Oh, IDS is a charmer eh? This petulant, boastful piece of fantasy in the Guardian yesterday smacks of a spoilt child not quite getting exactly what he wants. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/28/proud-welfare-reforms-fair-benefits
Last week, I wrote my own piece for CiF asking why, when a system is failing as badly as Atos WCAs would you take that system and roll it out to millions of the most vulnerable sick and disabled people in the country before making sure that it was fair?
What's more, why would you constantly increase the rate of unfair assessments from around 25,000 a month initially to over 100,000 now? I hoped that these questions would cause a few awkward, anxious moments over at the DWP - after all, surely it must be someone's job to keep an eye on what the country says about the God-fearing minister.
I noticed a little throw away line in IDS article from yesterday :
"Questions have been raised about whether the dramatic pace of our reforms is too difficult to implement."
As far as I know, that was me asking those questions IDS. You know, and I know, that other contractors have been bought in to increase capacity, to cram even more of these vulnerable claimants through a test you know to be unfair - it has nothing to do with improving quality - only you can do that over at the DWP by changing the processes and descriptors.
You know, and I know, that the system is grinding to a halt with nearly half a million claimants waiting way longer in the "assessment phase" than the 13 week target.
You and I know that Atos have constantly increased the number of HCPs (assessors) they employ and asked them to work overtime and weekends trying to clear the backlogs.
And you and I know you cannot possibly hit your target of re-assessing the remaining million Incapacity Benefit claimants by May 2014.
So yes IDS, I raised those questions, but I don't expect for one second to get an answer.
Thanks for responding to my article though, I must have really touched a nerve eh?
I can't imagine a human being burying their head further in the sand than IDS, and yet he manages it!
ReplyDeleteIncredible.....but they do say that some power hungry people will hang on whatever the odds stacked against them.....until death!
The Bell Tolls, and it tolls for IDS....
The guy's done for. Only his link to the Tory right keeps him at the table. He'll be ok, though. He gets to go home to his mansion. We get the grave.
ReplyDeleteMisconduct in public office.
IDS is a deluded fool. But then again, he BELIEVES he is right, he BELIEVES everything he has done is right and he BELIEVES that the Tory party need him in the position he is in! How no party can get rid of an MP from the cabinet is positively pathetic - if Cameron wanted rid, he would get rid, end of, unless IDS has him over a barrel about something.
ReplyDeleteThis man has got NPD - Narcissistic personality disorder and should be retired and sent to a clinic that specialises in it. He is a danger to the country as his hatred towards the vulnerable in society knows no bounds. His hatred towards the working classes are such that he would rather see people homeless and starving because he BELIEVES this is the way to get rid of them!
I so hope I see the downfall of IDS, and I don't think he will be with his vicious wife for much longer once he loses his place in the cabinet. There again, he and his wife suit each other perfectly so maybe they will both explode with the anger and hate that they have and are unable to express it or do anything about it!
We fight the good fight.
DeleteThe thing is, I fight it and IDS fights it and we both believe utterly that we are right. In a sense, I almost admire him for that. He hasn't given up, he fights on. Who's to say who is "right" and who is "wrong"?
Of course I believe utterly that we are right and he is wrong, I hope to "save" people from his ideology, but then, he hopes to "save" people from mine.
Complicated isn't it? All I do know is it's very very dangerous when someone believes so utterly that they are right they can't see any opposition. I truly hope that I can and I approach things with a genuinely open mind. For instance, many campaigners are up in arms about residential training for sick and disabled people today, but I read the entire report - all 40 odd pages of it - and think they have little to fear. I've tried to set the record straight online. If IDS had the same open mind, his reforms would be very much safer and better.
IDS is wrong on all counts
Deletehad the sick and disabled not died and the welfare reform process had some safeguards built in then that would have been different but it hasn't and people are still dying as a result of his failed welfare reform
When it happens in the NHS however all hell breaks loose but for the sick and disabled they still remain at risk which is completely unacceptable
IDS will continue with theses reforms until all the very weakest have died and then what
My own belief is he will carry on and kill off as many as possible and should he and the conservatives win the next election up the stakes and kill off all poor people wherever they are for the simple reason no one can stop him
Narcissistic personality disorder AND a serious case of Dunning-Kruger syndrome into the bargain....
ReplyDeleteFrom the Amnesty International resolution A5 at their AGM; I dedicate this specially to IDS:
ReplyDelete"Since signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People in 2009, successive British governments have not fulfilled their responsibilities. This has now resulted in between 1,300 to 10,600 people dying after having had their health benefits withdrawn over the last 3 years. Researchers and NGO’s have catalogued multiple abuses and malpractice by government agencies and contracted private corporations who administer unnecessary medical tests, which the British Medical Association has unanimously voted for to be ceased immediately. Yet they continue daily, causing immense terror in the disabled community."
Spot on Steve in your evaluation of IDS mental state. To quote Albert Einstein 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'
ReplyDeleteI don't apologise for attempting to do what previous governments have shied away from, bringing in major changes to make the welfare state fair to both the people who use it and the taxpayers who pay for it. We have been ambitious and will continue to push ahead with these reforms, but we will do so in a safe and responsible way.
ReplyDeletethanks IDS for killing off some of those that read this blog ?
you need to remind him sue that many have lost their life in the welfare reform process and they wont be forgotten how ever much he tries to sweep that fact under the table
A response to IDS's 'pride' given on Saturday's anti BT rally in Newcastle: http://bambuser.com/v/3774046
ReplyDeleteand this poor victim would certainly be dead had she lived alone
ReplyDeleteJessica Madden- The Severely Disabled Girl Who’s Been Told She Must Prove Her Lifelong Disability
The parents of a teenager who has been severely disabled since birth have told the BBC their daughter has been asked to prove that she is not fit for work.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23543510