It is entirely appropriate that I have waited seven days before posting a blog on the Comprehensive Spending Review. As part of the increasingly “tough” rhetoric about welfare the main story from the review was a seven-day wait until you can apply for benefits. As the chancellor put it: “And …
Poverty and Inequality
Truth and Lies About Poverty – Group Study Materials
We’ve had some requests for Bible study materials linked to the Truth and Lies campaign, so we have produced this introductory study guide for small groups. It links some of the main ideas in the report with biblical theme with questions, group activities and Bible reflection. The material is …
11 Churches, 4 Nations, 1 Message: Truth about poverty please Mr Cameron
Churches and charities from all four nations of the UK, have come together to write to the Prime Minister to ask that government ministers cease to say untrue things about those in poverty. UPDATED: A summary of the letter has also been published in the Daily …
DWP’s cleverly worded truth, leads to very many lies
This morning’s DODS parliamentary briefing carried a story under the headline. 1 Million ‘STUCK ON BENEFITS’ One million people capable of working are “stuck” on benefits, the Work and Pensions Secretary will say today. He didn’t say that – if he did he would have been lying. However all three …
Philpott: Twisting one story to tar a whole section of our society.
The report “The lies we tell ourselves” includes the following paragraph “It is always possible to find examples of individual good or bad behaviour, including by people living in poverty. It is also possible to use a story of this example to justify an opinion. However we should not attempt to …
More nonsense about the cost of welfare – and why it is a myth that never dies.
“Benefits spending up £6.4billion in just three months,” cries the Daily Telegraph.This is simply not true. What is true is that the predicted costs of the total welfare system over the next 5 years have been revised upwards by a grand total of 0.6%. Most of the 0.6% change is estimated to happen …
Using Myths about Poverty to Defend the Welfare Benefits Up-Rating Bill
The Welfare Benefits Up-Rating Bill, currently going through Parliament, risks driving 200,000 more children into poverty. Churches have called for benefits which specifically help children to not be cut. For this reason Churches and church leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, have asked …
Worklessness or Unemployment?
by Tim Stacey How we describe something changes how we think of something. It is different to say that someone “cannot find a job” or is unemployed than it is to say that person is workless. Saying that a person is workless puts their lack of work as a characteristic of their personrather than as …