Please check this out - it is very funny and says so much about our Chancellor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxBMT0rH9hU
Many thanks to the comedian and writer Wendy Wason who flagged it up to me when she was reviewing the papers on BBC London radio on Sunday morning.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Monday, 9 April 2012
Idiot boat race protester causes havoc
Protester Trenton Oldfield wreaked havoc at the boat race on Saturday causing it to be halted just over halfway through and then restarted half an hour later as well as placing himself in considerable danger.
He claims, we are told, to be protesting against elitism. The boat race is contested between crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Mr Oldfield was educated at public school and has studied at the London School of Economics. So we're not talking a life of deprivation.
Now it's fair to say that I'm fairly anti elitism in our society. OK so I've not been on the front pages of the national press but I would suggest that as a protest against privilege in our society In My Shoes kind of knocks Mr Oldfield into a cocked hat.
He claims, we are told, to be protesting against elitism. The boat race is contested between crews from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Mr Oldfield was educated at public school and has studied at the London School of Economics. So we're not talking a life of deprivation.
Now it's fair to say that I'm fairly anti elitism in our society. OK so I've not been on the front pages of the national press but I would suggest that as a protest against privilege in our society In My Shoes kind of knocks Mr Oldfield into a cocked hat.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Untapped Skills
Many of us find looking for work daunting enough even if you have the relevant skills or experience for the job. I have a bulging file of rejections and letters letting me know that unfortunately I have not been successful. I even attended an interview for a job that I was overqualified for thinking to myself I’ve got this job in the bag, as a lot of you would, but as with most things in life nothing ever goes according to plan. The interview itself wasn’t too bad it was what the employer said at the end which confused me “I’m sorry but you’re just not what we’re looking for at the moment”. WHAT! I have the relevant skills, I have done this job before so I have experience, I am what you’re looking for.
I came away from the interview like every other one: dejected, angry and relentlessly cursing the fact that I have to go through this every time. But that’s not the end of it because we the jobless still have these skills that are not being taken advantage of and are just going to waste. Like a lot of people, I have experienced homelessness and have gained skills and knowledge throughout the journey and I am becoming quite concerned having talked to a number of homeless and non-homeless people that they share this common grievance.
When asked, a number of people agreed that it seemed as though image was number one priority-not the fact that you are capable of doing the job. I have, in frustration, even resorted to embellishing my CV and skills a little in the hope that it would show me as the best candidate, but never did. Why is it so hard for these employers to accept the fact that OK, you might not have done this kind of work before but it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn to do it, the more you do something the easier it becomes until it is second nature-that is the process of learning. To shed some light on this matter I actually spoke to a few employers who remarked that it was down to a few reasons, that companies have a quota to meet on employing people belonging to certain groups (this seems to be about image again not whether they can do the job), but mostly down to the fact that they can’t afford the time or money to train anyone.
I believe that there is something that can be done and networking is the key. We’ve all heard the saying “its not what you know but who you know” and through my own experiences I’ve found that this has never been truer. Being part of an organisation called Camden Calling and meeting the group leader within two years I, along with other members are about to finish the first series of our radio podcast shows and start the second series with internet radio station Recharged Radio, I am currently creating music to put with poetry to record a spoken word album which I will be performing onstage in April along with the videos. So by just meeting the right person a number of doors have opened up.
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
What the Tories really think of their leaders...
One of the Tories rising stars, Nadine Dorries MP, was quoted the other
day as saying about the Government that: "policy is being run by two
public schoolboys who don't know what it's like to go to the supermarket
and have to put things back on the shelves because they can't afford
it...What's worse, they don't care either."
This blog isn't apolitical but it isn't party political either. Sure, I do say negative things about the Government, but I say negative things about all the parties and all policies that I disagree with.
For me it is about issues, things that happen in Government, decisions taken, that affect people who through no fault of their own, are generally at the bottom of the heap: the unemployed, the poor, the disabled, the disenfranchised.
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
Maths and the budget
On Wednesday 21 March the Chancellor George Osborne will make his budget statement. Now I'm sure George Osborne doesn't welcome it but he's not short of people offering him advice.
Now one of the big talking points has been taking away child benefit from high earners. Up until now child benefit hasn't been means tested. The current plan is that for families where one parent earns more than £44k they will not be able to claim child benefit for any offspring they may have. However if you are a family where both parents work and are earning, say £35k each you will be allowed to hang on to any child benefit for any offspring you may have.
Now clearly I'm no economist but this neither adds up, nor does it make any sense, nor does it seem very fair. The Treasury estimates that this would save at least £1 billion, although at the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review (autumn 2010) they were saying it would save up to £2.5 billion.
The other issue being chewed over in the media this week is the so-called mansion tax. This emerged courtesy of the Liberal Democrat financial whizz - Vince Cable. What he is proposing is a tax on properties worth £2 million or more. Were this to be introduced it is thought it would raise up to £1.7 billion.
In the autumn of 2010 the Chancellor announced his Comprehensive Spending Review. This was essentially his outline of where his cuts were going to fall. One of the main thrusts of his CSR was benefit cuts.
Aside from the Child Benefit changes, George Osborne was expecting to make cuts to the welfare budget totalling £15.5 billion. These cuts will be to benefits that are paid to those who are out of work, those who are disabled, those who receive housing benefit etc.
What I really fail to understand is how savings of a lesser amount of money can generate so much debate when cuts to those who are sick, disabled, vulnerable, or out of work, those who are undoubtably the poorest in our society warrants so little comment.
Now one of the big talking points has been taking away child benefit from high earners. Up until now child benefit hasn't been means tested. The current plan is that for families where one parent earns more than £44k they will not be able to claim child benefit for any offspring they may have. However if you are a family where both parents work and are earning, say £35k each you will be allowed to hang on to any child benefit for any offspring you may have.
Now clearly I'm no economist but this neither adds up, nor does it make any sense, nor does it seem very fair. The Treasury estimates that this would save at least £1 billion, although at the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review (autumn 2010) they were saying it would save up to £2.5 billion.
The other issue being chewed over in the media this week is the so-called mansion tax. This emerged courtesy of the Liberal Democrat financial whizz - Vince Cable. What he is proposing is a tax on properties worth £2 million or more. Were this to be introduced it is thought it would raise up to £1.7 billion.
In the autumn of 2010 the Chancellor announced his Comprehensive Spending Review. This was essentially his outline of where his cuts were going to fall. One of the main thrusts of his CSR was benefit cuts.
Aside from the Child Benefit changes, George Osborne was expecting to make cuts to the welfare budget totalling £15.5 billion. These cuts will be to benefits that are paid to those who are out of work, those who are disabled, those who receive housing benefit etc.
What I really fail to understand is how savings of a lesser amount of money can generate so much debate when cuts to those who are sick, disabled, vulnerable, or out of work, those who are undoubtably the poorest in our society warrants so little comment.
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Art for Crisis at Somerset House
Copyright: Yinka Shonibare. Image: Shaun Bloodworth.
Starting next week on Wednesday 14 March for five weeks or so there will be an exhibition at Somerset House on the Strand. Some famous names will be showimg their work and the aim is to draw attention to the issue of homelessness.
Some of the artists who will be exhibiting work are, in no particular order: Anthony Gormley, Tracey Emin, Nathan Coley, Nika Neelova, Anthony Caro, Bob and Roberta Smith, Yinka Shonibare, Gillian Wearing and Jonathan Yeo.
Alongside these big names, clients of Crisis will also have their work exhibited in the gallery and the chance to show to a much wider audience.
The works are to be auctioned off at Christie's May 2012 to raise money for Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people.
Friday, 2 March 2012
I live in an unemployment blackspot
It's official - I live in one of the very worst boroughs in London for unemployment. There are 32 boroughs in London if you don't count the city of London where the population is low.
The figures come from the Office for National Statistics. In December 2011 there were 11 209 residents who were claiming Jobseekers Alllowance. That figure equates to 7.3% of the working age population. In London generally, the unemployment rate is 4.3%.
This means there are 22 claimants for every unfilled vacancy in the Jobcentres of my home borough. This figure was 13.4 claimants for each vacancy this time last year. I must stress these figures relate to those who can claim JSA.
I also discovered this week that the borough where I live is the fourth worst local authority in the UK for child poverty. This depressing statistic emerged when the End Child Poverty campaign published a new child poverty map of the UK. Nationally there are four million children, that's one in three children currently living in poverty in the UK. I don't have kids but these figures are a national disgrace.
Perhaps the statistics I've cited give some indication of the kind of place I live. I've lived in this borough for the past 17 years and in fact it's a cracking place to live; busy, vibrant and creative, but perhaps I'm just biased.
The figures come from the Office for National Statistics. In December 2011 there were 11 209 residents who were claiming Jobseekers Alllowance. That figure equates to 7.3% of the working age population. In London generally, the unemployment rate is 4.3%.
This means there are 22 claimants for every unfilled vacancy in the Jobcentres of my home borough. This figure was 13.4 claimants for each vacancy this time last year. I must stress these figures relate to those who can claim JSA.
I also discovered this week that the borough where I live is the fourth worst local authority in the UK for child poverty. This depressing statistic emerged when the End Child Poverty campaign published a new child poverty map of the UK. Nationally there are four million children, that's one in three children currently living in poverty in the UK. I don't have kids but these figures are a national disgrace.
Perhaps the statistics I've cited give some indication of the kind of place I live. I've lived in this borough for the past 17 years and in fact it's a cracking place to live; busy, vibrant and creative, but perhaps I'm just biased.
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