands coming to the European Union, when I copied them into the link forward of http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/twitter-action-called-for-in-blocking-dodgy-international-trade-deal.html

Thanks Alan, I've forwarded this to our people who do twitter. 

For tomorrow and Thursday, please see below -- KUWG may want to take part in these? 

Cold Homes Kill – pensioner and Housing Act protestors and climate activists converge on Westminster 23 and 24 November

Weds 23 November As well as the Autumn Statement, this day will see the announcement of how many people died last winter because they could not afford to heat their homes – a scandal that is repeated year after year.  

FPA will be joining the National Pensioners Convention to mark last year’s winter deaths with black balloons at 12.0 in College Green, and will then join and speak at the launch of Axe the Housing Act’s own Autumn Statement in Old Palace Yard from noon. 

The government yesterday dropped one important clause from the Housing Act: “Pay to Stay”.  It must now drop the forced sale of Housing Association stock, which will push even more people into cold damp homes where they have no recourse against exploitative private landlords, and must bring back security of tenure in both private and social housing.  No fault and retaliatory evictions mean many tenants are afraid to raise issues of heating, hot water, draughts, bad insulation, and energy-guzzling equipment.

Thursday 24 November these points will be pressed home with an early morning “Duvet Die–In” 8.30 at the offices of EDF, 80 Victoria St, where campaigners against fuel poverty will join people whose primary focus has been the climate.  For 8.15 meeting place, things to bring etc see facebook event.

The government has hinted at moves to regulate rampant exploitation by suppliers of gas and electricity providers.  We shall see.  With thousands dying early every year, we are also waiting to see what the Chancellor does

·        to meet the legally binding fuel poverty target on insulating homes,

·        to end the illegal discrimination against users of prepayment meters – often the customers on the lowest incomes - and against all customers who cannot pay by direct debit,

·        to restore cuts to disability and other benefits and to wages.

Report of a Trade Union Congress 2016 fringe event on climate change's impact on jobs

For a report on this, including youtube footage of speeches, go to 
http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/no-jobs-on-dead-planet.html

Tony Cox trial and the EU referendum: Whose 'evidence'? Whose 'verdict'? Whose politics? Whose 'voting rights'

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Tony Cox' supporters rolled up outside the court in Dundee on his trial day

The report from Scottish Unemployed Workers Network (SUWN) — Class 'Justice' —regarding Tony Cox' trial yesterday does not make joyous reading for KUWG members (Kwuggies) and welfare advocates everywhere: 

The sheriff (judge) presiding in the case found Tony 'guilty' of 'threatening behaviour' towards the staff of privatised disability assessment company Maximus, acknowledging in his verdict that it all boiled down to whose evidence he preferred despite contradictions in the evidence provided by Tony's accusers. 

It would also seem — at least according to this blogger's perception of things —that regarding the Sheriff's apparent contempt for the evidence available from the vulnerable woman Tony attempted to accompany to her Work Capability Assessment, he sided with the view that as the taxpayer-funded privatised assessor, Maximus and its staff knew what was best for the vulnerable person Tony was attempting to support. And it did not matter one jot what the vulnerable person herself had to say in response to very loaded questions from the judge.(1) 

Loaded questions betray one's prejudices, and that is a clear basis of rapport between Sheriff Griffiths and what MaximusUK likes to represent its 'Eligibility Support' [sic] as.

Maximus | United Kingdom: Eligibility Support — "Processing eligibility support claims quickly and efficiently" [sic]

Whose 'evidence'? Whose 'verdict'? Whose politics? Whose 'voting rights'? And allegiance to who and to what?

The SUWN blog post reports on an 'in our experience' framework regarding MaximusUK and its 'output' or the fruits by which Maximus and Tony shall be comparatively 'known' and omits reference to, say, Labour MP Louise Haigh's evidence regarding the 'corporate outsourcing giant's "track record, ethics and even criminal behaviour of Maximus in delivering public contracts in the US" before being appointed to replace Atos as WCA company of Conservative Government choice. Haigh has said of MaximusUK 'Eligibility Support' output on the basis of her publicly funded casework:

"There seems to be an alarming trend of cases being rejected based on factual errors or even — I hesitate to say this — falsification.

"I have had several cases of people telling me that their assessment report bears absolutely no relation to the assessment that they experienced with Maximus or Atos [the company that it took over running of Work Capability Assessments (WCA's) from].

“One or two cases could be dismissed as an honest mistake, but the situation appears to reveal a disconcerting pattern of behaviour that indicates that the trade-off between cost-cutting and profit maximisation is being felt by very vulnerable people.”(3)

This blogger would say that MaximusUK's claims in general are about as valid as those of the Vote Leave campaign regarding how much money could be re-allocated to the NHS by Britain leaving the European Union. Now that Britain has apparently voted to leave the EU, we shall probably see what truth there is regarding such claims, and what the real public spending priorities of those left in charge will be.

Regarding the downfall of David Cameron resulting from the Vote Leave decision of those who were deemed 'eligible' to vote in that referendum — whatever their reasoning for that decision — there will be new 'leadership' in Downing Street. I suppose that that 'leadership' will reward its BBC News supporters for all their 'services to democracy' in favouring Vote Leave propaganda during that referendum.

As a Green Party member, I shudder regarding the diminishing prospects for furthering of equalities legislation and democracy that EU membership has brought us. Further, to combat such international issues as climate change, terrorism, tax evasion, imbalances of economic power, international disputes, etc, UK involvement in EU cooperation is essential and will be tragically absent

Kilburn Unemployed (KUWG) members are of various political parties and varying positions regarding EU membership. Some though have had no say in this referendum because of their nationality not being British. 

One of the huge advantages that birthright British citizens have over those wishing to claim British citizenship is that they do not have to 'pledge allegiance to the Crown'. As someone who very much prefers monarchy and finds the kowtowing to court decisions such as the 'Tony Cox is guilty despite absence of CCTV evidence' that would 'reward' Tony with a lighter sentence to the detriment of welfare advocates everywhere.

I regard such directives as worthy of contempt rather than allegiance. (I have greater 'allegiance' to my non-UK citizen friends and comrades in Kwug than I have for a birthright publicly funded family of benefit claimant royalty and the courts operating in its name that make some very dodgy decisions.) What do you reckon?


Link addresses

1. https://scottishunemployedworkers.net/2016/06/23/class-justice/
2. https://www.maximusuk.co.uk/health-programmes/eligibility-support
3. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/maximus-has-falsified-results-of-fitness-for-work-tests-says-mp/

Kilburn Unemployed members sing the praises of Tony Cox and welfare advocates everywhere

We sang:

Tony! Tony Cox!Tony! Tony rocks!'Ficialdom [officialdom] quakes in its bootsWhen you have supports!

We were determined to follow through on our show of solidarity for Tony Cox — on trial on trumped up charges in Dundee — after weather and travel related problems scuppered our outdoor demonstration at Kilburn Jobcentre today.

So one of us brought along his baritone ukulele and own composition song 'A Song for Tony Cox' and taught it to others at the end of our weekly business meeting in which we helped vulnerable people with their casework. (Like our early morning demo, our afternoon meeting attendance was severely hit by the weather and other disruptions. One member's home was flooded, too!)

Officialdom has put Tony up on the trumped up charge of 'grooming a vulnerable person'. The reality is that the Department for Work and Pensions and its privatised subcontractors would rather keep such people in the dark about their rights, and so it is best for welfare advocacy organisations to be proactive. The motto or golden rule of the Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group is, "Never attend anywhere official alone."

The act of accompanying someone at such meetings might be described as a 'pre-emptive first strike' against some of the dirty tricks that the DWP and its cronies including G4S security guards get up to.

Kilburn Unemployed blog posts referring to Tony Cox (1)

Link address

http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/search?q="Tony+Cox"

Thurs 23 June Kilburn Jcp demo for Tony Cox and welfare advocacy rained off

The blog administrator gives belated apologies for cancellation of today's much publicised Kilburn demo in support of Tony Cox and welfare advocates everywhere.

This was the sequence of events for the morning from the blog administrator's point of view:

1. Breakfasted and toileted from about 08:00. While still recovering from recent bout of debilitating illness, felt just about okay for attending while the weather seemed extremely dodgy
2. Turned mobile on about 08:30 to check for any incoming SMS [text messages]. (Mobile turned off most of the time when not in use to save very weak battery power of supplied battery for Doro EasyPhone.) No messages received by departure time
3. Departed 09:05, forgetting to pick up mobile and encountered two train cancellations plus further 10 minute delay
4. Arrived Kilburn Jcp about 10:00, seeing no Kwuggies present but weather settled into easing off from raining, and remained a further 15 minutes with no sign of anyone else turning up for demo
5. Arrived home much later to discover SMS on mobile stating: "Due to rain and thunder, leafleting called off. Don't know if you could mention it on blog?"

Well, it is now mentioned, albeit very belatedly with the blog administrator's apologies.

And another Kwuggie had emailed Scottish Unemployed Workers Network:

Dear SUWN,
Regrettably, the stormy wet weather has forced us to cancel our support for Tony Cox. We shall not be outside Kilburn JCP this morning but we are certainly thinking of him.
We wish Tony and SUWN very good luck!

Conclusion

Global warming creates more storms and upsets; yet one of its worst aspects is its precarity, making weather forecasting much more unreliable.

It would seem therefore to this blog administrator that activist groups need to consider investing in weather gear and weather-resistant leaflets.

Bernie Sanders' mould-breaking politics — and the value of 'signposting headlines' in writing

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

I'm sure that most of the people who like this blog will have heard of Hilary Clinton's main Democratic Party rival in the USA. Bernie Sanders is a man and I believe that despite his gender even the women who like this blog would prefer Sanders to be USA President than have Hilary Clinton as the USA's first ever female president.

Whether the women and men who like this blog currently would already prefer Sanders to be USA President or not, I commend them to read the blog piece Dear Bernie, Don't Give Up, Run as a Green at either:

1. the America-focused Counter Punch blog site(1) or
2. the UK-based London Green Left blog site.(2)

Gender politics and 'declaring an interest'

I find it pretty convincing, but then again I 'declare an interest' by saying that I am a member of the Green Party of England & Wales and a member of the eco-socialist tendency in GPEW known as Green Left. As for the fact that I am a man, I do not think that that is relevant to why I reckon that women who like this blog should vote for Sanders than vote for Hilary. Are those who wanted Obama as America's first black president satisfied with his record as first black president of the USA? What would Hilary Clinton be known for as America's first female president? 

What is Margaret Thatcher mainly known for as Britain's first female prime minister? I am reminded of something that Alan Clark MP (Conservative) said on an audience-participation
programme in South-West England. He had been asked why Britain was kowtowing the American line with Ronald Reagan in the White House and Margaret Thatcher resident at No. 10 Downing Street. Taken aback by that statement, Clark instantly retorted:

"Margaret Thatcher is twice the man that Ronald Reagan is!"

That was after she had gained the 'Falklands Factor' to her record, turning — as Naomi Klein pointed out in her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism —

1. from attacking the 'enemy without' (an Argentine military junta)
2. to attacking 'the enemy within' (in the collective form of the National Mineworkers Union and the political left in general)

Klein wrote of the results:

".... the disorder resulting from the war allowed her to crush the striking miners and to launch the first privatisation frenzy in a western democracy."(3)

Feminists at the time of the Falklands War, I had been told by a pacifist woman close to the Greenham Common Peace Camp women, were considering whether a male UK prime minister would have been so warmongering in their response to the Argentine invasion?

Signposting in writing, openness about past errors, and 'this changes everything'

There may be many reasons why people who go to this blog go to this blog. This blog reached an all-time high record number of 'viewings' in one day yesterday from around the world. With very few people ever commenting on what brings them to viewing a blog, it can be hard to say what really draws them in.

Numbers of 'viewings' of this blog from its beginning in May 2010

This is a blog hosted by Google, and Google's administrator panel tools can be very helpful in identifying the 'referring sites' that bring people to a blog, and it seems that yesterday the main referring site was Google itself. That is arguably because of the use of the 'labels' used in composing the blog pieces or 'posts' as Google prefers to call them. So it's good to have something relevant for use as the label, as if Google was a 'dating agency' for readers. It was through that influence that our anarchist friends from Bow in the East End of London joined Kilburn Unemployed's recent demonstration in support of Tony Cox in Kilburn, North-West London.(4)(5)(6)(7)

So Google 'labels' as 'search keys' can help direct people to a blog as 'sign posts'. Making optimum use of relevant words in the 'permalink' to a page can be another essential aid in attracting viewers.

'Signposting' in writing has more traditionally been focused on headings, subheadings, minor headings and resultant 'tables of contents' and indexes originating from paper-based reading matter. Subheadings and minor headings can help break up a long piece of writing into more manageable chunks. They can also help prepare the reader for what they are about to read, and help them remember the content more easily.

As a person with very slow reading speed and thus lower 'reading stamina' than probably most of the people who read London Green Left blog or Counter Punch regularly, I was reminded of that point as I scrolled through pane after pane of the Bernie Sanders blog post.

It did strike me though that that blog post could have benefited from such headings as 'Freedom to change one's viewpoint and retract a previous commitment'. Beyond the specifics of the polling and the party politics though, it struck me that there was very little or no argument specifically to back up the 'run as a Green' part of the post's title. I believe linking in matters of global warming as they have impacted the U.S. of A. since 2012 could have complemented the article's attack on the 'industries' that are the megabucks corporate backers of presidential front-runner candidates, and the attacks on Hilary Clinton's 'dodgy dealings'. That would have made it all much more convincing and more appealing to a potentially wider audience. 

A quotation that comes to mind about freedom to change one's viewpoint is by Alexander Pope about one being 'wiser today than yesterday'.(8) Relatively short statements stand out in the mind more than long sentences; take Alan Clark's, "Margaret Thatcher is twice the man that Ronald Reagan is" as a case in point.

Another important, very pithy and very short phrase though is one used by Naomi Klein as the title of a book on the links between the wrongs of global corporations and the urgency of tackling global warming: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate.(9)

"Leave them wanting more"

I remember the advice of a Casting Director Richard Evans to aspiring actors and performers in the 1990's. He told 'The Art of Selling Yourself' workshops that I attended, "Leave them wanting more."

[Earlier pause in writing: So it's goodbye from me for now. I have to get in some more sleep at 04:49 in the morning and later eat before going to a weekly medical appointment.]

Most specifically he was referring to the length of the CV (Curriculum Vitae) or resumé (career summary) that the actor or performer would send the employer, and the self-selected audition pieces chosen. "Keep it brief and keep it memorable," he argued, as these were but parts of a recruitment process, serving as introductions.

Transferring that advice to electoral politics one of the main means by which politicians attempt to 'grab the voter's attention' is by way of the 'sound bite', where brevity rules but can be taken too far with over-simplification. (In blogging I attempt to keep sentences as simple as possible and paragraphs not too long. That makes the content not only more digestible, but also easier to proofread for errors!)

Sound bite brevity  helps to engage the listener's attention, and it is clear from the 'Dear Bernie, don't give up ...' blog post that Sanders has grabbed the attention and engagement of many previously disaffected voters. Moreover, he has kept 'on message' but not bored his audience. 

Listening to people is also a great way of engaging their attention, and goes hand in hand with the campaigning and direct action of Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group. The more that people are helped with their cases — whether by direct intervention by us or by 'signposting' referral to other agencies such as Z2K where truly expert legal advice is called for — the greater the public 'goodwill' attached to our name and the more consistent our meeting attendances.

To conclude this article here and now though, I emphasise that Bernie Sanders seems to have become a spokesperson for people either entirely new to electoral politics in a very 'corporatist' two-party state, and 'first past the post' electoral system where minority voices are too often marginalised and the holders of those voices become very disenchanted.(10)

So perhaps Sanders showing a greater loyalty to that audience than to the Democrat party-political-allegiance in a corporatist 'two party' State really can help to 'break the mould' of American politics and leave people the world over wanting greater political engagement?

Links

1. http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/10/dear-bernie-dont-give-up-run-as-a-green/
2. http://londongreenleft.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/dear-bernie-dont-give-up-run-as-green.html
3. http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/excerpt
4. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/support-for-tony-cox-thurs-9-june-at-10am.html
5. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/placards-in-support-of-tony-cox-and-the-right-to-be-accompanied-at-jobcentres-and-benefit-entitlement-assessments.html
6. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/tony-cox-update-10-june-2016.html
7. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/kuwg-plus-anarchist-friends-in-support-of-tony-cox-thurs-9-jun-2016.html
8. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/28702.htm
9. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/19/this-changes-everything-capitalism-vs-climate-naomi-klein-review
10. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/legitimacy-of-electoral-systems-vs-illegitimate-and-vicious-government-policies.html

BBC1 tv's 'The Big Questions': Should a society be judged by how it treats its less fortunate members?

This was first broadcast on Sunday 20 March 2016. Panel members include Guardian columnist Owen Jones (a Labour Party member) and Green Party Work & Pensions Spokesperson Jonathan Bartley.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0755gl8/the-big-questions-series-9-episode-11

"Moral, ethical and religious debate with Nicky Campbell. Should a society be judged by how it treats its less fortunate members? Should climate change now be taken seriously?"

Global markets thriving on global warming and linked disasters

Naomi Klein wrote 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism' that was published in 2007. An analysis of that book can help us understand trends that accelerated in the UK dramatically from the 2010 General Election, and also gives a keen understanding of what gloval financial institutions are doing to the Greek economy. See M. Magazine Review: The Shock Doctrine.(1)

Naomi Klein's latest book looks at the links betwen global warming and disaster capitalism's lust for creating shortage. Red Pepper magazine review of 'This Changes Everything'.(2) And as it seems that to me that the increased warmer weather trends in the Meditteranean are toward the 40deg C tipping point that could lead to what some climate scientists call 'tipping point', I tought of looking up the current temperature in that land that is in economic crisis.

While I've not found that yet, I have found this report of Caribbean-wide drought.(3)

No doubt there are forces at work in the global financial institutions that use another country's debt crisis as a cue for the financial institutions to turn from 'creditors' to predators. They will probably be rubbing their hands with glee at what is going on in the Caribbean and they themselves will be drinking their gin with bottled tonic water.

And nationalist organisations around the world that are funded by financial institutions will say that a rise in immigration is a root problem rather than a consequence of ever worsening global warming.

Meanwhile, the ambient temperature in my South-facing one-roomed flat has recently reached 27deg C (80deg F) even at night, making it difficult for me to get to sleep and worsening my health.

Notes — all links below were accessed today

(1) http://www.naomiklein.org/reviews/ms-magazine-review-shock-doctrine

(2) http://www.redpepper.org.uk/change-or-be-changed/

(3) http://uk.weather.com/story/news/major-drought-hits-caribbean-20150629