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	<title>Prog Gold</title>
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	<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold</link>
	<description>...bestriding the US, UK, Holland and Europe like a bad-tempered giant hedgehog</description>
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		<title>Disagree With An Atos Decision? Then Starve</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/06/12/disagree-with-an-atos-decision-then-starve/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/06/12/disagree-with-an-atos-decision-then-starve/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:33:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5839</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There have been a lot of problems with the Work Capability Assessment run by companies like Atos, testing and retesting whether people are disabled enough for Employment Support Allowance (ESA), as claimaints are declared fit for work when they&#8217;re patently not. Now things are going to be made worse, as the possibility to appeal against [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
There have been a lot of problems with the Work Capability Assessment run by companies like Atos, testing and retesting whether people are disabled enough for Employment Support Allowance (ESA), as claimaints are declared fit for work when they&#8217;re patently not. Now things are going to be made worse, as the possibility to appeal against these decisions is going to be made, both by complicating the process to do so and by <a href="http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/disagree-with-an-atos-decision-then-starve-say-dwp/">stopping ESA during the appeal process, with claimants needing to apply for Job Seeksers Allowance instead</a>:
</p>
<blockquote><p>
This will mean that those appealing an ESA decision and claiming Jobseekers Allowance will be placed in a potentially fraudulent position.  They will be appealing an ESA decision based on the fact they do not believe themselves able to work, and will be claiming JSA based on a claim that they are able to work.
</p></blockquote>
<p>
It&#8217;s been quite clear for a while now that the current UK government is engaging in the salami slicing of welfare, discontinuing some benefit schemes, means testing others, tightening up access in general. The point in these exercises is clearly not limiting fraud or other tabloid friendly excuses, but to throw people off of welfare regardless of whether they need it or not. This has been the clearest in the way disability benefits have been handled, with no regards for the wellbeing and health of the people affected.
</p>
<p>
To put it blunty: the suicides, the unnecessary deaths of people cut off from disability benefits, the starving, that&#8217;s the system <em>working</em>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>In practical terms, we are all reformists</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/06/10/in-practical-terms-we-are-all-reformists/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/06/10/in-practical-terms-we-are-all-reformists/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:25:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Socialism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5837</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>How to lie with figures; a handy BBC guide</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/30/how-to-lie-with-figures-a-handy-bbc-guide/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/30/how-to-lie-with-figures-a-handy-bbc-guide/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:40:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BBC Bias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poverty]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5834</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So there&#8217;s this well meant but kinda touristy initiative to get people in the UK to live on a pound a day for a week to see what living in poverty means. The BBC did a nice propaganda article about how this was totes possible and still eat healthy. Surprise, surprise, this turned out to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
So there&#8217;s this well meant but kinda touristy initiative to <a href="http://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk">get people in the UK to live on a pound a day for a week</a> to see what living in poverty means. The BBC did a nice propaganda article about <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22263706">how this was totes possible and still eat healthy</a>. Surprise, surprise, <a href="http://aethelreadtheunread.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/from-the-bbc-how-not-to-eat-healthily-for-1-a-day/">this turned out to be a tissue of lies</a>:
</p>
<blockquote><p>
Forget the fact that the BBC have posted an article claiming that £40+ of food can be had for less than £5, even if that is the kind of thing you might hope would be picked up in the editorial process. How did Mr Milligan, personally, suppress the massive cognitive dissonance involved in writing the article? How do you persuade yourself to write the subhead ‘Day 4: Amount spent 91p’ when you know that the items listed under it cost a total of £11.80? Even if he believed that readers wouldn’t add the figures together, how on earth did he persuade himself that no-one would spot that the day’s shopping list includes one single item priced at £2.40? I’m astonished he ever thought he could get away with it. I’m pleased to note from the comments that he hasn’t.
</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Glenda Jackson MP discusses Thatcher&#8217;s legacy</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/13/glenda-jackson-mp-discusses-thatchers-legacy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/13/glenda-jackson-mp-discusses-thatchers-legacy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:50:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glenda Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Thatcher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5831</guid>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Chumbawamba&#8217;s last record</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/13/chumbawambas-last-record/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/13/chumbawambas-last-record/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:10:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chumbawamba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Thatcher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5829</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><center><br />
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</center></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>The history of getting you to pee in a cup</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/12/the-history-of-getting-you-to-pee-in-a-cup/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/12/the-history-of-getting-you-to-pee-in-a-cup/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:51:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life under Capitalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Substance abuse]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5827</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Isabel McDonald&#8217;s article in The Nation about the history of the drug testing industry is fascinating: The thirst for urine can be traced to the military’s 1971 Operation Golden Flow, aimed at detecting druggies among Vietnam veterans. Launched in response to rumors of heroin addiction, the test disproportionately netted marijuana users, since one byproduct of [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
Isabel McDonald&#8217;s article in <cite>The Nation</cite> about <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/173654/gops-drug-testing-dragnet">the history of the drug testing industry</a> is fascinating:
</p>
<blockquote><p>
The thirst for urine can be traced to the military’s 1971 Operation Golden Flow, aimed at detecting druggies among Vietnam veterans. Launched in response to rumors of heroin addiction, the test disproportionately netted marijuana users, since one byproduct of marijuana, carboxy-THC, lingers in the body longer than that of harder drugs. (In contrast, the body flushes out the byproducts of harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, within a day.) Nevertheless, before long, all service members were required to urinate in a cup at least once every two years.
</p></blockquote>
<p>
Who&#8217;d have thought the US military could have a sense of humour? Be sure to read the part where one of the drug warriors regularly has her own adult sons drug tested too.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Westminster&#8217;s last class warrior</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/10/westminsters-last-class-warrior/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/10/westminsters-last-class-warrior/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:32:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Thatcher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5824</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In The Herald, Ian Bell nails Thatcher&#8217;s personality and ideology: Nevertheless, her ideology, like her geo-political activities, never approached consistency. Mrs Thatcher’s politics was a visceral thing, formed of a belief in a natural order, in the assumption Britain needed restoration, and in a nostalgia for some never-defined golden age. She was, in the purest [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
In <cite>The Herald</cite>, <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/thatcher-westminsters-last-authentic-class-warrior.2013043781">Ian Bell nails Thatcher&#8217;s personality and ideology</a>:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Nevertheless, her ideology, like her geo-political activities, never approached consistency. Mrs Thatcher’s politics was a visceral thing, formed of a belief in a natural order, in the assumption Britain needed restoration, and in a nostalgia for some never-defined golden age. She was, in the purest sense, a reactionary politician. Hence her failure, for long decades, to take apartheid seriously, and her willingness to dismiss Nelson Mandela as a terrorist. Hence her revulsion at the very idea of trade unionism. Hence her embrace of the casino economy.
</p>
<p>
She had the streak of vanity usual in prime ministers, one enlarged by three election victories. Her statements, in power and after, suggest Mrs Thatcher believed herself indispensable. She enjoyed the unlikely idea of the Iron Lady, a suburban Britannia, the politician who was “not for turning”. She felt entitled to invoke Churchill, as though “Winston” had been a blood relation. In truth, her sense of destiny was near-Gaullist. And she had no sense of humour: laboriously, her speechwriters had to explain the Python dead parrot joke.
</p>
</blockquote>
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		<item>
		<title>An antidote to the sycophantic BBC coverage</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/10/an-antidote-to-the-sycophantic-bbc-coverage/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/10/an-antidote-to-the-sycophantic-bbc-coverage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:08:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Thatcher]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5822</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Tony Blair&#8217;s worried</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/10/tony-blairs-worried/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/10/tony-blairs-worried/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tony Blair]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5820</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Tony Blair has criticised people who held parties to &#8220;celebrate&#8221; the death of Baroness Thatcher, saying they were in &#8220;pretty poor taste&#8221;. The former Labour prime minister urged critics of his Conservative predecessor to &#8220;show some respect&#8221;. Don&#8217;t worry Tony, your time will come. Once you die there will be parties too. And don&#8217;t fucking [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote>
<p>
Tony Blair has criticised people who held parties to &#8220;celebrate&#8221; the death of Baroness Thatcher, saying they were in &#8220;pretty poor taste&#8221;.
</p>
<p>
The former Labour prime minister urged critics of his Conservative predecessor to &#8220;show some respect&#8221;.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Don&#8217;t worry Tony, your time will come. Once you die there will be parties too. And don&#8217;t fucking talk about respect, when you&#8217;re the architect of an illegal, immoral, unnecessary war that killed well over a million peoples, you wanker.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>&#8220;In other words: quotas. Hard quotas.&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/01/in-other-words-quotas-hard-quotas/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/2013/04/01/in-other-words-quotas-hard-quotas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:27:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Martin Wisse</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Feminism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cloggie.org/proggold/?p=5817</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How to make your talkshow more diverse: “We just would look at the board and say, ‘We already have too many white men. We can’t have more.’ Really, that was it,” Hayes says. “Always, constantly just counting. Monitoring the diversity of the guests along gender lines, and along race and ethnicity lines.” Out of four [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>
<a href="http://www.cjr.org/realtalk/chris_hayes.php">How to make your talkshow more diverse</a>:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
“We just would look at the board and say, ‘We already have too many white men. We can’t have more.’ Really, that was it,” Hayes says. “Always, constantly just counting. Monitoring the diversity of the guests along gender lines, and along race and ethnicity lines.” Out of four panelists on every show, he and his booking producers ensured that at least two were women. “A general rule is if there are four people sitting at table, only two of them can be white men,” he says. “Often it would be less than that.”
</p>
<p>
If they did end up booking a show that featured a majority of white men, they’d call it “taking a gender hit.” Hayes explains, “and then we’d be like, well, we have to make up for that either in the second half of the show or on the Sunday show.”
</p>
</blockquote>
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