Bedroom Tax saga

Again... on the net and from a post in a closed group..

I was inclined to respond like this ...

as a social tennant, I was mortified to find out this simple fact.
For my own area ( Aberdeen City ) The LHA award for a single person is £122 towards rent !! Now .. This means that I am limited to this amount towards my rent if I were to take on a private tenancy, which I would never do and will not allow myself to be forced into again.
So it is incredulous to me that the Council, the social landlords of their constituents would allow this backhanded attempt to scavenge money from the unemployed in this manner at all when the social landlords rent for my current 2 bedroomed property is £69.41 exactly !!!
I would petition the government to pay out the LHA money direct to myself for my rent and then pay the rent to the council by myself ! £50 a week spare money available to everyperson in a home, and they claim that I am over occupying my flat, in a high riser, that THEY gave me when I was homeless over 6 years ago.
If I could afford to downgrade I would happily, as I would save money in the long run over electricity and heating, but to force people into poverty beyond that which is allowed by LAW ( JSA is the same money as Income Support which in itsself is the money the Government decided was the minimum amount of money you require to live on ) £71 a week I get, and they want me to pay just under £10 back ( £9.72 exactly, reading from the card I have already !! )
I have a small badge that I wear now, " Cant Pay Wont Pay " and thats what I am sticking to. The council have dealt with me harshly for a number of years, forcing me out of a tenancy due to rent arrears because it took an DWP enquirey longer than normal to find out that I have been made redundant from a job I was in for over a year, and as a result, when the housing award was granted and back dated, it was NEVER ALLOWED to be entered into my rent account. But as soon as they forcefully evicted me, they took that money and put it onto my implied arrears...
Want to know how much I actually owed them after this..
£240 and change which then was about 4 weeks rent !
So I got unlawfully evicted for the sake of 4 weeks rent, and now that housing block has been pulled down and no replacement put back !!! Dont take my word for it, Formartine Road, Tillydrone, Aberdeen. AB24 2RB. Mine was the second block from the south on the left hand side. You will need to use the timeline feature to see about 12 years past Google It !!

So annoyed at this whole government, and as a person who once wore the uniform ( even if it was only as a cadet and then a Territorial Soldier, its sickens me that there are ex servicemen and ex servicewomen who fought for this country only to get treated like scum by the Government!

Yet again, I am sorry for the long winded post, but what I say is the truth, not covered up in any way, shape or form, and not to be used to incite any trouble, but information to provide the good people of this country of the reason of WHY the people who are affected by these disasterous decions made by an uncaring and comercially biased Goverment. ...
Last note, I know I have spelling mistakes, and probably havnt used the correct words, am a simple plain speaking Scotsman, the pic on my profile is actually ME.. No mask needed ...
And I will say this lastly, I will fight with every ounce of my being against this draconian and unjust rules that this goverment is trying to impose upon us.
If they force me to become homeless again because of their mishandling of the legislative laws, then I will fight to bring the full force of the Crown Laws to bear against them all.

~~~~~~

Also, from the same closed group, I ended up with this post as well...

Apparently, there is a rumour going around that the Government has already served Youtube with a writ to stop them from broadcasting any footage that comes from any of the Rallies / Protests regarding the Over Occupancy Rules / Bedroom Tax demonstrations.
So much for our implied right to peaceful protest....
No matter, as a closed group, we can make videos private use only and even use torrent sites if need be ...
But I had a few songs in my mind earlier, and when I decided to cheer myself up, I shoved on the radio ( Northsound 2 ) to hear this song Labre Siffre - Something inside so strong - with Lyrics. ...
Now I have a new song in my head to carry me on till Saturday.

Well that is about all for tonight, I wish I could post up on something else, but this is the main issue that has me very concerned at the moment.

Bedroom Tax saga .. Mr Duncan Bannatyne

Below is my comment on a post in a closed facebook group which informed me of this clip of information from Mr Duncan Bannatyne. I have used my own comment, in a modified format to be used solely in response to his statement.

Mirror: Duncan Bannatyne on the Bedroom Tax 

I totally respect the idea that a wealthy and prominent figure who is in the public eye for being a true hard working citizen can see what the government is doing to the persons requiring the support of the state as being totally unfair and questioningly immoral.
I read the whole thing and indeed the comments attached to it, and it is clear that not only the persons that ARE going to be affected are prepared to take action, but also other hard working citizens are prepared to speak out against these unfair rulings.

The Bedroom Tax being imposed on us when there are no offers to assist us into more suitable accomodations, Job Seeker sanctions and retroactivly changing laws to avoid court decisions and keep unjustly sanctioned persons from recieving the money now owed to them reeks to me of only one thing... That our government has became to ignorant of the facts that are faced on the real streets of this country and would rather hide in their many homes, leeching off of the tax payers by making immoral claims for expeditures and dishing out tax BREAKS to the severely wealthy thereby making LESS money available to the treasurys pot to be able to help support the people that voted you in on the first place.

We have faced social cuts to all services, constant restructuring of all social security systems, to make claims now we need to phone in to someone then take the forms they fill in to the jobcentre to get that signed, used to all get done at the job centre / benefit centres before.
Now all we get ( we being long term unemployed people in my case ) is constant harrasment, with the wording of sanctions being handed around every time you sign on. Even when we have done everything they reqest of you, you STILL get interrogated.

My story is a long one, and I may even just even open it all uo and post it up on a blog soon, but it has been proven to me that the government doesnt care a single jot about the persons in our society UNLESS they are mega rich and highly paid, and most of these people have their own ways of protection their own hard earned cash from the claws of the tax man.
We are being victimised across the whole of the UK by a treacherous governement that has not held up on its promise to create a Big Society, after all, what is a society that does not respond to the simple basic care of persons who are unable to work because there are not enough jobs out there to go around ! A true people government would NOT allow a UK serving soldier of 12 years in good standing to be immorally sanction from receiving benefits that I am sure most people would happily say that he EARNED by putting his life on the line out of a sense of DUTY to his country of birth!

The backlash that most people can see coming is going to be extremely harsh, and to think that it could have all been avoided by just looking at the facts and realising that this is moraly wrong to be put into motion. We as a people have the right to be fairly governed, and if we cant get that right to be fairly governed, than as a people, we have a right and a duty to demand it!

To fellow scotsman Mr Duncan Bannatyne, I wish to personally thank you for your comment on how you see this, it is with the good hard working people like yourself that the people who will be affected know that they have to do something to get the changes made to be fair for all persons involved.

Thank you Sir !

Bedroom Tax saga ....

I was on the internet and I found this...

Glyn Davies MP on spare room subsidy / bedroom tax

and here is my responce which I have posted to the gents blog page.

You claim this is fair, but how is it fair to force persons in Social Housing and claiming benefits out of a home due to them being unable in any way to pay this shortfall.

I am long term Unemployed on JSA, living in a social housing 2 bedroomed flat and I have been activily looking to get a move out of here to a smaller place for myself for over 2 years unsucessfully. The simple plain fact is this, there is very little social housing available as most of the properties are under private landlords or private sector flats that are more expensive in rent for a 1 bedroomed flat in the private sector that is is for a 3 bedroomed flat in the social sector.
You say is it fair for people to be overcrowded, I agree with you it is not, but why are they overcroweded in the first place.

This draconian measure of over occupancy does not take into consideration the family angle of things at all, I am a single person, in my 40's and the last time I met a partner she already had a child that I was willing to take in as she had no place else to stay.  With this over occupancy rule, I would be forced into having a relationship and being overcrowded in my own home, if I was moved or indeed move into a bedsit / one bedroomed flat!

This is a morally wrong thing that the government has inflicted upon us with no choice in the matter. I would happily sit with someone in the council and do a move / swap into a 1 bedroomed flat if I could, but the plain an simple fact is it costs a lot of money to be able to move and the council do not assist persons that do not claim any extra benefits. So persons like me, on JobSeekers have no assistance at all from anywhere to help with moving costs as we have not got the income to make up what is needed. Remember, we are given an allowance that enables us to get by on what is considered the "basic amount you require to live on" So where in this amount of money are we able to afford moving costs or a £10 or more penalty PER WEEK if we dont!

Awaiting the LLU machine to get better broadband

So here I am again, fed up and bored, so I had a wee wander last week into the O2 shop to be told that the Aberdeen North exchange was going live over the next 14 days.

So off to a website called SamKnows, to see whats what...

There it is, LLU went Live on 20/09/09. Yipeeeeee.

Phone O2 to get set up with a 20meg connection and get rid of AOHell.

NADA!!! Not happening, not live according to the O2 folks.

But here is the best bit, BT are meant to make this exchange ADSL2+ ready for the end of the month.

Now Aberdeen isn't really a small town, its meant to be the Oil capital of Europe FFS.

But Motherwell was unbundled (LLU) almost 3 YEARS ago !!!

So what's the damned problem, are BT that incompetent that they are deliberately lying to people about this unbundling thing ??

Maybe I should post this in Shameless Aberdeen ???

My potential move...

The area am wanting a shift to...

Right on the busroute to Motherwell and Lanark, down to Shields road for a direct to Glasgow as well

Shared via AddThis

an Update...

The flat was NOT what I would consider as a good choice to move to.
It still had the original 1970's era phone on the call for answering the main door :|

NOT GOOD....

So am still in Aberdeen, still looking for a decent shift.

KOL Scotland, Dundee July 09 Meet...

Fit Like...

Well I managed to get down for the bus ok...

Trip down was noisy, damned kids, met the KOL Folks at Desperate Dan's.



Went to sensations, then back to the backpackers hostel, nice wee place that..
Fae there on to Tonic to pinch the wifi..

BIG THANKS to Pyctsi for setting this up for us all...

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Updated the day after, while slideshow was embeded....
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The rest of them were off to hae a swim, I headed to shops to get snacks for home, managed to get on an earlier bus home...

Journey back was nice, bar the drunk footie guys, scenery was braw, got a few vids of it, but need to edit it out cos of hands shaking while recording, annoying that.

Well coffee time now, Catch ye all the next time.

YESSSSSSS .. FInally something Good has happened.

Hello all.

Mind of me, am the guy that got mega annoyed cos I lost a wee USB Thumb Cam that is V Handy for quick pics.

Went in past the brittish heart foundation, a place I did volunteer my time with until I blew my knee out a bit, Anyways... My Locker was still there.. After a year ???

Still the same wee lock on it, so I grabbed the key and a wee bag as well to get get my stuff... and there it was .. my wee Thumb Camera thing ... OMFG!!!

Still works.. no power in it like, but got it charged up at the drop in place I attend...

Severly chuffed I got it back.

anyways .. its now 5:05am in the morning, so I better go and try to get some sleep afore I hae to go shoppin .. might be getting a new case and PSU for my computer .. will see..

Peace for now.

More annoyed and Depressed than ever...

Been a while since I posted anything up here, and seeing as am having one of them nights, well .. here goes.

Things are going in many different directions for myself at the moment.

Atween the JobCentre trying to get me into work, lack of help or information from the medical folks which means that my DLA application is in constant flux, Makes me wonder why the hell we bother at times.

Now add in a meeting, between a working group of 2 mental health services and some council persons to " Provide a better and more feasible service for all " which has left me thinking that one of the 2 entities are all about " We will prevail and to hell with the other lot "

The only good thing out of if is a Councillor's statement at the end of it which gave me a glimmer of hope about it all.

So what to do, do I try and facilitate a way to get the JobCentre off my case and do the voluntary stuff again to keep my mind active... after all, after 2 years of knock backs and very little opportunities for interviews... you sorta get the hint that they don't friggin want ye.

Or do I force myself to push further to hopefully get a job and hope that it doesn't depress me as much after 6 months.. Cant win .. can you?

Have already proved that I wasn't able to do the work thing thru depression .. and THAT was with a company that I had been an active part off for over 5 years .. sighhh...

It bugs me that the pressure is always on you to get better, but the resources to enable that are being slashed in place by unreasonable requests from outside bodies that don't really KNOW or in my opinion CARE about what the users of that service go through on a daily basis.

I am really shocked at some of the things that our council have done over the last few years, especially when funding for a required service isn't being held up but is being Slashed at every step... No sooner had we made the cuts to be in-line with their request, than the same persons say to us .. Slash it again ???

I mean .. WHAT!! Do these so called Over-Seer's KNOW how to do this at all, it is pathetic in the extreme that they make us do more cuts right after we made cuts to their targets. Would like to see them make the damned cuts on themselves for a damned change.

As you can see, am kinda agitated about this whole thing, which isn't good for me in the slightest, the services I require to get me thru things is being washed out to see without a lifeline, other services from the same major organisation have had to close down because they could not run with these unreasonable cuts.. and yes .. you did read correctly .. SERVICES .. Plural .. More Than One!

Anyways.. am away to have a cuppa ... and try and find a way to get some sleep tonight.

Will catch up again wie ye all.

HSE First Aid at Work, College Course. Day 1

Morning all, Well I did manage to drag my sorry carcass out of bed and get there, I was a bit late, 6-7 mins which isn't bad for me seeing as I did have a nice relaxing cup of Coffee to get me started (hence why I was late).

The course as it always does, new thing = Nervous, New building = Unfamiliar and lastly Dif folks = Severely anxious... Sigh!

Small group of folks, 5 in total plus the trainer who is BRILL!! Country lass, very easy to get on with.

With my size and knee issues, did confess that I may have a prob with CPR on the ground regarding Balance ( don't want to squish / flatten folks by falling on them), so I have to practice that over and over until I get it and can do the 3 mins solid CPR.

Side Note: where can I get new knees with inbuilt cushions???

Well it's now the second day, first one done so I can get an Appointed Persons certificate the now and call it a day at that... BUT!! here I go with "What If"! so going to stick with it!!!

But First COFFEE!! Toast!!! then READ BOOK!!!

Hugz to all that want em.

Found a new toy to play with ... Twitter!!

Was chuffed to see Jonathan Ross "Wossy" back on the telly, really big of him to apologise for his remarks on the radio.

Laughed my ass off when Wossy and Stephen Fry were saying the " Glad to be here and get you off the naughty step " Class comment that...

Then they mentioned Twitter... Now, I know I spend a lot of time on the net, and a LOT of that time just doing daft stuff ( Watching online feeds, searching ebay, Blogging and forums )

This Social Networking is wide and varied, so I had a look into Twitter, "MicroBlogging" I mean, COME ON!!!

Is it a good idea or not??? I have doubts, even after the wee demo video, "What are you doing??"

Still, ever the sceptic, I look further, and yes, it is WEIRD!! No other word for it, folks posting up their on the spot thoughts, ideas for what they are away to do and other comments.

So am like, ok, lets try this out then.

The Twitter home page is good, BUT, to use twitter properly, you need to add folks to follow, THEN you get to see their comments, on your home page. But it doesn't end their, folks can also happen upon your posts and reply using @UserName, and you can search for this as well.

Now if yer stuck at a PC at home, this is ok but not very convenient, hence you can also do this "On the fly" with Mobiles and I-Phones / I-Pod Touch's.

Only 12 hours into this so far, (excluding my sleep time) and am wondering who to follow, Celeb's are a fun bunch to follow, Mr S Fry and Mr J Ross being my first choices for the obvious reasons.
A lot of folks are "pretending" to be other Celeb's... what do you expect, its the internet after all.

Once you find folks to follow, its a simple case of watching what they type, and if you feel the need to, Reply to them!!

Thats it, MicroBlogging.

There are many applications out there to make the following of "Tweets" (as am typing this, one of the Apps has informed me the Mr S Fry has posted to Twitter via the Web.) as easy as recieving an "Instant Message".

For me, Twhirl is a good one, small pop up window, allows the posting of pics along side as well, makes URL's smaller to save on type space. V Handy!!!

Online is a site called Tweetree, which "Groups" the convo's to make it easier to read, again, V Handy!!

Well back to Tweetree, see if I can find others worthy of following.

Peace.