Right lovely people here we go! It's this week's #BigCommunityLoveIn. I know that so many of you love this just as much as I do and I think it's more than necessary in these times when people are clearly struggling and the government don't really give a shit.1
#Thread Seven years ago today I applied for income -related ESA, at times the application process was very confusing, particularly the fact that during the initial call I had to do things like confirm my date of birth three times (surely once could have been enough) 1
And attempt to explain that I could not specify the number of hours per week I had attended the history and politics university course I had just finished because it varied so much between semesters as I'm sure a lot of UK uni students and staff can appreciate. 2
It took two calls to sort out this issue, and to confirm that I would infect need to provide medical evidence of my own unfitness for work for the first 13 weeks of my claim, despite initially being told it was completely up to my GP. With that having been sorted 3
My fantasy Cabinet based on this lovely community. I'm deliberately not putting in any blue tick accounts there will be a few deft positions in there as well because it's only a bit of fun! Don't be a fun sucker
I'm very much open to other suggestions too 1
#Thread. Let's start with earlier this week, when Liz Truss, likely to be the next PM, said at a hustings that the solution to solving the problem of having so many job vacancies was to 'encourage currently economically inactive people into work." The problem with this is 1
When she says 'encourage' what she really means is encouragement in the style of a protection racket as in 'nice benefits you got there, it would be a shame if something happened to them, get a job'. I worry that this means she's going to start blaming disabled people 2
For the nation's economic woes (gotta take the heat of the billionaires somehow, leading once again to a renewal of the culture of suspicion against people with disabilities which dominated the Cameron/Osborne years. Now Truss did say that 3
Right, here we go then lovely people, this week's big community love-in. You are all absolute legends and even if you don't find yourself on the list this week, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate you. So, it's time to spread the positivity, starting in the next tweet 1
#Thread Good morning you lovey lot! I see that a government minister (not sure which) has come out with the tried and tested bollocks of 'work more hours or get a better job'. Two things: more hours won't help people on UC because any extra money is just 1
taken off their benefit, so they are effectively working longer just to save the government money rather than actually improving their own financial situation. Also, the idea that people can just wave a magic wand to get a better paid job is a complete logical fallacy.2
Even if it weren't, who does that leave to do all the low paid (not low skilled) jobs that the hypothetical people who moved onto better paid jobs aren't doing any more? Seriously the fact that they are recycling this tired old trope shows that the posh version of the Mafia 3