A friend said that he would like to see more words from me on this blog. My
idea was that the photographs would speak for themselves, so, no words from me
but here are some from Ricky Tomlinson in yesterday’s Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/ten-lies-told-about-welfare#start-of-comments)
Welfare reform, my arse. Has Jim Royle parked his chair,
feet up, telly on, in the corridors between the Treasury and the Department for
Work and Pensions? Employing him as adviser can be the only explanation for the
utter rubbish that boils forth from this government on welfare.Who else could have dreamed up the bedroom tax, a policy so stupid it forces people to leave their homes and drag themselves around the country in search of nonexistent one-bedroom flats?
That one has to be the result of too many hours in front of
Jeremy Kyle (no offence) with the heating on full and a can of super-strength
lager. It seems as if that is how this government views ordinary people:
feckless and useless – poor, because they brought it on themselves,
deliberately.
Maybe the cabinet is confused. Twenty-three millionaires in
the one room can get like that. But do you know what, enough. Let's call this
government's welfare policy what it is – wrong, nasty and dishonest.
Off the top of my head, I can list 10 porkies they are
spinning to justify the latest stage of their attack on our 70-year-old welfare
state.
1. Benefits are too generous Really? Could you live on £53 a week as Iain Duncan Smith is claiming he could if he had to? Then imagine handing back 14% of this because the government deems you have a "spare room". Could you find the money to pay towards council tax and still afford to eat at the end of the week?
2. Benefits are going up
They're not. A 1% "uprating" cap is really a cut.
Inflation is at least 2.7% . Essentials like food, fuel and transport are all
up by at least that, in many cases far more. Benefits are quickly falling
behind the cost of living.
3. Jobs are out there, if people look
Where? Unemployment rose last month and is at 2.5 million,
with one million youngsters out of work. When Costa Coffee advertised eight
jobs, 1,701 applied.
4. The bedroom tax won't hit army
families or foster carers
Yes it will. Perhaps most cruel of all, the tax will not
apply to foster families who look after one kid. If you foster siblings, then
tough. But these kids are often the hardest to place. Thanks to George Osborne
and IDS, their chances just got worse. And even if your son or daughter is in
barracks in Afghanistan, then don't expect peace of mind as the government
still has to come clean on plans for their bedroom.
5. Social tenants can downsize
Really, where? Councils sold their properties – and Osborne
wants them to sell what's left. Housing associations built for families. In
Hull, there are 5,500 people told to chase 70 one-bedroom properties.
6. Housing benefit is the problem
In fact it's rental costs. Private rents shot up by an
average of £300 last year. No wonder 5 million people need housing benefits,
but they don't keep a penny. It all goes to landlords.
7. Claimants are
pulling a fast one
No. Less than 1% of the welfare budget is lost to fraud. But
tax avoidance and evasion is estimated to run to £120bn.
8. It's those teenage
single mums
An easy target. Yet only 2% of single mums are teenagers.
And most single mums, at least 59%, work.
9. We're doing this
for the next generation
No you're not. The government's admitted at least 200,000
more children will be pushed deeper into poverty because of the welfare
changes.
10. Welfare reforms
are just about benefit cuts
Wrong. The attack on our welfare state is hitting a whole
range of services – privatising the NHS, winding up legal aid for people in
debt and closing SureStart centres and libraries. All this will make life
poorer for every community.
Some call these myths. I call them lies. We are being told
lies about who caused this crisis and lied to about the best way out of it. But
I know one thing to be true: this government's policies will make millions of
people poorer and more afraid. To do that when you do not have to, when there
are other options is obscene. That's why I'm backing union Unite’s
OurWelfareWorks campaign http://ourwelfareworks.com/
in its efforts to
help highlight the truth about our welfare state.
But, of
course the bigots who write for and read The Daily Mail would have you think otherwise.
So, here is another story to upset them:
Woman living
on welfare benefits with 600 bedrooms to
escape bedroom tax
An
elderly London woman who relies on the state for all of her income and lives in
social housing accommodation with 600 bedrooms will not have her housing
subsidy cut although she has 599 spare bedrooms.From yesterday social housing tenants will have their housing benefit reduced under the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ if they have unused bedrooms.
The woman (86), known only as ‘Q’, lives with her nonagenarian husband and some servants in SW1 and is believed to have other social housing properties.
A spokesman for the woman’s local council said she would not be penalized for having 599 spare bedrooms because they were needed as she received frequent visits from her ‘disabled useless twat of a son’ and his wife.
‘Q’ was recently seen down at her local post office collecting her Winter Fuel Payment.
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