Social housing tenants in Hammersmith and Fulham could be forced to carry out unpaid work or face losing their homes the Council’s new Housing Allocation policy reveals.
There was outrage last year when a Liverpool Housing Association boss claimed that those facing a shortfall in housing benefits due to the bedroom tax could carry out odd jobs such as “litter picking” on estates to cover rent payments.
But Hammersmith and Fulham intend to go much further and are enshrining unpaid work as a condition of maintaining a social housing tenancy.
Under the borough’s complex and draconian new regulations for social housing tenants, priority for housing will be given to those who make a ‘community contribution’. One of the ways that prospective tenants can qualify for this is by volunteering, which must have been for at least 20 hours a month for six months prior to any housing application being considered.
Astonishingly, if those housed stop volunteering at any point then they may face being sent on workfare by the Council or lose their home completely when their tenancies are renewed. The Council have declared that (PDF):
“Where an applicant for housing has been made an allocation of housing from Band 2 of the Housing Allocation Scheme, based on a Community Contribution award and the basis for that award ceases to apply during the term of the tenancy, the Council may seek to provide opportunities for the tenant to make a community contribution in an alternative way. Non-performance against an award of a community contribution may be one factor taken into account in the consideration of the renewal of a flexible tenancy.”
Volunteering can include working for non-profit organisations run by the council themselves. It should not apply to those in work, which is also counted as a community contribution by the council. However this is only the case if the tenant has worked nine out of the last twelve months. Very soon Hammersmith and Fulham council flat tenants who become unemployed even temporarily, may find themselves compelled to work for free*.
This will not be a condition of receiving benefits, as Jobcentre workfare schemes currently are. It will not even be to make up a bedroom tax shortfall to help pay the rent. Instead forced unpaid labour will be built into tenancy agreements with the direct threat of homelessness for those who refuse.
*these rules are for new tenants. Existing tenants will not be affected.
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
the void 
How low can you go.
This must surely contravene Human Rights as a form of enslavement.
They don’t believe in Human Rights, remember? In fact they’re plotting to leave the ECHR.
They cant do this, It is a breach of human rights.
Dont worry 🙂
DEFINATELY :-
BREACH OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
If they think for one minuite they can get away with this, hell will break loose!
I wonder if article 6 of the UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights could be violated? No amount of abolition of the Human Rights Act or withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights will get around that.
Just what I thought. How low can one possibly get? If they did it to any other group but the poor and disabled, most people would be outraged at them.
This cannot be allowed to happen, if it does I think Hammersmith and Fulham council estates will become reminisant ghost town’s as a mass exodus will probably ensue.
@JV maybe this is why H&F tory councillors wrote to Grant Schaaps recently complaining that other councils were failing to stick to the rules about housing working people and armed forces but instead were housing unemployed homeless..of which i read in item about them they were ‘reframing’ the rules about housing homeless..(” homelessness is mostly intentional” they said)..
Reblogged this on Dawn Willis .
@JV and as i was also pointing out to others the increase of EVICTION SERVICES companies online offering 100% effectiveness..this is worrying as its looking that the council tenants could be chucked out and dumped into private sector with two year fixed tenancy…that means one could be constantly moving home all the time…
oh and equally worrying citizens advice budget cut from 20 million to 3 million..that in itself is pretty disturbing..
And bang goes legal aid for employment and benefit related cases too. The people of this country are being squeezed from all directions.
@scarecrow78 actually its more disturbing if you are facing eviction and are worried sick about yr kids being put in care..
btw does anyone think a site called http://www.evicthem.com sound sinister? as if tenants are not people but just unwanted objects?
What the actual Fuck? This is a constant daily war of attrition now, every day the once unthimkable is floated and I say ‘ unbelievable’ then quickly retract that thought, as it no longer is unbelievable but frighteningly commonplace
@ULYSSES Shame i got blocked but i posted other eviction sites on here with equally odd language eg EVICT TENANTS TODAY !! just call this number…etc etc..
@scarecrow and all landlords now have access to eviction agencies..what have tenants have access to? cuts to legal aid and citizens advice reduced to zero..
apologies its called http://www.evicthem.co.uk ..
This is a cowboy operation, Bob, it has even got a hotmail email address fffs, this is the sort of “business” you see advertising on universal jobmatch, wouldn’t be surprised if they were in fact advertising on that dangerous site. Jobseekers being forced to carry out evictions on fellow jobseekers?
@UJM well i posted a link to another Eviction service site called southeast .the website looked a lot more professional than this one..
it had recommendations on it (probbly made up) but they cant all be cowboy sites as ive seen a lot spring up now..
All “eviction services” are cowboy operations by their very definition. The thugs running these crooked firms are nothing but SCUM!
Absolutely right these are truly the pits of the earth. Same as applies to any body making money out of misery Shame on them all
And there is going to be a LOT more of these operations spring up in the near future, a LOT more… every thug in town will be jumping on the eviction bandwagon.
“Our expertise is beyond the level of the average high street solicitor, having performed thousands of successful tenant evictions over many years.” … and you are still using a “hotmail” address? Yeah, sure lol
“We are an established firm”… established like 5 minutes ago lol
i posted a few more as examples that look a bit more convincing..and what do i get?
” your comment is awaiting moderation” AGAIN..
this is why i get fucking fed up on here…
i hate agenda led blog sites..
All blogs/websites have an agenda though and most if not all moderate to one degree or the other, even such esteemed organs such as the Daily Heil and BBC (moderated by Crapita). If you speak out of turn and don’t toe the “party line” what else can you expect but to be moderated.
@mod erator so much for free speech.it clearly dont exist..at the moment there are blog wars on the net and im getting sick of it..
@bobchewie – Must admit, I’ve become a bit flippant with a few blogs lately but I try and think to endure, it’s good to meet with like minds and opposite of course.
@mick maybe so, but i spend bloody hours digging away on stuff and its soul drenching to be blocked because of ………. stuff..that and bloggers trying to play my blog is better than yours..what are we supposed to do go back to the MSM?
set up your own blog?
I’ve said many times you contribution is welcome Bob, but you already post five times more comments than anyone else – it’s not fair on other people to dominate a conversation like that and I’m not spending hours digging through the spam list on the off chance that one of your comments was moderated because it was full of links or you were posting every 30 seconds.
i cant set up my own blog due to the shitty surroundings here..as many well know and im not posting every 30 seconds as i cant type that fast and my laptop is dog slow most of the time..it just needs organising into multi links and summaries in one hit as someone suggested..atm its getting depressing as i am on 3 or 4 blogs at same time..and right now a child sex abuse site has just turned into a puerile slanging match…it wears me out..anyways i am sometimes replying to stuff that someones written back to me…i am isolated here..all the residents are schizo phrenic and off there heads..i dont get visitors i am struggling to move but have got stuck..
i have written blogs before but NO ONE ever went on them ever..it had my photos and videos and stuff on it..it was total despair..ive posted up shit loads of photos that no one looks at..i was on facebook doing same till i fell out with someone and packed it in..the info super highway where you can become informed ha bleeding ha to that
well i will shut up now and…stare out the window..oh wait theres ppl banging on my door demanding fags off me..god i feel ill , i wonder why..
Bob I appreciate your comments as they are very informative and you have a great sense of homour which is very much needed in these very hard times. JV may be having a bad dayhe also works hard and writes wonderful blogs to keep us all informed. Keep up the good work Bob you are well liked.
@LIZ thats really sweet of you..thats why i do this stuff,,for all you really great people…(here we go bang bang on the door again i get no peace..did i mention ive got scratches all over my legs..the bedsprings have come through the mattress and scratch my legs they are pretty sore at the moment )
Sorry to hear of your circumstances will the landlord not provide a new mattress? I hope you find a new place soon as I read in previous comments that you were looking for somewhere.
@Liz we reported the mattress as being dangerous…and no they’ve done nothing as yet..no surprise there..atm i am on a list not sure if its actually housing register..whats odd is that where i think i am aiming for ive actually offered to volunteer for charity if it helps me move..and its strange as it seems to fit with stuff im reading about on here..i took photos of my legs and uploaded it so i can get medical or council to see how this place is wrecking my health..
@bobchewie – Maybe so Bob but Schizophrenia is an unfortunate illness. If they take their medication say Clozapine they should give you no trouble but there are many “pretenders” out there because Schizophrenia is difficult to diagnose correctly. It seems my lifestyle is pretty much like yours and I have no visitors, I have had visitors from within my block and these are people 60+ but I do not like to engage in “some” of their mind games. One of them Ha! Ha! thinks my flat is a launderette. I know where you come from see with people at your door, just ignore their knocks and in time they will get fed up knocking. They’ll go away. On the subject of Schizophrenia, nooooooooo I won’t go there as it is a completely different idea. No I will say. You know like when you see on the news about a dangerous Schizophrenia individual commits a murder, they always make this point that Schizophrenia is involved. Just more ignorance. I hope one day the authorities come to realise they should spread some equality on this for say when a “normal” murder is committed by a “normal” person and emphasise on the news that the person / assailant is considered normal and not with Schizophrenia.
bobchewie does make this blog interesting though, very interesting in fact. Without his input it would be a loss.
Now MSM would be seriously boring
“What the People Sleep Upon, 1904”
http://sites.scran.ac.uk/redclyde/redclyde/rc067.htm
Just click onto any pictures in the above link, they will enlarge and you can read them.
I’ve explained many times, if you repeatedly and quickly post up comments with loads of links in them then they get taken out by the spam filter. Although to be honest I would rather you didn’t post up links to every bailiff company you manage to find on the internet.
i was posting them to show the language used if you botherd to look..
This completely nullifies the notion of “Social Housing”.
@mick i got into a spat on a blog with someone who called it ‘socialist housing’ he was convinced it was a commie plot to devalue property prices by dumping immigrants and the riff raff into posh areas..
@bobchewie – That is a fantastic idea to devalue property prices. Look at the fiasco in 2008 when the sub prime mortgage market went t*ts up and the fraud it was responded to with, property prices by right western worlwide should should have dropped by at least 90% as a correctional process then there would not be as much shit flying in the face of the less well off these days (hate the word poor so I try not to use). It was possible to cut prices in 2008 if “governments” were not full of self serving self interested individuals. I recall in the early 1980’s when terraced house values in my locality tripled from the £8,500 mark to about £26,000 at a stroke, within 1 year this value of £26,000 dropped to around £19,000 leaving stacks of negative equity – Greedy people run the show as we all know, but had prices been cut by a vast amount all would have come good for “the fools” who really believe you can own bricks and mortar. It would have been sad for those who consider their house as there one and only home but I for one don’t give a toss for those who buy as investment to let.
@micktj have you seen tons of luxury apartments springing up everywhere..my sw says they are all investments by russian oilgarchs most of them look empty to me..
@bobchewie – I see them in my locality. It is madness from the point of view of my reality though I think they are seen by investors, well as investments. It is perverse. Most have their own home, tourists use hotels surely, students use in the main halls of residence I think, empty is evidence too of none affordability, it is scandalous and a shame for for humankind by those involved oligarchs or whoever.
@micktj there are two near me..one is smack in front of railway line so suffers from vibration and view of trains..the other is a converted pub..of which only two have been purchased (allegedly)..
The other dig here is that this only applies to new residents, not current ones – therefore current residents will feel perfectly smug at avoiding this, while new residents will be resentful; that sort of bickering should keep people occupied for a fair bit and therefore divert attention from the council that put the initiative in. Divide and rule, it works!
It has the effect of nullifying resistance until the tenant “stock” is “rotated” and the new policy applies universally; if they applied it “across the board” it would encounter a lot more, possibly fatal, resistance. A lot of the government’s “welfare reforms” use this tactic too, watch various groups all flapping about trying to win an “exemption”. It works!
@Sindr – This does bolster perverted peoples “Divide and Rule” mentality though it is hardly likely the smug ones (tenants) will see it this way. Another hierachical structure created to cause more suffering.
It is unfair and another attack on the poor and most vunerable people. More humiliation!
step 1:(£69) We will serve a Section 8 & 21 Notice on your problem tenant. It will warn them to pay the outstanding rent or to leave the property and it may be just what they need to realise the severity of the situation
step 2: (£475) Over 80% of tenants leave after step 1. If not, we will arrange court proceedings to obtain a possession order and money judgement from the County Court if the tenant does not respond to Step 1.
step 3: (£150) If your problem tenant has not left your property by the date set by the Judge, we will instruct bailiffs to physically evict the tenant from your property.
THATS PHYSICALLY EVICT THEM….
We offer No Win, No Fee
As specialists in tenant eviction we believe strategy is important and this comes with experience and wisdom. Our track record in successful evictions is high and for that reason to the best of our knowledge we are the only company anywhere in the UK to offer a No Win, No Fee option.
This is why we offer Fixed Fees or subject to a written contract a No Win, No fee arrangement.
Sadly some landlords have used companies who lack the expertise in the tenant eviction process, which often leads to more delays, worse rent arrears and bigger legal fees
see what i mean about language its bizarre..
The New Poor Law of 1834 required that the inmates of the workhouse perform disgusting tasks such as picking oakum in return for a meagre roof over their heads. How long before Hammersmith & Fulham Council reinstate the workhouses?
@RYAN i came across an e petition that was BRING BACK THE WORKHOUSE..oddly enough it added stuff about..including food vouchers and bunging people into policed tower blocks to be used as workhouse the result of which would “free up housing stock for the hard workers who contribute to the economy”..how weird does that all sound now??
I saw that one but thought it was someone taking the mickey.
@LIZ me too except that i came across similar ones with pretty much the same ideas eg smart card/vouchers and freeing up housing for hard workers..does anyone know which company has got the voucher or smart card contract?
Very suspicious. Is this perhaps a ploy to incite more propaganda against vulnerable people?
@Liz it struck me as odd because..these e petitions only had a few signatures eg 6 or 11..but the content pretty much matched what is actually happening…that stuck me as odd..how can something thats obviously not that well supported become policy ??
I saw one too that advocated everyone on welfare wear electronic tagging devices – guess it’s easy for those who are in a comfy job!
bob, Asda welfare cards to be given to Birmingham’s poor
Supermarket teams up with council to give out ‘crisis welfare payments’ to neediest residents in form of prepaid cards
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/29/asda-welfare-scheme-birmingham?CMP=twt_gu
,
if i post a comment its wrong..if i post a link its wrong if i post a quote its wrong…sometimes i cant be arsed you know..
of the last 1000 comments published on this site, 230 were by you Bob. The next most prolific commenter posted 50, so don’t be getting stroppy because there ain’t many sites you’d get away with that.
just love this quote “”We have evicted thousands of
tenants for landlords and estate
agents.”
its like they are fucking proud of it…
They are idiots, it is just they don’t know it with their lack of awareness
If you’re doing unpaid work for the council then you’re not available for work nor are you actively seeking work. Therefore the choice is between benefit sanctions and eviction.
@Anton yeah i noticed that too..only tories like schaaps or pickles can think that crap up…next stop workhouse private of course..
Living in the UK is now like football – only a rich man’s game. Workhouses are more of a likelihood than we think but they’ll have a posh name.
Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ idea has been rightly ignored as we are not the sheep he imagined we would be – tripping over ourselves to voluntarily do the work we already pay to have done through council taxes etc but he’s going to make sure it happens anyway, by force and on pain of destitution and homelessness.
The Thatcher years brought destruction but this lot – unmandated, political squatters as they are – knock her policies in to a cocked hat for cruelty.
In a bid to appear radical, every mad idea is announced to the press as a policy within 5 seconds of it popping in to their empty heads, never ever thought through. When the people refuse to comply with their mad schemes they turn the thumbscrews treating humans in a way which is illegal if applied to animals..
I hate to sound pessimistic but a mis-guided electorate will likely ‘protest’ in 2015 by voting UKIP – a certain case out of out of the frying pan in to the fire.
…can i go now?
“Non-performance against an award of a community contribution” wow thats surreal
“Non-performance against an award of a community contribution”
i would want that on a certificate hanging on my wall..
The workhouse without walls has finally arrived. A Tory wet dream.
Unfortunately it’s no just the tories, it’s the liberals and labour’s wet dream to, they have been bought off and are been run by banking interests. It doesn’t matter who is in power these days, the policies are the same, and the only child rapists MP’s are all dead, but the celeb child rapists are still alive, but you are homophobic if you point things like that out… ignoring the facy that lesbians and gays generally like adults of the same sex, not children… The entire government is corrupt and has a plan most people can’t seem to wake up to, it’s like they are all out to kill off the sick, disabled and unemployed.. first… before they move onto the rest. Seen these kind of tactics before, history does have a habit of repeating it self.. but thats a conspiracy theory.
Well done bobchewies btw, if more people were as dedicated as you we might get somewhere, it’s rare to see people who are more bothered about others, especially in the face of personal adversity these days.
its catching working for free yep we may has well lay down now
Well, at least this isn’t as insane as Wandsworth, which wanted to dock money from Housing Benefit if overweight claimants failed to diet and exercise enough!
Would this mean Wandsworth would have to employ “BMI Officers”, equipped with tape measure and scales, to visit, measure up, and track the body mass indexes of housing benefit claimants? Jesus Christ! Is this jazz kind of crazy or what?
@micktj this building where i am is built cheaply the walls are fagpaper thin..the residents play hell here..they are in your face all the time..ive been burgled and bashed up and had no electric or heating during winter..the landlords are bastards who keep upping the rent and do feck all to supply whats needed..ive got wrecked hard drives corrupted when the power goes off..ive been spat at,,had my head kicked in..and been punched at the previous place and robbed..jeeez..i nevr signed up for this.
i know i shouldnt moan as its worse for others ..in fact id like to say this..the bravest soul so far must be ‘something survived’ on here..despite all hes been through he still makes me laugh bless him..
ok i will shut up now…
Bob – I appreciate your comments and all the hard work you do on research. I hadn’t realised your living conditions were so awful, so I respect you even more. Please keep up your research and good luck to you.
Got to laugh at people on here when they say: “When this bedroom tax, DLA cut, pension rise or whatever comes in, I will give up my nice 2 bedroomed property, go shop-lift and get thrown in a prison cell. At least I will get a warm cell, three meals a day and a roof over my head, a lot more than pensioners can afford.” Think of what Bob has to suffer, and multiply it a thousand times over, that’s prison life for you. And watch your back in the shower. Watch you back at all times, you never know when someone is going to stab it.
@Behind Bars – Have you ever been hunted out here in the big wide world, a group of seriously sick individuals intent on killing you just for their kicks, to see what it is like to kill someone. Yes this is the side of the uk no one hears about. I think my mind for one would be much more settled behind bars no matter what where at least someone in “authority”? will notice you are there. As is my life at home is pretty much like bobchewie’s though people in my block including myself are I suspect much older than Bob. As thought I hope he does not give up on this blog!
@micktj thank you for your kind words..i have been here in this ‘prison’ like place (the tobacco ‘baron’ here resembles prison) for some ten years and i am no spring chicken..i was placed here after being assaulted by neighbours at my previous place..more or less dumped amongst the misfits from hell (violent drunks etc) courtesy of lewisham council..
I sit here trying to read some of all this in tears, the tablets (to aid sleep) that my GP prescribed last week, suddenly becoming “tempting” to say the least……I read a lot from these sites, & it’s like seeing a ship that has been “struck”…..slowly, ever so slowly fading, gradually, bit by bit, wondering if the poor ship will actually fade completely, I really have had enough of this “benefit reform” game now. Forgive me…I’ve no picked your comments for a reason……just at random really, to “join” the convo for a short time…..I have no-one, I just want peace & maybe a little company.
@Angie McAdie – I of course speak for myself here but the likes of any politician will not sink me no matter how effective they are with their destruction of my means and others like me. Here is a little of my story which well !!! Here it is :-
Left heart ventrical reduction surgery, mitral valve repair, triple coronary artery bypass, told I need a heart transplant, can walk a very little, bigger chance than most I won’t be here tomorrow. After surgery and unusually long 14 day stay in hospital (8 days on Intensive care unit on which 3rd day I was resucitated twice so I was told). On arriving home, there was the A4e letter inviting me in on the next day for further interrogation, If failure to comply, benefit sanctions will apply. Letter from DWP decision maker after ESA50 medical (must have arrived around time I went for surgery) Been awarded 6 points (I think), placed in WRAG group – At this time, I couldn’t even walk! They are incredible or is it “incredulous”? A4e, ATOS and DWP decision makers must all be disabled “THEY COULD NOT HEAR ME AT ALL”! Mind you, after arriving home after the surgery I couldn’t hardly talk for about a week – so breathless I was. Then 2 years later I was told that my heart doesn’t actually pump – it barely shuffles. What I’m still doing here I do not know, I don’t think the 5 Cardiologists and 2 heart surgeons I have seen in 2 years quite know how either?
It’s incredible really, they keep bunging chunks of metal with wires attached in me and then stitch me up (I feel like a joint of meat) – Yet I still feel in mind “Young and Stupid” (No comments please, I will have heard them all before). What I don’t understand is why when I have a heart attack (Myocardial Infarction) I get no pain whatsoever so I don’t know I have had one yet when they check me out at hospital, I get this approach “How come you’re not dead yet”. That last one should have killed anyone. Now it isn’t funny really but the latest gizmoe they stitched into me is a defibrillator which can make me high jump 5 if / when it goes off. This is to keep me out of hospital A&E where like we see on TV they put the paddles on and say “clear” meaning “do not touch”. Hope no one is stood next to me if it goes off – they will not be happy!
@micktj that terrible its a miracle you are still alive!!!..so, what you are saying (using DWP minister speak) is that in reality you are fit for work and this condition is a lifestyle choice?..
@bobchewie – If playing a game of football at 41 some 19 years ago was a lifestyle choice during which my achiles tendon ruptured (didn’t know about the heart attack that went with it for 3 days) then yes I was guilty of this lifestyle choice. Resulting Heart failure is weird and don’t advise anyone to get it. They, ATOS, DWP etc etc neither know of nor care about a problem so they deemed me fit for work regardless. For devilment, I think it was 6 weeks later, I went to see them after invitation of course and they didn’t believe anything I had told them so I undressed (top half only) in full view of room full of clients. I had not had my sternum tatooed to make it look real, the scars were real enough and even then I got from A4E worker ahhhhhhhh yes “my father-in-law has those from surgery last year” – THICK FUCKER…. Many people have them after a run of the mill coronary artery by pass if found unsuitable for Angioplasty. I had the engine work (fuel line) completed after my heart was cut down to size by some 20%. What was worse a lady in her 40’s was in the group, poor woman was as confused as hell why she was there. Only 9 days earlier she had had a hip replacement, she could not even stand let alone walk. It was completely disgusting – the people at ATOS, A4E and DWP are not even human.
@micktj i know i find it totally bizarre how anyone could choose being unwell especially very very severe conditions can be described as wanting that, after all dont we have an NHS to cure our illnesses?
@bobchewie – I don’t think anyone consciously chooses to be unwell, maybe many severe problems are associated with depression too or personality disorders, maybe even brain damage. For myself too I was hit by a car at speed side on whilst cycling home from work 11 years ago and severely damaged, I did not want or choose that. There is much I think the NHS don’t actually cure but they certainly have the ability to keep us alive with modern medication. The plus for many such as myself is we end up feeling useful too from a research point of view as I have Internet heart monitoring equipment installed at home courtesy of the NHS. So while all may seem bad, there are many positives too.
@angie mcadie thanks for your very kind words..you are most welcome .i know the feeling only too well..years of isolation can have that effect on a person..some of us angie are fighters and wont put up with this crap no matter what..and not just for ourselves but for others who are being put through unnecessary hell..bob
19th Century Laissez faire, ‘personal liberty’ underpins welfare ‘dependency’ and therefore, less eligible for social housing support.
The dirty, filthy, fucking bastards.
19th Century Laissez faire, the brutality of nature raped of its beauty.
As already been stated, this is a breach of human rights.
remember they can only go so far! before they create a highly explosive welfare nuclear bomb!
I certainly wouldnt want to be working in one of the offices when the general popluation of claimants force theyre way in with knives and guns.
Slave drivers will get what they fucking deserve, Ill be hell bent on making sure of it!!!
Stress > Starvation > Homelessness, these JCP and “work programme” advisers want to KILL you one way or the other! Does anyone on her under-fucking-stand? This is a fight for your very life! This ain’t no conspiracy! They want you DEAD!! DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!!
do they want you dead? i wasnt sure..
@ they want you fucking dead, I fucking understand you>
BUT, we ain’t goona die.Roll on summer
roll on deodorent..
Council doublespeak:
David O’Neill (Cosla), “Make no mistake here – no blame whatsoever can be put at the door of Scotland’s councils for either introducing these measures or for the devastating impact that this legislation is about to have on our communities.”
My message to David O’Neill, if you have the power to evict then you have the power NOT to evict, do you need a towel to dry your hands?
” no blame whatsoever can be put at the door of Scotland’s councils” – yes, it fucking can you yellow-bellied treacherous cunt… and if fucking WILL!! BURN IN HELL David O’Neill (Cosla) you fucking cunt!
@Jacque,
I am with your thoughts all the way !!!!
Anyone get the idea they’re trying anything they can think of, no matter how crazy, just to see if they can get away with it?
The Cyprus fiasco; entering into peoples bank accounts and robbing them, so the government can get a loan? The Credit crunch;robbing the taxpayers to pay for the rich’s mistakes? Evicting people out of their homes through no fault of their own? Tricking benefit claimants into mistakes so they can sanction them?
But at the same time turning a blind eye to the tax avoiders, whose unpaid bills would be enough to get the country out of trouble in an instant.
Its no good voting the bastards out, we need a riot!
A complete end to this rotten corrupt system, that doesn’t give a shit for the common man and woman.
Greed is killing the world.
Yes Cyprus would be an interesting topic. You have to ask surely though where on earth did the losers in Cyprus (those with 100,000 euros or more in the bank) get so much money from. It may be argued through toil and sweat of brow but I doubt it very much, how would this be possible. I suspect people have only amassed wealth through the buy and sell property markets. Like in UK in 1980’s, one week you could own? a terraced house worth £8,000 by year end it was worth £26,000. Sell it, move upmarket, pocket some profit and so on and so forth. I’m still so puzzled why a house woth £100,000 in UK in 2008 is not now worth £9,999 now or even less given what happened in the sub-prime property mortgage markets western worlwide.
What a choice. Do free labour to keep a roof over your head for your landlord and if not then on the street you go; and if you don’t fulfill the 35 hour a week online jobsearch a week when doing the said sommunity commitment you get no benefits and on the street you go – decision decisions – madness and paradoxical!
Sorry that should be *community
35 hr/week jobsearch-: Seemingly, it’s now going to just 32 (!) hrs/week jobsearch (not the full 35) – which still isn’t going to be, in general terms, either realistic/feasible, or even necessarily do-able on a week-in-week-out basis for a great many of us. (Even if it may be what some people do, some weeks currently(?).
There are at least a certain number of JCP staff who are going to be given overall responsibility for monitoring the hours/making sure they are adhered to, who don’t as yet have any clear idea of how this could/would work in practice (monitoring process).
I don’t see how its gonna be possible too. I only have pay as you go internet and am limited to my daily usage before it get reinstated at the anniversary date. They would have to call me into to JC everyday for that kind of commitment and seeing I live in the sticks it will cost the £15 per day for my ticket as the JC is 30 miled away. There are some I know of who don’t even have computers so I wonder if this will be run through work programme providers. Yet again the work programme provider I attend has old and slow disposable PC’s and there is no sign of them upgrading to better ones any time soon.
This is making me so angry, I want to shoot cameron, and Ian duncan smith both in the head. They blame the scroungers, But get a £200 per week food allowance!! Whos the real scroungers ay? Bastards robbing the poor.
I hope a riot can be organised, a riot so big, The authoraties wont be able to cope. We need to Brick david cameron, and ian duncan smith, and kick the tories out.
Then we need to get our rights back to where they where. I can only get so angry before I loose the plot and go on a rampage D: !!.
There will be blood, and murder.
I think I have had enough of this. Time for war on welfare, staring with disposing of cameron in the most in-humane way possible. Tear hes limbs apart. Rip IDS head off……. And well make it mandatory work activity that they ( Ian and Cameron ) give each other blow jobs for 35 hours per week and live stream it online, or they will get sanctioned and there wives will be forced to be gang raped for a 3 year sanction.
This shit has to stop before very angry people make this a very angry blood bath.
I have never felt this disgusted with how the UK is heading, It used to be a peacefull county upholding peoples beliefs and rights, Now its a terrible country thanks to our government of 2013. I feel sorry for my children…….. If it carries on this way, If I am diagnosed with a terminal illness due to the stress ……. I will take one of them bastards down with me before I pop my clogs.
I am so, so …. SO so so so…. SO SO Sickened and I want to smash a brick right into their faces, If the council accept such madness, They will find themselves in a life threatening situation too, Take away our rights, and well take away their lives.
Sombody will die, Probably ‘ hopefully ‘ Ian duncan smith, Then Cameron.
One day the tumbrils might indeed roll. If there ever is a revolution, IDS will be the first person who ends up against the wall.
Duncan Smith deserves to be beaten until he turns purple.
There’s an idea; community tumbril building courses.
Speak for yourself, angers ok but this is over the top. They will topple sooner or later but as far as parliaments back benches will do because when they are at the top “in their minds” the only way is down. They are a grubby sinister lot but cameron, smith and their ilk will have their day of reckoning without you putting yourself at risk i am sure. A happy life will always be elusive to them and theirs, it is typical of a tories lot including tory voters.
I don’t really like adding further to this but I will…. This shit happens because people couldn’t be arsed to vote at the last general election. Now Labour started all of this welfare reform stuff and I am sure they did it for just in case the tories + whoever came into power as they knew the tories would see it through. Had labour won they would have “shelved” welfare reform. Now some friends of mine did not make it to the polling booth because they just had to see the night through in the pub. Nothing wrong with that but for the sake of 30 minutes to booth there and back would have made all the difference and of course they now are not happy. The old argument against politicians is “They all shit in the same pot”, it is true but some minds are easier to influence than others. Labour would have been forced to maintain care for the poorest and vulnerable in the UK – the people would have made sure, you cannot approach the tories in the same way.
It’s what we’ve come to expect from this government coalition and the blairites before them.
If my Housing association want me to pick up litter in the neighbourhood, ok I’d consider it, but my rate is £10 per hour.
Fuck the tories, Fuck ian duncan smith, and fuck universal credit.
Fuck slavery
I aint bein a slave for no one, they can suck my grannies pussy
Fine, but why would you wish such a horrendous thing on your poor granny though?
Yep, this is the coalitions last year. And if David Moron Camoran thinks he has a shot of it without lib dems he should think again. We dont need cuts this bloomin bad! Why arnt they doing mansion tax?? taxing the free rooms in mansions?? Instead targetting the poor.
Kiss this government goodbye! Its their last year for definate. They have taken things way too far. We have all learnt our lesson. Dont vote conservative. Vote Labour!
Fuck Labour, they put the red carpet down for the Tories and offer no effective opposition to their policies- ALL of the parties are TORIES. I’m sick of the poxy Punch and Judy show in Parliament, Labour is full of MILLIONAIRE LAWYER SCUM and WAR CRIMINALS, none of whom had the slightest prick of conscience invading Iraq or letting the Banks gamble away billions at our expense. Stuff ’em.
@incubusblog – You are so right about the Punch and Judy Show, Labour were smart when they put the welfare reform idea together, they just knew the silly tories would push it through and this is why labour did it so for that they are a bad set of fucks. They just knew how it would go. Labour I think would have had to shelve the welfare reform idea had they been returned as government at last general election. They would not have been able to take it this far without serious trouble in a civil sense. tories, well we all have to learn they will always always always dish shit on the most vulnerable in the world no matter where! Fascism I think it is called.
Not only are they becoming slave masters they are also becoming experts in assessing people’s medical conditions.
“Whilst many older people and those with disabilities work or volunteer, there may be circumstances in which frailty or a disability prevents this, or means that the full eligibility criteria set out above cannot be met. Housing Officers will consider such cases on an individual basis and use their discretion to award a community contribution where they consider this is appropriate.” (p 38)
Why bother going to the doctor’s when you can just crawl along to the housing officer instead!
You are right, junior doctors shouldn’t waste their time of 7 years training at University hospitals, they can become self righteous enough in 3 months with employment at ATOS
@JEFF – EVEN A4E ARE GOOD AT PLAYING DOCTOR
Left heart ventrical reduction surgery, mitral valve repair, triple coronary artery bypass, told I need a heart transplant, can walk a very little, bigger chance than most I won’t be here tomorrow. After surgery and unusually long 14 day stay in hospital (8 days on Intensive care unit on which 3rd day I was resucitated twice so I was told). On arriving home, there was the A4e letter inviting me in on the next day for further interrogation, If failure to comply, benefit sanctions will apply. Letter from DWP decision maker after ESA50 medical (must have arrived around time I went for surgery) Been awarded 6 points (I think), placed in WRAG group – At this time, I couldn’t even walk! They are incredible or is it “incredulous”? A4e, ATOS and DWP decision makers must all be disabled “THEY COULD NOT HEAR ME AT ALL”! Mind you, after arriving home after the surgery I couldn’t hardly talk for about a week – so breathless I was. Then 2 years later I was told that my heart doesn’t actually pump – it barely shuffles. What I’m still doing here I do not know, I don’t think the 5 Cardiologists and 2 heart surgeons I have seen in 2 years quite know how either?
It’s incredible really, they keep bunging chunks of metal with wires attached in me and then stitch me up (I feel like a joint of meat) – Yet I still feel in mind “Young and Stupid” (No comments please, I will have heard them all before). What I don’t understand is why when I have a heart attack (Myocardial Infarction) I get no pain whatsoever so I don’t know I have had one yet when they check me out at hospital, I get this approach “How come you’re not dead yet”. That last one should have killed anyone. Now it isn’t funny really but the latest gizmoe they stitched into me is a defibrillator which can make me high jump 5 if / when it goes off. This is to keep me out of hospital A&E where like we see on TV they put the paddles on and say “clear” meaning “do not touch”. Hope no one is stood next to me if it goes off – they will not be happy!
ITS BEYOND A JOKE NOW
IF THE UK IS GOING TO BE LIKE NAZI GERMANY. I WILL UPROOT MY BUSINESS AND TAKE IT ELSEWHERE, SOMWHERE WITHOUT SLAVERY. I WONT LIVE IN GREAT BRITIAN UNDER THOSE TERMS. OR IS IT NOW OFFICIALY_____ ‘NAZI BRITAIN’??
I HAVE TO AGREE, IF YOU DONT KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR ATLEAST VOTE LABOUR. DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT VOTING CONSERVITIVES !
Many people didn’t see all of this welfare shite coming. I was fortunate enough (not health wise) in that I kept my ear to the track so to speak especially on finding the tories and libs were to run the show together. One whiff of a tory government compelled me to get my thinking cap on and to stay alert – it is the only reason I “miserably though” survive.
Just found this website off going on google. looks like the website I have been waiting for all this time. I knew there was a bunch of others like me who dont like these cuts, I will pass on the weblink to some of my freinds ect. I know a few poeple who will be very interested at some of your articles. Very good work Mr Johny Void.
Please keep up the good work 🙂
I am of the same opinion as most of you. we are heading for a county full of slaves if we are not carefull.
welcome, Laura
Agenda 21 come to pass…..fuck me
not sure another conpiricy theory is what we need, But interesing to know Agenda 21 is on track! Lets hope its just coincidence. Otherwise we are all doomed.
I dont believe in conspiricies. but I dont believe how rotten this county is right now either. I dont know what to believe anymore, Certainly dont believe human rights mean anything to the tories!!!!! Perhaps its time I started giving some conspiricy theories a bit of credit because so far, They are coming true , Its a little bit scary to tell the truth.
Either The conservatives have lost the plot, Or we have agenda 21, or new world order has begun. I do hope its just the silly conservatives. The problem with conspiricy’s are who do you blame?????
If you don’t mind messing yourself, watch the film “Soylent Green” – it is maybe not a too far away reality. Google it if not heard of it. It is mostly about humans being processed into food.
The problem with conspiricy’s are who do you blame?????
The shapeshifting reptiles?
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=4470 How does this moronic “programme” work? Do you have to do 7 things daily in a span of 2 hours per day?
We aren’t allowed to be anti-american though even though most of the new tory “welfare gurus” are taking moronic tips from fat overpaid inbred yanks on social security.
*7 things a day job searching
Whoever votes for these people is just as culpable as the politicians. Shun them.
Just got to vote them out – vote for what you think is the lesser of the evils. Trouble with people is they vote directly for the politician who they are led to believe will give them the most, the best deal. The one who tells the lies the best wins no matter which party. People not voting unfortunately is why we are where we are at – all politicians know this and the tories love it.
If we really were all in it together, I could take the cutbacks and the suffering, knowing we were going to get to the end of the tunnel and emerge into the daylight.
But the bastards are laughing at us all, making us all suffer while the rich bleeders carry on getting the huge bonuses and massive salaries.
Not satisfied with that, they put all their money into offshore accounts avoiding paying any tax at all, while the rest of us pay their share and our own.
We’ve been led down the garden path for fucking years by rich criminals who have even richer masters.
Voting is no good; you just change the colour.
This needs a root and branch sort out.
Hope they had lots of dosh in Cypress too, it WAS offshore tax haven
One thing is for sure, the Tories and Lib Dems will probebly face an election like 1997.But New Labour is not much better.
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JV your blogg appears to be becoming a mouthpiece for the powers that be, no critique in this post of yours.
Chewie said he was fed up of reading the same stuff yet when you proffer something different in the way of conspiracy theories he wants to be back to the same old thing. We need something different from this load of propoganda which turns into reality once we all offer our objections to it all.
@guy fawkes with respect guy..my thoughts about conspiracy theories ate that is all they are..if someone produced facts that substantiated the proposal then fine..but for me they just lead to ppl chasing their own tails getting nowhere..as for getting back to the main ‘battle’ well thats where we always are with a few small victories brought by ‘people power’ ie action..eh boycott workfare etc..anything that gets the general public to become aware of what is being done by this reckless govt that has a direct bearing on people lives..the problem being is that whilst the comfortable in the middle classes feel safe ..then this wretched govt of millionaires will keep preaching the mantra of blame the idle ‘lower orders’ will still carry on with them believing that crap..iys not until the ‘comfortable’ realise that the attacks on us lot today will be them tomorrow..will anything really happen.
Politicians the world over…
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/03/29/cypriot-politicians-loans-written-off/
To believe in the notion of democracy is to live in fantasy land. I read the article and the rich and powerful in Cyprus really are asking for trouble. As usual because of the way capitalism works especially in relation to western worldwide property markets, it is mainly todays youth who are getting well and truly shafted and will pick up the tab if the worlds economies go on the way they are. HOW SICK CAN HUMAN KIND GET?
Thing is wacky backy I am not one for conspiracy theory either but there are elements to this agenda 21 that do smack of Big Eric’s Localism rubbish in that it purports to be about locals having a say in local matters but is nothing of the sort and if we look at some of the things happening in Oz and New Zealand for instance it’s very sinister .Agenda 21 is so well documented that its is far from a conspiracy as it is actual policy. The thing with it is if you didn’t actually see it all in print then it would be possible to dismiss it as just that a lunatic theory but its really not.
But whatever the case the policy’s this bloody govt is implementing are real enough and we now see that even thatcher had nothing on these bastards and of course Labour are no better and god help us all if Ukip riise on the backlash of it all….
@cynical i am not a one for conspiracy theories but if one made a list of things so far ..you do wonder..
1 fire station closures
2 NHS sell off (leaving privates to cherry pick patients)
3 eric’s we dont want scruffy oiks in our back yard
4 severe cuts to citizens advice and legal aid
to name but a few..do they want a reduction in population??
@bobchewie – I think they do want population reduction of all the young who appear that they will be non profitable to the world. Enforced sterilisation of both male and female.
@micktj then who will wipe their backsides for them? poor lambs they will have to do it themselves.
Or buy themselves gold and diamond encrusted bidets
@Cynical…well maybe BUT – I think another dose of this lot or quicker still if ukip would lead to something similar to a civil war, a very unfortunate outcome this would be no matter where agreement in each of us lay.
@micktj UKIP are just more of the same-in some cases even worse considering their stance on ‘the unemployed’..
@bobchewie – I thought this that they, ukip, would be worse. Their apprenticeship running the country would be a complete disaster, the tories would do things “more grindingly” I think because they truly love inflicting pain and degradation on others no matter who. They would eat each other if they had to I think. Inexperienced ukip would not like what they find in the peoples mood if their number came up. It’s all bollocks init when you come to realise how few people vote at elections.
@micktj it is a maxim that any party who ends up in office automatocally turn right wing..reason being the support for big business for whatever reason eg support anyway or wanting full employment..however that where most problems lie..ending up in the pay and pockets of the huge corporations.is bad for democracy ..
In the end what every party in power gambles on is that we will take whatever crap is thrown at us and do nothing and SO far in this country they are correct and when the times comes that we actually do something about it well it will be too late our rights will be gone,taken away one little bit at a time so we don’t notice, and then what. Just look back a few years and who would have thought we would give so much support to a crooked banking industry while they get huge rewards and nobody goes to jail for the BIG big fraud. And now well hey it was the sick and disabled and the unemployed a fault all along eh…who knew. Thing is with a conspiracy it is by nature hard to prove and expose and when you have a whole political machine in play to smokescreen your real intentions then it is easy to hide them in plain sight all you have to do is make the info so complicated and hard to decipher that no one can really see it.Then when they do its too late.
@Cynical…well maybe BUT – Got to keep shouting about injustice on the streets, must not quit. When I was Socialist Worker we shouted tirelessly in Blair’s face on the streets about raising the minimum wage. People say no one takes the Socialist Workers seriously but those in government do “quietly”. Of course you had ministers taking all the credit for upping the minimum wage but who cares, we did not want “that kind of credit” – only justice.
I am deeply disturbed by this. What will be the next step? Back to actual workhouses? That is unfair, cruel and inhumane.
@MummyLion – Don’t like to say it but I feel this government will be stopped one way or another before too long hopefully with a called for early general election.
If you have a hidden disability or fluctuating condition, you could do maybe a few minutes work and then be tired, or you could get sick on bad days or for weeks/months and be unable to go on. My seizures have been bad this week. Among other things I am not meant to operate power tools (I’m not big/heavy enough to control these anyway). So, if given a strimmer, that would be a bad idea. Take somebody without epilepsy, as the following could be happening to anyone: using power tools to trim hedges, and somebody has stuck a long thin bit of wire into the hedge. You cut through it and bits of it can fly into your face, eyes, skull, throat, rest of your body.
Let’s assume you are not a cancer patient, or permanently knackered with ME, or have a bad back aggravated by standing/bending. How about some nice light work picking litter (for nowt) on your local estate? (In all weathers, mind you) Well litter is not just cans and crisp packets. As the day goes on a full sack is heavy. Litter includes used condoms, chewing gum, vomit, dead animals, human urine, and dogshit. And broken glass, worms in faeces that can cause blindness, and used drugs needles that can cause you to get HIV.
The authorities seem to have relinquished responsibility for the health and safety of the people on workfare. Often councils, due to health and safety, refuse to allow their paid employees near a particularly vile piece of litter, even if the employee wants to do it and it’s a health hazard to the public. Crews need specialist training now to remove graffiti because the ‘taggers’ are using more durable paints, so the crews need to apply more toxic chemicals and scrub harder/longer. PCSOs and councils have been on police shows in which vans patrol at night with cleanup kits, forcing drunks to clean up their own vomit and urine in the street. That’s a punishment, done to the people directly responsible. Poor people did not write the graffiti or use the street as a toilet, so why punish them by making them clean up others’ mess? People able to drink till they are sick had enough money to buy the alcohol. People with no money and often weak from no food for days, being forced to hard outdoor physical labour, is a recipe for disaster. Older and sicker people will collapse, then get their house taken away as a punishment. (Perhaps an overseer with a whip would ‘incentivise’ them not to collapse, or at least to work until they drop dead?)
Another aspect totally ignored by the council, is the safety of the workfare people and the risk that anyone, either residents or others, could come along and assault/rob them (or harrass them) while they are working. Or they could ambush them either before or after, while they are getting to work or back from work. This could be a targeted hate attack, possibly on the grounds of race, religion, disability, lifestyle, sexual orientation, or more than one of the above. People will make easy targets. Even if there are overseers, they can’t stop a mob, or a lone nutter with a gun and sights. As well as namecalling, people could sabotage or break all the worker’s work; and threaten and stigmatise the workfare people, and encourage flashmob-style bullying. It would be associated with court-ordered community punishment orders for violent prisoners. Workfare people would be treated by communities as if they had committed some crime. They would be ostracised and denied service in shops, even the only shops there; they would be singled out as ‘people on benefits’. Nobody has specified how you are meant to get to toilets.
The staff implementing this would not consent to work one day like this themselves. There is not much they could do if surrounded by a baying mob of thugs throwing objects at the workfare people and shouting ‘paki’ or ‘spaz’, or even ‘kill the paki spaz’.
Anton above made my other point already: if you are on JSA or ESA-WRAG, you are meant to be looking for work all the time, attending work programme, attending any other workfare the government sends you on, and being fulltime ‘available for work’ (a contradiction if having to do those things). If you didn’t do the council workfare you’d be evicted. If you didn’t do the other workfare your benefits would be stopped. If you spent all your time jobseeking, you might only be free at night. Are you meant to pick litter alone in the dark? Great for lone female jobseekers! If not judged available for work, your benefits would stop. Also, as well as all this you could be studying, a carer, or a parent.
You need additional time to look after pets, spend time with partner, read the news you’re told to check for jobs, clean the house, shop, do business such as banking, cook, eat, and sleep. Not to mention keep fit, as we are told to do; and the travelling between all these places. And checking the internet for jobs, and Universal JobMatch. That doesn’t allow any time for rest, leisure activities, etc. If councils give preferential treatment to or excuse disabled people, others in the community will resent them and single them out for bullying. It seems an excellent way to divide communities and increase mistrust.
@something survived can you read my and check the 900,000 signed off incapacity comment please? tories claim 900,000 have signed off IB but research shows that 900,000 are hidden unemployed diverted onto IB..
One of me mates out litter-picking on workfare got stabbed in the foot by a junkie syringe in the park and got her hand cut open on a sharp railing. One of the guys fell down an embankment at the side of the river and got his head smashed open on the rocks.
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In Solidarity!!
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I think Hammersmith and Fulham have actually got this right. If people are not currently employed and contributing to society through taxes, it is only right and fiar that they should contribute in some other way. Why should people who have no job somehow be excused from helping out? I am fed up with people who somehow think they are ‘entitled’ to the support of others, when they do nothing to help themselves
Here you are fellow – You will probably support something like this >>> http://www.tert.am/en/news/2013/04/01/jap-ev-80/ . No matter what, this 80 year old has probably had “run of the mill Angioplasty 4 times for surgery, hardly considered surgery in this day and age. Already he has been a mountaineer for many many years so obviously he has no difficulty with “Altitude Sickness” which many (even those who think they are God’s gift to fitness) succumb and die of above 8,000 feet. He has a medical team available and no doubt a helicopter to lift him off the mountain when needed. Maybe he has a death wish too! You could suggest this to some influence you might know, get rid of the work shy with NYHA Level 3 and above heart failure by offering them trips up Everest. A condition too of course that they provide their own medical care if they live to need it at even 8,000 feet let alone nearly 30,000 feet. UNDERTAKER – not needed, just leave them on the mountain with all the other yet “formerly” fit bodies that litter it.
@roger allnot i guess you mean the ones made redundant after many years of loyal service should be pushed aside for those who inherited wealth …
So this is what the Tories meant by the ‘Big Society’ is it? Compulsory forced labour, gross social insecurity. There’s only so far they can push us until we push back.
20 hours a month volunteering surely really isn’t such a big deal? I’ve probably put nearly that much in during the last week alone. 20 hrs a month is just the equivalent of doing a shift a week at a charity shop. That’s hardly a massive breach of someone’s human rights, for heaven’s sake!
Why shouldn’t people who actually contribute to their local community have that recognised and have it actually count in their favour for once? The only feedback most of us ever get for our voluntary work is “well you can do it so long as it doesn’t interfere with your jobsearch, and stop you from applying for all the jobs that 200 other people have also applied for this week…”
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