That's me just back from being at the Glasgow Lourdes, also known as the disability assessment centre.

That's me just back from being at the Glasgow Lourdes, also known as the disability assessment centre. According to the UK Government you go in ill or disabled and come out miraculously cured. If that was actually the case I would have no complaint whatsoever. What usually happens however is you remain ill, and probably more so, as you have had the income you need to exist taken away for no reason other than they require to remove half the attendees from benefits so that the company contracted to do the assessments can get its bonus. And then you require to go to tribunal to get the money you are actually entitled to back and in the meantime have to live on air and water alone. I have yet to see what positive this actually achieves apart from a big needless bureaucratic jungle (jobs for the boys) which results in the weakest and most vulnerable in society ending up in misery and on the breadline. Perhaps Ruth Davidson and Theresa May can actually tell me (as Nicola Sturgeon asked Ruth to do on Sunday). #FreeScotland #Dignity #Lourdes #Bonus #UKGovt #TheYESmovement #MAYhem #NicolaSturgeon

Change power supplier? What if you can’t without incurring a charge for several hundred pounds?

A favourite line of UK politicians in particular the Conservative and Liberal Democrat ones is that you can change supplier to save on your energy bills. This is backed up by ‘experts’ on the BBC, ITV and other main stream media outlets who always state that it is easy to change suppliers and should involve no charge. The latest of these ‘experts’ appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning (28.03.2014) and didn’t have a clue what she was talking about when faced with this problem.

The latest of these ‘experts’ appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning (28.03.2014) and didn’t have a clue what she was talking about when faced with this problem.

Due to the UK energy market not being a real market there are many people in my situation who cannot do this without incurring charges of hundreds of pounds. I was also told that there is no guarantee I would actually be able to get cheaper prices from another supplier anyway. 

there are many people in my situation who cannot do this without incurring charges of hundreds of pounds

This is due to the type of electric heating I have i.e. Scottish Power Comfort Plus White Meter where Scottish Power decide how much heating I get, although I can alter the settings additionally in each individual heater. Many people have Scottish Power White Meter (or Economy 7 in other areas) but this is different being operated using a time clock instead of the energy company, and therefore does not incur the same problem when changing supplier.

In reality I can have any power supplier I like as long as it is Scottish Power

Thus in reality I can have any power supplier I like as long as it is Scottish Power. I wrote to my MP about this and he told me I was making up my situation and of-course I could change supplier with no resultant charges (although the paperwork I sent to him from the 2 energy suppliers in question said different). 

My MP told me I was making up my situation and of-course I could change supplier with no resultant charges

My MP at that stage is now Lord Martin of Springburn and sits in the UK House of Lords, so he was well rewarded by being utterly incompetent at his job as speaker and MP too. I thought naively that Labour was meant to be the political party that tried to help, and also protect the most ill and most vulnerable. How wrong was I?

I have a long term illness which means I must live on benefits of £100 per week.

I have a long term illness which means I must live on benefits of £100 per week. How precisely am I meant to adequately heat my home on that meagre figure when I cannot benefit from the ability that I am told I have (but in reality I do not) of being able to shop around amongst energy suppliers for the cheapest tariff and therefore lower prices? My house is frequently cold from autumn right through to late spring which does nothing for my illness.

LIBERAL DEMOCrats

Prior to the 2010 the Liberal Democratic Party seemed to offer something different to the UK electorate.

Some of the party’s positive points were…

1.  In the absence of a proper opposition (since the Labour Party went from red to lavender in the 1990s) the Liberal Democrats were actually more left wing on many points than the Labour Party. 
2. They offered a new vision of working together for a better future. 
3. They promised an ‘End to broken promises’. 
4.  They offered a clear guarantee on student funding. 
5.  They offered a fairer electoral system. 
6.  They offered the promise of a federal United Kingdom. 
7.  Mr ‘read my lips’ Clegg promised that the party would never go into coalition with the Conservatives. 
8.  They therefore promised real change.

What actually happened was the Liberal Democrats sold out. As part of the coalition agreement…

1. They ditched the vast majority of their left wing promises. 
2.  They decided to work together for a worse future by virtually giving the Conservatives a free reign over everything except a select few items. 
3.  They broke almost every promise they made. 
4.  The guarantee on student funding turned out to be a lie and was ditched at the first opportunity. They should have been done under the trade descriptions act. 
5.  The electoral system offered as part of the coalition agreement was no fairer (indeed arguably even less fair) than the existing one. 
6.  They ditched the federal United Kingdom. 
7.  They went into coalition with the Conservatives. 
8.  They have merely removed some of the nastiness from some of the Conservatives policies but any positive changes they have achieved have been minimal.

 

The Liberal Democrats have therefore have proved themselves to be in many ways just as bad as the others, if not even worse, as you cannot trust them at all.

For people in England what is the choice? There are only 3 parties likely to gain power and all have sold people out. This is except for the rich, and those with shares or owners of big corporations.

At least in Scotland there is a 4^th realistic option.