There is a chorus from an Iris Dement song that goes...

"Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy"

Its becoming more and more relevant the more I hear of this coalition's plans to massage the unemployment figures.

Haven't you realised yet HWS? There's actually [inothing[/i wrong with any of us! All it is is that our GP had no incentive to encourage us back to work and our vast disability benefits are [iso[/i generous that we just don't want to work.

The lovely Mr Cameron is going to let Atos decide on sick notes (can't wait to see how that works given their waiting times for ESA/IB/DLA medicals) and they will show people the error of their ways. Then the nice big businesses won't have to pay any sick pay because that's a wee shame for those big businesses if people are poorly (oh, and the state won't have to cough up any SSP). Then people won't be off sick for 28 weeks so won't qualify for ESA and we'll all be super healthy and know it and we'll all live happily ever after.

I'm amazed that GP's are not up in arms about it. Basically they are being accused of fraud/being stupid (as Atos basically do when they ignore their reports already) and not doing the best for their patients.

GPs - in La La Lansley's world, they're qualified to manage £80bn of the NHS budget, but not qualified to judge whether someone is sick ...

My father has a condition which means his spine in crumbling, he also has rheumatoid arthritis in both hands especially his thumbs. He is in pain quite literally all the time. His doctor advised him to stop working for the good of his health and signed him of sick. My dad duly stopped working and got in touch with the benefits office to see what he was entitled to. A ruck load of forms later he was sent for an assesment by one of the benefits office "doctors". A few weeks later he received the assesment and was told he was fit to work. The worst part being that his own doctor received a letter from the benefits agency TELLING him he was to stop signing my dad off sick!!!
My dad still does not work and is living off his pensions because he is entitled to fook all, not even JSA or any income support because of his pensions! The benefits system in this country is nothing more than a joke. Those that have never contributed and can play the system, get everything. Those that have put in all their working life, when they need it get sweet FA! It stinks!

Rant over

[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/20/nhs-hospitals-cuts-college-nursingUp to 56,000 clinical staff to go says RCN[/url

[i"The RCN's figures drew a furious response from the government last night. Simon Burns, the health minister, described them as "union scaremongering" and said the health department did not "recognise" them."[/i

I've still yet to hear a credible explanation as to how the government can increase spending in the NHS and yet demand savings of £20 billions. Just how does that one work?

Just been on a three day drinking session and totally forgotten and missed my appointment with Remploy in the process. I’m normally a really organised person and would remember appointments but the way Remploy treated me last time by using me as a slave at ASDA they deserve some messing about with.

Part-timer.

Emmas gonna get you.

With bait like that you must be expecting a pretty big haul lad.

Quite.

The idea of GPs rationing health care is laughable. They don't even know about the treatments available for more complex conditions so how could they make reasonable decisions?

As to sick notes - they seem to sign them if people ask, without question. There must be other situations were they sign them even if the patient would prefer to go to work. I've only heard the headlines, but who will be judging instead? It's not going to be more qualified doctors as they have better things to do. In which case it'll be less qualified people, which would be outright dangerous.

A government appointed 'independant' panel.

So probably someone like Atos. That should be fun.

My GP and consultant are already furious that Atos and the DWP can, and have, completely disregarded their reports. I can just imagine how chuffed the GP is going to be now the government are basically saying he's either too thick to realise when people are at it or too lazy/corrupt to be bothered.

Probably the shambles of a company called ATOS. This system is already happening to qualify for ESA. You are assesed by a medical assesor, that could be a doctor, nurse or physiotherapist, luck of the draw whether they are familiar with your condition. You are asked computer based questions without the right to reply about how your condition affects you in relation to what they've just asked. Nail on the head with dangerous, I don't usually agree with you or the paper you insist is the voice of the nation but even your beloved Daily Mail readers are in disagreement on this one!

My GP would issue me with a sick note straight away because he is aware of my condition, my treatments, my surgeries, my physical limitations, the side effects of drugs I'm taking etc, etc and to have someone with no knowledge of any of that is wrong and as you point out, dangerous.

Dear GP,

Here is an £80m budget, you are responsible enough to deal with it yourself and decide where it should be spent.

Yours
Andrew Landsley

PS. As you can't be trusted to see when your patient is well, you can't sign anyone off any more.

It's a price worth paying

Do you have any links to any of these surveys?

This is no bait at all and just the truth.

As it happens I’m at the job centre on Wednesday and I shall show them this guardian article and request that I get fully paid for my slave labour at ASDA which lasted for five weeks.

I’m also going to recommend that the staff at the job centre do the decent thing and refuse to send clients to these private contracts on moral grounds. If anyone can stop this from happening it is them because they’re the ones who sign off clients to these poverty pimps. Just doing their job I suppose.

Quote ="SBR"Do you have any links to any of these surveys?'" All you could start with [iThe Spirit Level[/i, which examines in admittedly dry fashion the results of widening income gaps. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/mark ... idens.html news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8481534.stm www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/ ... ain-report www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13663778 www.neweconomics.org/projects/income-inequality Not just in the UK: www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html

Quote ="SBR"Do you have any links to any of these surveys?'" All you could start with [iThe Spirit Level[/i, which examines in admittedly dry fashion the results of widening income gaps. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/mark ... idens.html news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8481534.stm www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/ ... ain-report www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13663778 www.neweconomics.org/projects/income-inequality Not just in the UK: www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html

Quote ="Mintball"All you could start with [iThe Spirit Level[/i, which examines in admittedly dry fashion the results of widening income gaps.'" Sorry, I should have been clearer. I was more interested in the claim regarding cost of living compared to income for all but those at the very top. The only mention of this I spotted in any of those links was: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13663778 Quote It added that a significant proportion of workers have received little if any financial benefit from the doubling in size of the British economy in the last 30 years.'" However receiving little or no benefit is not the same as being worse off.

Quote ="Mintball"All you could start with [iThe Spirit Level[/i, which examines in admittedly dry fashion the results of widening income gaps.'" Sorry, I should have been clearer. I was more interested in the claim regarding cost of living compared to income for all but those at the very top. The only mention of this I spotted in any of those links was: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13663778 Quote It added that a significant proportion of workers have received little if any financial benefit from the doubling in size of the British economy in the last 30 years.'" However receiving little or no benefit is not the same as being worse off.

There's just been something on the BBC lunchtime news about executive pay way outpacing the pay of anyone else. However: "The picture in the UK is complex. It, along with the US and some other anglophone countries, saw a rapid rise in income inequality between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s. Since then, the increase in the UK has broadly levelled off for most people although those at the very top of the income distribution have continued to accelerate away from everybody else." www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc77fce8-7580 ... z1eRFXPHED news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7193904.stm "It is well known that the distribution of income in the United Kingdom has widened considerably in the last three decades. This rise has been a result of a widening at both the top and bottom of the wage distribution. More recently, most of the action appears to have occurred at the top of the distribution with lower wage workers keeping pace with the median." eprints.lse.ac.uk/28780/1/cepsp21.pdf

There's just been something on the BBC lunchtime news about executive pay way outpacing the pay of anyone else. However: "The picture in the UK is complex. It, along with the US and some other anglophone countries, saw a rapid rise in income inequality between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s. Since then, the increase in the UK has broadly levelled off for most people although those at the very top of the income distribution have continued to accelerate away from everybody else." www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc77fce8-7580 ... z1eRFXPHED news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7193904.stm "It is well known that the distribution of income in the United Kingdom has widened considerably in the last three decades. This rise has been a result of a widening at both the top and bottom of the wage distribution. More recently, most of the action appears to have occurred at the top of the distribution with lower wage workers keeping pace with the median." eprints.lse.ac.uk/28780/1/cepsp21.pdf

There is something similar here:



It seems back in the 80's the top man at Barclays earned 13 times the national average whereas now they earn 169 times the average. Why is this? I am sure the bank is more profitable these days but lets not forget a lot of this will have come from de-regulation which led to what was kind of like "instant money" for many institutions. The best analogy I can think of is when the privatisations went through where I don't think one of them was priced properly so it was a sure fire bet your money would increase overnight for no effort and nothing actually produced. It seems in a similar way banks since deregulation have not really had to work that hard to make billions of profit and have become self serving institutions of little public worth as they strive to avoid tax where possible while at the same time paying daft wages to those at the top.

A picture worth a thousand words? Here's an interesting graph

Meawhile: "Total earnings of barclays chief are 4,899 per cent higher than 30 years ago, says FT. Not a typo"


I'm fairly sure that the RPI (or even CPI) cost of living hasn't risen 4,899% in 30 years. Nor has the AEI.

But what about the productivity of the Barclay's boss? Has that risen 4,899% in 30 years?

Just had the South Somerset News (local council guffpaper) delivered and was interested to read about changes to Housing Benefit.

If you are aged 25-34, live alone and are in receipt of housing benefit, you will now be assessed based on the Local Housing Allowance rate for shared accommodation as opposed to a one-bed property. So your housing benefit reduces from £91.15 per week, to £58.50 per week. I presume that the shorfall will be made up from whatever other benefits you receive. Shouldn't be too long before we return those bijou little carboard residences that used to be all the rage 30 years ago.

I suppose there's always the possibility that the private landlords will realise that it's the coalition that have cut the benefits and will accept £30-odd a week less. After all, we is all in this together eh?

If there are sufficient tenants so affected then most landlords will have to accept less.

Hang on, a flock of pigs have just flown past the window...