Tuesday 14 April 2015

Politics



This is not the time or the place for politics even though everywhere seems to be full of it. However, this week, a promising breakthrough. I heard this weekend that there is enough money in the national kitty so that people with houses worth up to £1000,000 don't have to pay inheritance tax, which is nice. I am so pleased that that there is an unexpected windfall. You see, where I work we have a volunteer who was recently told that he is fit for work, despite his ongoing depressive illness - established by the fact that he can hold a pen and walk ten paces successfully. His doctor  is adamant that he shouldn't be working and should continue his therapeutic work for us but times are tough for everybody and there just wasn't the money in the public purse. But now - hurrah! It seems that there is some money about and I am sure that the powers that be will happily put it my friend's way so that he doesn't need to leave us. What?
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  1. There's more than one way to look at this. My parents had very little money. My mother was/is a chronic depressive, often suicidal, my father I think had undiagnosed Tourettes and found life an unremitting struggle. Psychiatric and neurological conditions have dogged my family's life and made it hard/impossible for many of us to survive in the mainstream.
    But my parents owned the homes they lived in, and as a result we own our family home too. Because they passed on to me what they had, we could afford to buy a place big enough to live in together, so keeping our overheads down and providing encouragement for each other.
    This will be a forever home. Our children will inherit it. That will keep them safe from the kind of situation you describe in the blog post. Accommodation costs are what escalate the struggle from Difficult to Impossible for neurologically atypical people who struggle with depression and general weirdness. I am grateful that this new legislation will help make my family safe from the vicissitudes of the welfare system.
    It's not all about perks for rich people, it also works to allow families to prevent their vulnerable members from sliding into poverty.

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    1. Hmm. Not sure there is anything I disagree with there. My concern is for the other side of the coin. Our volunteer will never own his own home - that doesn't mean that other people shouldn't. We are working towards owning ours and I am grateful for the opportunity. My hope is that people who govern us and hold the purse strings - whoever they are., make sure that those who have no support, those that maybe have no family, at least are deemed worthy enough to financially support - potentially forever. He has tried to help himself within his limitations. I still think it is a matter of regret that our society feels it cannot find the means to help him do that.. x

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