Dear Harriet,
You haven't come back to my last email and I understand you haven't come back to any within this series of 'one voice', in excess of 40 emails now over as many days.
Is the number too high for you? Would it make any difference to know that the number of emails I'm getting from Labour runs to about three a day at the moment, often more? Never mind that I'm not replying to these, I know that is not the point of them, but we are looking for a reply. This isn't just promotional spam but rather a plea from and on behalf of people whose lives are being ripped apart by Tory policy, that your party is doing nothing to attempt to block.
How are we to trust that you are on the side of the electorate when you won't even respond to the very direct, specific complaints of your own party members? Who exactly are you in opposition for? Who are you representing?
These emails are not designed to slam Labour – it's a genuine request of the party to act on its supposed principles and fight against a pro-wealth, anti-poverty, unjust Tory rule. You are in the best position to do this and what most supporters feel you morally should be doing; I don't believe that Labour voters have swung that much to the right that our views are the minority.
When these emails are ignored it all feels rather hopeless, really.
I do hope that one day you will listen and respond.
Monday, 20 July 2015
Thursday, 16 July 2015
Email #43 (Guest Email #2)
Dear Harriet,
For once I am grateful for my perennial disorganisation, as I meant to cancel my Labour party membership ages ago. I even thought I had done so. But the emails (ever-growing at the moment) that arrive in my inbox tell me otherwise. I'm pleased to have retained my membership this summer for one simple reason – voting on its leadership candidacy.
For a party that has turned its back on its left-wing roots for some time now it's refreshing to see a genuinely left-wing proposition with policies that traditional Labour supporters can get behind. As it stands I will still cancel my membership after the leadership has been decided but I would consider a return if Jeremy Corbyn wins and (crucially) is able to put his ideology in to action.
I didn't vote for Labour in the general election because you are not a left-wing party. You weren't even a consideration, really. It was a toss up between the Greens and the SNP – though I am Scottish by family I'm English through birth and have only moved to Scotland recently. They were my options because they were the only parties available to me whose politics I agree with.
It seems to me that Labour are leaning on the 80s and early 90s as guidance following the election defeat, much supported by a predominantly right-wing press - that more central and right-wing policies are needed to have any chance of getting in to power the next time round. It's a shame really, isn't it, that power supercedes what a party purports to stand for (in this instance, supposedly equality and a fair society over supporting greed and wealth)? But such is the thinking of the modern day career politician, I suppose.
The landscape though, Harriet, I feel is different now. Because there are alternatives to Labour for the left-leaning of us, aren't there? Bowing down to the nasty party is just not going to work this time. It's going to alienate your supporters even more so and send them elsewhere. I don't believe there are enough swaying voters for that to be your route in to power – there are more (I could say better, reluctantly, but they will be better for those whose ideology matches) right-wing parties to choose from now, too. Those who don't know too much about the differences and will pick based on the leader, Rupert Murdoch's opinion, what name they prefer on the day...? I'm not sure they'll be enough for you, either. Your strategy seems to ignore the welcome shift from binary politics, and it will be to your detriment.
Because you are alienating a massive portion of left-wing supporters who are horrified by the deepening chasm between rich and poor, who will not stand by and watch while families are pushed further in to poverty while the wealthy and corporations get tax breaks, and who will not watch the welfare state getting destroyed in favour of money and greed. The left does have a voice, and it's getting louder, and it's getting angrier.
I voted for the Green Party in the general election in the end. I really like the SNPs, in their conviction and their strong, authentic leadership and, of course, their progressive and fair policies. However I felt the Green vote was a louder left vote. It made my vote only about that; about being a voice against the disgusting policies that hold forte in Westminster currently.
My one Green vote didn't change the make up of Westminster, but numbers do matter alongside results – growth starts somewhere, and to this end my number matters. Meanwhile the SNP result was another gain; while they aren't a possibility for UK voters outside Scotland they at least demonstrate that a left-wing party can gain popularity and political clout.
So consider all of this, Harriet, while you forget that an opposition party is there to oppose. Where the meagre UKIP support in the election had you running to the treacherous, spiky right hills. Where this and exploitative, trashy television programmes have you believing the majority of the populace really want a society that punishes foreigners and the vulnerable. Consider it, if you must, in numbers - in voters who are walking away from you all the time. In the people that make up the rallies, in the people emailing you and other Labour MPs, imploring you to act morally.
Consider what that means for Labour power, if morality and integrity have already left you.
I don't believe the Tories won the election because society wants what they are draconially and with ever-greater expedience forcing upon us. I believe Labour lost it because you didn't stand up to anything and you didn't stand for anything.
Consider that, please.
For once I am grateful for my perennial disorganisation, as I meant to cancel my Labour party membership ages ago. I even thought I had done so. But the emails (ever-growing at the moment) that arrive in my inbox tell me otherwise. I'm pleased to have retained my membership this summer for one simple reason – voting on its leadership candidacy.
For a party that has turned its back on its left-wing roots for some time now it's refreshing to see a genuinely left-wing proposition with policies that traditional Labour supporters can get behind. As it stands I will still cancel my membership after the leadership has been decided but I would consider a return if Jeremy Corbyn wins and (crucially) is able to put his ideology in to action.
I didn't vote for Labour in the general election because you are not a left-wing party. You weren't even a consideration, really. It was a toss up between the Greens and the SNP – though I am Scottish by family I'm English through birth and have only moved to Scotland recently. They were my options because they were the only parties available to me whose politics I agree with.
It seems to me that Labour are leaning on the 80s and early 90s as guidance following the election defeat, much supported by a predominantly right-wing press - that more central and right-wing policies are needed to have any chance of getting in to power the next time round. It's a shame really, isn't it, that power supercedes what a party purports to stand for (in this instance, supposedly equality and a fair society over supporting greed and wealth)? But such is the thinking of the modern day career politician, I suppose.
The landscape though, Harriet, I feel is different now. Because there are alternatives to Labour for the left-leaning of us, aren't there? Bowing down to the nasty party is just not going to work this time. It's going to alienate your supporters even more so and send them elsewhere. I don't believe there are enough swaying voters for that to be your route in to power – there are more (I could say better, reluctantly, but they will be better for those whose ideology matches) right-wing parties to choose from now, too. Those who don't know too much about the differences and will pick based on the leader, Rupert Murdoch's opinion, what name they prefer on the day...? I'm not sure they'll be enough for you, either. Your strategy seems to ignore the welcome shift from binary politics, and it will be to your detriment.
Because you are alienating a massive portion of left-wing supporters who are horrified by the deepening chasm between rich and poor, who will not stand by and watch while families are pushed further in to poverty while the wealthy and corporations get tax breaks, and who will not watch the welfare state getting destroyed in favour of money and greed. The left does have a voice, and it's getting louder, and it's getting angrier.
I voted for the Green Party in the general election in the end. I really like the SNPs, in their conviction and their strong, authentic leadership and, of course, their progressive and fair policies. However I felt the Green vote was a louder left vote. It made my vote only about that; about being a voice against the disgusting policies that hold forte in Westminster currently.
My one Green vote didn't change the make up of Westminster, but numbers do matter alongside results – growth starts somewhere, and to this end my number matters. Meanwhile the SNP result was another gain; while they aren't a possibility for UK voters outside Scotland they at least demonstrate that a left-wing party can gain popularity and political clout.
So consider all of this, Harriet, while you forget that an opposition party is there to oppose. Where the meagre UKIP support in the election had you running to the treacherous, spiky right hills. Where this and exploitative, trashy television programmes have you believing the majority of the populace really want a society that punishes foreigners and the vulnerable. Consider it, if you must, in numbers - in voters who are walking away from you all the time. In the people that make up the rallies, in the people emailing you and other Labour MPs, imploring you to act morally.
Consider what that means for Labour power, if morality and integrity have already left you.
I don't believe the Tories won the election because society wants what they are draconially and with ever-greater expedience forcing upon us. I believe Labour lost it because you didn't stand up to anything and you didn't stand for anything.
Consider that, please.
Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Email #42
Dear Harriet
Today was a very trying day. I knew it was doomed from the start. Which is about the time I finally made it to bed last night when I finished work (because sometimes my 16 hours are not regular people hours and because Im working flat out in those 16 hours to drive my business to be as successful as it can be, because I am ambitious and driven not just because the threat of the HMRC looms over me) only to be awoken about 2 hours later by "he who never sleeps" AKA my teenage son with aspergers.
No one can fully appreciate what it is like trying to care for a sleep deprived teenage boy with aspergers when they themselves are an adult with aspergers and bipolar disorder and just as sleep deprived, unless they are actually in that situation themselves. It is exhausting. And when I say exhausting I literally mean in every way possible for every fibre of the human body and psyche.
I then spent the next two hours awake despite the mirtazapine. And unless you have experienced it no one can fully appreciate what it is like trying to function like a normal human being when you have had a medication and the sleep pattern it induces interrupted like that.
I therefore spent the whole of today feeling a way that can only be described as like being really dizzy while also very intoxicated and on a cross channel ferry, intersperced with moments of feeling like being on a lift that is plummeting to the ground. And thats how I had to work today, and with clients not just in my own office.
And that was just the physical affect.
It also affected my mood, resulting in an argument with my sister at the train station this morning, during which she threw the documents my son had dumped, in his own sleep-deprived temper on the back seat, at me: I informed her she could get a taxi to the school if she wasnt going to behave like a grown up.
You see when you are dealing with adverse side effects of medication its all to easy to allow yourself to succumb to the pressure and stress you feel of every day living. And effectively that is exactly what my sister and I are both doing.
A person can only remain strong for so long under so much pressure, and we each feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. Its hardly surprising though is it? Following the budget, the one you are so eager to stand by rather than oppose, we are on tenter hooks, neither of us knowing entirely where the metaphorical axe will fall.
It is not an easy way to live by any stretch of the imagination.
I am a strong person. I have had to be, no matter what I've faced. And although I have shared a lot of my experiences during this campaign I have not shared even a 10th of what I have had to shoulder. But a person can only remain strong for so long. That is why I am reliant on anti depressants for sleep, that is why I am so reliant on my job to keep me sane.
Yet if the incumbent government gets its way, which it seems it is to do because you are so "laissez faire" in your approach to "opposition" that borders on treachery to your own party, I may be forced to give up my job. You have no idea how catastrophic that would be for me. We are not just talking about my livelihood, we are talking about my mental health. I already suffered one breakdown after changing careers and giving up my teaching dream, I honestly do not think I could come out the other side of another breakdown.
Football is everything to me, beyond what joy motherhood provides me. And no matter whether it makes me huge profits I am good at what I do, and that is just as important as whether or not I am profitable. I know I am good at what I do because I am constantly sought by other clubs and every bit of work I have has been through word of mouth; I have a good and strong reputation. I didnt actually know until last night how strong that reputation is, when a players sibling told me how highly my club value me. You have no idea what that means. It goes far beyond validation or simple job statisfaction. To take that away from me isnt just about making a financial cut, its taking away a piece of me, because I have put my heart and soul into everything I do. I do not want to give up.
And yet a man in a suit with a calculator may just force me to do that. So yes, these are testing times.
And ultimately that is why I have opened up this campaign. This is no longer ONE voice, this is many voices, because as I told you right from the start, this isnt just me and how the policies of the incumbent government affect me and my family, this is about how policies are affecting EVERY family in this nation.
How can you say you are for a fairer society for all, and yet condemn by capitulation an entire nation to the suffering that will be the result of these cuts? How can you betray the legacy of Labour so openly?
The gap between the rich and the poor is ever widening and your failure to oppose will widen it further.
For the sake of my family and every family you need to start listening to our voices and those of the MPs who fill the benches around you in the commons.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator, frustrated activist, grieving friend, betrayed party member
Today was a very trying day. I knew it was doomed from the start. Which is about the time I finally made it to bed last night when I finished work (because sometimes my 16 hours are not regular people hours and because Im working flat out in those 16 hours to drive my business to be as successful as it can be, because I am ambitious and driven not just because the threat of the HMRC looms over me) only to be awoken about 2 hours later by "he who never sleeps" AKA my teenage son with aspergers.
No one can fully appreciate what it is like trying to care for a sleep deprived teenage boy with aspergers when they themselves are an adult with aspergers and bipolar disorder and just as sleep deprived, unless they are actually in that situation themselves. It is exhausting. And when I say exhausting I literally mean in every way possible for every fibre of the human body and psyche.
I then spent the next two hours awake despite the mirtazapine. And unless you have experienced it no one can fully appreciate what it is like trying to function like a normal human being when you have had a medication and the sleep pattern it induces interrupted like that.
I therefore spent the whole of today feeling a way that can only be described as like being really dizzy while also very intoxicated and on a cross channel ferry, intersperced with moments of feeling like being on a lift that is plummeting to the ground. And thats how I had to work today, and with clients not just in my own office.
And that was just the physical affect.
It also affected my mood, resulting in an argument with my sister at the train station this morning, during which she threw the documents my son had dumped, in his own sleep-deprived temper on the back seat, at me: I informed her she could get a taxi to the school if she wasnt going to behave like a grown up.
You see when you are dealing with adverse side effects of medication its all to easy to allow yourself to succumb to the pressure and stress you feel of every day living. And effectively that is exactly what my sister and I are both doing.
A person can only remain strong for so long under so much pressure, and we each feel the weight of the world on our shoulders. Its hardly surprising though is it? Following the budget, the one you are so eager to stand by rather than oppose, we are on tenter hooks, neither of us knowing entirely where the metaphorical axe will fall.
It is not an easy way to live by any stretch of the imagination.
I am a strong person. I have had to be, no matter what I've faced. And although I have shared a lot of my experiences during this campaign I have not shared even a 10th of what I have had to shoulder. But a person can only remain strong for so long. That is why I am reliant on anti depressants for sleep, that is why I am so reliant on my job to keep me sane.
Yet if the incumbent government gets its way, which it seems it is to do because you are so "laissez faire" in your approach to "opposition" that borders on treachery to your own party, I may be forced to give up my job. You have no idea how catastrophic that would be for me. We are not just talking about my livelihood, we are talking about my mental health. I already suffered one breakdown after changing careers and giving up my teaching dream, I honestly do not think I could come out the other side of another breakdown.
Football is everything to me, beyond what joy motherhood provides me. And no matter whether it makes me huge profits I am good at what I do, and that is just as important as whether or not I am profitable. I know I am good at what I do because I am constantly sought by other clubs and every bit of work I have has been through word of mouth; I have a good and strong reputation. I didnt actually know until last night how strong that reputation is, when a players sibling told me how highly my club value me. You have no idea what that means. It goes far beyond validation or simple job statisfaction. To take that away from me isnt just about making a financial cut, its taking away a piece of me, because I have put my heart and soul into everything I do. I do not want to give up.
And yet a man in a suit with a calculator may just force me to do that. So yes, these are testing times.
And ultimately that is why I have opened up this campaign. This is no longer ONE voice, this is many voices, because as I told you right from the start, this isnt just me and how the policies of the incumbent government affect me and my family, this is about how policies are affecting EVERY family in this nation.
How can you say you are for a fairer society for all, and yet condemn by capitulation an entire nation to the suffering that will be the result of these cuts? How can you betray the legacy of Labour so openly?
The gap between the rich and the poor is ever widening and your failure to oppose will widen it further.
For the sake of my family and every family you need to start listening to our voices and those of the MPs who fill the benches around you in the commons.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator, frustrated activist, grieving friend, betrayed party member
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Email #41 (Guest Collaborator)
Dear Ms Harman,
Thank you for taking the trouble to represent us an MP.
Although I am not the actual socialist mum, I am writing this in her support as both being a mother and a socialist are full time jobs, and don’t always leave time for correspondence. However I am a mother, and my political leanings are far to the left, so I am acting in solidarity with one of my many sisters and writing to you about your political leanings.
You have been a politician for some time now, and have seen your party move ever further to the right, until now they are just behind the Tories. This is an interesting strategy and leaves me wondering whose votes you are aiming to get.
It is your economic strategy that worries me most though. Economics is a relatively new science, and as such goes through rapid and frequent changes. Perhaps this why Labour’s strategy is a little behind. You do not have to be a progressive economist to believe that austerity is not good for large economies. In both the short and long term it stifles growth, leaving business and the public disillusioned and poorer in varying degrees. Why do you not oppose this structure? I am left with the conclusion that you do not care or you do not understand.
Then it comes to health. It is well known that large events and health are connected. There is always a surge in heart attacks after earthquakes and economic crashes. But health and the economy are connected in more subtle and insidious ways. Poverty leads to poor nutrition and obesity, it is associated with higher incidences of smoking, drug use and child abuse. Our NHS is working very hard to deal with natural effects of the entire population simply being alive all at once. It isn’t prepared to deal with the physical and emotional effects of austerity.
I would ask Ms Harman, re-read the figures. Ask real economists. Look at what has happen to countries practising even the mild form of austerity considered here. Make policy based on as much fact as you can find.
Make policy based not your political leanings, but what is actually best for the country.
Yours sincerely
Catherine Safdar
Thank you for taking the trouble to represent us an MP.
Although I am not the actual socialist mum, I am writing this in her support as both being a mother and a socialist are full time jobs, and don’t always leave time for correspondence. However I am a mother, and my political leanings are far to the left, so I am acting in solidarity with one of my many sisters and writing to you about your political leanings.
You have been a politician for some time now, and have seen your party move ever further to the right, until now they are just behind the Tories. This is an interesting strategy and leaves me wondering whose votes you are aiming to get.
It is your economic strategy that worries me most though. Economics is a relatively new science, and as such goes through rapid and frequent changes. Perhaps this why Labour’s strategy is a little behind. You do not have to be a progressive economist to believe that austerity is not good for large economies. In both the short and long term it stifles growth, leaving business and the public disillusioned and poorer in varying degrees. Why do you not oppose this structure? I am left with the conclusion that you do not care or you do not understand.
Then it comes to health. It is well known that large events and health are connected. There is always a surge in heart attacks after earthquakes and economic crashes. But health and the economy are connected in more subtle and insidious ways. Poverty leads to poor nutrition and obesity, it is associated with higher incidences of smoking, drug use and child abuse. Our NHS is working very hard to deal with natural effects of the entire population simply being alive all at once. It isn’t prepared to deal with the physical and emotional effects of austerity.
I would ask Ms Harman, re-read the figures. Ask real economists. Look at what has happen to countries practising even the mild form of austerity considered here. Make policy based on as much fact as you can find.
Make policy based not your political leanings, but what is actually best for the country.
Yours sincerely
Catherine Safdar
One voice collaboration
Writing these emails is harder than you might think so I have enlisted help. From today this is opened up to other to add their voices to mine. If you would like to become involved in the Email A Day Campaign please email me at socialistmum@gmail.com
Solidarity comrades x
Solidarity comrades x
Monday, 13 July 2015
Email #40
Dear Harriet
Missing Sundays is becoming a habit for me. You will forgive me though as I was hit by a wave of depression and grief yesterday that hit me like a ten ton truck. Saturday night someone from my social circle who I had lost touch with when I moved took his own life.
Depression is now the number 1 killer of men under the age of 50 with 90% of suicides linked to depression. Its alarming that this is the case. Well it is to me anyway.
Im finding it hard to write to you in the way I had begun, with hope that I could make a change as one voice because you had promised to listen. Im not sure who you are listening to right now but its not me, its not 3 of our leadership candidates and its certainly not the Labour party members, the students, the disabled or the mentally ill, or anyone with more than 2 children.
You have turned your back on us all, and at the time that we need you most. I wanted to hurl a dictionary at my own television when you spoke after the budget was announced because you seem to have misplaced yours. When you find it you might care to look up the word opposition. I feel you have forgotten what the word means. How you can stand there and say you will not vote against the cuts that will cripple our nation is beyond me. You are out of tune with the thinking of the party and that is more alarming to me than anything else.
It is depressing enough knowing that the country is setting out to destroy itself from the inside out without you casually stepping aside to let Osbourne achieve what he is setting out to do.
I am seriously questioning my membership. Our only hope is Jeremy Corbyn because unlike you he hasnt turned his back on us. We are never to get out of the poverty that traps so many of us with a budget that is set to increase childhood poverty. We expect that from conservatives who are ideologically opposed to any form of state support. But Labour is supposed to be the opposite of that; its supposed to be compassionate, its supposed to be rooted in the idea that those who need support can have that support, so that no one lives in destitution. And yet that is what you resign a nation to with your staggering indifference.
I despair at humanity sometimes, I really do.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator, frustrated activist, grieving friend
Missing Sundays is becoming a habit for me. You will forgive me though as I was hit by a wave of depression and grief yesterday that hit me like a ten ton truck. Saturday night someone from my social circle who I had lost touch with when I moved took his own life.
Depression is now the number 1 killer of men under the age of 50 with 90% of suicides linked to depression. Its alarming that this is the case. Well it is to me anyway.
Im finding it hard to write to you in the way I had begun, with hope that I could make a change as one voice because you had promised to listen. Im not sure who you are listening to right now but its not me, its not 3 of our leadership candidates and its certainly not the Labour party members, the students, the disabled or the mentally ill, or anyone with more than 2 children.
You have turned your back on us all, and at the time that we need you most. I wanted to hurl a dictionary at my own television when you spoke after the budget was announced because you seem to have misplaced yours. When you find it you might care to look up the word opposition. I feel you have forgotten what the word means. How you can stand there and say you will not vote against the cuts that will cripple our nation is beyond me. You are out of tune with the thinking of the party and that is more alarming to me than anything else.
It is depressing enough knowing that the country is setting out to destroy itself from the inside out without you casually stepping aside to let Osbourne achieve what he is setting out to do.
I am seriously questioning my membership. Our only hope is Jeremy Corbyn because unlike you he hasnt turned his back on us. We are never to get out of the poverty that traps so many of us with a budget that is set to increase childhood poverty. We expect that from conservatives who are ideologically opposed to any form of state support. But Labour is supposed to be the opposite of that; its supposed to be compassionate, its supposed to be rooted in the idea that those who need support can have that support, so that no one lives in destitution. And yet that is what you resign a nation to with your staggering indifference.
I despair at humanity sometimes, I really do.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator, frustrated activist, grieving friend
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Email #39
Dear Harriet
The first rule in activism of any kind is to look after yourself. I need to listen to this rule. I'm tired. I'm worn out and worn down. So tonight's email will be brief. Because I am no good to anyone if I do not look after myself.
Loving my job doesn't take away the fact that I am still depressed. It doesn't take away from the fact that what triggers my depression the most is fear of what lies ahead.
Post budget we are all driven by this fear and people seek guidance and reassurance and understanding of simply how we will be affected in our day to day lives. The BBC have an online calculator that allows people to see from a very basic perspective of how better or worse they will be under the changes brought by the budget..according to which I will be no better or worse off than I am now. In one respect this helps calm me however it's simplistic and fails to recognise that I'm only just scrapping by and that once the tax credit people start combing through my business they will decide it's unviable and I will be forced to give up a job I love that keeps me sane.
i might not be a millionaire but I contribute to the economy and I support other businesses I have to obtain stuff from. My contribution and that of other small ventures like mine all add up to a business model that is profitable that may well go under without the contributions small businesses like mine make.
Short sighted economics seems to be the policy all round.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Attempting to engage a Tory lite Labour is seemingly pointless as you seem to agree with how the poor and vulnerable are treated. I despair at such behavior and lament the world my children are growing up in.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator, frustrated activist
The first rule in activism of any kind is to look after yourself. I need to listen to this rule. I'm tired. I'm worn out and worn down. So tonight's email will be brief. Because I am no good to anyone if I do not look after myself.
Loving my job doesn't take away the fact that I am still depressed. It doesn't take away from the fact that what triggers my depression the most is fear of what lies ahead.
Post budget we are all driven by this fear and people seek guidance and reassurance and understanding of simply how we will be affected in our day to day lives. The BBC have an online calculator that allows people to see from a very basic perspective of how better or worse they will be under the changes brought by the budget..according to which I will be no better or worse off than I am now. In one respect this helps calm me however it's simplistic and fails to recognise that I'm only just scrapping by and that once the tax credit people start combing through my business they will decide it's unviable and I will be forced to give up a job I love that keeps me sane.
i might not be a millionaire but I contribute to the economy and I support other businesses I have to obtain stuff from. My contribution and that of other small ventures like mine all add up to a business model that is profitable that may well go under without the contributions small businesses like mine make.
Short sighted economics seems to be the policy all round.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Attempting to engage a Tory lite Labour is seemingly pointless as you seem to agree with how the poor and vulnerable are treated. I despair at such behavior and lament the world my children are growing up in.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator, frustrated activist
Friday, 10 July 2015
Email #38
Dear Harriet
You didn't get an email from me yesterday because yesterday's had to chose between putting money on my electricity key, fuel in my car and food on my children's plates. I had £5. In the end I opted for putting it on the key however it wasn't enough to bring me off emergency credit and so I had to boil a kettle and give my children super noodles because I couldn't switch on my cooker. We sat in one room to use one light and did not turn on the tv.
In a time when the standard of living is much higher than sitting around playing parlour games my children found this particularly distressing, especially my eldest as he uses the PlayStation to relax and unwind from the pressures of being an aspie in a neurolotypical world.
Many might scoff at this but if they were living with aspergers or caring for someone with it they would understand.
I'm still pretty angry at the way you failed to stand up to the chancellor on Wednesday and I'd love to have the eloquence of Jeremy Corbyn but I don't. Had you stayed long enough to hear his speech maybe you could have picked up on some tips on how to answer a conservative budget-namely with a socialist response rather than a Tory Lite one. His speech should have been the speech you gave for he speaks of how the budget with further inequality and further the destitution many of us face whether in work or not. Since you claim Labour wants a fairer society this is the speech we should have heard from our Labour leader. Why didnt we? Why did you give quite a diluted repugnant version that failed to tackle the inequality at the core of the chancellor's plans.
I honestly think interim leader or not you need to listen to his speech and wake up to how the conservatives are tearing this country apart and how they are ruining the lives of the poor and the hard-working as well as the vulnerable. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ZxhQy6oDacg
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator
You didn't get an email from me yesterday because yesterday's had to chose between putting money on my electricity key, fuel in my car and food on my children's plates. I had £5. In the end I opted for putting it on the key however it wasn't enough to bring me off emergency credit and so I had to boil a kettle and give my children super noodles because I couldn't switch on my cooker. We sat in one room to use one light and did not turn on the tv.
In a time when the standard of living is much higher than sitting around playing parlour games my children found this particularly distressing, especially my eldest as he uses the PlayStation to relax and unwind from the pressures of being an aspie in a neurolotypical world.
Many might scoff at this but if they were living with aspergers or caring for someone with it they would understand.
I'm still pretty angry at the way you failed to stand up to the chancellor on Wednesday and I'd love to have the eloquence of Jeremy Corbyn but I don't. Had you stayed long enough to hear his speech maybe you could have picked up on some tips on how to answer a conservative budget-namely with a socialist response rather than a Tory Lite one. His speech should have been the speech you gave for he speaks of how the budget with further inequality and further the destitution many of us face whether in work or not. Since you claim Labour wants a fairer society this is the speech we should have heard from our Labour leader. Why didnt we? Why did you give quite a diluted repugnant version that failed to tackle the inequality at the core of the chancellor's plans.
I honestly think interim leader or not you need to listen to his speech and wake up to how the conservatives are tearing this country apart and how they are ruining the lives of the poor and the hard-working as well as the vulnerable. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=ZxhQy6oDacg
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership, angry social commentator
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Email #37
Dear Harriet
How can you stand there today and say that you would have taken the same measures had you been in government? A "grown up and constructive opposition" would be one that is grown up and constructive enough to see through the Tory rhetoric that blinds a nation into accepting social cleansing. The cuts yes, affect those who receive in work support, but they also deeply affect those who are the most vulnerable members of our society. A "Fairer Society for All" would be one that is compassionate and stands true to socialist principles and looks after the most vulnerable of society.
It is not enough to stand there are say not enough has been done to curb tax avoidance. It is down to the you to be a "constructive opposition" yes, to show the public the truth, to spell out the Tory rhetoric, to dispel the myths that the deficit and the slow economic growth is due to welfare spending.
It is not.
It is due to austerity measures that are harming the people of this country and ripping apart the very fabric of this nation as the chancellor sets about dismantling the infrastructure of our welfare state.
Tax avoidance and needless spending on Trident and an out of control "Universal Credit" system which is massively over budget are the real black holes in the budget and the real causes of the ever growing poverty in this country.
If you SERIOUSLY want to be a party that is a viable option for election in 5 years then you need to wake up to what the truth is and start seriously thinking about what politics you and the Labour party are playing before you question the politics of the chancellors budget.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership
How can you stand there today and say that you would have taken the same measures had you been in government? A "grown up and constructive opposition" would be one that is grown up and constructive enough to see through the Tory rhetoric that blinds a nation into accepting social cleansing. The cuts yes, affect those who receive in work support, but they also deeply affect those who are the most vulnerable members of our society. A "Fairer Society for All" would be one that is compassionate and stands true to socialist principles and looks after the most vulnerable of society.
It is not enough to stand there are say not enough has been done to curb tax avoidance. It is down to the you to be a "constructive opposition" yes, to show the public the truth, to spell out the Tory rhetoric, to dispel the myths that the deficit and the slow economic growth is due to welfare spending.
It is not.
It is due to austerity measures that are harming the people of this country and ripping apart the very fabric of this nation as the chancellor sets about dismantling the infrastructure of our welfare state.
Tax avoidance and needless spending on Trident and an out of control "Universal Credit" system which is massively over budget are the real black holes in the budget and the real causes of the ever growing poverty in this country.
If you SERIOUSLY want to be a party that is a viable option for election in 5 years then you need to wake up to what the truth is and start seriously thinking about what politics you and the Labour party are playing before you question the politics of the chancellors budget.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up, someone seriously questioning their membership
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Email #36
Dear Harriet
My campaign came under criticism today because for a social activist, im not very good at being active or rather I have only rants not any solutions.
I feel the point has been missed somewhat by those who chose to criticise me. I email you not to advise you- I am not a political adviser nor do I have any delusions of gradeur regarding my raison d'etre. I write to you because I feel there is no point writing to the our Prime Minister who sees nothing wrong in his chosen course of action, and because I strongly feel that as opposition leader, interim or not, it is your job to challenge the chosen course of action by the incumbent government.
It is not down to me to provide solutions, if I had solutions I would be in government, but it is my chosen fight, to fight for social justice, to speak up for those who are suffering under the policies of the incumbent government. The point as I said from day one was to illustrate how such polices affect the average man on the street, because how they affect me and my family is replicated across the country; the cumulative affect being seen in a rise in childhood poverty, a rise in homelessness, a rise in food bank usage, a rise in the suicide rate and a rise in the number of deaths attributed to sanctions.
Pointing these things out, illustrating the affect of policy made by central government on the average man on the ground, the grassroots electorate member, is not ranting: it is simply fighting for social justice.
And no matter how many times I am criticised for it, I will continue to call on you to put pressure on this incumbent government, to challenge the rhetoric, to stand up for the common man who suffers under these policies, because while I may only be one person, I am representative of many: one voice speaking up and speaking out for us all. Because all it takes is one voice to make a difference.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up
My campaign came under criticism today because for a social activist, im not very good at being active or rather I have only rants not any solutions.
I feel the point has been missed somewhat by those who chose to criticise me. I email you not to advise you- I am not a political adviser nor do I have any delusions of gradeur regarding my raison d'etre. I write to you because I feel there is no point writing to the our Prime Minister who sees nothing wrong in his chosen course of action, and because I strongly feel that as opposition leader, interim or not, it is your job to challenge the chosen course of action by the incumbent government.
It is not down to me to provide solutions, if I had solutions I would be in government, but it is my chosen fight, to fight for social justice, to speak up for those who are suffering under the policies of the incumbent government. The point as I said from day one was to illustrate how such polices affect the average man on the street, because how they affect me and my family is replicated across the country; the cumulative affect being seen in a rise in childhood poverty, a rise in homelessness, a rise in food bank usage, a rise in the suicide rate and a rise in the number of deaths attributed to sanctions.
Pointing these things out, illustrating the affect of policy made by central government on the average man on the ground, the grassroots electorate member, is not ranting: it is simply fighting for social justice.
And no matter how many times I am criticised for it, I will continue to call on you to put pressure on this incumbent government, to challenge the rhetoric, to stand up for the common man who suffers under these policies, because while I may only be one person, I am representative of many: one voice speaking up and speaking out for us all. Because all it takes is one voice to make a difference.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic, one voice speaking up
Monday, 6 July 2015
Email #35
Dear Harriet
I missed a day yesterday, I was simply too tired after a long day to do anything other than go to bed. Unfortunately that is depression for you. Not some "holy grail" for the unemployed as a certain Katie Hopkins likes to Tweet, but a psychological condition that can be at best draining and at worst physically disabling.
So what was I up to this time? Well I was gathered with 11k other people at the Amex stadium. It was one of those moments where my secular life and my spiritual life intermingle in the most bizarre of ways. As I updated my facebook status I chuckled inwardly at the confusion it would cause later. Because everyone would assume I was at the Amex for a football match or for some other work related event. No. I was with 11k other Catholics from the diocese of A&B celebrating our Jubliee with our newly appointed Bishop.
It was a beautiful day, and it was a good day to be a Catholic. I am quite private about my faith; it isnt something I share lightly, nor discuss often. For me, faith is a private matter that I express in my own way. I take my lead from Christ himself, who spoke against outward piety. Therefore I rarely talk about how I practice my Catholicism other that when I have to timetable work around Christian festivals (traditionally games are played on Boxing day and Easter Saturday and Easter Monday) the only exception being when I told everyone I knew as I was so filled with pride (my priest assures me motherly pride is allowed!) when my son served at Midnight Mass last year as our parish is the Cathedral parish that was chosen for the televised mass. But yesterday made me reflect on my spiritual journey and I remembered again why I feel such joy at being a Catholic.
I have always felt a strong conviction with my calling to be a Catholic. And that is the same conviction with which I write to you as a social activist. I feel called to DO something.
Because all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do NOTHING.
We cannot sit quietly by the sidelines any more.
I feel as passionately about my Catholicism, and about my social activism as I do my work.
I do not sit quietly on a bench, watching a game silently. I complain when things go wrong, I rejoice when things go right. And when I feel it necessary I stand up. When someone is down, I get up, I help them up. When someone is being trampled on in the middle of an on-pitch punch-up, I go into the brawl and I pull the vulnerable out. That is my job. That is my life. That has always been my calling. To fight. Where I see injustice, I fight.
Because if I do not, who will?
I urge you, therefore, Harriet, interim or not, to fight with me. Fight for me. Fight for us all. Fight against the oppression we face. Because this battle is bloody. The interim government already has blood on its hands.
Do not turn your back.
Because if Labour turns its back on the vulnerable, the electorate will never forgive you.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic
I missed a day yesterday, I was simply too tired after a long day to do anything other than go to bed. Unfortunately that is depression for you. Not some "holy grail" for the unemployed as a certain Katie Hopkins likes to Tweet, but a psychological condition that can be at best draining and at worst physically disabling.
So what was I up to this time? Well I was gathered with 11k other people at the Amex stadium. It was one of those moments where my secular life and my spiritual life intermingle in the most bizarre of ways. As I updated my facebook status I chuckled inwardly at the confusion it would cause later. Because everyone would assume I was at the Amex for a football match or for some other work related event. No. I was with 11k other Catholics from the diocese of A&B celebrating our Jubliee with our newly appointed Bishop.
It was a beautiful day, and it was a good day to be a Catholic. I am quite private about my faith; it isnt something I share lightly, nor discuss often. For me, faith is a private matter that I express in my own way. I take my lead from Christ himself, who spoke against outward piety. Therefore I rarely talk about how I practice my Catholicism other that when I have to timetable work around Christian festivals (traditionally games are played on Boxing day and Easter Saturday and Easter Monday) the only exception being when I told everyone I knew as I was so filled with pride (my priest assures me motherly pride is allowed!) when my son served at Midnight Mass last year as our parish is the Cathedral parish that was chosen for the televised mass. But yesterday made me reflect on my spiritual journey and I remembered again why I feel such joy at being a Catholic.
I have always felt a strong conviction with my calling to be a Catholic. And that is the same conviction with which I write to you as a social activist. I feel called to DO something.
Because all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do NOTHING.
We cannot sit quietly by the sidelines any more.
I feel as passionately about my Catholicism, and about my social activism as I do my work.
I do not sit quietly on a bench, watching a game silently. I complain when things go wrong, I rejoice when things go right. And when I feel it necessary I stand up. When someone is down, I get up, I help them up. When someone is being trampled on in the middle of an on-pitch punch-up, I go into the brawl and I pull the vulnerable out. That is my job. That is my life. That has always been my calling. To fight. Where I see injustice, I fight.
Because if I do not, who will?
I urge you, therefore, Harriet, interim or not, to fight with me. Fight for me. Fight for us all. Fight against the oppression we face. Because this battle is bloody. The interim government already has blood on its hands.
Do not turn your back.
Because if Labour turns its back on the vulnerable, the electorate will never forgive you.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic, Catholic
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Email #34
Dear Harriet
Its been a long day. I have had little sleep. In fact I was awake at 5am. Stress does that. I was determined to enjoy my day however, as I would be spending most of it at football. I took my youngest to his 'keeper session and then took him with me to work. When he wasnt kicking balls into stinging nettles (now he knows not to next time!) he was helping me work on my medical bag.
Sorting out what is left over from the last season and the new bits and bobs I have got to restock is time consuming. Its an arduous but rewarding task. It involves more than you might think too.
It starts at the end of the season when you look at whats left over, and what will last into the next season, and making lists of what you need. Then comes the negotiation with the stockists. This year I have decided to work with a new company because they are cheaper (please let Mr Ian Duncan Smith know that I can budget after all). Then once all the new stock arrives you have to work out what is excess (how many foil blankets will I really need in one match? this is the South of England not the Himylayas!) what can be moved into other teams bags (Ive given the reserve teams one of my rebreathe masks on the basis that I can only physically perform CPR on one person at a time thus I do not need 4!) and what in return I can pinch from the other teams (cheers M I dont think you need all those ice sprays and the Town physio beat me to the deal in Poundland). Theres also a lot of receipt keeping too- someone may one day challenge me to prove that I got medical stock for a football club in Poundland, Wilko and Savers (needs must I'm afraid!).
We chatted while we worked with the club skipper and a committee member. We have worked hard to turn a club that almost went bankrupt at the end of the 2013 season to finish 8th in our league, and our reserves team and ladies team won their leagues and the club ended the financial year with a small profit. All the corner cutting, the trips to Poundland and the sock tape from screwfix direct (the relabelling of insulating tape as sock tape and marked up at 300-500% more is to me the epitome of captialist free market economics!) has paid off.
This is a small scale model of how a government deals with something like the NHS. It takes stock at the end of one five year season of government and then starts planning for the next five year season of government. Unfortunately the incumbent government intends rather than to restock and reorder and spend some money, to break open the bag, spill out the contents, and ship it all off at rock bottom prices to other people in the name of enterprise.
Perhaps, I wonder, as I pack all the dressings into one bag, I should get my sharpie pen and take the Jeremy Hunt approach to medicine, and write on each dressing FUNDED BY THE TAX PAYER.
Somehow I doubt that would go down well with the players. And they would be right to be narked if I pointed out how much each item costs, how much my time costs, each time they got injured.
Perhaps also I should fine the league each time they call off a match because of bad weather, because that wastes my time and wasted time costs money does it? Well thats certainly what the encumbent government want to do each time someone misses an appointment. Well we cant help the weather I guess would be what the league would say, just like sometimes missed appointments are not down to ignorance but rather happenstance.
I guess, then, that I should be fined for the fact that my son was late to his assessment with CAMHS last Tuesday then, even though it was made for 9.45am at a hospital 25 miles away, where the only two options for getting there involved dealing with heavy traffic where people were going to work and school, I guess I should have got up and left early, except I had to take my other son and nephew to school for 9am and I can only leave them so early at a school with no breakfast club. Added to this was the fact that because my son was stressed about the appointment he had a meltdown before we even left the house. Sometimes LIFE just happens.
In and ideal world people would be able to afford the 55p for ibuprofen when they are unwell or have a chronic pain condition. or the £4 for Calpol when their baby has a 3 day fever but we are not in an ideal world, we are in one where people rely on foodbanks to feed their children, and run out of gas and electric on their prepaid meters before they get money again because of exorbitant tarifs imposed by the "energy giants". And thats happening to people IN work not just the unemployed.
The NHS like the welfare state was set up for cradle to grave care at the point of need, so it shouldnt matter if you need 55p worth of ibuprofen, £4 worth of calpol or a £500 MRI- if you need it, its there to get because you are supposed to be insured for it. That is what the National Insurance payment is for: you and your family, if they need it. So its not supposed to matter if you never worked, because someone related to you did and all of us pay tax whether ANY government wants to admit it.
If someone had an accident in their car and it was written off, you wouldnt have another company continually assess the car to see if it was driveable, and you wouldnt get a decision maker disregard the vehicle inspectors report saying the car was not driveable and then try to make the owner drive it. They wouldnt get told you cant have any money for this car, or be told here is a payment for the car, but its in the form of a loan so once you have a driveable car, you must pay this back. There would be outrage because the insured party had already paid their premiums.
Someone needs to inject a bit of realism and a bit of common sense into the policies, both current and suggested for the future and start tearing through the myths, half truths and down right lies.
That needs to come from the opposition benches and that means the Labour Party.
Inject some realism into the debate. Start spelling out in real terms what this means for the lay member, the common man, the Mr Joe Public down the street.
Speak up and speak out against what is happening and challenge the arguments with the truth. Debunk their myths. Give people the truth.
Be a party that stands up for the common man, who is suffering under the reality of policies that lack even a modicum of sense.
Let people see what is really happening to the Great British Public
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic
Its been a long day. I have had little sleep. In fact I was awake at 5am. Stress does that. I was determined to enjoy my day however, as I would be spending most of it at football. I took my youngest to his 'keeper session and then took him with me to work. When he wasnt kicking balls into stinging nettles (now he knows not to next time!) he was helping me work on my medical bag.
Sorting out what is left over from the last season and the new bits and bobs I have got to restock is time consuming. Its an arduous but rewarding task. It involves more than you might think too.
It starts at the end of the season when you look at whats left over, and what will last into the next season, and making lists of what you need. Then comes the negotiation with the stockists. This year I have decided to work with a new company because they are cheaper (please let Mr Ian Duncan Smith know that I can budget after all). Then once all the new stock arrives you have to work out what is excess (how many foil blankets will I really need in one match? this is the South of England not the Himylayas!) what can be moved into other teams bags (Ive given the reserve teams one of my rebreathe masks on the basis that I can only physically perform CPR on one person at a time thus I do not need 4!) and what in return I can pinch from the other teams (cheers M I dont think you need all those ice sprays and the Town physio beat me to the deal in Poundland). Theres also a lot of receipt keeping too- someone may one day challenge me to prove that I got medical stock for a football club in Poundland, Wilko and Savers (needs must I'm afraid!).
We chatted while we worked with the club skipper and a committee member. We have worked hard to turn a club that almost went bankrupt at the end of the 2013 season to finish 8th in our league, and our reserves team and ladies team won their leagues and the club ended the financial year with a small profit. All the corner cutting, the trips to Poundland and the sock tape from screwfix direct (the relabelling of insulating tape as sock tape and marked up at 300-500% more is to me the epitome of captialist free market economics!) has paid off.
This is a small scale model of how a government deals with something like the NHS. It takes stock at the end of one five year season of government and then starts planning for the next five year season of government. Unfortunately the incumbent government intends rather than to restock and reorder and spend some money, to break open the bag, spill out the contents, and ship it all off at rock bottom prices to other people in the name of enterprise.
Perhaps, I wonder, as I pack all the dressings into one bag, I should get my sharpie pen and take the Jeremy Hunt approach to medicine, and write on each dressing FUNDED BY THE TAX PAYER.
Somehow I doubt that would go down well with the players. And they would be right to be narked if I pointed out how much each item costs, how much my time costs, each time they got injured.
Perhaps also I should fine the league each time they call off a match because of bad weather, because that wastes my time and wasted time costs money does it? Well thats certainly what the encumbent government want to do each time someone misses an appointment. Well we cant help the weather I guess would be what the league would say, just like sometimes missed appointments are not down to ignorance but rather happenstance.
I guess, then, that I should be fined for the fact that my son was late to his assessment with CAMHS last Tuesday then, even though it was made for 9.45am at a hospital 25 miles away, where the only two options for getting there involved dealing with heavy traffic where people were going to work and school, I guess I should have got up and left early, except I had to take my other son and nephew to school for 9am and I can only leave them so early at a school with no breakfast club. Added to this was the fact that because my son was stressed about the appointment he had a meltdown before we even left the house. Sometimes LIFE just happens.
In and ideal world people would be able to afford the 55p for ibuprofen when they are unwell or have a chronic pain condition. or the £4 for Calpol when their baby has a 3 day fever but we are not in an ideal world, we are in one where people rely on foodbanks to feed their children, and run out of gas and electric on their prepaid meters before they get money again because of exorbitant tarifs imposed by the "energy giants". And thats happening to people IN work not just the unemployed.
The NHS like the welfare state was set up for cradle to grave care at the point of need, so it shouldnt matter if you need 55p worth of ibuprofen, £4 worth of calpol or a £500 MRI- if you need it, its there to get because you are supposed to be insured for it. That is what the National Insurance payment is for: you and your family, if they need it. So its not supposed to matter if you never worked, because someone related to you did and all of us pay tax whether ANY government wants to admit it.
If someone had an accident in their car and it was written off, you wouldnt have another company continually assess the car to see if it was driveable, and you wouldnt get a decision maker disregard the vehicle inspectors report saying the car was not driveable and then try to make the owner drive it. They wouldnt get told you cant have any money for this car, or be told here is a payment for the car, but its in the form of a loan so once you have a driveable car, you must pay this back. There would be outrage because the insured party had already paid their premiums.
Someone needs to inject a bit of realism and a bit of common sense into the policies, both current and suggested for the future and start tearing through the myths, half truths and down right lies.
That needs to come from the opposition benches and that means the Labour Party.
Inject some realism into the debate. Start spelling out in real terms what this means for the lay member, the common man, the Mr Joe Public down the street.
Speak up and speak out against what is happening and challenge the arguments with the truth. Debunk their myths. Give people the truth.
Be a party that stands up for the common man, who is suffering under the reality of policies that lack even a modicum of sense.
Let people see what is really happening to the Great British Public
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber, cost cutting football medic
Friday, 3 July 2015
Email #33
Dear Harriet
I have a headache. Not surprising really, its partly dehydration and partly stress. In the middle of a heatwave, I have no drinking water. Dont ask me why, I havent a clue. Nor have I a clue where the plumber I was promised is, because despite 6 phone calls back and forth over as many hours, I am still waiting. Ive lost count of how many times I have given my address and postcode to the same person, in the same call, but its a lot. I would go to the garage but I have no money- that will be my inability to budget again if you ask Mr Ian Duncan Smith (but then where he gets off I do not know, given that hes had his parliamentary credit card taken away for that very reason).
I grow tired of these games you see, the ones that the social landlords and their contractors like to play. Last week it was Robert Heath Heating failing to turn up for my annual gas safety check, ya know, the one they politely remind me I must stay home for because its required by law. They apparently dont like to be reminded the same thing when I complain about their lack of attendance. Nor do they feel the need to compensate me for loss of earnings for the time I was sat at home. After all, social tenants are stay at home lazy workshy scum who pretend to have disabilities arent they?
Are there any issues with my water board I am asked. Well Im not in Thames valley, so there isnt a leak. And since I have water coming from my bath tap and my washing machine is going I am going to guess no. No I am not going to waste a phone call asking, besides I dont like water companies, I think its immoral to charge for water. Sorry Mr Nestle CEO, I believe clean drinking water and sanitation are a basic human right (oops I forgot we wont have them soon) not a luxury for you to make a profit from. I believe water sanitation should be provided by the state, publically owned, and paid for via general taxation. Or have a licence fee, like the scam way we are made to pay for BBC even if we dont use their service.
But then what do I know? I am just a loony lefty who thinks public transport, the postal service, the NHS, the Police, the Fire Service, the probation service and schools should all be state owned too.....
Forgive the dry sarcasm tonight, Harriet, Im a little [insert chosen profanity] off right now....
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber
I have a headache. Not surprising really, its partly dehydration and partly stress. In the middle of a heatwave, I have no drinking water. Dont ask me why, I havent a clue. Nor have I a clue where the plumber I was promised is, because despite 6 phone calls back and forth over as many hours, I am still waiting. Ive lost count of how many times I have given my address and postcode to the same person, in the same call, but its a lot. I would go to the garage but I have no money- that will be my inability to budget again if you ask Mr Ian Duncan Smith (but then where he gets off I do not know, given that hes had his parliamentary credit card taken away for that very reason).
I grow tired of these games you see, the ones that the social landlords and their contractors like to play. Last week it was Robert Heath Heating failing to turn up for my annual gas safety check, ya know, the one they politely remind me I must stay home for because its required by law. They apparently dont like to be reminded the same thing when I complain about their lack of attendance. Nor do they feel the need to compensate me for loss of earnings for the time I was sat at home. After all, social tenants are stay at home lazy workshy scum who pretend to have disabilities arent they?
Are there any issues with my water board I am asked. Well Im not in Thames valley, so there isnt a leak. And since I have water coming from my bath tap and my washing machine is going I am going to guess no. No I am not going to waste a phone call asking, besides I dont like water companies, I think its immoral to charge for water. Sorry Mr Nestle CEO, I believe clean drinking water and sanitation are a basic human right (oops I forgot we wont have them soon) not a luxury for you to make a profit from. I believe water sanitation should be provided by the state, publically owned, and paid for via general taxation. Or have a licence fee, like the scam way we are made to pay for BBC even if we dont use their service.
But then what do I know? I am just a loony lefty who thinks public transport, the postal service, the NHS, the Police, the Fire Service, the probation service and schools should all be state owned too.....
Forgive the dry sarcasm tonight, Harriet, Im a little [insert chosen profanity] off right now....
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner, someone with nothing better to do than wait for a plumber
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Email #32
Dear Harriet
I am finally home from work, my youngest is shattered and fell asleep in the car. Life is exhausting sometimes. It drains you physically, mentally and emotionally.
Its a peaceful evening here. I saw the planetary alignment on my drive home, as the sun set across the downs. Im now sat at my computer, with the back door open, listening to the stillness, with my coffee and in the distance I can hear the hum of life beyond my village.
Its a world away from how my life was a year ago, when I lived in the middle of a nightmare that felt as though it would never end.
Im grateful for what I have, but it didnt come easy. It came from my family and I fighting.
And right now I have hope. I have a hope that we can find a light at the end of this tunnel, out of the darkness of austerity, so I keep fighting.
Because we can only achieve this through fighting.
We need left unity. We must fight together, alongside each other, shoulder to shoulder. Politician and common person alike.
To do that though we need Labour to back the #endausteritynow campaign as a whole, not just individual MPs. Labour MUST be vocal against austerity.
We are days away from a new budget. Labour MUST be vocal about opposing cuts. Speak up and speak out as a whole against the incumbent government.
Demand they cease their war on the poor.
Austerity does NOT work. Its time to break down the myths and speak the truth about the real affects it is having on individuals.
We must unite society and look after one another. We must stop this selfishness that is driving Britain. We must start to have more compassion especially for the most vulnerable.
For if we do not, what kind of world are we leaving for our children?
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner
I am finally home from work, my youngest is shattered and fell asleep in the car. Life is exhausting sometimes. It drains you physically, mentally and emotionally.
Its a peaceful evening here. I saw the planetary alignment on my drive home, as the sun set across the downs. Im now sat at my computer, with the back door open, listening to the stillness, with my coffee and in the distance I can hear the hum of life beyond my village.
Its a world away from how my life was a year ago, when I lived in the middle of a nightmare that felt as though it would never end.
Im grateful for what I have, but it didnt come easy. It came from my family and I fighting.
And right now I have hope. I have a hope that we can find a light at the end of this tunnel, out of the darkness of austerity, so I keep fighting.
Because we can only achieve this through fighting.
We need left unity. We must fight together, alongside each other, shoulder to shoulder. Politician and common person alike.
To do that though we need Labour to back the #endausteritynow campaign as a whole, not just individual MPs. Labour MUST be vocal against austerity.
We are days away from a new budget. Labour MUST be vocal about opposing cuts. Speak up and speak out as a whole against the incumbent government.
Demand they cease their war on the poor.
Austerity does NOT work. Its time to break down the myths and speak the truth about the real affects it is having on individuals.
We must unite society and look after one another. We must stop this selfishness that is driving Britain. We must start to have more compassion especially for the most vulnerable.
For if we do not, what kind of world are we leaving for our children?
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter, #endausteritynow campaigner
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Email #31
Dear Harriet
Its been a very long, hot and tiring day. I love my job, but only when I am out on the side of a pitch or in a changing room. When I am sat at a desk all day doing accounts, I hate it!
I will keep it short tonight, because I am zapped of everything.
But I have been musing this evening on something I saw on social media about Greenham Common. Those fierce ladies fought so hard and paved the way for activists like me, their brand of Non-Violent Direct Action was a new thing and something I admire. I have a deep respect for those women.
We are going to need that kind of fierceness, that kind of strength in the days to come. We have a long road ahead of us, but because of their spirit, I know we can and we will achieve an end to austerity, and an end to Trident. Their spirit lives on, and in Faslane today the people of Scotland are making their voices heard once again. Scotland says quite clearly its time: scrap Trident.
In an uncertain economic climate, we could achieve savings of around £100bn from nuclear disarmament. Trident wont curb the threat of terrorism. Nuclear stockpiling does not act as a deterrent.
But it is a black hole that could instead fund the NHS.
It is time for Westminster to listen to Scotland and the people of the rest of the UK who add their voices together to say SCRAP TRIDENT.
Now is the time for Westminster to listen, on both sides of the commons.
Pledge to bring an end to Trident.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter
Its been a very long, hot and tiring day. I love my job, but only when I am out on the side of a pitch or in a changing room. When I am sat at a desk all day doing accounts, I hate it!
I will keep it short tonight, because I am zapped of everything.
But I have been musing this evening on something I saw on social media about Greenham Common. Those fierce ladies fought so hard and paved the way for activists like me, their brand of Non-Violent Direct Action was a new thing and something I admire. I have a deep respect for those women.
We are going to need that kind of fierceness, that kind of strength in the days to come. We have a long road ahead of us, but because of their spirit, I know we can and we will achieve an end to austerity, and an end to Trident. Their spirit lives on, and in Faslane today the people of Scotland are making their voices heard once again. Scotland says quite clearly its time: scrap Trident.
In an uncertain economic climate, we could achieve savings of around £100bn from nuclear disarmament. Trident wont curb the threat of terrorism. Nuclear stockpiling does not act as a deterrent.
But it is a black hole that could instead fund the NHS.
It is time for Westminster to listen to Scotland and the people of the rest of the UK who add their voices together to say SCRAP TRIDENT.
Now is the time for Westminster to listen, on both sides of the commons.
Pledge to bring an end to Trident.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian, CND supporter
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)