The cost of unemployment

The Telegraph has an article today on the cost of unemployment, and puts it at £350 million- per year I presume, just the amount the Gov spends on “management consultants”.

There are now 3.3 million households with no one over the age of 16 in employment, up from 240,000 on last year, with 1.9 million children living in families where neither parent works.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics, come as the Tories highlight the cost to the taxpayer of paying benefits for those out of work.

In a speech today, Theresa May, the shadow work and pensions secretary, will reveal that a total of £346 billion has been paid out in benefits to unemployed people since Labour came to power in 1997.

This includes more than £100 billion given in housing benefit to people without a job, on top of £36.6 billion in jobseeker’s allowance, £92.5 billion in incapacity benefit, £90.7 billion in income support and £20.3 billion in council tax benefit.

OK so it costs money when people are unemployed, but the real cost is the loss of skilled workers, the lack of a future for the young, the hopelessness of families who cannot see an end to the lack of jobs and lack of money in their pockets, the human suffering and mental illness caused by the Gov’s policies.

And let’s not forget the real reason for the increase, the abysmal fiscal control of the Chancellor, who is now our unelected leader, the greed of the “fat cat” bankers and those who work in the shares and money markets, the lack of “prudence” of the mortgage lenders who loaned billions knowing it would not be repaid.

Yes; 3.3 million households without an adult worker is something we aught to be in uproar over, but don’t blame the workers, most of them had jobs before Brown came along, and don’t listen to the Tories, all they want is to get back into power, remember Thatcher, Major and the others who managed to destroy the economy and now tell us that they are the saviour of the UK, they aren’t.

Welfare is something we should be proud of, it protects the weak and the jobless, the sick and the disabled, let’s not quibble over £350 million, compared to the mess Gord’s gang have got us in it is a drop in the ocean.

Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

PRINCE OF DARKNESS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL

"Lord” Mandelson goes to hospital for op

The prince of darkness, that unelected leader of the country (apart from Gord, the other unelected leader of the country) has been admitted to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, for a “benign” prostate condition.

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesman said it was a "routine operation".
Last week, Lord Mandelson stood in for the prime minister who was on holiday.

Lord Mandelson returned to the British government last year after serving as European Union trade commissioner.

He is known as the "comeback king" of British politics and was appointed to one of the most powerful jobs in Europe after being sacked twice from the cabinet.

Benign growth of the prostate is common and around one in three men over the age of 50 suffer symptoms due to an enlarged prostate.

Treatment is not always necessary, as the symptoms, such as difficulty passing urine, can often be very mild.

Medication can help but surgery to reduce the size of the prostate is offered in more severe cases.

Details of the op are here, read and enjoy.

Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

AnglishLit

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Amid the denials, David Cameron’s support for the NHS after Dan Hannan, a Conservative MEP, told American television viewers that “he wouldn’t wish it on anyone”, is a bit hypocritical, seeing as George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, and Michael Gove, shadow children's secretary, are all on the advisory council of Atlantic Bridge, a conservative, transatlantic organisation aimed at promoting the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States.


The group is chaired by Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, and has Baroness Thatcher as its patron, also on the advisory council are a number of leading US critics of President Barack Obama's plans for health care reform, which opponents have likened to the NHS.

Among them is Representative John Campbell of California.

In a blog post, Mr. Campbell described a recent conversation he had with Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP who has embarrassed David Cameron with his views on the NHS, in the “green room” at a Fox News studio - and praised the MEP's views on Britain's health service.

The emergence of links between the Tory front bench and Americans opposed to the NHS is embarrassing to Mr. Cameron, who has spent much of the last few days defending the British healthcare system from attack by Mr. Hannan.

A Conservative spokesman said, however: "The joy of having foreign policy relationships with other politicians around the world is that we may not necessarily agree with everything that they say. We have set out our position on the NHS as clearly as possible - we support it fully."

Mr. Cameron and Labour politicians have attacked Republican critics of the NHS.

However, Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, who has worked closely with the Atlantic Bridge, said: “The Labour government has launched an hysterical campaign aimed at backing President Obama’s health care proposals. It is a highly inappropriate intervention in US domestic politics under the guise of defending the NHS.

Come on guys, make your minds up, are you for the NHS or agin it?

Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Student experience of university

Just a short one with a link or two:

Parliament has vomited forth a report regarding Students’ experiences of University-Here

The full report can be found Here

And keep in mind that Parliament and the Gov have been buggering about with education for over a decade.

Not really a success.

Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Who Cares?

Justice for Wounded: only one in ten wounded soldiers gets annual care payment - Telegraph

Fewer than one in ten wounded soldiers awarded compensation is getting an annual payment from the Ministry of Defence to help them cope with the effects of their injuries.

The disclosure will add to pressure on ministers over the controversial Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, which is currently the subject of an urgent government review.

The AFCS has been in place since 2005, and ministers have repeatedly highlighted the provision it makes to for wounded service personnel to be given a life-long tax-free income.

However, the MoD's own figures show that barely 8.9 per cent of all wounded personnel who are deemed eligible for compensation were given so-called Guaranteed Income Payments.

MoD data shows that in 2008/09, there were 2,005 compensation awards made under the ACFS.

The scheme assesses injuries on a fixed tariff, with each case ranked from Level 1, the most severe, to Level 15, the mildest.

Injuries at Level 11 and above get both a lump sum and a lifelong guaranteed income payment.

Level 12 and below means victims get only a lump sum payment.

Of the cases approved last year, only 175 were considered to be Level 11 or above. They got lump sum payments of £13,750 and some form of lifetime income.

However, the remaining 1,830 awards in 2008/09 were at Level 12 or below.

The figures will intensify pressure on the MoD to scrap the entire tariff system of compensation payments and replace it with rules that make greater provision for long-term care.

The MoD says the tariff is set to concentrate money and support on the most serious injuries.

However, the tariff excludes some conditions that appear relatively severe from the GIP part of the compensation scheme.

Level 12 injuries include gunshot wounds to the body and mental health troubles lasting up to five years.

They also cover "controlled post head injury epilepsy" and some forms of partial blindness and deafness.

To add your support to the Telegraph Justice for wounded campaign please click here

These men and women are being maimed because of the Government’s involvement in wars that I certainly didn’t want, the least they could do is look after them when they come back damaged.

Sign the petition.


Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Well, there’s a surprise

From the Beeb- Al-Qaeda supporters 'joined MI5' a senior Tory MP has asked the home secretary whether al-Qaeda sympathisers were mistakenly recruited by MI5.

Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Home Affairs counter-terror sub-committee, said he was told six recruits were ejected after worries about their past.

Two allegedly attended al-Qaeda training camps while the others had unexplained gaps in their CVs, Mr Mercer told the Daily Telegraph.

A Home Office spokeswoman declined to comment on the claims.

Mr Mercer said he had learned that MI5 had dismissed the six recruits some time between 2005 and 2007.

The MP said he feared that, in the aftermath of the bombings on London's transport network in July 2005, the security services had rushed to try and take on Muslim recruits, and that had potentially allowed al-Qaeda sympathisers to infiltrate the security service.

He has written to the Home Secretary Alan Johnson asking for further details.

Mr Mercer said the Commons Home Affairs committee may investigate the issue next month.

He told the newspaper that the government should have been prompted to expand the security services following the attacks on New York on 11 September 2001.

"In fact it took an attack on this country for such measures to be started," he added.

"But at this point it was an unseemly rush of which our enemies, not unsurprisingly, took advantage."

Makes you feel really safe doesn’t it?


Angus

Angus Dei on all and sundry

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE