David Cameron radicalised by the riots!

Greetings citizens! Breaking news – the riots have radicalised David Cameron – he has finally seen the light! But he needs our help – the forces of oppression do not want to lose their hold and he is now being controlled by remote forces.  Whenever he tries to speak the truth, electronic signals activated from a distant country – or maybe planet – interfere with his words so that the wrong words come out and the ones he wants to say cannot be verbalised.  How do I know this?  Because I saw the original of the speech he made today – before he actually tried to speak it.....  Below is an extract - the original conclusion of his speech – as he wanted it - before the distortions (shown here crossed out) and including what was silenced (shown here in red brackets). 

This is a time for our country to pull together.

To the law abiding people who play by the [unwritten] rules [of justice and equality], and who are the overwhelming majority in this country, I say the fightback has begun, we will protect you.  If you've had your livelihood and property damaged [by the Government Cuts and speculators], we will compensate you. We are [now]on your side.

And to the unlegislated lawless minority, the crooks criminals who've taken what they can get from the people. I say: [HM Revenue and Customs, the Financial Services Authority, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the People’s Police] We will track you down, we will find you, we will charge you, we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done.

We will need to show the world, which has looked on appalled, that the perpetrators of these [economic, financial and political] violations ence that we have seen [impacting] our very streets, are not in any way representative of our country – nor of our young people.

We need to show them that we will address our broken society and restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every [political party] town, in every [bank and financial institution] street, in every [large corporation] and in every estate.
And a year away from the Olympics, we need to [start to] show them a Government Britain that doesn't destroy, but that builds; that doesn't give [in to big business] up but stands up [to them]; that doesn't look back, but always forwards.

[I resign]

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

“We can reverse our social atomisation by giving people the power to work collectively with their peers to solve common problems. We can reverse our society's infantilisation by inviting people to look to themselves, their communities and wider society for answers, instead of just the state.” David Cameron

Greeting citizens

Have you got a migraine coming on?  Good!  That means your brain is fighting back.  Fighting back against the bombardment of buzz words and sound bites which if you actually sit down and try to make sense of, could make you blow a gasket.

We’ve been trained to believe that anything said slowly, in a “reasonable” tone with a posh accent and a few long words is correct, intelligent and true.

But is it really? 

Don’t panic – it is not you who is stupid – it really doesn’t make sense.

David Cameron is inviting us to work collectively with our peers to solve common problems – what’s wrong with that you may ask? Nothing at all – that’s why I’m in UFO (the Union of Fabrication Obliterators).  On June the 30^th we’ll be taking collective action with our mythbusting peers and our allies in other unions to solve our common problem of working people (paid and unpaid), people on benefits and pensions (and those who’ve been kicked of them) and children and young people having to pay the price for the economic recession. David Cameron himself said (in May 2009) he understood people’s anger “….about the bankers who got rich while they were bringing the economy to its knees.”  Do you think he’ll make headline news on June 30^th by singing our praises for rising collectively out of our infantilisation? I mean that is what he meant isn’t it?

You see while we can’t fault him on what he’s saying, we have to question what he uses it to justify.  He uses his ‘power to the people’ comments to justify bringing in NHS reforms that were never voted on by the electorate (that’s the people, Dave) - since the Conservatives promised there would be no major reorganisation of the NHS.  He uses them to justify having a bunch of unelected GP consortia (NOT the people, Dave) running the Health Service in partnership with a load of unelected private companies and an unelected “monitor” making sure they are operating competitively – yes that’s competitively – not efficiently, not in a way that maximises health and prevents ill-health, but competitively.  There’s not a patient, member of the community or elected councillor in sight and the private companies will all be using the NHS logo so we won’t even know whether they’re private or not (e.g. the “NHS” Treatment Centre in Nottingham).

So when David Cameron talks about empowering “the people” – who is he really talking about?  Who is he listening to?  Not Unite and five other health organisations who have said ‘….the sheer scale of the ambitious and costly reform programme, and the pace of change, whilst at the same time being tasked with making £20 billion of savings, is extremely risky and potentially disastrous.’

What about the private health care firms who have donated £750,000 to the Conservative Party since David Cameron became leader in 2005 and the Private health lobby out in force at Tory conference?

Come on Dave, you can talk all you want about giving power to the people and switching power from here to there, but we already have a system for giving people a voice and it’s called Democracy – it involves people voting for individuals to represent them locally and nationally.  It doesn’t work perfectly – there are plenty of groups who are still marginalised and disenfranchised, but if you believe in people power the least you can do is start respecting the democratic process we’ve already got and acknowledge that you have no mandate for “reforming” the NHS and taking it out of the hands of elected representatives or for making massive cuts in public services. 

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When is an efficiency saving not an efficiency saving?

Spot says:

Ey up me ducks,

       

Now in view of how so much can get lost in translation, for those of you who have difficulty understanding the lingo, I’ve got a glossary at bottom of this ere posting for you to peruse at your leisure.

This week I’m returning to the old efficiency chestnut.  I’ve already mentioned previously how it’s a working class stereotype that public institutions such as local councils and the NHS are inefficient, and that public sector workers are underworked, overpaid and lazy, but these things can still cause a bit of confusion so I’m homing in on “efficiency savings”

Well now it all started with our household deciding to make efficiency savings!  This is on account of how we foresee an increased demand for energy later in the year when our house becomes multi-generational what with the arrival of a new nipper due in August. 

We had a big discussion about how to go about it, we decided to be open minded and listen to all David Cameron’s speeches on the subject - cos being so well-educated and all, he must have picked up something as he went along.  But you know what ?  We was flummoxed -  we just couldn’t make head nor tails of it…...he kept saying we had to spend less!

Well I tell you, my hind leg were aching I was scratching my head so many times trying to get some sense out of that one.  If we spent less, we’d have less energy – now a new nipper wouldn’t be experiencing that as very efficient would they?  Like, if we cut down on our weekly baths, true we’d spend less on energy, but we’d smell more…What’s the point of that?

Well we gnawed it over fer a good half hour and we came up trumps with our own efficiency saving strategy - Did we spend less? Did we hellers like! We forked out an arm and a leg…BUT….pay attention now Dave – it gets a bit complicated…What we forked out on was Solar panels and a brand new modern boiler, so even though it costs us more in the short run…..our household bills will be lower per amount of hot water used in the future!  Furthermore we’ll be damaging the environment less!  Now that’s what I call an efficiency saving. 

When is an efficiency saving not an efficiency saving?  When it’s a flippin cut, that’s when.

You can’t make the NHS more efficient by bleeding it dry, squeezing the staff, handing work out to agencies and private treatment centres etc. but that’s not the point is it - they’re not really interested in efficiency they’re interested in cuts.

Public health warning: Don’t believe anyone who says they want to make the NHS more efficient unless they’re saying they’ll need to spend more money to do it.

Yours Spot

(Keeping the spotlight on the stereotypes)

GLOSSARY

lingo                                        - language or dialect

‘ere                                          - here

on account of                          - because of

nipper                                      - child or offspring

make heads nor tails of it        - understand

go about it                               - do it

picked up                                - learnt

and all                                     - etc.

as he went along                     - during his life

flummoxed                              - confused

to get some sense out of         - understand

Like                                         - (here) for example

gnawed it over                                    - considered it

came up trumps                       - were successful

Did we hellers like!                 - certainly not

forked out an arm and a leg    - paid a lot of money

flippin                                      - [used for emphasis]

(old) chestnut                          - recurring issue

Our precious NHS: 3 little myths and a REALLY BIG FACT

Myth 1: 

“Let me draw a little contrast between what the Health Secretary is delivering here – real-terms increases in health spending...” David Cameron

Myth 2: 

“Too often, the decisions of frontline doctors and nurses are over-ridden by a top-down system which doesn’t allow professionals the freedom they need.......

Myth 3: 

.........this is the reason that despite spending the European average on health, some of the outcomes are poor in comparison. For example, someone in this country is twice as likely to die from a heart attack as someone in France,” David Cameron

First of all the little FACTS -

FACT 1

According to the Office of Budget Responsibility, by the end of March 2012, inflation will have risen by a cumulative 10% since the Con Dem Government came to power.  Over the same period, NHS spending in England will have risen from £103bn to £105.9bn – that’s a 2.8% increase, a fall in real terms of 7.2%.

FACT 2

A few professionals don’t completely agree with you Dave.....The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have voted 99 percent in favour of a no confidence motion against the government health reforms – the first time a motion has been carried against a minister in more than 30 years.

A BMA press release on 6^th April stated..... we believe the Bill as it is currently written is taking the NHS in England in the wrong direction.

FACT 3

According to the OECD health indicators 2009, current figures back the common hypothesis that different levels of deaths from heart attacks between countries are explained by underlying risk factors such as diet and lifestyle. 

A year 2000 article in The Lancet has confirmed that, [The lower coronary mortality figures in France compared with other countries] is a consequence of different ways of coding coronary mor­tality.

But you know, you could spend a lifetime's bank holidays challenging the inaccuracies and misinformation pumped out by the government about the NHS - and that's just what they want: argue about the details - miss the big picture.  

1 BIG FACT
“The [Government's Health] Bill relieves the Health Secretary of his existing responsibility for providing a universal and comprehensive health service, and doesn’t allocate it to anyone else.

It leaves it up to unaccountable local GPs grouped in Consortia to decide what services their particular patients will be entitled to, and what they will have to pay for, and how much, and this can vary from one consortium to another – goodbye both comprehensiveness and universality.

It leaves an unaccountable healthcare market regulator (Monitor) to decide what private companies can offer NHS patients, and whether they can underbid NHS hospitals on price, and it mandates Monitor to promote competition –
goodbye free care at the point of delivery.”
 Colin Leys Cameron's rhetoric is wearing thin

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SOCIAL MOBILITY? NOT ON YOUR NELLIE!

“The true test of fairness is the distribution of opportunities. That is why improving social mobility is the principal goal of the Coalition Government’s social policy..” 
opening-doors-breaking-barriers.pdf

Spot says:

  Is it a stereotype?  Is it a myth? – Me ‘n’ Ms Mythbuster both fought for this one but as she’s got a busy week ahead busting the “Power to the GPs….er… People” myth, she’s letting me have a gnaw at the old social mobility bone.  Mind you - she didn’t let on it’d involve an 89 page Government document as bedtime reading!

   I tell you, when I started hearing all this stuff about social mobility I nearly lost me temperature! – I mean where are they wanting us to mobilise ourselves from --- and where to?  If you’re saying we should be moving ourselves from down here to up there – you’re saying down here is inferior and up there is superior. 

  I can see the working class stereotype forming in front of my eyes...culturally deprived, poor, living in substandard housing, uneducated, bad health, unambitious, lazy, dependant...

  Hang on a minute!  You cut our social infrastructure – the Arts, benefits, social housing, educational support, the NHS and then tell us the reason we are deprived is because of a lack of social mobility!

  So we’re all supposed to be vying and competing for that wonderful, superior lifestyle in the sky where we can live on a street that’s the same size as my street but 8 houses on it instead of 80, where you don’t have to worry about the state of the NHS because you can afford private healthcare, where you can buy your own personal library and art collection instead of mixing with us lot in the public facilities and you don’t have to engage with state schools because you can pay for your children to be privately educated,  and where,  if you are really lucky – er sorry – if you are really well-educated, ambitious, hard-working, intelligent and culturally enriched, you can earn huge amounts of money and status by doing a job that provides no service to humanity whatsoever........? 

  It’s enough to tempt any self-respecting working class person.........isn’t it?

  Well me ducks, I have a confession to make.  I haven’t always been so on the ball as I am now and for a while I was estranged from Grandma – to my cost!  I once traded in 1,000 green  shield stamps to get our youngest a place in a private school – I know – it were a lot of stamps – I forfeited that car in the green shields catalogue!......and what did she learn there that she couldn’t have learned in a state school?  I’ll tell you what she learned...

  that regional and community accents are
  comical,

  that some jobs are embarrassing (and I’m
  not talking about being a banker),

  that the individual is more important than
  the community,

  that being comfortable is more important
  than being principled,

  that it’s better to be polite than honest,

  not to raise her voice – or laugh too loud....

  I tell you, when we realised what was going on, we took her out of there like a flash -before she got completely educated!  Grandma, a self-educated Marxist herself, never let me forget it.

  Not for me the low expectations of social mobility, we working class people are much more ambitious than that: -  Working class communities all over the world have histories and cultures which have been persistently attacked, belittled, manipulated and exploited and still we keep fighting to hang onto all that is good; a culture of co-operation instead of competition, commonality and camaraderie instead of individuality, fighting together for social justice for all, decent pay for decent jobs, appreciating work - paid and unpaid, appreciating and creating art, mucking in and getting on with it, being connected with (but not owning) nature....

  Hey I’ve changed my mind!  Up with social mobility – you’re all welcome to join us - all classes, all people – it won’t get you special privileges but the company’s great! (Woof woof)

Yours Spot

Keeping the Spotlight on the stereotypes.

SPOT THE WORKING CLASS STEREOTYPE

“David Cameron has pledged to do away with Britain's "insidious" benefit culture and..... strip benefits from people who repeatedly turn down job offers, and ensure individuals are only classified as disabled if they really cannot work.”

Spot says:

There you have it me ducks  – hidden between the lines as usual, not one but three working class stereotypes for the price of one.

The “insidious” benefit culture – picture it now – thousands of working class people finding themselves on benefit, discovering what an easy life it is and then just becoming addicted to it!  Can’t say I know anyone like that but obviously David Cameron knows loads of 'em, after all he wouldn't go making stuff like that up, would he? 

And "stripping benefits from people who repeatedly turn down job offers" – now if you don't know any different - you read that and you think that claimants are refusing jobs all over the place and nothing's happening to their benefits - not trying to mislead people are you Dave? - I know you've never signed on - but surely your advisers and consultants have told you that under the current rules - refuse a job and your benefit gets stopped! 

And that's not all folks - don't keep a record of all the jobs you've applied for and your  benefit can get stopped - only the other week I'd applied for loads of jobs, from head chef to dog warden (woof, woof) but because I couldn't fill me job search record in due to repetitive paw strain my benefit got stopped!  I knew I should have got a note from me vet!

And finally me ducks, that owd chestnut that working class people go around pretending to be disabled or sick to avoid work and get their hands on those juicy benefits.  Well us working class people come in all shapes and sizes and abilities and we don't like it when any of us get targeted – so leave off those of us who have disabilities or are sick, Dave - the discrimination we get is tough enough without your implications that we are benefit cheats.

Now my grandma - bless her soul - always used to say: "Maybe anyone can get rich in this country - but not everyone can.  People in high paid jobs are not morally superior or more deserving than the rest of us - they are just luckier."  Let's face it, blaming working class people who claim benefits (whether they are unemployed, disabled or workers in low paid jobs) for their status takes attention away from the injustice of massive bonuses, super profits, tax avoidance and making the poorest in our society pay for the recession.  

Ooo er - is that the time?  Can’t sit around here nattering all day – I’ve got some serious benefit claiming to do – only another 96,150 years signing on – and I’ll have scrounged as much in JSA and housing benefit as Phillip Green allegedly scrounged through tax avoidance in the last year!

Yours Spot

Keeping the Spotlight on the stereotypes.

Myth: If we get rid of tax loopholes, charge a Robin Hood Tax on the banks, and increase bank regulations, banks and big business will leave the UK and this would be a disaster for the economy.

Greetings Citizens

If big businesses and banks “leave” the UK, it means they will no longer be operating in the UK – no Top Shops, no Boots, no Vodafones.  Those businesses are here because they have a market here and they are making profits here – that’s what they are paying tax on – the profits made in the UK.   If they move, other businesses whose owners are not so greedy will step in to fill the gap.  But Top Shop is not going to remove its shops from the UK, Barclay’s Bank is not going to remove its banks - their head office maybe – but with sensible tax laws that wouldn’t make a difference.  Where would they move to?  Somewhere where there aren’t already banks and Top Shops?  Somewhere were there isn’t a recession?  Or somewhere where there is lower corporation tax? – Well that excludes the USA, Japan, Germany and France for starters.  And if it’s so easy for them to leave, why do they put so much money into lobbying MPs about it?

FACT:Businesses and banks who threaten to leave the UK should be faced down not pandered to.  If they are not prepared to pay tax on the profits they make here, they should move over and make way for businesses who are.

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