“this government has decided to open up that hole at the bottom of the ladder so that those people on the bottom rung can now be knocked off into the poverty that the Welfare State was designed to avoid.”
“claimants rights should be strengthened by a contract that specifies what needs to be in place before they can successfully look for work: housing, food, transport, IT, support etc and the first step addressing these issues with no sanctions until it is proved to be in place.”
“We ended up in a 12ft square room in Slough’s red-light district – all five of us. Water ran down the walls, we had a cupboard in which a loo, mini basin and a mouldy shower were all we had for personal hygiene.”
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I Daniel Blake
Sheffield Equality Group meeting
Sheffield Showroom, meet 6pm for 6:15pm screening, Wednesday 2nd November. Meet for discussion afterwards in the Showroom Bar, all welcome!
Also screening at:
She concluded that the film “is patronising and simplistic, an hour and 40 minutes of misery porn for smug Londoners”. And that’s when I worried she was right. And that’s when I wanted to prove her wrong. … How can I change that? How can I try to help people facing hardship in my own pitifully small way?
Is there anything “smug Londoners” can do? (Lynn Enright – The Pool)
“
Having seen I, Daniel Blake twice, I have both times been left a shivering wreck by this sequence, awash with tears, aghast with anger, overwhelmed by the sheer force of its all-but-silent scream.” (Mark Kermode – The Guardian)
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Forthcoming
What is Quantitative Easing anyway?
Monday 31st October, 7.30pm-9pm, Quaker Meeting House, 10 St James St. S1 2EW
What is Quantitative Easing anyway? The Bank of England has spent an enormous amount of money – £375 billion – on Quantitative Easing (QE), and is going to add £70 billion more. Positive Money is campaigning against this, and even the Prime Minister has complained about its “bad side effects”. How is QE supposed to work, what’s wrong with it, and could it be replaced with something else? All welcome.
Postcapitalism Reading Group
Tuesday 1st November, 7.30pm, The Bath Hotel, 66 Victoria St. S3 7QL
A group which welcomes new members interested in reading political books. The discussion is from a variety of left-wing/anti-capitalist viewpoints. Now starting a new book: “Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work” by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams [2015]. This meeting, in the small side room in the Bath Hotel, will be a discussion of Chapter 1.
Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise – Open Steering Group
Tuesday 8th November 7 – 9pm, Central United Reformed Church, Norfolk Street
Following the extraordinary success of our public launch meeting on Friday 14th October with John McDonnell MP, with over 250 people in attendance, the hard work must start! You are cordially invited to attend our inaugural Steering Committee meeting.
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