The Human Cost of Cutting Benefits

I hear on the news and see reports about the numbers of people who are no longer on benefits of one kind or another, cutting the welfare budget. There has recently been a TV show which went out to give the impression that all benefit claimants are the lowest of the low and should not be helped. This is not the case by any means.
   I would like to say to the leaders of all parties in the House of Commons  “Wake up to reality. Go out and get a ‘proper’ job and see what it is really like when you can’t find one.”
   I was staggered to hear that half the welfare money goes on paying pensions. So whenever you hear the figures quoted in future remember this. Even though the pension age is being changed, due to the improvement in health this is going to increase even more as the years roll by. I’m looking forward to maybe twenty years of being a pensioner unless I get run down by a bus. As these are very few and far between in the village where I live I think I can avoid that.
   So that is half the welfare budget that cannot be cut and likely to increase because no one would deny pensioners an increase.
   There has ALWAYS been a portion of claimants on benefits who do not truly deserve them. I can remember campaigns to catch benefit cheats way back in the 70s. But the vast majority of claimants are genuine, their is real and it seems to be these honest people who lose out. Jobs have been disappearing from all sectors of society. There has been a decline in heavy industry and mining; computers are taking over in many government departments, cutting the number of staff needed. I must say that this does seem to be more efficient, tax and VAT are worked out instantly for those who need such things, getting a tax disc for your car can be done at an hour to suit you. Staff are still needed to deal with queries and a new set of skills are needed for dealing with software. But what is happening to the people who used to work in these jobs?
   Over the last few years honest, hard-working people have lost their jobs because of the recession. People who have always paid their way have had to claim benefits, maybe for the first time in their lives. Many people who want to work full time can only find part-time work, still having to claim top-up benefits to help them make ends meet.
   The bedroom tax hasn’t helped either. The aim of this tax was to free up larger properties for the people who need them. I would love to know the number of cases where this has happened and also the number of cases where people have gone into debt to pay this simply because there are no smaller properties available for rent and they have no alternative to staying where they are whether they want to or not.
   There has been a clamp down on people claiming disability living allowance. The latest claim form makes it virtually impossible for anyone to qualify for this. “Can you bend down and pick up a large, empty, cardboard box?” “Can you raise your hand to your breast pocket?” “Can you walk the length of two buses?” I know people who can do all these things but they are still suffering in other ways which prevent them from working;  if they could find an employer who would have them. These people are  being taken off the register and left with NO income whatsoever.
   The government claims that  the number of people claiming benefits has fallen, that those seeking job seekers allowance has fallen; but it does not show that those in work has increased by the same amount. It does not reveal that more and more food banks are opening throughout the country to help feed those who cannot afford to buy food for themselves and their families. It does not know the numbers of people who are too proud to go to these and are depending on friends and family to survive; or the numbers of people who are selling their possessions so that they can buy food.
   The latest initiative to be announced is to make sure all claimants have decent literacy skills by offering training. Good idea. But what about all the highly qualified and skilled people who are still looking for a job? The graduates, the trained nurses who have been cut from cash-strapped hospitals.? The unemployed job-centre and benefits staff who have been replaced by companies on contracts from the government to reduced numbers and get paid by results? The postal workers who are being sacked because they don't drive? And next in line - the probation service whose skilled, qualified officers with years of experience and years of training, are to be replaced by people who have completed a short few weeks course? 
      And this is happening in Britain. A supposedly caring and compassionate country. Our politicians should be ashamed of themselves.  Stop the distraction tactics of blaming immigrants for burdening our welfare and help the citizens who need the help.  

Got the Hump Again

No, I'm not feeling miserable, I've just got back from town in my little car and feel really glad I haven't got a bad back or something after tackling all the road humps on the way.
   I've always been dubious about the effectiveness of these traffic calming devices and I suppose they do work to some extent, but last weekend I had the luxury of driving around in a newer, sturdier car than my normal little Smart and found I hardly had to slow down at all to negotiate the humps I normally crawl over at about 5 MPH. Yes, FIVE MPH. If I go any faster than that I feel like the suspension will collapse and the tyres burst. The trouble with a very short wheel base car is that no sooner have the front wheels mounted the hump then the back follow. I feel like I need a  rear window sticker apologising to anyone behind me for slowing down so much but it really is necessary if I want to keep my spine intact and all my teeth.
   I try my hardest to stick to speed restrictions. Won't say I always manage but I don't intentionally go out to drive faster than I should. The people who do do that are usually in bigger, faster cars. The sort of cars that can fly over a speed hump at 40 MPH without even noticing there was a hump there.
So what is the point?
   My other concern is the state some of these humps get into. Many seem to lose the white arrows that warn you they are there which can be very dangerous when it is dark and wet. If you don't know the road they suddenly appear before you can slow down. As the humps get older the areas around them seem to get more pot holes and general deterioration than other parts of the road. Just lately new types of humps have appeared near me that are just bolted onto the road surface, or at least that is what it looks like. They are narrow so vans and  buses can pass over them, but they are quite fierce on a small car. More worryingly, I have seem some that look as though they are starting to come away from the road. AND the middles of some seem to have scratch marks which would indicate some cars are not getting a good clearance over them.
   These sort of measures are fine for private drives but it's time they were removed from general use. Regrettably they have been taken up in other countries too. So my search for a hump free route extends even when I go away.
    There must be better ways of slowing traffic. More indication of what the speed limit should be, more of the devices that flash at you if you are going too fast or those that tell you what speed you are doing. Give me a speed camera any day over and above a hump. You only get caught on a camera if you are going too fast. Speed humps are only a problem to anyone who drives a small car or motorbike/scooter.
   Right, now it's time for me to pick my husband up from town. We will be coming back via the scenic route, the one and only way into town without humps.

Is Internet Reliance Leaving Some People Excluded?

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE the internet. I use it all day, every day. Want to know something - google it. Want to buy something, check the net. Whereas some people will trawl the High Street to look, then buy on line, I'm more likely to look on line and pick up from the shop.
    But what about people who don't have internet access? There are some, you know. Not everyone has a Smart phone. They are useless where I live, no signal. Not everyone has a computer. Not everyone can get to a library.
    So should organisations, especially government departments, only be accessible through the internet?
    An elderly gentleman who lives near me wanted to report a water leak. Not in his own house, fortunately, but he was trying to do what he considered a public duty. But when he tried to telephone he was given a web address to contact. This gentleman is in his eighties, can't hear very well and has no interest in using a computer or the internet.
    If you are a business you now have to do all your tax affairs on line.
    Apply for a school place - on line.
    There is not much you can do these days without using a computer or the internet. Are we increasingly excluding a part of society, the poor, the elderly, anyone who hasn't got a computer?
Should we be surprised that the kids of today put technology high on their wish list when schools are asking for homework to be submitted on line?

Waiting...

I'm waiting at the moment...I feel like I've suddenly become invisible. I know other people have troubles, too. Maybe that's part of my problem, I'm too understanding but meanwhile I'm waiting.
   I'm waiting for a CT scan on my jaw to see what the surgeon needs to do about the impacted wisdom tooth that is growing in the wrong direction, then I will be waiting for the operation I know has to follow.
   I'm waiting for someone, ANYONE, to explain to me why my books aren't making it across the pond from Barnes and Noble to Nook UK. Two books made it straight away, yippee, but since then the others haven't. Why? I'm waiting.
   I'm waiting for the software update so that I can use my new super-duper laser printer with my new super-duper Windows tablet. I bought the printer in April, was told that the driver could be downloaded from the manufacturer. It couldn't, it wasn't ready. It should have been ready in July, then August. I'm still waiting for a reply from the company but their website says the software will now be available in September. Do I believe them. Do I heck as like! (I don't have the faintest idea where that last phrase originated but I like it). Luckily I can use the printer with my old laptop, the one Mutley tried to kill by jumping on my lap when the laptop was there. 21 kilos of Staffordshire Bull Terrier with claws didn't go down well with the keyboard!
   I'm not very good at waiting. I'm an instant doer. Ask me to do something and you can consider it done. But all in all I'm getting fed-up with waiting for things to happen.
  Ok. Moan over, I'll get back to my proper job now.
  Watch out for SILENT LOVE, coming soon to an ebook reader near you!

New Found Delight

I have never been a great buyer of short story anthologies. To me short stories are what you get in magazines, which, as I never buy magazines, I only ever read in waiting rooms and rarely finish because I get called in to see the doctor/dentist, whoever I am waiting to see. The only paperback anthology I've ever bought was A Quiver Full of Arrows, and I'm not sure I read every story.
    I have just finished editing an anthology of short stories and thoroughly enjoyed them. I have always liked short stories, don't get me wrong. It just seemed a hassle carrying them about. Ebooks are the perfect medium for this type of story. You no longer have to carry around a clumsy paperback on the off-chance of getting ten minutes to read something. On your ebook reader any number of anthologies can be waiting for the right moment.
    I am one of those people who can read four different novels at once and not forget where I am in the story. Strangely once I have finished completely I can't remember the name of the main character but I can remember the story.
     But suddenly short stories have my attention. I have several collections on my kindle cloud, books I have bought to support fellow indie authors which I have never opened. My resolution is to download them and enjoy a new story at bedtime. Irish stories from Gerry McCullough, Scottish stories from Brendan Gisby, funny stories from Mike Church and some I have no idea about from Chris Niblock and Michael Brookes to share just a few names.
    So make the most of your ereader and get some short stories for that trip in to work when you don't want to have your novel interrupted by the mundane task of every day life.
    Happy reading.

Wolrd Wide Reach

I've just had a quick look at the stats on this blog to see where my audience is and have come away thinking 'Who the hell do I know in Brazil, Nigeria and RUSSIA.'
Strangely no one in Canada or Australia seems to be looking so maybe this is the wrong place to post this note! Will put it on FB too.
My point is, if there is a point, that when you write a blog or any such thing on the internet you have no idea who will see it or where they are. Maybe I'm stating the obvious, after all that's what we want, isn't it? Global attention. But I think, sometimes, people forget this.
In the meantime, why haven't my followers in Brazil bought any of my books? I know you haven't because there have been no sales showing from Brazil. Only .com, co.uk, .de and .es. thank you whoever you are.

Does Legal = Right?

I admit I have broached this subject before but it hasn’t gone away, so neither will I.

     Yesterday, 29^th July 2013, the High Court ruled that the government is not discriminating against disabled people by insisting they be subject to the Bedroom Tax, the unofficial name for having housing benefit withdrawn from people claiming benefit for homes that are too big for them. It may be Legal, but is it morally Right.
     This ruling is likely to affect thousands of claimants and it is totally unfair. Disabled people DO need extra space. They often require room to store special equipment, have spare accommodation for careers who may not live at the property but do stay overnight. This is apart from the fact that their accommodation may have been especially adapted for their  needs.
     There is supposed to be a fund to help such people but it would seem that this is either not enough or not being implemented, otherwise the people who brought this court case would have had no need to bring it.
     So what is behind this bedroom tax?
     The government is concerned that too many people are living in overcrowded conditions, while there are many people living on benefits who have spare rooms.
     The first question that should be asked is why are these  people on benefit in the first place?
     Contrary to popular belief not all claimants are unmarried mothers with loads of children or scroungers who have never done a day’s work in their life. The vast majority are people who have led hard-working lives who have lost their jobs through redundancy, sickness or injury. Many would like to work but just can’t find a job because of age or lack of skills.
     Why are these people living in social housing? Some might have lost their homes because they lost their job and had their home repossessed. Some might have split from their partner because of divorce. For a large number the three bedroom house/flat has been their home for a lifetime. Why should they have to leave just because the children have now grown up and moved away. These are not simply buildings but homes with memories.
     Yes, with an ever growing population  housing is a big problem. But simply denying the people who have homes the means to pay for them  is not the solution. For one thing, there are not enough places to allow people to downsize even if they want to. A dear friend of mine is in this situation and has been told if he wants to move to a smaller flat it will have to be in a different  area and then he will have to bid to get something because there are more people needing smaller places than there are places available. So it’s pay up or live on the streets.
     Why are there so few homes available? Who knows. I put the blame at least partly on the shoulders of the late, supposedly great, Mrs Thatcher who allowed councils to sell off council houses. That would have been a good idea if the councils then built the same number of new homes to replace those sold, but they didn’t.
     And while people are being forced out of their homes against their wishes, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of houses standing empty around the country. If the government is concerned about housing people they should be looking at doing something with these. But somehow I think they are more interested in getting money from people who are struggling to make ends meet because that is what is happening more often than not.
     It would be very interesting to see what has happened since this change in benefits came into effect in April. How many people have actually moved to smaller accommodation? How many people who were living in overcrowded accommodation have now moved into larger homes? How many people have taken the option of paying the extra demanded by the government to stay in their home, putting paying the rent ahead of buying food and paying to heat their homes? Does anyone know?
     I will end this blog post the with same question I opened with. It may be legal but is it morally right? The government is trying to make it seem that the fault lays with the people who live in places with spare rooms, but it is not that simple. Has this country lost its compassion for those less fortunate than the majority?