Self-help support vs ravages of 'welfare reform'. Never attend anywhere official alone!
This blog currently focuses on national policy matters that impact upon KUWG members.
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group as a group focuses primarily on combating benefits injustices locally through advocacy in individuals' benefit claims, and demonstrations that emphasise that there is hope when we come together. We are more angry than frightened.
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| Daily Mail, 16 September 2017: "PM to confront web giants with blood on their hands" |
Prime Minister Theresa May will order internet bosses to crack down on extremism in the wake of the Parsons Green attack, says the Daily Mail. It reports Google, Facebook and Microsoft could be in the firing line after instructions to make the bomb were "still available online". The paper adds Mrs May will warn technology companies they need to do more to stop extremists at a summit with the French president next week. (1)For the 'threat terror level' declared by UK Government to be 'critical' is nothing new. Why though do the BBC etc not broadcast the lowering of the 'threat terror level' that occurs? And what impact does that have on the mainstream public psyche?
The UK terror threat level has been raised to "critical", following the Manchester Arena bombing which killed 22 people.
This is the highest terror threat level possible and means an attack is "expected imminently".(2)
"Nearly one fire a day in London involves white goods. Most fires caused by these appliances are not down to the owner but by faults beyond the control of the householder." (8)The solution to this problem, the LFB concludes, involves total recall of dodgy white goods.
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| Prospective Kwug placard design: T May & Co, State Terrorists |
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....”
.... 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....
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.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
"May I suggest a social theology .... rooted in the experience of the poorest UK citizens."
— Revd Paul Nicolson, founder of Taxpayers Against Poverty (1)
".... the periscope allows the commander of the submarine only limited vision. The periscope will show you only what you look at; if you don't look at something, you won't see it. And the same is true of questions: one only gets what one asks for. If you don't ask for something, you won't get it."
"Questions put [the questioner] in command"
More than 50 magistrates are understood to have resigned from the bench in recent weeks amid an extraordinary judicial revolt against new court charges which critics claim encourage innocent people to plead guilty.
Brent Council have come under-fire for issuing court summons over council tax arrears which has left 2,000 vulnerable residents footing a hefty bill of more than £250,000... (7)
"In 2015 our network of local offices advised 212,000 people on their council tax arrears. Amounts owed can range from as low as £30 to several thousands of pounds."— Citizens Advice report Catching Up: Improving council tax arrears collection(12)
"Disabled people are being wrongly denied benefit. I help them get them back."(15)
Although the MoJ states it does not collect data on the outcomes of different types of hearing, research by the University College London Judicial Institute and the Nuffield Foundation in 2013 found claimants almost three times as likely to win an appeal for disability living allowance (DLA) after an oral hearing than paper alone (46%, compared to 17%).(17)....Steve Donnison, co-founder of Benefits and Work,(18) a not-for-profit benefits advice resource, explains: “Appeal panels have to make a decision about the honesty and credibility of an appellant. It’s far easier for them to make this judgment if the claimant is in front of them answering their questions.”
This disadvantage is exacerbated by the fact, which advocates stress, that many claimants appealing a decision aren’t actually aware of the criteria for being eligible for benefits. “And when the appeal is by paper, the tribunal has no way of filling in the gaps in the evidence,” Donnison adds. “So they can’t make an award.”
