End The Silence-DLA in media
The attack on DLA and Invalidity Allowance is part of a co-ordinated plan by the Blair government and has been a clear aim since it’s election in 1997 – When Frank Field was encouraged to ‘think the unthinkable’ in 1998 he said this is "not an end of the welfare state",
However this October Tony Blair has made clear his wish for an end to the welfare state and that this will be his mission for a third term in office. He promised welfare reforms intended to give people chances rather than respond to their problems, whatever that means. It is a money saving exercise – He said "In the UK today we have a big debate about how we can provide pensions … but that will mean we will have to spend less, particularly in areas where there are people who could work but who presently languish on benefits." Promoting the idea that people languish on benefits but somehow, if the benefits were withdrawn, they would become good hard workers producing lots of nice taxes.
As part of this, in October, the work and pensions secretary, Alan Johnson, warned doctors that they had to rethink the way in which they allowed people to claim incapacity benefit, he insisted that family doctors had “a powerful opportunity to help us end the sicknote culture”. – the doctors pointed out that they defend the patients interests, not the governments
But the “sicknote culture” becomes prime time television on “Tonight with Trevor Macdonald” – They highlighted the case of a former miner who claimed a six-figure sum in benefits after pretending that an accident left him unable to work, and showed him jet-skiing on television, he did plead guilty, however one case does not make a culture. One person from Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, from which a professor had been interviewed on the programme - described the Tonight feature as 'trash' which did not look into the issue at all – but this is prime time trash watched by millions – widely covered by all the media and giving The Daily Mail the excuse to refer to carefully monitored allowances which people rely on for a quality of life way below that of a journalist on a national newspaper as HANDOUTS THAT COST MILLIONS.
When Macmillan, the cancer charity, found that more than half of all terminally ill cancer patients do not claim the disability living allowance or attendance allowance they are entitled to, blaming complicated benefits forms, lack of awareness of entitlement, embarrassment and the emotionally draining effects of cancer, which leaves £127m unclaimed. There was no media storm. People on the edge of existence going without vital benefits is apparently not good enough for Trevor, it was not reported in the daily mail or sun – and unsurprisingly there seems little comment from Government ministers – after all that money is earmarked for pensions…
On that subject of those of pension age, a coalition of 24 leading charities has won the support of the majority of MPs, quite a feat in the present parliament. 241 MP’s backed a call for equal treatment for those disabled after their 65th birthday. The Mobilise Early Day Motion was one of the best supported in this parliamentary session. In a parliamentary debate earlier this month, disability minister Maria Eagle was repeatedly pressed on the issue – she is of course a champion of disabled rights, as long as it is about business access or anything where someone else is paying.
Again this issue was barely reported in the press, it often amazes me how much the media can question government on some issues, purporting to be speaking for the people, but not raise it’s voice one note when the people are those most in need. The media, and that increasingly includes the liberal press, have fallen into line with the governments campaign to make ‘welfare’ a dirty word. Papers like the SUN has always been ready to scream Scrounger, but the difference now is that the government itself is pushing the media agenda, and without pressure, the noble ideas of welfare and sharing will be left in the gutter by the gutter press.