Strontium Dog wrote:

Wiðercora wrote:There's now a petition to have the Queen refuse Royal Assent to the Welfare 'Reform' bill.

Let's see if the monarchy can do something useful.

I dare say provoking a constitutional crisis of massive proportions could be useful in terms of highlighting the lengths certain quarters are prepared to go to in order to ride roughshod over our democracy, but not so much beyond that.

ED209 wrote:

Strontium Dog wrote:an ever-shrinking pool of workers

Strontium Dog wrote:
I wonder why people are ignoring the fact that more people have jobs than ever before

Benefit cuts are fuelling abuse of disabled people, say charities

Rising public resentment blamed on government focus on alleged 'scrounger' fraud and inflammatory media coverage


The government's focus on alleged fraud and overclaiming to justify cuts in disability benefits has caused an increase in resentment and abuse directed at disabled people, as they find themselves being labelled as scroungers, six of the country's biggest disability groups have warned.

Some of the charities say they are now regularly contacted by people who have been taunted on the street about supposedly faking their disability and are concerned the climate of suspicion could spill over into violence or other hate crimes.

While the charities speaking out – Scope, Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability, the National Autistic Society, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), and Disability Alliance – say inflammatory media coverage has played a role in this, they primarily blame ministers and civil servants for repeatedly highlighting the supposed mass abuse of the disability benefits system, much of which is unfounded...

You only needed to see yesterdays THESUN!! frontpage about a family who won the lottery and still claim DLA.

Of course it's not means tested, and our own multi millionaire PM claimed the same benefit for his late son.

Don't remember Rebekah Brooks putting that on the front page though.

THWOTH wrote:This will happen when 'disability' is defined only by a persons ability to work rather than focusing on individual's abilities and needs. It suggest that a person's worth or value to society is always and only ever measured by their earning capacity.

ED209 wrote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/ ... led-people

Benefit cuts are fuelling abuse of disabled people, say charities

Rising public resentment blamed on government focus on alleged 'scrounger' fraud and inflammatory media coverage


The government's focus on alleged fraud and overclaiming to justify cuts in disability benefits has caused an increase in resentment and abuse directed at disabled people, as they find themselves being labelled as scroungers, six of the country's biggest disability groups have warned.

Some of the charities say they are now regularly contacted by people who have been taunted on the street about supposedly faking their disability and are concerned the climate of suspicion could spill over into violence or other hate crimes.

While the charities speaking out – Scope, Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability, the National Autistic Society, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), and Disability Alliance – say inflammatory media coverage has played a role in this, they primarily blame ministers and civil servants for repeatedly highlighting the supposed mass abuse of the disability benefits system, much of which is unfounded...

Strontium Dog wrote:What are the government supposed to do about people copping abuse in the street?

Hard as this might be for some to believe, but abuse of disabled people predates the coalition government by some considerable period.

Strontium Dog wrote:What are the government supposed to do about people copping abuse in the street?

DaveD wrote:

Strontium Dog wrote:What are the government supposed to do about people copping abuse in the street?

They could stop encouraging it with their demonising of disabled people as "scroungers". That would be a start.

DaveD wrote:They could stop encouraging it with their demonising of disabled people as "scroungers". That would be a start.

Strontium Dog wrote:

DaveD wrote:They could stop encouraging it with their demonising of disabled people as "scroungers". That would be a start.

This "demonising", if it exists, doesn't come from the government. Unless we're going to be classifying giving people less free money as "demonisation" nowadays, in which case the discussion has lost all semblance of reason.

Paul G wrote:

Strontium Dog wrote:

DaveD wrote:They could stop encouraging it with their demonising of disabled people as "scroungers". That would be a start.

This "demonising", if it exists, doesn't come from the government. Unless we're going to be classifying giving people less free money as "demonisation" nowadays, in which case the discussion has lost all semblance of reason.

Utterly clueless.

You'll make a great politician. I guess they should count themselves lucky they're getting any "free money" at all.

Strontium Dog wrote:What are the government supposed to do about people copping abuse in the street?

THWOTH wrote:

Strontium Dog wrote:What are the government supposed to do about people copping abuse in the street?

Not conflating disability with fecklessness and fraudulent benefit claims would be a start.