Dear readers its Thursday and I’ve just returned home from the hospital. I managed to get a cancellation appointment for a CT scan for my lungs.

Anyway you can imagine my disgust when I saw this article in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/30/hundreds-of-thousands-who-lost-jobs-in-pandemic-denied-universal-credit

I don’t need to tell you that the DWP and government are disgustingly selfish people that care nothing about the working classes health and wellbeing.

This was no surprise to me.

I knew that the government would try and shaft these people for having the nerve to lose their jobs. In their eyes a pandemic is no excuse for not working and is certainly not an excuse for not looking for none existent jobs.

We’ve seen this before and no matter how much we tell people that this could happen to them we were still ignored.

Their futures are looking very different from last years. No one could plan for the pandemic because we didn’t know that this was coming.

Some of us knew that this was going to happen way back in December but theres no way that we could save up just incase. We have no spare money.

No savings allowed.

The DWP and the government’s reasoning for this is because these people ‘they have savings’.

They don’t care that it takes around six weeks for a universal credit claim to be processed. By then their savings will have gone to pay their rent, mortgage and food.

They could become homeless.

It’s extremely unreasonable to believe that these people lost their jobs through any fault of their own. But still the government will punish them because its what they do best.

The DWP has forgotten that there’s a pandemic.

Hello DWP, we are in the middle of a pandemic.

There are very few jobs out there so stop putting people under pressure to find work.

Lets not forget that thousands of people, probably many of those that lost their jobs are recovering from Covid 19. They’re unable to work.

There are very few jobs to find and there’s certainly not enough to look for work for 35 hours a week.

If you refuse to do this then they’ll sanction you. It’s all about punishing innocent people.

Their aim is to bully us until we give up altogether.

Where’s the safety net?

There is hardly any safety net left to help people. It’s extremely hard to make a claim for any type of social security.

When you manage it the DWP lie and make it extremely hard to continue to do so.

Claimants are given unrealistic goals that they have to attain and are spoken to like shit.

The sad fact is that many of these newly unemployed people that have been refused help believed that the government would help them.

They didn’t realise how cruel and callous the system can be.

The DWP certainly aren’t there to help anymore.

How very dare anyone make a claim for the help that they’re entitled to.

My heart does go out to them though. They’ve been thrown very abruptly into the lions den. I hope that none of them vote for the Tories again.

There are no jobs.

I’m certain that many of these people that have been refused help thought that they could find a job. I’ve heard this thousands of times when talking to people outside the Jobcentre.

In the first few weeks people have hope for a better future but that soon wears off.

The reality that there are no jobs kicks in pretty soon. People sell or pawn their possessions and many loose their homes because they can’t afford to pay their rent or mortgage.

Don’t expect local councils to be sympathetic either. It’s all bloody wrong.

We aren’t criminals and shouldn’t be treated like this. But we are.

You are left on your own to cope and this is very scary for many that thought that the safety net would be there for them.

A foodbank reliant society.

We are quickly becoming a food bank reliant society. Most of the people that have lost their jobs will become reliant on them.

Talking from experience I know just how humiliating it is.

Some foodbanks have reintroduced the three bag limit. So people are only allowed to eat three times a year?

Thanks for that.

I’m a firm believer that anyone that needs the help from a foodbank should be able to do so freely without judgement and for as long as they need them.

More and more people are becoming reliant upon food parcels to survive and many food banks are already struggling to cope with the demand.

I do what I can to help but its only a drop in the ocean.

Support your local independent foodbank.

Fuel poverty.

Winter is on its way and thousands of people are going to be extremely cold this year. Heat or eat will be a choice that they will have to make.

Fuel poverty is very real.

No one should be forced to live in a cold house without hot water. But hey, the government doesn’t care about this either.

Having to live in the cold like this is very dangerous for both body and spirit.

Does the government realise this?

Yes they do but they don’t give it a thought. They’re resentful of us being here, alive.

The pandemic is still here.

So many organisations and supermarkets are returning back to normal. Very soon they’ll be very little support for anyone shielding or recovering from Covid 19.

It’s not as if there was a lot of help out there in the first place.

What are we supposed to do? Risk catching covid to go for appointments and to run errands?

This is exactly what we are having to do. It’s shocking.

Unemployment.

As we face more people becoming unemployed since the 1980s don’t expect the government to help.

The government are still intent on taking the extra £20 a week extra payment away from Universal Credit and Tax Credit claimants in April.

I bet they’ve got a countdown click counting down the days until so many of us are thrown into even worse poverty than we are now.

So many people are relying on this money to survive. But once again the government doesn’t give a stuff.

£20 is a lot of money to us. For the Tories it doesn’t even cover the cost of their breakfast.

They don’t want us to survive.

They don’t want the working class person to have any decent quality of life. Its even worse for people with disabilities and illnesses. They’ve been suffering for many years now.

Their actions say that they don’t care, will never care so stuff you.

What can we do?

Like I said last week we need to continue to support each other because no one else will.

A kind word can make such a big difference.

As for myself it’s been a bad long covid week for me. I haven’t been able to do much except advise people and signpost them for help.

I’m also one of those people that doesn’t qualify for any help from the government even though I badly need lt.

So many of us are struggling to get through this and your not on your own.

We can and will get through this. We need to.