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Why Labour MPs must continue to reject the cuts
I recently published two briefings about social security for sick and disabled people, in an attempt to help MPs see why Labour's planned...
Jun 264 min read
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A letter to Stephen Timms... by Stephen Timms
On 1st May 2025, I was part of a small group of women who had a brief meeting with Stephen Timms, to discuss the cuts that Labour plan to...
Jun 1814 min read
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A response to Stephen Timms
I recently had the opportunity to meet with Stephen Timms, the Labour MP who is Minister for Social Security and Disability. This was as...
May 279 min read
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Evidence that Labour is ignoring: Solent Jobs Programme
The Learning and Work Institute recently released a briefing which, rather optimistically to my mind, suggested that 45,000-95,000 sick...
May 266 min read
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Evidence that Labour is ignoring: Additional Work Coach Support
This is the fifth in my series of blog posts looking at the impact of employment support for sick and disabled people. So far, a handful...
May 169 min read
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Evidence that Labour is ignoring: Employment Advisers in IAPT
This is the fourth in my series of blog posts looking at employment support programmes for sick and disabled people. So far, the most...
Apr 214 min read
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Evidence that Labour is ignoring: 18-24 month WRAG
This is the third blog in a series looking at various employment support programmes that have tried to support sick and disabled people...
Apr 76 min read
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Initial response to the Green Paper
There are so many issues with Liz Kendall’s speech today, and the Green Paper proposals, that it is really hard to know where to begin....
Apr 711 min read
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Evidence that Labour is ignoring: the Health-Led Employment Trials
My last blog post covered the Work and Health Programme (W&HP) for disabled people who had been “identified as being capable of finding...
Mar 175 min read
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Evidence that Labour is ignoring: The Work and Health Programme
The current Labour government is very keen for people with chronic illness to somehow move into work. Despite all the evidence which...
Mar 117 min read
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Labour's disappointing review into disability and employment
Labour have enthusiastically reported that they are carrying out a review that will be the first of its kind, but it is unclear what is new
Jan 286 min read
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How I'm doing: increased illness in 2024
I found this old blogpost from April that I had forgotten to publish at the time, about where my chronic illness had got to at that point.
Oct 23, 20248 min read
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Enduring: when suffering doesn't lead to growth
“The word we might use most commonly next to "suffering" is "season." But what if your experience of suffering is your life's climate?...
May 20, 20248 min read
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Unsupported tropes used to cut disability benefits
One of the government’s most common tropes when it is discussing welfare is a desire to focus support on ‘the most needy’. Superficially...
May 15, 20246 min read
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Sunak perpetuates the myth of the 'sick note culture'
The UK PM perpetuates the myth of the sick note culture, as an excuse to cut support to sick and disabled people.
Apr 19, 20244 min read
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Living in a hostile environment with chronic illness
I actually wrote this blog post back in November - still autumn - but forgot about it so never reviewed and posted it. Here it is, a...
Jan 15, 202410 min read
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Accepting charity is hard: using a food club in the UK
I went to a food club recently. A food club is where you pay a small-ish amount of money for food that is about to go out-of-date, or...
Jul 17, 20239 min read
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Accessing the Divine: attending the BTIC conference 2023
I was pleased to be able to watch, over zoom, the second ‘Accessing the Divine’ conference, held by Boston Theological Inter-religious...
Apr 7, 202312 min read
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Turning a terrible mess into a toxic one: #Budget2023
The budget today announced a lot of stuff, and most of it I’m not qualified to comment on. I’m interested, because I have a sister with...
Mar 15, 202310 min read
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SAS: who dares illness?
I recently started watching the series SAS: Who Dares Wins, right from the first series. I’ve found it quite addictive, possibly in part...
Feb 14, 202310 min read
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