For those of us who believe that social security (aka welfare) has a vital role to play in preventing and alleviating poverty and in providing a degree of economic security in these insecure times, the last few weeks have been disheartening. I’ve just caught up with the latest British Social Attitudes Survey . It shows public…
‘THE FAMILIES WHO CANNOT AFFORD FOOD. Charities try to fill the gap as hungry turn to stealing’ was my local paper’s front page headline last week. The Nottingham Post story continued: ‘Food banks are opening across Nottingham because the number of people who cannot afford to feed their families is increasing. The next day I…
I was depressed over the weekend to read leaked reports of a new book by five ‘rising stars’ of the Tory party in which they accuse Britons of being among the worst ‘idlers’ in the world. Apparently they contend that we work among the lowest hours and argue that, instead, we should model ourselves on…
I never thought that my second blog would be about sport. But as a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tennis (couch-potato division), I wanted to mark Andy Murray’s achievements at the Olympics. I was lucky enough to be cheering him on on Murray’s Mount (surely no longer Henman Hill?) on Sunday and…
Not the government it would appear. Non take-up of means-tested benefits is a perennial problem in the social security system. Annual statistics, published by the Department for Work and Pensions, track trends in the estimated amounts unclaimed of the six main means-tested benefits and the numbers not claiming. The latest figures show an estimated £7.52bn…
