Monday, 9 July 2012

Guest Blog - The Death of Paul - by John Sullivan

By John Sullivan,


Sadly the Barnet Eye and other bloggers in Barnet highlight the incompetence of Barnet councillors from all angles, sadly their level incompetence is matched by their complete lack of concern for the well being of others. My own experience has taught me that they don't care about the plight of the disabled they consider making a profit from the disabled is a moral objective as I have said before on many occasions.
This callous and inhuman attitude starts in Westminster and our local councillors carry the torch of inhumanity with an enthusiasm that is quite chilling, in fact it is to any caring human being inhuman. When the film " Tale of Two Barnet's " was shown in Parliament, John  MacDonald the MP that arranged the venue for us was delayed. He told us he had been delayed because he had been at a meeting wherein they were discussing the deaths of people that have been forced off of benefits back into work, due to the privatisation of the service dealing with benefits claimants.

I was reminded of this today when reading the daily paper, the story I read goes like this , in an abbreviated form. " Benefit cut killed heart failure dad " Proud dad Paul  52 was medically retired from his store managers job after a heart attack in 2000. But he was ordered to find work earlier this year when a review panel ruled he was fit for work and his £400 per month benefits were axed. The double heart by-pass patient died weeks later from Ischemic heart disease. Relatives claim the stress of losing his benefits killed him. His 76 year old mum said." He was very upset and worried that he would fail any medical given to him by a potential employer. He was also upset because he thought that benefit officials thought he was a fraud.
The DWP said, " Jobcentre decision makers look at all available information including medical evidence to support their claim " end of quote.

Not sorry we got this wrong , not sorry this 52 year old dad who was genuinely unfit for work is now dead, not so much as a whimper of sympathy, a family have lost their husband, son father husband and maybe even granddad and it simply does not matter nobody cares. There is no anger and if there is as there should be " where is the anger ".

We have already witnessed similar contempt for disabled people in Barnet since their services were privatised as part of the " One Barnet Gamble ", I know from experience that Barnet councillors don't care, Barnet councillors are allowed to abuse the disabled and get away with it because they don't care.
How many Pauls are there in Barnet or how many Pauls can we anticipate in Barnet if the uncaring privatisation mentality in the form of the " One Barnet Billion Pound Gamble" is allowed to go ahead.
We must stop this One Barnet Billion Pound Gamble, we have to succeed because if we don't the next Paul I read about in the paper with regard to public services  might be you. Join us on the 21st July march with us for " Our Barnet not One Barnet " ,and keep public services in house.
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John Sullivan is a Barnet resident and carer for his daughter Susan. He is a regular guest blogger for the Barnet Eye. Guest blogs are always welcome.

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