Welfare State

Teenage Pregnancy, Patriarchal Hypocrisy and Immaculate Conception

Louise Pennington | Posted 21.05.2013 | UK Lifestyle
Louise Pennington

We already know the causes of teenage pregnancy and, yet, the UK is following the US's path with parents demanding the right to prevent their children learning about real sexual education. The destruction of the welfare state and universal healthcare is already having serious detrimental effects on families

Grandmother 'Blamed Bedroom Tax For Death'

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 13.05.2013 | UK

A grandmother killed herself because she was struggling to afford the government's 'bedroom tax', her son has claimed. Stephanie Bottrill left a no...

Universal Credit Where Credit Is Due?

Dave Clements | Posted 06.05.2013 | UK Politics
Dave Clements

On Monday 29 April the 'revolution' began. The government's Universal Credit Scheme designed both to simplify the benefits system and disincentivise dependency on it began... in Ashton-under-Lyne.

Hate-Mongering Will Not Fix the Welfare System, Common Sense Will

Mahmood Naji | Posted 29.04.2013 | UK Universities & Education
Mahmood Naji

The welfare system, not benefit claimants, deserves the full, unmitigated might of British grumbling. Why? Because the current system does not reward any attempt to find work and no one should be expected to develop a social conscience while foregoing personal gain.

'Hand Back Your Bus Pass'

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 28.04.2013 | UK Politics

Wealthy pensioners who do not need benefit payments should voluntarily hand back the money to the Government, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said...

Who Are the People on Benefits?

Anastasia Richardson | Posted 11.04.2013 | UK Universities & Education
Anastasia Richardson

So who are the people on benefits, really? The answer actually seems to be most of us. 64% of families, and about 30million individual people - half the total population of the UK. The people on benefits are our friends, colleagues and neighbours, our families, ourselves.

David Cameron Backs George Osborne Over Philpott Benefits Link

The Huffington Post UK | Posted 05.04.2013 | UK Politics

David Cameron has stepped up clashes with Labour by insisting the case of child killer Mick Philpott did raise "wider questions" about the welfare sys...

Hatred and Stigma: The Other Vile Product of Welfare UK

Jason Reed | Posted 05.04.2013 | UK Politics
Jason Reed

Not a day goes by where I'm not reliably informed of yet another anecdote and example of hatred towards the disabled.

Sarah Teather Attacks 'Crude' George Osborne For Linking Philpott Case To Benefits

The Huffington Post UK | Ned Simons | Posted 07.04.2013 | UK Politics

The Liberal Democrat leadership has stayed silent on the row over whether the Mick Philpott case is linked to benefit reform, but former minister Sara...

'The Cynical Act Of A Desperate Chancellor'

Huffington Post UK | Posted 04.04.2013 | UK Politics

Ed Balls has attacked George Osborne after he appeared to link the case of child killer Mick Philpott with the need to cut benefits, saying the minist...

George Osborne Branded 'Sick' For Linking Philpott Case To Benefit Reforms

The Huffington Post UK | Ned Simons | Posted 07.04.2013 | UK Politics

George Osborne has been branded "sick" by Labour after he appeared to link the case of child killer Mick Philpott to his wish to cut benefits. Wans...

George Osborne Might Learn From Those 'Vested Interests'

Polly Courtney | Posted 03.04.2013 | UK Politics
Polly Courtney

Mr Osborne is so busy shouting "you're wrong!" at his naysayers, he can't actually hear what they're saying.

Osborne Expresses Depressingly Predictable Outrage

The Huffington Post UK | Andrea Mann | Posted 02.04.2013 | UK Comedy

George Osborne has accused his critics of peddling "headline-seeking nonsense" in a rare prepared speech guaranteed to make headlines. Expressing d...

Ministers Hit Back At Church Leaders Over Benefit Reform

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 01.04.2013 | UK

The government has defended its controversial reforms to the welfare state in the face of attacks from church leaders, charities and opposition politi...

Felicity A Morse

Welfare Cuts Could Lead To 'Lord Of The Flies Style Civil Unrest'

HuffingtonPost.com | Felicity A Morse | Posted 27.02.2013 | UK Politics

A damning picture of communities stricken by poverty, crime and unrest, tenants savagely competing "Lord of the Flies" style for housing, has been dra...

Redefining the Role of the Welfare State

Phil Shanks | Posted 23.04.2013 | UK Politics
Phil Shanks

I am a child of the welfare state. It has been with me all of my life and I consider it is one of our society's greatest achievements. But my admiration ended when it became clear that it now stands as a guarantor to the exploitation of the working classes.

Dying for an Appointment

Lewis Shepherd | Posted 26.04.2013 | UK Lifestyle
Lewis Shepherd

It is a sad state of affairs that many people who are unwell and may in fact have a more serious underlying condition have to wait weeks on end to see their GP, by which time it could be too late.

IDS Says Some People Think They're Above Stacking Shelves - Not Him, of Course

Planet Ivy | Posted 20.04.2013 | UK Politics
Planet Ivy

Potential MPs should only be able to stand as a candidate if they'd done a year long work placement (paid at the going rate, let's not stoop to their level). I don't care where - could be in a solicitors, could be in a cafe, but they should know that where they choose could affect the voters' choice.

Care Cap Is an Immoral Scandal

John Higginson | Posted 12.04.2013 | UK Politics
John Higginson

Modern science really is a miracle. In the last 100 years life expectancy has almost doubled from 42 at the turn of the century to 77 now for men and 82 for women. But with this extra life has come a problem.

Bankrupting the NHS?

Richard Lodge | Posted 09.04.2013 | UK
Richard Lodge

Repealing the 1948 Act will not reduce the amount the NHS is required to pay to meet claimants' future care needs. In the majority of cases involving catastrophic injuries - such as birth injury, acquired brain injury and spinal injury claims - the claimant requires social rather than nursing/medical care.

The Government's Work Programme Needs Some Work

Dame Anne Begg | Posted 06.04.2013 | UK Politics
Dame Anne Begg

It is not often that I am left speechless, but I when the producers of a BBC Panorama programme invited me in to view some of the footage they had shot of people's experience of the government's Work Programme I was left stunned and shocked.

The Government's Work Capability Test Is Truly Shocking

Helen Goodman | Posted 01.04.2013 | UK Politics
Helen Goodman

This government seem hell bent on bringing back Victorian levels of poverty and misery to the poor, whilst at the same time giving a tax cut to the wealthy.

This Cold-Hearted Welfare Bill Will Take Us Back to Dickensian Times

Ben Phillips | Posted 22.03.2013 | UK Politics
Ben Phillips

Poverty in Britain is real, and it is getting worse. In a decent society, nobody should be forced to go to a food bank in order to feed their kids or be forced to go without heating when temperatures plummet. But even the government admits that this Welfare Uprating Bill alone will put 200,000 more children into poverty.

Social Security Expenditure - We Were Spending on the Right Things

Kate Green MP | Posted 18.03.2013 | UK Politics
Kate Green MP

Since the recession, spending has shot up. But this just makes clearer that it's economic failure that leads to rising overall benefit bills - and not Labour's decision to tackle child and pensioner poverty.

The Tory Attacks on the Unemployed Constitute a Hate Crime

John Wight | Posted 13.03.2013 | UK Politics
John Wight

The cynical attempt to stigmatise, demonise, and dehumanise millions of people up and down the country, regardless of their personal or individual circumstances, surely ranks as one of the most vicious and brutal acts of any British government in living memory.