Welcome back Theresa May-here's what you've missed...

I hope you had an excellent walking holiday in Italy Theresa May. I've compiled a short guide to help explain some of the recent developments for you when you get back to work later this week:

1. Your Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, requested a private bathroom in his office at the cost of £44,000 to the taxpayer. The many NHS patients who have been left on trolleys in hospital corridors will surely understand his need for privacy. "Let's encourage cyclists!" he eagerly declared (in a bizarre bid to swerve any criticism regarding austerity).

2. The Department of Health also came under further criticism for the rapid 'fire-sale' of NHS land. Analysis for Labour showed that one fifth of the plots are still in use and, importantly, there are no details for of over half the area (1332 hectares) up-for-grabs owing to "sensitivity" issues. I'm afraid the 'cat is out of the bag' on this one Theresa May, as the saying goes... 



3. The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has been doing an excellent job continuing to bully the disabled, workers and pensioners. 


 4. An update on the continued position of austerity on the public sector is as follows:

a. NHS: underfunded; understaffed; near breaking point.

b. Education: underfunded; understaffed; near breaking point.

c. Fire Servies: underfunded; understaffed; near breaking point.

d. Prison services: underfunded; understaffed; near breaking point.

e. Job Centres: underfunded; understaffed; near breaking point.

5. Progress on Brexit has been limited. 

6. Jacob Rees-Mogg (the super-rich one who thinks it's appropriate to waste parliament's time by 'filibustering', and who received £7.6 million pounds from the Chancellor to repair his wife's 350-room ancestral home despite voting for further £30-a-week disability cuts and for the bedroom tax) has been discussing a potential leadership bid. He's now the frontrunner to take over as Tory leader, and he has friends in high places...

 7. Jeremy Corbyn has been on the march with his Many taking aim at marginal seats, and also helping to carry pushchairs up steps. 

8. Finally, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un have been threatening to nuke each other, and Boris Johnson (as your chosen Foreign Secretary) has rather clumsily entered the fray. You might want to visit your friend Donald Trump soon. If you hold both his hands this time, he won't be able to press that red button...

Welcome back Theresa May. It looks like you're going to be busy...

Downward spiral of the DWP - how low will they go?

The DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) are using taxpayer's money to appeal against a decision made by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). This follows an earlier Freedom of Information (FOI) request relating to deaths after Work Capability Assessments (WCA) judged individuals 'fit for work'. After initially denying even holding the information, the DWP then claimed that releasing the (conveniently found) data would likely cause reputational damage to 'commercial interests' for the department and the relevant commercial entities (Atos and Maximus). The ICO found this was not a valid reason for the government to withhold this information, and ordered the DWP to release the report. By appealing against this ruling from the ICO (and despite high numbers of overturned assessment decisions, concerns regarding cost, and ongoing evidence suggesting a link between WCA tests, mental health and deaths, including suicide), the DWP is unashamedly putting commercial interests above their moral obligation to protect the physical and mental health of our society's most vulnerable. 

The WCA, first introduced by Gordon Brown in 2008, uses a fixed points system to classify individuals into three categories: fit for work, unfit for work (but fit for work-related activity) and unfit for work. The WCA testing process has always been outsourced to private companies — first to Atos (an IT services corporation with an annual revenue of ~ €12 billion) in 2008. Atos were commissioned to assess individuals face-to-face using decision-making software to compile reports to send to the DWP regarding claimant's fitness to work. In 2005, Maximus (another private for-profit company that reported annual revenue of $1.7 billion in 2014) took over the contract. If a claimant disagrees with the outcome, claimants can ask the DWP to reconsider the case — a process known as 'mandatory reconsideration' whereby decisions can be overturned.

  

In 2011, David Cameron's coalition government, under the name of 'welfare reforms' and 'austerity', further revised the assessment (intended to save 'wasted' tax-payers money). A number of subsequent reports criticised the numbers of incorrect decisions that were overturned on appeal, the cost effectiveness of the tests, and the impact that WCAs have on claimant's health (Parliament's Office of Science and Technology, 2012; Public Accounts Committee, 2013; A study on WCA and mental health between 2010 and 2013 published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2015; British Psychological Society, 2015; The National Audit Office, 2016; The United Nations, 2016). In addition, a number of coroners have also written to the DWP citing concerns regarding mental health problems, anxiety caused by the WCA, and suicide. Despite the devastating impact these assessments have had on thousands of lives, the Office for Budget Responsibility found that between 2011 and 2014, no savings had been made in the sickness benefit budget.

Individuals with chronic health problems (both physical and mental) already spend a substantial amount of time within the NHS. Only trained professionals with continued contact (such as GPs or specialists) are in any viable position to assess whether an individual is 'fit for work'. Outsourcing this task to for-profit companies (where targets and money are the main objective, and not the welfare of vulnerable members of our society) is an inhuman approach. Money spent outsourcing these assessments should be invested into the NHS, increasing staffing levels so that informed decisions can be made regarding fitness for work capabilities. As the evidence shows, a binary 'for-profit' approach does not work with complex health issues. 

Unnecessarily withholding relevant information is dishonest, cruel and unproductive. The DWP, and its commercial associates, need to be held responsible for any issues raised by this information to prevent any further suffering, and before the system spirals even further out of control. 

Tory 'Glastonbury' is just a very nasty party

The Tories are now planning a 'Tory Glastonbury' to bring in new members and gain grass-roots support after the success of Corbyn's speech at Glastonbury in June this year. “You brought the spirit of music, you bought the spirit of love, you bought the spirit of ideas, and you brought the spirit of great messages" said Corbyn to Michael Eavis in front of a huge (uninvited) audience on the Pyramid Stage.

Glastonbury is a festival of the performing arts. Glaston-Tory will be a festival of the dark arts. It's doubtful love, ideas and great messages will be promoted. 

Over 100,000 individuals now regularly attend Glastonbury but they say there will be 150-200 invitees at this party 'bringing in new members' and gaining 'grass-roots' support. Furthermore, given the refusal of Theresa May to attend election debates, it's doubtful she would appear on stage - the headline act is still to be confirmed. 

George Freeman MP commented in the Independent 'why is it the left who have all the fun in politics?' But George Freeman has already been having plenty of fun bullying those with mental health issues by voting to prevent disability payments going to "people sitting at home taking pills for anxiety" to direct it to the "really disabled". He subsequently apologised for any 'distress' he had caused.

"It'll be like your first rave" he gleefully continues. But interestingly 'raves' were made illegal by the Tories under the Justice and Public Order Act in 1994. Notably, the following is contained within that act: 

63: Powers to remove persons attending or preparing for a rave

(1) This section applies to a gathering on land in the open air of 100 or more persons (whether or not trespassers) at which amplified music (“music” includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats) is played during the night (with or without intermissions) and is such as, by reason of its loudness and duration and the time at which it is played, is likely to cause serious distress to the inhabitants of the locality.

Anyone at Glaston-Tory should therefore be arrested immediately if caught dancing to the repetitive beat of "strong and stable, strong and stable, strong and stable..." (glowsticks in hands or not). Alternatively, as the Tories have already caused enough serious distress to inhabitants of the UK locality, arrest them all on entry. Including George Freeman.

To compare a gathering of fewer than 200 Tories to Glastonbury is an insult. It's just a very nasty party.