OK folks, just to prove I'm not dead, here's another posting.
If you were thinking of retiring to Spain, think twice. First, what will happen when you get too infirm to look after yourself? Second, who will take care of you when you need it?
In Spain, they still work on what is known as "Roman Law". This means that if you are the second, third or younger child of a family, you have very few rights to look after your parents. I am lucky, I am an only child, had I not been, I would have needed proof in writing from any older siblings that I had permission to generate a Power of Attorney to look after my father's affairs.
Any how, you search around to find a solicitor or factor to prepare the "Power" they then make an appointment with a Public Notary to witness the parent's signature and hear a statement that they know what is going on, thank goodness he remembered! Now comes a week long wait for the Notary to finish what they have to do (possibly sending a copy to Madrid, like they do with wills) then it comes back and you get a copy of it to go to all the people you have to.
It seems, from past experience, that most legal papers have to go off to Madrid for storage. When my mother passed on, her will had to be retrieved from storage in Madrid, but in this day and age of technology there is still a built in wait of a week to ten days while the copy from Madrid is brought down by horse! Alright, it's not a real horse, but there is a built in delay that represents the time it would take by horse. (This is the explanation given to me by the solicitors while we were waiting for Mum's will, I don't know if it is really that reason.)
Spain has a reputation of "Mañana" or "tomorrow", that is if you want anything done, you have to wait. There is no question of rushing official stuff it all takes ages. If you need to do anything, you need paperwork, or a passport, or both.
There is an annoying thing that all Ex-pats are supposed to have and that is an N.I.E. (Number Identificacion de Extranjero) that and the Passport number (which changes every ten years for us Brits) sit comfortably alongside the Spanish Social Security Number, which you will need if you have a reason for visiting a doctor or clinic. Obviously enough, the numbers most Brits have, like the National Insurance Number, and the National Health Number are not used, as this is a totally separate system, but if you are relying on a British pension, you need to keep the NINO for dealing with the Pensions Service.
The NIE is obtained from certain Police Stations but it's a palaver! You go to the office with a form already filled in, they stamp it, tell you to go off to a bank to make the required payment for the fee, then back to the office to hand your form in, when the Chief Commissar of Police deigns to sign the application, you go back and get your number on a printed and rubber stamped form. Spain would collapse if there were no Rubber Stamps. Everything has to be stamped and signed over the stamp, even a form from a doctor to the local council for a "Lifeline" type button.
If your parents retire to Spain, prepare for a lot of hard work! The thing to remember is that they are happy, sort of warm, and possibly drier! The Winter Heat Payments to pensioners is another argument, for another time!
Keep smiling!
Showing posts with label DWP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DWP. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Saturday, 4 January 2014
Here goes for the Indignity!
Coming to a computer screen near you, the final degrading step that a person who is already ground down by the benefits system in the UK has to undergo.
I have been poked, prodded, lied about, forced to travel near enough 200 miles to fight my case and now I'm called for a Work Focussed Interview. This is an interview that will most probably be carried out between me and a twenty-something slip of a girl (or man) who has had one job in their life, other than a paper-round while still at school.
The idea of this interview is to tell me that I should be doing this, that and the other to find a job where the employer will not employ me, or if they do, they will most probably ask me to leave after a week because of my disability. I mean, what employer wants an employee that has trouble concentrating in the morning and has trouble staying awake in the afternoon, needs to get out of a normal chair after about 15-20 minutes to loosen his knee joints, can hardly climb stairs (and so is a fire hazard), cannot lift his hands above his head and cannot stand for more than a few minutes.
Yet this is the indignity I have to face on Tuesday. I have to pray that I can park near the DWP office on the other side of town and that they do not want me to go upstairs to an interview room. On top of all this, I have to hope that I do not do, or say, the wrong thing and have the DWP "sanction" me. For those outside the UK, this is where the Department for Works and Pensions arbitrarily decide that I have breached their rules and stop all of my benefits. Not some of my benefits, we are talking, for a first offence (supposedly), all of my benefits. This will mean that my wife and I will have no money for food, heating or light, but we will owe our landlord £200 for the two weeks of rent that will not be paid, if not more if the council do not restart the payments after the fortnight.
The standard working period for the DWP is a fortnight, as, in the past, unemployed people had to sign on for their benefit and then get paid this often. This is not a problem for the clerks in their centrally heated offices who can mark off two weeks on a calendar easily enough. For businesses and banks this is unworkable. It seems that direct debits and the like can only be paid monthly, that is, on the same date every month, days do not come into it unless the 14th falls on a weekend, in which case it used to be paid on the Monday following.
Now, I think to normal people, the problem will be becoming obvious, some months have five weeks in them, in fact, the only month that is an exact four week period is a non-leap year February. So, although the 14th of January is on a Tuesday this year, it is not an even number of weeks from the 14th of February, and so on and so on. This means that budgeting on benefits is an amazing feat of accounting, and if the Chancellor of the Exchequer needed to do it, he would fail unless, as he does, he had a large bank balance in the black.
So, the Minister for Works and Pensions has decided to bring in a system whereby benefits claimants will be paid monthly. It has already cost £50M of lost money already to prepare the system to do it, but it doesn't work. So will future sanctions be for a minimum of a month?
The government, which, yet again, has been caught in a PR lie, is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public by making every claimant guilty of "shirking" and cheating the system by use of the media. This government by Upper Class Twits who only have the needs of themselves and their own classmates from Public School or University in mind. These cheats who started by preventing themselves being voted out in the first days of their filling the seats of power with a bunch of sycophantic cronies who are all filling jobs for which they have little or any qualification for.
The people are getting fed up with the austerity package they are being forced to undergo - pay rises capped to 1% while MPs vote themselves a massive pay rise; high paid people get tax cuts in their favour; power companies raise prices by 3% and train companies raise fares by 6%. There will come a time when the people can take no more hypocrisy.
I have been poked, prodded, lied about, forced to travel near enough 200 miles to fight my case and now I'm called for a Work Focussed Interview. This is an interview that will most probably be carried out between me and a twenty-something slip of a girl (or man) who has had one job in their life, other than a paper-round while still at school.
The idea of this interview is to tell me that I should be doing this, that and the other to find a job where the employer will not employ me, or if they do, they will most probably ask me to leave after a week because of my disability. I mean, what employer wants an employee that has trouble concentrating in the morning and has trouble staying awake in the afternoon, needs to get out of a normal chair after about 15-20 minutes to loosen his knee joints, can hardly climb stairs (and so is a fire hazard), cannot lift his hands above his head and cannot stand for more than a few minutes.
Yet this is the indignity I have to face on Tuesday. I have to pray that I can park near the DWP office on the other side of town and that they do not want me to go upstairs to an interview room. On top of all this, I have to hope that I do not do, or say, the wrong thing and have the DWP "sanction" me. For those outside the UK, this is where the Department for Works and Pensions arbitrarily decide that I have breached their rules and stop all of my benefits. Not some of my benefits, we are talking, for a first offence (supposedly), all of my benefits. This will mean that my wife and I will have no money for food, heating or light, but we will owe our landlord £200 for the two weeks of rent that will not be paid, if not more if the council do not restart the payments after the fortnight.
The standard working period for the DWP is a fortnight, as, in the past, unemployed people had to sign on for their benefit and then get paid this often. This is not a problem for the clerks in their centrally heated offices who can mark off two weeks on a calendar easily enough. For businesses and banks this is unworkable. It seems that direct debits and the like can only be paid monthly, that is, on the same date every month, days do not come into it unless the 14th falls on a weekend, in which case it used to be paid on the Monday following.
Now, I think to normal people, the problem will be becoming obvious, some months have five weeks in them, in fact, the only month that is an exact four week period is a non-leap year February. So, although the 14th of January is on a Tuesday this year, it is not an even number of weeks from the 14th of February, and so on and so on. This means that budgeting on benefits is an amazing feat of accounting, and if the Chancellor of the Exchequer needed to do it, he would fail unless, as he does, he had a large bank balance in the black.
So, the Minister for Works and Pensions has decided to bring in a system whereby benefits claimants will be paid monthly. It has already cost £50M of lost money already to prepare the system to do it, but it doesn't work. So will future sanctions be for a minimum of a month?
The government, which, yet again, has been caught in a PR lie, is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public by making every claimant guilty of "shirking" and cheating the system by use of the media. This government by Upper Class Twits who only have the needs of themselves and their own classmates from Public School or University in mind. These cheats who started by preventing themselves being voted out in the first days of their filling the seats of power with a bunch of sycophantic cronies who are all filling jobs for which they have little or any qualification for.
The people are getting fed up with the austerity package they are being forced to undergo - pay rises capped to 1% while MPs vote themselves a massive pay rise; high paid people get tax cuts in their favour; power companies raise prices by 3% and train companies raise fares by 6%. There will come a time when the people can take no more hypocrisy.
Saturday, 21 December 2013
The turn has wormed!
Yes, OK, I know that it should be the worm that has turned, but in the two months since I last wrote on this blog things have changed a little and it's not me that changed.
So there was I, at the end of my tether, DLA had been denied, ESA on Assessment Rate while I appealed and the thud of paper hitting my doorstep threatened to break my floorboards. Wait five weeks and the date for the appeal into my ESA arrived. Nice and close, BRIGHTON!
In case you don't already know, Hastings is 52 miles away from Brighton and like most people asked to visit a town or city so far away I do not know the layout of it. So, thanks to my dad, I bought a train ticket and got some cash for the taxis and some food.
The day arrived, fortunately as I was about to walk to the station (600m to the platform) so I was going to be in agony before the day started, and my darling daughter turned up to drop her mother off, so I begged a lift and cut out 400m of the walk!
I got to Brighton, fell off the train (at the wrong end) and hobbled to the exit. Unfortunately, Brighton station is designed so that you have to walk across 20 m to get to the ticket barrier and then back 20 m to get to the taxis, which I sort of bypassed and went and got a coffee. Great little coffee bar in the old waiting room with the imaginitive name of "The Waiting Room", nice staff and nice coffee. So then I downed some instant hit Tramadol (those that I get sent into the country from Spain) and shuffled off to get a taxi for the mile to the tribunal centre.
So, there is our hero, arriving at the tribunal centre with his customary early arrival - 30 minutes in this case, and the security man says "Really early sir! You're due to be here in 2 and a half hours!"
"No," Says I, "my appointment is for 2 pm. If they don't like it, they can get me a chair to sit in because I am not sitting on that sofa, as there's no way I'll ever get out of it!"
He dials a number on his telephone and I am soon greeted and taken to the Tribunal Service office and shown into a waiting room. Barely had I sat when a clerk with his shirt hanging out from the back of his trousers called me in to the hearing room.
Quick little chat with a GP and a judge about how things were and how they are (I told the GP that Arthritis is a degenerative illness and yes, over the last 18 months it had got worse). How do you manage to do things, like shopping? We have it delivered, I can drive to the supermarket, but can barely walk round it.
"How do you grip the steering wheel?" asked the judge. The next day I nearly died at the answer I gave! "I don't grip the steering wheel, you don't grip a steering wheel, if you do and hit a pothole you're going into the kerb or a car, anyone that says you grip the steering wheel should go back and learn to drive!" It was the next day I realised the judge had blushed!
"Go sit down again and we'll make our decision." Eh, what? I haven't had a chance to put my side of the argument over, I haven't had a chance to point out the 22 errors in the Atos report! If you have a complaint about Atos, you'll have to take it up with them!
So, I go back to the waiting room, take my bag off my shoulder sit down and the clerk comes back! I was escorted back to the hearing room and there on the table was a piece of paper with "Appeal is allowed"! Mr Turtle is hereby awarded 15 points! 6 more than the original decision.
Now all I have to do is wait for the money to go into my bank for the backdated money that they owe me, including TWO Christmas bonuses - a whole twenty pounds! Ten pounds for each Christmas, a measly fiver for me and a fiver for my wife! This amount was instigated way, way back many decades ago when £10 filled a shopping trolley, now it will pay the delivery fee for the shopping and the electricity to heat the house on Christmas day! Still, the government know the use of a ten pound note, it's used to light a cigarette, well, you can't light a cigar with a £10 it's way too small!
Still, my 18 month fight against the system has been won and now I have to fill in the 40 page form for Personal Independence Payment. I did 5 pages last night, I might go for 5 tomorrow that'll be a fortnight to fill in the whole form! Don't these people realise we're disabled and we didn't choose to be!
So there was I, at the end of my tether, DLA had been denied, ESA on Assessment Rate while I appealed and the thud of paper hitting my doorstep threatened to break my floorboards. Wait five weeks and the date for the appeal into my ESA arrived. Nice and close, BRIGHTON!
In case you don't already know, Hastings is 52 miles away from Brighton and like most people asked to visit a town or city so far away I do not know the layout of it. So, thanks to my dad, I bought a train ticket and got some cash for the taxis and some food.
The day arrived, fortunately as I was about to walk to the station (600m to the platform) so I was going to be in agony before the day started, and my darling daughter turned up to drop her mother off, so I begged a lift and cut out 400m of the walk!
I got to Brighton, fell off the train (at the wrong end) and hobbled to the exit. Unfortunately, Brighton station is designed so that you have to walk across 20 m to get to the ticket barrier and then back 20 m to get to the taxis, which I sort of bypassed and went and got a coffee. Great little coffee bar in the old waiting room with the imaginitive name of "The Waiting Room", nice staff and nice coffee. So then I downed some instant hit Tramadol (those that I get sent into the country from Spain) and shuffled off to get a taxi for the mile to the tribunal centre.
So, there is our hero, arriving at the tribunal centre with his customary early arrival - 30 minutes in this case, and the security man says "Really early sir! You're due to be here in 2 and a half hours!"
"No," Says I, "my appointment is for 2 pm. If they don't like it, they can get me a chair to sit in because I am not sitting on that sofa, as there's no way I'll ever get out of it!"
He dials a number on his telephone and I am soon greeted and taken to the Tribunal Service office and shown into a waiting room. Barely had I sat when a clerk with his shirt hanging out from the back of his trousers called me in to the hearing room.
Quick little chat with a GP and a judge about how things were and how they are (I told the GP that Arthritis is a degenerative illness and yes, over the last 18 months it had got worse). How do you manage to do things, like shopping? We have it delivered, I can drive to the supermarket, but can barely walk round it.
"How do you grip the steering wheel?" asked the judge. The next day I nearly died at the answer I gave! "I don't grip the steering wheel, you don't grip a steering wheel, if you do and hit a pothole you're going into the kerb or a car, anyone that says you grip the steering wheel should go back and learn to drive!" It was the next day I realised the judge had blushed!
"Go sit down again and we'll make our decision." Eh, what? I haven't had a chance to put my side of the argument over, I haven't had a chance to point out the 22 errors in the Atos report! If you have a complaint about Atos, you'll have to take it up with them!
So, I go back to the waiting room, take my bag off my shoulder sit down and the clerk comes back! I was escorted back to the hearing room and there on the table was a piece of paper with "Appeal is allowed"! Mr Turtle is hereby awarded 15 points! 6 more than the original decision.
Now all I have to do is wait for the money to go into my bank for the backdated money that they owe me, including TWO Christmas bonuses - a whole twenty pounds! Ten pounds for each Christmas, a measly fiver for me and a fiver for my wife! This amount was instigated way, way back many decades ago when £10 filled a shopping trolley, now it will pay the delivery fee for the shopping and the electricity to heat the house on Christmas day! Still, the government know the use of a ten pound note, it's used to light a cigarette, well, you can't light a cigar with a £10 it's way too small!
Still, my 18 month fight against the system has been won and now I have to fill in the 40 page form for Personal Independence Payment. I did 5 pages last night, I might go for 5 tomorrow that'll be a fortnight to fill in the whole form! Don't these people realise we're disabled and we didn't choose to be!
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Poetry Day UK
Today is #PoetryDayUK apparently, and my friends that tweet on behalf of WoWPetition suggested a WoW Petition Poetry book. Good idea, if it gets people using poetry.
Poetry is a much maligned form of communication, it takes a lot of thought and a fair smattering of vocabulary. It can't take a lot of brains as Rappers do it (sorry Rappers).
So I thought I'd better get started, and, as a fair shot, I decided to blog a one-hit poem about disability. I promise you the poem below came out in one go, no editing and re-editing like I have the first few paragraphs! Oh, I will come back and add a title, the poem will suggest it.
Hidden Pain
It can't be seen or measured up,
It can't be cured with a click,
It can't be fixed by a suture's stitch
Or by visiting a local witch.
The government think it really simple,
You can see it like a dimple.
Pain comes upon a simple scale
Like a colour dark or pale.
Now think real hard just for me
About some pain that used to be
Now on a scale of one to ten
Say how it hurt and when?
So if I walk for twenty yards
Tomorrow's pain is on the cards
But I can do it so you see,
DLA is not for me!
Poetry is a much maligned form of communication, it takes a lot of thought and a fair smattering of vocabulary. It can't take a lot of brains as Rappers do it (sorry Rappers).
So I thought I'd better get started, and, as a fair shot, I decided to blog a one-hit poem about disability. I promise you the poem below came out in one go, no editing and re-editing like I have the first few paragraphs! Oh, I will come back and add a title, the poem will suggest it.
Hidden Pain
It can't be seen or measured up,
It can't be cured with a click,
It can't be fixed by a suture's stitch
Or by visiting a local witch.
The government think it really simple,
You can see it like a dimple.
Pain comes upon a simple scale
Like a colour dark or pale.
Now think real hard just for me
About some pain that used to be
Now on a scale of one to ten
Say how it hurt and when?
So if I walk for twenty yards
Tomorrow's pain is on the cards
But I can do it so you see,
DLA is not for me!
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Getting Ground Down By The System
Quick recap for those of you who may not know me:
I am 50 years old, I have been suffering with a dislocating knee cap and arthritis in my right knee until 2009 when they replaced the knee joint. This has now put the weight off the left leg which is now suffering from an arthritic condition. The arthritis now affects my arms so I can hardly scratch my own head, I am stuck in my basement and ground floor maisonette with only my car to get me about outside.
The DWP decided last year to reassess me for ESA, and sent out their 21 page form the ESA50. Half way through is a question that I misunderstood and that got me into BIG trouble. First off, in concert with the French Data Processing company ATOS, they based a decision on a report with a minimum of 21 errors and my stupid error and said I am fit for work.
Then the DWP set a person, who to my knowledge has done nothing in their life other than work for the DWP and has no medical knowledge, to look at my Disability Living Allowance. Based on the report with a minimum of 21 errors and my stupid error they said I am not eligible for DLA.
I do a voluntary job on Tuesdays, on Wednesday I am in bed until about 11am trying to get moving as I am so stiff and painful. Many nights, I don't get to sleep because I am in pain until 2 am, but do they care about that? No.
So, as you would, I put in an appeal against the decision to class me as fit for work as far as ESA is concerned, when the decision about the DLA came through, I appealed against that.
Now, twelve months after the so called Work Capability Assessment, I have not yet had my appeal for ESA heard, but the Tribunal Service have drawn a line under my DLA appeal - Not Approved. Basically, Mr Turtle, you have had two 36 mile round trips two towns over on the South Coast and had to climb a massive flight of stairs at the hotel that the tribunal was held at, all for nothing!!!
So I had a quick chat with the DWP representative about what to do, his answer, Shut Up and Put Up, until the ESA Appeal is heard, they may give you points and you can appeal your DLA again!
Alright for him to say, he doesn't realise what I am facing. He doesn't realise what I am about to lose.
Unless I can find a way round it, I will lose my car, therefore, I will lose my mobility, therefore I will be trapped inside this house with no way to get out and about, therefore I will lose my voluntary job, therefore I will have nothing to keep my mind occupied, therefore I will lose my sanity! But I'm FIT FOR WORK!
There's the good news, I can get a job that allows me to move about when I stiffen up, will allow me twice the time of a "normal" person to walk down the corridor to the photocopier/break room etc. and allow me to be taking close to an overdose on Tramadol. Then, on the day after I get into work, they will allow me a day off to recover from the first day, so, possibly, I could work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So does anyone know anywhere that will pay me five days pay for a three day week? (Apart from being an MP)
I just wish there was some way of temporarily inflicting the pain I feel, the fuzzy head making me question everything I do, the feeling of "have I remembered to do all I had to do", on some one so that they can understand what I am going through. The frustration I feel when I reach for something in a cupboard that I can no longer reach, and it's only just above eye-level. The anger that I cannot keep up with my wife or grandchildren when we are out and about. The way I scream inside my own head at night, so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, but the pain is so great that I cannot get off to sleep. The useless feeling I get when the weight of my laptop sends needles of pain through my knees and I have to put a tray on a cushion on my lap with the laptop on to ease it.
So here am I, wondering if I have the internal strength to carry on, wondering why everything is mounting up against me, wondering why my MP is such an uncaring sheep she follows the lies and mistruths that the Prime Minister and his cabinet keep spouting without question. Why do all these politicians listen to the lies that are spouted and don't question them I do not understand.
It's a simple thing to go on-line and check on the lies that the government are spouting, it's easy to spot when David Cameron is lying, it's when he's talking about caring, "Being in this together", or benefit claimants in general. I am still looking for the proof of "The test of a good society is you look after the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest in our society. And that test is even more important in difficult times, when difficult decisions have to be taken, than it is in better times." as said by David Cameron on the Andrew Marr Show on 2nd May 2010. Three years later and we're getting to see that his society is a BAD one.
I am 50 years old, I have been suffering with a dislocating knee cap and arthritis in my right knee until 2009 when they replaced the knee joint. This has now put the weight off the left leg which is now suffering from an arthritic condition. The arthritis now affects my arms so I can hardly scratch my own head, I am stuck in my basement and ground floor maisonette with only my car to get me about outside.
The DWP decided last year to reassess me for ESA, and sent out their 21 page form the ESA50. Half way through is a question that I misunderstood and that got me into BIG trouble. First off, in concert with the French Data Processing company ATOS, they based a decision on a report with a minimum of 21 errors and my stupid error and said I am fit for work.
Then the DWP set a person, who to my knowledge has done nothing in their life other than work for the DWP and has no medical knowledge, to look at my Disability Living Allowance. Based on the report with a minimum of 21 errors and my stupid error they said I am not eligible for DLA.
I do a voluntary job on Tuesdays, on Wednesday I am in bed until about 11am trying to get moving as I am so stiff and painful. Many nights, I don't get to sleep because I am in pain until 2 am, but do they care about that? No.
So, as you would, I put in an appeal against the decision to class me as fit for work as far as ESA is concerned, when the decision about the DLA came through, I appealed against that.
Now, twelve months after the so called Work Capability Assessment, I have not yet had my appeal for ESA heard, but the Tribunal Service have drawn a line under my DLA appeal - Not Approved. Basically, Mr Turtle, you have had two 36 mile round trips two towns over on the South Coast and had to climb a massive flight of stairs at the hotel that the tribunal was held at, all for nothing!!!
So I had a quick chat with the DWP representative about what to do, his answer, Shut Up and Put Up, until the ESA Appeal is heard, they may give you points and you can appeal your DLA again!
Alright for him to say, he doesn't realise what I am facing. He doesn't realise what I am about to lose.
Unless I can find a way round it, I will lose my car, therefore, I will lose my mobility, therefore I will be trapped inside this house with no way to get out and about, therefore I will lose my voluntary job, therefore I will have nothing to keep my mind occupied, therefore I will lose my sanity! But I'm FIT FOR WORK!
There's the good news, I can get a job that allows me to move about when I stiffen up, will allow me twice the time of a "normal" person to walk down the corridor to the photocopier/break room etc. and allow me to be taking close to an overdose on Tramadol. Then, on the day after I get into work, they will allow me a day off to recover from the first day, so, possibly, I could work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So does anyone know anywhere that will pay me five days pay for a three day week? (Apart from being an MP)
I just wish there was some way of temporarily inflicting the pain I feel, the fuzzy head making me question everything I do, the feeling of "have I remembered to do all I had to do", on some one so that they can understand what I am going through. The frustration I feel when I reach for something in a cupboard that I can no longer reach, and it's only just above eye-level. The anger that I cannot keep up with my wife or grandchildren when we are out and about. The way I scream inside my own head at night, so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, but the pain is so great that I cannot get off to sleep. The useless feeling I get when the weight of my laptop sends needles of pain through my knees and I have to put a tray on a cushion on my lap with the laptop on to ease it.
So here am I, wondering if I have the internal strength to carry on, wondering why everything is mounting up against me, wondering why my MP is such an uncaring sheep she follows the lies and mistruths that the Prime Minister and his cabinet keep spouting without question. Why do all these politicians listen to the lies that are spouted and don't question them I do not understand.
It's a simple thing to go on-line and check on the lies that the government are spouting, it's easy to spot when David Cameron is lying, it's when he's talking about caring, "Being in this together", or benefit claimants in general. I am still looking for the proof of "The test of a good society is you look after the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest in our society. And that test is even more important in difficult times, when difficult decisions have to be taken, than it is in better times." as said by David Cameron on the Andrew Marr Show on 2nd May 2010. Three years later and we're getting to see that his society is a BAD one.
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
False Imprisonment and the Government
Take a walk through this semi-hypothetical situation with me and ask yourself if you agree with me that there is a law being broken.
Joe Bloggs has arthritis, he can walk about 130 metres, however this distance is split up by repeated stops because of pain. His nearest bus stop is 450 metres away from his home so there is very little chance he can get there. He has a car, which thanks to "Passport" benefits, he can tax and because of the Higher Rate Mobility component of Disability Living Allowance he can use a Blue Badge to allow parking closer to buildings that he has to visit.
Now thanks to the changes in the regulations in PIP, if Ms Esther McVey, the minister for Disabled People has her way, the requirement for the Blue Badge and car tax will be drastically reduced, so much so that Joe will lose all the Passported Benefits that allow him to use his car. As he is not able to reach the bus stop, he cannot go anywhere to do all the things he does. His shopping will have to be done online and delivered; his visit to the Department of Work and Pensions or the Jobcentre Plus will have to be by friends giving him lifts or at the worst, he will have to forgo food so that he can use a taxi.
He will be detained within the four walls of his home.
He will be detained against his wishes.
He will be denied the freedom to move freely through the world.
The law states that False Imprisonment is The illegal confinement of one individual against his or her will by another individual in such a manner as to violate the confined individual's right to be free from restraint of movement.
So, does that mean Joe and all the others that will have their mobility stripped from them by the changes in the regulations, simply so the government can save some money without taxing their friends the high earners, or the bankers with their ridiculous bonuses paid for simply doing their job?
Does the change in the regulations which will affect 600,000 (according to Esther McVey) be tantamount to False Imprisonment?
If so, are we entitled to compensation for this being done to us?
There are so many different ways these Welfare Reforms are wrong, they are poorly thought out, they harm those who cannot fight back, they harm those the government promised to protect, and they are being carried out in a virtual media blackout.
There has been no Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform there needs to be one, if you haven't already signed the "WOW Petition" started by the disabled comic Francesca Martinez. please do so now at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154 and let all your friends know about it, this blog and all the harm that is being done to the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest in our society.
Thank you, and remember, every time you see a person on crutches, with a walking stick, in a wheelchair, there, but for the grace of God, goes you.
Joe Bloggs has arthritis, he can walk about 130 metres, however this distance is split up by repeated stops because of pain. His nearest bus stop is 450 metres away from his home so there is very little chance he can get there. He has a car, which thanks to "Passport" benefits, he can tax and because of the Higher Rate Mobility component of Disability Living Allowance he can use a Blue Badge to allow parking closer to buildings that he has to visit.
Now thanks to the changes in the regulations in PIP, if Ms Esther McVey, the minister for Disabled People has her way, the requirement for the Blue Badge and car tax will be drastically reduced, so much so that Joe will lose all the Passported Benefits that allow him to use his car. As he is not able to reach the bus stop, he cannot go anywhere to do all the things he does. His shopping will have to be done online and delivered; his visit to the Department of Work and Pensions or the Jobcentre Plus will have to be by friends giving him lifts or at the worst, he will have to forgo food so that he can use a taxi.
He will be detained within the four walls of his home.
He will be detained against his wishes.
He will be denied the freedom to move freely through the world.
The law states that False Imprisonment is The illegal confinement of one individual against his or her will by another individual in such a manner as to violate the confined individual's right to be free from restraint of movement.
So, does that mean Joe and all the others that will have their mobility stripped from them by the changes in the regulations, simply so the government can save some money without taxing their friends the high earners, or the bankers with their ridiculous bonuses paid for simply doing their job?
Does the change in the regulations which will affect 600,000 (according to Esther McVey) be tantamount to False Imprisonment?
If so, are we entitled to compensation for this being done to us?
There are so many different ways these Welfare Reforms are wrong, they are poorly thought out, they harm those who cannot fight back, they harm those the government promised to protect, and they are being carried out in a virtual media blackout.
There has been no Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform there needs to be one, if you haven't already signed the "WOW Petition" started by the disabled comic Francesca Martinez. please do so now at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154 and let all your friends know about it, this blog and all the harm that is being done to the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest in our society.
Thank you, and remember, every time you see a person on crutches, with a walking stick, in a wheelchair, there, but for the grace of God, goes you.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
The lies that men tell live on in infamy!
The Second of May 2010 a day that should live in infamy alongside the Attack on Pearl Harbor (7 dec 1941). A day when a prospective Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland appeared on British National Television and promised within the space of seven sentences
Now, three years later we have
To protest the cuts to the NHS, there's even a protestor pushing a toy pig through the streets of London using his nose. A bit pointless, any Conservative worth their membership is too dense to understanding the symbolism.
And all along, government ministers have been misrepresenting, manipulating and massaging the truth with the use of percentages rather than numbers.
The thing that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition is that they have forgotten the power of the people, and the internet that they are insisting the unemployed, handicapped and elderly should all have. Or, did they underestimate this power and this record that is the internet?
Every word that people in (or soon to be in) power is recorded, written down and saved, the interview on the 2nd of May 2010, given to Andrew Marr on the BBC is transcribed, you can find it by following this link. Photographs of posters that parties use are saved on the net and the people who are being hurt by these draconian cuts are saving them on their computers.
So,
How many more lies do we have to put up with?
How many more U-turns?
How many more people dying on our shores when we send billions abroad in Foreign Aid?
Oh, and the one thing that he could have done, had he had an economist in the Treasury instead of his Bullingdon club pal History student, keep the higher rate of tax where it was. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have a shortage of money, why take a pay cut at the same time you cut your expenses? Or in plain English, tax the rich and cut benefits.
" I don't want to leave anyone behind. The test of a good society is you look after the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest in our society. And that test is even more important in difficult times, when difficult decisions have to be taken, than it is in better times. "So there you have it David Cameron promising the nation that he would protect those at the bottom of the social heap.
Now, three years later we have
- Disabled people are dying because they have been told they are "Fit For Work" while they have serious heart defects or disabilities. Is this something to be concerned about?
- The attack on the Disabled was started to reduce fraudulent claims, even when the DWP admit only 0.7% of claims were fraudulent. Is this something to be concerned about?
- Disabled and Unemployed have had their basic benefit capped at a 1% per year rise with inflation running at over 2.5% this is a 1.5% per year reduction. Is this something to be concerned about?
- Mobility assessments are being slashed to keep disabled people within their homes as they won't get enough to run a car, use taxis, busses or trains. Is this something to be concerned about?
- The complex quantity of benefits that are being changed, combined, renamed or scrapped is so confusing that it takes a battery of people to explain them. Is this something to be concerned about?
- The poor, vulnerable and frail of our society have had their right to legal representation for many actions removed from them. Is this something to be concerned about?
- The number of disability fora and marches opposing the cuts and changes are rising. Is this something to be concerned about?
- The changes in disability calculation and benefits are being challenged in some of the highest courts of law in the country. Is this something to be concerned about?
- The unemployed and disabled have been branded as scroungers, it's no good retracting the statement, it's still in the general psyche. Is this something to be concerned about?
To protest the cuts to the NHS, there's even a protestor pushing a toy pig through the streets of London using his nose. A bit pointless, any Conservative worth their membership is too dense to understanding the symbolism.
And all along, government ministers have been misrepresenting, manipulating and massaging the truth with the use of percentages rather than numbers.
The thing that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition is that they have forgotten the power of the people, and the internet that they are insisting the unemployed, handicapped and elderly should all have. Or, did they underestimate this power and this record that is the internet?
Every word that people in (or soon to be in) power is recorded, written down and saved, the interview on the 2nd of May 2010, given to Andrew Marr on the BBC is transcribed, you can find it by following this link. Photographs of posters that parties use are saved on the net and the people who are being hurt by these draconian cuts are saving them on their computers.
So,
How many more lies do we have to put up with?
How many more U-turns?
How many more people dying on our shores when we send billions abroad in Foreign Aid?
Oh, and the one thing that he could have done, had he had an economist in the Treasury instead of his Bullingdon club pal History student, keep the higher rate of tax where it was. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have a shortage of money, why take a pay cut at the same time you cut your expenses? Or in plain English, tax the rich and cut benefits.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
What's Wrong With The World?
People on low income having their benefits cut.
People on low income because of long term illness or disability being told they are fit for work by people with no medical training.
People on low income being told they have to pay more of their rent because they have a spare room.
People on low income being told they have to pay part of their Council Tax Bill.
People on High income getting Tax Cuts and therefore, more money.
And then David Cameron, our partially elected Prime Minister, goes in front of the House of Commons and says that the Reduction of Rent Benefit is "not a tax, it's a benefit." OK, I partially agree with Mr Cameron, {Yuk} it's not a tax, it's a REDUCTION in Benefit.
But, Mr Cameron did not agree it was a reduction in benefit, he was just decrying the fact that the "Bedroom Tax" is being called a Tax, when it's a penalty. Yes, a penalty, those people with one extra room, used for medical equipment, used for respite from a partner tossing and turning and moaning in pain, used for a child who is at University or serving our country by being sent to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Falklands at the Government's behest.
There is an old saying, "Never Corner A Wounded Animal", Mr Cameron, you have pushed and pushed the low paid and disabled back and back, into a corner, if you refuse to acknowledge the harm you are doing to a large portion of the population, you will get bitten!
There is no single set of teeth being bared against you, instead, every single disabled person who has a family has that family set against you. Every low paid family which have family members in reasonably and high paid employment has the high, medium and low paid against you.
That is, unless, like you appear to be, they are cold heartless animals.
Stop what you are doing to this country before it is too late, before the benefit claimants turn against you, and remember please,your cuts affect servicemen and their families, there could be revolution against the Government.
Stop, now. Freeze the pogrom of cuts against those that cannot afford cuts. Work on a workable solution, get the fix ready, discussed and corrected, then put it in place.
Stop "Raising more money for the rich", and make this a fairer society. You see, your own words show your inhumanity. Is it fair that the rich get richer while the poor are slammed time and time again with benefit cuts in real money and with penalties on their homes?
Stop reducing taxes to pay for everything. How that works, I will never understand. You have a chance to get more money coming in to pay for everything, but don't use it! Raise taxes, impose a penalty on anyone getting paid bonuses for doing their job.
Oh, especially, stop people being paid £200 a day for sitting in an office, doing nothing, occasionally going to a meeting and making decisions that affect everyone in the country. Why get three times the amount the average benefit claimant gets a week every day?
We the striving, led by the unknowing are surviving on nothing but insults and slander.
People on low income because of long term illness or disability being told they are fit for work by people with no medical training.
People on low income being told they have to pay more of their rent because they have a spare room.
People on low income being told they have to pay part of their Council Tax Bill.
People on High income getting Tax Cuts and therefore, more money.
And then David Cameron, our partially elected Prime Minister, goes in front of the House of Commons and says that the Reduction of Rent Benefit is "not a tax, it's a benefit." OK, I partially agree with Mr Cameron, {Yuk} it's not a tax, it's a REDUCTION in Benefit.
But, Mr Cameron did not agree it was a reduction in benefit, he was just decrying the fact that the "Bedroom Tax" is being called a Tax, when it's a penalty. Yes, a penalty, those people with one extra room, used for medical equipment, used for respite from a partner tossing and turning and moaning in pain, used for a child who is at University or serving our country by being sent to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Falklands at the Government's behest.
There is an old saying, "Never Corner A Wounded Animal", Mr Cameron, you have pushed and pushed the low paid and disabled back and back, into a corner, if you refuse to acknowledge the harm you are doing to a large portion of the population, you will get bitten!
There is no single set of teeth being bared against you, instead, every single disabled person who has a family has that family set against you. Every low paid family which have family members in reasonably and high paid employment has the high, medium and low paid against you.
That is, unless, like you appear to be, they are cold heartless animals.
Stop what you are doing to this country before it is too late, before the benefit claimants turn against you, and remember please,your cuts affect servicemen and their families, there could be revolution against the Government.
Stop, now. Freeze the pogrom of cuts against those that cannot afford cuts. Work on a workable solution, get the fix ready, discussed and corrected, then put it in place.
Stop "Raising more money for the rich", and make this a fairer society. You see, your own words show your inhumanity. Is it fair that the rich get richer while the poor are slammed time and time again with benefit cuts in real money and with penalties on their homes?
Stop reducing taxes to pay for everything. How that works, I will never understand. You have a chance to get more money coming in to pay for everything, but don't use it! Raise taxes, impose a penalty on anyone getting paid bonuses for doing their job.
Oh, especially, stop people being paid £200 a day for sitting in an office, doing nothing, occasionally going to a meeting and making decisions that affect everyone in the country. Why get three times the amount the average benefit claimant gets a week every day?
We the striving, led by the unknowing are surviving on nothing but insults and slander.
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
In the film "Independence Day", part of the speech the embattled President of the United States uses to inspire the pilots at Groom Lake (Area 51) before they fly off to repel the alien hordes got me thinking.
""Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! "
Is this guy trying to reach through the years and give us hope? Did the script writers realise the end was closer than we thought?
Mankind, all the human beings on the planet, be they black, white, yellow or tanned, be they male, female, transgender or transsexual, be they fit or unit, able or disabled. We are fighting for our freedom from a tyrannical, oppressive government that by adroit use of the media are persecuting those of our society that need the most help. Why? I wish someone could tell me.
But, be it May the Fourth or July the Fourth, we need our independence from fear of starvation, we need to be able to survive. I don't want a Teak Toilet Seat for £50, I don't want to pay a researcher, or buy a Garlic Press or some Jamie Oliver cooking equipment, I want to know that my wife and I can eat and be kept warm.
It would be nice to buy food, I don't want a massive amount of food, we only eat one cooked meal a day, a small snack and a small breakfast. It's not a large meal, and we don't use expensive ingredients.
It would be nice to carry on being able to watch some television, I don't want Sky Movies, I don't want the Sports Channels, I definitely DO NOT want any "Adult" channels.
It would be nice to keep my telephone, so my daughter who has just recently been diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyeltis can phone at 5 a.m. to get her mm to talk her through getting up. So my 83 year old Dad who lives in Spain can call and let the phone ring enough so we know he's alive still!
It would be nice to keep paying for gas and electricity, to keep us warm and dry, to keep us and our clothes clean.
It would be nice to pay the water company for providing clean water to cook with, to drink and to wash with. OK, once we have used the water, we need them to take it away as well!
It would be nice to be able to keep the Internet, so I can carry on learning about how cruel the government can get, so I can keep in touch with my MP and friends by email.
It would also be nice to hang on to my car. Not a priority to most, but I cannot get to the nearest bus stop without severe pain! Without the car, I'm stuck indoors.
Soon, I've got to pay the Council £2 a week for Council Tax top up. In addition to that I may have to pay £14 for the bedroom I'm about to go to sleep in as I am twitching so much that I will wake my wife if I go to sleep in our bedroom.
Let's have a rough break-down of how my money goes at present-
| Electricity | £ 15.00 |
| Gas | £ 15.00 |
| TV | £ 6.00 |
| TV Licence | £ 8.00 |
| Water | £ 15.00 |
| Broadband | £ 6.00 |
| Telephone | £ 6.00 |
| Food | £ 40.00 |
| £ 111.00 |
Oh great, I get £111 on the DWP's Assessment Rate while waiting for my ESA appeal to be sorted out! I can survive!
BUT ... When the Council Tax and Rent Top-Up come into play I've got to find another £16 a week to pay for that, what goes? Looks like there's two choices, £26 a week for food or "Can't Pay, Won't Pay!"
Now, imagine, I didn't like keeping up with the TV, I could lose the TV and TV licence, the problem is the TV comes as part of a package that supplies TV, Telephone and Internet. I stop paying for the TV channels, I have to pay more for the Internet and phone. OK, I might save the Licence fee, but that would soon be swallowed up in the increases in Fuel prices and now Water rates.
Did anyone not tell the Members of Parliament that restricting benefit increases to 1% would cause severe problems of poverty? Well, I told my MP, but she still voted for the cap! I have half a feeling that she was misled by the title of the Bill, "the Benefit Uprating Bill", it didn't up any rates, just cut them. That and the lies that Iain Duncan Smith spouted about benefits going up by double what wages went up by.
Did you notice, in the calculations above, the missing link? The thing I used my Disabled Living Allowance for? Yep, petrol and maintenance for the car!
As I said in my earlier blog entry, http://aturtle05.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-death-sentence-arrives.html the Department of Workshy and Painfree have stopped that, so, the car is eating into money I haven't got already.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
The guidelines to Personal Independence Payments
The Department of Works and Pensions have released the a guidance document for providers carrying out assessments for Personal Independence Payment. (You can find it here) It started well, it was produced on the 22 January 2013, yet it took two days before they corrected a glaring error, it was dated 22 January 2012!
It includes, at long last Governmental recognition for the requirements to state Safely, Acceptably, Repeatedly and In a timely manner. The one draw-back, there is no real definition of "Timely". They give an example of someone walking 200 metres in four minutes and say that "although a little slower than normal, this is a reasonable time period for someone to walk this distance and therefore he can complete the activity in a timely manner."
Erm, my calculations based on the average walking speed for hikers tells me that a fit person should cover four and a half kilometres an hour, says that a fit person should cover 200 metres in about 2 minutes forty seconds. Four minutes is One and a Half times this (OK 1.53 times). So is that reasonable?
I would get worried, when manning checkpoints for cadets, if they were five minutes late for a 4.5km stretch of walking, half an hour late and I would have almost been calling the police for helicopter back-up!
On top of the time problem there's one of my little bug-bears,
Disabled people are not Skivers, Mr Osborne, if they have to get one hundred and fifty metres up the road to charge their gas card or electricity key they WILL do it. They will then walk back the 150m to the meters and plug the card and key in to get heat in the winter.
They may take 30 minutes to do this, they may be stuck in bed for the rest of the day, curled up in agony, in tears and sky high on pain killers - but they WILL do it as they HAVE to. Disabled people do not give in and surrender, it takes a lot for a disabled person to give in, after all they have been fighting for a long time to survive, and they will keep fighting.
So why do Messers Duncan Smith, Osborne, Hoban and Ms McVey seem to think that the Disabled are valid targets under their, now defunct, blanket Skivers and Strivers Attack?
The Work Capability Assessment and the proposed Personal Independance Payment Assessment restrict the disabled person to a minute distance of 20 metres for high level payment and hence the Blue Badge for disabled drivers will be taken from people who can force themselves to walk further than that distance. Oh and they still won't be fit for work.
I know that personally, suspension of DLA means that my car is hanging in the balance. I lose my car, I lose my ability to get to work (if had a job), let alone actually work when there! Why they have to fix a benefit that needs sorting, without a sensible fix, just a plan that two months before it starts is not ready, I do not know.
It includes, at long last Governmental recognition for the requirements to state Safely, Acceptably, Repeatedly and In a timely manner. The one draw-back, there is no real definition of "Timely". They give an example of someone walking 200 metres in four minutes and say that "although a little slower than normal, this is a reasonable time period for someone to walk this distance and therefore he can complete the activity in a timely manner."
Erm, my calculations based on the average walking speed for hikers tells me that a fit person should cover four and a half kilometres an hour, says that a fit person should cover 200 metres in about 2 minutes forty seconds. Four minutes is One and a Half times this (OK 1.53 times). So is that reasonable?
I would get worried, when manning checkpoints for cadets, if they were five minutes late for a 4.5km stretch of walking, half an hour late and I would have almost been calling the police for helicopter back-up!
On top of the time problem there's one of my little bug-bears,
The STRIVER Factor.
Disabled people are not Skivers, Mr Osborne, if they have to get one hundred and fifty metres up the road to charge their gas card or electricity key they WILL do it. They will then walk back the 150m to the meters and plug the card and key in to get heat in the winter.
They may take 30 minutes to do this, they may be stuck in bed for the rest of the day, curled up in agony, in tears and sky high on pain killers - but they WILL do it as they HAVE to. Disabled people do not give in and surrender, it takes a lot for a disabled person to give in, after all they have been fighting for a long time to survive, and they will keep fighting.
So why do Messers Duncan Smith, Osborne, Hoban and Ms McVey seem to think that the Disabled are valid targets under their, now defunct, blanket Skivers and Strivers Attack?
The Work Capability Assessment and the proposed Personal Independance Payment Assessment restrict the disabled person to a minute distance of 20 metres for high level payment and hence the Blue Badge for disabled drivers will be taken from people who can force themselves to walk further than that distance. Oh and they still won't be fit for work.
I know that personally, suspension of DLA means that my car is hanging in the balance. I lose my car, I lose my ability to get to work (if had a job), let alone actually work when there! Why they have to fix a benefit that needs sorting, without a sensible fix, just a plan that two months before it starts is not ready, I do not know.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
What's wrong at Westminster?
I spent a couple of mind numbing hours today watching the BBC Parliament feed covering the Backbench business debate brought by the Labour MP Michael Meacher.
Mind numbing? Yes, here were about twenty seven MPs from a variety of political parties, the majority standing up for those that cannot stand. A lot of sad tales, I can't bear to use the word story, about disabled people some expected to travel overnight and sleep on a railway station platform for a connecting train. People expected to go to meetings to prepare them for a return to a job that they had been invalided out of on health grounds!
All the stuff about the damage done by the incorrect reports that AtoS sent to the DWP and errors in judgement by the DWP Decision Makers, going on and on. It was getting depressing, hearing so many bad news tales. It was difficult listening through the accents of the various MPs, but I persevered.
Then with about ten minutes to go, having been hidden for the first half of the debate, the Minister for Work and Pensions, Mark Hoban, gets up and says, in effect, "I don't believe what you say, there's no way people can have been so depressed that they killed themselves. Oh and there's nothing wrong with the Work Capability Assessments or AtoS."
He goes on to say that Decision Makers were able to take variability into account, so that if you are good today but bad tomorrow, you would be able to claim ESA. I have it, in writing from a Decision Maker that he was NOT allowed to take into account variations in my condition caused by climate!
What a flaming plonker the Minister sounded! Had he even been in the House for the first half when MPs were telling of people in my situation where AtoS got it totally wrong, passed on their report to the Decision Maker who, working on incorrect information gaily decides that the claimant doesn't need money and that they are fit for work.
Michael Meacher in his summary said he had never seen a debate where such cross party agreement occurred. If Mark Hoban came out into the real world and looked at a few diverse blogs, fora (forums, for those that like incorrect plurals) and information websites, he'd realise that every lie he has been fed by his master was another nail in the coffins of disabled people.
Mr Hoban, Ms McVey (at some conference today), Ms Amber Rudd (my MP), if you've got a chance, look at:
http://calumslist.org/
http://wearespartacus.org.uk/
http://thehardesthit.wordpress.com/
http://fullfact.org/
And then there's blogs like:
http://benefitscroungingscum.blogspot.co.uk/
http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.co.uk/
[Addition: I am running low on energy today and forgot the main point I wanted to make]
I believe that the method of debating in the House of Commons is flawed, two to three hours of questioning and then the Minister has five minutes to reply to all questions asked. It should be more like Prime Minister's Questions:
The MP for Someplace asks a question, with others asking to add in, and sits.
The Minister/Secretary of State/Prime Minister answers the question and we move on to the next question.
That to me is a debate, not ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, answer.
Mind numbing? Yes, here were about twenty seven MPs from a variety of political parties, the majority standing up for those that cannot stand. A lot of sad tales, I can't bear to use the word story, about disabled people some expected to travel overnight and sleep on a railway station platform for a connecting train. People expected to go to meetings to prepare them for a return to a job that they had been invalided out of on health grounds!
All the stuff about the damage done by the incorrect reports that AtoS sent to the DWP and errors in judgement by the DWP Decision Makers, going on and on. It was getting depressing, hearing so many bad news tales. It was difficult listening through the accents of the various MPs, but I persevered.
Then with about ten minutes to go, having been hidden for the first half of the debate, the Minister for Work and Pensions, Mark Hoban, gets up and says, in effect, "I don't believe what you say, there's no way people can have been so depressed that they killed themselves. Oh and there's nothing wrong with the Work Capability Assessments or AtoS."
He goes on to say that Decision Makers were able to take variability into account, so that if you are good today but bad tomorrow, you would be able to claim ESA. I have it, in writing from a Decision Maker that he was NOT allowed to take into account variations in my condition caused by climate!
What a flaming plonker the Minister sounded! Had he even been in the House for the first half when MPs were telling of people in my situation where AtoS got it totally wrong, passed on their report to the Decision Maker who, working on incorrect information gaily decides that the claimant doesn't need money and that they are fit for work.
Michael Meacher in his summary said he had never seen a debate where such cross party agreement occurred. If Mark Hoban came out into the real world and looked at a few diverse blogs, fora (forums, for those that like incorrect plurals) and information websites, he'd realise that every lie he has been fed by his master was another nail in the coffins of disabled people.
Mr Hoban, Ms McVey (at some conference today), Ms Amber Rudd (my MP), if you've got a chance, look at:
http://calumslist.org/
http://wearespartacus.org.uk/
http://thehardesthit.wordpress.com/
http://fullfact.org/
And then there's blogs like:
http://benefitscroungingscum.blogspot.co.uk/
http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.co.uk/
[Addition: I am running low on energy today and forgot the main point I wanted to make]
I believe that the method of debating in the House of Commons is flawed, two to three hours of questioning and then the Minister has five minutes to reply to all questions asked. It should be more like Prime Minister's Questions:
The MP for Someplace asks a question, with others asking to add in, and sits.
The Minister/Secretary of State/Prime Minister answers the question and we move on to the next question.
That to me is a debate, not ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, answer.
Saturday, 5 January 2013
The Death Sentence Arrives.
It arrived yesterday, with an ominous slap on the floor by the front door. A small brown envelope from Belfast! OK, unsuspecting, I opened it.
It took me thirty minutes to read and re-read it.
"Dear Mr Turtle" it starts, how dare they! Also, if I was dear to them they wouldn't have done this to me!
"I decided to look at your DLA again to make sure you are getting the right money" - No you didn't you looked at it again because I failed the ESA assessment and appealed!
Some how, without the knowledge of my GP they looked at "Current Treatment, Medication, Symptoms and Test Results" How you could have looked at the blood tests I've had in the last three months without consulting my GP?
"You can walk:
Slowly, yes, because I'm in pain.
In a reasonable manner? What, 2 minutes to walk 100 metres is reasonable? What is a reasonable manner?
Do they ask if, after walking that distance, I have to sit or lie down for at least an hour to recover? No.
Do they ask if, after walking that distance, I can get to sleep at night because of the pain? No
Question: where do the government get these silly figures from? The new High Rate Mobility distance (i.e. the worst people can't do it) will be 20m. Shorter than the length of the House of Commons from "the Bar" to the Despatch boxes. Shorter than the length of a cricket pitch. Shorter than the length of a "bendy" bus. It's the width of the steps in Trafalgar Square!
The next level is 50m - walk further than that and No Mobility Mate! 50m the distance from the side of Trafalgar Square to the centre of Nelson's Column. Less than the distance from the gate to the pitch at Lords! 20m less than the length of the walk down Downing Street to Number 10!
So, Iain Duncan Smith and his cronies have decided that if you can't walk down Downing Street to hand in your petition, you can't deliver it!
Next bit on the "Let's meet our quota", oops sorry, Decision;
"Preparing a cooked meal
You don't ned help to:
Ex-squeeze me, her over there exists, I'm married, it's a meal for TWO!
You expect me to sit and stir pans of food at eye-level? What does the Health and Safety Executive say about that? Oh, just tried it, can't lift my arm high enough to stir a pan sitting down!
Erm, Carrying safely while cooking, NO, I have difficulty getting a pan of pasta off the cooker to the sink to drain it! Lift the kettle? Only just, more than enough water to fill two mugs means I have to slide the kettle across the work-top and tilt the kettle to pour it. Did they ask this? NO. Can I lift a pint of milk, just, but talk to she-who-must-be-obeyed and she'll tell you I spill more than I pour when I use a small carton like a pint. A litre, just right for sliding and tipping.
Then comes the biggest shock - "I can't consider any of the following:
Weather Conditions? Have you never suffered from arthritis? Oh, no, I forgot you work for the DWP so you would have had to pass a medical to get in there as your masters are senior members of the Eugenics Society! Cold, wet weather makes it worse, medically proven fact.
They got it right in 2007, but changed their minds in 2012 as I have obviously got better, how, I'd love to know!
Oh, "Clinical examination shows: ... He has slightly reduced left knee bending... ability to lift straight left leg while lying down was reduced due to low back pain!" NO, reduced due to Knee Pain!
"In his statement of a typical day to the Approved Disability Analyst (who I've never seen, unless the Human Cull Participant was him) Mr Turtle states gets out of bed despite joint problems and back problems" Back problems? Where? When?
I tell you one thing, the person that wrote the "Reason for Decision" never went to a decent school, his grammar is attrocious! Someone in the line of decision was in cloud cuckoo land, in my opinion!
Strangely, when I telephoned the Darling Wonderful People, I asked what planet their staff were on and whether the Hopeless Can't Practice person from the Acceleration to Suicide group had reported on me or someone else? I naturally said "Add me to the 70% of people who appeal your decisions, thank you very much indeed"!
If it wasn't for Mrs T and my grand-daughters, calums list might have a new entry. I am that desperate, it's earth shattering, I don't know how I'm going to be able to get to my appeal if I have to go to Eastbourne when/if it comes up.
It took me thirty minutes to read and re-read it.
"Dear Mr Turtle" it starts, how dare they! Also, if I was dear to them they wouldn't have done this to me!
"I decided to look at your DLA again to make sure you are getting the right money" - No you didn't you looked at it again because I failed the ESA assessment and appealed!
Some how, without the knowledge of my GP they looked at "Current Treatment, Medication, Symptoms and Test Results" How you could have looked at the blood tests I've had in the last three months without consulting my GP?
"You can walk:
- About 130 metres
- Slowly
- In a reasonable manner"
Slowly, yes, because I'm in pain.
In a reasonable manner? What, 2 minutes to walk 100 metres is reasonable? What is a reasonable manner?
Do they ask if, after walking that distance, I have to sit or lie down for at least an hour to recover? No.
Do they ask if, after walking that distance, I can get to sleep at night because of the pain? No
Question: where do the government get these silly figures from? The new High Rate Mobility distance (i.e. the worst people can't do it) will be 20m. Shorter than the length of the House of Commons from "the Bar" to the Despatch boxes. Shorter than the length of a cricket pitch. Shorter than the length of a "bendy" bus. It's the width of the steps in Trafalgar Square!
The next level is 50m - walk further than that and No Mobility Mate! 50m the distance from the side of Trafalgar Square to the centre of Nelson's Column. Less than the distance from the gate to the pitch at Lords! 20m less than the length of the walk down Downing Street to Number 10!
So, Iain Duncan Smith and his cronies have decided that if you can't walk down Downing Street to hand in your petition, you can't deliver it!
Next bit on the "Let's meet our quota", oops sorry, Decision;
"Preparing a cooked meal
You don't ned help to:
- Use a cooker
- use kitchen tools
- carry and lift safely
Ex-squeeze me, her over there exists, I'm married, it's a meal for TWO!
You expect me to sit and stir pans of food at eye-level? What does the Health and Safety Executive say about that? Oh, just tried it, can't lift my arm high enough to stir a pan sitting down!
Erm, Carrying safely while cooking, NO, I have difficulty getting a pan of pasta off the cooker to the sink to drain it! Lift the kettle? Only just, more than enough water to fill two mugs means I have to slide the kettle across the work-top and tilt the kettle to pour it. Did they ask this? NO. Can I lift a pint of milk, just, but talk to she-who-must-be-obeyed and she'll tell you I spill more than I pour when I use a small carton like a pint. A litre, just right for sliding and tipping.
Then comes the biggest shock - "I can't consider any of the following:
- Walking on Slopes or uneven surfaces
- weather conditions"
Weather Conditions? Have you never suffered from arthritis? Oh, no, I forgot you work for the DWP so you would have had to pass a medical to get in there as your masters are senior members of the Eugenics Society! Cold, wet weather makes it worse, medically proven fact.
They got it right in 2007, but changed their minds in 2012 as I have obviously got better, how, I'd love to know!
Oh, "Clinical examination shows: ... He has slightly reduced left knee bending... ability to lift straight left leg while lying down was reduced due to low back pain!" NO, reduced due to Knee Pain!
"In his statement of a typical day to the Approved Disability Analyst (who I've never seen, unless the Human Cull Participant was him) Mr Turtle states gets out of bed despite joint problems and back problems" Back problems? Where? When?
I tell you one thing, the person that wrote the "Reason for Decision" never went to a decent school, his grammar is attrocious! Someone in the line of decision was in cloud cuckoo land, in my opinion!
Strangely, when I telephoned the Darling Wonderful People, I asked what planet their staff were on and whether the Hopeless Can't Practice person from the Acceleration to Suicide group had reported on me or someone else? I naturally said "Add me to the 70% of people who appeal your decisions, thank you very much indeed"!
If it wasn't for Mrs T and my grand-daughters, calums list might have a new entry. I am that desperate, it's earth shattering, I don't know how I'm going to be able to get to my appeal if I have to go to Eastbourne when/if it comes up.
Friday, 4 January 2013
Foot in Mouth Syndrome
We've all done it, opened
our mouths before putting our brain into gear. I've done it plenty of times
myself, both vocally and online, it's very easy to do. The big thing is, I'm
not a minister in the Government, and they should know better than to spurt out
idiotic comments anywhere near journalists or in the house where it is
reported.
What has Iain Duncan Smith
gone and done now? The minister for the Department of Work and Pensions has
only gone and said that ...
"Figures
... show jobless benefits rose 20% in the last five years, compared with an
average 12% rise in private sector pay."
So, here comes the
mathematics lesson.
Your basic pay (using the minimum wage and a working week of 35 hours) is £216.65
So 12% raise on this is £26 per week.
Personal Allowance rate is £71
And 20% of £71 is £14.20 pw;
Who has the bigger rise?
OK, I will allow that full rate High Care and Mobility components give you £131.50 and a 20% rise of that is £26.30 but this is a 20% average rise.
As Leonard H. Courtney, (1832-1918), later Lord Courtney, said in a speech in
After all, facts are facts, and although we may quote one to another with a chuckle the words of the Wise Statesman, "Lies - damn lies - and statistics," still there are some easy figures the simplest must understand, and the astutest cannot wriggle out of.
So let's look at the real figures. I got so locked in to all the Minister's 8%s
(the difference between Wages and Benefits, the 8% Working Tax increase that he quoted as 58% and the 8% of Foreign Claimants that were fraudulent) that I used 8 years not 5.
I looked around the net for
four sets of figures, and rather than using percentages alone, I thought I'd
add in the ACTUAL cash difference in each case.
The results are amazing and
do, sort of, bear out his figures, the average wage rose by 13% and benefit
rose by 28% (politicians always round up anything over 0.5 and down if it's under). However, and here's the big shock, the Pound In Your Pocket change was five and a half times MORE for the worker than the "Scrounger". In fact, their money went up by the total of what the benefit claimant gets a year.
| 2004 | 2012 | £ Change | % Change | |||
| Average Wage | £25,780.00 | £ 29,157.00 | £ 3,377.00 | 13.10% | (a) | |
| Benefit | £ 2,299.41 | £ 2,936.25 | £ 636.84 | 27.70% | (b) |
(a) Figures from www.ons.gov.uk
|
(b) Figures from www.ifs.org.uk
So then we look at the other BIG winners over the past eight years, the Members of Parliament themselves. I know "Call Me Dave" has made them take an actual pay cut this year, but I have this strange feeling they can afford it!
For, in the past eight years the basic backbencher has had their income from the House raised by £8,273, two and a half times that of the average worker! Even the percentage is higher at 14%.
The thing you really need to sit down for is ... the honourable(?) member for Woodford Green and Chingford, Mr. Iain Duncan Smith has had a pay rise of ... wait for it ... ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR PERCENT!!!!!!
| 2004 | 2012 | £ Change | % Change | |||
| MP | £57,485.00 | £ 65,758.00 | £ 8,273.00 | 14.39% | (c) | |
| Iain Duncan Smith | £57,485.00 | £134,565.00 | £ 77,080.00 | 134.09% | (c) |
(c) Figures from www.parliament.uk
Seventy Seven Thousand pounds per year increase! That's two and a half times the average workers gross pay in a rise! Kettles being called black by certain pots methinks!
Now I know we are struggling for money in the country, but hang on a minute Mr George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave "strivers" a tax cut (before capping their Working Tax Credit), I thought the idea was to make money, not throw it out?
Sunday, 23 December 2012
Dear Dave
I'd like to acquaint you with some of the problems that your friends in Atos (Advanced Targeting of Scroungers) miss.
These observations are true, well, at least they are true for me, other arthritis sufferers may differ in their symptoms.
You may notice (I think the time that this blog is written appears somewhere on it) that this is being written at Oh My God It's Early O'clock. This is because I had to walk around a supermarket yesterday (Saturday) morning to scrape together some food for my wife and I tosurvive exist over the Christmas period.
"Why", I hear you ask "should a walk around a supermarket keep you up at night?"
Simple, I reply, arthritis is agony wrapped in a dose of pain enhanced when exercising and in cold, wet weather. You may have noticed the country is bathed in rain type precipitation at present, this and the general low temperature at this time of year does not help reduce this pain.
Pain, you may have experienced a severe sprained ankle (pain rating about 8/10 for a week or so), well arthritis is about 7/10 all day, all year even when dulled through painkillers, then, you have to walk too far and it goes up, the painkillers don't dull it, so you take more and the pain is still there and a side effect of the painkillers is - insomnia!
This is, however perhaps one or two days per month, but I cannot plan which day(s) it might be, there could be an emergency that means too much standing or walking, but I can tell you what the next day will be - one spent drowsy or in bed asleep! Fortunately, tomorrow is a Sunday so if I were working it would not necessarily mean a day off work, but, as said before, I can't guarantee which day of the week I will be kept awake overnight.
The Atos (Advanced Termination of Sick-people) snapshot is taken on one day, in my case on one of the hottest driest days of the year, one that was, for me, a fairly reasonable day. So the person that examined me, did not see me at my worst and was not willing/able to take my description of the bad days. Mind you, he also could not tell right from left and did not test the flexibility of my legs, yet commented on it in his report!
Now, I hear that one of your colleagues wishes to add to my embarrassment by giving me a "Benefit Payment" card. To highlight to people in shops that I am one of these people labelled by your government as a scrounger. As others have said, we only await the badges that we have to sew onto our coats, or the tattoos that we have to wear on our foreheads to announce to the world that we are unable to work. A horrible reflection of something that took place in Germany eighty years ago!
So, Dave, if I may call you that, Mr Cameron, I hope and pray that none of your relatives ever have to suffer the indignity of a debilitating illness or, through no fault of their own, end up disabled.
These observations are true, well, at least they are true for me, other arthritis sufferers may differ in their symptoms.
You may notice (I think the time that this blog is written appears somewhere on it) that this is being written at Oh My God It's Early O'clock. This is because I had to walk around a supermarket yesterday (Saturday) morning to scrape together some food for my wife and I to
"Why", I hear you ask "should a walk around a supermarket keep you up at night?"
Simple, I reply, arthritis is agony wrapped in a dose of pain enhanced when exercising and in cold, wet weather. You may have noticed the country is bathed in rain type precipitation at present, this and the general low temperature at this time of year does not help reduce this pain.
Pain, you may have experienced a severe sprained ankle (pain rating about 8/10 for a week or so), well arthritis is about 7/10 all day, all year even when dulled through painkillers, then, you have to walk too far and it goes up, the painkillers don't dull it, so you take more and the pain is still there and a side effect of the painkillers is - insomnia!
This is, however perhaps one or two days per month, but I cannot plan which day(s) it might be, there could be an emergency that means too much standing or walking, but I can tell you what the next day will be - one spent drowsy or in bed asleep! Fortunately, tomorrow is a Sunday so if I were working it would not necessarily mean a day off work, but, as said before, I can't guarantee which day of the week I will be kept awake overnight.
The Atos (Advanced Termination of Sick-people) snapshot is taken on one day, in my case on one of the hottest driest days of the year, one that was, for me, a fairly reasonable day. So the person that examined me, did not see me at my worst and was not willing/able to take my description of the bad days. Mind you, he also could not tell right from left and did not test the flexibility of my legs, yet commented on it in his report!
Now, I hear that one of your colleagues wishes to add to my embarrassment by giving me a "Benefit Payment" card. To highlight to people in shops that I am one of these people labelled by your government as a scrounger. As others have said, we only await the badges that we have to sew onto our coats, or the tattoos that we have to wear on our foreheads to announce to the world that we are unable to work. A horrible reflection of something that took place in Germany eighty years ago!
So, Dave, if I may call you that, Mr Cameron, I hope and pray that none of your relatives ever have to suffer the indignity of a debilitating illness or, through no fault of their own, end up disabled.
Monday, 17 December 2012
I Hate TLAs
TLAs - Three Letter Acronyms and why I hate them.
People are littering blogs, articles and other items with too many TLAs these days.
I can understand it on Twitter, there's only 160 characters to use after all and "Department for Work and Pensions" does take up a lot more of them than DWP
But then, Esther McVey, the Minister for the Disabled (or should that be MfD) slathers her speech in an almost deserted House of Commons (HoC?) with PIP, DLA, WCA and others. It's annoying that everything has to be reduced to a short form. Income Support, was ocassionally shortened to IS (but rarely in speech), Social Security was rarely referred to as SS (pretty obvious why not).
I realise that someone speaking all day about Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA), needs a break, preferably not relying on any of these benefits.
Then along comes:
ILF Independant Living Fund
LHA Local Housing Allowance
CTB Council Tax Benefit
WTC Working Tax Credit
NHS National Health Sevice
So I'm getting to IHE (I've had enough) and GMAB (Give Me A Break) about it all!
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