Universal Credit claimant rolling in [cynical] laughter

I publish the below with the agreement of anonymous sender who is on Universal Credit. But I apologise for his use of spinal condition as a metaphor. I also note that it was my choice to add photographic image.

The blog post below was originally written in response to 'Universal Credit' vs Shared Humanity

Alan Wheatley

 

A Universal Credit claimant responds to 'Universal Credit vs Shared Humanity' blog piece

'Negging' image from Cosmopolitan Magazine.
The Guardian linked article links to separate New Stateman article on
"Negging: The anatomy of a new dating trend,"
and Government "dating coach, Ben Bradley MP, negging the voters."
But New Statesman article does not give a photographic image

Your quote from the old Etonian former Barclays Bank Director and post-Communist Eastern European charity maven, Jesse (not the anti-segregationist African-American opera singer*) Norman, reminded me of this:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/27/government-free-school-meals-marcus-rashford-boris-johnson

I can understand that my ad hominem introductory side-swipe may have a stink reminiscent of the type of unpaid intellectual content encouraged by the social media barons so frequently upheld now as purveyors of free speech/wealth creation/democratisation etc, etc, but that's only to recognise what you are engaging in right now. The reductionist revision of human interaction to behaviourist marketing algorithms.

I dare you not to laugh at least once while reading this link; I still can't see the Charles Manson-Beatles reference without giggling. Of course, some readers may not enjoy Ms Hyde's article; it is likely to be beyond the understanding of those lacking in the relevant cultural signifiers, such as the very young, recent inmates to our refugee hostels, people with severe mental health issues, Old Etonians, or frankly anyone whose memory extends to that period between 1948 and 1979 when "democracy" did indicate the will of the people and not a neo-liberal consensus. By which I mean an era when the Thatchers and de Pfieffels didn't need to channel Churchillian spirituality and dreams of glory days gone by...

But if you don't find the article funny, well, I can only try to persuade you to peruse the comments.  In these difficult times I would be hard-pressed to think of any, yes any, ideology that couldn't find some heartwarming comfort in the humanity expressed within.

* I really tried to find a way to lever in a "Jesse with a Y" chromosomal joke, but then I recalled that Jessye Norman died of a tragic spinal injury. Which only shows how cruel life is... she had a spine...

Neoliberal timeline: food poverty UK

On Wednesday, Oct 21, “a majority of MPs [including Herefordshire’s MPs] voted against [the ‘sticking plaster’ of] directly funding free school meals over the school holidays until Easter 2021,”(1) and yet on Wednesday, Oct 14, the Express had written, “Benefits are important to millions of people right across the country. However, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to take action which could mean the bank accounts and social media of claimants are monitored” (2).

All very convenient at this time for a vindictive government that penalises poor people while such monitoring goes against the General Data Protection Register (an EU regulation) and non-declaration of income can be regarded as a claimant’s DIY ‘sticking plaster’ in desperate times. I offer the following timeline to outline what neoliberal government does not want us to know.

In November 2006, welfare rights adviser Neil Bateman reported on the impact of 21m phone calls (44% of all incoming calls to Jobcentre Plus helplines) going unanswered in 2004-5 (“Delays in processing claims and changes of circumstances – six weeks is common – leaving people destitute….”);(3) and in May 2007 of a rise in charities providing food to poor families [under Tony ‘Tea with Margaret Thatcher’ Blair’s government].(4)

In October 2007, David Cameron as Leader of the Opposition ignored the destitution caused by Jobcentre Plus failings and declared that ‘tougher sanctions’ against benefit claimants’ would help create a fairer economy.(5)

Post 2010 General Election and during David Cameron’s national leadership, and Universal Credit’s statutory delays, how did ‘tougher sanctions’ impact on society? In January 2015, Glasgow U. Law Professor Dr David Webster reported that:

• Sanctions imposed on benefit claimants by the DWP exceed the number of fines imposed by the courts
• sanctioned claimants are treated much worse than those fined in the courts with much harsher penalties
• decisions are made by officials who have no independent responsibility to act lawfully; since the Social Security Act 1998 they have been mere agents of the Secretary of State
• ‘Mandatory Reconsideration’ is a major barrier to tribunal justice. 

He concluded:

“Sanctions undermine physical and mental health, cause hardship for family and friends, damage relationships, create homelessness and drive people to Food Banks and payday lenders, and to crime. They also often make it harder to look for work. Taking these negatives into account, they cannot be justified.

“Benefit sanctions are an amateurish, secret penal system which is more severe than the mainstream judicial system, but lacks its safeguards. It is time for everyone concerned for the rights of the citizen to demand their abolition.”(6)

Now, Charlie Spring in the November-December 2020 issue of New Internationalist magazine reports: “[T]he UK has long seen patchworked food assistance, especially within faith communities. But foodbank provision rose steeply following the recession of 2008 and the austerity that followed. In 2011 major food-aid network The Trussel Trust reported nearly 130,000 instances of people receiving food. By 2015 this had jumped to 1.1 million and by March 2020, the annual figure sat at 1.9 million.”(7)

What will News Forwards from Alan Wheatley readers do about these injustices? What drove Florence Nightingale to accomplish what she did? She answered quite simply, “Rage.”(8)

Driven by rage and love

Alan Wheatley

Notes

1. https://www.theyworkforyou.com/divisions/pw-2020-10-21-154-commons  
2. https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1347568/DWP-warning-benefit-monitoring-bank-account-social-media-investigation
3. https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2006/11/16/jobcentre-plus-poor-service-continues/
4. https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2007/05/17/the-growth-in-charities-providing-food-to-poor-families/
   
5. https://theonlygreenroom.blogspot.com/2007/10/benefit-claimants-need-firmer.html
    
6. https://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/benefit-sanctions-britains-secret-penal-system
7. New Internationalist magazine November-December 2020 issue print edition is available through good newsagents and/or by subscription via https://newint.secureorder.co.uk/INT/9156/
    
8. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=%22florence+nightingale%22+rage