September 1, 2010 – 11:07 am
For the moment anyway. Yes. I’ve handed in my PhD thesis. I can’t quite believe it: my hands and knees are shaking. Now I’ve just got to hope that the examiners have mercy on it. I put a special part in my acknowledgements for my two co-bloggers and for the regular commenters on this blog [...]
August 18, 2010 – 7:57 pm
In some ways, Facebook is very good for friendship. Via Facebook, I’ve managed to get back in contact with various childhood and school friends, which has been lovely. I am the kind of person who takes friendships seriously. I’m still friends with three people from Primary School, for goodness sakes, let alone numerous people from [...]
By Legal Eagle
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Also posted in Depression, Internet, Media, Technology
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Tagged computers, death, Facebook, friends, friendship, Politics, Religion, social media, social networking, Technology
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Work and pensions minister Chris Grayling is conducting an urgent review into a new medical test for incapacity benefit after fresh figures showed only 6% of those tested were deemed to be totally incapable of working. The figures, covering all new claims from October 2008 to the end of November 2009, show 39% are being [...]
By DeusExMacintosh
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Also posted in Britain, Economics, Funnies, Politics, Popular culture, Society
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Tagged ATOS, Chris Grayling, computer says no, Department for Work and Pensions, disability, DWP, employment support allowance, LiMA, UK coalition government, UK politics, welfare, welfare reform, work capability assessment
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“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax– Of cabbages–and kings– And why the sea is boiling hot– And whether pigs have wings.” (Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter) Well, I doubt that it’s much of a secret. I know that many of my fellow bloggers [...]
This is going to be a longer and much sharper post than I had originally intended. What first came to mind was an open letter to the new Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, pointing out a simple £50 million cost saving to the welfare bill, but then yesterday the new coalition government handed [...]
By DeusExMacintosh
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Also posted in Britain, Economics, Law, Politics, Public Policy, Society, Taxation
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Tagged budget 2010, coalition, conservative party, deficit, disability, disability living allowance, DLA, employment support allowance, Iain Duncan Smith, incapacity benefit, welfare
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A couple of times lately I’ve had to explain to people how I have certain “comfort books” which I read in times of trial. If I’m really upset or stressed, and I think I won’t be able to sleep because I’m so het up, I get out a comfort book. A comfort book is one [...]
Until I was about 5 years old, most of my best friends were boys. I preferred boys because they were more direct – if they had a problem with you, they told you about it – there was none of that emotional politicking and passive-aggressive stuff that some girls seem to enjoy. If a boy [...]
April 25, 2010 – 10:25 pm
It seems to be de riguer for a certain type of journalist to write stuff on ANZAC Day saying that it’s a jingoistic load of crap celebrated by right-wing lunatics. Now, there’s certainly an element of society which seems to see ANZAC Day as a “glorious tradition”, and that tries to harness it to an [...]
I’ve mentioned before that I used to have that kind of hair I think of as “Scots colour”, which is a mix of red, brown and blonde. My husband has reddish-brown hair too. When I fell pregnant with my daughter, suddenly all the red in my hair vanished. I knew exactly to whom it had [...]
