A quick recap on August as summer draws to a close tells us a lot about the economy and the ethos of the coalition government.
We saw a slight reduction in the number of people claiming job seekers allowance. Yet there is a rising problem of people unwillingly working part-time and in precarious self-employment. Unemployment among young people remains at an all time high.
There is a big difference between volunteering and being volunteered.
The UK is a world leader when it comes to volunteering. School governing bodies, sports and community clubs, hospital visiting and even blood donations thrive on the effort of volunteers.
Being ‘volunteered’ to travel from Bath, Bristol and Plymouth and dumped at 3am in central London with no shelter, food or supervision is another matter entirely.
As a child I was made to sit by a road that the Queen’s car was to travel en route to open a new hospital. It was a hot summer’s day and well before parents and teachers knew to cover children in factor 50.
I remember we were given Union Jack flags on wooden sticks. By the time the Queen’s car passed by us children were hot, thirsty and I couldn’t join in the frenzy of flag waving as I’d lost mine.
The Union Jack didn’t have especially negative connotations and I remember owning a red, white and blue purse that was an emblem of the ‘swinging sixties’.
In a cowardly move last week Maria Miller, Minister for Disabled People issued a written statement on the future of Remploy factories. The Minister was later forced to account in person for this decision as shock waves reverberated across the Remploy workforce.
The coalition is proposing the closure of 36 of Remploy’s 54 factories resulting in 1,752 redundancies, among them 1,518 disabled workers.
This blog reflects my personal views and comments about a range of political, social and economic issues. Please feel free to use this opportunity to share your thoughts both about the blogs that I post, as well as other topics that are important to you.
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Although I welcome all kinds of thoughts - supportive, dissenting, critical or otherwise, I will moderate them before publishing. I will therefore delete comments if the content is abusive; off-topic; promotes hate of any kind; uses excessively foul language; is blatantly spam. I hope to do this within 24 to 48 hours of a comment being posted, so please don't be surprised if you find that your comment doesn't show up immediately, However, please contact me to follow up on the status of your comment if it hasn’t shown up after 48 hours and I will do my best to sort it out.
Comments Policy
Although I welcome all kinds of thoughts - supportive, dissenting, critical or otherwise, I will moderate them before publishing. I will therefore delete comments if the content is abusive; off-topic; promotes hate of any kind; uses excessively foul language; is blatantly spam. I hope to do this within 24 to 48 hours of a comment being posted, so please don't be surprised if you find that your comment doesn't show up immediately, However, please contact me to follow up on the status of your comment if it hasn’t shown up after 48 hours and I will do my best to sort it out.