Newsthump is satire but soooo close to the truth.
Is it really satire anymore when there are significant numbers of people out there who actually believe this line of thinking?
I'm so tired of disabled people not being believed. It sucks so much.
Especially since nobody is immune to becoming disabled in the future, even if they are healthy now.
There are a tiny tiny number of scam artists out there. And the conservatives (in my country at least) latch onto that and ignore the vast majority that they hurt whole trying to avoid that tiny minority taking advantage.
And I'm 100% convinced it's because they would scam the system themselves.
There are a tiny tiny number of scam artists out there
That number is nearly zero, yet they continue to make the benefits system harder and harder to navigate each passing year to "protect" the tax payer from this "fraud" (causing deep distress to, and even the deaths of thousands of disabled people), while significantly more rich people are scamming the tax system for billions and no one bats an eye.
None of this was ever about fraud, or concern for the tax payer, it's about ableism and control (mostly to show the worker cogs what will happen to them when they can't work any more, so they better work extra hard to make sure it doesn't. Hint: working hard doesn't protect you from disability or old age, it just makes the owner of your work place more money).
I work for a public body here. Even they exploit loopholes to get more money. Like claiming expenses on agencies and private firms when they own both of those. And witholding pay from employees for 6 months so they can put it in high interest/high risk banking accounts to drive up their wealth.
In the UK data once said it was 2% that was genuinely fraudulent ..though my memory of it is about 10 years out of date
Also lets not forget the 19 billion pounds in benefits people are entitled to that go unclaimed because they've made it (deliberately of course) too hard and/or shameful to claim.
My old workmate has a degenerative illness that has slowly taken his face from him (as well as the rest of is body). He got a letter from our Labour council saying he was no longer entitled to PIP (a disability payment) as they didnt believe he was "disabled enough". Despite going down there in person to show them all his GP's confirmation he ended up having to take them to court, won, Council STILL refused to pay, goes BACK to court, WINS AGAIN!! Finally got his money.
These arseholes made him jump through hoops like a circus performer.
You've got the likes of the Daily Mail columnists here pushing that people in wheelchairs "should just find a job that suits them" etc. So its no wonder a large percentage of people believe these myths. The media is largely owned by right-wing oligarch/billionaires, with the exception of the BBC (though even they've shifted their footing).
BBC is run by the gov, which is owned by the billionaires, so I don't think they deserve the exemption..
Technically not it isnt. Its run via a Trust through ringfenced hypothecated taxation (the licence fee). Similar to how hospitals and schools are run (though you have to pay those taxes). It has certainly been influenced by Government in recent years and had many Trust board and executives from Tory ranks.
True, but as you say, that's merely a technicality at this point, so it's still all run by and for the same people, and it isn't us..
They’re not lazy, they’re just disabled.
Jeremy ‘Berkshire’ Hunt
He owns 2 whole tower blocks down here. Like some kind of uber-landlord.
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