Is that a Black Cloud or is it just the Tory Party conference?

Judging from Twitter I can't be the only one who is despondent about the never ending message of 'hit the poor' that comes from the Tories. Yet again, young people are being hit through benefit cuts that will hit children and school leavers. The Tory line of thought is transparent -Why bother with these? They won't vote Tory anyway. Is the Tory party capable of any good ideas apart from 'bash the poor' and welcoming business with 'open arms'? Did these chaps really go to that top school called Eton and graduate from Oxbridge? The right-wing neoliberal ideology that they hold so dear seems to almost put them in a strait jacket of brain activity. How does freezing benefits make Britain 'fairer' when there is huge inequality, the bankers don't face sanctions and the rich pay the same taxes as the poor?

So, who will suffer from these proposals? The following is a Statement from the Childrens Society:

“The majority of those affected would be the children of working parents who would see further real-term cuts to their child benefit and child tax credits.

“This comes just hours after the Government announced a further cap on welfare and a scheme that will bar childless 18 to 21-year-olds from housing benefit.

“Far too many families in this country are already struggling to provide a basic standard of living for their children because of the three-year one per cent annual cap in benefit rises put in place at the start of last year. 

“These further cuts will make it harder for families to put food on the table and pay the rent to keep a roof over their head. http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/node/50089

Other interesting articles:

http://politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2014/09/29/george-osborne-speech-sketch-pain-poverty-and-the-cold-hard

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/29/seven-other-ways-george-osborne-save-3bn-a-year

A cruel ice bucket challenge against an autistic boy

The classmates of a 15 year old teenager with autism tricked him into participating in an ice bucket challenge in order to raise money for charity. Instead of the bucket being filled with ice cubes it was filled with human waste and cigarette butts.The poor boy's mother found the video on his Smartphone. The cruel teenagers who pulled the evil prank had used the boy's phone to video it. Thankfully, police are questioning the culprits. 

My take on this is that those who did this to a vulnerable teenager need to be publicly named and shamed. What on earth possesses some teenagers to take teen pranks and high jinks into the realm of pure cruelty? Picking on those who are vulnerable is something to be ashamed of. Didn't these teenagers have any inbuilt behavioural traits as to what is right and wrong? I suggest that they be made to perform community service by working with people with disabilities for a year. In this country this act would be classed as a disability hate crime.  Here is a report, published by the University of Leicester, which is well worth a read and shows the amount of hate crime faced by disabled people (and other groups).

People with disabilities are not joke material. 

No Scots in my home but plenty of infighting

My home is split into two camps. Both camps come from countries that were declared independent by the British Empire. One side is absolutely adamant that independence is the only answer to self determination. The other camp thinks independence is a bad idea because of the loss of the monarchy, Union Jack, English tea and scones.

Let me at this point tell you that the link between Scotland and people in my home is as far apart as Ben Nevis from Big Ben. The connection is as follows: two uncles studied medicine in Scotland a decade ago and my aunty is married to a Scot who is not eligible to vote. No one even owns a Scottie dog. But the fighting, that's a whole other story. It began weeks ago. When i say 'fighting', I mean wild gesticulating, fights for the remote control to turn to the channel that is broadcasting the most news on the referendum and one very irritated teenager (me). Plans have been made for an all night viewing of the results. The picture above will give you an idea. I hope you don't hear the noise that will come from this melee when the votes are announced.

Is this a national phenomenon? Is your home under siege from the no-sayers trying to knock out the yes enthusiasts even though no one actually has a vote? This is worse than the notorious family Christmas  meltdown when Aunty Doris wants to watch the Queen's speech and Uncle Jack wants to eat his Turkey and tell the same old jokes that he tells every year.

On a serious note, I am absolutely thrilled to see such a large number of young people engaging in this referendum. Witnessing their sheer depth of knowledge on the politics that affect their lives has been tremendously impressive. Scottish teenagers have shown the world that teenagers do care about politics.
Scottish teenagers, I envy your right to vote. I have been blogging about politics since the age of 10 and I still won't be able to vote at the next election. People underestimate the interest and intellect of young people when it comes to politics and now this has been disproved with the referendum.

Scottish Teenagers, this opportunity will not come again for a long time. Exercise your vote.