Social Services in the UK – they astound me

Tags

daycare, nhs, sahm, taxes, welfare

Again, this is from the perspective of an outsider living in the UK. I am shocked and dismayed at the level of social services offered to people here in the UK. Compared to North America the United Kingdom is a vast communist/socialist state. I am stunned at how much my tax goes towards things which would stun  most in Canada.

Apparently you can get a housing allowance, the value of which flutuates depending on where you live. So you could be living in North London and get more benefits than someone living in Hampshire – because the cost of housing is higher in London. So the local council/social services will pay your rent (effectively) and then you get a weekly stipend, all calculated using some mystical formulae no one understands. The formulae consider factors such as where you live, how many children you have, what your savings are/were, how much rent you pay, your heating etc. It shocks me, as in Canada there was huge welfare reform about 15 years ago which tightened up the social support payments. I am not completely happy at how Mike Harris on Ontario did it, don’t get me wrong.

In Canada you get a certain amount of welfare/benefits. If you are a single mother with 2 children when you start collecting welfare and whilst on welfare you manage to produce another sprog you still only get enough welfare one adult + 2 children. The idea is that welfare is suppose to be a temporary stop-gap, not a lifestyle for people to increase their welfare payments with each sprog they produce. Said welfare payment does not vary where you live – if you live in Toronto you get the same as you would if you lived in Timmins or Sudbury or Barrie. The idea is that you get a payment, once a month, and it is up to you to budget and find the appropriate accomodations that your welfare dollars can pay for. When I was recovering from surgery 5 years ago and was contemplating going on welfare I was eligible for $620.00; I lived in Toronto and my rent was $1000 but it didn’t matter I was only eligible for a certain amount.

And the latest stunned moment for me was the Tory Government putting through legislation that would allow a dual-income family or single income (if a single parent family) to claim childcare expenses up to a maximum of 20% of £6000 or £1200.00. The limitation is that neither individual can earn more than £150,000 per year – so effectively you could have a family income of £300,000 and be able to get £1200 per child. I’d rather see government funded daycare or subsidised daycare and have people apply, with first preference being to those at most need. But there’s been an uproar from stay at home mothers who are whinging that they are being excluded – to which I say bullshit. My taxes go towards supporting those stay at home mothers, whilst atleast I can see the reasoning behind helping working mothers with childcare costs – as they are in effect getting a portion of the PAYE that they pay back — basically, atleast they are paying taxes.

I look around me and there are so many areas where I can easily see services that could be streamlined and made more efficient so that the support needed for those truly in need would get it, while the rest of us can live with the assurance that the necessary resources will be available when we need them.

People seem to forget there is a finite amount of resources which our taxes can pay for. So instead of trying to suckle at the public teat maybe people should view the social support as a safety net when needed, but while still able continue on contributing towards society.

So, I still firmly believe in means-testing. It can be done and efficiently and cheaply, but there needs to be political will – which is sadly lacking in the UK at the moment. And review the services the NHS pays for – not everything can be funded as yet again, there is a finite amount of resources – so don’t pay for IVF for anyone. I am sorry, but it is not a medical necessity to get pregnant. Breast enlargements because you feel sad/depressed should also not be funded. And increase the number of children per child-minder in the creches/daycare centres.

Jobless Bean

I’m shortly to become one of the millions of unemployed. I knew when I took this role at Strawberry that it was for a fixed term. The role was, initially, to go til the end of January. So in a sense the fact that it has continued longer til the end of March is good. I’ve had my issues with Strawberry – I still think it’s a behemouth and very badly structure. In come companies the staff hierarchy is like a pyramid – many little workers with each level of management being smaller and smaller. Here at Strawberry it appears to be the opposite – for example I had three managers.

Am I sad that my time at the Strawberry is so close to being finished? Yes and no. Yes, cos I met some interesting people and I frankly enjoy having a job to go to as I like the idea of paying my own way. But also I am happy as the brutal commute is nearly at an end. I don’t mind commuting, in general, I’ve done it for prior roles before. But to commute to a role where you are basically hitting up against a wall each time you try to do something can be quite tiring. Have I achieved anything of note whilst in this role? Not really, I was hired on to work on a system implementation and I got paid reasonably well for it – but the implementation team is a mess as there is no one taking a leas position on it. They are lurching about and I know deep down that it will be a fiasco.

So now I just need my P45 and get myself down to the Job Centre. I’ll get a max of £71 per week, but dammit, I will need it. Thankfully I have saved up my shekkels to the grand total of £3000 so hopefully that will keep me going for a little while until I find something new.

I was hoping to find a new role – I have been job seeking since the end of January. But looks like if I get another short term contract offered to me I will probably take it. Unfortunately I am getting calls for a Project/Systems Accountant. My greatest fear is being pigeon-holed into a role which I don’t have a real love for .. I am a Financial Accountant, and that is what I want to keep doing.

::sigh::

 

 

Happy International Women’s Day!

Tags

feminism, politics, women

Back in the early 20thC the idea of an International Working Women’s Day was thought up and celebrated. Primarily a socialist invention it is now a bank holiday in many Eastern European countries. Ideally it is suppose to be a day in which we celebrate the social, economic and political accomplishments of women. I find it interesting that it was first celebrated in 1909, at the height of the Suffragette Movement – one of the first definable moments in feminist history when women demanded equality under the law, that we are not property, but persons.

In an earlier blog post I wrote that I lament the fact that many women today refuse to associate themselves with the word “feminist” and this day just brings it all up for me. Women have made huge strides in society, many of us work in professions which only a couple decades ago were male dominated – doctors, professors, lawyers, accountants, construction workers, plumbers, military and politics. And yet there hasn’t been that true equality achieved. Many women still do the lion’s share of the housework, child-rearing, and tend to sacrifice their professional lives for the sake of their families. Rare it is that a man will take time off work if their child is sick or if their elderly parents need help – generally the woman in the relationship is expected to fulfill that nurturing role. And there hasn’t been equality achieved with regards to pay packets – does a female CEO make as much as a male? No. And with regards to the political arena there have been some shining examples of how a woman can achieve political success – Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, and Indira Ghandi. But they are an exception. In most cases the world’s various parliaments, senates and houses of representatives are overwhelmingly male dominated.

Women are still expected to be soft and nurturing. When Hilary Clinton was running for the Democratic nomination the news media focused on her fashion choices, how her hair was styled, why she wore trouser suits and not a dress. But no such attention was paid to Barak Obama. In Canada Belinda Stronach, former CEO of Magna, entered federal politics and had a relationship with a fellow Member of Parliament. She was protrayed in the media as being shrewish, strident in her speech whilst if a man had presented himself like she would during Question Period he’d be considered assertive. As in the case of Ms Clinton, Ms Stronach’s fashion choices, her various private relationships and whatnot were scrutinised by the media.

So on this day of International Women’s Day please give a thought to how much women can contribute to a well functioning society – if we pull ourselves up, insist on equality and equal treatment mayhaps we can achieve what our foremothers fought for over a century ago.

More UK Musings

Tags

hampshire, job seeking, life in the uk, munkie, trains

So how is life in the UK, six months on? Well there have been many highs and lows, certain aspects of met my expectations, others have exceeded and others just baffle me.
I was very comfortable living in Canada, I had a decent job, loved where I lived and had many friends close by. I had a very good professional reputation and would regularly get cold-called by headhunters looking to bring me in. I received these calls not from employment agencies but from HR Departments in whichever company was looking to expand its workforce. So now in the UK I need to re-establish my professional reputation – I’m like a new borne babe in this respect, all any potential employer knows about me is that I am designated, have lots of experience but all in Canada. To say it has been frustrating to understate it.

I have to lower my expectations and start over in a sense. So I am perfectly willing to work as a Junior Accountant or General Accountant, as I am aware that I do need to start from somewhere. But it has been difficult. Because the UK is suffering economically there is a large number of applicants for any given role, so I need to compete with native Brits who are much more comfortable with work culture in the UK. I have received various excuses as to why I am not a successful candidate – I’m over qualified, I don’t have enough experience, I’m too negative, I’m not perky enough, I’m too perky, I’m too soft, I’m too hard. It’s been difficult trying to find that sweet spot between what I want and what an employer wants – leading to gainful employment.

Other than the career stagnation – which frustrates me to no end and sometimes brings me to tears – there have been some good points. I have seen my Ruthie a few times, visited Geeklawyer & Jess and their tiny Prince Silas. Have seen Cantrell several times as well. I have been exploring – this past weekend went to Winchester Cathedral and Hospital of St John’s Cross, a still functioning Medieval Almshouse just outside of Winchester.

Grocery stores baffle me somewhat. Yes, for those who enjoy alcohol consumption there is plenty to purchase from the store shelves. What baffles me is the amount of processed foods. There is so much to choose from if you are interested in crisps, rice cakes, puddings, jellies, biscuits, deep fried munchies, chocolates, candies, soups, bacon bits, onion bits etc. If you can’t be bothered to chop your own onions or choose your veggies to make a stew or casserole no problems – the grocery store has that sorted for you, just select what type of dish you want to make and it comes all pre-packaged, just unwrap and bung it in the oven.

I do like the fact that I do not have to go to a specialist butcher’s to get duck or goose, I can easily get this at the local ASDA (for those of you in Canada, it’s like a dirty Price Choppers). And there are food items you can get that you can’t get in Canada – goose fat in a jar, various types of pickled vegetables, spatchcock chicken, duck eggs, squash, jelly babies, pork scratching etc.

And I know the Brits complain about their trains, but the UK is miles ahead compared to Canada when it comes to Public Transportation. I can pop into London by train or go practically anywhere else by train. In December I had to travel to Derbyshire for business, but it was easily done via train. When I’ve had to take the train to Ottawa from Toronto we all had to line up before we were allowed onto the platform to get onto the train. Here you just go onto the platform and enter whichever carriage is closest to you when it pulls into the station – much more civilized and speeds up the boarding process, instead of having 200 people line up in single file trying to get onto a train. Buses here are crap though! I have yet to experience a single bus in Hampshire that is on time.

Despite my observations of the amount of processed food in grocery stores here, I am eating healthier. And that is because I can purchase a small amount of meat and veg for my dinner. In Canada most of the meat in grocery stores is packaged for families, which was difficult for me as a singleton as what was I going to do with the excess chicken thighs after cooking my dinner? Eat chicken for the next 3 days? So smaller packaging has offered me the opportunity to have a nearly different dinner each night .. huzzah!

I’m also watching less television than in Canada. The UK television channels are littered with way too much home improvement programmes, antiquing shows and game shows, all of which doesn’t thrill me too much. But there have been several programmes which I try not to miss and thank the stars for iPlayer if I do  such as Top Gear, Great British Menu, Masterchef Professionals, Great British Bake Off.

Sadly I have been exposed to too much WWE Wrestling by Munkie.

New Tax Entry

I haz a new tax blog post under my Accounting Bean .. are corporations evil tax evaders? http://accountingbean.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/tax-evasion-or-tax-avoidance-are-corporations-evil-tax-cheats/

Crotchet!

Tags

crochet, crotchet, southampton, yarn

This isn’t a post about frustrations and my needing to either kill or smack someone hard. This is about the little pleasures I am finding in life.

I have been an avid addict of the crochet hook for a while now. Some of my friends have benefitted from this, having received a crocheted chthulhu from me in the past 3 years. I have made god knows how many, but it all started with a very simple question on googletalk from Yalla – he asked if I could make a chthulhu. His wife refused to make him one so he turned to someone he knew – me.

So I took it as a challenge and made my first one 3 years ago. The first one was rather clumsy looking and I have gotten better over the years. My design is mostly free-hand and is fairly simple – a spheroid body, a smaller sphere for the head, 4 sausage shapes for the arms & legs, the tentacles & 2 triangular wings. All lovingly stuffed with lavender.

I find crochet quite relaxing, it’s one of the few pleasures in life in which at the end of the day I have produced something. I am now trying to make my first ever jumper (sweater to those of you in Canada/America) and it’s slow going, but I’m getting the hang of it. Up to this point I’ve made chthulhus, hats, scarves, blankets and slippers .. oh and I once made a version of Sleipnir, Odin’s 8-legged horse.

One of the things I loved about living in Toronto was that my friend Jenn (who adores Hello Kitty, really she does, I can sense it) would host a sort of Stitch n Bitch, and I miss those; the opportunity to share our yarn, tips & tricks, and just have a lovely afternoon playing with our yarn and chatting. I have found one in Southampton and I am hoping to make it out to the next get together.

One downside to living in Southampton is that it’s difficult trying to find cheap yarn. Sometimes you don’t want to spend £4 per ball/skein and just get a bag of the cheap acrylic for something like slippers or a huge throw for the sofa. Plus side to the UK is that RuCraft has some lovely yarns I have been purchasing online and I have yet to be disappointed.

So now I want to try my hand at cross-stitching.

Madness, I know.

Trying to find an acceptable Surgeon

Tags

birch, bladder, dudderidge, exstrophy, herschorn, hospital, mitrofanoff, southampton general, stoma, urologist, urology

It’s like a merry go round for me lately, trying to find a urologist who can take care of me – in the UK. I still hugely miss Dr Herschorn as we had a good rapport, I understood him and he was vastly knowledgeable in bladder reconstruction and urological issues. Here in Hampshire I’m finding very difficult trying to find someone.
Due to a simple post I made on the Mitrofanoff Support Group’s Facebook page I was able to request a referral to a Mr Birch. I had a lovely appointment with Mr Birch yesterday and I was quite pleased with him. He was very knowledgeable about Bladder Exstrophy and the delights of having a mitrofanoff stoma – stenosis, bladder stones, bladder flushes etc. Mr Birch is trying to get a fully body MRI scheduled for me – so that we can start with taking care of me in the UK. So I was soooo pleased and felt on top of the world coming home from Hythe Hospital.

The only downside for me, with regards to Hythe Hospital, was that there was carpeting in the Out Patient clinic. I have never, ever, seen carpeting in a hospital except in an executive’s office – cos they don’t do perform anything remotely medical in their offices. I was flabbergasted to see so much carpeting – how does one go about mopping up bodily fluids? There’s a reason why most hospitals have “naked” floors – easy cleansing and hygiene.

So anywho, I get home and I then ring Southampton General Hospital. The previous night I received a letter telling me that I have an appointment with a Mr Dudderidge in March. I don’t know this man, I have never requested to be referred to him. I did cancel an appointment with Mr Hayes a couple weeks prior, mostly because his specialty is prostates and testicles. Mr Dudderidge’s specialty is prostates and testicles, mostly in the realm of using robotic devices for delicate cancer-related surgery. So I rang yesterday to cancel my appointment with Mr Dudderidge for the exact same reason – I don’t have a prostate or testicles nor do I suffer from testicular or prostate cancer. An hour later I his secretary rings me asking me to reconsider.

Supposedly Mr Dudderidge has done many mitrofanoff surgeries, all at the Royal Marsden Hospital .. bully for him. All I know about the man is what I could determine from his last 20 papers submitted to medical journals and symposiums – all about testicles, prostates and penis repair. Nothing, absolutely nothing about bladder conditions or reconstruction. So I told his secretary that I am extremely hesitant to deal with a urologist who is basically a penis doctor. After much cajoling I agreed to see him, but on my terms. I demanded that an appointment be made that is convenient for both myself and the doctor – I do not appreciate getting letters informing me when the next appointment is, I want to weigh in and let them know at the time of booking of what is available on my calendar. I shocked them, but they acquiesced to my demand of being either the first or the last appointment – that I will not be showing up for an appointment in the middle of the day.

So now I am to see Mr Dudderidge, god knows when, and I know why I got that phone call. I’ve had it before, a urologist gets excited about the prospect of “playing” with an exstrophy patient – we are rather rare and exotic and great fun for those who are tired of constantly looking at men’s bits. I’ve had urologists back in Canada try to poach me from Dr Herschorn, cos they want to make a name for themselves (cos realistically how much research do you need on how to digitally feel up a prostate?) and exstrophy is a much sexier field to be in.

Will Mr Dudderidge be acceptable – time will tell. I told his secretary yes, but I will be checking him out and he’s not adequate I will drop him immediately.

Take Ownership, for f*cks sake!

Tags

cowards, customer service, employment, payroll, uk

Why doesn’t anyone in this country take ownership and responsibility for anything? I know I am generalizing, but lately whenever I have had to deal with an issue and call Customer Service or whatnot I usually get a conversation something like this:

– Hello I would like to know when the bus is going to be coming to this bus stop by Strawberry Inc? It’s about 20 minutes late.
– It was on time when it left the depot.
– That isn’t what I asked, I asked when will it reach here? Is there a way to contact the driver to check to see how long it will be?
– I don’t know when it will reach you. I’m in Chicester, there isn’t anything I can do.
– You do work in Customer Service, yes? This isn’t the first time I have contacted your offices over a bus that appears to never be on time.
– I can’t do anything, I’m in Chicester.

I blogged about my GP getting me referred to a Urologist specializing in the cancer care of prostates and testicles, and when I asked her why her response was “I’m doing the best I can, I don’t know what your needs are”. I had actually told the stupid bint what I needed and suggested to her that in the future instead of making these unilateral decisions over patient care to actually speak to the patient.
Again, I know these are just a small number of examples, but I am finding that there seems to be issues with people taking ownership for anything. Admit that you made a mistake and then let’s move forward. But no, people are so obsessed with not taking the blame or admitting a mistake.

Today’s situation is that I did not get paid. To say I am pissed is understating it. I rang Pebble Inc and it appears that my manager at Strawberry did not sign my timesheet, even though in an email she did say “approved”. It appears that policies had changed at Pebble about a month ago and I need a physical signature.

Today’s conversation was:
- Hello I did not get paid today
- You did not get your manager’s signature
- I did get her approval, it’s in the email I forwarded along with my timesheet. You’ve been accepting it like this for the past 3 month
- You need a signature
- Can I speak to the head of Finance?
- No
- Can I get their name?
- No
- Who can I talk to to get this resolved
- You need to speak to your employment rep
- But she has nothing to do with payroll issues, that’s what you as the Payroll Department are for
- You need to speak to your rep

I managed to speak to my employment rep and supposedly she had a conversation with me a month ago about this requirement. I don’t remember this conversation. Again with the “but it’s not my fault”. I threatened to stop showing up to work until she gets everything fixed up.

Those of you who are British – why in god’s holy name does no one take ownership for problems?

I’m Homesick

Tags

momma bean, munkie, new forest, pagan, sunnybrook, uk

My Munkie is a lovely chap, he tries very hard to make me happy and content with my life in the UK. And this is good as the dreaded homesickness has hit me. I know I can romantasize about Canada and forget some of the frustrations I had whilst living there. But it was home. And I miss home.

What do I miss about home?

• Obviously my Momma Bean
• Friends – Parsnip, Jenn, Brian, Stephanie, Spiros, Lydia, Kari, Daniel, Krysia, Cat and so many others
• Friends – Parsnip, Jenn, Brian, Stephanie, Spiros, Lydia, Kari, Daniel, Krysia, Cat and so many others
• Going clothing shopping with Cat – always great fun, not only did she organize my wardrobe it was fun having girly days out
• Embolden – an open group started up by Stephanie and Spiros a couple years ago. There are a number of open rituals such as Imbolc, Beltain and Samhain if you’re of a Celtic persuasion and a number of Greek Rites to deities such as Athena, Dionysis, Apollo and Aphrodite
• The Wild Nights of Greekness – going to the Canadian Greek Communist Club for drinks and then carrying on the party to a local Greek Restaurant – with Brian, Stephanie, Spiros, Dominic and sometimes Maddy (before she left)
• Just being able to walk out my apartment building and be able to have a plethora of choices with regards to restaurant – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Thai, Greek, Napalese, Indian, etc
• The changing seasons – I miss snow. I know there was some sprinkling of the white stuff in Hampshire but it’s not the same
• I miss my 24-hr pharmacy and grocery store
• The fact that I did not have to speak to the pharmacist unless I was filling a prescription – I hate having conversations with regards to why I want to purchase Pepto Bismol or why I need some laxatives
• I miss my hospital – Sunnybrook. I was with Dr Herschorn for 22 years, his secretaries knew me and Donna in the Cystoscopy Clinic. She was so incredibly helpful to me

So Munkie is trying to get me past these feelings of homesickness. I am also feeling quite lonely and I admit I have been taking my social networking a little too seriously – because of this friendship void. I am by nature a rather shy and reserved creature. It takes me a while to trust and feel comfortable in any given situation. And unfortunately, with my working at Strawberry, I come home completely shattered without any energy to go out. So weekends is about the only time I can socialize, if I can. But every other Sunday is the Roast Dinner – which I am still trying to get used to. There I am quiet as well, as it is a self-defense mechanism for me – to crawl into my little shell.

So this past weekend we went to the Mitrofanoff Support Gala Dinner on Saturday. And on Sunday we went traipsing about the New Forest. What was sweet is that Munkie knows I miss some of my more pagany activities – so he took me to Burley which as three witchy shops and is the former home of Sybil Leek.

We did have great fun in Burley – picked up some low fat chicken sausages, I got some candles and incense and we got to meander. As well Eyeworth Pond – with Mandarin Ducks in the water. And sadly I cannot escape this – Canada Geese.

Feminist Bean?

Tags

abortion, feminism, suffragettes, women's rights

Is Feminism dead?

I nearly cried last week when one of my work colleagues said that she is most emphatically not a feminist. The word “feminist” has taken on such a horrible connotation to it. Are feminists women who have furry armpits, don’t shave their legs and hate men? Are we radicals?

I consider myself a feminist. Why? The “battle” for equality is not over. In many industrialized countries, such as the UK and Canada, women still make less than their male counterparts. The early feminists fought for the right to vote, to be treated and recognized as “persons” under the law, and for women to have the ability to have their own bank accounts and credit cards – very simple and every day items we take for granted, but never would have happened if not for the early Feminists.

What is feminism? Wikipedia has a very lovely definition:

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.^[1][2] This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment.

The goal is not to lessen the position of men, but to elevate women politically, economically and socially so that we can be recognized as equal to men. There is no hatred of men, as part of the “movement”. Feminists wants to be recognized for their abilities and to not be overlooked because they have a uterus.

So I nearly cried at work because here was a lady, who is taking advantage of all that previous generations have fought for, verbally turning her back on Feminism. But was it wrong of her?

Unfortunately “feminism” has taken on a negative reputation – possibly because those in establishment consider us shrieking harpies? And women who are not as politically aware do not want to be associated with something which many still consider distasteful?

There is currently a war going on in the United States, and it is spreading, with State Legislatures trying to put through laws which limit a woman’s ability to access abortion services – even if she were a rape or incest victim. There is a chill wind that is blowing down the corridors of power and women, and men, need to pay attention to what our legislators are up to.

Most recently New Mexico tried to put through a piece of legislation which would make it a crime to have an abortion in cases of rape or incest.

So for those ladies who feel secure with the fact that they can vote, own property in their own right, have their own bank accounts, work and go to school (university, college etc) – thank your feminist forebearers, without them you’d have nothing. And pay attention to what is happening politically, the fight isn’t over, we need to continually make sure our rights as humans are not trampled upon because we were born with a uterus.