… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Austerity 2

  • Households set to be £400 worse off this tax year, report finds

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/households-set-be-ps400-worse-tax-year-report-finds

    Money stacked on top of a council tax bill

    WORKING-AGE households are set to be an average of £400 worse off in the year ahead amid income squeezes and bill hikes, the Resolution Foundation has warned.

    A new report by the think tank estimates that the disposable income of a typical household will fall by 1 per cent, while those across the poorest half of Britain are set for a sharper 2 per cent fall, losing the equivalent of £300.

    One contributing factor is council tax rises, with households facing an £80-per-year average increase as rates rise by 5 per cent across most of England, 7 per cent in Wales and 9 per cent in Scotland.

    Above-inflation increases in water charges will hit even harder, pushing bills up by an extra £120 on average.

    Ofgem’s 6.4 per cent increase in the energy price cap adds another £111 a year on average from this month, although the Resolution Foundation believes that the impact of the change will be limited, with prices expected to fall in July.

    Working-age benefits will not keep pace with inflation this year, the think tank warned, with April’s 1.7 per cent boost falling short of the 3.2 per cent consumer prices index rate projected for this year.

    Meanwhile, private rents have risen by 9 per cent since the local housing allowance was last set.

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/households-set-be-ps400-worse-tax-year-report-finds

    Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
    Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.

  • Labour is Run by DEAD-BEHIND-THE-EYES Soulless Hacks – We Demand Change – Owen Jones

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    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA

  • NHS trust apologises as man’s tumour death investigated for manslaughter

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    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/01/nhs-trust-apologises-royal-sussex-county-hospital-brighton-tumour-death-richard-harris-police-investigation

    Richard Harris had to wait weeks to be seen despite complaining of ‘red-hot poker pain’. Photograph: Jimmy Edmonds

    Guardian Exclusive: Richard Harris, 71, died last July after series of errors at troubled Royal Sussex County hospital in Brighton

    A troubled NHS trust has apologised to the family of a man who died after a series of potentially fatal delays to treat a tumour, in a case that is being investigated by police as possible corporate manslaughter.

    Richard Harris, 71, died last July after a series of errors in the neurosurgery department at the Royal Sussex County hospital in Brighton, which is part of University Hospitals Sussex NHS foundation trust (UHSussex).

    …

    An internal review of Harris’s care found that doctors failed to arrange a routine MRI scan for him when he was first urgently referred to neurosurgery in 2017. Harris, who was fit and a regular swimmer, only received a scan when he contacted the department again in 2019.

    …

    Eventually Harris, who had worked as a gardener, delivery driver and massage therapist, was referred to neurosurgery early last year suffering with acute pain. He had to wait weeks to be seen, despite repeatedly pleading with his consultant in emails complaining of “red-hot poker pain” that was “scaring me to death”. There were yet further delays in arranging MRI scans, the review found.

    …

    Months later, the tumour was assessed to be cancerous and inoperable. Harris was discharged to hospice care and died a few weeks later.

    Sussex police have confirmed to Harris’s family that his death is being investigated as possible corporate manslaughter, as part of its expanding Operation Bramber investigation.

    Police documents seen by the Guardian show that more than 90 deaths in the general surgery and neurosurgery departments are being reviewed as possible manslaughter. Detectives and a clinical panel are examining alleged medical negligence and cover-ups between 2015 and 2021. The allegations were first made by two internal whistleblowers: Krishna Singh, a consultant surgeon, and Mansoor Foroughi, a consultant neurosurgeon, who lost their jobs after raising concerns.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/01/nhs-trust-apologises-royal-sussex-county-hospital-brighton-tumour-death-richard-harris-police-investigation

  • Barrage of bill hikes sees the cost-of-living crisis bite

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/barrage-of-bill-hikes-sees-the-cost-of-living-crisis-bite

    Protesters on Whitehall in London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her spring statement to MPs in the House of Commons, March 26, 2025

    Government must take action, union warns: ‘We can’t go on with billionaires getting ever richer whilst working people suffer’

    CASH-STRAPPED Britons will be squeezed for an extra £66 every month from April as a barrage of bill hikes sees the cost-of-living crisis bite.

    Millions of hard-up households, already paying what MPs said were “world-beatingly” high bills, will be forced to shell out even more for essentials from Tuesday.

    GMB union urged ministers to take bold steps to help working people facing across-the-board price rises for energy, water, council tax, internet, road tax and the TV licence.

    “Households have been struggling with the cost-of-living crisis for several years now,” said the union’s national secretary Andy Prendergast. “This latest set of increases shows there still isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel.

    “The government must take bold steps to put money in people’s pockets,” he thundered. “We can’t go on with billionaires getting ever richer whilst working people suffer.”

    …

    Cat Hobbs, founder and director of public service campaign group We Own It, said: “With bill hikes across many essential services this spring, it looks like the cost-of-living crisis is sadly here to stay.

    “The word ‘essential’ is important here. Heat, shelter, water — these are all things that we need to survive and none of them are getting cheaper.

    “Water is the poster-child for the failed privatisation experiment, with companies on the brink of collapse scrambling for more of our money.

    “Companies that have racked up huge debts to pay dividends are now running out of other people’s cash.

    “Decades of underinvestment has killed our rivers and put the whole water network at risk.

    “Modern, publicly owned services must be the goal for any progressive government.”

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/barrage-of-bill-hikes-sees-the-cost-of-living-crisis-bite

    Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
    Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.

  • What Disability Benefit Cuts Reveal About Labour’s Grasp of Economics

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    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.
    Keir Starmer says that his Labour Party is intensely relaxed about assaulting the very poorest and most vulnerable.

    Original article by Phil McDuff at https://novaramedia.com/2025/03/20/what-disability-benefit-cuts-reveal-about-labours-grasp-of-economics/

    The angry volcano demands more human sacrifice.

    …

    Austerity was a monstrous scam – a stitch up between the ruling elite and the media and think tank class to sell a decade of outright fraud and disaster capitalism as a sober but necessary correction from the excesses of Tony Blair. It was appalling and evil – but at least enough of them knew it was all a racket. 

    Reeves and Starmer are altogether different beasts. They’re true believers. The economy really doesn’t want those libraries in Wolverhampton!

    It’s as if the economy is an angry volcano god that demands constant ritual sacrifices of poor and disabled people. Past rulers might have made up those stories so as to avoid hard questions such as “why do you get to have the big gold hat while I have to muck out this goat shed?” but we’re now at the stage where the people in charge really, truly believe that the volcano won’t erupt if we just throw enough people into it. 

    And, unfortunately, their response to the volcano’s stubborn insistence on erupting despite the rain of bodies is “more human sacrifice! The economy is still mad at us!” 

    Reeves seems to believe her powerful invocations of “growth, growth, growth” aren’t stirring the economy god into action because poor and disabled people are blocking its ears. “You’re not working hard enough! You’re not putting in enough effort! If you were, this would be working! It can’t be because my ideas are trash! Into the volcano with you!”

    …

    Original article by Phil McDuff at https://novaramedia.com/2025/03/20/what-disability-benefit-cuts-reveal-about-labours-grasp-of-economics/

    Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
    Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.