Thy Father's Bike

Here is an interesting piece, with accompanying video, from the Guardian. I don't know what the significance of the self help books the article mentions are, but the rhetoric from the provider is palpably ignorant. I find this kind of nonsense self defeating because all it seems to do is set the reader up for failure - and then, when they inevitably look to place blame, get criticised further. In other words, if you don't 'self improve' it's your own fault, and you have to 'own' that. Taking responsibility for your own actions is one thing, taking responsibility for conditions beyond your control and the consequences thereof is another.

I find this very worrying. It cannot be healthy to programme the minds of 'customers' (that awful word again - it implies a freedom that isn't there) to believe, as Richard from the article does, that it's all your own fault if you don't have a job. It's the customer's fault they aren't working. If only they would make the effort; if only they'd get out of bed in the morning; if only.... It's insidious, but this is the tone of the Tory paradigm and it's getting stronger. If only the sick would rise up and work they'd be better, they'd be healed! This is monstrous ignorance!

I don't think this is healthy at all. I think telling people it's their fault they didn't look hard enough - that the 10 applications they made each day last week should have been 11, for instance. It just sounds like an easy out for the provider; an easy way to wriggle off the hook. I think it sets up the 'customer' for a fall which will (further) harm their self confidence, their emotional well being and perhaps any existing mental health problems, such as depression. This is compounded by then compelling them to look harder and to 'keep trying' which will only exacerbate the problem: the more they put in, the more crushing each rejection becomes. There's no room to take stock, to even allow the 'customer' to catch his breath even. Then of course we will see an increased rise in people turning to their GP for a sick note. It's a vicious cycle.

(PS: I notice this site has had 5000 visitors. I hope they've got something from this, certainly as much as I have for writing my lefty loony liberal thoughts and experiences. Thanks for reading!)

Hang 'Em, Flog 'Em, Film 'Em - Rethink

I watched the film again last night, the whole thing. Indeed my reading of Ryan's parents was incorrect. I'm not going to defend the riots, in fact I don't know any progressive speaker that has. Smashing up communities for material goods is giving the Tories and the rich elite what they want. It's self defeating.

In fact it's obvious that none of the people in the film, taken on face value, are bad people. They were just guilty of stupidity. Unfortunately the venomous Tory party and their programmed followers are functionally incapable of understanding events like these - how dare people riot? There's no poverty in this country, blah blah blah, we live in a meritocracy blah blah blah. Unfortunately they don't see how wrong they are. The utterly futile incongruity of stealing trainers and xboxes is proof of this: it's capitalism gone mad. The only thing that should surprise people is that this hasn't happened sooner.

The zealousness of the responses from the authorities toward some of these kids, that's what they are really, even Lee (who really doesn't come across as a thug whatsoever), is the worrying part of this. A young man with a promising army career forced onto the dole, a young girl guilty of picking up (and then discarding) two trainers from an already looted shop out of stupid curiosity, and another that smashed a paving slab (his case is left vague and his mohter has written him off, worryingly), all in jail or given some jail time.

Like the facebook provocateurs their lives will now be forever blighted (especially a conviction for arson, which in reality turned out to be setting fire to a waste bin - inexcusable, but incongruous with the scenes of house aflame). What does this achieve but to further polarise society? The opprobrium was in furious supply when Danielle's (the trainer 'thief') mother appeared on a local radio station to talk about it.

The frightened enclaves of Middle England would rather see a young man's entire career ruined than countenance the dire consequences of not punishing him for buying a stolen guitar in the heat of the riots. This country specialises in excoriating people like catholic flagellants, no forgiveness no surrender. The disproportionate level of the responses achieves nothing only to up the ante for next time. That's how the likes of Ryan see the world, his only mistake is the naivete of thinking smashing up his community will change society.

First World, Worst World

The last couple of weeks, for the welfare community - specifically the sick - has certainly been tumultuous. The government has resorted to shenanigans with Lord Fraud (that's David Freud for those who, blissfully do not know) pulling a late night stunt to get his amendments through after the rest of the Lords sending his bill back to the Commons. Not content with such inconveniences as democracy, IDS and his sloth faced manservant (the Igor to IDS' Frankenstein) have used some new trick called 'financial privilege' to get the bill through - 'It's alive'! I'm led to believe this means that the Lords cannot intervene further. The government won the vote and the rest of us have lost out.

What more evidence do people need that this government, this so-called coalition, is not for the people, but for the rich. The truth of the old adage that says government should fear it's people couldn't be more in demand here. I certainly fear this government.

More evidence you cry? How about pasty faced treasury bullshit artist Danny Alexander signing off the chief of the Student Loans Company's tax arrangements (all legal of course, I'm not suggesting there's any law breaking m'ludd)? Another libdem that's gone from hero to zero; Alexander was once quite vocal in his condemnation of the Work Capability Assessment. How things change; now he's batting for a government that's waging unconditional war on the vulnerable, poor, bewildered and sick. Clegg himself pledges he will put and end to the tuition fees and then when his lot get into power not only do they treble them but Mr Alexander decides it's acceptable to allow Mr Student Loans to avoid paying tax!

Watching this government is like watching Tory X Factor: with the libdems trying their best to appeal to their tory masters to progress further in the competition. The winner is the person that's responsible for kicking away the most crutches, turfing the most families out of their homes, and making the most misery in communities up and down the country.

We are too complacent in this country. I've had lots to say over the last couple of weeks, but my ire has prevented me from organising my thoughts coherently. People don't see the reality of what's going on; even when you spell it out for them. They simply cannot process that, in a wealthy first world industrial success story such as Britain, people can be poor, or hard done by. It must be that people are the architects of their own misfortune: lazy or indolent - that even sickness is a result of some karmic debt owed to such qualities further up the family tree. There are plenty of jobs, we are told, if only the lazy would rise up out of their sick beds and take them. Then they'd feel better: claimant, heal thyself!

Of course the media is complicit in this: i couldn't bear to watch Question Time last night (how middle class of me, but it's a guilty pleasure): accompanying the token government mouthpiece (in this case Alan Duncan) was Lord Pigby Jones, CBI spin doctor and apologist for tax avoidance, and the leader of the Taxpayers Alliance, themselves a tory front. Opposing them was one forgettable Labour politician and the writer of Brookside whose politics I'm unfamiliar with. Where will it end? Last week with Any Questions we had David Blunkett bashing the poor and talking about how people on benefits should be taxed. Didn't bother to mention his financial links to A4E.

We've gone from toxic debts to toxic nation. Hate crime is on the increase. Is it any wonder with the climate of fear and resentment the government and the right wing media has programmed into us? When Cameron appears addressing a working class shop floor and specifically tells them how the unemployed are taking them for a ride. When he talks about how working people should be angry when they see their neighbour's curtains are closed (because that's evidence of fecklessness right there!). Never mind that people should know more about their neighbours - or just get a fucking life and stop being so prurient.

My date with fate has been announced: the first Friday in march, when I sign on, will be my referral to the Work Programme; a full year since the claim first opened. I do not know what will happen, but I'm not expecting miracles: despite all the taxpayers money the government is happy to hand over to the unemployment gravy train, these organisations, which consist mostly of pr types and script reading consultants, have no means to create work, just to feed off the current situation.

My Work Psychologist has no answers (even though she changes her story every time I talk to her). I'm still waiting for her to assess the test I had a month ago. Initially this test was to see if I had Aspergers and that the results, if that were the case, could be taken to the official body to rubber stamp an official diagnosis (no it doesn't make much sense, but neither does she). After the test was complete she tells me that she isn't qualified to test for Aspergers and so thinks I have Attention Deficit Disorder. This isn't unreasonable and in fact is quite plausible as she is also correct to say that there are other 'neuro diverse' conditions that might apply, not just and possibly instead of Aspergers. I don't know. I also ask her what I'm to do with this diagnosis of ADD, should that be the result, and she seems to suggest it's to 'help me decide what to do with my life'. Seems to me she's just another government paid timewaster. She's friendly enough, but in terms of offering help or support - particularly as a psychologist - she's nothing more than a careers advisor quite frankly. Even then she can't seem to offer any advice. I really don't see the point of her frankly, she has offered nothing.

Hang 'em, Flog 'em, Film 'em!

Last night I turned on the tv to find a show about rioters (the traditional kind, not the banksters who won't make it onto cctv). The bbc had managed to find a group of teenagers that had participated in the riots and been caught and their parents (a couple whose kids were inside still). To be fair the show did become less ‘for the gallery’ by the end. But the whole tone seemed to be rather demanding, and somewhat pointless. In fact the premise seemed rather flawed because the only people that would agree to participate would be those that felt some measure of contrition. The ones that didn’t care obviously wouldn’t agree to be filmed (in fact I can’t understand why anyone would, but these are young adults/kids we are talking about).

So a series of interviews to camera are conducted by a disembodied voice asking trite and obvious questions ‘why did you do it?’. We learn nothing about the riots at all. It’s obvious these kids are just victims of the moment – that’s not to say they have no culpability or that smashing shit up is healthy. But they are not rampaging monsters. The whole affair seemed rather pointless to me and its existence solely intended to sate the hang ‘em and flog ‘em brigade. I suspect no amount of explanation would ever silence the right wing’s furious barrage of ‘why, why, why!’

I don’t know; what can we say about this? The right wing media is fundamentally incapable of understanding the riots. They cannot understand why people would do this because they only focus on the end result: kids nicking plasma screens. They just cannot understand and will never grasp why. These are people caught up in the moment that have spent their lives within a consumer society run by hypocrisy – and lord knows we need someone to blame. Society now, and this is a quality the Tories love, enjoys blaming people and not allowing people to get over their past mistakes. One poor lad, with tears in his eyes, knew full well the consequences of his action. With a conviction for arson he’s fucked, and he knows it. His father/stepfather (I’m not sure which) as a white man (the lad is mixed race) just couldn’t grasp the lad’s expression of frustration living in London where he’s routinely subjected to the sus laws.

Interestingly, no doubt to the ire of the right wingers looking for the requisite amount of contrition (which will never be enough), one lad didn’t seem too regretful. A burgeoning sense of political activism led him to realise, with the innocence of youth, that society is unfair. He knew he was doing wrong and his mother was visibly uncomfortable, but his father, I have a sneaking suspicion, shared his views. The lad, Ryan, spoke of the behaviour of police and seemed motivated to riot to get back at what he felt was a corrupt establishment and police force. I found it hard to disagree with his views even though he lacked the maturity to realise he was only hurting his own.

In the end the views seemed to point toward the failings of the response. One parent couldn’t get an appeal for her child who will have to serve the remainder of their sentence. Another was on the way to a military career and was now signing on (has since found work apparently). The message being: what has their punishment achieved? More cost for the taxpayer, and thus something else for the masses to complain about.

I did get a sense the programme was more concerned with demanding some form of contrition and apology to the nation from these kids – and of course their ‘failure’ parents. Of course there will be a lot of people watching that will demand nothing less than them be skinned alive on tv and their heads stuck on pikes like the traitors of old. The problem is that until the masses understand what happened and why, we will never learn, and more importantly, things will never change. But I suspect we’d rather watch some kid cry with regret and frustration than effect any change in a society riddled with consumerism, programming citizens with aspiration that will never be fulfilled, and leaving them with nothing. I suspect the public thirst for vengeance (above and beyond a proper measured productive response), fuelled by the Tories, will never be sated. Though I was interested in one rioter commenting that he would do it again - just to observe and to film (and thus show) what it's really like, from the inside. You won't get that view on the beeb.

Who Benefits?

I mentioned before that I was given a job to apply for last time I signed on (last week). Ignoring that it was not advertised correctly (there are two jobs and both are permanent, not temporary), I really do not see how pursuing them benefits me. Of course I was compelled into this, in my opinion, by the adviser. This is one of the biggest problems with the jobcentre: the pervasive air of disapproval that makes you feel you should agree. That and the threat of sanctions, explicit or otherwise. The adviser was pretty adamant I should apply for this. Of course they cannot articulate this beyond a vague belief that it will somehow do me some good. But will it? Let's explore this.

Firstly the job is 12 hours (the other position is 6 hours, so we'll ignore that straight off). I will financially be about £7-8 better off than on the dole. That's not really much of a difference. There are no expenses incurred through working as the job is within walking distance. But of course if I signed off (see below) I would not get any of the extra benefits involved, such as optician costs, dental costs, free prescriptions etc. This is part of the safety net.

More importantly I don't get my stamp paid. This means that I will have to make up the difference from the money I get paid, which is hardly fair. I'm working, but not enough to pay income tax nor NI - but that cost still has to be paid or I don't get a pension. So who is really benefiting if I take this position? The employer gets a much cheaper labour force by taking people on part time in this way because he doesn't have to pay NI for his staff. But that cost must still be paid.

Could I remain signed on? If I did I certainly wouldn't get any money for it. I might still get my stamp paid, but I would still have to abide by the terms of the Jobseekers Agreement, which defeats the point of getting the job. So as well as having to avoid working when I need to sign on (which unless they changed the day would be impossible) I'd have to pay to get there to sign on and still be seen to be looking for work. Is this really the best way to help the unemployed?

I find this a crazy situation. I'm contributuing nothing toward society for doing this job - which isn't even something I aspire to anyway. I don't need to be given work by a shop in order to have meaning in my life, so I find the Tory ideology very suspect (it's about compliance let's be honest), I'm not 'paying my way', I'm not even providing for my future. I'll be either forced to work against my own interests if I somehow managed to keep signing on, or I'll be stuck in a monthly paid job for a pittance. Not only that but if I don't keep signing on (and frankly I don't want to - that's the whole point) then I'm cast adrift from the support that's supposed to be there, through the JC, to help people back into work. The Work Programme is meant to be tailored to help people into proper sustainable work (as opposed to a 12 hour NMW job), but that will not be available to me if I'm cut off from the DWP by working. Of course whether the support programmes such as the WP are any good is another matter entirely, but let's assume for the sake of argument they are.

Then there are also health issues, even in a part time job. When I first visited the doctor regarding my hypoglycemia (or whatever the fuck it is, some kind of metabolic nonsense) I asked him how I would manage this condition while in work. To that day I have not received an adequate response. People, including doctors, just cannot take this seriously. You are told things like 'other people manage', and that, because they do not see this as a serious condition, you are fobbed off. This of course only makes things worse. I still don't know how I'd manage even a 6 hour day without more than a 30 minute break throughout. Of course noone is going to let me take breaks every two minutes, especially in a part time job, but like it or not (and believe me I'd rather not have to deal with this condition) it's a reality I have to deal with.
The fact there is no support, I feel, is actually a factor that works against me. It's not taken seriously enough and so I'm left lingering with no help. All I was ever told was 'take a packet of biscuits with you'; yeah because employers like staff that stand at the till stuffing jaffa cakes in their face.

The final argument is of course the moral one: the 'rightness' of getting people working, even if only for a few hours. That's what I will be told; in fact that's the argument that persuaded me to go through with this even though I knew better. Two 6 hour days is nothing - and that you aren't doing any of the things people value about work (ie paying your way and contributing to society) I'm just cheap labour for a clothing retailer. It's not even as if I'll be working for a good cause - a charity or something that tangibly helps people. It's just selling shirts and shoes!

Jaffa cakes, I'm reliably informed, are not technically biscuits. Life is just too uncertain.

That Shrinking Feeling

Walking back from Tesco, two awkward shaped big bags of quality product in hand, I see a local women's clothing shop with the 'closing down sale' signage in the window. Always sad to see that happen, even as an anti-capitalist progressive liberal scrounger, though to be honest I have to admit that I can't see how such a place could have had much of a future as a boutique in a village. That aside (I'm not an expert on such things) it is sad. I always feel a little tug on the old heartstrings at such sights. They've only been there a few months. You get the impression, with such enterprises, that they are someone's dream venture. That carries with it a certain sense of naive charm (which of course may be completely unfair), so when the shop is seen to be at the end of it's life there's a feeling of sympathy. Besides I take no pleasure in seeing the owner left in debt either, which is always a possibility in such cases.

Returning home I see the headlines about a double dip recession threatening. Another quarter of contraction in the economy. This includes the Christmas period that I seem to recall (not so long ago!) was meant to have been pretty good all things considered; certainly no adverse weather affecting sales. If that quarter is in the mire, then I can't see how the next quarter, which I believe to be the determinant for the double dip status, will be any better.

Another quarter of failure to add to Osbourne's list of incompetence. Businesses such as the aforementioned boutique not getting support and people going out of work. All week we've had the welfare reform bill passing through parliament like a bad curry. There have been defeats along the way, but I doubt that will stop them. not when the likes of Lord (how the fuck he's a lord I do not know) Freud stoop to after hours shenanigans to get his amendments through. It's shameless.

Meanwhile the Work Programme and it's arch-zealot, Chris Grayling, continue unabated. Here is a man who will look at a blue sky and believe it to be yellow if it serves his own, poisonous, interests. Despite stinging criticism from almost everywhere, including all but 2 callers to Victoria Derbyshire's phone in on Tuesday, he simply refuses to believe that the WP is not delivering. The man is an ass. One of those 2 callers was a prisoner and, with due respect, he will find it easier on these schemes because his situation ticks certain boxes that open up doors and funding that aren't available for others. Another caller commented on how his wife's workplace was cutting her hours precisely because of the Work Programme sending essentially free staff to do her job. The government's own statistics estimate an average success rate of around 40-50% while the National Audit Office place it as just under 30%! So where does that leave the other 60+ % that won't be helped by a scheme Grayling and his masters have talked up to the heavens? Well they'll be fast tracked into unpaid work via the Community Action Programme (synonymous with Community Service I should think).

Frankly I see little to hope for right now. This government is conniving and plain evil. I don't see how cutting people's benefits to £26,000 makes for a better society. There are even concerns it's not going to save any money given the costs involved. How does cutting someone's income improve their chances of finding work and their 'employability' (another happy clappy corporate buzzword)? Yet we reward Stephen Hester, of RBS, by giving him a king's ransom! Shouldn't we cut his salary instead? Of course the government will laugh that right out of town.

Meanwhile Ed Merelybland continues his colourless ranting against the government. Come on man, it's an open goal! Even a slumbering idiot couldn't fail to point out that the government is completely wrong on all counts. Yet what happens in response? Cameron, a man I find to be incredibly calculating and snide, plays to the gallery by continuing to harp on about Labour borrowing it all, spending it all and breaking the bank. But here's the rub: in response to the news of a further contraction Osbourne puts it down to international factors. Unfortunately he can't quite bring himself to concede to Labour the same courtesy by admitting that the banking crisis was similarly international.

That's what we're dealing with: a coalition of liars and enablers. The Libdems sit back and enable the Tory government (that's what it really is) to get away with extraordinary policies that threaten thousands. Meanwhile the lying coalition are happy to take credit for labour policies they benefit from (such as Labour's own harsh welfare reforms - they introduced us to both David Freud and ATOS) while blaming them for all our current economic woes while using the same excuses as Labour. Anyone that cannot see Tory hypocrisy and the dissembling true nature of the right wing deserves all they get. I see no future in this country right now. None at all. Stay safe.

Welfare Reform Makes No Sense To Me

IDS is plaguing my ears as I type; this silly bitter little man is certainly and unfortunately no longer quiet. He's a dog with a bone and his attitude; over the last couple of years he's become ever more short tempered and ideologically driven. Now he's on my radio banging the drum again in light of the welfare reform bill and the benefits cap - and he's making it clear, in my opinion, that this cap (and i would assume the rest of these changes), are being punished. This is because, to use his language, those that are not 'doing the right thing', don't deserve to have as much money. I find this obscene. Welfare, in the mind of this awful creature, is a tool for social engineering. A tool of the most odious Tory ideology.

Surely welfare is a function of capitalism. I happen to think it's moral to pay people, living in our system, to have access to food etc, in lieu of a job. But surely the alternative, if you examine this objectively, is chaos. Two and a half (and growing) people out of work, thousands more joining that number last week as well, all without access to welfare beyond perhaps their own savings? Wouldn't that be a recipe for social disaster: in other words increased costs in terms of policing, prison, insurance costs, etc? These people wouldn't just give up and fade away into the background. Their survival instincts would kick in; those unable to get support from friends or family would end up in criminality; be it theft, or even drugs or perhaps even prostitution. I've heard it said that welfare is the price paid for order in society.

It seems to me that welfare reform consists of two things: intervention, in the form of the Work Programme, and cuts, such as the benefits cap, HB caps and everything including sanctions. I've even heard IDS refer to paying benefits as him personally writing cheques for people (ie, he doesn't want to, which is why I describe him as bitter). I find this appalling.

Aside from the obviously failing (good!) Work Programme, the bulk of Tory ideology seems to revolve around the idea that cutting people's welfare income is a good thing. Somehow, thinks IDS, if we gie people less, regardless of the consequence, they will be less dependent on welfare. This makes no sense to me. How does giving someone less of an income than before ever help them move off of it. Also we are ALL dependent on our income; cut the pay of someone in work, like say a public sector worker, and see what happens. Well we've seen what happens: people take to the streets, and quite rightly. Welfare, in the eyes of IDS, is akin to drug dependency. At least that's the language he favours; in reality this is just about making his corporate friends richer (the WP providers) and cutting money. In a capitalist society we are all slaves to our income; we lack the means to be independent and our share of land and resources do not belong to us.

Wouldn't the best solution be to reintroduce rent control? That way people don't need to apply for rents that the likes of IDS don't approve of? Of course that isn't the point: IDS doesn't want people to charge obscene rents, he just doesn't want the people paying them to be on HB. Also these high HB costs (not rents, of course) are the fault of labour as well: people were given all this 'free' money during the last 13 years by bad old Gordon Brown. So we ignore the fact that rents go up over time and at the discretion of landlords and then blame the person claiming for that rent (who won't see the money, it's paid direct to the landlord) for being dependent. These are likely people with kids (they are the ones most likely to be affected by benefit caps) who will then have to up sticks, relocate, make a new HB claim, find a new school, possibly even a new job (most HB claimants are in work). What help will they get for this?

Make no mistake this is purely ideological: this is about cutting money for the poor so the rich can get richer, either profiting from welfare or further money for the likes of The City. IDS claims those that do the right thing (attend the WP or find work, presumably) won't be affected. Therefore he's singling out long term unemployed, people with the least self esteem, self worth and confidence, and publicly hurting them. All for the 'crime' of unemployment. I find IDS and his breed a stain on our society. I think his ideology is holding us back as a society. Like the WP, he champions as the cure for 'welfare dependency' (what about politician dependency?), he fails to explain how cutting people's incomes will actually create work opportunities. I can find no causal connection between the two. But then I'm not a Tory.