Healthy eating on £23/week
Budget menus abound on the internet, but what I’ve rarely seen with them is a calculation of whether keeping to that menu can meet one’s...
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- Aug 1
- 10 min
The NHS isn't sacrosanct - but maybe it should be
I enjoy listening to a range of podcasts from different political viewpoints. One topic that came up recently – albeit as a sidenote of...
- Dec 20, 2020
- 6 min
The Myth of the Undeserving Poor
I recently finished reading The Myth of the Undeserving Poor: a Christian response to poverty in Britain today by Martin Charlesworth and...
- Sep 27, 2020
- 5 min
Why I'm opposed to UBI
I 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, 2020
- 3 min
To Jonathan Reynolds: a better vision is possible
Dear Jonathan Reynolds, Re: Welfare should reflect ‘what you put in’ to tackle public mistrust, says Labour’s shadow DWP secretary I am...
- Dec 11, 2019
- 4 min
PIP: locking chronically ill people out of disabled benefits
PIP isn’t supposed to be about diagnoses. But even with my diagnoses, I have major difficulties getting benefits assessors from a range...
- Dec 11, 2019
- 5 min
Learning to live with chronic illness without independence
Recently 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, 2019
- 4 min
PIP: maintaining poverty, removing choice
The 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, 2019
- 7 min
#IsItOk that sick and disabled people have written books about the harm the UK government has done t
In 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, 2019
- 4 min
Subsidiarity and the UBI vs UBS debate
This 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, 2019
- 3 min
(satirical) UBI critique – when the robots take over
UBI 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, 2019
- 2 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, 2019
- 5 min
Where 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, 2019
- 4 min
How 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, 2019
- 20 min
Consequences of cuts 2010-2018
I 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, 2018
- 2 min
UC budgeting nightmares
I 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, 2018
- 6 min
PIP 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, 2018
- 3 min
Missed 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, 2018
- 2 min
Some good news – I think
I’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, 2018
- 3 min
The Tories have messed up my council tax
Naturally, 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...