Council Housing.

Image via WikipediaI grew up on a large council estate on the outskirts of London.Being a council estate it had its fair share of poverty and the problems associated with that but the vast majority of people who lived on the estate were decent, hard working people.Most people tended to live on the estate for decades, some for a lifetime, with many handing there homes down to sons and daughters so it was a stable community, with a strong community spirit where people cared about one another and there community.
I think government proposals to end the lifetime tenancies of council tenants and force people to move if their finances improve will ruin many good communities and make council estates little more than poor ghettos of people who are here today and gone tomorrow. It will end all chance of establishing close, stable communities and will inevitably lead to more social problems which the government said they wanted to tackle but which we have heard little more about since the election.
This policy is short sighted and is all to do with cuts not about tackling the housing shortages or improving communities.It will do great harm and damage the lives of many. Its shameful and I hope that  when Labour come back into government they will reverse these damaging changes.

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Education!

Education is vital to this country`s future. Not just for economic reasons but for social reasons as well.We need an highly skilled, highly education population to be able to compete with other countries who are investing heavily in education because they rightly see the value of it to their countries future but we also need to invest in education for social reasons as well..
We have a country that as far too many young people involved in gangs, crime and anti-social behaviour.A lot of this is caused by  poor education which helps keep young people stranded in poverty.You will not get educated people involved in theses things because education does not just bring opportunities to build careers and get out of the poverty you were breed into it also teaches you right from wrong and how life can offer more than just crime and violence
I believe the cuts in further education and the increase in tuition fees by this government are wrong. They will damage this county`s economic prospects and be responsible for lost lives and increased crime.They shown that this government is short sighted and clearly knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

IVF.

Being unable to have children is not a preserve of any class or group of people. It hits rich and poor and can be heartbreaking for people.It can put a great strain on even the strongest of relationships and when people decide to take action to try and have children through whatever method IVF or adoption etc there are no easy routes and all of those paths can lead to pain and disappointment.
I have known couples who have resorted to IVF as a way to achieve their dream of having children and seen the joy that a successful outcome to the treatment has brought them.This treatment is expensive and for many the only hope of having this treatment is through the NHS.
I think it is outrageous the way a number of local primary care trusts have announced in the past few months since the election that they will no longer offer this treatment on the NHS. This is effectively shutting this avenue down to poor people who through various medical problems have found it impossible to have children .It is wrong and unfair and is dividing our society when we should be working to unite it. It is also stopping some people who would make brilliant mum and dads from being parents and that is a tragedy.

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Prescription Charges!

I believe that now that prescription charges have been abolished in other parts of the United Kingdom there is a strong case for abolishing them completely in England. They are unjust and a tax on the sick. In this post I would like to concentrate on a move that as just been made by my local primary care trust that as effectively meant a doubling in prescription charges for some.
My local PCT as told doctors not to prescribe any medication or treatment for longer than twenty eight days where previously people on long term medication have been given two or three months supply at a time. This means someone paying seven pounds and twenty pence for a two month supply of drugs is now having to pay fourteen pond forty pence for those drugs.I find this outrageous and a scandal. It is punishing people who are struggling with sickness and who may be finding things though financially because of an inability to work because of their condition.I think its wrong and if we had a caring government which we do not have they would intervene to stop.It is an effective tax increase of one hundred per cent for being ill!!!!

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Remploy.

Remploy is the largest state owned manufacturing company in the United Kingdom. It was set up straight after the last world war in 1945 to employ disabled servicemen. Since that time it has employed thousands of disabled people of all different shades nationwide in there factories manufacturing various goods.
The company receive a grant from the government of about one hundred million a year which when you consider the money it would cost the taxpayer in benefits and finding day centres etc for the workers who mostly would never get the opportunity to be employed by in a private company that figure is probably a lot less in net terms.
It has been reported that the government are going to reduce the grant given to Remploy to such an extent that most if not all the factories will be forced to close. Not only do I think this is callous in the extreme it is also short sighted and will cost the taxpayer more in the long run than will be saved.
I use to live near a Remploy factory. It was a joy to see the workers come out of the factory in the evening laughing and joking with one another clearly very happy and contented.Remploy have given them the opportunity to feel useful and wanted and to be able to socialise. All the future will probably hold for them is isolation and boredom home alone for most of the day with nothing to do.
Its a tragedy and really shows the government for what it is a nasty, right-wing Tory government without any compassion or feeling for the most vulnerable people in our country.

Benefit Changes!

Image via WikipediaThe basic flaw about the governments efforts to reduce the benefit budget by getting people off benefits and into work is that the jobs they say that they want them to go into simply do not exist. The government themselves are going to axe seven hundred and fifty thousand public sector jobs in the next few years which is expected to push unemployment close to three million so there is clearly going to be a jobless problem at a time when the government are seeking to push people into work.
I also think it is wrong that some people with serious illness like Parkinson disease, MS, cancer are being told they are fit to work when they clearly are not.Something i think will get worse when companies doing the medical tests are paid by results. In other words they will be paid to say people are fit to work.This is a callous and will put already stressed people under even more stressed.
This government is acting in a more callous and uncaring manner than even Margaret Thatcher did at her worse.It is a right-wing government of the sort that we have never seen before in this country.It is unbritish as we are a compassionate and caring nation that as always believed in a society that cares for its weakest and most in need and I think it deserves to get kicked out of office as soon as possible.

Public Service Cuts Hurt!

Taxing the Sick!

When you become sick especially if it is a long term condition your income suddenly drops dramatically and life becomes a struggle financially as well as physically. I think it is terribly unfair the way the sick face what is effectively taxes just for being sick.They have to pay for prescriptions so they are taxed there which can be an heavy burden as they are now over seven pounds per item and then when they visit hospital which can be often if you are on chemotherapy for instance or on dialysis you are faced with parking charges at the hospital.
The last Labour government was moving away from these charges and were gradually abolishing them or reducing there impact but the new government have backtracked on this and we hear today that parking charges are to stay.
Governments should be judged not on the wealth they create or the wars they win but how they treat the most vulnerable members of society. Its clear that the present government deserve to be judged harshly as they clearly do not have any compassion or care for those in need or suffering in our country.This is a government of rich men for rich men!!!

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The Royal Mail.

Image via WikipediaI can remember a time when the likes of British Telecom, the electricity and gas industry and water were owned by the government. Seems so long ago now, hard to even imagine really, but they were.
Who benefited most by privatising them? Certainly not the public as prices are far higher now then they were when these services were nationalised and the service generally is no better than it was then.The people who benefited were big business. Friends of the Tory party who invested in the privatise utilities and have since reaped the benefit of huge profits or have sold there holdings to foreign companies making tens of millions of pounds in the process.
Who will benefit by selling the Royal Mail.? If the experiences of the people in the Netherlands are anything to go by the customer will not as there a reduction in  daily delivers is being considered to just three times a week.The Royal Mail generally makes a profit so it doesn`t make sense that the government are going to keep the loss making Post Offices and take on all the liabilities of the Royal Mail pension fund which amounts to billions and then sell off the profit making part to private businesses, probably foreign owned. So the taxpayer gets all the losses and none of the profits!
This sale doesn`t make any economic sense. It is only being done because of the political ideology of the Tories which says everything that is state run needs to be sold off to the highest bidder regardless.The country and the customers of the Royal Mail will be worse off because of this reckless and crazy sale!

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The Workshy!

Image via WikipediaEver since the present government came to power we have heard a lot from them about the workshy. The people who they say make a lifestyle decision to spend there lives on benefits and not working.Government statements especially those by the Chancellor George Osborne are said  in a way where people are given the impression, deliberately I think, that if your on benefits you are lazy and avoiding work. There are undoubtedly some who are abusing the system and claiming benefits when they should be working but I think that this  number is only a small minority and nothing what the government like to give the impression it is.
Most people don`t work for genuine reasons. They are ill, disabled or they simply cannot find work.
The government are just using those on benefits as an easy option to reduce spending. Hitting benefit claimants is popular because  only a minority claim benefits and those in work resent there taxes going to people who are not working and of course those on benefits do not have the influence and power that other groups have.
I think first and foremost the government should be creating jobs for the unemployed and those on benefits which they are not.Since they came to power they have been doing little else than axing jobs.They should also show people on benefits a bit of understanding and compassion and help and encourage them back to work rather than smear them with accusations of being lazy.
Lets face it this government of rich men are never going to have the understanding and compassion governments should have for the needy. They have lived lives where everything as been laid on a plate for them and have never known hardship or what it is to want.They are out of touch and that is why they need replacing by a progressive government that cares.

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Tube Strikes!

Image via WikipediaI have read a lot of bile in the Tory press over the last few days about the strikes on the London tube.Lots of it hasn`t surprised me has most of the papers are owned and run by people who would like to see the right to strike outlawed but I do have faith in the British people and I think most even if they are inconvenienced by these strikes will see the justice in them and the fact that the unions are not fighting for higher wages but for their jobs and for safety on the tube.
In this dispute the strikers have right on there side.I hope the British people are open minded enough to see that and will believe in a climate where more and more people are going to lose their jobs in the coming months because of government cuts that there by the grace of god go I!!!

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Ambition!

Image via WikipediaThe last Labour government clearly had ambitions for this country.  Ambitions for every school child to be taught in modern buildings with excellent facilities,patients to be treated in hospitals fit for the twenty first century.To give every young person the opportunity to go to university if they chose to.To have a work force highly skilled and educated that can help our country compete in the world..To give young people more opportunities to follow their dreams by creating more apprenticeships.To create sporting facilities to rival the best in the world and have Great Britain competing to host the greatest sporting tournaments.
When a government has ambitions it inspires people to greatness and makes them proud of their country. All governments should have great ambitions. Ambitions to reach for the sky and beyond and ask not why but why not!
The present government lack ambition. They believe that the government cannot change things, that people must be left to there own devices and allowed to sink or swim. They have no ambition to have the best and be the best.They believe in pulling out and doing nothing rather than creating and building.There is no shining light with this government just a black hole of nothing. No inspiration, no aims, no ambition.
When you give people no hope they sink in despair and lose ambition for themselves.A nation without ambitions will achieve nothing.I also fear people will in their despair go out and try and take what they cannot have any longer and that will see the reduction in crime we saw under Labour reversed.
We need hope, ambition and a light at the end of this long dark tunnel we are traveling into. Only Labour can give people that hope. They must not let the people down.

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Renationalise the Railways!

Image via WikipediaSince the railways were nationalised people have seen their fares soar but the service hardly improve at all. We have also seen subsidies increased to such an extent that the railways are now costing the taxpayer more than they did when it was in public ownership.
It makes sense to me that the railways need to be taken back into public ownership. Firstly from an economic point of view it doesn`t make sense for the taxpayer to subsidies a service to such an extent that it is costing more than when the taxpayer actually owned it. Secondly railways are crucial to the green agenda.We need to get cars and freight of the roads and onto the cleaner railways and we will not do that if private companies are taking money out of the industry and  making rail travel and transport more expensive than it should be.
In the nineteen twenties Winston Churchill campaigned for the railways to be nationalised because he thought they were crucial to the nations future. What was true then is true now and we should take the railways back into public ownership at the earliest opportunity.

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The Fight For Justice!

Image via WikipediaThe fight for justice in this country for the needy and the poor will in the next few years fall to the Labour Party has the Lib/Dems have shown by there pact with the Tories that their concerns are no longer for the poor and the needy.
The Labour party need to decide what road it wants to take. Does it want to continue down the path of New Labour and the ideals of Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson or does it want to go back to its roots and once again stand for the ideals and principals of Bevin and Atlee.I believe that the British people are longing to see the party once again fight for the poor, the needy, the old, the sick and the disabled. To stand up for human rights and fight for a better world for all.Labour need to harness that desire for real change and make people believe that we can have a country where everyone has a decent life and that everyone has the opportunity to fulfil there potential.
The question has to be answered who of the leadership contenders is the person who does believe in those old ideals and principals and who has the ability to take the message forward and lead the party back into government.I believe Ed Miliband is the person to do that. His ideas represent the ideals of Bevin and Attlee.He as the skills in communications and policy to put together a programme for change and for government and sell it to the people.He is the man for the future not a man of the past. I would urge all Labour Party members to vote for him and give all those suffering under this government hope for the future.

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NHS Reforms.

Image via WikipediaPersonally the part of the governments NHS reforms that I think is wrong and will lead to patient dissatfaction is transfering commissioning of treatment and services from the PCT to GP`s.Your doctor is there to treat you and to decide the best course of treatment you need for your condition.Once the doctor as not just a  clinical responsibility but also a responsiblity for commissioning and paying for the treatment there is a conflict of interest there. Who is to say some doctors will not go for the cheapest option when deciding treatment rather than the best when they have responsibility for budgets and commissioning.
The governments reforms will instill distrust in patients and will lead to some patients beliving they are not receiving the treatment they should.You get the imprssion from the government that their reforms are ill thought out and hurried based on not what is best for patients and the NHS but what fits in with there political ideology.I suspect this expensive experiment will cost billions and damage rather than improve the NHS.

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The Winter Fuel Allowance.

There as been much speculation in recent days about government plans to restrict the winter fuel allowance because of  spending cuts and there need to fund the reform of the welfare state. Many of the cuts we have seen since the government have come to power have been vicious and callous but this would be the most vicious and callous of them all.
Many old people struggle even with the allowance to pay their energy bills during the winter months. Many because they are frightened of not being able to pay spend there time when indoors with there coats on or in the one room they can afford to heat. Some turn there heating down or off because of their fear of not being able to pay their bills and end up in hospital or even dead because of it.Any cutback in the allowance will make this situation worse and will result in lose of life.
Personally I think there is a need and a good case to extend the allowance not cut it back. I think many people who are on benefits because they have long term medical conditions should also receive the allowance.Those for instance with long term lung problems are advised to keep there homes above a certain temperature to stop their condition worsening  suffer great hardship trying to do this in the cold winter months.
A government should be judged not on balencing the books or how it treats the well off in society but how it treats the needy and the vunerable.This government have shown time and time again that they deserve to be judged badly because of the way they are treating the vunerable in our society and targeting them for cuts!

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Real Cuts!

Image via WikipediaIn the emergency budget in July the Chancellor announced that most benefits for the disabled and the sick would be uprated in line with the Consumer Price Index rather than Retail Prices Index in future.We Can see in this months inflation figures what a difference that is going to make to people.In July the Retail Prices Index was at 4.8% whereas the Consumer Price Index was at just 3.1%. The figures tell the story in itself. They mean next April when benefits are uprated then the sick and disabled will see an effective cut in their benefits. With the increase in VAT which will hit all goods either directly or indirectly we can see now what an effect this will have on the living standards of some of the most vulnerable people in the country.
David Cameron said before the election that he will protect the most vulnerable in our society from the effects of budget cuts. This is now shown to be as false as his other pledge that he had no plans to increase VAT!

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The Coalition: 100 days. 100 cuts.

Coalition: 100 days. 100 cuts - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

Country Parks and Nature Reserves!

Image by Scootzsx via FlickrOne of the greatest treasures we have in this country are our country parks and nature reserves. They allow people to get out of the towns and cities and relax and be closer to the beauty of nature and give youngsters time to learn to respect and love wildlife and the countryside.
I was horrified to read this morning that the Tories are thinking of selling off these treasures to private companies because of there cuts agenda.This would be madness and would lead to many of these treasures becoming little more than commercialised money making concerns.
Harold MacMillian said of the Thatcher government when they were making cutbacks that there was a danger that the country was selling of the county`s silver I think this government could be cutting the heart out of the country in an effort to lance a boil!

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Fair Pay, Total Commitment!

I believe that everyone working in the public sector deserves to be paid well. I think the attitude of some on the right that those engaged in public services should be paid less than those in the private sector is totally wrong. At the same time I think that if you are employed in public service than your commitment should be total and you should be engaged in your job full time.
There are many in the public services like doctors, Members of Parliament and those in management who get a full time salary often a very good full time salary but do not give a full time commitment. I think its wrong that a doctor is paid over one hundred thousand pounds in some cases but spends only about a third of the time he spends on his private practice working for the NHS. I think its wrong that some managers get upwards of eighty thousand ponds a year for working the eqvalient of about three months a year.I think its wrong that Members of Parliament are often absent from the House of Commons because of board meetings of the companies they are directors of.
The right talk about value for money well lets have that by outlawing outside work for those employed by the taxpayer. Lets have total commitment for a fair salary not half hearted commitment by everyone and stop people treating the taxpayer who funds there salaries as nothing more than cash cows!!!

Turning Hope Into A Recession!

We saw last week with the new growth figures that by bailing out the banks and putting money into the economy  the last Labour government didn`t just stop a recession turning into a depression they had started to rebuild our economy and give us hope.
In recent days we have seen that hope fade and a new recession start to appear on the horizon because of the fear of Cameron`s cuts.Just as the economy recovers the government are taking billions out of the economy by sacking  people in the public sector andscraping building projects on schools and hospitals which is also throwing people out of wortk in the private sector. We also have of course the looming disincentive for people to spend and help create jobs of the VAT rise.
The public spending cuts are being done to soon and too fast with an ideoligical zeal and relish that suggests this cuts are being done more as part of Tory political dogma than economic neccessity.
The Tories were responsible for a recession and massive unemployment soon after they last came to power as so often happens I think history seems to be about to repeat itself.

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The Cuts Start TO Bite!!

BBC News - Nottinghamshire County Council says 3,000 jobs at risk