WIDGERIPOO

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Committed to protecting the vulnerable: Established 1968

© Magic Oak Tree Family (MOTF) 1968

Co-Editors: Pete & Nikki Perry * Technical expert: Kev Cooke

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Social Justice

MOTF THOUGHTS: THOSE WHO LOOK DOWN UPON OTHERS GROW EVER CLOSER TO LOOKING DOWN INTO HELL - Pete Perry 2013

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DON'T LET THEM TAKE US BACK TO THE 1930s

By Pete & Nikki

Pete was born in 1937, before WWll and before the advent of The National Health Service and Welfare State: Times were hard, and as a result, Pete was delivered at the family home, - a rented bungalow in Benfleet, Essex, by a doctor and midwife, both who had to be paid for by Private Insurance. Doris and Frank Perry couldn't afford the hospital fees, and as a result, Pete was born one whole month late (a 10-month baby) putting both the lives of Pete and his mother at risk.

Because times were so hard, Doris tried to abort the embryonic Pete, and even fell down stairs during pregnancy, fainting, because she was so undernourished.

Doris weighed only 6 stone when Pete was born, whereas Pete, having 'hibernated' for a month due to the trauma of the attempted abortions, weighed 10 pounds!

It was only a miracle that saved them...

Here, PETE & NIKKI plead with users of this website to do everything in our power to foil the evil plan by the coalition Government to destroy these National Institutions and take us back to the dark days of Masters and Servants...

For many of us, it is difficult to imagine life before the NHS, when healthcare, as you can see from the introduction to this feature, was unreliable and treatment had to be paid for.

In the same way, it was hard for people in 1948 to see what a National Health Service was going to mean for them and for future generations. It was the first time, anywhere in the world, that completely free healthcare was made available on the basis of citizenship and need rather than the payment of fees or insurance premiums.

The man who brought the health service into being was Aneurin Bevan, (pictured left) - a Welsh miner who became a Labour politician.

Nye Bevan as he was affectionately known, was handed the responsibility for healthcare and housing by the new prime minister, Clement Attlee, in the first post-Second World War government.

Bevan fought passionately for the NHS. In parliament on February 9 1948 he urged ministers and doctors to 'take pride in the fact that, despite our financial and economic anxieties, we are still able to do the most civilised thing in the world: put the welfare of the sick in front of every other consideration'.

On July 5 of that year, Bevan got his wish and our healthcare changed forever, but it all began when The Labour Party came to power, after World War ll...

The outcome of the the 1945 General Election was more than a sensation. It was a political earthquake!

Less than 12 weeks earlier, Winston Churchill (pictured right) had announced the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.

Churchill wanted his wartime coalition to continue until Japan too had been defeated, but was not unduly dismayed when his Labour ministers insisted that the country be offered a choice.

The Prime Minister called the election for early July, confident that the British people would back the greatest hero of the hour.

Of all Churchill's colossal misjudgments, that was probably the most egregious!

The voters wanted an end to wartime austerity, and no return to prewar economic depression. They wanted change. Three years earlier, in the darkest days of the war, they had been offered a tantalising glimpse of how things could be in the bright dawn of victory.

The economist William Beverage (pictured left) had synthesised the bravest visions of all important government departments into a single breathtaking view of the future.

The 1942 Beverage Report spelled out a system of social insurance, covering every citizen regardless of income. It offered nothing less than a cradle-to-grave welfare state.

That was the great promise dangled before the British electorate in 1945.

Though Churchill had presided over the planning for radical social reform, though he was a genuine hero of the masses, the people of The UK did not trust him to deliver the brave new world of Beveridge.

There were other factors too.

The Labour party had held office only twice before, in 1924 and in 1929-31, but during the war years its leadership had acquired both experience and trust, and crucially, was made up in the most part, of working-class people.

It now looked like a party of government, and, indeed, The Labour Party swept to power, with the mild-mannered and unassuming Clement Attlee (pictured right) as it's leader, and now Prime Minister!

And so it was, that The NHS and The Welfare State was born, - a brave new world which promised equality and an end to poverty for the first time in The UK.

Fast-forward to 2013...

Like the 1940s, The UK is in dire financial straits, but, instead of kickstarting the economy, the Tory/LibDem coalition ( known popularly as the ConDens) who are in government introduce austerity measures by hitting the poor, by cutting benefits to the poor, that were the cornerstone of one of The UK's greatest social achievements, The Welfare State, whilst at the same time, dismantling that other great welfare achievement, the National Health Service, so that it can be sold off to private companies.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS WILL TAKE THE UK BACK TO THE AGE OF 'THEM AND US', WHEREBY 'COMMONERS' WOULD HAVE TO DOFF THEIR CAPS TO THEIR MASTERS, WHILST QUEUING FOR CHARITY HAND-OUTS IN THE SOUP KITCHENS - JUST AS IT WAS IN THE 1920s AND 1930s...

IF, LIKE US, YOU WISH TO SAVE THE WELFARE STATE AND PREVENT THE NHS FROM BEING PRIVATISED
PLEASE CLICK HERE

and sign the petition

Thanks!

Love & Peace

Pete & Nikki x

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IS THIS COALITION THE MOST INCOMPETENT, HEARTLESS GOVERNMENT THE UK HAS EVER HAD?

By Pete & Nikki

Yes, we know about the Thatcher years (mentioned below) and the Poll Tax, - but let's look at the facts regarding the ConDem Coalition...

SAVING MONEY BY HITTING THE POOR

BEDROOM TAX: Council tenants who have more rooms than they require will lose Rent Rebate at 14% for one spare bedroom, and 25% for two spare bedrooms, if Tory Peer LORD FREUD gets his way. This could plunge 95,000 Council tenants into abject poverty.

The problem is that some people NEED a spare bedroom. For example, if one of a couple is disabled, the other partner could need a spare bedroom occasionally.

Also, think of an elderly person living in a Council property.

Are they to be deprived of having a spare room for visiting relatives?

Or single parents, who share custody of the kids? Must they share a bedroom with their kids when they come visiting?

Oh - and by The Way, - Lord Freud himself has an 8-bedroom property in Kent, worth £1.9 Million, (see photograph above right) - which he uses ONLY when he is not using his luxury accomodation in London!

Of course, similar could be said of the man considering this proposal, - 'Dodgy' Dave Cameron himself, - he who lives, in the tradition of The British Prime Minister, above the office at No 10 Downing Street, and who also has the use of the Prime Minister's Country Residence at Chequers in Buckinghamshire (See picture on the left), - a Grace and Favour mansion that sports TEN bedrooms, - more than enough for Dave, Sam and the three kids, - so maybe HE should also pay Bedroom Tax!

Let us not forget also, that Cameron still retains his private country house in Oxfordshire (see picture below), for which he claims parliamentary expenses form us, the taxpayers, to pay the mortgage!

Then of course, there is the latest scheme to attack the poor, by giving benefit claimants BENEFIT CARDS rather than cash, to stop the scoundrels from purchasing 'luxury' items such as alcoholic drinks and Satellite TV!

The problem with this is that they cannot be used in street markets, where you can often get bargain prices on fresh fruit and veg, - you cannot buy CLOTHES with them, - you are expected to wear hand-me-downs and clothes from charity shops. You cannot pay your bills by Direct Debit, - the cheapest option for regular bills, you cannot use them to pay for LIFE INSURANCE (a luxury presumably?) They cannot be used to pay for Satellite TV, - and yet, even PRISONERS get this, for free!

Oh yes, and if you try to buy something which isn't covered by these Draconian measures, such as a pair of jeans, - THE TILL WILL BLEEP AND LIGHT UP WITH FLASHING LIGHTS, - LETTING EVERYONE KNOW THAT YOU ARE ON BENEFITS!

Love & Peace

Pete & Nikki xxx

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CAPITALISM

Where Greed Rules

By Pete Perry

We will never get equality or true Social Justice whilst this country and the Western World stick to the corrupt ideal of Capitalism.

The reason for this is that Capitalism encourages greed and power, and whilst our leaders have that power, driven by greed, they will always make sure that the general public are kept at poverty levels, so that they can maintain that power.

All big businesses, the banks, the government, and even the church (The Church of England are one of the richest landowners in The UK!) are all driven by profit, and the power of money, and the only way to keep their money and profits is to keep 90% of the population poor...

...AND THAT BREEDS A CULTURE OF GREED!

Witness the Chancellor of The Exchequer cutting the benefits of those in need, whilst at the same time encouraging tax loopholes for the rich.

Witness the banks (including The Bank Of England) squeezing their customers whilst at the same time handing out ever-increasing salaries and huge bonuses to their executives.

Witness the multinationals and supermarkets, the energy companies and the utility companies raising their prices whilst paying their directors and shareholders (who are often foreign Nationals) vast salaries and bonuses.

Witness how The Government awarded lucrative Olympic sponsorship deals to The likes of McDonalds and Coca-Cola, - the least healthy of all the fast food outlets, making a total mockery of the idea of sport being healthy!

Other sponsors include Lloyds TSB, Samsung and Adidas, (all of which have politicians on their boards of directors) - and wo betide anyone daring to show even the slightest hint of a rival name or logo!

Well, it wouldn't do, would it, - for smaller. less profitable companies, to take a small share of the profits enjoyed by the big boys!

Yes, they are all at it, because the fact is that only those consumed with greed and a lust for power have enough ambition to become Bankers, Business Tycoons and POLITICIANS - and that is where the problem lies...

WE WILL NEVER GET A GOVERNMENT THAT THINKS OF THE PEOPLE, AS THEY ARE ALL CONSUMED WITH THEIR OWN SELF-INTERESTS AND AMBITIONS!

THE WAY FORWARD...

THE MOTF, on the other hand, have always believed in sharing, - much to the annoyance and bafflment of business moguls.

Our first publications, The Eye and MOTF Switchboard were community magazines, the cover prices of which simply covered the costs of production. There was never any profit made.

Indeed, the first publication I ever created, The Komic Kapers Weekly (The KK) at the age of eleven years old, was totally free, and was distributed, from pupil to pupil to teacher, around the school!I also produced free magazines at my places of work, and in The RAF, where I also worked voluntarily, as a Radio DJ.

Even now, this very website is a free internet magazine, and we even offer free adveritising on our RECOMMADS page.

Ironically, bearing this in mind, I have recently had offers from websites that recommend other websites, - as long as I sign up with them - FOR A FEE!!!!

Friends and neighbours of ours share fruit and veg that they have grown, and there are even schemes springing up where fruit and veg are grown in borders, so that anyonethat lives in the neighbourhood can take what they need for their own use.

WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!

It is called Incredible Edible Todmorden, and, as the name suggests, it is operating in Todmorden in Yorkshire...

This local food coalition in Yorkshire has been instrumental in transforming public flowerbeds into community herb gardens and vegetable patches.

IET has also mobilised volunteers to plant fruit trees outside the town's health centre, make watercress beds in a local park and give free vegetable seeds to social housing tenants.

As well as planting fruit and veg in public spaces, they are working with public bodies to negotiate the use of land like the fire station and the railway station and working with social landlord Pennine Housing.

Isn't this great?

I BET THE LOCAL SUPERMARKETS DON'T LIKE IT THOUGH, as it may well eat into their profits, so imagine how we could change things if everycommunity in the country did something like this!

There are actually individuals and organisations throughout The UK that produce things without making profit...

They range from musicians producing cds to share, to authors producing books to share, and people making clothes, jewellery, films etc., just for the pleasure of sharing their creations with others.

UTOPIA? You Bet! - But it really is achievable, if we all put our minds to it.

We can spread the word easier than ever now, thanks to The World Wide Web.... The MOTF is now attracting members from all over the world, so the sky's the limit...

AND THE GREEDY, SELF-MOTIVATED CAPITALISTS CAN GET LOST!!!

Love & Peace

Pete Perry

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email me at

pete@widgeripoo.net

Pete

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