Dear Atos Healthcare, I’m writing to you with a concern about a person known to me who is not in work. I am a journalist for a local newspaper, and on doing some research for an article yesterday, came across a very long list of questions that are asked at Atos ‘Work Capability Assessment’ interviews up and down Britain. Questions […]
Dear Atos Healthcare, I’m writing to you with a concern about a person known to me who is not in work. I am a journalist for a local newspaper, and on doing some research for an article yesterday, came across a very long list of questions that are asked at Atos ‘Work Capability Assessment’ interviews up and down Britain. Questions such as: Can you spell the word ‘world?’ What is 97 minus six? Can you show me your left hand? Can you show me your right hand? Can you touch your nose with your left hand? Can you touch your nose with your right hand? Do you live with people or on your own? Can you wash yourself? Can you dress yourself? Can you feed yourself unaided? As I started to read the questions, a growing sense of doom began to build as I realised that I might know someone who is committing Benefit Fraud. You see, my son, frequently referred to throughout my blog as Small Boy, can spell the word ‘world’. I don’t want to seem like one of those show- off mothers, but he can also touch his nose with his right and left hand when asked, he can wash his face, he dresses himself in the morning, and he doesn’t live by himself. My son is three years old, and from my understanding based on my own research, he would pass an Atos Work Capabilty Assessment […]
MARGARET Thatcher has passed away today, aged 87, following a stroke. She entered the Houses of Parliament with drive, with ambition, and with a vision that she truly believed would change this country for the better. The daughter of a grocer, and a woman, she is often described as ‘shattering the glass ceiling’ for women in politics. She was the first, and only, female Prime Minister of this country. Many on the Left joked about having “the champagne on ice” for her passing. Although I despise her politics, I am writing this with a heavy heart. I will not be hypocritical enough to write a gushing tribute, as I disagree profoundly with a lot of what she did. I know enough of my history to know that she was a truly divisive figure, and that many suffered under her leadership. I do not dispute that, nor dismiss it. It is both history, and a legacy, an undercurrent into our current Conservative Party politicians mindset and policies. Yet Margaret’s death does not change anything. It does not turn the clock back to May 1979. It does not undo what has been done. In this, I am saddened by todays events – not the death of the first female Prime Minister of this country, although this will be in itself a historically significant day – but at the jubilation and exultation displayed by people vulgar enough to celebrate the death of another […]
Letter in the Echo newspaper, Thursday 1st March. In response to the following article: ‘Anna Waite: Druggies, Drunks and Single Mums Driving Upmarket Shops Out Of Southend.’ http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/9557798.Druggies__drunks_and_single_mums____driving_upmarket_shops_out_of_Southend___/ “Anna Waite thinks druggies and single mothers are killing trade in Southend High Street. It would be great to be married with two incomes and a nice family business, but I’m not. […]
