Every now and then, for a bit of a laugh, I play "Spot the truth" on the @DWPpressoffice twitter account.
It would seem poverty rates came out today and I don't suppose you need me to tell you they've gone up.
Nonetheless, @DWPpressoffice are valiantly tweeting that some relative poverty levels have gone done and Hallelujah, 100,000 disabled people are no longer living in poverty!!
How can this be? During the single biggest assault on the living standards, security and dignity of disabled people this country has ever known, disability poverty has FALLEN?
Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the miracle of Atos!
You see, if you tell hundreds of thousands of people with MS and cancer and Parkinson's and heart failure that Lo! With one wave of the Atos magic wand, kindly supplied by the DWP, they are no longer disabled, then they can't be disabled people living in poverty any more can they?
Nope, they're just, erm, people living in poverty, hence the overall rise.
Cunning little foxes aren't they?
Does anyone know what ATOS stands for? 'Abolish Trust Of Standards'? 'Atrocious Team Of Satanists'? 'A Trial Of Strength'? 'Another Thoroughly Obnoxious Scrum'? 'On The Other Side'?
ReplyDeleteSorry, that last one spells OTOS! Here are three more possibilities. 'A Trillion Oily Shysters'? 'A**ehole Thatchers Obsessive Sycophants'? All we know for sure is ATOS is very definately 'A Tub Of S**T'!
DeleteGreat piece Sue. It's laughable, isn't it? Laugh or cry, I am never sure which! Keep up the magnificent work. Penny Pepper
ReplyDeleteit's a very sick joke which leaves many people fighting for their lives
ReplyDeleteThe thing i am having trouble dealing with is that loads of people are likely to vote for Labour at the next election in 2015, but if Labour was to 'blame' for the introduction of the WCA tests that pay so well for Atos, but hurt so much for legitimate disabled benefits claimants, will this craziness just continue with red Ed as government leader or would Labour find it's compassionate side and change the way people are treated when they truly deserve support and allowance.
ReplyDeletemartin the problem would remain. Most mp's wont to get rid of the long term sick and disabled look how many mp's turn up for any of the commons debates. That's the reality they don't care if you die and until the likes of my daughter studying politics and her fellow students get voted in to govern the UK the death rate will just continue to grow
ReplyDeleteWe are looking at 10 years at least before the likes of my daughter becomes a mp if she's lucky her age group detest all of the politics of today in the UK she may even quit the UK as a dead duck for the future and with her overall skill level i cant blame her at all because i should have left years ago
I would humbly suggest that if your daughter wants to leave the UK because things aren't going well, then she doesn't exactly have a committed stance to helping the people and thus wouldn't make a good MP.
DeleteI hope this is not the case and she stays and fights on. If everyone just leaves for brighter shores, there will end up being no brighter shores to go to.
myrile you make a valid point but for her generation to stay and fix the mentality of david cameron is a huge undertaking and despite the best will in the world may still be in vain with another life lost in treading the same old ground going nowhere
ReplyDeleteI personally think she should go and start a fresh in a undeveloped country and getting the best from life and from the people as the people are the key to long term happiness and with regret she's not going to find that in the uk