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Aug 1, 202210 min read
The NHS isn't sacrosanct - but maybe it should be
I enjoy listening to a range of podcasts from different political viewpoints. One topic that came up recently – albeit as a sidenote of...
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Dec 20, 20206 min read
The Myth of the Undeserving Poor
I recently finished reading The Myth of the Undeserving Poor: a Christian response to poverty in Britain today by Martin Charlesworth and...
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Sep 27, 20205 min read
Why I'm opposed to UBI
I am opposed to the idea of a Universal Basic Income on economic grounds – I don’t think that the sorts of money needed to lift those...
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Jun 5, 20203 min read
To Jonathan Reynolds: a better vision is possible
Dear Jonathan Reynolds, Re: Welfare should reflect ‘what you put in’ to tackle public mistrust, says Labour’s shadow DWP secretary I am...
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Dec 11, 20194 min read
PIP: locking chronically ill people out of disabled benefits
PIP isn’t supposed to be about diagnoses. But even with my diagnoses, I have major difficulties getting benefits assessors from a range...
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Dec 11, 20195 min read
Learning to live with chronic illness without independence
Recently I failed a PIP appeal. I get standard rate mobility - which at one point the Tribunal were minded to take away - but was...
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Dec 11, 20194 min read
PIP: maintaining poverty, removing choice
The point of extra-costs disability benefits is to meet some of the costs experienced by people with disability, in order to raise them...
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Nov 4, 20197 min read
#IsItOk that sick and disabled people have written books about the harm the UK government has done t
In the modern hegemony of identity politics, a person is only allowed to comment on something if they have direct experience of it. So...
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Jun 12, 20194 min read
Subsidiarity and the UBI vs UBS debate
This post is a response to Simon Duffy’s critique of a debate between Barb Johnson (from Basic Income UK) and Anna Coote (from New...
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May 25, 20193 min read
(satirical) UBI critique – when the robots take over
UBI imagines a world in which all jobs are carried out by robots. The increased use of robots in work is assumed to mean that we can...
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May 25, 20192 min read
(satirical) UBI critique – what happens when no-one needs charity or earnings?
Let us imagine that a UBI is paid that is at the minimum income standard (MIS). The MIS is enough money for social participation and...
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Mar 18, 20195 min read
Where does all the money go?
I haven’t blogged in a while, though I’ve been meaning to. I’ve been meaning to write about the unexpected expenditures that make a big...
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Jan 17, 20194 min read
How is PIP expenditure high, when disabled people are struggling?
The Office for Budget Responsibility has recently reported that spending on PIP, the Tory’s new extra-costs disability, was 20% higher...
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Jan 8, 201920 min read
Consequences of cuts 2010-2018
I wanted to find data on the consequences of Conservative cuts since 2010, in the hope that I might remember some of them to use in...
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Nov 22, 20182 min read
UC budgeting nightmares
I logged in to my UC journal today to see where DWP-UC is up to with paying me the right amount of money. They’ve made one correction –...
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Nov 12, 20186 min read
PIP appeal – overprepared fraud?
I had a PIP appeal today. I’ve been waiting for it for ten months. I don’t think it went well. There are some points in my favour: the...
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Oct 23, 20183 min read
Missed telephone appointment – might I be sanctioned?
Some moments of sick apprehension today. I remembered, some time after the appointment time, that today was the day for my monthly UC...
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Oct 18, 20182 min read
Some good news – I think
I’ve received some good news. My UC journal today had an letter added to it saying that they have decided that I have limited capability...
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Oct 15, 20183 min read
The Tories have messed up my council tax
Naturally, when I’ve just got in from visiting my church’s office to ask for help because I can’t manage without paying someone to do...
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Sep 27, 20182 min read
Money matters
DWP-UC has apparently now told DWP-ESA to stop paying me. I have received, in three separate envelopes that arrived on the same day, a...
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