Here’s your expiry date, young man

Here’s a lovely Christmas present for me to come home to yesterday – a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) telling me that my benefit is changing and that I’ll soon be called in for a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which basically means I have been handed my expiry date by the Government.

Oh come now, you may well be saying, aren’t you being a little melodramatic?  Possibly, but having seen in the media the amount of people who have been declared fit for work when they are nothing of the kind and the constant background noise from the mental health community stating that the WCA is not fit for purpose with regards to assessing someone who has mental health issues, do you blame me for breaking out in a cold sweat?

I have, over the next few weeks, a massive amount of stress and worry to contend with, waiting for the inevitable ‘phone call to discuss the changes with someone who doesn’t give a toss about the effect the changes will have on me, followed by the questionnaire to fill in and the dreaded WCA appointment at which I will be assessed on purely physical health grounds.

I am not the kind of person who wants to sit at home doing nothing; indeed, I like to have at least one thing to do to occupy my mind every day.  It’s not easy for me to get much else done because of my reliance on public transport to get me to the various locations I need to get to but that one thing a day is helpful for my mental health.  I would prefer to be bringing in some money but if all I can get is voluntary work then that is what I shall do.

I have been dreading this letter for months now and now it’s here, the worry and stress have just increased.  I have been told that the WCA really isn’t all that bad but I haven’t exactly got the best of luck when it comes to doing things the right and proper way.  In fact, doing things by the book has screwed me on more than one occasion.  In the next few weeks my mental health is going to take a battering, destroying all the good work I succeeded in achieving through my voluntary work and when, as is probably most likely, I lose my benefit, I will be able to measure my life in terms of weeks at best or days at worst.

Thanks DWP.  Thank you so much for the expiry date on my life and the other lives that the benefit changes will affect.  Merry fucking Christmas, you heartless bastards!  I hope you sleep soundly in your beds knowing that you’ve killed a few more desperate, vulnerable people.

Until next time…

Pet peeves

Recently, a couple of situations have come up that have highlighted some of my pet peeves so I thought I’d write them down and see if any of my readers find the same or whether it really is just me.

The first is something I find both puzzling and annoying in equal measure – clothes sizing.  The UK is, as we are being told constantly told, a nation in the middle of an obesity epidemic or, to put it less diplomatically, a nation of lardy fat-arses.  Why then are clothes shops selling less and less clothing for those of a larger frame?  It seems that every time I go to buy myself a new selection of boxer shorts, I have gone up another size even though the waist measurement is still the same.  I am 44-46 inches (around the waist, you dirty minded people; if I was that size in other areas I’d have a job in a freak show by now or in porn) which was originally considered ‘Large’.  ‘Large’ became ‘XL’ and has now become ‘XXL’ within the last couple of years.  In fact, at all the shops I went to a waist measurement of 44-46 inches is the largest size they stock.  I half expect to go to the shops next time and they won’t stock my size at all. 

I have a number of family members who are, from no fault of their own, larger framed individuals.  They have gone on diets and exercise every day but nothing shifts the extra padding they carry.  Each time they go to the shops to buy new clothes, they find the same problem.  Each year, the dress sizes seem to change; what used to be a size 14 is now a size 16 and so on ad infinitum.  Larger sizes stop being sold in ‘regular’ shops until soon the larger framed will have to go to ‘freak’ stores to buy their clothes.

I can only assume that this changing of clothes sizes is to make men and women adhere to the new modern expectation of the pencil-thin model ideal that is pushed down our throats in advertising and the media.  Women are made to feel fat if their waist measurement is in double figures and their dress size is greater than a size 6.  Men have a little more latitude in clothes sizes but are still made to feel like crap if their clothes size hits ‘Large’.

The thing that really gets to me is that ‘regular’ shops should be catering to the needs of a larger framed population as it’s a growth market, whether that’s a good thing or not.  The ‘freak’ stores charge much more for their clothes so it’s difficult to remain even partially well-dressed if you’re working with a reduced budget.  ‘Regular’ stores should pay attention to what’s going on in the world and steer away from the reliance on smaller sizes and the artificial body shape and size ideals that are completely ridiculous.

There are, however, online companies who cater to the larger framed individual which leads me onto my next pet peeve – the reliance of the internet to sell goods by major stores.

I was Christmas shopping for presents and I went into HMV for a particular DVD box set for one of my relatives.  My local store doesn’t stock it and, as I was going up to London anyway, I thought I’d pick it up at the store on Oxford Street where I saw it last.  Unfortunately, the last one was sold a week or so before I went up so I was unable to purchase it but what really annoyed me was that the sales assistant said that he could order it for me but it would be quicker to buy it online.  This statement had me mentally shouting “If I could buy it online don’t you think I’d do that rather than walk around the cold streets of London looking for it?”  I, however, stopped myself from vocalising that thought.

Yes, there are loads of things I’d like to buy online but to do that you need a credit card, a debit card, an online bank account or the willingness to have your financial information floating around in cyber-space waiting for some unscrupulous hacker to steal.  I do not have a credit card or online bank account and I sure as Hell am not going to use my debit card or bank details online for the risk it poses.  Websites might have as much security surrounding the financial transactions but that doesn’t stop a determined hacker from getting hold of that information and I’d like to keep what little money I have for myself, thank you very much.

I understand why smaller companies need to utilise the internet for commerce but why do larger stores?  They already have large bricks and mortar stores so all they have to do is improve the distribution network that supplies them.  If HMV’s online store can get most titles to you within a couple of days, why does it take them so much longer to supply their own stores?

I know I’m probably a dinosaur when it comes to certain things but, when it comes to money, I like to know what I’ve got and spend accordingly so that I don’t find myself in debt.  I prefer paper money and coins to plastic so why can’t shops recognise that some people feel the same way and improve their service accordingly?  Why can’t the Government make it a legal requirement to offer smaller stores cheaper rents so that they can afford to have bricks and mortar stores so the public can go into a shop to buy the stuff that at the moment they are forced to buy online or not buy at all?

I know we’re heading for the day when hard currency will disappear totally and we’ll all have some kind of implant shoved into our bodies that will allow us to buy stuff just by waving our hand or head over the till.  I dread that day as I don’t like the idea of being forced into having an implant or the negative implications for my personal liberty and safety.  I also believe that a system such as that would be open to abuse from the Government and offer criminal opportunities for any unscrupulous individual (which includes the Government).

Anyway, pet peeves over…for now.

Until next time…

A Christmas poem

Here's a poem I wrote that highlights the fact that Christmas is not always the happy time of year for some people that it is for others.

Christmas Alone

No tinsel, no tree

Just myself and me

No family feast just a boil-in-the-bag dinner

It’s only my meds that stop me getting thinner

As their side effect keeps making me eat

I swear I’m putting weight on my feet.

No family, not a friend

At least there are no Christmas stockings to mend

No wife and no lover

To snuggle under a cover

Watching crap Christmas telly

While her hand’s on my belly.

No joy, no fire

No passionate Christmas desire

No child telling me what Santa had brought

Just me in my bed nursing the cold that I caught

Watching my temperature getting higher and higher

Wondering if I should go out and change that flat tyre.

No reason for me to decorate

This holiday I really hate

Except that the roads are almost vehicle-free

Christmas is just another ordinary day to me

I can’t wait for this Christmas to end

Before all my garments I rend.

© Myles Cook, 11/12/08

I don’t think the Liberal Democrats will like me now

A few days ago I received an e-mail from Liberal Democrat MP Danny Alexander, the contents of which are below (minus the graphics):

Dear Myles, Today it has been announced that from April more than 20 million people will be paying nearly £600 a year less in income tax than they were in 2010.
That’s putting real money back in the pockets of ordinary families in tough times.
Thanks to your campaigning, we’re delivering on our number one election pledge.Please help us spread the word by posting this graphic to Facebook.

As my regular reader will know, I’m not exactly a fan of the Liberal Democrats since I voted for them in the 2010 General Election and they then spat in the faces of myself and their other supporters by entering into an unholy alliance with the Conservatives so I sent a short reply that I hope sums up my current feelings.  The text of my reply is below.  I know it’s an automated delivery system but just possibly any replies sent to the address will get read by a human (if you can call them humans).

With all due respect, go to Hell.  I'm on benefits and the ConDems have done nothing but attack me and my fellow claimants.  I wouldn't lift a finger to help the LibDems AND I VOTED FOR YOU IN 2010!

Hopefully, if someone has read this reply, I’ll never get another e-mail asking me to spread their minor victories whilst they let disabled and disadvantaged people on benefits die due to the welfare reforms they are helping to put in place.

Until next time…

The Your Thurrock unseen news items

Below are three news items submitted to Your Thurrock but not posted.  They are here for your entertainment only.

Adult Social Care Performance

Thurrock Council was reported to be comparing reasonably against the national average on its performance in Adult Social Care in 2011-12, the Health & Well-Being Overview & Scrutiny Committee heard last night.  Thurrock performed better on seven of the Key Performance Indicators on which the authority is judged whilst performing worse on five indicators.

Thurrock is said to be performing "good overall" on four important Corporate Balanced Scorecard indicators for Quarter 2 2012-13.  Monitored monthly, the indicators provide a picture of the well-being of Thurrock including the number of permanent admissions to residential care per 100,000 population aged 18 or over.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is working with the council to monitor external providers of residential and domiciliary care.  Only one provider has given cause for concern over issues with staff training and their ability to handle the current workload.  The unnamed domiciliary care provider will be receiving no more new referrals until the quality of care improves.

Concerns were raised over the reports in the national media of ex-prisoners being encouraged to take up careers in social care but councillors were told by Roger Harris, Head of Commissioning, that council policy is that all workers in the sector must have an enhanced CRB check.  There were no other issues regarding recruitment as far as Mr Harris was aware.

Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group

A report on the Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group, given to the Health & Well-Being Overview & Scrutiny Committee, showed good progress with 75% of the population of Thurrock now being covered by the group.  Only ten GP practices are yet to join the clinical commissioning group, the members of which are due to take over the commissioning of health services as part of the Coalition Government's NHS reforms.

When quizzed on the possible use of sanctions against GPs who were reluctant to join the TCCG, Mandy Ansell, Chief Operating Officer for the group, insisted that there would be no sanctions against GPs as healthcare providers but they would be "forced" into joining eventually. Ms Ansell eased fears by remarking that patient care would not be adversely affected.

The NHS Commissioning Board will be undertaking a site visit to Thurrock on 20 December as part of the authorisation process by which time the group hope to have 100% coverage of the population.

South Essex Mental Health Strategy

Catherine Wilson, Service Manager Commissioning, unveiled the second draft of the South Essex Mental Health Strategy which has finally been completed after extensive dialogue with stakeholders.  Ms Wilson stated that the strategy was now a clearer and more concise document that focuses on the steps for a redesign of the current mental health service provision across South Essex.

The strategy introduces a five step approach to mental health intervention with more support being given to GPs and practice nurses to deliver initial services to people experiencing a range of mental health problems in primary care.  A ‘gateway’ organisation will be added into the mental health care pathway, staffed by psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and social workers, to allow for better crisis response and act as a form of triage.  This new ‘gateway’ will offer assessment at a single point of access and will filter out the less urgent cases that would otherwise have been referred to more cost-heavy service provision that may not be required.

The intention of the strategy is to improve the current provision that has been described as “not as good as it should be” in Thurrock.  The strategy is also intended to be more cost efficient as the current provision is too focused on in-patient care than on care in the community and on crises and severe mental ill-health with little focus on prevention.

Cllr Healy, member of the Health & Well-Being Overview & Scrutiny Committee, was told that the ‘gateway’ organisation would provide information, support and signposting to alternative help for those who were rejected by the system when he quizzed Ms Wilson on that point.

The strategy document is due to go back out to consultation with stakeholders shortly.

Until next time…

The Object in The Mirror is My Soul (first draft)

Here's the first draft of my new poem.  Feel free to comment.

The Object in The Mirror is My Soul

The journey seems endless

Speeding past those around me

Checking the rear-view mirror periodically

To see where I have been.

Events long past shrink from view

But there's something I've lost along the way

Something I can't seem to remember

A piece of myself, perhaps?

The road stretches before me

Disappearing into the horizon

As it disappears behind into the long forgotten past

Objects falling away as I pass them and many people too.

As I check the mirror once again

I see the figure of a dishevelled, unhappy man

He is familiar in a strange unearthly way

An incomprehensible but tangible feeling assails me.

I cannot stop for the journey's long

And if I slow down I'll be left behind

Until I realise much too late

That the object in the mirror was my soul.

© Myles Cook 04/12/2012

I know God hates me but she’s really testing my patience right now!

Just as I’m about to try to expand my writing ‘career’ into other avenues, God decides that I haven’t got enough obstacles in my way so she puts another one up for me.  I was just about to type up my notes on my laptop regarding the Health & Well-Being Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting last night when the technological marvel up and died on me.  It’s going to be a little difficult being a reporter for Your Thurrock or anyone else without a working computer.  Yes, I could use a pen and paper but I think I’d have difficulty getting stuff accepted if I’m sending my pieces to the office via carrier pigeon.

This just compounds the stress of the loss of internet connection I had for a week on my mobile ‘phone and the subsequent death of the handset less than a week after getting the internet connection back.  Some people may say that I should stop moaning, just go out and buy another laptop or a tablet PC.  That would be a good solution but I’m on welfare and, unlike the media-grabbing exceptions, I don’t get hundreds or thousands of pounds a week with which to buy replacement gadgets.  I have enough problems with the day-to-day expenses.  I have already had to become the ultimate hypocrite and go cap in hand to my parents, who have precious little money themselves, to ask for a new mobile ‘phone for a Christmas present.  I’m a hypocrite because I haven’t celebrated Christmas since 2009 and have made a conscious decision not to ask for presents…until now.  As if I haven’t got enough to hate about myself, I’ve got enforced hypocrisy and the potential loss of a ‘career’.

I don’t believe in God but someone seems to have it in for me on the cosmic level and God seems to be a convenient scapegoat for my anger and frustration at being seemingly stymied at every turn.  Every effort I make to improve my life and everything I need to make that happen seems to be countered by something on the cosmic level to keep me exactly where I am.

I did manage to get the news items finished but my ability to complete work in the future is seriously compromised now and I’m powerless to alter the circumstances I find myself in, bar robbing a bank or selling off body parts to people with a less than keen eye for the quality of the body parts they’re buying.

Until next time…?