I love the welfare state

Posted by kaberett

[Content notes: medical gatekeeping, current government policy, graphic medical details, cancer]

... I think the NHS is great
Forget about your worries and your strife:
We’ve got our - healthcare guaranteed
They will not charge us any fees
The welfare state’ll care for us for life!


And, do you know, I really do love the NHS. I really do love the welfare state. I love receiving DLA; I love my bus pass; I love my wheelchair. (Yes, my wheelchair? Is the NHS' fault.) I love all of the various ways in which the welfare state makes it easier to Exist While Me in our society; I am endlessly grateful that I can leave the house, that I have support to Get Stuff Done, and so on. I have wept grateful tears over being able to call NHS Direct and be told whether or not to go to hospital. I love being able to attend my GP once every couple of weeks in order to catch up on all the things that have gone wrong, tweak my doses, and so on. I love that my prescription medications - I'm on somewhere around 10 a day, ignoring my as-and-whens - only cost me one hundred pounds a year.



When they're ill in the US, their budget's blown,
Bankrupt by doctor's bills, not like at home
GPs and hospitals for free
For every slightest malady.
When you've fallen into the rocks and plants,
Or your kid's put ants into your pants,
Or maybe - tried a few...
The NHS is always there to care for you.


For nearly a year in there, I thought I was going to be moving to South California for grad school. Specifically, I thought I was going to be moving to LA - a country where one of my standard medications isn't FDA-approved, and a city that makes my lungs hate me for a good three months after I move somewhere with better air quality.

Oxford: Events in March

Posted by Lashings of Ginger Beer



March is a great month for queer-feminist events in Oxford!

Oxford International Women's Festival kicks off today with a performance of The Vagina Monologues at the OFS. It's also on tomorrow (Saturday 3 March), and it stars all sorts of Lash-people, including erstwhile techie Shev. Not only will this event be great fun, they're also raising money for Oxford Sexual Abuse & Rape Crisis Centre.

Sunday 4 March - Laugh Out Proud, featuring our very own Sally Outen, will be raising laughs and money for all sorts of great local charities.

Sunday 11 March - Gender Rebels: A Queer and Feminist Cabaret - strictly speaking, this is part of the Oxford International Women's Festival, but I draw particular attention to it because everyone's favourite Queer Feminist Burlesque Collections LASHINGS OF GINGER BEER TIME are doing a couple of short sets there. As are Lash-favourites Lucy Ayrton & Liztopia. We think it will be a great event, and would love to see you there.

Sunday 25 March - the deeply homophobic organisation "Christian Concern" will be arriving in Oxford for their "controversial" conference. There will be some exciting actions taking place to show them - and the world at large - that Oxford does NOT welcome homophobes.

Public meeting: Women carrying Cameron’s cuts

Posted by Annalytica

Oxford Labour Party Women's Group have organised a public meeting on women and cuts.



Speakers:  
Fiona Mactaggart MP,   Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
Sarah Hutchinson, Oxfordshire County Councillor and researcher
Caroline Raine, Unison organiser and local anti-cuts activist

Venue:
Oxford Town Hall, With wheelchair access.


Date:
Thursday 10 th November, 2011 7.30pm.

Themes:
income, employment and promotion, job losses, balancing work and family, pensions, care of yourself, your elderly relatives, your disabled children, part time study, children’s development, your retirement

Save the Equality Act!

Posted by Annalytica

The Coalition Government’s“Red Tape Challenge” website seeks feedback from members of the public to decide how best to make "efficiency savings" by cutting down on areas of work deemed too bureacratic.



Between the 9^th and 30^th of June, the focus is on the Equality Act. Yes, that would be the very recently passed legislation which protects individuals from discrimination and unfair treatment due to characteristics such as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

They are asking the public to submit comments on whether current equality laws are “too bureaucratic and burdensome for the benefit they bring, whether they could be simplified or better implemented, or if you think they should be kept exactly as they are” in eight specific areas: Who is protected, Prohibited conduct, At work, Buying goods and using services, Specific sectors – in housing, at school or college, on transport, Positive action, Enforcing equality law and In the public sector.

Please visit this website and let the Government know if you value the Equality Act.