UNIVERSAL CREDIT LIFELINE TAKEN AWAY FROM 70,000 NORFOLK PEOPLE

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged austerity, benefits, Brexit, chloe smith, clive lewis, Community, cuts, disabled people against cuts, featured, Great Yarmouth, norfolk, Norfolk Against Universal Credit, norwich, Tory, uk, uk politics, Universal Credit, universalcredit, welfare, work.

by Sean Meleady

Thousands of people across Norfolk are facing financial struggle after the government cut the £20 a week uplift to the Universal Credit benefit in October. Although it was intended as a temporary measure to help with the economic effects of the lockdowns, it has become a lifeline for many.

It is estimated that 14,907 people in Norwich have lost £1,040 of their income with around 40% of them in employment. In June 2021 69,895 people were on Universal Credit in Norfolk alone.

THE BURDENSOMENESS OF TIME: ON SIMONE WEIL’S ‘THE MYSTICISM OF WORK’

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged arts, featured, furlough, Labour, labouring, manual labour, mysticism of work, philosophy, shift, simone weil, spiritual growth, union, woodworkk, work, work day, working class.

by Joseph Reardon

The call came and I was told that my second period of furlough had ended. I would return to the workshop for three twelve and a half hour shifts per week, 7am to 7.30pm. The week my boss called, I’d been rereading Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil (1909-1943). Weil was a philosopher who worked in temporary teaching jobs, often being run out of town for her trade union-organising and activism. By the time of her death, Weil had built up a body of idiosyncratic, unorthodox, mystically-inclined theological writing, posthumously collected in Gravity and Grace. I read the final section, ‘The Mysticism of Work’, the day before my return to the workshop. After sitting in my room for three months, going back to such long days would be hard physically, which made it hard mentally; I didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice. At least I’d be able to search for Weil’s mysticism of work.

NORWICH CITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME TRIAL

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Norwich Radical in Community and tagged arts, basic income, Bolsa Familia, Brazil, Brexit, canada, Catherine Rowett, child benefit, child poverty, clive lewis, Community, Covid-19, economics, featured, Finland, food banks, gender equality, Green Party of England and Wales, India, Jamie Osborn, Labour, mental health, Namibia, netherlands, norwich, Norwich City Council, norwich green party, Norwich Labour Party, organise, Permanent Fund of Alaska, Sierra Leone, spain, Switzerland, taxes, trade unions, training, UBI, UBI Lab Network, UBI Lab Norfolk, Uganda, uk, unemployment, Universal Basic Income, Universal Credit, welfare system, work.

By Sean Meleady

Norwich City Council has backed calls for the government to support a pilot for Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would trial providing a monthly income to all residents of the city, following a recent debate at City Hall. City councillors argued that all residents should receive this fixed monthly amount regardless of employment status, wealth and marital status.

KEEP CALM & WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH

Posted on August 23, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged benefits, benefits culture, Boris Johnson, conservatives, CSJ, cuts, deportation, dwp, featured, gender gap, george osborne, health, Iain Duncan Smith, NHS, pension, pension scheme, retirement, statistics, Tories, unions, vulnerable, welfare, welfare cuts, women, work, workers.

by Jonathan Lee

“New pension plans to work till you die are no cause for alarm” says arch-Tory overlord Ian Duncan Smith. A recent report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), the Tory think-tank which brought us Universal Credit, has recommended the government raise the retirement age from 65 to 70 by 2028, and to 75 by 2035.

The Tories are not content to simply make workers’ lives as miserable as possible through underfunding schools, unaffordable housing, food poverty, and the greatest devaluation of wages in modern history. They now seek to steal the last golden years of life from the majority of working class people who cannot afford a private pension in order to retire early.Continue Reading

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 3 (OF 3)

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #balanceforbetter, #metoo, austerity, Bladerunner, Cambridge Analytica, conformism, demo, endorsement, equality, featured, feminism, gender rights, germaine greer, left, liberalism, Luce Irigaray, media, Naomi Klein, Nicola Rivers, populism, rally, Rashida Tlaib, speech, uk, womens march, work.

by Sunetra Senior

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

Here, another sinister aspect of the Trump campaign, now verified by the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, was the invasive, online method through which I proposed that an amoral moneyed elite was not only manipulating, but also forcibly hijacking the public’s trust. I will again emphasise another, so far unacknowledged, caveat: this method of manufacturing investment not only cheats people short-term – including those vacuous nutjobs at the top- but sustains a deceptive, distinctly digital control well into the destructive future. Once removed and shiny, the technological medium of devices and social media is the perfect way to distract from the escalation of political inequality by cunningly feigning advancement.Continue Reading

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 2 (OF 3)

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #balanceforbetter, #metoo, austerity, Bladerunner, conformism, demo, endorsement, equality, featured, feminism, gender rights, germaine greer, left, liberalism, Luce Irigaray, media, Nicola Rivers, populism, rally, Rashida Tlaib, speech, uk, womens march, work.

by Sunetra Senior

Part Two (of Three): Bladerunner 2049 and a Tragic Trajectory. Read Part One here and part Three here.

Yet, a year on and the opposite seemed to manifest. Last year’s big, sponsored march was populated by blatant careerists and women who seemed to think the Feminist conclusion lay in just stony vocational power. This was the severe, stifled energy I’d been feeling. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see a placard that read: ‘Good women Go to Work!’ No wonder then, that there was also interpersonal tension and division between the various organisations at the demonstration: women were feeling competitive. Here, I will emphasise: to fixate on external acquirement such as an invincible social status and intensive office hours and treat them as if a modern romance, is to internalise a toxic masculinity that does not oppose but instead reinforces historic gender inequality. Follow this regressive trajectory, and not only do women begin to undermine their previous progress, but too, start to become foot soldiers in a universally dark tyranny.Continue Reading

CARING FOR THOSE WHO CARE

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Community, Inter|national and tagged Allowance, benefits, care, career, carer, carers week, Dementia tax, disability, featured, health, home, norfolk, norwich, transport, uk, welfare, work.

by James Anthony

Across the country during 11th-17th June, various individuals, charities and institutions will be celebrating Carers Week 2018 in recognition of unpaid carers and the work they do. That period will also mark just over two and a half months of my time working for a local carers charity. It’s opened my eyes to the issues that many carers face and what needs to change to improve their lives, but also to recognise the need to publicise Carers Week and recognise the contribution of carers to society as a whole.Continue Reading

THE MYTH OF THE MILLENNIAL

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged avocado toast, bloggers, clickbait, Community, conservative, cp, diverse, educated, entitlement, featured, generation, generation y, Instagram, internet, labels, liberal, millennials, myth, narcissistic, pet peeve, pm, political correctness, racist, satire, socialist, student debt, traits, work.

by Jonathan Lee

Ten Things Every Successful Social Justice Blogger Does.
Exasperated Writer Was About to Give Up, What Happens Next Will Have You In Tears!
The Five Worst Millennial Clickbait Headlines That You Just Won’t Believe.

Horrific isn’t it.

I was recently asked what my biggest pet peeve is about the way people talk about my generation. Perhaps the phrase pet peeve is one of my pet peeves. Maybe the fact that even the words – pet peeve – make me cringe, may say something about me and my reluctant membership of Generation Y.Continue Reading

ON IMMIGRATION 1. LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Africa, Blair, Chicago, choice, Clinton, colonialism, conflict, economic migrant, economy, featured, free market, germany, globalisation, history, Irish, italian, migrant, migration, national socialism, New York, on immigration, risk, Third Way, totalitarianism, travel, work.

by Stu Lucy

Last time we met I penned a reflective piece that acknowledged not only my privilege but also the de facto situation of millions of people across the planet, not least in Africa, forced to make the difficult decision to leave all they know behind, hoping for a better life in alien and often hostile lands many thousand of miles away. I’d like now to rewind to the very beginning of that process to try and suggest why it is so many end up making such a choice.Continue Reading

LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, EXPULSIONS FORCÉES

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged antigypsyism, Bulgaria, census, discrimination, ERRC, EU, eviction, expulsion, featured, France, free movement, health, hollande, housing, human rights, macron, Montmartre, paris, Petite Ceinture, Porte de Clignancourt, racism, Roma, Romani, Romania, Sacré-Cœur, Sarkozy, slum, work.

by Jonathan Lee

If you get off the metro at Porte de Clignancourt in Paris, a little over a kilometre north of the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, and follow the line of the disused 19th century Petite Ceinture railway for a couple of minutes from the busy intersection, you will soon come across rows of makeshift shacks lining the railway.

Similar shanty towns can be found tucked away under bridges, behind fences, and on ex-industrial plots across the city and throughout France. Along with a scattering of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, these slums are inhabited almost entirely by Roma.Continue Reading

work

UNIVERSAL CREDIT LIFELINE TAKEN AWAY FROM 70,000 NORFOLK PEOPLE

by Sean Meleady

THE BURDENSOMENESS OF TIME: ON SIMONE WEIL’S ‘THE MYSTICISM OF WORK’

by Joseph Reardon

NORWICH CITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME TRIAL

By Sean Meleady

KEEP CALM & WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 3 (OF 3)

Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

THE WOMEN’S MARCHES: FOURTH WAVE FEMINISM & A WORRYING, WAYWARD TREND – PART 2 (OF 3)

Part Two (of Three): Bladerunner 2049 and a Tragic Trajectory. Read Part One here and part Three here.

CARING FOR THOSE WHO CARE

THE MYTH OF THE MILLENNIAL

ON IMMIGRATION 1. LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING

LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, EXPULSIONS FORCÉES

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by Sean Meleady

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Part Three (of Three): An Ideological Ambush and Choosing Utopia. Read Part One here and part Two here.

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Part Two (of Three): Bladerunner 2049 and a Tragic Trajectory. Read Part One here and part Three here.

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