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Elderly and disabled are easy picking for snoopers
THE 19th century Poor Laws are alive and well in Camden!
The vulnerable have been prey to Town Hall economies for decades. Whenever the old Labour-controlled council required a few hundred thousand pounds in the kitty, rapacious eyes would be turned to, among other things, the services for the elderly.
But, at least, Labour went so far, and no further.
The Tory-Lib-Dem coalition of today is either acting foolishly and recklessly, but honestly, in carrying out raids on the disabled (see page 1 CNJ) or it is behaving like knaves.
The majority of councillors will no doubt see these charges as unfortunate but inevitable.
People in the borough, however, will see them for what they are – as cruel, heartless and disgraceful.
How can one possibly justify Town Hall snoopers ferreting around in the homes of the disabled, looking for the merest piece of evidence that may point to a person having a few pounds in the bank.
What’s wrong with that?
Wouldn’t they have worked for it in their lives?
Aren’t they entitled to it?
And what is driving the Tory-Lib-Dem coalition?
Again, the need to keep the council tax rise at zero level.
We warned this sort of thing would happen months ago.
Any form of taxation is necessary to maintain sound social welfare expenditure.
Who are the victims? The poor. Who will gain from a tax freeze? The better-off, mostly in the middle class.
Other councils are acting in the same vein, the coalition bleat. So what? Once, Camden led the way in decent behaviour. Why go back in time?
Dog sense but nonsense from Patricia
THANK goodness, environment chief Mike Greene is beginning to see sense
(see page 5 CNJ).
We condemned the plans to control dogs from the start. Now, there are hard signs that the coalition have taken note of the yelps from the dog lovers – most of whom are the type who bother to go to the polling stations.
We predict the doggie plans will be scooped off the agenda.
UNDER-FIRE health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has been caught out by the debacle authored by her advisors at the Department of Health which could throw 10,000 doctors on to the scrapheap (See Gulliver, page 21 CNJ).
Nothing like this has happened in the NHS since its inception in the late 40s.
However, we predict that when Labour is humbled at the local elections next week and Tony Blair departs a few weeks later, the new PM, Gordon Brown, will reshape the cabinet – and no doubt remove Hewitt.
A new health secretary will then be free to throw out Hewitt’s troubled policy – and start afresh. |
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