A letter a day to number 10. No 1,327
Tuesday 26 January 2016.
Dear Mr Cameron,
A survey by seven psychiatrists found that four out of five politicians have been victims of intrusive or aggressive behaviour and suggests that MPs should be given more protection from the public.
The Mirror reports that, ‘Some 239 MPs took part in the survey and 43 said they had been subject to attack or attempted attacks, 101 said they had received threats to harm them and 52 had faced threats of property damage.’
Whilst facing real and present danger is terrifying and emotionally and psychologically damaging and debilitating, the counter question that the report fails to ask is who protects the public from MPs?
The Mirror report does not offer any insight into what is driving people to act violently towards MPs and yet the news is increasingly filled with stories of people driven to desperation and beyond, even to taking their own lives because of ever more brutal cuts to vital, lifeline, support.
A report published by Civitas last week found that 1.5 million people are leaving the welfare records each year and MP Frank Field reports that the wellbeing of at least a third of people being sanctioned is ‘anybody’s guess’. Once sanctioned, people are wiped out from the system and no longer appear on unemployment statistics.
Being deprived of the means of survival via sanctions as a punishment for even the most spurious reasons is an act of violence that millions are suffering at the hands of Iain Duncan Smith and the Department of Work and Pensions. It can hardly be a surprise that desperate people do desperate acts, many tragically taking their own lives.
So the burning question remains, who protects the public from MPs?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mps-need-protection-public-after-7236888
http://www.welfareweekly.com/whereabouts-of-millions-sanctions-jobseekers-a-mystery/
Fear and Loathing in Great Britain 
Reblogged this on sdbast.