My wife has been disabled for 18 years and I have severe emphysema and Increasingly when we go out you can see people giving us dirty looks and thinking are they scroungers ?.
I was an engineer until I lost my job due to ill health, I am not claiming any benefits myself but my wife gets dla we would both love to have the freedom of choice and the life we could have from working if we were able.
we have a miserable subsistence level existence with little to look forward to except a slow and painful death.
This governments rhetoric regarding benefits, and it's vilification of the sick and disabled is making life not worth living, Adult social care is no longer concerned with helping people and is preoccupied with their ever decreasing budgets.
We paid our dues and worked for as long as we were able, we did not ask to be sick, I think that there are too many similarities between the disabled in England in 2015 and the Jewish people in 1930's Germany those poor people must have felt much as we do blamed for all the problems and unable to do anything about it.
The vilification of a sub group in society is an old political tool, Hitler blamed the Jews thatcher blamed the Unions and Cameron blames the Sick the Disabled and the Unemployed .
This government stirs up bigotry and resentment internally and now against immigrants and refugees and all the time we are distracted by this THEY ARE ROBBING US BLIND!, Running every social service into the ground taking away all the funding for Police, Housing, Health,schools , Youth services,defense coastguards, all the while giving tax breaks to the wealthy.
In the end England Will become such a miserable place to live that no one will want to come here and most of our best minds will leave. How will the NHS survive when all the doctors have gone abroad what happens to our future when all our best scientists and engineers have left ?
The purpose of Government is to create a good place to live and bring up children not simply to make the books balance , WE are a Country not a Company when this Government is finished it will take a generation to rebuild the infrastructure. When are people going to wake up and see whats happening.
Sorry if my rant has offended antbody but I really needed to say something.
Gaffers
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gaffers
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We do see what's happening, we are powerless to stop them. The most powerful politicians are corrupt and are liars. There is no hope. They have ground the people into the depths of despair, which is how they increase their stranglehold. The only way is to pray, join intercessors for Britain, pray with your local church group. Read your Bible, psalm 12v5.. Because the poor and needy groan, I will now arise says the LORD. Isaiah 32v7 As for the scoundrel, his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.
Psalm 43v5 Why are you so downcast oh my soul, why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him.
Given the choice I'd prefer to be a taxpayer. It's not that I'm too proud to accept help but like you, I'd prefer not to be misjudged by folk who are better off, but too ill informed to know how others struggle to make ends meet. I'm not thinking of myself, but when married couples with jobs, and young families to support have to rely on food banks there's something very wrong. I can't get my head around the fact that some folk get as an annual bonus, the sort of amount that most would regard as a once in a lifetime win on the lottery. Its mind boggling, and very divisive but maybe that's the idea - divide and rule! But...as they say, what goes around comes around! In the meantime I'm off to buy my lottery ticket - fingers crossed, you never know.🍀🙏 As my lovely late husband used to say "don't let the b******s get you down!
No, but thanks - my son won a fiver on the thunderball tho,' he won £25 last weekend as well. I think maybe I should be on commission for getting his ticket for him😉
Hi Gaffers if anybody thinks you are a scrounger that is their problem, not yours. Your problem is you are having to face a very difficult life living with serious health problems as is your wife, not only that which is bad enough but also having very little cash. To me makes you one hell of a bloke
Having worked and paid your dues you should be entitled to sick pay of some kind, ESA? Please contact someone for benefits advice. And no, it is not scrounging, it is collecting from your national insurance.
Yes, I agree. You are entitled to claim..because you "put in" by way of tax and insurance. If you don't claim it, you can bet your bottom dollar that somebody who is less deserving than you will. Also, with regard to you thinking that everybody regards you as "scroungers" ..take comfort in the knowledge that you have earned the right to claim. If I were in your position, with respect, I would be on to the Citizen's Advice Bureau first thing Monday morning! Good luck.
Try to ignore those that sit in judgement - let them walk in your shoes for a week or so and see how they feel then. Pete did not ask to be ill but sadly he is. You do need to claim for all you are entitled to because if you don't, somebody else will. It is not scrounging it is getting what is due because you have worked hard all your life.
I do feel for you and your wife but would always say that life is worth living and getting the most out of if you can. Quite a few on here are on their own and yet they get through each day, not always feeling well, but they get there.
I am not having a go but please do try and stay positive and stay as well as you can.
Good luck to you and your wife Gaffers and hope things improve in as many ways as possible. Wishing you well. xxxx
Hi it's the old political trick - divide and rule. Most people fall for it unfortunately. If they didn't then the vast majority who are suffering would get together and fight for themselves rather than the minority who are robbing us blind. x
Gaffers, a very well put post, I'm sure, I know a not of people feel the same as you, remember you are a human 'being' not a human doing, and we are and I claim the right to be valued as such, just for being, you, your wife are claiming what you are entitled too, no shame and don't let this government shame you, it's shame on them for behaving like sociopaths. Very sad story in the paper about a women who got fined and ordered to pay court costs because she stole a packet of Mars bars worth less than a £1, she hadn't had any thing to eat for 2 days. Why didn't the shop keeper give her a sandwich and a cup of tea ? Hold you head up gaffers xxxx
I am afraid that I have had some bad experiences with adult social care and my wife and I do not trust them, my wife does not want them near the house they are more interested with their ever decreasing budget than with their responsibilities to people, I have found that they will falsify care assessments if they can save money, I would not trust them to look after my wife or myself
I am my wife's only carer, if I claim ESA I will be asked to find work but my wife Carnot manage on her own and I am not well enough to do both, that is how I lost my Job after 17 years with the same company, but with emphysema sleep apnea, and a disabled woman to care for I was not fit enough to carry on, and there is no way I can ask social services for help. they assessed me as having retired to look after my wife and reduced her direct payments when I complained they agreed that I was not retired but still reduced her payments, sooner or later my condition will get the better of me and then I don't know what will happen to my wife she is unable to get out of the house without help, thank you everyone for your kind comments, I'm getting a little morbid so I think i'll leave it there
So sorry that you feel that way, gaffers. It's bad enough that you have not only your wife to care for, but yourself suffer from debilitating illness. CAB would seem to be the way to go. A non-partisan advice service, par excellence! Good luck. Very kind regards-Dave.
ESA replaced sick pay and you can get it if you are too ill to work. Are you claiming carer's allowance? If this falls short you can also claim a top-up from Income Support to bring it up to other benefit levels.
Hi Gaffers,I do feel for you & your wife.Do follow Caspers advice though,you need to get whatever you are entitled to,don't let pride stand in the way!
you did not offend me in any way just saying what I've been saying for years - I truly think this lot are evil - they may claim ignorance of the suffering they cause but being blinkered in their million pound mansions is no excuse they are selling (as Thatcher did) this country down the river and us with it and their billionaire friends in the press help perpetuate the myth that there is no money - rubbish there is plenty of money only at present it goes to those who need it least - will stop now as get so angry about all this - thank you for the post xx
who do we borrow money off ?"The world bank" , but where does their money come from?! The World Bank has no real income it receives no taxes it has no land no GDP, the world bank is a place where we collectively agree to pretend it has money to lend and we use it to balance the books and set a value on our various currencies , but it is all pretend they don't actually have any money it is just numbers in pretend accounts,
when the last collapse happened Was it from some form of disaster? who got hurt? did it cause war or great suffering? NO lots of banks lost money on paper. Money that did not exist was lent to buy property that had inaccurate values to people who could not pay for the loans and digital chaos occurred
People forget that it was M thatcher and R. Ragen who changed the banking laws to allow banks to lend money they did not have by sharing the risk with other banks, so that when ONE finally collapsed it ALL came down like A HOUSE OF CARDS, it was the conservatives that really caused the collapse by messing with the system and creating the right environment for a housing bubble, a ticking time bomb that eventually blew up in our faces
agree money has no value except what we give it - it used to be at least tied to something tangible viz. gold but even that tie has gone now - it is all a con to keep us in our place and the status quo going - our lives and livelihoods are gambled away by brokers etc. on the stock markets and commodities markets - of course there is 'enough' money it is just a question of political will - it does not take a genius to think that it makes far more sense in a recession to spend money on for example building real social housing, investing in infrastructure and on retraining and education and on health, and health care and the disabled and that way you get people working, you pay them well and they in turn spend that money, as do people getting allowances (not loans) for training and health issues etc. this then encourages and supports local enterprises etc. etc. the only reason to go the route of austerity is to bully and frighten people making it easier to take away from them the few 'perks' that their ancestors fought long and hard for, and make it easier for your friends 'the money' men to make more money on their backs and over turn any 'pesky' little laws that stop large corporations from creaming yet more profits not just from individuals but also from government monies - for instance the official figures on what percentage of people commit fraud on benefits and tax credits is 0.7% I wonder how much has been spent ie. given to private companies such as ATOS etc to 'police' this? I would imagine the only way it balances if at all is by these private companies targeting - as we know - a majority of legitimate claimants so you want a con job this ************** shamble of a government are the experts ....
Worked all my life as well I applied for pip & got refused even though I have emphysema &asthma plus osteoporosis they don't care we should all realise this
Sorry that you are having such a hard time. Yes I do believe that this Tory government: Horrid Henry and his gang will try to return this county to the 1870s instead of the 1970s of which they accuse J Corbyn of. Soon, as well as food banks, we will see the return of orphanages and workhouses of course under different titles. Quite scary. Also it looks as if China will own our infra structure in the not too distant future. Say hello to government by fear and terror and if you dare to revolt, incarceration or death . Preferably death so they can harvest your organs etc. I watched the Chinese Ambassador on the Andrew Marr show and he was pretty scary. Bearing in mind he was the actual 'Ambassador!' Be warned.
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