Stop headline-chasing on benefit fraud – and concentrate on fixing the system
Friday, August 13th, 2010 by Moussa Haddad Posted in Welfare reform, livelihoods, uk poverty | 1 Comment »This week, David Cameron returned to one of the favoured themes of politicians looking for easy headlines – benefit fraud. With the welfare bill under pressure like no other area of public spending and with benefits already at historically low ...
Short selling on the optimism of our young people
Friday, August 13th, 2010 by Katherine Trebeck Posted in Welfare reform, attitudes, livelihoods, uk poverty | No Comments »David Cameron has said that in its spending cuts the ‘first thing’ the government should do is cut fraud and waste in the benefit system. The first thing? Really? Of course fraud anywhere should be stamped out – there is no ...
Budget 2010: Cutting Benefits by Stealth
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 by Moussa Haddad Posted in Inequality, Welfare reform, homelessness, livelihoods | 4 Comments »The headline announcements were bad enough. Largely due to the increase in the highly regressive VAT, it is, as the IFS put it, ‘likely that the overall impact of [the Budget’s taxation] measures was regressive’. George Osborne’s claims that this ...
Recognise and reward those who care
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 by Kate Kewley Posted in Welfare reform, livelihoods, voluntary work | 1 Comment »Carers’ Week, 14th – 25th June Coinciding with Refugee Week, this week is also Carers’ Week, a chance to recognise the enormous contribution to society made by the six million unpaid carers in the UK, as well as to highlight the ...
Keep remembering that we have a choice in how we get out of this mess
Monday, June 14th, 2010 by Moussa Haddad Posted in Inequality, Welfare reform, equality, livelihoods | No Comments »Writing in Saturday’s Guardian, Polly Toynbee threw an interesting perspective on what promises to be the biggest debate in politics over the next few years – deficit reduction. So far, the arguments have largely been about the ‘when’ – which ...
Welfare in the UK (Oxfam on Newsnight)
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 by Ben Morgan Posted in Welfare reform, attitudes, livelihoods | 1 Comment »Do watch this video of Oxfam's Kate Wareing facing BBC Newsnight's first incarnation of their rather imposing 'Star Chamber', to defend current benefit levels in UK and argue for meaningful and positive reform of the UK's welfare system. I thought it ...
