All Campaigns subcategories:
Disability keywords:
Disabled
Highlight keywords |
Print this article
Them & Us
Burger blunder
Picture the scene - the day before Chancellor George Osborne announces more devastation to come our way in the Comprehensive Spending Review, he and his advisors desperately try to think of ways to get people to connect more with him. Some bright spark comes up with food - the one commonality between us all. Not just any food - burger and chips, a nice commoner's dinner. So staff are sent out to source the meal, it arrives, a photo is taken and for a modern twist posted on Twitter.
But so unused to this lifestyle is Osborne that it didn't occur to him to check the price of his feast - the burger alone being £6.75 from upmarket chain Byron. Nice try, Gideon.
Failure
Thierry Breton, chief executive of benefits assessment firm Atos, has received a £280,000 pay rise. This is presumably a reward for being so successful at driving poor and disabled people off benefits after finding them 'fit for work'. The cruel Atos assessments have brought misery to thousands and helped the Con-Dems drive through their discriminatory cuts. But Breton's company hasn't even been successful at that - 40% of appeals against failing the Atos tests are successful.
Dismal failure
Only one in ten people who've been forced onto the work programme since June 2011 are now in employment. Latest figures show that in half the areas the work programme has been used, people would have been more likely to find a job if they hadn't taken part! And less than 6% of disabled people (some deemed fit for work by Atos) who have taken part now have jobs.
False economy
Iain Duncan Smith's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has apparently been hardest hit of all government departments by staffing cuts. By 2016 it will have lost 40% of its workforce. And of course it has also had huge cuts in terms of the benefits it administers. We're told all these cuts are necessary because the benefits bill has spiralled out of control and is simply unaffordable now.
But DWP documents show that in fact the cuts could lead to a net increase in the department's spending. For example, they have discovered (you might be forgiven for thinking it would be obvious) that cutting the staff who help people find work might mean fewer people find work and so more have to claim benefits.
Nesting
If only all expectant parents could rely on such public generosity to help with pre-birth 'nesting' as Prince William and Kate. The public purse is forking out £1 million to refurbish their new family home - Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace. The word apartment is a bit misleading in this situation - 21 rooms spread over four floors, including staff quarters and a drawing room. We've also been told recently that they're planning a "very normal" upbringing for the child. Hmm...
Bad impressions
Nothing gives a bad impression of a place like a not-up-to-scratch loo. This is the situation facing the poor House of Lords and its VIP visitors. The two cubicles and two urinals concerned haven't been refurbished for a while and according to parliamentary documents give a "poor image" and are in an "unacceptable condition for the high profile area they are in". These aren't for use by lowly tourists of course, they're mainly for peers and visitors from foreign parliaments.
It seems only reasonable then that we spend somewhere between £90,000 and £100,000 to sort them out - that's only the price of a small house for most of us!
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
LATEST POSTS
12 May Stop Israeli state brutality
 |
9 May Post-election meetings
15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?
17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state
18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle
CONTACT US
Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777
Email: [email protected]
Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206
Regional Socialist Party organisers:
Eastern: 079 8202 1969
East Mids: 077 3797 8057
London: 075 4018 9052
North East: 078 4114 4890
North West 079 5437 6096
South West: 077 5979 6478
Southern: 078 3368 1910
Wales: 079 3539 1947
West Mids: 024 7655 5620
Yorkshire: 078 0983 9793
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999