http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/more-than-300000-children-will-be-hit-by-a-new-benefits-cap-next-week-theresa-may-george-osborne-a7389736.html More than 300,000 children dragged into benefit cuts Theresa May claims that her government is a government for all the people and yet is determined to consign 300,000 children into child poverty. She is also determined to punish families by reducing the already low "benefits cap" and thereby ensuring that they become worse off by as much as £100 per week. Theresa May is prepared to preside over a massive increase in poverty and homelessness in this country in pursuit of the conservative dogma of austerity. This deplorable government accepts that poverty and hunger can be used as a weapon to punish and demonise ordinary people many of who find themselves in a vulnerable position due primarily to this conservative governments and the ConDem coalition before it policies, on welfare, employment and housing. Havin...
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/27/benefit-sanctions-food-banks-oxford-university-study Benefit sanctions forcing people to use food banks, study confirms Yet another "study" to report a truth which many of us have known for years! Benefit sanctions, whereby social security claimants have their payments stopped for at least a month as a punishment for supposedly breaching strict job centre rules, are a key driver of hunger and food bank use" This conservative government and the ConDem coalition before them, use benefit sanctions, (most of which a re overturned on appeal, but by which time the damage has already been done), as a weapon to attack the poor and most vulnerable people in our society and this abuse by government continues on a daily basis today. Abuses of this severity in application and effect, would not be tolerated in any other part of our social system and any person or persons guilty of perpetratin...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/26/ed-miliband-welfare-rebellion_n_5033370.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Ed Miliband Faces Labour Rebellion For Backing Welfare Cap Ed Miliband:. More at home in the Conservative party? The Labour leader Ed Miliband has ordered his MPs to back the cap on overall welfare spending. This instruction to elected MP's, or at least the reasoning behind the order, demonstrates how far the Labour Party and its leadership has drifted away from the traditional base and principles of the Labour movement. Were this directive, enthusiastically endorsed by Balls and supported by the entire front bench of the Parliamentary Labor party, based on any sound economic benefit, then there may, just may, be some grounds for supporting such a policy. However, there is no such economic reasoning and the Labour MP's at least the majority of them, will troupe into the "Aye" lobby in support of the ConDem coalition and their Tory m...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/exclusive-lib-dems-declarewar-on-the-rich-with-raidson-pensions-and-property-in-2015-manifesto-9089203.html Lib Dems declare war on the rich in 2015 manifesto During the last four and a bit years, the LibDems have been enthusiastic allies of the Tories in the "war" against ordinary people in this country. The poor, the sick, the disabled, the benefit claimants, have had state support cut savagely as the LibDems trooped through the lobby in support of their "Coalition partners". Working people too have been attacked with reductions in working credits, wage and salary freezes, conditions and pension restrictions and the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom, have been adversely affected by the relentless increases in the price of gas, electricity, water and all the other essentials of everyday life in this country. It is not coincidental that in the four years of the ConDem coalition, ...
This thought should be remembered by all those, who demonise, demean, mock, patronise or otherwise insult the sick,the disabled, the unemployed, the benefit claimants, those reliant on Foodbanks and other charities, the poor and the homeless and all those other sections of our society who are vulnerable and least able to defend themselves.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/housing-double-whammy-a-whole-generation-wont-be-able-to-buy-or-rent-a-home-8994229.html A whole generation ‘won’t be able to buy or rent a home’ a growing number of people cannot afford to buy or rent This crisis was predicted as long ago as the late 1970's. Successive governments have done nothing since then and they will do nothing now. Until such times as the people of this country realise how they are being duped with such meaningless phrases as "right to buy", "affordable housing", "help to purchase" and all the other rhetoric pouring out of governments and successive housing ministers, nothing will happen to redress the problem. Today, houses and flats stand empty and boarded in the expectation that that the owners (in many cases local authorities) may profit from the sale of the land at some indeterminate time in the future.. Large amounts of land owned by local authorities...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/07/universal-credit-waste-mps Universal credit scheme will waste at least £140m, say MPs, while some experts put the figure at nearer £300m. Iain Duncan-Smith And Iain Duncan-Smith will still not listen. A recalcitrant individual responsible for the continuing waste of tax payers money, but moreover the architect of a scheme inflicting pain and hardship upon hundreds of thousand of people in this country. His initials are synonymous with policies which have brought misery to millions and retrospective changes to law which have sought to perpetuate injustice and exploitation in the workplace. Changes introduced to cap benefits, re assessment of incapacity benefits, State Pension age changes, Workfare, ATOS assessment instructions, IDS is responsible for the conception and implementation of the most obnoxious legislation that this ConDem coalition or any other government since the 19th Century has introduced. Many...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/05/david-cameron-24bn-universal-credit-problems David Cameron's £2.4bn universal credit project riddled with problems A poorly implemented scheme, born out of spite and malice and introduced by a government determined to demonise claimants of any benefits and divide society one against another. There is little if any likelihood of this ConDem coalition abandoning this odious policy, no matter what cost financial or social may be incurred. It is equally unlikely that a change of government in 2015 would be prepared to repeal this loathsome piece of legislation. It seems that when social division is the objective then the cost is one the government is prepared to accept.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/04/benefit-claimants-taxpayers-alliance-work-dole_n_3863951.html?1378280866&utm_hp_ref=uk Benefit Claimants Should Work For Their Dole, Taxpayers' Alliance Demands The TPA was founded in 2004 by "a group of "libertarian" Conservatives, frustrated by what they saw as the party's decision to ditch its traditional tax cutting message." The Tax Payers Alliance. A fringe pressure group, lurking somewhere on the right of British politics, who regularly come out with some headline or other, usually ill conceived and certainly ill-considered, seeking to grab attention and peddle what they consider may be popular with public opinion. When looked at more closely, the TPA argument is clearly unrealistic nonsense. The number of people out of work is 2.51 million in June, according to the Office for National Statistics of which 1.4 million are actually claiming Jobseeker's Allowance.The Tax Pa...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/18/bedroom-tax-council-funds-homelessness-_n_3296933.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Devastating impact of 'bedroom tax' sees huge leap in demand for emergency hardship handouts Iain Duncan-Smith ; Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan-Smith invents a policy which, ultimately costs more than the problem it was supposed to solve. Nothing new there then. However, the policy has been exceedingly successful in one very crucial respect. It has exacerbated tensions and divisions within society and may have created even more. The comments section of this Huffington Post article is littered with bile and venom directed by contributors who need additional bedrooms against those who have "empty bedrooms", or people in receipt of benefits against those who are not, and even some other ramification "us and them" syndrome. The people of this country must realise that the enemy is not the person living next door...
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/09/iain-duncan-smith-benefit-cap-rebuked_n_3245186.html?utm_hp_ref=uk Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith has been rebuked for falsely claiming the coalition's controversial benefits cap had already caused 8,000 people to move into jobs. Ever since Roman times, politicians (and others) have used propaganda to spread ideas and perceptions amongst people, to further a specific message or political position. Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell provided a definition as "Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist." The most refined manifestation of this was of course, Joseph Goebbels and his use of a propaganda machine between 1926 and 1945 in Germany. "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it". ...