Where is Spartacus?

Every single day the are numerous stories about how awful things are and have much worse there going to get for everyone, not included in the higher earnings echelon.

And everyday there are thousands of comments, shares, posts, etc on Twitter and Facebook berating the above situation.

Quite right so, and there’s nothing wrong with using Social Media to sound off and see your opinions agreed with and celebrated by cyber friends;  but is this at the expense of actually doing something?

For anyone who gives a shit, I’m a 50 year old woman who developed several debilitating conditions 20 plus years ago; I’m also a qualified and 30+ year  time served Community Worker; and it is from this perspective that I am writing to ask a question; What the hell has happened to Spartacus?

Most of you will know the background to the Spartacus Campaign, but for anyone who doesn’t a brief overview – 12 month ago, or so, a few people worked together to produce the Responsible Reform Report, giving clear evidence of the devastating affects of the Welfare Reform Bill; those people and in particular 2 individuals, led an online Campaign that spread across cyber space, gained high level media coverage and generated a great amount of support against the cuts from disabled and non-disabled people alike. We all know what happened, the cuts came, but the campaign went on, particularly on Facebook

A year or so later where is it, well as one of the 771 members and a follower of the campaign I am aware that the mantle was taken up by a small group of people who have since, developed a website and forum; and through that, developed a comprehensive response to the Government Consultation on the changes to DLA. (Disabled Living Allowance)

All that from a handful of disabled people, is commendable; but from such a large membership, especially as the members themselves are the one of the receiving end of the long whip being used on people with disabilities, I would generally expected more.

Most days I pop in on Facebook to catch up on progress and respond to regular pleas from the coordinating group for member views; and I find the same few names offering feedback!

I find this frustrating and in truth, slightly embarrassing, I got involved to help prevent the Government passing and unjust, unfair and I believe illegal Act; OK we didn’t stop it but the fight to prevent further damage is just as important.

I cannot accept its enough to merely sigh and accept the current status quo, hoping for an election in 3 years time; that will be too late Further, I do not believe it is right to sit back and watch whilst others take up the fight for me; especially as we have seen and continue to see the price this has cost the original campaigners. To do this, whilst still claiming to be Spartacus is not only Hypocritical its dangerous; unless the Government view the movement as serious, they will continue to ignore our plight.

So my challenge is to anyone out there who says they are Spartacus, Support the coordinators, get actively involved with this and other groups striving to show the Coalition enough is enough.

If you don’t you’ve no right to either use the name or moan!

Does it matter how you learn? Surely what matters is that you do!

Does it matter how you learn? Well apparently is does; in a report commissioned by Clegg, in his attempt to appease the very people he wants to support through his banal ‘social mobility’ agenda, “of the 115 universities in the country, on average only 19 are targeted by the UK’s leading professional employers as part of their graduate recruitment drives”.

We won’t know until Wednesday which the 19 Unis are, but as the report encore says  ”Those universities are the more socially exclusive”; and  I’ll wager they’ll be no prizes for guessing which they are!

I see three major difficulties with this, firstly even if you are fortunate enough to be able to gain a place of study at one of the UKs 115 Uni, chances are you won’t be at one of those 19; secondly not everyone wants, needs or suits a Uni place and thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, education and learning is not something that happens only in places of academia.

Academics might argue but I believe learning is a process; one that begins almost at birth and, if we’re lucky, ends when we die; the old saying of “you learn something every day” is not a cliche, but the truth.  Every time we read a blog, an article in the press or another media production and we post or comment, because we agree or disagree with the topic, we are learning; and this goes as far as when we use Facebook!

It’s what we do with the learning that matters, and thats the same whether we gained our knowledge at OxBridge; I think almost everyone could name at least one person that could do the jobs of leading the UK than the Coalition, in fact I’m convinced that, given the opportunity many of them could.

In order to even begin to break out of the cycle of misery and austerity the Country is in, I think we need people able to come from a different perspective, we need to believe that it matters not where we learn our skills and crafts, but that we firstly acknowledge them and that we can implement them.

We are fortunate in the UK  that the vast majority of us have a tool, one we can use by implementing the knowledge we’ve gained through life as well through formal education; its  the right to vote. By utilising this tool, supported by our learning,  we can take part in the biggest decisions and we can ensure that our learning is not wasted.

What is an Evil Genius?

An article in The New Statesman called last week alternately berated a whole host of celebrities for being ‘Evil Genius’s', and allegedly this band of people are growing disturbingly fast; he claims this is worrying as, “ the EG disturbs our cosy assumptions about the relationship between being morally good and being technically good at something.” 

It goes on to list numerous examples of these EGs found in Literature; noting Mephistopheles – ‘Doctor Faustus’ published 1664, and Satan  -’Paradise Lost’ in 1667, as his earliest examples; and Voldermorte – Harry Potter, last publication 2007, as his latest. All the characters apparently have one thing in common, “These alter egos remind us how thin is the line between good and evil”

The numerous celebrities he has elected to represent his case are from differing fields with the “most powerful” Simon Cowell, monopolising us across television, the media and music; Michael O’Leary, persistently humiliating us when we fly RyanAir; and José Mourinho boring us whilst winning; being a few of the people qualifying as an EG.  He also alluded to one woman namely Anna Wintour, but conceded he was making the case based upon how Meryl Streep portrayed her in The Devil wears Prada!

I have to say rarely do I read such a poorly researched and banal article outside of the usual ranting in The Express or The Daily Mail.

I say this because not only has the author, chose to ignore any of the numerous EGs in the Bible, which was after all first published in 1384; almost 300 years before poor old  Mephistopheles; he also seems to think, we are nothing more than mindless buffoons who can’t define the difference between reality TV and real life, not have any morals if we choose to forgo frills for a cheap holiday or are willing to concede excitement for achievement.

I would possibly not as felt quite so insulted if he had chosen to identify any members of the Coalition as being an EG, what better example of a Evil Genius is David Cameron; he lured thousands of people into believing he gave a damn, and promptly pissed all over them.

Nor maybe, would I have felt such affront if he hadn’t persistently alluded to any path other than than of “God and religion” and therein unquestioning obedience, makes us corrupt! If thinking for myself, taking my own decisions and living my life the best way I can, make me immoral well so be it.

 This biased style of journalism is exactly what I think would be written by a an aspiring Evil Genius, and the very character the author advises us to avoid

 

 

 ”The age of the Evil Genius” BYCHARLES LEADBEATER PUBLISHED 16 MAY 2012

Beecroft Report – increase employment by increasing unemployment

Unbelievably Idiotic! – Until you realise people can then at least use Wonga for their pay day loans, more profit for Beecroft?

via Beecroft Report – increase employment by increasing unemployment.

Chaos in Government?

I am amazed, and in truth rather amused, by the number of ‘scandals’ about the standards of governance by the Coalition, springing up across the press.

Theres the on-going sage of A4 and the “Welfare to work ‘fraud scandal’” – The Telegraph; with the DWP, under the guidance of the detestable Iain Duncan Smith.

The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, blaming the surge in prison numbers in the last 15 years on the popular press, who are somehow, “responsible for thousands of people being in prison who do not all need to be there”.

HMRC has failed to collect £35billion,  under the brilliant Treasury Department, the same department who is cutting £2.2billion from DLA; demonstrating another example of masterful incompetence from George Osbourne.

Within  days of David Cameron announcing his “Support for Families” project which  includes a digital service; Single parents with children over 5 lost their income support and were put onto JSA with threats of loss of all benefits if they fail to demonstrate they’ve looked ‘hard enough’ for work”. And then the announcement that most Cumbria is to lose their Broadband connection; let’s hope they don’t need the new family support.

These are just a snapshot of the numerous examples of the utter chaos in this Government; it almost makes me wish they would take Beecroft’s advice, in his £50million report, according to the Daily Mail;  then we as the people they answer, to could fie them for incompetence, or merely because we just don’t like them.

Is Murdoch’s newspaper partly responsible for the murder of 6 kids?

Is Murdoch’s newspaper partly responsible for the murder of 6 kids?.

Of Course the Cuts are Fair?

According to the Telegraph today, Mt Cameron believes he can cut a further £25 BILLION from the Welfare budget, and he ants to achieve this through forcing people to work more hours or as the Government official says “encourage people to work longer hours, not just languish on 10, 15 or 20 hours”; he’s planning to get more women into employment specifically targeting single others and he wants young people (presumably under 35 if the Housing Benefit Cuts are anything to go by)  who aren’t in full time work  to stay in the family home.

A Downing St source sums it up as “Why should people only work part time? Why are young people who are out of work not living at home? Why are we incentivising people to have more children?”

And this at the same time as unemployment continues to soar, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/9268730/Jobless-claims-set-to-climb-to-30-month-high.html

So, he has added part time workers, women, and unemployed people under 35, to his most vilified list; already including disabled, elderly, ill and unemployed people Well why not go to whole way and illegally enforce another new Act wherein any child not born healthy and into a family with at least £2.5million in assets,  to be compulsory sterilised at puberty! He could strike off most of the Welfare budget and the need for the NHS in a generation.

And then the majority of the UK will truly be in this together.

ALL Comments Welcome

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9268411/David-Cameron-considers-extra-25bn-of-welfare-cuts.html