Thursday 21 October 2010

Benefit Cuts.

Honestly, I don't know what to make of all the cuts in the welfare budget yet. So much of it is subject to speculation, or relies upon medical assessments that have not yet been rolled out.

What I do know, however, is that I have no security for the future. The next few years rely on a wing and a prayer, and the hope that some arbitrary figure will not decide that I am no longer disabled because I don't look it, or because the government can no longer afford for me to be.

What is "disabled", anyway? I don't feel it, most of the time, but whenever I fall to the ground involuntarily, and start twitching and shaking, or stop breathing, my opinion changes pretty rapidly. I guess not being able to look after your own children alone is pretty disabled. I'm certainly disabled enough to not be permitted a driving license, too, and nor can I go skydiving, abseiling, rock-climbing, scuba diving, or anything else which requires you to be alert at all times.

My son is two years old and I have never bathed him without supervision. I won't be able to until he is able to look after himself, and the same goes for his little sister. I will never drive my children to their friends' houses, or take them swimming by myself, because it's unsafe. I can't even have a bath myself unless someone else (preferabbly W) is in the house with me.

That's not to say I don't take risks. Just that, to me, taking a risk is leaving the house by myself, and being alone for an hour or two.

I've gone a little off-topic here, but maybe that's because the whole subject is off-topic. Yes, we all know that (to a greater or lesser degree depending on who you talk to) the UK is in serious financial difficulty. But taking money from the poor and needy, who have so little to give, while failing to adequately chase those who try to duck out of paying their fair share is equally off-topic. I know you can't always trust what you read, and subjectivity abounds when politics rears its ugly head, but when huge companies avoid paying several billions in tax from year to year and are allowed to get away with it, it seems to me that you're missing the boat. If that figure of £6 billion which Vodaphone alone is reported to have avoided paying is correct, then the money taken from the sick need not have been cut at all.

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