FlyTheNest

Morning all.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... r-pay-rise" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Ministers drop demand that NHS staff give up day’s leave for pay rise

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... h-services" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Damning report finds ‘serious failings’ in NHS mental health services

Underpaid disability claimants to receive up to £20,000
Estimated 70,000 Britons did not receive full entitlement after errors worth £340m by DWP staff


https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... erpaid-dwp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1.Disband the DWP as a priority.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... ssion=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Grieving daughter hands mother's ashes to benefits inspector to prove she isn't fit to work
'He was completely mortified, as you would be. He apologised and offered his condolences'

This is a sad story, but also rather revealing:

"When mum passed away August last year, and everyone was notified.

“I got an acknowledgement from the DWP themselves to say that mum had died.

“They stopped paying her benefits and paid the arrears they owed her into my account because I am her next of kin.

Yet 7 months later someone made an appointment to assess her. The gaping disconnect between the people and system doing fit for work assessments and the people and system paying out benefits is glaringly obvious in this story and speaks volumes of just how much waste and inefficiency there must be within our benefits system. There's no simplicity here, and there's no financial savings, just less money for people who need it. Aghh!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-43476337" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Brexit: Ministers suffer nuclear defeat in Lords"

The government has been defeated twice in the House of Lords over its plans for nuclear co-operation after Brexit.
Peers voted by 265 to 194 to insist the UK should not withdraw from the European nuclear agreement, Euratom, until a replacement deal is in place.
They also backed a plan requiring the UK to report to Parliament regularly on its future arrangements with Euratom.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... ocial-care" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Jeremy Hunt outlines the 7 key principles that will guide the Government's thinking ahead of the social care green paper, to be published later in 2018.

Good morning, all.

Just a short visit to say thank you for the best wishes, and to let you know I'm back home.
Still very poorly, but grateful for both being in the hospital and being out of it!

)

tinybgoat wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-43476337
"Brexit: Ministers suffer nuclear defeat in Lords"

The government has been defeated twice in the House of Lords over its plans for nuclear co-operation after Brexit.
Peers voted by 265 to 194 to insist the UK should not withdraw from the European nuclear agreement, Euratom, until a replacement deal is in place.
They also backed a plan requiring the UK to report to Parliament regularly on its future arrangements with Euratom.

That could be difficult. It's not absolutely clear whether it is possible to stay in Eurotom once we leave the EU. A new arrangement would have to be drawn up and ratified by March 2019. Is there time? (Given the UK govt hasn't prioritised it in talks). Early articles I read on this were suggesting only an extension of article 50 would allow us to stay in Eurotom while we get international approval for our new independent arrangements. Unless, I suppose, the EU has already prepared a new arrangement in anticipation of when we realise it's necessary and ask!

Repulsively sickening hypocrisy-Twunt

Still expecting a bed bath by two hulky attendees,I bet.

Not an earthly hope of beginning to address with the DWP in it's current form and plethora of policies actively penalising care/self care at home.

Good morfternoon.

Note,no working age adult becomes sick/disabled in Tory World,Hunt's words are revealing,a lifestyle choice after all.

PwC [PricewaterhouseCooper] faces MPs over accusations of ‘milking the Carillion cow dry’

Commons committee to focus on pensions advice as accountants are questioned over role in collapse


Frank Field, the chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, said: “PwC had every incentive to milk the Carillion cow dry. Then, when Carillion finally collapsed, PwC adroitly re-emerged as butcher, packaging up joints of the fallen beast to be flogged off.

“For this they are handsomely rewarded by the taxpayer. They claim to be experts in every aspects of company management. They’re certainly expert in ensuring they get their cut at every stage.”

Field stepped up his criticism of the Pensions Regulator (TPR) for not using its powers effectively with Carillion in forcing it to make higher contributions to its pension schemes.

He added: “It would hardly have scheme sponsors quaking in their boots and it is difficult to imagine TPR emerging victorious from negotiations with a ruthless American private equity firm.”(Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... on-cow-dry

The waste and inefficiency,one word,outsourcing.

Guernsey parliament to vote on proposals to allow assisted dying

Guernsey could become the first place in the British Isles to allow assisted dying (Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... sted-dying

Willow904 wrote:

tinybgoat wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-43476337
"Brexit: Ministers suffer nuclear defeat in Lords"

The government has been defeated twice in the House of Lords over its plans for nuclear co-operation after Brexit.
Peers voted by 265 to 194 to insist the UK should not withdraw from the European nuclear agreement, Euratom, until a replacement deal is in place.
They also backed a plan requiring the UK to report to Parliament regularly on its future arrangements with Euratom.

That could be difficult. It's not absolutely clear whether it is possible to stay in Eurotom once we leave the EU. A new arrangement would have to be drawn up and ratified by March 2019. Is there time? (Given the UK govt hasn't prioritised it in talks). Early articles I read on this were suggesting only an extension of article 50 would allow us to stay in Eurotom while we get international approval for our new independent arrangements. Unless, I suppose, the EU has already prepared a new arrangement in anticipation of when we realise it's necessary and ask!

The next government red line to fall could be the one about being completely outside the remit of the ECJ - the ECJ regulates and oversees Euratom, so unless we think we should be entitled to a better deal with EU states than EU states have with each other we are going to have to accept that oversight, or something which is functionally equivalent to that oversight - 'remaining in full alignment now and in the future' - to simply remain in. As a rule taker, or 'vassal state' if you like.

Graun daily politics

This morning the campaigners have released a joint letter to Theresa May signed by 13 Conservative MPs and one DUP MP (Sammy Wilson, the party’s Brexit spokesman) saying she should reject the transition deal agreed on Monday because it would keep the UK in the common fisheries policy (CFP) until the end of 2020.

Really good piece lurking down the page last night and now tucked away at the guardian

Denisa Gannon: ‘Roma people are not getting justice’

The first Roma person to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales wants to empower others by improving access to the law

HindleA wrote:The waste and inefficiency,one word,outsourcing.

It's not just outsourcing, it's outsourcing badly. Outsourcing in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. If you outsourced to a reputable company with an aim to support ill and disabled people generously with decent cash benefits I wonder if the result would be the same as outsourcing to a disreputable company with an aim to reduce the number and amounts of benefits paid out. ie. to blame outsourcing you have to assume the aim is an efficient system and that the government is actually trying to oversee the outsourcing company's activities to ensure that outcome. I'm not sure that can be assumed in the case of fitness to work assessments. However, the government pretends to have certain aims and paying a company to assess people who have died is unlikely to be among that list of aims so there is scope within this story for the general public to demand the government investigate to find out what went wrong and force them to require better standards from the outsourced company, whether they want to or not. I hope this "mistake" (or inevitable result of a poorly designed and malfunctioning system) gets properly followed up by the relevant House of Commons committee.

adam wrote:Graun daily politics

This morning the campaigners have released a joint letter to Theresa May signed by 13 Conservative MPs and one DUP MP (Sammy Wilson, the party’s Brexit spokesman) saying she should reject the transition deal agreed on Monday because it would keep the UK in the common fisheries policy (CFP) until the end of 2020.

Extreme pettiness is not a good look.

Willow904 wrote:

adam wrote:Graun daily politics

This morning the campaigners have released a joint letter to Theresa May signed by 13 Conservative MPs and one DUP MP (Sammy Wilson, the party’s Brexit spokesman) saying she should reject the transition deal agreed on Monday because it would keep the UK in the common fisheries policy (CFP) until the end of 2020.

Extreme pettiness is not a good look.

What is the smallest hill on which you are preapred to die? 0.05% of the UK economy? This is what happens when you do better in Scotland...

From the G liveblog:

Actually, Labour were broadly supportive of the transition deal, and so there is no reason to believe that the transition deal on its own would be rejected by the Commons. But MPs won’t get a separate vote on the transition deal. It will be packaged up with the withdrawal deal, which is due to be voted on by parliament in the autumn. Labour has not yet said how it will vote on this (which is reasonable, because no one knows what will be in the final deal), but many Tories think the opposition will find a reason to vote against. If 14 MPs (or 23, if Wilson’s nine DUP colleagues were to join him) were to vote against with all the opposition parties, May would lose.

But we will still be leaving the EU in March 2019 regardless unless May decides to try to revoke or extend article 50. Which means a no deal Brexit. Which is what Rees-Mogg and co want. Putting Labour in the position of having to support any transition/withdrawal agreement May cares to present to Parliament if they are to be certain of preventing the worst case scenario.

At this point Jolyon Maugham's legal case currently before the Scottish court becomes extremely relevant, because rejecting the transition/withdrawal agreement is more risky if a revocation has to be agreed with 27 countries as there will be very little time left to pursue such an agreement.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/c ... ar-BBKsExx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The more I think about it, the more I realise how weak a position the opposition are in, but May is also in a very weak position. An opposition keen to keep close relations with the EU and respect the Good Friday Agreement can let the EU do their work for them as May will have little choice in the end but to agree to much of their demands to secure any kind of deal. At which point it makes no sense for Labour to vote against the transition/withdrawal bill. Taking the risk of a no deal Brexit would be irresponsible. So I find myself looking to the EU as our best hope of avoiding the worst consequences of Brexit.

ephemerid wrote:Good morning, all.

Just a short visit to say thank you for the best wishes, and to let you know I'm back home.
Still very poorly, but grateful for both being in the hospital and being out of it!

)

Best wishes to you, ephe.

I wonder if the likes of Twunt,or indeed Wollaston who actively vote for necessary rooms for care to be chargeable,20% cut bespoke allowances to attend to and go towards care and changing to loan with interest minimal housing support for people with adapted homes daring not to be in a(far more expensive)"appropriate" ,to name but three without effort,then prattle on about support for carers give a shit about how despicably hypocritical they are or genuinely that dim.

Facillitate combined ie.caring and work a good one,removing the possibility to with change to loan.

AK

Hope you holding up ok after your recent sad news

Yeah, I'm doing my best.

He is being laid to rest next Tuesday.

George Eaton
‏
Verified account

@georgeeaton
Following Following @georgeeaton
More
A neat opener from Corbyn: "Does the Prime Minister believe that the collapse of Northamptonshire council is the result of Conservative incompetence at a local level or Conservative incompetence at a national level?" #PMQs

Good gag, although the obvious answer is "both".

Farage has been reported to Westminster council, for tipping, over the fish stunt.

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/25452" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Foodbanks, homelessness, and the government's wilful ignorance

Jeremy Hunt -

What does he mean by "productivity". It's the NHS - not a car factory.

And this selling-off annual leave thing. Over-worked and stressed people selling their leave (because they desperately need the money) to people who are equally stressed and over-worked? Sounds dangerous - and it's immoral to put it forward as an "improvement" to working conditions.

Slimy charlatan arsehole.His productive efforts in that regard unquestioned.

Health,Social Care,Slimy Charlatanship.

Apologies to slime.

And is it any great surprise that people (stress and over-work aside) who work among sick people have high sick-rates?

Evening.

(aiming for uncontraversial)

I'm glad someone's turned up!

Am also considering making a cuppa.
For added intellectual depth.

I've just made one.

Have just finished a cuppa.

So....the Tories and Cambridge Analytica and the Russians and Cambridge Analytica and the Russians and Trump and Trump and Steve Bannon (& Cambridge Analytica) and Steve Bannon and Rees-Mogg and Steve Bannon and Farage....

Everyone seems to know everyone in one big, happy far right family.

and attempting, at least, to subvert electoral processes worldwide !

More from Carole Cadwalladr --

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Night night.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theg ... dutch-firm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Britain’s post-Brexit blue passport is set to be made by a Franco-Dutch firm, according to reports."