This is a long blog, all those affected by the bed-room tax should read. It should be passed on to others who may not have access to a computer.
‘Fighting dirty’? The Leeds children’s heart unit closure
Our lazy and incompetent media doing the work of a nasty and vicious government. Looking at the graphs, most of the hospitals are based in the South of the country. With the closure of Leeds or Newcastle, would leave the North of the country one unit for patients and parents to go to.
This week, in the course of writing an article for the Campaign Group Open Democracy, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to paediatric surgeons at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI), the object of much attention after its children’s cardiac surgery unit was closed late last week.
I’ve also looked into the facts behind the claim that the unit was closed because its mortality rate was ‘double the national average’ – or to be more precise, to look into them as far as is possible given that the claims were supposedly based on statistics that are neither published nor even finished.
The fact that the unit now looks set to be reopened doesn’t remove the concerns about the original decisions were reached. Nor does it undo the damage that has been done by the decision and what has been said and published around it. As the BBC News site observed yesterday, “
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Lets hope Manchester City Council has a change of heart and does not allow its Arm-Length-Management-Organisation evict tenants for non-payment.
Some people may have been mislead by some of the messages from our (rarely right) media and might be interested in this link about bedroom tax: THE BEDROOM TAX CALCULATOR as well as the article itself. And here is a link to advice on a possible way to defeat the Bedroom Tax: Bedroom Tax, how to get rid of it quickly and simply
What councils don’t tell you about the enforcement of council tax.
Millions of people who do not pay the council tax now will be charged 8.5% to 20% from the 1st April. Millions will not be able to afford it; councils knew that when they made those irrational decisions.
Councils will not tell you;
1. That they have the discretion to write off the tax for vulnerable and impoverished people under clause 10 (1) 13A (1) of the Local Government Finance Act 2012. It is necessary for the council tax benefit claimant to write a letter to the council setting out their financial circumstances, all debts, and all relevant information such as health/disability. Payment of the bedroom tax, rent due to the overall benefit tax and the rent due to the housing benefit tax would be relevant.
2. That the bottom line is the income left after rent and council tax needed for…
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Many of us knew from the out-set, that Manchester – A Certain Future, was nothing but utter ‘Greenwash’, purely wasting tax-payers money. Those of us, who have said as much, have been described as the ‘usual greens’, who cannot see that the council is doing something. The author of this article, as a ‘fresh set of eyes’, puts quite nicely. He did forget to mention, Nottingham and the East Midlands have been doing it since 2000. Whilst Woking since the 1990s, and as was mentioned last week at the launch of Greater Manchester’s Hydrogen Hub, cut the energy consumption by 70%. Where is Manchester City Council’s proof, that they have saved any energy, other than through shutting down front-line services, severely impacting those in need.
We just got this amazing comment from a local businessman, who has been involved in the “Manchester A Certain Future” process since last year. We at Manchester Climate Monthly have been asking questions about democracy and “process.” He is asking hard-headed questions about effectiveness.
“As something of an outsider, and having first been invited to attend the “refresh meetings” last summer, I wonder whether a fresh pair of eyes is worth anything? If they’re not, then don’t read on, but if anyone would like the view from the SME installer side of renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies (insulation, building fabric measures, plus the usual PV bling) who comes to MACF as a novice of its history, then I’d say this: Last summer, at the first meeting I attended, the comments and facial expressions I received from those around the table when I said “I don’t know anyone in the…
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Unfortunately, it is too easy for bullies and perverts to hi-jack social media sites.
A sad day for Venezuela.
Unfortunately in the case of Manchester, the council keeps experimenting with demolishing perfectly sound council properties to build ‘homes-to-buy’, no one can afford to buy. This has uprooted communities across the City and fragmenting them. The new build ‘homes-to-buy’, are very shoddily built and energy inefficient. And the council trumpets it’s ‘Manchester – A Certain Future’, nothing has really moved on since 2009. Unlike Nottingham and the East Midlands who implemented their plans in 2000; http://www.climate-em.org.uk/projects/east-midlands-carbon-management-programme/
Chris Guenther, research director at SustainAbility, argues that cities offer the best hope for rapidly developing and replicating sustainability solutions.
A longer version of this article will appear in the spring issue of Green Alliance’s journal Inside Track.
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The privatisation of the National Health Service will be a very backward step with dire consequences. welcome to Edwardian Britain, a hundred years on.
It’s been announced this afternoon that Monitor, the regulatory body for NHS Trusts, has begun the process of putting Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust (MSFT) into administration. Once this process is approved, which may only take a couple of weeks, the administrators of the Trust will have 150 days to come up with proposals from a range of options including the complete closure of the Trust. One option that is not included, however, is the continuation of MSFT in its current form.
Reports on the decision focus on the Trust’s financial struggles and Monitor‘s statement that MSNHS needs to cut costs by 7% in order to be financially viable.
Sounds like a serious situation, doesn’t it? But as its Annual Report almost a year ago showed, Mid Staffs was already embarked on a Cost Improvement Programme (CIP) to save 6-7% a year – and had achieved…
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The UK has continually dragged its feet on implementing EU environmental and employment legislation. It is normally implemented in a ‘watered down’ form, employing the cheapest techniques instead of ‘Best Available Technology’. Also, it is reliant on self-regulation (like the banks and look where that got us) and an arms length regulators who only act after a major incident. As long as a process can not be directly identified as being a problem, it is allowed to continue, as opposed to taking a precautionary approach. The UK is still the Dirty Man of Europe.
This is a guest post by Caroline Jackson, former MEP and chairman of the European Parliament environment committee from 1999-2004.
“We need to examine whether the balance is right in so many areas where the European Union has legislated, including on the environment, social affairs and crime”
Thus said David Cameron in his recent “key speech” on Europe – and he sent an immediate shudder through the ranks of British environmentalists. What did he mean? Which bits of EU environmental policy is Britain going to raise in Brussels (when Owen Paterson has stopped worrying about horse/beef burgers)? What are the chances of getting anything changed anyway in existing legislation which it has been a pain to negotiate? Given that reform is needed in the EU approach to legislation (as I believe it is) is he going for the right targets?
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patricktsudlow 