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Friday, 14 July 2017

Did the Tory war on the poor weed out magistrates opposed to 'push button' mass-destruction in the name of 'debt recovery'

Reflecting on the two most recent Kwug Blog posts,

Unjustly treated Revd Paul Nicolson points to the mass-destruction perils of 'push button justice' over civil debt (1) and
Alleged 'left wing bias' in schools and social work education

it strikes me that those two blog posts link in with previous Kwug Blog posts about magistrates. (3)

Magistrates are sworn to 'uphold the law' — whatever that law might be — and when Michael Gove was Justice Secretary [sic] he brought in legal charges that so disgusted some magistrates that they felt obliged to resign in protest to changes he sought to bring in regarding criminal courts charges. (4)

In my experience, when truly socially engaged professionals such as good Disability Employment Advisers have been faced with 'service constraints' that are against the interests of the people before them, they have sought employment elsewhere; what that leaves amounts to postholders that are purely 'functionaries' or mercenaries, serving really only as 'window dressing'.

Revd Paul Nicolson's court summons yesterday was in response to a civil debt rather than a criminal case, but I believe it does tie in with my point about 'service delivery'. Barrister Alan Murdie has written two Big Issue articles regarding the kind of justice meted out to Council Tax debtors:

It was those poor people's interests Paul seeks to highlight with his campaign of Civil Disobedience.

An eye-witness of yesterday's proceedings gives this account:

The Judge didn't allow an adjournment, despite RP [Revd Paul] needing more time to understand a council document, plus hadn't had a response from independent auditor. Judge stated his "hands are tied" and has "no discretion"...how can one 'judge' with such constraints? Council got eventually what they wanted, but look crumby!

Yesterday I wrote Paul that I regard him as a modern day Conscientious Objector. This was after I had blogged about the parallels between

Paul's Guardian letter pointing out that people whose mental health had been severely harmed by benefit sanctions and the like being prescribed tranquilisers rather than a resolution of their sanctions by the Department for Work & Pensions, and
World War 1 bullying of people into becoming 'combatants'.

Today, a statement by the late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo reminds me of a world without people of courage such as Paul Nicolson:

'If you want to enter hell, don't complain of the dark....' (7)

Perhaps magistrates such as the one presiding over Paul's case are gatekeepers for such a hell, telling them that the harm done to society by Civil Disobedience must be punished while the hell that they are allowing to creep in is inevitable because magistrates are sworn to uphold the law?

It also strikes me that were someone to write someone else, "What words would you like to be your epitaph?" that query would be generally regarded as a death threat. Yet such a query can be an invitation to examine one's life and seek to live a better one.

Dude Swheatie of Kwug

PS: Meanwhile those who attack defenders of public spending and investment in society as 'politically motivated' while being keen to stand as Tory candidates in council elections (8) — especially when the defenders of public spending and investment invest their own lives in public service delivery — remind me of a Flanders & Swann comment in the 1960's that 'strictly non-political' translated in reality as 'very right wing'.

Notes

Thursday, 13 July 2017

Unjustly treated Revd Paul Nicolson points to the mass-destruction perils of 'push button justice' over civil debt

Guest blog post from Revd Paul Nicolson

IT IS HIGH TIME THIS INHUMAN COMPUTERISED INJUSTICE IS STOPPED.

Today Highbury Corner Magistrates court, as expected, issued a liability order against me to Haringey Council adding £115 costs.

But far more seriously the magistrate issued liability orders plus costs against 510 Haringey residents by signing a computer printout. That was a small number: sometimes it has been over 2000 at one time by signing a print out. The total number of summons issued by Haringey last year was over 27.000. Nationally there are 3.5 million a year.

The vast majority are issued by computer against local people who can never afford to pay the tax because their benefit incomes have been shredded by central government.

Haringey Councillors ought to be ashamed of themselves for letting such an oppressive law loose on the large number of vulnerable and impoverished residents in the borough. It creates serious hardship.

Great efforts by council staff goes in to collecting the tax from people who cannot pay. No surprise that over £2million is left unpaid every year.

A computer will now send the following threats to residents of the borough vulnerable or not. It is an inhuman process.

Failure to contact

the council on receiving a liability order

will result in the council taking one of the following methods of recovery to collect the outstanding Council Tax

Enforcement Agents (
commonly known
as bailiffs)

They add £75 as soon as Haringey give them the case (over 11,000 times last year). They then add £235 if they have to make a visit and another £110 if they call to collect the furniture. Council tax is a civil debt so they are not allowed to break in to people's homes. Keep to door shut is the advice.
Attachment of Earnings
Attachment of Benefit
Bankruptcy / Liquidation
Charging Orders
Committal to Prison

DWP making poor people mentally ill at great cost to the NHS as we approach centenary of a WW1 blood bath

Yesterday I read Paul Nicolson's letter published in The Guardian about the Department for Work & Pensions making poor people mentally ill at great cost to the NHS in treating the symptoms resulting from the DWP's inhumanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/11/stop-making-poor-people-mentally-ill

This morning I heard on the news that the cenenary of the World War I blood bath known as Passchendaele takes place at the end of this month.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-40586129/poppy-pins-made-from-battlefield-shells-and-mud

A film Passchendaele was based on the life of a previously medically exempted combatant highlights the bullying for the sake of 'nation' and 'empire', alongside whipping up of hatred toward the 'foreign enemy' that was used to marshal people into the military at that time.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1092082/

Having seen that film on more than one occasion, it struck me that

the DWP's making poor people mentally ill at great cost to the nation as well as the individuals concerned and
the WW1 recruitment methods of the British Empire

are linked by the assumptions of 'authority' that go to create an unhealthy society.

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Reminder: Support nonviolent revolutionary Revd Paul Nicolson on trial for Civil Disobedience against unjust laws that exacerbate poverty and mental health problems

The place: Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, 51 Holloway Road, London N7 8JA location map (1)
Date: Thursday, 13 July 2017

Demonstration of support for Paul

Outside the court, 12 Noon till 1:30pm

The Court Hearing

From 1:30pm

Further details

http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/civil-disobedience-media-release-rev-paul-nicolson-summoned-to-court-for-no

See also
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/11/stop-making-poor-people-mentally-ill
regarding the bigger picture of the threats DWP benefit claimants have imposed on them even without their being imposed upon by Council Tax demands by LB Haringey, etc.

Paul argues that cessation of such State brutality would relieve the NHS budget of unnecessary strain. Public spending cuts, anyone?

Notes

http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=531464&y=184830&z=0&sv=N7+8JA&st=2&pc=N7+8JA&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

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

Saturday, 13 May 2017

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.

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

Friday, 12 May 2017

Universal Credit application processes bleed claimants dry. Simplicity of basic income application processes revives

I attended a book launch on Monday night (8 May) at London School of Economics, for the latest book by Professor Guy Standing of School of Oriental and African Studies.(1) His book Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen is being published by Pelican.(2)

Though I bought the book, I shall not be reviewing it here in this blog post as I am a very slow reader and have personally pressing priorities that get in the way of my reading it just now. I shall, however, refer a little to his presentation speech content and a film that was shown outlining a pilot scheme for an unconditional basic income that was trialed in India and has excited the Indian government.

Professor Guy Standing's new book Basic Income:And How We Can Make It Happen is published by Pelican

In his introductory talk, Standing referred back to his works on the precariat as a new socio-economic class that is particularly vulnerable to change in an environment in which the global wealthy seem to be pulling all the strings.(3) The means-testing embedded in the UK's welfare state over the past several decades has been ever more firmly embedded into the new Universal Credit, and that makes work far less rewarding especially for those in precarious employment he argued.

The idea of a basic income has been around for centuries, he pointed out, and included in the writings of Thomas Paine in the 18th century, for example.(4) More recently, Norway nationalised its share of North Sea Oil and distributed the wealth among its own nationals. (UK government privatised its North Sea Oil.) He also pointed out that since the industrial revolution that happened in North-East England on account of local mineral resources, Middlesborough is one of the most deprived areas of the UK.

Standing observed that critics of an unconditional basic income have argued that it would breed laziness. Advocates of basic income, by contrast, state that an unconditional basic income, by fostering a more socio-economically stable and equal society promotes goodwill between state and citizens, and increases people's intelligence.

He presented a film of a basic income pilot scheme that was recorded in India with English subtitles. The overriding image for me from that film was of claimants congregating to receive their payments, and applying their thumb print as identification on a piece of paper. (Well, fingerprinting originated largely on the Indian sub-continent, and not as a means of tracking down criminals, as I recall reading years ago.)

Contrast that with the Department for Work & Pensions' (DWP) obsession with closure of face-to-face benefits outlets that has been going on for decades now in the UK.(5) Claimants are kept on hold for a long time at pay-as-you-go mobile phone call charge rates of £33/hr while the claimant has to wait for the 'adviser' they are speaking to to refer back to their supervisor. Claimants do this in isolation from one another, adding to their sense of alienation and isolation. And the DWP has a bullying insistance that jobcentres are no longer so necessary, because 75% of Jobseekers Allowance claims and 99% of Universal Credit claims are made online.(6) Whose choice is that?

In place of Guy's wording 'reciprocity' for the goodwill effect of a basic income, I believe people in the precariat would describe the liberation that an unconditional basic income would bring as "being freed from being bled dry." And I would also add that the 'conditionality' embedded in Universal Credit and Claimant Commitment procedures in alienation from what is represented of 'life' in the mainstream mass media puts people into a 'headless chicken' state of panic.

So, yes, Basic Income makes people more intelligent and frees society from the problems of low birth weight that Revd Paul Nicolson has helped to highlight;(7) but what gets in the way of people manifesting their intelligence?

I will close this post with a further referencing to means-tested benefits that Guy gave in, as I recall, the question and answer session. He pointed out that under means-tested systems, more benefits go to immigrants because they have experienced the most deprivation. Thus that creates more hostility between the indigenous poor people.

Link references

Tuesday, 18 April 2017

Let us not help Theresa May bury the bad news about Universal Credit rollout, suicides and homelessness under a Brexit General Election

Yesterday's Kwug Blog carried a 'guest blog post' from Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty.(1) Even in his mid-80's, Revd Paul is extremely prolific with his offerings and far quicker to respond than this disabled person. The best I can do to 'catch up with him' is generally to forward e-mail notifications of the Taxpayers Against Poverty (TAP) website on to the Kilburn Unemployed e-list, but even then be selective so as not to give vulnerable list members a sense of melt-down and information overload.(2)

The Kwug Blog 'guest contribution' posted yesterday, — A Universal Credit case study — however, included tabulated data that proved difficult to transmit by e-mail and provided valuable information about Universal Credit that the general public are largely ignorant about, and corporate mass media generally keeps buried while Universal Credit-related rent arrears can catapult the number of evictions from social housing.(3) It can take up to 12 weeks for a Universal Credit claim to be processed and thus for the claimant to get any Universal Credit income; yet under English Law, eviction proceedings can begin after just eight weeks or rent arrears.(4)

Revd Paul Nicolson does not keep his incisive light buried under a bushel, and though his latest offering by e-mail has not yet made it to the TAP website, I can help here to get the message out as soon as possible even while I was hoping to prioritise other things just now.

Referenda and General Elections are too often based not on real knowledge of issues, and the results are mangled in an unrepresentative 'first past the post' electoral system that is too influenced by the wealthy. Whatever the result of an 8 June General Election, it will not really be a mandate for what the people have heard too litlle of. I should add that while the KUWG focus is mainly on the benefits system while housing law is too complex for us to handle, TAP has a more extensive overview of things, and more specific to LB Haringey where Revd Paul lives.

With that, I shall just bring in Revd Paul's latest offering.

During election TAP will do what we do

Highlight depth of income poverty!!

YELL "HOUSING CRISIS!!"

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.

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

Link references

http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/a-universal-credit-case-study-by-revd-paul-nicolson.html
http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/
http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/a-universal-credit-case-study-by-revd-paul-nicolson.html
https://scottishunemployedworkers.net/2016/07/15/sharing-knowledge-in-the-face-of-further-attacks/

Monday, 17 April 2017

A Universal Credit case study by Revd Paul Nicolson

Guest blog post by Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty

Universal Calamity

Struggling to survive in Tottenham, with a history of depression.

Paid one penny to last next month because he earned £1109 last month. The Universal Credit is a nightmare for zero hours contract workers.

£317 a month UC standard allowance is the equivalent of £73.10 a week IS/JSA/ESA

The council charges him council tax at £3.40 a week or £14.75 a month

He has rent and council tax arrears due to a three month benefit sanction and irregular work.

He is threatened with eviction when he inevitably gets behind.

We know that £73.10 a week IS/JSA/ESA has reduced in value since 1979, the increase was frozen at 1% in 2011 and it has not been increased since April 2015.

See details about the growing inadequacy of £73.10 a week/£317 a month since 1979 on TAP website; (1)

Link reference

http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/the-great-injustice-in-cutting-esa-by-30-a-wee

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.

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

Saturday, 1 April 2017

The real-terms economics of DWP helplines

Kwug Blog editor — citing the reader's letter published this week in Camden New Journal(1) and which formed the basis of subsequent Kwug Blog post (2): It has struck me over the past few days on reading e-mail from a friend who is going through Universal Credit registration, that perhaps "Telephone calls [to the Universal Credit helpline] can cost up to 55p a minute from pay-as-you-go mobile phones, which are commonly used by people with lower incomes," is less illuminating than saying that the call charge is £33 per hour.

Rev Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty(3): Dear Alan - I wrote a similar letter to Guardian Society in 2003.. It was published with the following cartoon. - good wishes - Paul

Guardian Society cartoon, 2 July 2003, of JSA call centre recorded message stating, "All our operators are busy just now .... Why don't you just go out and buy another top-up card?"

Kwug Blog editor notes: In the recent Camden New Journal news story about a report by Camden Council regarding the damage done by Universal Credit processing delays and the extortionate call charges of the Universal Credit 'helpline', it was pointed out that the Council report had cited waits of "up to six weeks" for claims to be processed.(3) KUWG members realised that that seemed a far-too-conservative estimate, and waits of "up to six weeks" are nothing new.

I commented in response by e-mail that perhaps the gross under-estimation of the wait for claims to be processed and the assumption that waits of up to six weeks and resultant resorting to extortionate DWP helplines is something very new indicates how cushioned the report's authors are? A Camden Council source said that that was a peculiar reaction from me, as I should have been grateful for the report's existence rather than begrudging of the under-stating of the waiting period.

What do you think, dear Kwug Blog reader?

Notes:

Thursday, 22 December 2016

Revd Paul Nicolson proclaimed the housing crisis, London Live reported it

"No room at the inn" is a very topical theme for this time of year. 'Public houses' at the heart of communities have been sold to property developers while those who cannot afford to live in supposedly 'affordable homes' are evicted and left on the streets rather than council waiting lists.

And Revd Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty (TAP), alongside Haringey Unite Community colleagues, proclaimed 'The Twelve Shames of Parliament' yesterday as 'key decision-makers' responsible prepared to spend a festive season with family.(1)

For more details, go to the TAP blog post Sound the alarm bell for the housing crisis,(2) and the London Live photo story Ringing the alarm bell for the housing crisis.(3)

(London Live is part of the broadcasting and news corporation that owns: the i newspaper that has developed out of The Independent:(4) London Evening Standard:(5) and London Live broadcasting channel.(6) Fortunately for us, it is not owned by Rupert Murdoch who wants full ownership of Sky Broadcasting.(7))

And Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group wish all a more enlightened festive season and New Year 2017.

Reference link Web addresses

Friday, 18 November 2016

Z2K blog posts 2 Nov-to-15 Nov 2016

Z2K is short for Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, an Information, Advice, Guidance & Advocacy charity helping economically vulnerable people, mostly in the City of Westminster where it is located. It was co-founded by Revd Paul Nicolson who has since founded Taxpayers Against Poverty.

Thursday, 13 October 2016

Ministry of Justice 'consultation' agenda and questions further denial of justice

Original draft uploades Thursday 13 October; finalised Saturday 15 October.

Beyond the current Ministry of Justice/Reform UK 'think tank' consultation on their 'future is digital' vision for the bald mechanics of justice admin

"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."

— Avinoam Sapir, president, Laboratory for Scientific Interrogation (2)

"Questions put [the questioner] in command"

— Dorothy Leeds, The 7 Powers of Questions, Chapter 5: "Power #4: Questions Put You in Control" (3)

I am deeply concerned at the setting of the agenda and slanting of questions in the Ministry of Justice consultation Transforming Our Justice System that was launched on 15 September and is deadlined for Thursday 27 October.(4) I believe that the inception of the consultation owes more to the impact of bad laws on enforcement logistics while the crimes of government against poor people are treated as 'business as usual' or rather, completely overlooked.

Justice areas looked at in the consultation are: Criminal; Civil; Family and Tribunals. While I shall not address the matter of the proposals for Criminal, Civil, and Family divisions of the courts and tribunals system specifically, what I call the crimes of government against poor people appear to impact upon those sections, in my view.

Bad laws lead to the non-cooperation of fair minded adjudicators and create greater backlogs

In September 2016, the Independent newspaper reported:

Mass resignations amid judicial revolt against 'unfair fees' (5)

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.

Such resignations might reduce the number of appelants, but what does it do for the fitness of our courts to handle caseloads? “All criminal cases will start in the magistrates' court.”(6)

Benefit reductions, stresses of poverty and badly financed public services including IAG [information, advice and guidance] meltdown drive more people into civil debt

After UK central government reduced the amount available to local councils for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, most councils responded as Brent Council did by charging people too poor to pay any tax with an element of council tax, leading to huge arrears, as reported in the Brent & Kilburn Times in 2014:

Vulnerable residents in Brent left with £250k court bill over Council Tax arrears

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)

More recently, finding it uneconomical to enforce the unenforceable, Camden Council has belatedly launched a consultation offering 100% Council Tax Reduction for those too poor to pay Council Tax as its preferred option.(8) (9)

Alongside 'making poor people pay' being the reality of Conservative Government 'making work pay' welfare reform or anihilation policy, there has been the closure of Citizens Advice Bureau outlets from the time of the 2010 Con-Dem coalition government.(10) As Kate Belgrave has reported, "It can be really hard to get welfare advice."(11) None the less, regarding what people seek advice about, Citizens Advice reported in July 2016 that the number of people seeking advice about Council Tax arrears had risen by over a third in three years and

"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)

Benefit cuts and 'transforming benefit tribunals'

Finally, I come the matter of proposed 'transformation of benefit tribunals' as outlined in Panel composition in tribunals. This has been correctly flagged up by Benefits and Work Publishing (BWP) as addressing the wrong issues and making it far more likely that injustices will be done to poor people. "Shaming appeal success rates" are an embarrassment to government, BWP argued in a news item Virtual abolition of PIP, DLA and ESA tribunals as we know them.(14) Of course, those 'shaming appeal success rates' indicate that injustices have been committed that tribunals need to redress. As a 'Benefits appeal panel member' put it:

"Disabled people are being wrongly denied benefit. I help them get them back."(15)

Frances Ryan in a Guardian article, Will disability benefits appeals become less fair? on the MoJ's proposals regarding tribunal panels reports on the proposal that decisions should be made more 'on the papers' to reduce the number of appeals panels:(16)

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.”

Government crimes against poor disabled benefit claimants as "business as usual"

I commend my reader to further study of the Frances Ryan article should they wish.(Reference#: 12 It's already been published there.) Here, though, I shall refer to other stresses and strains upon poor benefit claimants that further a plot designed to privatise the welfare state. (That plot and its key instigators have been well documented by former health care worker Mo Stewart in her book Cash — Not Care, as it addresses the "corporate demolition of the welfare state."(19))

A major stressor on disability benefit claimants has become the frequency of testing claimants. As a survivor of that system myself, I can honestly say that being called to re-assessment six months after completion of the previous testing regime made me ill in addition to my having a disability from birth. And I have been by no means the only person to experience such trauma. That retesting amounts to a form of psychological and financial torture. On the one hand there is the sense of being accused of making a fraudulent claim, and on the other there is the risk of having one's benefits reduced considerably while being subjected to worse 'conditionality' as a result.

Yet a further mechanism by which the DWP can be aiming to make tribunal success less likely is to discourage appealing. It is much harder to get into the ESA (Support Group) than the ESA (Work Related Activity Group). Thus if a person has been awarded 0 eligibility points at their 'Work Capability Assessment' inferring that they are 'fit for work', they might be inclined to appeal, however stressful appealing might be. But if appealing is very stressful and the prospective appelant cannot bear the prospect of going through the appeals process after the trauma of delays caused by Mandatory Reconsideration, they might think, "What's the use? The best I could get would be Work Related Activity Group status, which now comes with a £30 per week reduction from the old rate for new claimants."(20)

The DWP says that the £30 a week reduction in ESA (WRAG) rate for new claimants is to 'incentivise' the claimant to find work. That is rubbish. Disabled people are disadvantaged by physical, economic and social barriers and that cut can make a stressful situation even more stressful. The Jobseekers Allowance rate that that £30 a week cut amounts to is also bad for provision of health, bringing worries of how the person will make it to the end of the week or month while also being obligated to pay an element of Council Tax.

A few years ago though, I was privy to a father's evidence to an ESA review. The father's son had a severe learning disability and was awarded 0 eligibility points out of the threshold of 15. The tribunal panel raised that number of points to 48 and placed the appelant in the ESA (Support Group)!

There is also the threat of benefit sanctions that comes with ESA (WRAG) status. One of the fundamental issues regarding the issuing of benefit sanctions is that the decision maker never sees the target of the sanction as a person; the decision is made 'on paper' rather than habeus corpus. Glasgow University Law Professor rightyly regards this as Britain's secret penal system.

My closing questions

If torture is contrary to international law, what about the psychologic tortures inflicted by the DWP in the name of 'welfare reform' and the tortures imposed by local councils in the way they force people to pay unpayable Council Tax?
Should not the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) repeal the unjust laws that have led magistrates to resign in their droves?
Should not the MoJ compel the DWP to adopt rule 43 from benefit suicides courts that Iain Duncan Smith treated with contempt?(21)
Is not the agenda for the MoJ consultation too much driven by digital companies and privatisation? Compare the content of these reviews with the keyword search 'magistrates' on the website of 'think tank' ReformUK. http://www.reform.uk/?s=magistrates
Is not it high time that disabled people ourselves were consulted in the drafting of government consultations?

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Benefits sanctioned? Take mass action!

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Contact us:

Facebook: Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KUWG1

Telephone: 07724 843 973

Meetings: 3pm - 5:30pm
Thursdays, Kingsgate Community Centre
107 Kingsgate Road, London, NW6 2JH

Meeting structure

Helping you feel at home: We meet weekly in the Small Hall at KingsgateCC and start gathering from 3pm, attempting to start the meetings at about 3:15pm and definitely before 3:30pm.

Bring and share refreshments are included. We are not like the 'No eating or drinking on the premises' jobcentre.

The formal meetings start with firstname and what benefit we are on or a one-liner about what brings us to KUWG. (Pensioners and other allies welcome.)

We then ask for casework from those present, arrange who will help with what case, and go onto discussing campaigning leafleting and such outreach activities. We also arrange who will do the chairing or facilitating and note-taking for the following week. Rotating these roles helps minimise the risk of being dominated by one person and helps us build our skills as we share the workload.

Meetings actually finish at about 5:20pm to allow for putting tables and chairs back and leaving the kitchen facilities ready for the next group.

KUWG on Twitter

Friday, 14 July 2017

Thursday, 13 July 2017

IT IS HIGH TIME THIS INHUMAN COMPUTERISED INJUSTICE IS STOPPED.

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Demonstration of support for Paul

The Court Hearing

Further details

Notes

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

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

​TWO UNPRECEDENTED RISES IN DEATH RATES.

OBJECTION TO HARINGEY'S COUNCIL'S ACCOUNTS

Saturday, 13 May 2017

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

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

IS IT FAIR…

Link References

Friday, 12 May 2017

Link references

Tuesday, 18 April 2017

Link references

Monday, 17 April 2017

Universal Calamity

Struggling to survive in Tottenham, with a history of depression.

Link reference

Saturday, 1 April 2017

Notes:

Thursday, 22 December 2016

Friday, 18 November 2016

Thursday, 13 October 2016

Beyond the current Ministry of Justice/Reform UK 'think tank' consultation on their 'future is digital' vision for the bald mechanics of justice admin

Bad laws lead to the non-cooperation of fair minded adjudicators and create greater backlogs

Benefit reductions, stresses of poverty and badly financed public services including IAG [information, advice and guidance] meltdown drive more people into civil debt

Benefit cuts and 'transforming benefit tribunals'

"Disabled people are being wrongly denied benefit. I help them get them back."(15)

Government crimes against poor disabled benefit claimants as "business as usual"

My closing questions

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Related link addresses

TWO UNPRECEDENTED RISES IN DEATH RATES.

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