Dec 20, 20206 minThe Myth of the Undeserving PoorI recently finished reading The Myth of the Undeserving Poor: a Christian response to poverty in Britain today by Martin Charlesworth and...
Sep 27, 20205 minWhy I'm opposed to UBII 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...
Jun 5, 20203 minTo Jonathan Reynolds: a better vision is possibleDear Jonathan Reynolds, Re: Welfare should reflect ‘what you put in’ to tackle public mistrust, says Labour’s shadow DWP secretary I am...
Dec 11, 20194 minPIP: locking chronically ill people out of disabled benefitsPIP isn’t supposed to be about diagnoses. But even with my diagnoses, I have major difficulties getting benefits assessors from a range...
Dec 11, 20195 minLearning to live with chronic illness without independenceRecently I failed a PIP appeal. I get standard rate mobility - which at one point the Tribunal were minded to take away - but was...
Dec 11, 20194 minPIP: maintaining poverty, removing choiceThe point of extra-costs disability benefits is to meet some of the costs experienced by people with disability, in order to raise them...
Nov 4, 20197 min#IsItOk that sick and disabled people have written books about the harm the UK government has done tIn the modern hegemony of identity politics, a person is only allowed to comment on something if they have direct experience of it. So...
Jun 12, 20194 minSubsidiarity and the UBI vs UBS debateThis post is a response to Simon Duffy’s critique of a debate between Barb Johnson (from Basic Income UK) and Anna Coote (from New...
May 25, 20193 min(satirical) UBI critique – when the robots take overUBI 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...
May 25, 20192 min(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...
Mar 18, 20195 minWhere 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...
Jan 17, 20194 minHow 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...
Jan 8, 201920 minConsequences of cuts 2010-2018I 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...
Nov 22, 20182 minUC budgeting nightmaresI 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 –...
Nov 12, 20186 minPIP 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...
Oct 23, 20183 minMissed 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...
Oct 18, 20182 minSome good news – I thinkI’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...
Oct 15, 20183 minThe Tories have messed up my council taxNaturally, 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...
Sep 27, 20182 minMoney mattersDWP-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...
Aug 31, 20183 minWhy am I the mediator for ESA and UC?Having phoned ESA a couple of days ago, today I phoned UC to tell them that ESA had told me that they needed to send a form to ESA to say...
