Placard: Kate Belgrave asks, "Is anyone getting any answers from DWP at present?"

Placard: Kate Belgrave asks, "Is anyone getting any
information from Department for Work & Pensions at present?"

Thursday 20 July 2017 latest Disability News Service headlines

Latest Stories

• 
  July 20, 2017 0 Ten years on, campaigners ask again: ‘If these are not hate crimes, what are?’
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 Jared O’Mara calls for action on bullying and harassment by MPs
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 McDonnell calls for disabled-led solution to care crisis, as DPAC occupies parliament
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 DR UK’s new boss pledges better links with other DPOs and grassroots groups
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 Concerns over council’s post-18 support after ombudsman ruling
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 Disabled MP credits mainstream education for new parliamentary career
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 Senior civil servant admits draft industrial strategy failed on disability
• 
  July 20, 2017 0 Equality watchdog and parts of disability movement ‘fail to highlight achievers’

High Noon at Highbury Magistrates Court on Thursday 13 July 2017! Show solidarity for civil disobedience vs fiscal policies bad for health

Guest blog post by Revd Paul Nicolson, founder of Taxpayers Against Poverty, writing in a personal capacity

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE in solidarity with everyone in UK suffering mental or physical ill-health due to inadequate incomes and debt 

I have been summoned to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, 51 Holloway Road, London N7 8JA at 13.30 on Thursday 13th July.  There will be a demonstration outside the courts from 12-1.30. 

I am refusing to pay my council tax, as an act of civil disobedience, in solidarity with everyone in the UK suffering mental or physical ill-health due to grossly inadequate incomes and debt in work, self employment, unemployment  or zero hours contracts; particularly those who have been forced by national and local government to go to a food bank. 

​TWO UNPRECEDENTED RISES IN DEATH RATES.  

How many more infant deaths, how much more diminished life expectancy, do there have to be before UK national and local governments accept the overwhelming and undeniable evidence that low incomes impact on mental and physical health? Some 52,400 more deaths were reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to have occurred in the year to June 2015 as compared to the same period a year before,

​

Nine blogs on health equality 

Dr Angela Donkin Institute of Health Equity, Profs Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson Equality Trust, Maddy Power University of York, Carl Walker University of Brighton 

​​I will be asking the Highbury Corner Magistrates when and how they checked the costs of £115 they award this year against, mostly impoverished, council tax defaulters, 27,270 times in 2016/17.  ​

The bailiffs were dispatched by Haringey council to the doorsteps of Haringey residents 11,492 times in 2016/17​

There is a comprehensive description of how  £73.10 single adult unemployment benefit has been reducing in value since 1979 on the TAP website.  Its increases were frozen in 201I. It cannot afford 20% of the council tax, let alone court costs and bailiffs fees, introduced in 2013.  It also has to pay rent dues to the bedroom tax and the benefit cap.. 

OBJECTION TO HARINGEY'S COUNCIL'S  ACCOUNTS

I have raised an objection to Haringey Council's 2016/17 Accounts asking the auditors BDO, LLP 55 Baker Street, London W1U 7EU to audit the council tax costs awarded to Haringey Council by the Magistrates. 

​I have told the auditors that there is a profound public interest in the council and the magistrates ceasing to impose mental and physical ill health on the poorest ​Haringey ​tenants by enforcing an unpayable tax against grossly inadequate incomes adding court costs and bailiffs fees​, and failing to collect over £2million every year.  

Camden and Westminster Councils have already exempted benefit claimants from the tax. 

​Haringey's auditors BDO LLP  are authorised and regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales 

I have reminded the auditors that ​BDO LLP is authorised and regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales ("ICAEW") under registration number C001055835. .May I remind you of the ICEAW code of ethics. "ICAEW members are expected to demonstrate the highest standards of professional conduct and to take into consideration the public interest. Ethical behaviour plays a vital role in ensuring public trust in financial reporting and business practices and upholding the reputation of the accountancy profession".

HARINGEY COUNCIL TAXES BENEFIT INCOMES OF ITS 
POOREST RESIDENTS OF UK'S MOST DEPRIVED WARDS WITH 
LOW LIFE EXPECTANCY AND HIGH RISK OF LOW BIRTH-WEIGHT.

Ten blogs on affordable housing by 

Stephen Hill MRICS Churchill Fellow, Prof Danny Dorling University of Oxford, Fred Harrison Land Research Trust, Alison Gelder Housing Justice. 

Nine blogs on health equality 

Dr Angela Donkin Institute of Health Equity, Profs Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson Equality Trust, Maddy Power University of York, Carl Walker University of Brighton

Ask well-informed questions of candidates while government bodies still gather the statistics!

Richard Osley of Camden New Journal and Islington Tribune writes in the Islington Tribune:

No mistakes: Justice Secretary Liz Truss can’t think of a single error made by Tory government (1)

JUSTICE Secretary Liz Truss was stumped today when the New Journal asked her if the Conservatives had made any mistakes at all in government since the last general election.

With cabinet members arriving in the target constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn at a rate of one every four days since Theresa May called a snap election, Ms Truss was in West Hampstead this afternoon (Thursday) to help with the local Conservative campaign aiming to unseat Labour’s Tulip Siddiq.

After rolling off a list of achievements and insisting that, despite her role in the Remain campaign, that her party had been right to call a national referendum on EU membership, the New Journal asked the simple question as to whether she could think of any mistake the government had made over the last two years.

She paused, looked surprised by the question, and then replied: “Well, I think given where we were as a country, given what we inherited in 2010, which was a country with serious financial problems, I think we’ve done a very good job in getting us back into a better position. We have record levels of employment, we’ve got more children in good and outstanding schools, we are putting more money into the NHS and that’s what people want to see....”

Perhaps that phrase ".... and that's what people want to see...." is the most telling piece of her speel, given the new policy of the Department for Work & Pensions closing jobcentres without a consultation of service users, and saying that closing jobcentres will 'improve the service'?(2) Her Party does not want the people who are not in regular 'nine-to-five' employment to be seen to expose the lies and statistical manipulations involved in her 'record levels of employment' vision that masks the misery of zero hours contracts and sanctions.

As William Davies writes of Tory leader yet to be mandated as Prime Minister, Theresa May: Theresa May's Vapid Vision for a One-Party State: (3)

.... The prime minister’s rhetoric since calling the general election has implied that the best outcome for “the national interest” would be to eradicate opposition altogether, whether that be in the news media, Parliament or the judiciary....

Elsewhere, the non-party-political Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty writes:

Question Candidate MPs! More deaths More in hospital with malnutrition It will get worse What will you do about it? (4)

Questions for all Parliamentary Candidates;
Each question should be prefaced with

IS IT FAIR…

The NHS has reported that over 7300 people were admitted to hospital with malnutrition in 2014/15. Up 50% in the four years since 2010? http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/food-bank-britain-amid

That the Office for National Statistics has revealed an unprecedented increase in deaths in 2015 after decades of improvement? http://www.theactuary.com/news/2017/03/an-unprecedented-rise-in-uk-deaths-will-see-life-expectancy-fall/

That the regressive impact of the market and austerity has damaged the health and wellbeing of millions of citizens since 1979 and in particular since 2010?http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/tap-health-equality-campaign-of-9-blogs-against-a-national-disgrace-we-publ

That because rents are rising faster than incomes The Resolution Foundation has forecast ​ever ​lower incomes after housing costs reducing by 16% for the poorest citizens over the next four years while the highest incomes rise 4%? http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2017/01/Audit-2017.pdf

That Income Support, Employment Support Allowance and Jobseekers Allowance all at £73.10pw and Universal Credit of £317pm are too low live on AND have to pay rent due to the bedroom tax and council tax http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/the-great-injustice-in-cutting-esa-by-30-a-wee

That given what we know about the physical and emotional costs of moving house, the vulnerability of children’s education to frequent moves and the disruption to schooling and social networks, that councils are demolishing council estates rather than maintaining them?  http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/25331/412554-Housing-as-a-Platform-for-Improving-Education-Outcomes-among-Low-Income-Children.PDF

​To allow the UK to sleepwalk into a proliferation of insecure work which is short sighted, damages health and costs the taxpayers? http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/allowing-uk-to-sleepwalk

In 2010 it was estimated that inequalities in health accounted for productivity losses of £31-£33 billion per year, and £20-£32 billion a year in lost taxes and higher welfare payments.  Additional NHS healthcare costs associated with inequality were estimated to be in excess of £5.5 billion a year?  http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/health-inequalities-004
Rev Paul Nicolson

Those questions are based on official statistics that no doubt Justice Secretary Theresa May, Prime Minister Theresa May etc would rather have the public not see. So I would say, grab every opportunity you can! Ask those questions of candidates and highlight those statistical realities.

Otherwise, those who have landed Britain in such a mess in the name of 'austerity' and the reality of making economically vulnerable people subject to the bankers' debt, will abolish the requirement and budgeting for official bodies to gather the relevant statistics.

Similarly, you may wish to ask candidates questions around how Conservative Government has sought to so 'transform justice' that injustices are made invisible by removing people's right to challenge, say, dodgy benefits assessment challenges, etc.(5) 

Successful legal challenges embarrass the abusers of vulnerable people in a very unequal and divided Britain, and so do the statistics resulting from a legal system designed and equipped to challenge injustice rather than perpetuate injustice.

Link References

1. http://islingtontribune.com/article/no-mistakes-justice-secretary-liz-truss-cant-think-of-a-single-error-made-by-tory-government
2. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/terra-firma-benefits-services-closures-leave-the-economically-vulnerable-in-the-lurch.html 
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/opinion/theresa-mays-vapid-vision-for-a-one-party-state.html
4. http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/question-candidate-mps-more-deaths
5. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Ministry+of+Justice

Abusive bullies avoid embarrassing questions

The scale of right wing 'welfare reformist' government abuses is now more mainstream than it was when David Cameron gave a speech in 2007 stating that tougher benefit sanctions were required.(1) The tactics and strategies of the abusive bullies are still very much the same, however.

Tory chief whip Gavin Williamson asks, “Is Jeremy Corbyn going to be the one who is going to stand up and get the best for Britain [in Brexit negotiations] or is Theresa May?” (Tories determined to follow 'get Corbyn' strategy, CNJ, May 4, 2017.(2))

Perhaps a lot depends on what he means by 'Britain'. Among the billionaires domiciled in the UK according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2017. there is "a record number of British billionaires - 134 - with 14 new ones emerging over the last year."(3) 

Yet Britain is very unequal socio-economically. In 2015, according to NHS figures, 7300 people were admitted to hospital with malnutrition — an increase of 50% since 2010. Homelessness is up 54% since 2010.(4)

Moreover, in negotiations bullies think that the bullying tactics used at home against those with no real bargaining power is 'strong leadership'. Among the tactics successive UK governments have used to deflect and pre-empt criticism of deteriorating services for benefit claimants have been the besmirching of the reputation and hence public goodwill toward those who have been abused by woefully inadequate and exploitative 'benefits helplines' as remote control has replaced face-to-face contact with decision-makers. In the mid-noughties while 21m calls to Jobcentre Plus helplines in 2004/5 went unanswered,(5) a Blairite government was running its Tory-lite 'Targeting BenefitThieves' campaign.(6)

Now, furthering the isolation and invisibility of benefit claimants while'benefits helpline' calls cost pay-as-you-go mobile phone users £33/hr, the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has decided to close a number of jobcentres used by Camden New Journal readers, including Kilburn andHighgate (near Archway) to 'improve the service' without consulting service users.(7)

The EU's Chief Negotiator has more bargaining power than a DWP 'customer'.(8)

Now at this General Election time, the Tory chief whip's tactic of changing the agenda when faced with embarrassing questions gives rise to new meaning for a cartoon by Crippen the Disabled Cartoonist's 'Welfare Warfare' series.(9) The cartoon depicts a group of disabled people at a meeting presided over by the then Tory Prime Minister and Disability Minister who state: 

“Don't worry — when we want your opinion, we'll tell you what it is.”

Link references

1. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/benefit-claimants-require-firmer-safegards-not-tougher-sanctions.html
2. http://camdennewjournal.com/article/corbyn-wont-save-people-from-food-banks-warns-tory-chief-whip-gavin-williamson
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39830087 title: "UK's super-rich carry on making billions" 
4. http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/civil-disobedience-fully-justified
5. http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2006/11/16/jobcentre-plus-poor-service-continues/
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0zno5G3hw
7. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/terra-firma-benefits-services-closures-leave-the-economically-vulnerable-in-the-lurch.html
8. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-brexit-negotiating-draft-european-council-president-donald-tusk-union-latest-a7659316.html
9. http://www.crippencartoons.co.uk/wp-content/archive/cartoons/welfarewarfare/welfarewarfare12.shtml

UK benefit cap, party conference season, BBC, Russia and hegemony

Blogger Johnny Void reports that when the overall benefit cap is lowered this Autumn, it will be for the third time in just five years. What does that all mean? How about, as JV writes, Hunger, Homelessness and Despair, The Stark Reality of the Benefit Cap?

Of course that is not the analysis we shall be hearing trumpeted this October when BBC News reports from Conservative & Unionist Party Autumn Conference 2016. What will other political parties have to say about this third lowering of the benefit cap in five years? And if they do say anything about the benefit cap at those Autumn conferences, will the BBC report it? 

Oh, no! What have I done now? I've probably sown the seeds for more and more page viewings of Kwug Blog from Russia, where it seems their larger population are dead keen to seek out reports of how nasty the UK Government is to poor people within the UK. (For the past month or two, there have been about four times more page viewings of this blog from Russia than from within the UK, until my health forced me to cut back on my output — reducing the number of page viewings of this blog per week to practically zero from Russia.)

Needless to say, while internal debate is potentially healthy, as a Green Party member too poor to attend party conference and very restricted by the agendas of DWP regarding how much money the law says I need to live on and what I need to declare, and the timetabling of Green Party of England & Wales Conference Arrangements Committee etc, I hope the Green Party Autumn Conference discussions about 'progressive alliance' politics do not entirely overwhelm matters of how nasty 'austerity government' is to poor people.

Dude Swheatie of Kwug

The Monstrous Unfairness of Benefit Sanctions

Guest blog post by Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty

The monstrous unfairness of benefit sanctions 

PM must look below the statistics to tackle the inequalities of income, wealth, health & administration of justice 

The Prime Minister ( Guardian If Theresa May is serious about inequality she will ditch Osborneomics) must look below the headline statistics to tackle the dire inequalities of income, wealth, health and the administration of justice she has inherited.

I helped John Smith, name changed, through the traumatic aftermath of a benefit sanction. 

Three powerful government department​s had descended on a single unemployed adult with a history of depression. 

The DWP [Department for Work & Pensions] stopped his income and the DCLG [Department for Communities & Local Government]/Local authority enforced rent and council tax arrears, and the MOJ [Ministry of Justice] enforced a TV license fine, all with threats of eviction, the bailiffs and prison. 

During a three month sanction the unmanageble debts pile up.  When it ends they are enforced against £73.10 a week JSA. 

He was then told his block of flats was due for demolition. He was speaking about his thoughts of throwing himself off the balcony of his 5th floor council flat. 

These extreme punishments imposed by the State, extending to over a year due to the enforcement of debts, were totally disproportionate to the offence of missing an appointment. 

John Smith did not receive a fair trial at the Jobcentre.

When the bailiffs called on John Smith I told them I was taking the case back the the Magistrates Court - this is the case I put to them - they remitted £135 fine and dismissed the bailiffs. 

The case I put to the magistrate is on the TAP website. 

from the Reverend Paul Nicolson

Taxpayers Against Poverty

No citizen without an affordable home and an 

adequate income in work or unemployment. 

93 Campbell Road, Tottenham, London N17 0BF, 0208 3765455, 07961 177889, 

https://www.facebook.com/Taxpayers-Against-Poverty-299911526728884/

https://twitter.com/taxpayers_a_p www.taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk, 

www.z2k.org, www.prohousingalliance.com

Reflections on prime ministerial legacy of David Cameron by KUWG singers, Revd Paul Nicolson and geographer Prof. Danny Dorling

Though this blog editor disapproves of the chorus for this song, I concur with the narrative record of the verses.


The song was recorded on youtube video before David Cameron stood down as Prime Minister, but is still very valid as a testimony to what he did as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Revd Paul Nicolson and Prof. Danny Dorling seem to confirm the chorus content if not the character references given in the chorus:

"Cameron’s record was on​e​ of ever declining well-being among the population and then increasing death rates.​

"Professor Danny Dorling  reveals evidence of rapid decline in health across the UK since 2010 and then rapid rises in overall death rates in 2015 (with small rises in 2013).

"None of this became clear until new data was released by ONS [Office for National Statistics] on June 23rd (the vote day)....."

Continue reading their findings at 

http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/camerons-record-was-one-of-ever-declining

PETITION UPDATE: Re: David clapson: hold an inquiry into the sanctions that killed my brother 

U.N. PUBLISHES DAMNING REPORT ON UK BENEFIT SANCTIONS

Gill Thompson

Stevenage, United Kingdom

13 JUL 2016 — The British Government's austerity policies are a breach of international human rights, a new report by the UN has warned. 
The UN having investigated the UK on the effects of the welfare reforms and human rights, have now published their findings. 

PETITION UPDATE

U.N. PUBLISHES DAMNING REPORT ON UK BENEFIT SANCTIONS

Gill Thompson

Stevenage, United Kingdom

13 JUL 2016 — The British Government's austerity policies are a breach of international human rights, a new report by the UN has warned. 
The UN having investigated the UK on the effects of the welfare reforms and human rights, have now published their findings.... 

To find out more and take action, go to the source of the above copy-and-paste item: 
https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-hold-an-inquiry-into-benefit-sanctions-that-killed-my-brother/u/17271554

Taxpayers Against Poverty ask new PM for cumulative assessment of all benefit cuts in UK

Guest Blog Post by Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty

I am today posting a letter recorded delivery to the new Prime Minister — the full text can be found on the Taxpayers Against Poverty website — all good wishes — Paul

It begins;  

"Dear Prime Minister, 

POVERTY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

May I congratulate you on becoming Prime Minister and wish you a successful term in the service of the people of the UK.

I am making one request. Please will you commission a report into:

1. The cumulative impact of Housing Benefit cuts, benefit caps and Council Tax on the health of benefit claimants, in work and unemployment, since 2008 taking into account the impact of debt on mental health and the need for women to receive a healthy diet before they conceive and while they are pregnant if they are to give birth to healthy babies.
2. The cost to the health service of poverty related ill health."

Link address

http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/new-prime-minister

While KUWG is starting to draft a statement against the coup against elected Labour Party leader Corbyn ....

Yesterday's Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group meeting unanimously and enthusiastically supported a call for the drafting of a KUWG statement of support for elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn against a coup of Labour MPs and right wing lobbyists against his leadership. The drafting of that statement is likely to start in earnest next week. That statement basically will point to the non-party-political alignment of Kwug while Kwug members are members of diverse political parties and none.

Like, those right wingers and their lobbyist allies have been attacking us for years, while Jeremy Corbyn has been one of our greatest supporters; and how dare they accuse Jeremy of a lack of leadership when the vast bulk of those Labour MP rebels 'sat on their hands' as the Welfare Reform & Work Bill passed against your opposition and the opposition of the bulk of other opposition parties' votes....

Meanwhile:

• Disability News Service reports: Labour left with no disability spokesperson after its Disability Spokesperson Debbie Abrahams is promoted to Work & Pensions Secretary; (2)
• A car boot businessman has escaped unpunished for a disability hate blog; (3)
• A former diplomat, who was forced to give up her job after the Foreign & Commonwealth Office refused to fund the lip-speakers she needed to do her job, has called for more government-funded research to examine the benefits of disabled people finding work; and (4)
• Experts demolish government excuses for [Employment & Support Allowance Work-Related Activity Group benefit level] cut. (5)
• While 'hostage taking' (6) Theresa May, who says that her leadership of the Conservative Party and country would make Britain work "for everyone" (7) started her bid to become Prime Minister tour in the Hampstead & Kilburn Parliamentary seat (8) while Camden Council is set to sell off £150m worth of council homes every year under the Housing & Planning Act 2016; (9)
• Homelessness and eviction matters make it more difficult for the people displaced to do anything,
• Another (England & Wales-based) political party has a leadership election that the BBC News gives scant attention to in terms of 'alternatives'; (10) and
• Support for the so-called UK Independence Party under Nigel Farage's leadership became strongest in the former Labour heartland of North-East England (11) presumably among those white working class people keener to scapegoat other poor people than unite against the real causes of oppression. (12) 

And Jeremy Corbyn's opponents within the Parliamentary Labour Party and colluding with 'austerity government' Labour councils should realise that he was elected Labour Leader by a much greater populace than those on MPs' salaries; and in Jeremy Corbyn MP's support for vulnerable people, Kwug caseworkers who give their services out of a sense of solidarity rather than anything more than photocopying and postage type expenses have a great role model.

Link addresses

1. Corbyn link pending
2. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/labour-left-with-no-disability-shadow-after-abrahams-promotion/
3. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/call-for-action-after-car-boot-businessman-escapes-hate-blog-punishment/
4. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disability-employment-gap-former-diplomat-calls-for-government-action/
5. http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disability-employment-gap-experts-demolish-government-excuses-for-wrag-cut/
6. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/hostage-taking-by-government-as-act-of-terrorism.html
7. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/we-can-make-britain-work-for-everyone-g5hxzxx29
8. http://www.camdennewjournal.com/may-west-hampstead
9. http://www.camdennewjournal.com/council-home-sales
10. https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2016/07/05/green-party-leadership-candidates-announced/
11. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/how-nigel-farages-party-fruitcakes-11565970
12. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/uniting-against-real-causes-of-oppression-is-better-than-people-lashing-out-at-the-nearest-scapegoat.html

'Hostage taking' by Government as an act of terrorism

Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group's 'Kwug blog' has previously published a post from an EU national among our membership regarding how her exclusion from voting rights in the recent UK EU Referendum alienated her and a great many others.(1) Now, it seems, Conservative Party front-runner Theresa May is turning 

• from Home Secretary charged with securing the safety off all who are within Britain's shores
• to international terrorist as hostage taker regarding UK Brexit negotiations

London Green Left blogger Mike Shaughnessy reports — EU Nationals Must be Allowed to Stay in the UK:

Theresa May, the Home Secretary and front runner to be Tory Party leader and next Prime Minister, says that she cannot guarantee that European nationals already living in the UK, will be allowed to remain in the country. Apparently, their fate is to be part of the UK’s  negotiating position, together with UK nationals living in EU countries.

There are around 1.2 million UK nationals living in the EU and around 3 million EU nationals living in the UK. The other candidates for the leadership of the Tory Party have said that May is using them as ‘bargaining chip,’ which I think is a pretty accurate description of May’s attitude to the whole issue of our exit negotiations from the EU.(2)

Yes, I do say that this is international terrorism. It is reminiscent of legendary American trade unionist and singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie's observation: "Some will rob you with a six-gun; some with a fountain pen."(3) "First they stole our benefits entitlements...."

Maybe, whatever constitutional law the Cameron Government has sneaked in precluding the possibility of a November UK General Election to sort out the basis of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales negotiations with the EU regarding whether we 'stay' or 'go', and moreover, whether 'hostage taking' is ever justified? (4) (5)

Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group as benefit claimants and allies of benefit claimants already know at personal and collective levels what damage the benefit sanctions 'hostage taking' régime does to vulnerable people, as does Glasgow University law professor Dr David Webster on the macro, statistical level.(6)

Link addresses

1. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/eu-can-i-stay-or-must-i-go.html
2. http://londongreenleft.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/eu-nationals-must-be-allowed-to-stay-in.html
3. https://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Pretty_Boy_Floyd.htm
4. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/06/will-no-early-general-election/
5. https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/alex-goodman/post-exit-britain-democracy-or-autocracy
6. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/benefit-sanctions-britains-secret-penal-system

FAO: All who want a progressive outcome following UK Brexit vote — and get to Stoke Newington for 18:30 on Thurs 7 July 2016

Forwarded by a Hackney Green Party member and into this blog editor's Yahoo! Mail inbox. (The timing of the meeting is not helpful for Kilburn Unemployed meeting attenders that afternoon, but this blog is widely read! The online references at the bottom of this blog post may also be of advantage to people who cannot attend the meeting.)

This might be of interest. Please circulate...

It isn't a Green Party meeting, but Hackney Greens are publicising it.
Everyone wanting a progressive outcome is welcome.

https://www.facebook.com/events/168960706851690/

*Please come and discuss how we build a progressive country following the
Brexit vote. Thursday 7th July at 6.30pm-8.30pm at the Unitarian Church,
39A Newington Green, N16 9PR. 10 minute walk from Canonbury Station, buses
21. 73, 141, 236, 341, 476 from Angel etc.The idea of the meeting is to
work towards building and coordinating an active and campaigning movement
to influence the shaping of our country and its relationship with the world
over the coming months and years.*

*Please come and discuss how we build a progressive country following the
Brexit vote. Thursday 7th July at 6.30pm-8.30pm at the Unitarian Church,
39A Newington Green, N16 9PR. 10 minute walk from Canonbury Station, buses
21. 73, 141, 236, 341, 476 from Angel etc. *

*The idea of the meeting is to work towards building and coordinating an
active and campaigning movement to influence the shaping of our country and
its relationship with the world over the coming months and years.*

OpenDemocracy article

The source email gave a number of links that did not work to an OpenDemocracy article.

By using the readable text from one of those links, this however seems to be a link to the relevant article

https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/alex-goodman/post-exit-britain-democracy-or-autocracy

The Kwug blog editor also draws attention to Taxpayers Against Poverty article headed

Once Article 50 triggered no mechanism to reverse or change that decision to leave the EU even if we want to

at http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk

Legitimacy of electoral systems vs illegitimate and vicious government policies

Dude Swheatie has just signed a Make Votes Matter petition letter Minister for Constitutional Affairs John Penrose. This is in support of a change: 

1. from a 'first past the post' electoral system 
2. to a Proportional Representation (PR) system.(1)

Dude Swheatie has added this message to support his signature:

Under a 'first past the post' electoral system, the economic clout of campaign funders — even those who are non-UK citizens — dominates over the interests of the most vulnerable in our society.

How many of those who voted against proportional representation know of the extent and viciousness of what U. Glasgow law professor Dr David Webster 'Britain's secret penal system'?(2)

I believe that Proportional Representation would help bring about far more legitimate government in the UK.

Link

1. https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-reform-our-voting-system-to-make-it-fair-and-representative-makeseatsmatchvotes/u/16905545
2. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/benefit-sanctions-britains-secret-penal-system