Green Paper Discussion (from 24th March, 2025)

I’m staying off this thread at moment for the exact same reason. It needs brought back into focus.

I remember my first 10- bob note Sarah - in my 10th year birthday cards! Felt a rich boy at this time (oh, Probably way before you were born though )😀

beginning of the end for Starmer ?

Sorry to hear you have been affected and I agree we have to unite. However I just want to say my opinion.

If we don't do something about it then it definitely will be who deserves it and who doesn't because the 4 point descriptor will hit hard and it is designed to hit hard. It will be who is more disabled and who isn't. It will be who is more effective at the point scoring and who isn't. It will be the haves and the have nots. Millions will suffer. This is almost very close to happening. They are trying to make it happen. Those that say nothing is happening right now, nothing is for certain, well, they are going ahead with it aren't they?

It will be who is more disabled and whose disability deserves financial help and whose doesn't. That is what the reforms are all about this is why they designed it.

I think the last thing any of us want is to be assessed by work coaches, unless you're thinking of ones that are fully qualified doctors and psychiatrists.

A lot of work coaches have no understanding of mental issues, and there's a lot of work coaches who are unsympathetic and unempathetic.

I have had experiences with most work coaches that I've seen where after I have tried to explain my issues to them it is as though it has just gone in one ear and out the other, they will still continue to treat me as though there is nothing wrong with me and expect me to do things I cannot do.

For example, after explaining to one how I suffer from depression, social anxiety, and how I find it very hard to cope with a lot of regular situations that most other people can cope with, he suggested that I become a security guard! A mentally fragile person being expected to stand around somewhere in public and to tackle criminals?

@Albus_Scope

Is it possible to divert the Trump posts here to the correct thread please.

I don't disagree that the MSM can be biased, which is why it's good to read across the papers and compare sources. The only way you get to truth is by doing that. Believing in one person/politician uncritically is very dangerous. If you really support someone's way of doing things you should also be willing to hold them to account - otherwise you are only taking one side of the story as well.

And you shouldn't ever just rely on social media, because social media is far MORE biased and more of an echo chamber than the MSM. This is because of algorithms, which give you more posts similar to what you were already reading and reacts to what you like reading. It does not give you a balanced view, which is why you should use as many sources as possible to verify what is true.

I didn't vote Labour and I am angry about what they are doing. At the same time, I realise that the Tories and Reform would do more harm to disabled people if they were in power, so it worries me when people think that getting rid of Labour would solve all our problems. It won't. We have very few positive options, politically, as disabled people.

I'm not going to comment on Trump because it's another country's politics. I also know people over there going through a very bad time/lost their job etc however.

Apologies if that is still off topic but I feel like it's relevant in all the political frustration - remembering to check data and corroborate information across different sources no matter what the issue.

If anything, what we should be concerned about is how little MSM coverage there is now of the benefit cuts, as if it's someone else's problem and not as important as the financial implications of Trump's tariffs. These are all economic issues.

I do think that we should be challenging the idea of economically inactive as well. There is a difference between being not employed and not contributing to the economy. There will be further implications to cutting these payments if people are no longer to contribute to the economy by buying necessities and such. But there's nothing from the govt on that impact.