35,740,800 minutes

I have passed 35,740,800. Thankfully the clock is still ticking, but I am now 68 (in years), but over 35 million minutes old. To be honest, functioning for that many minutes means I am now pretty creaky in most of my body parts and I have definitely slowed down a lot. As a child, I […]

DWP is not engaging with expert calls for change to Universal Credit says Select Committee

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
The Work and Pensions Committee is today launching a new inquiry into what the Government calls “natural migration”: the process by which people claiming existing benefits move onto Universal Credit if they have a change in their circumstances. Universal Credit has now been rolled out to every Jobcentre in…

Cry freedom!

It is a very strange thing, the slave trade was abolished with the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act by the British Parliament in 1807, however it took until the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act to end slavery itself. [1]. This was achieved by giving slave owners £20 million compensation (about £16 billion today) for the […]

Demos say the DWP should be axed, I disagree. Here’s why

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
A leading cross-party thinktank has proposed that ministers should consider abolishing the Department for Work and Pensions. In a provocative paper that marked the start of Demos’ research examining the Department of Work and Pensions, Tom Pollard, formerly of the mental health charity Mind, who has also completed an 18 months…

Theresa May considering scrapping Human Rights Act following Brexit

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
The prime minister is to consider repealing the Human Rights Act after Brexit, despite promising she is “committed” to its protections, a minister has revealed. This is, after all, a government that has always tended to regard the human rights of some social groups as nothing more than a bureaucratic inconvenience. The…

Single parent, zero hour contract. Two wages in one month, universal credit stopped. Forced to go without any payments for at least ten weeks.

Originally posted on The poor side of life:
Dear readers, I’ll be blatantly honest with you. Today was awful, really difficult and wasn’t helped by a person insisting that universal credit is the best thing ever. The conversation went on for about fifteen minutes and took me away from helping people. It’s not hard to…

Leaked document reveals how government are micromanaging public perceptions of the government’s austerity programme

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
A leaked dossier, apparently a joint study by the Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions, states: “Austerity and its fall-out undermined perceptions of competence and the belief that [the government is] acting fairly, openly and with integrity.” The damning document was accidentally disclosed by an unnamed person who revealed…

Financial advisors and millionaires are preparing for a Labour government led by Corbyn

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
Back in 2013, I wrote an article, together with Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research UK, which was about a chilling proto-fascist document written by JP Morgan – it can be accessed here: The Euro Area Adjustment—About Half-Way There. Firstly, the authors said that ‘financial measures’ are ‘necessary’ to ensure that…

A motion of no confidence in the government is just the start of a wider process

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
The Press Association has provided this helpful guide to the motion of no-confidence, tabled by Jeremy Corbyn in an attempt to bring about a general election. The vote is scheduled to be held tomorrow afternoon. It is the first time the procedure has been used under the provisions of the Fixed…

Amber Rudd seems confused about the difference between ‘compassion’ and ‘conscious cruelty’

Originally posted on Politics and Insights:
Image courtesy of Getty Images. Last week, Amber Rudd made the claim that Universal Credit is “delivered with professionalism and care and compassion.” However, it is clear – in the words of the public accounts committee, last year – that there is a very real “culture of indifference” within the Department for…