BBC News - Duncan Smith considers incentives to relocate jobless

“Unemployed people living in council homes could be offered incentives to move to areas where there are jobs, the work and pensions secretary has said.”

It was only going to be a matter of time but even I am surprised at how quickly this Condem government has come around to Norman Tebbit’s way of thinking. And this old recidivist Tory policy has been dusted off and wheeled out by the acceptable face of Ian Duncan Smith (left). They have already started thinking of the disabled as benefit cheats and the old as retiring too early, now they are talking about the working population as work shy and feckless people who need to be encouraged to “get on your bike” and move across the country to find work. Their disdain for “the great unwashed” is palpable, shameful and all-too-typical.

And where are these jobs for which people should mount their bikes and ride? They are depending on the private sector taking up the slack but have absolutely no control over that and so no guarantee of a jobs market to which bikes may be confidently ridden.They have plans to savagely cut back on public services, throwing hundreds of thousands of people out of their jobs, swelling further the ranks of the unemployed and shrinking considerably the amount of money people have to spend.

With millions more unemployed, belts being tightened and significantly less money to spend in the country what on earth reason for hope can the private sector have in the prospects for growth and expansion? Why should they invest in a country that has more and more people out of work and less and less money to spend? In a shrinking market and a growing liability? But of course the next step in this grand design (Oh, the plan, the plan) is to get rid of the minimum wage so that those nice people at the CBI can bank on a growing population of slave labour.

I am reminded of that verse in Exodus which declares that “there arose a new king over Egypt, that did not know Joseph.” That king’s policies led to slavery for Israel. In the same way it might be said that a king arose in Downing Street about which this new generation knew nothing; but they will soon learn, they will soon learn. Welcome to the 1980’s, a place of individual wealth and collective poverty, of blaming the poor and celebrating the wealthy, of social Darwinism, a meritocracy in which only the strong survive.
BBC News - Duncan Smith considers incentives to relocate jobless

BBC News - 'No foetal pain before 24 weeks'

 

“There is no new evidence to show foetuses feel pain in the womb before 24 weeks, and so no reason to challenge the abortion limit, UK doctors say.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' review said foetuses are "undeveloped and sedated".

Brain connections are not fully formed, and the environment of the womb creates a state of induced sleep, like unconsciousness, they add.”

One expert explained that this latest research says nothing about the ethics of abortion. It simply tells doctors whether the foetus feels pain when aborted. If the findings went the other way then the doctor could anaesthetise the foetus before aborting it.

So let me see if I understand this. If it can’t feel the pain of its demise then its alright to kill it. By this logic if it is anaesthetised, in “a state of induced sleep”, in other words the nerves are prevented from sending signals to the brain cortex, then it can be killed – whatever it is. Old for example, disabled, unwanted, inconvenient, the list seems endless.

Oh, brave new world that has such people in it.

BBC News - 'No foetal pain before 24 weeks'

Brave New World

I don't usually do political comment but I have been catching some of the budget debate in the Commons after the ConDem Alliance emergency budget. I can't let this moment pass without offering my heartfelt condolences to all those who voted for the fair-minded, progressive, metrosexual, Europhile champions of minorities, the LibDems only to wake up to the nightmare of a totally macroeconomics driven, right wing, minority bashing, homophobic, slash and burn Tory budget. I have one proverbial piece of advice for you. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Now you have seen that the Liberal party only flies a flag of convenience and is more than happy to negotiate principles for power you know better next time.

I think perhaps the country might resist the temptation to toy with proportional representation now they have seen what happens when their favourite cuddly politicians take power. It has been a lot like watching the film Gremlins. One minute you just want to run up to nice Nick Clegg and shake his hand, the next Calamity Clegg is doing monstrous things to your job, your public services and your bank balance. Take it from me, if it isn't nailed down they will have it off you before you can say "redundant and homeless" - unless your a city banker of course.