http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/29/universal-credit_iain-duncan-smith-jobcentre-_n_3176401.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Universal Credit, will be introduced in four local jobcentres in selected areas of Ashton-under-Lyme, Oldham, Warrington and Wigan. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith There is a fundamental flaw in the economic logic that argues by essentially, cutting benefit payments it will somehow, automatically "force" people back to work. Wrong. The way to achieve the objective of getting people off benefits (and thereby cutting the amount of benefit payments), is to generate the conditions and the environment where work is available. Given that the majority of claimants would rather be gainfully employed, it seems reasonable to assume that people would take up work, were the opportunities there to do so. Clearly, the private sector has had only a marginal effect in the creation of real job opportunities. It therefore follows t...
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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/29/ed-miliband-winter-fuel-benefits-pensioners_n_3177367.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Ed Miliband has suggested the Labour Party would consider withdrawing benefits such as the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes from wealthier pensioners. “Means testing is being used to divide and rule—to pit young people against pensioners. But the real divide isn’t between young and old, it’s between rich and poor.” We have been here before. What is a "wealthy pensioner". How is "wealth" defined? Living in a large private house, but having only a state pension as income, can hardly be described as "wealthy". On the other hand, a couple living in private or social rented accommodation, both drawing state pensions and where perhaps one of the partners has income from an occupational pension plus a private pension, would have a far larger disposable income than many. Clearly there would have to be some means of comp...
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/04/29/ed-miliband-these-are-the-six-bills-labour-would-push-right-now/#comment-444521 Ed Miliband: these are six economic Bills Labour would push right now Ed Miliband will today set out six of the key economic Bills that would appear in a Labour Queen’s Speech next week. Sorry Ed. Just more of the same old tinkering with the problem.There is nothing here to inspire me to rejoin or vote for the Labour Party. Try these instead. Housing: Local Councils in conjunction with Housing associations, to commence building of social housing for rent. Banking: Retain existing publicly owned Banks within public and re nationalise Bank of England. New State controlled bank(s) to provide low cost (interest) loans to small business employing less than 500 employees. Energy: To take back into public ownership the providers of Gas and electricity and water. Transport: To return to public ownership the former elements of British ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/28/iain-duncan-smith-tells-wealthy-pensioners-to-hand-back-their-bus-passes_n_3172615.html?1367135836&utm_hp_ref=uk Iain Duncan Smith Tells Wealthy Pensioners To Hand Back Their Bus Passes IDS urges wealthy pensioners to forego perks. Another outpouring of verbal diarrhea from the "scrounger" living rent free in a lodge on his father in law's estate, who enjoys a chauffeur driven limousine on his way to and from work (and no doubt return trips to other less well known locations) and who's grasp of reality is severely limited by his background, his class and his intellectual abilities. Instead of lecturing the rest of us about things (in all aspects of his position as Work and Pensions Secretary) which he could never understand or imagine, he would be better employed instructing or requesting that the other 649 MP's give up their allowances for food every week, (because they can affor...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/baroness-sue-campbell-we-have-wasted-the-olympic-legacy-8591206.html Baroness Sue Campbell: 'We have wasted the Olympic legacy' This was always going to be the case. This, with the numerous other examples of the waste of taxpayer money funding the Olympics, which were never more than an exercise in money making by the "corporate entertainments" industry, a number of sycophantic MP's and a collection of other public figures and "celebs" promoting themselves, has, as predicted by many, turned out to be a gigantic waste of £billions. Some athletes may have enjoyed the experience. Some of the public who managed to get seats may have enjoyed it. (Why were there so many empty seats in most of the stadiums ?) The vast majority of people however, small traders, visitors, general public etc gained no benefit from the Olympics at all. Just go to Weymouth as an example, and ask around. ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/new-legal-aid-reforms-end-justice-for-all-lawyers-warn-8591234.html Under plans to save £200m solicitors will be paid fixed fees, with contracts going to firms like G4S New legal aid reforms end "justice for all" The objective of course, is to deny people access to legal redress for negligence, personal injury, abuse by the rich and powerful and the media, and all the other Tort's against ordinary people, which are becoming so prevalent in society today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/27/ed-miliband-plans-autumn-reshuffle?commentpage=2 Ed Miliband prepares Labour for major autumn reshuffle Miliband warns frontbench team that some 'need to make their mark' In addition to "re arranging the deck chairs", Miliband should also look at policies. No matter which faces occupy the front bench, a party which acquiesces to changes in the law following the "Poundland Workfare" judgement, allows wholesale privatisation of the NHS with barely a whimper, when in office did nothing to amend or repeal the anti trade union legislation of previous Tory governments, did not role back and in some cases even increased, the insidious expansion of privatisation, will never be taken seriously as a radical reforming party. There is no mention emanating from Labour, of any plan or idea on how to rein in the excesses of the bankers or how to expand public sector programmes for social housing or infrastr...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/26/ed-miliband-george-galloway-labour_n_3161015.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics Ed Miliband Says 'Awful' George Galloway Will Not Rejoin Labour Ed Miliband and George Galloway Ironically of course, George Galloway has more in common with the original hopes and aspirations of the Labour Party and the Trade Union Congress, (who founded the Labour Party in 1899), than Ed Milliband and his brother, or many of the present incumbents of the Labour Party benches in the House of Commons. You need only to read some of the TUC history or research Keir Hardy to understand how and why the Labour Party came into existence. Keir Hardie Many Labour MP's today however, seem more concerned with protecting their positions and perceptions of their own importance, or maintaining the status quo for the benefit of the banks and speculators, or businesses and the excess of the "free markets". It was the TUC that crea...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/25/syrian-government-has-probably-used-chemical-weapons_n_3156056.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk US says Syria may have used sarin gas in chemical weapons US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Has Rumsfeld returned to favour? What does "with some degree of varying confidence" actually mean? Perhaps the "International Community" otherwise known as the United States of America, is looking for a reason, no matter how flimsy, to "put their boots on the ground" in Syria. As Sam Goldwyn, another user of malapropisms, once said, "include me out !"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-narrowly-escapes-tripledip-recession-as-gdp-figures-show-03-growth-in-first-three-months-of-year-8587195.html UK narrowly escapes triple-dip recession as GDP figures show 0.3% growth in first three months of year. Something to smile about ? Joy, happiness, "green shoots" speculations and great euphoria pouring out of Sky News and BBC News 24 with nauseating predictability. When these manufactured figures are revised downwards (as they invariably are), there will not be much mention of the "triple dip recession", but by then the propaganda will have done its work and people will be content and relieved. Well, some will be.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/24/ed-miliband-says-len-mccluskeys-comments-are-reprehensible_n_3148810.html?utm_hp_ref=uk#comments Ed Miliband has had a dramatic clash with Len McCluskey, calling comments by the leader of the Unite union "reprehensible" and "disloyal". Nothing has really changed since I left the Labour Party, or to be more accurate, since the Labour Party left me, when the “Blairites” assumed control and led the Labour movement to the barren desert of the “centre ground” of British politics. There they found that the Tories had already squatted in the area, and the Liberal Democrats were frantically scurrying around trying to find a home for their “all things to all men” policies. Now, in a country where the main political parties essentially preach the same message, where a Tory government, supported by a rag bag collection of Libdem MP's eager to maintain their new found c...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/23/food-banks-trussell-trust-coalition-charity-_n_3138241.html?1366783614&utm_hp_ref=uk Foodbank Britain: Demand for Emergency Food Increases Five-Fold Since Coalition Came To Power Volunteers put a selection of tinned food together for a client at a depot at St Paul's Church, Brixton In Great Britain, in the first quarter of the 21st Century, more than 350,000 people rely on food banks. Last December, it was predicted that in 2013 foodbanks would feed more than 200,000 people across the country, double the number of 2012, and the expectation was that the number would grow rapidly. It is now only April and the figure already exceeds 350,000. This is a situation about which we should all feel angry, uncomfortable and even ashamed that we have collectively allowed this position to come about. A country which once boasted having "an empire upon which the sun never sets" and a collective wealth envied by nations aro...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/23/hsbc-job-cuts_n_3137835.html?utm_hp_ref=uk HSBC To Axe Over 2,000 HSBC the bank run by some shady management, who qualified for huge bonus payments into their personal accounts, being the same bank who admitted money laundering and other criminal activities. HSBC who were fined (or agreed to pay US authorities) $1.9bn (£1.2bn) in a settlement last year, and now faces new accusations of illegal activity in Argentina for using "fake receipts" to facilitate money laundering and tax evasion. HSBC this week, announces job cuts impacting on thousands of its staff, over the "changing nature" of the business as well as regulation. Another example of corporate crime providing financial reward for the top management and redundancies for people who work there.
Epitath. I have not got an invite to the funeral. Perhaps "they" know what I think,write and say about the woman who destroyed whole socities in this country, decimated numerous UK industries, condemened hundreds of thousands of people to a life on benefits, made greed and selfishness acceptable, and declared that there is no such thing as society. The legacy of this evil woman lives on even today in the actions and attitudes of people like Cameron, Duncan-Smith, Schaps, Osborne and the rest. Division rules in the UK as Tories seek to "out Maggie, Maggie". Labour MP's and the wider Labour movement, and all other people who have been savaged by the most devisive politician in British political history, should boycott all events associated with the funeral and should resist any attempt to glorify this woman with a "permanent memorial". Her memorials are already part of our ladscape. Empty factories derilict accross the country, g...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/06/benefit-reforms-cameron-welfare-_n_3029737.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Benefit Reforms Are Putting 'Fairness Back At Heart Of Britain' Says Cameron Wrong Cameron. Benefit "reforms" are generating division, self interest and hatred in Britain. Ensuring that society is divided against itself on the question of welfare, is yet another tactic in the "divide and rule" philosophy employed by the Tory's since 1918 and even before. This time however, you have gone too far as more and more people recognise the pernicious cynicism of Tory intent. Rothermere of the Daily Mail and even News International may provide you, Osborne and the others with a platform to peddle your hypocritical ""We are putting fairness back at the heart of Britain" deception, but for many the mask of Tory rectitude has been removed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/axed-from-daily-telegraph-website-after-just-two-days-kelvin-mackenzie-still-cant-handle-the-truth-8562591.html Former Sun editor loses online column after Hillsborough backlash: Kelvin MacKenzie still can't handle 'The Truth' Kelvin MacKenzie The obnoxious Kelvin MacKenzie sacked from the Daily Telegraph after just two days. Perhaps there may be such a thing as natural justice after all. He should now take the hint and retire to some very remote island in the middle of the Pacific and vent his spleen where there is no one to listen or even care.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/05/pm-osborne-linking-philpott-welfare Cameron backs Osborne over comments linking Philpott case to welfare. . David Cameron has strongly endorsed controversial comments by George Osborne, in which the chancellor highlighted the killing of six children by Mick Philpott to raise questions about welfare payments The Tory leader now joins Osborne in the slime of the sewers along side the Daily Mail. The stench of government malevolence now emanating from Downing Street, contaminates British politics and ensures that the divisions between those who have and those who have not, will grow wider and more bitter. The polarisation of society is inevitable and irreversible as the Tories pursue their campaign of contempt and injustice.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/04/ed-balls-osborne-mick-philpott_n_3015920.html?1365098757&utm_hp_ref=uk THE CYNICAL ACT OF A DESPERATE CHANCELLOR Chancellor George Osborne Consider carefully what Osborne said. "....subsidising lifestyles like that". How will Osborne, or anyone else for that matter, differentiate between Philpott and his family from Derby, and the Smith family of the same size living in Warrington? Is there an assumption that any family with more than a specified number of children, are automatically scroungers living on welfare benefits? Osborne is on very thin ice when seeking to make political capital out of this case. It was not the "welfare state" that was responsible for this crime, nor was it the Philpott "family" collectively. It was Mick Philpott and two accomplices who carried out this appalling act. Specifically describing Philpott, Judge Mrs Justice Thirlwall commen...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/04/trident-is-needed-to-cope-with-threat-from-north-korea-and-iran_n_3011933.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Trident Is Needed To Cope With Threat From North Korea And Iran, David Cameron Says More illogical garbage from Cameron. His arguments are complete nonsense and have been discredited for decades. Scare mongering to justify retaining a missile system which is neither "independent" (no mention of the "launch codes" in this story) and which certainly does not deter, has the cobwebs of history all over it.