So... someone at Labour HQ is obviously reading this and thinking other people are too BECAUSE not only did my local branch contact me as I typed my last post about not being contacted(do keep up) but less than two hours after I posted I got an invite to an all woman network event followed by hustings. Oh yes bring it on! Not in my own home city natch I'll have to travel but even so.
Behind the excitement (and immediate worry of what does one wear to such an event?) is panic. I hate networking and am rubbish at it. Will probably hide behind a potted plant and drink warm white wine before indulging in slurred heckling at the Hustings bringing an abrupt end to my political career. That's if I don't bottle out.
I have also had quite unexpected and inexplicable success on twitter with 3 whole followers on the first day. As I have no idea how to or any intention of promoting it it is all very strange - especially as very first tweet was a tentative "Plan to celebrate day off with more tennis and less depressing Con-Dem news". Not really that attention grabbing!
Which leads me to - how do I blame the terrible loss of Federer on the Con Dems?!?!
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Tweet Tweet
A day off in the middle of the week is a treat - breakfast with the mummies, Wimbledon, catching up with the Archers (ok, ok I know that sounds like I live in a Vicarage and wears pearls - one day!). Sadly Pip's teenage rebellion and Federer's progress are simply background noise as I wade through websites and try to grips with Twitter.
So far my political knowledge is solely supplied by the Guardian. I don't always agree with them - after all they threw their hat in with the turncoat Lib Dems and advised tactical voting - BUT for thoughtful insightful debate and articles I can bore my friends with by posting onto Facebook they are invaluable. However who I vote for in this Leadership election has got to be something I decide for myself.
So today I signed up for Twitter and have become a follower of all 6 candidates. Is it supposed to take an hour and is TMobile really the only network not to support mobile Tweeting (whatever that may be)? It feels like a massive, incomprehensible wall of words and I am as flummoxed as my mother faced with an ipod. What happens next, am I supposed to keep logging back on to find some pearls of wisdom? OK what has David got to say?
Education is not the filling of the pail but the lighting of a fire.
Hmmm, thanks David, that's very clear.
Maybe my local party can help me? They have been very quiet about welcoming new members to the fold. I have been invited to a monthly meeting I can attend but not speak or vote at and there was talk of a cream tea social that was sadly cancelled. After 6 weeks I decided to take the initiative and asked about hustings but sadly we may be the only spot of red in a sea of blue but we are far too insignificant for actual candidates to visit, they'll be off to the big cities instead. I feel disappointed and a little insulted. Come on guys, this isn't wooing. I want eye contact and a firm handshake!
Ooh Stop Press as they say- an email has arrived with exquisite timing inviting me to a local Party buffet with a quiz! I hope its not a quiz on obscure Labour policies. Or on the candidates. Twittering made me so dizzy I decided to leave their websites y and an indepth look at their actual policies for another day...
So far my political knowledge is solely supplied by the Guardian. I don't always agree with them - after all they threw their hat in with the turncoat Lib Dems and advised tactical voting - BUT for thoughtful insightful debate and articles I can bore my friends with by posting onto Facebook they are invaluable. However who I vote for in this Leadership election has got to be something I decide for myself.
So today I signed up for Twitter and have become a follower of all 6 candidates. Is it supposed to take an hour and is TMobile really the only network not to support mobile Tweeting (whatever that may be)? It feels like a massive, incomprehensible wall of words and I am as flummoxed as my mother faced with an ipod. What happens next, am I supposed to keep logging back on to find some pearls of wisdom? OK what has David got to say?
Education is not the filling of the pail but the lighting of a fire.
Hmmm, thanks David, that's very clear.
Maybe my local party can help me? They have been very quiet about welcoming new members to the fold. I have been invited to a monthly meeting I can attend but not speak or vote at and there was talk of a cream tea social that was sadly cancelled. After 6 weeks I decided to take the initiative and asked about hustings but sadly we may be the only spot of red in a sea of blue but we are far too insignificant for actual candidates to visit, they'll be off to the big cities instead. I feel disappointed and a little insulted. Come on guys, this isn't wooing. I want eye contact and a firm handshake!
Ooh Stop Press as they say- an email has arrived with exquisite timing inviting me to a local Party buffet with a quiz! I hope its not a quiz on obscure Labour policies. Or on the candidates. Twittering made me so dizzy I decided to leave their websites y and an indepth look at their actual policies for another day...
Educashun, Educashun, Educashun
I live in a really nice area. Pretty terraces. lots of trees, a park on the doorstep, lovely primary schools and just a short cycle ride to town - middle class heaven. Sadly the nearest deli is 20 mins walk away but we just have to be a little organised with the Ocado shop and use the Spar for emergencies.
The only drawback is the lack of a really local secondary school. There are five secondaries less than a mile away but two are church run, one is far too rough for the delicate children of this area, one is private (and girls only) and the fifth, well the fifth is fine but just because all the local kids who wanted places there have got places there in the past doesn't mean our children will get in - and they do have to cross several roads to get there. It just isn't good enough. What can we do?
Luckily those nice Conservatives have a brilliant solution! We could start our own school. There is some wasteland we could use or maybe we could convert a shop - in New York they use a restaurant during the day so lets just be creative. OK there is the small matter of a 25% cut in the local education budget but as long as our kids are ok what does it matter?
Michael Grove says lots and lots of teachers are in favour of this brilliant solution and they even want to start their own schools too where they can get rid of all that nasty paperwork and just teach creatively free of targets and standardised assessments. Perfect. Sadly no one seems to have told the local teachers this, they seem to be very negative about the idea. Their loss.
We will of course be open to all but keep the intake local - just because the area is mostly middle class professionals and the interested parents are so far middle class professionals simply doesn't make our admissions policy exclusive. As long as the parents support our academically adventurous curriculum and are prepared to spend lots of time supporting us all are welcome. How we will achieve the academically adventurous curriculum with our target of just 30 children in a year when private schools of similar sizes are closing all over the country despite 3 times as much money per pupil is something we will worry about later. Managing games, science labs and DT is also something we will worry about at some other time.
Apparently the LTA only spends about 2% of the budget on centralised administration which will be hard to match, plus someone will have to organise pensions and payroll. Luckily some company is bound to competitively quote to organise all the dull stuff leaving us free to do the fun stuff. What do you mean privatisation by the back door?
The only drawback is the lack of a really local secondary school. There are five secondaries less than a mile away but two are church run, one is far too rough for the delicate children of this area, one is private (and girls only) and the fifth, well the fifth is fine but just because all the local kids who wanted places there have got places there in the past doesn't mean our children will get in - and they do have to cross several roads to get there. It just isn't good enough. What can we do?
Luckily those nice Conservatives have a brilliant solution! We could start our own school. There is some wasteland we could use or maybe we could convert a shop - in New York they use a restaurant during the day so lets just be creative. OK there is the small matter of a 25% cut in the local education budget but as long as our kids are ok what does it matter?
Michael Grove says lots and lots of teachers are in favour of this brilliant solution and they even want to start their own schools too where they can get rid of all that nasty paperwork and just teach creatively free of targets and standardised assessments. Perfect. Sadly no one seems to have told the local teachers this, they seem to be very negative about the idea. Their loss.
We will of course be open to all but keep the intake local - just because the area is mostly middle class professionals and the interested parents are so far middle class professionals simply doesn't make our admissions policy exclusive. As long as the parents support our academically adventurous curriculum and are prepared to spend lots of time supporting us all are welcome. How we will achieve the academically adventurous curriculum with our target of just 30 children in a year when private schools of similar sizes are closing all over the country despite 3 times as much money per pupil is something we will worry about later. Managing games, science labs and DT is also something we will worry about at some other time.
Apparently the LTA only spends about 2% of the budget on centralised administration which will be hard to match, plus someone will have to organise pensions and payroll. Luckily some company is bound to competitively quote to organise all the dull stuff leaving us free to do the fun stuff. What do you mean privatisation by the back door?
Friday, 25 June 2010
And it is perfectly obvious that Labour Stands for the principle of sharing, kindness, gays, single mothers and Nelson Mandela
Poor Bridget. Two months in, blissfully happy - and then she discovers that Mark Darcy is a Tory. "How???" she (and we)cries. How can her human rights lawyer boyfriend be one of them, because, as she sagely points out. Everyone votes labour. Except as last month so depressingly shows, everyone doesn't.
Who is a Tory? And Why? There are the obvious types, the County lot sitting at Wimbledon this week, drinking Pimms, and looking forward to some regatta or the other (what exactly is a regatta? Is it boats?). They look like Tim Henman and just like that plucky Brit don't consider golfing all day a waste of time. Many people with money also vote Blue because they hope it will help them hold onto more of their money (until they go on secret millionaire to publicly and philanthropically help the deserving poor).
But there aren't enough of them to turn my county map blue surely?
Well, rural types are naturally Conservative and conservative (in my youth a Young Farmer refuse to buy me a pint because "girls don't drink pints". I bought my own. I bet he votes Tory). And then there are the rest. the ones who want a change, who think "surely they can't be worse|" (ha ha ha that'll teach you), those who read the right wing press and believe every scare story and piece of vitriol they print.
An old boss thought that Thatcher "was the best thing that ever happened to this country!". Naively, like Bridget, I thought that one thing this country did agree on was that Thatcher was A Bad Thing. But he was an object lesson in the perils of privatisation. A DT teacher who was in the right place at the right time and spouted the right jargon to switch to the first privatised pieces of education and, honing those all important skills of saying the right thing at the right time, being overbearing and self-important he rose swiftly through the ranks despite actually doing very little indeed.
In the lead up to the election several friends publicly wondered if they might see how Cameron did because "we need a change" Yes, many of them read the Times (vile Murdoch propaganda) but their willingness to make such a fundamental change to the way the country is run with no real knowledge of issues, policies or consequences was scary.
I did a Sky News test online. I have to admit I was tad worried it would default me automatically to being a Tory or even worse I might unknowingly be one! What if, in a blind test, I was a raving conservative? Luckily I chose Labour for every single policy except health (Lib Dem, ha ha ha). It was a massive relief! Maybe we should all have done such a test before we were allowed to set foot in a voting booth so we could at least have checked that our head and our hearts were working together.
Who is a Tory? And Why? There are the obvious types, the County lot sitting at Wimbledon this week, drinking Pimms, and looking forward to some regatta or the other (what exactly is a regatta? Is it boats?). They look like Tim Henman and just like that plucky Brit don't consider golfing all day a waste of time. Many people with money also vote Blue because they hope it will help them hold onto more of their money (until they go on secret millionaire to publicly and philanthropically help the deserving poor).
But there aren't enough of them to turn my county map blue surely?
Well, rural types are naturally Conservative and conservative (in my youth a Young Farmer refuse to buy me a pint because "girls don't drink pints". I bought my own. I bet he votes Tory). And then there are the rest. the ones who want a change, who think "surely they can't be worse|" (ha ha ha that'll teach you), those who read the right wing press and believe every scare story and piece of vitriol they print.
An old boss thought that Thatcher "was the best thing that ever happened to this country!". Naively, like Bridget, I thought that one thing this country did agree on was that Thatcher was A Bad Thing. But he was an object lesson in the perils of privatisation. A DT teacher who was in the right place at the right time and spouted the right jargon to switch to the first privatised pieces of education and, honing those all important skills of saying the right thing at the right time, being overbearing and self-important he rose swiftly through the ranks despite actually doing very little indeed.
In the lead up to the election several friends publicly wondered if they might see how Cameron did because "we need a change" Yes, many of them read the Times (vile Murdoch propaganda) but their willingness to make such a fundamental change to the way the country is run with no real knowledge of issues, policies or consequences was scary.
I did a Sky News test online. I have to admit I was tad worried it would default me automatically to being a Tory or even worse I might unknowingly be one! What if, in a blind test, I was a raving conservative? Luckily I chose Labour for every single policy except health (Lib Dem, ha ha ha). It was a massive relief! Maybe we should all have done such a test before we were allowed to set foot in a voting booth so we could at least have checked that our head and our hearts were working together.
More Balls
Why is it I have decided against Ed B again? Partly because of this "He wrote the speech in which Brown said that he was committed to "post-neoclassical endogenous growth theory" during his time as chancellor, leading to Michael Heseltine's famous retort about the phrase: "It's not Brown's. It's Balls.""
Partly because he is strategically but disloyally disassociating himself from Gordon, Partly because he has a reputation of being cliquey and with the Bully Boys running the country Lord knows we don't need any more cliques. Oh yes, and he handed the Lib Dem turncoats over to the Cons - yes we know now that the Cons were also not going to compromise but at least they made the effort to pretend they might!
But he does write a good letter:
Dear ,
VAT to 20%. Child benefit frozen. Disability benefits cut. Public services, jobs and pensions savaged. Can you believe this is happening?
As I feared in my email last week, the Tory-Liberal government has announced that they are going ahead with an unfair rise in VAT - in a Budget which hits the poorest hardest.
So, if you haven’t done so already, I am asking you to join our campaign to Stop the VAT Bombshell – and to join the thousands of Labour Party members who have already signed up to stop this unfair rise in VAT going ahead.
We didn’t expect anything different from the Tories - I warned in Tribune before the election that George Osborne would do this.
But - as I argued on Question Time last night - for the Lib Dems to support a rise in VAT is an unbelievable betrayal. It’s the same “Tory VAT bombshell” that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable campaigned against in the election campaign!
In 1993 the Tories planned to put VAT on people's gas and electricity bills. Labour’s campaign stopped them in their tracks. If we all come together we can stop nextJanuary’s 20% VAT bombshell as well - you can read my article in yesterday’s Daily Mirror and the Mirror’s comment.
So please do sign up to Stop the VAT Bombshell and:
we‘ll send you a campaign pack of materials to fight your own local campaign;
we will send you model letters, petitions and facts to put Lib Dem MPs, candidates and councillors on the spot – and Tories too;
we will send you details of how best to get your MP to sign the House of Commons motion opposing the VAT increase which one of my supporters has organised - you can read the motion here.
Next week I will also be launching my campaign to save free school meals. Do let me know if you’ve got any other ideas to step up the campaign on public service and benefit cuts – and we’ve got until January to stop what I think is the most unfair tax increase of all, especially for families, the unemployed and pensioners.
It would be great if you could forward this email to your family, friends and colleagues and ask them to sign up too.
I will never forget that my first responsibility as a Labour and Co-operative MP and shadow cabinet member is to fight against this unfairness. That’s why I am standing for the Labour leadership. You can read more about my campaign at www.edballs4labour.org
I am determined to show you over the next two months that I have the judgement, experience, determination and track record in fighting for social justice to lead our party. But my priority this weekend is to get your support to fight this deeply unfair Tory-Liberal budget.
Together we must continue the fight for fairness.
Best wishes,
Ed Balls
P.S. You can get involved in my campaigns on my website www.edballs4labour.org, including my campaign to save free school meals for half a million children. You can also read my ideas on how we rebuild our Party from the ground up.
My campaigning is financed by donations from well-wishers, and volunteers are helping in the campaign office and with our regional campaigns - so you can donate or sign up to help out too.
And to get updates from my campaign please text the word 'join' to 07797 800613
I might just text Ed, I might just...
Partly because he is strategically but disloyally disassociating himself from Gordon, Partly because he has a reputation of being cliquey and with the Bully Boys running the country Lord knows we don't need any more cliques. Oh yes, and he handed the Lib Dem turncoats over to the Cons - yes we know now that the Cons were also not going to compromise but at least they made the effort to pretend they might!
But he does write a good letter:
Dear ,
VAT to 20%. Child benefit frozen. Disability benefits cut. Public services, jobs and pensions savaged. Can you believe this is happening?
As I feared in my email last week, the Tory-Liberal government has announced that they are going ahead with an unfair rise in VAT - in a Budget which hits the poorest hardest.
So, if you haven’t done so already, I am asking you to join our campaign to Stop the VAT Bombshell – and to join the thousands of Labour Party members who have already signed up to stop this unfair rise in VAT going ahead.
We didn’t expect anything different from the Tories - I warned in Tribune before the election that George Osborne would do this.
But - as I argued on Question Time last night - for the Lib Dems to support a rise in VAT is an unbelievable betrayal. It’s the same “Tory VAT bombshell” that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable campaigned against in the election campaign!
In 1993 the Tories planned to put VAT on people's gas and electricity bills. Labour’s campaign stopped them in their tracks. If we all come together we can stop nextJanuary’s 20% VAT bombshell as well - you can read my article in yesterday’s Daily Mirror and the Mirror’s comment.
So please do sign up to Stop the VAT Bombshell and:
we‘ll send you a campaign pack of materials to fight your own local campaign;
we will send you model letters, petitions and facts to put Lib Dem MPs, candidates and councillors on the spot – and Tories too;
we will send you details of how best to get your MP to sign the House of Commons motion opposing the VAT increase which one of my supporters has organised - you can read the motion here.
Next week I will also be launching my campaign to save free school meals. Do let me know if you’ve got any other ideas to step up the campaign on public service and benefit cuts – and we’ve got until January to stop what I think is the most unfair tax increase of all, especially for families, the unemployed and pensioners.
It would be great if you could forward this email to your family, friends and colleagues and ask them to sign up too.
I will never forget that my first responsibility as a Labour and Co-operative MP and shadow cabinet member is to fight against this unfairness. That’s why I am standing for the Labour leadership. You can read more about my campaign at www.edballs4labour.org
I am determined to show you over the next two months that I have the judgement, experience, determination and track record in fighting for social justice to lead our party. But my priority this weekend is to get your support to fight this deeply unfair Tory-Liberal budget.
Together we must continue the fight for fairness.
Best wishes,
Ed Balls
P.S. You can get involved in my campaigns on my website www.edballs4labour.org, including my campaign to save free school meals for half a million children. You can also read my ideas on how we rebuild our Party from the ground up.
My campaigning is financed by donations from well-wishers, and volunteers are helping in the campaign office and with our regional campaigns - so you can donate or sign up to help out too.
And to get updates from my campaign please text the word 'join' to 07797 800613
I might just text Ed, I might just...
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
£23,000
Gideon has a personal fortune of £4 million. Nice. He still felt the need to flip his homes and claim for DVD copies of his own speech. Not so nice. He has two children, an Hon as a wife and a baronetcy to inherit some day.In Tipperary. Isn't Tipperary in the Republic so how does that work? Anyway. As I was saying not only is Gideon extremely fortunate but he also earns around £135,000 and has a grace and favour home perfect for birthday parties. But even when he was just a plain MP (the good old days) he earned £65000. So how exactly does he calculate that £23,000 is the cut off point for child tax credit for a working couple with one child. Ah yes we are indeed all in this together.
It never felt exactly fair that a couple with a combined income of £23 000 got the same amount of tax credit as a couple on £50 000 but this little gem, hidden away in the detail of the budget shows Gideon for exactly what he is. I would like to see him raise his children on that income! The truth is that it is not much money for a young family burdened with student loans, mortgages, council tax, other rising bills, 20% VAT (sigh)plus the costs of feeding, clothing their children. Of course if you want your child to have any of the many activities no doubt enjoyed by the fortunate offspring of a True Blue Tory you need to have the time, transport and cash to take them swimming, or to Brownies (let alone suzuki violin, mandarin lessons or ponyclub). Possible on £23,000. Impossible. I've tried it.
A Recessionary Cautionary Tale
Once upon a time I lived in a DINK fairytale(dual income no kids). I lived in a tiny flat on the outskirts of London where I enjoyed my DINK lifestyle to the full - holidays, weekends away, meals out, new clothes. Not that extravagant really, it was budget airlines and more Pizza Express than Nobu but fun.
Then I had the one and only and moved up North to an insanely overpriced historically picturesque small city. I moved for D's job, foolishly assuming that I would be able to find a part time professional job. Ha ha ha. D brought in just £24 000, I did a year part time evening work at a book store on minimum wage. The only other part time work in this beautiful, economically static small city was admin so badly paid that it wouldn't have covered the cost of nursery.And no, Gideon, I am not lazy I just couldn't bear the idea of a nursery raising my child. And we sank. The bills just added up to more than our incomings and we had jettisoned all the DINK luxuries long before. It was the aforesaid mortgage, council tax etc etc that was killing us.
A respite. D got a promotion that required him to be in London all week - but having left we couldn't afford to move back. I found a pt semi professional job (back to an assistant but pt) with childcare on site. Yay! Things looked up for a whole two year, maybe just maybe we could now think about no. 2 when... Northern Rock.
Six months later we are both redundant and things are looking desperate. The redundancy is running out the mortgage is behind and there are NO JOBS. D finally gets a contract - 2 hours travel away, no pension, sick or holiday pay or stability but a job.I freelance write and withdraw from the two places I have to study Law as we can't afford the fees. A year goes by. The arrears are nearly paid off when...
His company lays off 40% of staff and natch contractors first to go. The local rag I have been putting 12 hour days in for whilst using the TV as a babysitter tells me not to worry, I have a long term future with them - just to let me go 6 weeks later when a new desperate writer shows up with all kinds of sub ed and photography skills and no pesky school pick up. We are both unemployed. No redundancy. Our savings are depleted in 6 weeks. I lie down and howl like a dog. There seems to be no way out.
Everything is in arrears. Mortgage, bills, the credit cards which we are living off. No benefits come through. I ebay everything - clothes, furniture, my beloved boots. Still no benefits. Every time the phone rings I feel sick. And its always a polite call centre employee wondering if we could just pay a little now. But how can you pay when there is NOTHING to pay with.
But one benefit does come through. Child tax credit. And its a lot - not enough to pay the bills but we can eat! Of course the downside with tax credit is it is calculated on an annual basis so as soon as we earn again we are massively in arrears with tax credit as well and haven't been been paid any for months.
No benefits. I am so ill and anxious that I just know I need cigarettes or prozac. But I worry if I admit to depression I'll never ever climb out again. And I can't afford to smoke.
And job hunting is a job! Of course we have applied to supermarkets etc to tide us over but we spend hours a day filling in forms, revamping CVS, searching for something anything.And even the supermarkets don't want us. Then Success for D - another contract and a lot less money and still no pension, sick holiday pay etc but work! Then me pt and admin but a job!
So here we are ten months later. Earning. So in debt I never ever stop worrying. Minus tax credit as we are in arrears till next year. This is the reality of recession. This is the reality of life in the golden private sector. This is the future Gideon has planned for thousands and thousands of families.
Its been grim up North.Thanks to Gideon it is about to get even grimmer
It never felt exactly fair that a couple with a combined income of £23 000 got the same amount of tax credit as a couple on £50 000 but this little gem, hidden away in the detail of the budget shows Gideon for exactly what he is. I would like to see him raise his children on that income! The truth is that it is not much money for a young family burdened with student loans, mortgages, council tax, other rising bills, 20% VAT (sigh)plus the costs of feeding, clothing their children. Of course if you want your child to have any of the many activities no doubt enjoyed by the fortunate offspring of a True Blue Tory you need to have the time, transport and cash to take them swimming, or to Brownies (let alone suzuki violin, mandarin lessons or ponyclub). Possible on £23,000. Impossible. I've tried it.
A Recessionary Cautionary Tale
Once upon a time I lived in a DINK fairytale(dual income no kids). I lived in a tiny flat on the outskirts of London where I enjoyed my DINK lifestyle to the full - holidays, weekends away, meals out, new clothes. Not that extravagant really, it was budget airlines and more Pizza Express than Nobu but fun.
Then I had the one and only and moved up North to an insanely overpriced historically picturesque small city. I moved for D's job, foolishly assuming that I would be able to find a part time professional job. Ha ha ha. D brought in just £24 000, I did a year part time evening work at a book store on minimum wage. The only other part time work in this beautiful, economically static small city was admin so badly paid that it wouldn't have covered the cost of nursery.And no, Gideon, I am not lazy I just couldn't bear the idea of a nursery raising my child. And we sank. The bills just added up to more than our incomings and we had jettisoned all the DINK luxuries long before. It was the aforesaid mortgage, council tax etc etc that was killing us.
A respite. D got a promotion that required him to be in London all week - but having left we couldn't afford to move back. I found a pt semi professional job (back to an assistant but pt) with childcare on site. Yay! Things looked up for a whole two year, maybe just maybe we could now think about no. 2 when... Northern Rock.
Six months later we are both redundant and things are looking desperate. The redundancy is running out the mortgage is behind and there are NO JOBS. D finally gets a contract - 2 hours travel away, no pension, sick or holiday pay or stability but a job.I freelance write and withdraw from the two places I have to study Law as we can't afford the fees. A year goes by. The arrears are nearly paid off when...
His company lays off 40% of staff and natch contractors first to go. The local rag I have been putting 12 hour days in for whilst using the TV as a babysitter tells me not to worry, I have a long term future with them - just to let me go 6 weeks later when a new desperate writer shows up with all kinds of sub ed and photography skills and no pesky school pick up. We are both unemployed. No redundancy. Our savings are depleted in 6 weeks. I lie down and howl like a dog. There seems to be no way out.
Everything is in arrears. Mortgage, bills, the credit cards which we are living off. No benefits come through. I ebay everything - clothes, furniture, my beloved boots. Still no benefits. Every time the phone rings I feel sick. And its always a polite call centre employee wondering if we could just pay a little now. But how can you pay when there is NOTHING to pay with.
But one benefit does come through. Child tax credit. And its a lot - not enough to pay the bills but we can eat! Of course the downside with tax credit is it is calculated on an annual basis so as soon as we earn again we are massively in arrears with tax credit as well and haven't been been paid any for months.
No benefits. I am so ill and anxious that I just know I need cigarettes or prozac. But I worry if I admit to depression I'll never ever climb out again. And I can't afford to smoke.
And job hunting is a job! Of course we have applied to supermarkets etc to tide us over but we spend hours a day filling in forms, revamping CVS, searching for something anything.And even the supermarkets don't want us. Then Success for D - another contract and a lot less money and still no pension, sick holiday pay etc but work! Then me pt and admin but a job!
So here we are ten months later. Earning. So in debt I never ever stop worrying. Minus tax credit as we are in arrears till next year. This is the reality of recession. This is the reality of life in the golden private sector. This is the future Gideon has planned for thousands and thousands of families.
Its been grim up North.Thanks to Gideon it is about to get even grimmer
We're all in this together
OK -WARNING. The following comes from the Daily Mail. I know! Filth, vitiriol and a worrying obsession with working mothers and women's weight. BUT. Just read it. If they are finding fault with Gideon's budget that we know we are in trouble...
"At present, all families with a combined income of up to £58,000 receive varying amounts of child tax credit.
From next year, only those earning up to £41,329 will receive this benefit.
But detailed figures hidden away in Budget documents show that from 2012, those with joint incomes worth more than £23,275 will lose their tax credits. Treasury sources admitted that 5.7million families will not be able to claim a penny of the credit from 2012, leaving just 1.3million of the country’s poorest households benefiting from the payment.
Nicola Roberts, of accountants Deloitte says: ‘This is going to be a massive shock for all middle income families.
‘A cliff edge has been created, and they will be amazed to see their credits taken away so quickly.
‘The amount you can earn before you lose all tax credits has more than halved.’
At present, child tax credit is made up of a family element worth up to £545 a year, and a child element of up to £2,300.
On top of this, those who have a baby get an extra £545 credit in the first year.
The Chancellor announced yesterday that from next April, the rate at which the child element would be taken away would increased to 41p for every £1.
And those earning above £40,000 would start to have their family element removed at a much quicker rate until they lose everything at £41,329.
In a move not announced by the Chancellor but buried in the Budget documents, from 2012 this £40,000 income limit will be withdrawn. It means that families with one child would receive no tax credits once they earn above £23,275."
So two people scraping barely over the minimum wage with one child will get a big, fat zeo nothing. Thanks Gideon, how many kids have you got again? Oh, but of course. You have a Trust Fund.
"At present, all families with a combined income of up to £58,000 receive varying amounts of child tax credit.
From next year, only those earning up to £41,329 will receive this benefit.
But detailed figures hidden away in Budget documents show that from 2012, those with joint incomes worth more than £23,275 will lose their tax credits. Treasury sources admitted that 5.7million families will not be able to claim a penny of the credit from 2012, leaving just 1.3million of the country’s poorest households benefiting from the payment.
Nicola Roberts, of accountants Deloitte says: ‘This is going to be a massive shock for all middle income families.
‘A cliff edge has been created, and they will be amazed to see their credits taken away so quickly.
‘The amount you can earn before you lose all tax credits has more than halved.’
At present, child tax credit is made up of a family element worth up to £545 a year, and a child element of up to £2,300.
On top of this, those who have a baby get an extra £545 credit in the first year.
The Chancellor announced yesterday that from next April, the rate at which the child element would be taken away would increased to 41p for every £1.
And those earning above £40,000 would start to have their family element removed at a much quicker rate until they lose everything at £41,329.
In a move not announced by the Chancellor but buried in the Budget documents, from 2012 this £40,000 income limit will be withdrawn. It means that families with one child would receive no tax credits once they earn above £23,275."
So two people scraping barely over the minimum wage with one child will get a big, fat zeo nothing. Thanks Gideon, how many kids have you got again? Oh, but of course. You have a Trust Fund.
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
New Balls Please
Its Wimbledon! OK, I am not middle-aged, middle class or living in middle England but nothing gets me quite so excited as tanned legs in white shorts on a sea of green. Federer nearly made me as depressed as the Con-Dems but I did, I did, I did believe in fairies, crossed my fingers, yelled at the TV and this time the result was right. Today though Nadal and Murray had to deal with a far scarier foe for my attention - Gideon. First off, ignoring the permanent sneer, the millions in the bank, the privileged background (ok I can't ignore it either but try) first off he is a year older than me and has never had a real job! And he is in charge of the country's finances - oh but it is ok he has the conch. He's having fun with it too. VAT at 20%! Freeze child benefit!Freeze pay! Slash budgets! But we are all in this together - except I don't have a trust fund.
But here comes acting leader Harriet with an idea (Harriet why aren't you standing? As if anyone who would ever vote Labour cares what the Daily Mail says!). She has a solution - I can, erm, email my local paper. Oh, alright then. Email sent. My first act of political activism.
But here comes acting leader Harriet with an idea (Harriet why aren't you standing? As if anyone who would ever vote Labour cares what the Daily Mail says!). She has a solution - I can, erm, email my local paper. Oh, alright then. Email sent. My first act of political activism.
Those Milliband Boys
"I want to be wooed" I texted excitedly to M when it transpired that we had both, almost simultaneously,succumbed to the Labour Party's clever Facebook campaign to sign up new members. So many had voted Lib Dem either carried away by the Nick-Love floating around the non-Murdoch press or, like M(stuck in call-me-Dave's constituency), they voted tactically. My home city remained rose red but the post election maps showed us as a tiny dot of red floating in a large, depressing sea of blue. Now those Lib Dem voters needed to vent their disgust somewhere and Labour were ensuring they provided a useful outlet.
As for me I was just excited that I would have a say in the forthcoming leadership election. Never having once been doorstepped I was ready for some political wooing. Sadly, the first attempt left me feeling like a wallflower at a school disco.
"David Milliband wants me to take a journey with him!" messaged M.
What?! Why take M on a journey, why not me? Was I not good enough? Did she hold more political allure living in call-me-Dave's constituency? When my own not so personal message finally appeared half an hour later I felt less wooed, more used. It was sexy though.
"Yes I’d like your vote. But I’m not writing about that today - this is about something bigger.
I’m writing to ask you to join me on a journey to examine, redefine and rebuild our Party. Because to be frank – I need you."
He needed me. But hang on a minute. You wait desperately for attention from one Milliband brother then just like buses along comes another, equally needy.
" I hope that we’ll meet over the next couple of months" he cooed. It was short, it was sweet and most importantly he emailed me first. I felt wooed again.
It took a couple of days before the next starters made it out of the gates. Andy Burnham is apparently a very nice chap but Andy, its all about you. The email is full of "me, I, my". Andy, what about us? What can I do for you and you for me?I was sadly uninspired.
Mr Balls was fourth. Poor Ed, I wasn't predisposed towards him anyway, did he really scupper the coalition talks with the Lib Dems? It was a great message though."I am writing to you today - not just because I want your support to be the next Leader of our party, but because I need your urgent help in campaigning against the unfair attack on jobs and services that this Tory-Liberal government is planning for next week’s Budget." Ooh straight in there. Nice one Ed B.
And he went on "I am very proud of what we achieved together in government. Labour's legacy is every child who is sitting in a brand new school, the winter fuel payment, our new hospitals, our Sure Start children's centres, tax credits and the national minimum wage.
But the Tories and Liberals are going to put all this at risk.
So this is my first pledge to you: I will work with all of you and with MPs, MEPs, trade unionists and councillors across the country to make sure our legacy is not destroyed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Labour needs a leader who will fight unfair Tory-Liberal cuts. We also need a leader who can make tough calls under pressure. And we need a leader who understands why too many ordinary, hard-working people thought they couldn’t support us this time.
We all met former supporters who thought we just didn't “get it" on jobs, migration, housing, tuition fees. I believe it’s possible to persuade former Labour voters to believe in us again - because I’ve seen the difference a Labour government made for my family.
My grandfather, a lorry driver, died from cancer when my father was only 10. Despite coming from a widowed family in a working-class community in Norwich, he was able to stay on at school at 16 and go to university.
All the opportunities that he had were only made possible because of the welfare state the Labour Government created in 1945, reflecting our core belief that opportunity should be available for all, not just for the privileged few.
The reason I’m standing for Labour leader is because I want these same chances for every one of my constituents and for every family in our country."
YES YES YES! I said definitely not Balls but this was far more like i, this is what I want to hear - fighting passion.
Last but not least Dianne. It took a while, I had to wait but finally, today I heard from her. It was short, to the point, ended "Yours in Comradeship" which was a lovely touch.
So here we are, five candidates, five messages, several weeks to go. Woo me would-be-leaders, woo me.
As for me I was just excited that I would have a say in the forthcoming leadership election. Never having once been doorstepped I was ready for some political wooing. Sadly, the first attempt left me feeling like a wallflower at a school disco.
"David Milliband wants me to take a journey with him!" messaged M.
What?! Why take M on a journey, why not me? Was I not good enough? Did she hold more political allure living in call-me-Dave's constituency? When my own not so personal message finally appeared half an hour later I felt less wooed, more used. It was sexy though.
"Yes I’d like your vote. But I’m not writing about that today - this is about something bigger.
I’m writing to ask you to join me on a journey to examine, redefine and rebuild our Party. Because to be frank – I need you."
He needed me. But hang on a minute. You wait desperately for attention from one Milliband brother then just like buses along comes another, equally needy.
" I hope that we’ll meet over the next couple of months" he cooed. It was short, it was sweet and most importantly he emailed me first. I felt wooed again.
It took a couple of days before the next starters made it out of the gates. Andy Burnham is apparently a very nice chap but Andy, its all about you. The email is full of "me, I, my". Andy, what about us? What can I do for you and you for me?I was sadly uninspired.
Mr Balls was fourth. Poor Ed, I wasn't predisposed towards him anyway, did he really scupper the coalition talks with the Lib Dems? It was a great message though."I am writing to you today - not just because I want your support to be the next Leader of our party, but because I need your urgent help in campaigning against the unfair attack on jobs and services that this Tory-Liberal government is planning for next week’s Budget." Ooh straight in there. Nice one Ed B.
And he went on "I am very proud of what we achieved together in government. Labour's legacy is every child who is sitting in a brand new school, the winter fuel payment, our new hospitals, our Sure Start children's centres, tax credits and the national minimum wage.
But the Tories and Liberals are going to put all this at risk.
So this is my first pledge to you: I will work with all of you and with MPs, MEPs, trade unionists and councillors across the country to make sure our legacy is not destroyed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Labour needs a leader who will fight unfair Tory-Liberal cuts. We also need a leader who can make tough calls under pressure. And we need a leader who understands why too many ordinary, hard-working people thought they couldn’t support us this time.
We all met former supporters who thought we just didn't “get it" on jobs, migration, housing, tuition fees. I believe it’s possible to persuade former Labour voters to believe in us again - because I’ve seen the difference a Labour government made for my family.
My grandfather, a lorry driver, died from cancer when my father was only 10. Despite coming from a widowed family in a working-class community in Norwich, he was able to stay on at school at 16 and go to university.
All the opportunities that he had were only made possible because of the welfare state the Labour Government created in 1945, reflecting our core belief that opportunity should be available for all, not just for the privileged few.
The reason I’m standing for Labour leader is because I want these same chances for every one of my constituents and for every family in our country."
YES YES YES! I said definitely not Balls but this was far more like i, this is what I want to hear - fighting passion.
Last but not least Dianne. It took a while, I had to wait but finally, today I heard from her. It was short, to the point, ended "Yours in Comradeship" which was a lovely touch.
So here we are, five candidates, five messages, several weeks to go. Woo me would-be-leaders, woo me.
What did Labour ever do for Me?
Flash back one month...
As two publicly educated Oxbridge graduates shake hands on a deal to drag Britain back into the dark age of greed and exploitation I down my third glass of wine and, somewhat shakily, log into Facebook. Amongst my friends, people of all ages, experiences and circumstances, there is a sense of loss and betrayal especially those who tactically or hopefully had voted Lib Dem. I feel sick, scared, worried for my child’s future. I feel hopeless. And then I do something, I make a small stand. I join the Labour Party. OK I was drunk, I could hardly type in my direct debit details, but at least it felt like I could do something.
The election map shows my home city as a sole red dot in a depressing sea of blue. What short memories we all have! For months people have been shaking their heads gloomily as they read their Murdoch owned papers and said “Well, the Conservatives can’t be worse, what have Labour ever done for me?” Intelligent people Friends, relatives, colleagues. Have they really forgotten?
This is what Labour has done for me:
Clean hospitals
Beds in hospitals
Shorter NHS waiting times – and expanded hours
Sure Start
School rebuilding
Enough textbooks for each child to have their own
Investment in libraries
Free museums – yep that’s FREE museums
Back to work initiatives
Tax breaks aimed at families not married couples
Free swimming, bus passes and fuel allowances for the over 60s.
Fruit in school for infants
Free swimming for children
Fantastic playgrounds in every city, town and village
And so much more…
Monday, 21 June 2010
From pale blush to bright red
It feels odd to be newly politically aware at the age of 37. But its only now I realise how spoilt I have been... sure I was brought up in the 70s and 80s but actually I don't remember the three day week, the miners strike was something that happened on the news and long doom stories about wards shutting were as as inevitable as Easter. Sharing wall paper bound text books and sitting in portacabins in crumbling schools happened to everyone, apart from posh people who had to pay for an education that didn't include days off for striking teachers (as a grammar schoolgirl we despised the private lot as "rich but thick").
We all hated Thatcher of course - the sixth form common room erupted in cheers when she was finally ousted, but until I turned 37 my most political acts were refusing to pay my poll tax (my mum paid it for me so it was a bit of a non protest) and staying up all night THAT night in 97 when the Tories who had dominated my whole life finally were expelled from Government. But I now realise, lucky me! There has been no need to be political, instead I have been complacent with my whole working and marital life lived under a Labour Government.
Of course we've had our ups and downs. The war felt like a betrayal and ID cards made me cross eyed with rage and yet, despite very bad personal recession fall out, I have remained a pale blush red. Not political, unthinking but sure this is the right way and the everyone else would remember the eighties and would never be stupid enough to vote the Tories back in whatever Murdoch said! But the day before budget day knowing two millionaire trustafarians are about to start stripping this country bare with no real mandate makes me realise blush isn't good enough. The colour has to be red.
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