Happy Birthday to Me!!

So today it is exactly one year since I started to write this blog.

Just over a year since George Osborne accused benefit claimants of "Mugging the state" and a few dark days more than a year since his thoughtless, short-sighted Comprehensive Spending Review.

A year since it became clear we had nothing to lose and everything to gain from opposing a government out of control, out of touch and all out of compassion.

And what a year it's been!!

In that year there have been high points, low points, despair, exhaustion and exhilaration. I've made wonderful friends, met fellow campaigners, written for the Guardian, Left Foot Forward, Labour List, Liberal Conspiracy, the BBC and I've filmed a short documentary for Channel 4.

At around the same time, The Broken Of Britain was also born, groups like Black Triangle and DPAC have gone from strength to strength and other bloggers have risen to prominence exposing the lies, mis-information and terror behind a campaign to ostracise and abandon sick and disabled people.

The little "15" on the right hand side of this article trumpets the astonishing fact that my blog is the 15th most popular political blog in the UK. It is the the number one political blog written by a woman. According to Total Politics, enough of you voted to make my blog the 7th most popular left wing blog.

Well, thank goodness you did, because despite tens of thousands of supporters, over 300,000 articles read and our articles regularly making into the top ten most read in the UK, most of the mainstream media still ignore us entirely. Politicians aren't interested in evidence or research, so without your support, without your tweets and shares and emails, we would still be unknown and unheard.

So what have I learnt?

I've learnt that democracy is dead. Policies and governments are for sale to the highest bidder. Elections are bought by those with the deepest pockets and lobby groups and vested interests control the direction of our country more successfully than ministers ever will.

Every vote has a loophole, every committee has a whipped majority to make sure that dissension and opposition goes unheard and no matter how wrong, cruel or pointless a policy might be, if politicians choose to stick doggedly to it, it will go through. No matter how many lives  are ruined, no matter how many people die, no matter how many people suffer, if a politician thinks he is right, you may as well whistle in the wind, you will never change his mind.

But I've also learnt that people can come together, fight, share information and oh-so-slowly start to turn the tide of ignorance. In the end, the only thing that will shift stubborn politicians is shame. In the end, it is people who make a difference.

When George Potter found my blog, he decided to act. After months of agony, false starts and hoops to jump through, he changed Liberal Democrat policy. By standing up for what is right, he found a platform in which he could show grassroots LibDems a little evidence, break down a few of the negative stereotypes and prove that good people will listen, even when politicians won't.

When the Hardest Hit march took to the streets of London, more sick and disabled people than ever before made the Herculean effort to get to the protest and make their voices heard.

When charities came together, the Disability Alliance threatened legal action against the government on behalf of 272 different groups. Since the challenge was mounted, many, many more charities have joined.

Over the course of this year, we have come together, worked together and battled great personal difficulties to oppose the 9.2 Billion of cuts sick and disabled people are facing.

As the welfare reform bill is debated in the Lords, there is now a real chance that we can win some changes. With the LibDems pledged to oppose a one year time limit for ESA and the indignities of Work Capability Assessments, we may just be able to break the whipped majority both in the Lords and in Parliament. With campaigners, supporters and charities lobbying both houses, sending information, evidence and testimonials almost daily, the Lords are well informed and articulate and there is cross-party opposition to the worst elements of the bill. We are now able to provide a counter argument, challenge lies and put our views across.

Researchers work daily to expose the futility of scrapping DLA, proving that the arguments used in defence of reform are wrong. We produce our own evidence, present our own facts and every time, we show that reform that ignores reality will only ever be fancy-dress for cuts.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. Thank you for supporting me, believing in me and listening when others choose to turn away. Every day there are more of you and every day we win a few more hearts and minds.

Keep fighting, keep tweeting, but most of all keep believing. When I started writing, the Gandhi quote at the bottom of  my blog seemed as overwhelming as it was inspirational.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Well now, they are forced to fight us and if we keep fighting, together, we will win.