Street Democracy UK

How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave

2014-08-01T04:15:00.002-07:00

How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave
Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK

Here’s Iain Duncan Smith’s weekend place, which was occupied last year by UK Uncut and Disabled People Against Cuts in a protest against the bedroom tax. It’s a very nice pile indeed. It comes with a tennis court, the sort of lake that Mr Darcy might emerge from in clinging pants, happy lambs and a very large house. Very. If you must lie around somewhere thinking of ways to piss the rest of the exchequer away on Universal Credit, then this is the place to do it:

For more click here: How Iain Duncan Smith lives – compared with people who must live his policies by Kate Belgrave

UK enslaved to money … and fracking

2014-08-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

UK enslaved to money … and fracking

‘The modern UK is enslaved too, but to money, and recent policy choices in London are designed to destroy more “pleasant pastures” to obtain filthy lucre from a controversial practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. With the Scottish oil and gas fields almost depleted and Scotland’s very place in the UK in doubt, fracking has the potential to generate trillions of pounds of liquid gold and energy security for the country, or what’s left of it.

It’s not a new technology (it was first attempted as long ago as the 1860s), but it’s only in the last two decades that it’s been perfected and it wasn’t until the last few years that it became economically viable.’

Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Confirmed - The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face

2014-08-01T03:36:00.001-07:00

Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Confirmed - The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face

diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com - Picture displayed by Street Democracy UK

Since the coalition came to power, sick and disabled people have claimed we are being fundamentally harmed by the coalition welfare reforms. Not scroungers or skivers, but people living with long term serious illnesses like me, or who live with physical disabilities. Adults AND children. Young and old. People with terminal conditions, people with kidney or heart failure, people waiting for transplants and even people in comas. None have been spared. The government repeatedly assure you they have.

The government have of course denied that they are putting an unreasonable share of austerity cuts on us. Repeatedly and often aggressively. This is how they respond to the UN of all people :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2681313/The-Brazil-Nut-strikes-IDS-anger-former-Marxist-Raquel-Rolnik-attacks-benefit-cuts.html

Since 2011, almost every main voice involved in the services and systems that support sick and disabled people have argued that we must know how all of the changes TOGETHER have affected us so particularly.

Everything we rely on has been cut severely - in some cases by up to 40%. Disability benefits, sickness benefits, social care services, housing support, legal aid for tribunals, respite care, the independent living fund, council tax relief, higher education funding, everything.

It is very possible that if you were affected by one of the changes, you were affected by several or even all of them.

Whilst the government paid lip service to assessing what impact their reforms would have on sick and disabled people, they only did so one by one. They always claimed it was impossible to assess them all together and specifically, how they would affect disabled people when combined.

It has been a long and dishonest journey. As with so many things, the government have done everything in their power to keep the figures from the public.

They said that it wasn't possible despite a petition gathering over 100,000 signatures calling for what they called a "cumulative impact assessment" or CIA.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154 (Scroll down for gov response)

The government treated the debate it generated in parliament - a debate sick and disabled people themselves worked so hard for - like a Punch and Judy show of partisan nonsense. You can watch it for yourself if you click on the following link :

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/backbench-business-committee/news/mps-debate-welfare-reform-e-petition/

For more click here:

Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Confirmed - The FULL Impact of Cuts Disabled People Face

diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com

UK hospital accused of selling body parts for booze

2014-08-01T03:32:00.001-07:00

UK hospital accused of selling body parts for booze

‘A leading cancer hospital is to be investigated following allegations that one of its staff members exchanged human body samples for whisky and cash.

The calls to investigate Christies NHS foundation trust came after the accusation was made by an anonymous whistleblower, prompting British MP Rosie Cooper to contact the watchdog, the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), the Manchester Evening News reports.

British MP Rosie Cooper has also written to the government’s health secretary Jeremy Hunt, describing the whistleblowers’ claims as “serious and grave”.’

Bedroom tax impact on grant allocations

2014-08-01T03:18:00.000-07:00

Bedroom tax impact on grant allocations

Picture above displayed by Street Democracy UK.

Housing providers have warned that the government is ‘storing up future problems’ because more than three-quarters of its grant funding programme will be used for the development of one and two-bedroom homes.

Of the 62,000 homes to be developed with the 2015-18 affordable housing grant allocation, 77% will be one and two-bedroom properties after the government requested that providers focus on smaller-sized properties.

The allocation has been widely interpreted as a reaction to under-occupying tenants needing to downsize to avoid the bedroom tax.

Melanie Rees, policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: ‘It is quite short-termist, and a response to a policy that may not be around in eight months’ time, depending on the outcome of the election.’

Karen Buck, the parliamentary private secretary to Labour leader Ed Miliband and a member of the work and pensions select committee that scrutinised the bedroom tax before it was passed, said: ‘[The government] should be trying to provide for housing need in all parts of the country, not floundering around with a knee-jerk reaction to one specific policy.’

‘It was warned that there weren’t enough small houses for the policy to work during the passage of the bill, but the warning was rejected.’

Housing providers told Inside Housing that civil servants from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had contacted them to scrutinise why they had included bids for funding to build family-sized homes.

For more click here for Inside Housing:

Bedroom tax impact on grant allocations

The Shock Doctrine

2014-08-01T03:13:00.001-07:00

The Shock Doctrine

‘An investigation of “disaster capitalism”, based on Naomi Klein’s proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.’

Audience Brain Waves Are Being Used to Better Predict YOU

2014-08-01T03:07:00.000-07:00

Audience Brain Waves Are Being Used to Better Predict YOU

‘Recently, I wrote about findings showing that the brainwaves of people viewing the same movie are ‘synched.’ Some people thought this was great news, suggesting that it meant more connection and intimacy. But people who feel more disengaged or isolated by spending time with people watching media would probably doubt that suggestion very much.

Building on that discovery, researchers are testing brainwaves to forecast public response to television programming. Of course, this has questionable implications.

And, now, it only takes a few people to accurately predict the mindset – via brainwaves – of the masses. Is that how far the “culturing” of culture has come along?’

Scientist Warns ‘Solar Super-Storms’ Are Inevitable and a Significant Threat

2014-08-01T03:05:00.001-07:00

Scientist Warns ‘Solar Super-Storms’ Are Inevitable and a Significant Threat

‘In this month’s issue of Physics World, Ashley Dale from the University of Bristol warns of the “catastrophic” and “long-lasting” impacts of “solar super-storms” and the dangers we face if the threat continues to go unnoticed.

Dale, who was a member of an international task force – dubbed SolarMAX – set up to identify the risks of a solar storm and how its impact could be minimized, explains how it is only a matter of time before an exceptionally violent solar storm is propelled towards Earth. Such a storm would wreak havoc with our communication systems and power supplies, crippling vital services such as transport, sanitation and medicine.’

Is War Coming to Europe?

2014-08-01T03:02:00.001-07:00

Is War Coming to Europe?

Stamp duty: millions more being dragged into tax trap

2014-08-01T03:00:00.001-07:00

Stamp duty: millions more being dragged into tax trap

‘The number of households being forced to pay higher rates of stamp duty has more than doubled in the past decade, according to new figures.

The boom in property prices means that a quarter of homebuyers are paying stamp duty of 3 per cent or more, up from just one in 10 in 2003.

The disclosure coincided with government statistics that showed families paid a total of £3.4 billion in inheritance taxes last year, the most since the onset of the financial crisis.’

First offender fitted with stay-sober ankle tag

2014-08-01T02:58:00.000-07:00

First offender fitted with stay-sober ankle tag

‘Ankle tags that detect if someone has consumed alcohol will be fitted to offenders as part of a scheme designed to cut down on violent drink-fuelled crime.

The “sobriety tags”, which will be worn around the clock, will enforce abstinence by measuring a person’s perspiration every 30 minutes and testing to see if it contains alcohol.

If any trace is found, an alert will be sent to the offender’s probation officer and they can then be recalled to court, where they could face sanctions such as a fine or be re-sentenced.’

Ticket the old, they’ll always pay: How the ruthless parking cowboys tell their wardens to exploit the vulnerable

2014-08-01T02:56:00.003-07:00

Ticket the old, they’ll always pay: How the ruthless parking cowboys tell their wardens to exploit the vulnerable

‘Elderly drivers are being ruthlessly targeted by cowboy parking squads because they are most likely to pay up, it has been claimed.

War veterans, great-grandmothers and vulnerable hospital patients are singled out, with bosses allegedly telling wardens: ‘Ticket the elderly, they will pay.’

The ‘unjust and immoral’ practice has emerged as dozens of elderly drivers told the Mail how they were being threatened and pursued by bailiffs over minor parking queries.’

Banking scandals crush Lloyds’ profits by more than half to £863million as PPI bill soars past £10billion

2014-08-01T02:55:00.000-07:00

Banking scandals crush Lloyds’ profits by more than half to £863million as PPI bill soars past £10billion

‘Lloyds has racked up yet another bill of more than £1billion for mis-selling to customers and rigging interest rates. The staggering cost was revealed yesterday, as the state-backed lender announced a sharp fall in profits in the first half of the year.

It has set aside another £600m to compensate customers mis-sold payment protection insurance, taking its total bill for the scandal to £10.4billion.

This equates to around £420 for every household in the UK, or an increase of 2p on income tax.

The total bill across the industry for PPI now tops £23billion, making it the most expensive mis-selling scandal to hit the UK.’

British taxpayers help fund £20billion EU handout to struggling Portugal

2014-08-01T02:54:00.000-07:00

British taxpayers help fund £20billion EU handout to struggling Portugal

‘Fury erupted today after the EU gifted cash-strapped Portugal a £20 billion handout to help boost its crumbling economy.

Most of the money will be spent on training and education in a bid to cut rampant unemployment and revive Portuguese economic fortunes by the end of the decade.

Critics warned it means British taxpayers’ will be effectively forking out up to £2.7 billion over the next seven years to help prop up one of Europe’s basket case nations.’

Britain WILL beat cancer: PM’s £300m boost to fight killer disease (Is that with a big stick?)

2014-08-01T02:52:00.001-07:00

Britain WILL beat cancer: PM’s £300m boost to fight killer disease

Big Pharma has no intention of 'beating cancer' – that has never been the idea for reasons I explain in my books. The money will come in handy though.

‘Britain will drive cutting-edge research as a result of a £300 million funding boost to be unveiled by the Prime Minister.

The spin-offs are likely to transform the way cancer and other life-threatening conditions are diagnosed and treated, bringing new hope to families across the country…

…The project will be overseen by Genomics England, set up by the Department of Health in partnership with Illumina, a DNA sequencing technology firm based in California.’

Erosion of Freedom Bit by Bit: Russia enacts ‘draconian’ law for bloggers and online media

2014-08-01T02:50:00.001-07:00

Russia enacts ‘draconian’ law for bloggers and online media

This is the plan globally and the pieces are being moved into place throughout the world. Very important story because of where it is planned to lead.

‘A new law imposing restrictions on users of social media has come into effect in Russia.

It means bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers must register with the mass media regulator, Roskomnadzor, and conform to the regulations that govern the country’s larger media outlets.

Internet companies will also be required to allow Russian authorities access to users’ information.’

Ebola – What You’re Not Being Told

2014-08-01T02:48:00.002-07:00

Ebola – What You’re Not Being Told

‘There is something very, very important that the corporate media and public health officials are not telling you regarding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.’

‘Fast-track the Ebola drug’: U.S. under pressure to give potentially life-saving medication the green light as experts warn of global pandemic

2014-08-01T02:46:00.001-07:00

‘Fast-track the Ebola drug’: U.S. under pressure to give potentially life-saving medication the green light as experts warn of global pandemic

‘Health campaigners are today calling for U.S. authorities to speed up their approval of a new drug hoped to be the first cure for the deadly Ebola virus.

There is currently no cure or vaccine for the disease, which has claimed the lives of 672 people in West Africa, since February.

The head of global charity The Wellcome Trust earlier this month called for experimental drugs to be offered to those diagnosed with the virulent illness in West Africa.

Despite the drugs not being fully tested Jeremy Farrar, professor of tropical medicine and director of the trust, said Ebola’s spread in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is ‘out of control’.’

Is it Ebola or is it psychological warfare?

2014-08-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

Is it Ebola or is it psychological warfare?

‘Now that the world has been put on notice about Ebola, it’s time to try facts instead of scare tactics.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the primary reporting agency on case numbers and deaths. Taking their stats with a few grains of salt, but recognizing that mainstream accounts come from WHO, here is their July 25 update, “Ebola Virus Disease, West Africa”:

1201 total cases. 672 deaths. These numbers cover Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia—the Ebola focus areas.’

Israeli Sniper Admits to Murdering 13 Gazan Children on Instagram

2014-08-01T02:44:00.000-07:00

Israeli Sniper Admits to Murdering 13 Gazan Children on Instagram

‘An alleged Instagram post by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sniper boasting the murders of 13 Palestinian children in one day is taking the internet by storm. Multiple websites have shared the picutre of the IDF Combat Engineering Corps Soldier, David D. Ovadia posing with a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle. This specific rifle is usualy given to only elite snipers of the IDF.’

Gazans slam Arab countries silence on Israeli atrocities

2014-08-01T02:41:00.000-07:00

Gazans slam Arab countries silence on Israeli atrocities

‘People of the Gaza Strip have slammed Arab countries for their silence on the Tel Aviv’s atrocities, as the Israeli war claims more Palestinian lives.

The defenseless people of the besieged enclave have lashed out at Arab countries for their silence on Israel’s aerial and ground attacks on Gaza.

“It is not fair what they are doing to us,” said one Palestinian woman, adding, “May God punish them, may God even punish those Arabs who just watch and do nothing. It is enough. It is enough. Have mercy.”’

US Lawmakers, Struggle to Seal $225 Million Iron Dome Package

2014-08-01T02:39:00.003-07:00

US Lawmakers, Struggle to Seal $225 Million Iron Dome Package

‘Democrats and Republicans in Congress vowed urgent support Tuesday for a $225 million missile defense package for Israel, boosting the likelihood that legislation will clear Congress before lawmakers begin a monthlong vacation at week’s end.

“Let’s stop playing games,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling the assistance a necessity for the “life-or-death struggle Israel faces.”‘

Prescott condemned over Gaza ‘concentration camp’ description

2014-08-01T02:38:00.001-07:00

Prescott condemned over Gaza ‘concentration camp’ description

‘Lord Prescott’s description of Gaza as a “concentration camp” has been condemned on all sides of the political spectrum.

The former Deputy Prime Minister also wrote in his Sunday Mirror column that it was impossible not to view Israel’s actions in Gaza as war crimes and compared the Israelis to Nazis.

“What happened to the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis is appalling. But you would think those atrocities would give Israelis a unique sense of perspective and empathy with the victims of a ghetto,” he wrote.

Labour Friends of Israel director Jennifer Gerber said Lord Prescott’s comments were “provocative, factually ignorant and profoundly offensive,” and urged him to retract.’

London Protest Against Israel’s Attacks on Gaza – Free Palestine!

2014-08-01T02:34:00.001-07:00

London Protest Against Israel’s Attacks on Gaza – Free Palestine!

Get more details here …

Silence over Gaza: 72-hour ceasefire begins, bringing a temporary end to three weeks of rocket attacks and airstrikes that killed 1,450 Palestinians and 60 Israelis

2014-08-01T02:25:00.000-07:00

Silence over Gaza: 72-hour ceasefire begins, bringing a temporary end to three weeks of rocket attacks and airstrikes that killed 1,450 Palestinians and 60 Israelis

‘At least four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire barely one hour after Israel and Hamas began observing a three-day ceasefire, Gaza officials have said.

Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra and Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji said 15 other Palestinians were wounded in the shelling east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Palestinian sources also claimed three other people were shot by Israeli sniper fire.’