Screaming headline in the ‘Indy’: Oh noes! Disaster! Oh, the terrible Tory cuts! Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, which safeguards the welfare of children involved in family court proceedings, said he expected to see a leap in child neglect cases as thousands of struggling families were pushed over the financial edge in the coming months. Really, Anthony? You really think so? Because I’m sceptical, to say the least: Riley…
Unwittingly, I’m sure, as her column deals with the Westminster proposals to ensure fat people on council tax and housing benefit go to the gym on their doctor’s advice, on pains of having their welfare payments docked: There are two questions inside this ghastly story, and the first is the central question posed by this Tory-led coalition: who is entitled to the state’s largesse? What is it for? To Tanya,…
More sob-stories from the ‘Guardian’ against the ConDem’s planned benefit cuts: I don’t want my children to be sad about their lifestyle. We live in a society where peer pressure is one of the things that affects them, and I hate seeing them miss out on things because I can’t provide for them. When we walk to school and it’s raining and they ask why everyone else has a car…
So says Ellie Mae O’Hagan, who according to her bio ‘currently works with Unite the Union on its community membership project, which aims to unionise the unemployed’. Oh and she’s also ‘an active member of UK Uncut’. I guess we can see why she has such a downer on the concept of paid employment? A few weeks ago, some friends and I were swapping tales about the worst jobs we’d…
John Low argues against the Polly Toynbee attack on tax relief for charity donation: Culture and the arts enrich our lives and society, but the government is not able to cover the full cost alone. I’d argue that culture and the arts aren’t suitable things for the state to ever involve themselves in, frankly. And if millionaires want to subsidise it, fine! It is, after all, their money… Whatever the…
If you answered ‘This’, congrats! If, on the other hand, you read this headline in the ‘Evening Standard’, you could be forgiven for wondering if it was still the 1st April: Because it now seems that the new definition of ‘starvation’ is this: At least, according to Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder and chief executive (and inveterate self-publicist) of charity Kids Company: “The number of children coming to us with hunger problems…
The ‘Guardian’ has been running a string of increasingly more and more strident and alarming articles warning of the terrible consequences of the ConDem actions to change the welfare bill, feeding from pressure groups for the disabledwho have been forecasting woe and damnation for a while now. This culminated the other day in some ‘reader stories’ from the contributors to those threads. Let’s just take the first one as representative,…
More than twice as many families in one London borough will be hit by the £26,000 benefits cap as in the whole of Birmingham, it was revealed today. Well, blow me down! Who’da thunk it? Minister for children and families Sarah Teather, who is Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central, has warned that the cap could force people out of their homes and was absent during the key votes on…
More than one in four youngsters in the UK are growing up in families facing multiple challenges such as parental depression and financial hardship, according to new research. Ah, I guess this is the new, politically correct term for ‘dysfunctional’ or ‘problem’ families. It’s a nice, cosy term, isn’t it? It implies that these ‘challenges’ are totally outside the family themselves, and outside their control. Just acts of god, really.…
Four community projects are to receive funding from Barking and Dagenham Council this year under its Innovation Grants programme. Ooooh, let’s have a look at them then! Based in Barking, the Recovery LinkUp Cafe will be a meeting place for people recovering from addictions. The project, which is being given £8,500 by the council, will recruit six volunteers and will run one night a week for 20 people, who will…
Penny Young has the unenviable task of trying to break the news to CiF readers that the UK isn’t becoming more left-leaning and sympathetic to those looking to live off the sweat of others: Why are David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith so confident that they can push through their welfare changes, capping benefits at £26,000, despite last’s night resounding rejection by the House of Lords? The answer might be…
The statistics show almost 10,000 children in Brighton and Hove are growing up in poverty. Oh noes! Shock! Horror! Families in parts of Brighton and Hove are relying on handouts of bread, clothes and shoes to keep going. Appalling! Outrage! …health experts warn that breaking barriers to doctors, immunisations and later health problems are harder for children living under the poverty line. Disgrac… Wait. What? Aren’t all those things….free (at…
Polly Toynbee rages at the ConDem ‘localism’ plans: Sigoma, the municipal authorities group, says that if councils were all allowed to keep their business rates, the City of London would gain £517m. Together, the Tory boroughs of the City, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea would gain £1.6bn. Who would be the losers? Birmingham would lose £175m, Hackney £116m, Liverpool £104m – and Cornwall £45m. It’s as if…
Half of those claiming unemployment benefits would prefer to lose their handouts than do a stint of unpaid work. Figures show that 20 per cent of those ordered to take part in four-week community projects stop claiming immediately… Then, what the hell do they live on? Unless… Heh! Officials suspect many of those who stop claiming benefits are working in the black economy and would rather lose their welfare than…
A man caught with 83 wraps of cannabis just days after appearing in court for possessing the same drug has been spared prison. Even he wasn’t expecting that! Peter Carter attended Bristol Crown Court with a suitcase fully expecting a spell behind bars. Imagine his surprise… Carter, of Hammersmith Road, St George, had been caught with 30 £10 deals of cannabis in his car.A search of his house revealed another…
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