Sunday 2 June 2013

Oh you don't get out of it that easily IDS

Oh, that's it, it was only a matter of time. Iain Delusional-Smith's spectacularly incompetent "reforms", failing like David Beckham in a molecular science exam, are now being blamed on... Yep, you've guessed it...The Civil Service

http://specc.ie/18x5tnP    

Isn't it convenient? Whenever a minister with about as much grip on reality as a fairy at a magic dust conference has a "big idea", once elected, they skip into Westminster and give the civil servants their orders :

"I want a unicorn, dressed in gossamer, fed on manna, for every household, but they have to be black ones, preferably with pink polka dots and I INSIST it comes in on budget by next Tuesday."

"Er-herm, what IS the budget minister?" risks one brave civil servant. 

"£3.64! And not a penny more!!"

So it is with Delusional-Smith's welfare reforms. 

He went to a council estate once, saw some frightfully poor people and thought he would sort out "welfare" because, well, they couldn't possibly need all that food and warmth and bedrooms and stuff. With his trusty right hand man, Lord Freud, failed investment banker (and yes, related to Sigmund and Lucian), who famously sorted the whole new plan out in 3 weeks, with no knowledge or experience of social security at all, clutching the Daily Mail as their handbook, what could possibly go wrong? 

Universal Credit : Not a bad idea in principal, seeks to combine no fewer than 6 desperately complicated benefits into one simple payment that updates monthly and changes flexibly, in real time. 

Here's the polka-dot-unicorn bit : It all had to be done in 3 years for....wait for it.... 2 Billion pounds. To give you some idea of why this is so very delusional, when Labour tried to design an integrated IT system just for the NHS, they got to £13 billion, were still nowhere near and had to give up. The result? Every IT director and manager associated with the UC project have run away and - I'm not kidding - they're rolling it out MANUALLY on spreadsheets. This is expected to affect 14 MILLION ppl by 2015. Are there enough slates and pieces of chalk in the world? I presume they are working out the real time tax with abacuses. 

But of course, it's the civil servants fault it hasn't happened, nothing at all to do with over-indulged pillocks who have no idea what IT projects cost, especially "real time, integrated" ones. 

And disability. I swear, hand on heart, the whole thing is based on an assumption. No figures, no evidence, just a dearly held Tory belief. The Mail really comes into its own on this one. 

I swear, Delusional-Smith and Lord Fraud (with a little help from purse-strings Osborne) decided one million people with cancer or Parkinson's of cerebral palsy would lose their entire income without doing a single assessment. Moreover, a further half a million would lose the Disability Allowance they rely on to erm, eat and not be housebound. No tests, evidence showing just 27,000 MIGHT be hooky at any one time, stuff it, we just KNOW the real figure is 1,500,000. 

So that too is casually tossed onto the desks of a few civil servants and a boss somewhere at Atos. 

Now, 5 years on, as a succession of dying people lose their livelihoodseven some who are actually already dead, as deaf/blind war veterans with one leg and no arms are found fit for work, as profoundly disabled children, unable to walk, talk or eat see support stripped away, our dynamic duo of uber-elite sofa stuffing blame the admin, the "slow cogs of Westminster" for not being able to walk on water or turn bread into wine. 

Oh no Dunky, Fraudy, you don't get off that lightly. Universal Credit is failing because you make monkeys look away tactfully when you try to think. ESA is failing because you are judgemental, hypocrites. Disability reform has all but stalled because you haven't the first clue what it's like to live in pain or fear every single day, hoping for no more than a little dignity and security. 

"Welfare Reforms" (or "Social Cleansing" depending on your point of view) are failing because you are spectacularly thick, unfeeling dipsticks. 

And we must never, ever let anyone believe differently. 




41 comments:

  1. who famously sorted the whole new plan out in 3 weeks, with no knowledge or experience of social security at all,


    And even less knowledge of IT as it turned out.

    Freud is on record as saying that those without computers/broadband could use Google Glass to complete online claim forms.

    Whichever way you look at that, it would be a hell of a good trick.

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  2. IDS is a master manipulator and its time he was taken apart.
    he LIED about Housing benefit, he lied and mislead on workless families.
    he escapes parliamentary justice by a cleaver use of words such as " I am given to understand" or " I am informed that" etc these tactics divert any claims of misleading the world and passes it to his back room staff and the Civil Service, FOI and the DWP responses give proof of this mans duplicity

    Lets not forget , I could live on £35 a week and the dismissal of over 500,000 E petition signatures as a "stunt"

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    1. I don't understand all the politics behind it all. But I'd love to see one of them live on £35 a week....

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    2. You mean £53 a week. :)

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  3. yep the master of lies ids but sue you said it all more or less he just doesn't want us on any benefits at all then perhaps one more of his mates could start a charity up and bury us all whilst claiming vasts bonus for their charitable work yep our ids is a very good at being a plonker first rate jeff3

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  4. Ian Duncan Smith could easily live on £35 a week, enjoying a happy and contented life with his family. Be right back, just got to take my tablets........

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  5. as always sue an excellent post
    IDS is on the hook and the likes of george.rolph who is on hunger strike to get things changed for good once and for all intend to keep him on the hook and if i was as strong as George i would have done the same instead of taking it on the chin the past years and ending up like a skeleton through the stress of it all

    both of you are a real credit to the worlds people who without would have no voice at all. both of you have and are going to hell and back to make a real difference. the only people i can think of who were in the same mould of putting their lives on the line were martin Luther king and Mahatma Gandhi people who put their lives at risk to make for a better world and for a justice for those to afraid like myself to speak out
    https://www.facebook.com/george.rolph.50

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  6. As a friend and I keep repeating to each other in horror - none of this is a mistake, it's all a 'price worth paying'... that's right, desperate poverty, hardship & suffering, even death, are a price worth paying. For what? For proving IDS is right and every right-thinking, sensible person is wrong? For proving that Tory ideology trumps all? Because Cameron and his cronies can sound so reasonable, it's taken us a loooong time to realise that this is all totally deliberate. All the suffering is what they meant all along. THAT'S what's so hard to take. What's also very hard to take is that the British public has allowed this to happen with, let's be honest, barely a murmur. If you stand back and consider it, it's unbelievable that modern Britain should have come to this.

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    1. Exactly!!! No one outside the disability world cares, and I hope it's only because those that "rule" are keeping it out of popular media. But it's not just us - all walks of life of the majority are being affected by ConDem cruelty. The peoples assembly are trying to address this and bring id all together to make ConDem take serious notice and get back to the real world!

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  7. Of course it's true Sue, UC and other benefits IT systems will all fail in time, they are under tremendous pressure already. But most sinister of all is the thought that these "failings" have been cleverly engineered to happen. Its the same strategy adopted for the abolition of the NHS, which is already well under way. Soon local authorities will be in the same boat, with continued cuts to social care budgets and closures of facilities for care of the elderly. The complete removal of all kinds of welfare and care is what has always been on the Tory agenda. They plan a complete replacement with US style insurance companies making the rules and holding all the purse strings. As long as you have a job and never get ill that's all that will matter in the future and beggar the rest.

    There IS a solution, I believe. Its called "government by the people for the people" and involves replacing the present corrupt parliament with direct voting by individuals on all Acts that require a vote.

    If Eurovision can count literally millions of votes in minutes then it is easy to implement by mobile phone, ordinary phone email and websites.

    It requires the removal of Westminster, but that may come about sooner rather than later. We have already seen how epetitions and public outcry via social media can influence government to do u-turns on policy.

    Its only one step further to a bloodless revolution.

    Lets make it happen, soon!

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  8. Let's not forget the real reason for this nightmare, which is the US insurance giant who designed it and are waiting in the background to clean up as soon as the welfare state has been destroyed: THE HIDDEN AGENDA:
    http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/THE%20HIDDEN%20AGENDA-a-research-summary-March-2013-FINAL.pdf

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  9. This is a comment copied from the Spectator article about IDS blaming the Civil Service for U.C 'problems'. "The Best and fastest solution is at hand WOW Campaign Launched By Francesca Martinez phase 1 WOWPetition , 100,000 secures a response By The Government which calls for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, tonce achieved The Campaign can move to phase 2, it also asks and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions, the Cuts the Government have implemented were and remain purly to save a lot of money very quickly, despite the Commitment of Mr Cameron regarding the Welfare Reforms in 2010 they have Clearly failed to deliver, worse than failing to deliver they have in reality used the poorest people in the UK to shift the Debt owed by themselves and the Bankers , the best answer is to use they political system and force a proper legal response, that can only be achieved by as many people as possible Signing WOWPetition.com". Go add your name, i tried to sign twice but it wouldn't let me, lol.

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  10. There's definitely a history to be told of how successive neo-liberal governments have come unstuck with benefit reform precisely because they try to limit costs. To do these things properly costs money - as the civil service have no doubt been telling you. That's not being difficult. It's doing their fucking jobs.

    The problem, IDS, is that you can't just "decide" to get a load of people off ESA when:

    a) you have no idea about the actual numbers of people living with impairments that affect whether employers will hire them and

    b) when the ESA measures UNEMPLOYMENT as much as it does disability.

    You could get 1,000,000 off ESA tomorrow if you created the jobs for them to take.

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  11. While I agree mostly with your post, you are assuming they are stupid, which suggests you think they are trying to do the right thing. In reality they are doing exactly what they intended to do when the got into power. Wipe out as many working class people as they can, and they ones that stick around, make their life as miserable as possible.

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  12. Thank you for taking the time to write this post. It’s been rather helpful. It couldn’t have come at a superior time for me! professional social networks

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  13. Almost made me feel sorry for I D-S.......... not really.

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  14. george.rolph on hunger strike for a better future for the sick and disabled has had is facebook webpage removed against his wishes
    if i get any updates i will let you know

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    1. We are living in a Fascist state. Facebook won't remove or take a long time to remove obscene photos of whatever nature and yet instantly remove the page of someone who is risking his life to force some kind of sanity on the ruling elite of this benighted country, no doubt at the insistence of that very same elite.

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    2. Not sure if Facist is the right word to describe our country these days. F**king hopeless, unkind and disturbing spring to mind! Maybe that is quite close to Fascism, i sure hope it isn't, from a historic point of view and for the sake of all caring people living here! Who do our stupid government REALLY think they are?!!

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  15. Marvellous post, Sue, and funny to boot. I keep chuckling at those monkeys who 'look away tactfully when [they] try to think'. 'Infamy, infamy, they've all got it infamy.' We're not paranoid; they really are out to get us.

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  16. George Rolph is on Hunger Strike because of having his disability benefits denied. He has been censored by Facebook
    George’s CALL TO ACTION letter is below.

    Today, 3rd June, 2013, George Rolph was banned from Facebook, without reason. He is in Day 14 of his Hunger Strike, which he is doing for others going through what he has had to endure, whilst also trying to get the general public to wake up to what is happening to the most vulnerable people in the United Kingdom, a country which once cared for all those less fortunate than ourselves.

    He will not stop this Hunger Strike until the British Government and ATOS stop their Persecution of the Sick, the Disabled, the Poor, the Carers, the Unemployed, even if it means he has to die in doing so.

    Please, share his story out, and please note that the government, are pushed, albeit unwillingly, by the public’s reaction,and have now reinstated George the benefits due to him, but he remains on Hunger Strike until this horror stops, for so many have already been driven to take their own lives, and many have died because they are ill and cannot cope with the strain of a revolving door process: having the money they need to survive on taken from them, repeated assessments and appeals. It’s wicked persecution and bullying of the worst kind, and directed at our most vulnerable citizens.

    “***URGENT NOTICE***

    Yet, in the midst of this financial splurging, we see the same people hammering the poorest and most vulnerable people in the land. Energy prices are zooming through the roof. That drives all prices up. Yet, at the same time, benefits for the poor are either cut or done away with. A new bedroom tax is imposed which is making people homeless or causing massive problems for people who have to find the money in the face of shrinking income. Make no mistake. This is not accidental. The politicians know EXACTLY what they are doing and they are following a script, the details of which they have hidden from us, but which they are feeding to us a little at a time. Did you notice, for example, that just before the new welfare reforms for the sick and disabled were announced, the media had a propaganda blitz on people faking sickness to scrounge dole money? It is called social psychology and you and I are the targets of it.




    Today, 3rd June, 2013, George Rolph was banned from Facebook, without reason. He is in Day 14 of his Hunger Strike, which he is doing for others going through what he has had to endure, whilst also trying to get the general public to wake up to what is happening to the most vulnerable people in the United Kingdom, a country which once cared for all those less fortunate than ourselves. We once celebrated the achievements of people with disability, but we are no longer a civilised society that values the equal worth of all of it’s citizens.

    George will not stop this Hunger Strike until the British Government and ATOS stop their Persecution of the Sick, the Disabled, the Poor, the Carers, the Unemployed, even if it means he has to die in doing so.

    This must stop. The persecution and deaths must stop.



    The UK Government got it wrong about our human rights

    Contact Iain Duncan Smith and tell him what you think of his welfare “reforms” (that is doublespeak for “CUTS”)

    http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/george-rolph-on-hunger-strike-because-of-having-his-benefits-denied-is-censored-by-facebook/

    george new facebook account open care of ?
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/597299293622889/

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  17. Bit off topic i know, but good news all the same. I went to surrey Downs golf club, Kingswood, Surrey, for a round with my uncle today and they have erected a lovely refreshments building, along with new male/ female toilet facilities that have no steps up or down, full disability support rests, etc and a pull switch for cases of emergency. I was very impressed!

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    1. Sorry, it isn't like i haven't been in a toilet with disability facilities before, but it just gave me a really good feeling that they had taken wheel-chair access, etc, into account when constructing a new building at my uncles golf club. I suppose you had to be there to understand!! Lol. Oh, by the way, isn't it a great feeling when the conservatives begin to run out of places to hide! They start to get nasty and irritated! Ha ha, right where we like them! When 'call me Dave' stops taking life so easy, he will find a s**tload of problems waiting for him, that he won't be able to deal with. Are we still 'all in it together' dave mate? No, didn't think so.

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  18. just to let you guys know that george rolph has a new facebook page and is ok

    https://www.facebook.com/george.rolph.564?directed_target_id=0

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  19. George Rolph: A Website To Follow His Hunger Strike
    George Rolph’s sister has set up a website, through which you can follow his hunger strike and any media coverage, etc.

    http://georgerolph.yolasite.com/

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  20. thank you for this article. It has helped me understand living with disabilities more and i will be returning to find out more about platform lifts

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  21. Love reading your blog, it reminds me of the programme "Mash" super sad moving issues presented in a way that can make you smile and laugh out loud, god knows we need to!

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Yes, "Mash" was brilliant, just like this website. Sue is like a fabulous Loretta Swit as Major Margaret 'Hot-Lips' Houlihan. Lol. x

      Delete
  22. It's hard to believe IDS's father was a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force, an ace,and fought during the Battle of Britain. I wonder what he'd think of it all?

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  23. Sadly David Freud was a Labour Party discovery. It was Labour that brought this creep into the public arena as far as social security went and we've been living (and dying) with the consequences ever since.

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  24. @ EVERYONE !!!! I knew this was going to happen, just didnt know when, since claimant blogsites have become popular i knew before long that the govt and their lackeys would retalitiate with counter blogs..well here is just one….
    let me say first that pretty much all the ”facts ‘ can be shot down..with eg the the sheffiled hallam one of which i am familiar by now (its the 900,000 one) the author of this disreputable blog omits the fact that the people who were on incapacity were LEGITIMATELY placed there due to the severity of there conditions..i note he quotes them as the ‘hidden’ unemployed which is what sheffiled hallam says in the report but he just leaves out the part that they were on IB because of their illness NOT what he claims..

    I just wonder who is behind this shit with their ‘FACTS’..

    ANY WAY EVERYONE ON BLACK TRIANGLE and THE VOID.. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW CHAPS–WE ARE AT WAR…

    http://thegreatwelfarescrounge.wordpress.com/parliament/

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    1. Oh God, this government really are not happy are they! Dear Mr Cameron, Mr Duncan-Smith, Mr Clegg, et al, here are some revolvers, go and take a walk in the woods, there's good chaps.

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    2. I've just gone on to the site to look at it, and I feel physically sick at the hyperbole used to describe anybody claiming a benefit!

      When will this government get it into their heads that name calling, while having an immediate effect of drawing up battle lines, can so often fly back into the very faces of those who use it so much!

      If there were any party not soiled with having had something to do with these archaic and grossly offensive laws recently brought in to crush us, I'd at least have an inkling of hope for a better future for us all - unfortunately, there are none!

      If all of those men and women, who fought for the birth of the welfare state, could see what has become of it, they would probably wonder what world they were looking at - because it's certainly nothing like theirs!

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  25. @sue marsh i hope this post letting you guys know there seems to be be a counter blog battle going online now....i wonder if there will be more...

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  26. The problem with many ministers is that they do not have to live in anything loosely tied to reality. Another problem is that much of the actual legwork is not the responsibility of the minister. Sadly our system creates these misconceptions. This Disability Allowance design, though, could be aptly called criminal.

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    ReplyDelete
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