Fwd: Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher will mainly be remembered for the Poll Tax. It must have exasperated her advisers to patiently explain that every political and financial expert opposed it when asked for advice.

One objection was that it was unfair but she did not waste a moment with that. So long as she told us it was fair and called it a community charge not a poll tax all would be well.

The other problem was that it was unworkable. This would make any sane person pause but the lady was not for turning.

Common sense would tell you that you cannot tax people who have no money but she had her answer. Non-payers were imprisoned. At the height of the campaign against the poll tax there were 15 million non-payers. They were people of principle who would not pay and people in poverty who could not pay. The most arrogant megalomaniac would pause before imprisoning 15 million people. It was the sheer logistics which defeated her.

She was not for turning but her own party turned her out and the poll tax was a major factor in her ignominious defeat.

Of course the bankers will be drinking a glass in her beloved memory. However we should spare a thought for the miners' wives and the Argentine widows. For them the passing of the Iron Lady must be a cause of deep emotion.

Derek McMillan
12 Meadowgate
Giblets Lane
Horsham
West Sussex
RH12 5QJ

http://www.derekmcmillan.com/weblog

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Disability Hate Crime - Cameron has blood on his hands

More than 1,700 disability hate crimes were recorded by police in
England and Wales in 2011-12. The Joint Inspectorate report published
on 21 March said that disability hate crime was in fact under-reported
and blamed the reluctance of police officers to ask callers whether
they were disabled or not.

The largest disability hate crime has been the behaviour of the
Department of Work and Pensions who contracted ATOS to reduce the
number of claimants for Disability Living Allowance. Many
well-publicised cases have ATOS insisting that for example a man in a
coma, and another claimant who was blind and deaf and unable to walk
were "fit for work" and clearly just scroungers.

And the accomplices of this crime are the gutter press who have waged
an unceasing campaign against "scroungers" and fuelled the hatred
which allows disability hate crime to take place.

Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter Francecca
Hardwick in 2007 after repeated complaints to police about harassment
by youths.

However the police were quick enough to act when ant-ATOS campaigner
Beth Tichbourne took part in a peaceful protest and yelled at Cameron
"you have blood on your hands."

On the 30 November 2012 David Cameron was booed as he came on stage to
turn on the Witney Christmas Lights. You can watch a video of him
trying to drown out any criticism by awkwardly getting the crowd to
cheer for everyone from themselves to the Queen on YouTube. Kind of
funny. Also, kind of not funny.

Beth Tichbourne told the Black Triangle Campaign:

'I find it very weird watching the video, because while this was going
on I was being beaten up by the police on the other side of the stage.

'I have never been so scared: my face was being pushed into the
ground, I could feel blood coming from my nose, there was someone
putting their whole weight on my back while someone else was stamping
on my knees, along with various people grabbing and twisting my limbs.
And then the officer on my back moved a knee up onto the back of my
neck.'

Beth received a fine of £747. Small change in the pocket of a
millionaire like Cameron. It is more than a month's income for her.

So as you can see the police can act hard enough when the issue is
important enough. When it comes to dealing with disability hate crime,
it seems they are too embarrassed.

A website http://calumslist.org/ lists 30 deaths attributable to the
Tory/Liberal one-sided war on the poor called "Welfare Reform."
Cameron actually does have blood on his hands. Quite a lot of it!


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Health and Safety Legacy

Economic wizard Vince Cable has outlined his own idea for a legacy of
the Paralympics. By ditching Health and Safety checks he aims to make
sure plenty of people are disabled in the future.

We all know the tabloid jokes abour Health and Safety regulations,
tabloid stories about clowns being forbidden big shoes and children
being banned from playing conkers. However, most of us expect to buy
food that won't make us ill, or to work in a safe environment but it
is the "red tape" the government wants to destroy that ensures this is
so.

Unsurprisingly Alex Eichmann, head of regulatory policy at the
Institute of Directors, said: "The Government's efforts on
deregulation are welcome. Excessive regulation costs time and money,
both of which businesses would rather spend on developing new
products, hiring staff and building up British business both here and
abroad."

He failed to mention what a good idea "deregulation" of the banks
turned out to be.

It is ABC to any union Health and Safety rep that if a company can
maximise its profits at the expense of the health and safety of its
employees it will do so.

The only guarantee that employers will exercise a "duty of care" for
employees is a strong union organisation. Union health and safety
officers will have to take on the role which the Health and Safety
Executive has so shamefully abandoned.

Trade Unionists resist attack on disabled "scroungers"

There is - quite rightly - outrage when BNP and other far-right thugs
attack disabled people. Cameron and the media are doing just the same
thing, using their wealth and power rather than their fists.

Disabled people are among the hardest hit in the cuts and the
ideological assault echoes the eugenicist argument that disabled
people are "useless mouths." Cameron really ought to be careful
talking in these terms. For the general public there seem to be plenty
of "useless mouths" around the cabinet table, in the banks and in the
boardrooms.

The Disabled Teachers' Conference took place on the weekend of 30th
June to 1st July. Significantly the conference involved speakers from
UCU and PCS who are also involved in opposing the attack on disabled
people which is taking place. And the attack is ferocious.

Sasha Callaghan of UCU described a "reign of terror" by the
undeserving rich against the poor. "The government's attitude to the
poor harks back to the Poor Law of the 19th Century. Our past is in
front of us." The language used about disabled people; "scroungers,"
"shiftless" and "undeserving" echoes fascist rhetoric.

The NUT's Allan Grey added that in the light of Cameron's vicious
attacks on disabled people "it would believe the Labour Party would
represent us but I hardly need to say we can't."

The PCS representative, Austin Harney, revealed that PCS has balloted
on its political fund with the consequence that they will be able to
stand trade union candidates against pro-cuts candidates from any of
the political parties.

PCS members are being disciplined for merely telling claimants that
they have a right to "access to work" support. They have to accede to
requests but they can be in trouble for telling claimants their
rights.

The government attacks disabled people because they think they are
weak and have no allies. Certainly many of the charities on which
disabled people depend have folded in the face of the government
onslaught. Downing Street should be in the middle of a perfect storm
of recrimination from the charities but they are not. The butcher has
his big knife, but the lamb to be slaughtered has an open mind!

Only the trade union movement can provide the strong allies that
disabled people need. There was overwhelming enthusiasm for the TUC
anti-cuts demonstration in October but nobody wants to wait until
October before taking action against the government's disgraceful
attack on disabled people.

Derek McMillan
West Sussex NUT

Privatisation in West Sussex County Council

Councillor Michael Brown has promised that outsourcing West Sussex
County Council services to private companies will save 58 million
pounds. He reassures us that there is nothing to worry about because
other outsourcing deals have seen staff being generously re-employed
by the profiteers taking over the role of the local authority.

It makes you wonder exactly how this 58 million pounds is going to be
made? If not by cuts in wages or cuts in staff, could it be magic?

Or is Councillor Brown's promise just another politician's pie-crust
promise? We all know how much they are worth.

Never mind. It will be quite legal and not at all corrupt for the
private companies awarded the contracts to make generous donations to
the Conservative Party in the future. So everybody wins. With the
exception of anyone who relies on council services, anyone who works
for the council or anyone who cares about the public services.

"56 up" Documentary highlights plight of public services

The BBC "56 up" program follows the lives of individuals in an
unprecedented documentary narrative spanning the time since the
participants were seven. This week it highlighted the plight of public
services. Lifelong library service worker Lynn Johnson said "for the
last thirty years I have been banging my head against a brick wall but
now nobody is listening. They say that the work I do, anybody could do
it."

It is worth emphasising she lost her job as a result of "nice Labour
cuts" not "nasty Tory cuts."

Now, rather than being able to take early retirement her husband has
had to take on full time work to make ends meet. "the goalposts keep
getting higher" for retirement. "People who started work assuming they
could retire at sixty, find the situation has now totally changed."

She regrets the fact there "is no party of the left" although she says
she is not political... and adds "they haven't got a clue what they
are doing. Some people are never ever going to recover from it and
unfortunately they will be quite devastated. We have no more left-wing
Labour Party any more. Tony Blair saw to that. They all veer to the
right. "

You can still see it on Youtube if you type in "56 up documentary" and
it is well worth a look. On the same program a wealthy Tory barrister
boasts that there is no class society in Britain :) Lynn felt her work
promoting literacy and love of literature with children had been
worthwhile. How many rich Tory parasites can say the same?

Lord Hutton's snout in the trough

Lord Hutton is well-known to public sector workers. He originated the
plan that we should work longer, pay more and get less in pensions.

Remember we are all in this together so of course the Labour Peer
(Yes, a Labour peer!) has had to take on the role of chairman of the
board of a privatised pension scheme delightfully named "My Civil
Service Pension" MySCP.

It has been portrayed in the media as an employee-owned business "like
John Lewis". John Lewis should definitely sue for defamation of
character. The employees will not own 75 percent of the business and
certainly won't be allowed to sack the chairman.

Sacking Hutton is mild compared to the views of most civil servants I
have spoken to. They would prefer more draconian measures.

Apparently Hutton is "a firm believer in the power of engaging
employees to drive innovation." and lining his own pocket.

Cutting pensions and privatising the retirement fund management is
something no employee asked for.

In the days of slavery, there were slaves who were liberated by people
who then went on to sell them back into slavery "down the river."
Clearly Lord Hutton, like John Lewis, is never knowlingly undersold
"down the river." To quote another Labour Peer, Lord Thomas who sold
out the 1926 General Strike, "I sold you all right, but I got a good
price for you!"