are they playing us pinched from johns posts
For the first time in months, I read a print copy of The Times this morning. The first fourteen pages were devoted entirely to anti-Brexit fake news and anti-Russian propaganda based entirely on the assumption that (a) Russia is the only major power hacking into the nasty activities of other powers and (b) Western media audiences are just too braindead-thick to realise this isn't the case. The owner of the Times is, as always, not entirely wrong.
I went online to read one of the few trustworthy journalists left, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, giving a first-rate account of how the Italian government's 2.4% budget deficit (lower than that of France) and bond-spread attacks on the country by Wall Street are together being used by Juncker, Draghi and the other animals to undermine, pervert and then block the Will of the Italian People. A senior contact in Rome informs me that large brown paper bags of money are being waved at Italian coalition MPs in a bid to effect their desertion from the expansionist economic cause, that bond traders are being bribed by the EC to up the pressure on that Coalition - and that if all else fails, the President will be dragged in again by Brussels to somehow dismiss the Government and ensure the insane 'euro-forever' will of the federalists prevails.
But senior coalition members insist that there will be no cave-in along Greek lines, and that if Brussels tries to stop the Government, violent revolt can be the only possible course of action:
“If anybody in Brussels is stupid enough to think they can use the ‘Greek textbook’ against us, they will find that the crisis is not Greece squared, but Greece cubed,” said Claudio Borghi, “They can’t do it unless they send in the army and you can’t do this to a lawful government with a majority in parliament that is doing nothing out of the normal. If they try, there will be a real revolution."
This afternoon I gaped at amazement as Donald Tusk (the most unpopular politician in Polish history) claimed that "the Canada +++ deal has been on the table since Day One of the Brexit negotiations" which - were it to be proved correct - would certainly count as one of the biggest blunders in British diplomatic history.
Except it isn't true. A Brussels diplomatic source confirmed this two days ago, saying "I cannot see anywhere in any transcripts of the talks to date this option being put forward by the Brussels team. Mr Tusk saying the deal is "still" on the table is dissembling, pure and simple."
What its introduction now does, of course, is put May even more firmly on the back foot, divide Leavers still further, and muddy the waters. The entire aim is to pass the advantage back to Brussels and create yet more confusion to slow down the deal. And of course, there is no parallel in Canada+++ for the Irish border backstop dilemma.
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The European Union in its current mafiaesque unelected form is fighting for its life, and the euro is looking more unstable than ever.
Just under three hours ago, UK negotiators claimed to be "very close" to an Irish border solution.
Then just under an hour ago, it became apparent that the European Court of Justice is to fast-track the verdict on a case designed to help anti-Brexit forces legally block Brexit as a whole. Jo Maugham and a cross-party group of Scottish MPs are behind it.
Just fancy that.
Britain is playing every Alt State on the planet and three different sets of 5th Columns in this farcical farrago. The cards are stacked against us....and there is going to be a great deal of bitterness.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 06 October 2018
jeffs posts
Paige Garratt: She managed to recover from Hodgkin’s Lympoma despite the attentions of the Department for Work and Pensions.
Paige Garratt may very well be the one that got away, as far as the Department for Work and Pensions is concerned.
Diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma – advanced cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes and lungs – the 22-year-old from Flintshire found herself fighting for her life.
Her fight was made much more difficult by the DWP – which, as regular readers of This Site will know, exists to make life as difficult as possible for the sick and vulnerable.
Advised that she would be entitled to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – the benefit that we are told is intended to help people with a long-term health condition or disability with the extra cost of living- Ms Garratt was hoping the money would pay for travel costs as she was having to visit the hospital three times a week.
But the assessor sent by the DWP decided that she was not sick enough to receive the benefit.
At the time of her interview, Ms Garratt was couchbound after a chemotherapy round, bald and so lethargic that she had to rest her head on the sofa arm or in her hands, but the assessor said she was physically able to take care of herself – and this person seemed to believe that her mental health was fine, even though she never asked any questions about it.
The conclusion regarding mental health is unsurprising because the PIP assessment never pays any attention to a claimant’s mental well-being. The revelation that no questions were asked about Ms Garratt’s mentality is surprising; I have attended several PIP interviews and it was discussed at length in those. But the decision letters made no reference to those discussions and PIP claimants certainly do not get any points if they are mentally ill.
More worrying still is the lack of attention paid to Ms Garratt’s physical condition. It seems the PIP assessment, a series of tick-box questions with yes/no answers – one example asks whether a claimant can prepare food alone – does not work for people with cancer.
And most worrying of all is the claim that Ms Garratt was not lethargic, when she could not even lift her head. That’s a flat lie – the kind of lie the DWP keeps claiming its assessors don’t make any more.
Put it all together and it seems clear that the intent was to deny Ms Garratt the benefits she was owed, thereby adding to the mental stress and physical incapacity caused by her illness.
Other claimants have been known to die after receiving this kind of treatment – although the DWP insists we are not to suggest that any fatalities are caused by its chequebook euthanasia-style behaviour.
Fortunately for Ms Garratt, the DWP’s best efforts proved to be in vain. Helped by a social worker, she successfully appealed against the decision and was awarded PIP in May this year – two months after she finished her chemotherapy.
A scan has shown she is now cancer-free, so I wonder how long she will be allowed to continue drawing the benefit.
And the DWP? It came out with the usual load of old flannel. “We have never spent more on benefits for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, totalling over £50bn a year – up £7bn since 2010.” This is a lie.
Still, the announcement that the DWP will pilot video recording of assessments may well lead to improved confidence in the process.
For now, Ms Garratt should consider herself lucky to be alive – in spite of the Department for Work and Pensions.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 06 October 2018
