Climate Catastrophe is staring us in the face. Record temperatures, wild fires, and intense destructive storms can’t be ignored.
The U.S. Military is the largest consumer of oil and largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world. In the name of “defense” the U.S. military is carbon bombing the planet.
‘Long Covid’ is a name given to permanent or semi permanent crippling, from the virus or the vaccines. The mass media shows little interest or attention to the millions of us victims with a huge range of symptoms which often just won’t go away. Research suggests the variety is because the ‘spike protein’ in the virus and vaccines DOES get into the bloodstream and lymphatic system and wreaks havoc with essential cells, causing inflammation in our brains, hearts and other organs.
The DWP is sitting on a Long-Covid benefits timebomb which may be about to explode, if statistics from the ONS and the DWP’s own figures are to be believed. Hundreds of thousands of people are now potentially eligible for PIP (Personal Independence Payment) and other benefits, as a result of developing the condition.
962,000 people were experiencing symptoms of Long-Covid that had lasted more than four weeks.
385,000 people who were still experiencing symptoms first had (or suspected they had) COVID-19 at least one year previously.
Symptoms adversely affected the day-to-day activities of 634,000 people (65.9% of those with self-reported Long-Covid), with 178,000 (18.5%) reporting that their ability to undertake their day-to-day activities had been “limited a lot”.
Fatigue was the most common symptom reported as part of individuals’ experience of Long-Covid (535,000 people), followed by shortness of breath (397,000), muscle ache (309,000), and difficulty concentrating (295,000).
Anyone familiar with PIP qualifying criteria will recognise that may of these symptoms are extremely common grounds for eligibility for PIP.
Someone experiencing fatigue, shortness of breath and muscle ache may have difficulties with many PIP point scoring activities, such as washing and bathing, dressing and undressing and moving around.
Difficulty concentrating may well affect activities including preparing food, reading, making budgeting decisions and planning and following journeys.
The fact that 178,000 people are still experiencing symptoms after a year suggests that it is now clear that Long-Covid is a condition which will often meet the 3 month qualifying period and the 9 month prospective test for PIP.
According to a recent article in Nature, scientists do not yet know whether vaccines prevent Long-Covid and whether vaccinations for people who already have the condition will make it better or worse.
The article also suggested that there is no link between how severe the initial episode of Covid is and the severity of Long-Covid, in those who go on to develop the condition.
It also highlights the similarities between Long-Covid and ME/CFS, which is often linked to viral infections and is the basis of many, often bitterly contested, PIP claims.
Scientists cited by Nature found an even wider range of symptoms than the ONS study, including physical impairments, mental-health difficulties such as anxiety, and cognitive impairments in areas such as memory and language.
All this means that the current rapid increase in infection rates could lead to many thousands more people suffering a debilitating and long-term condition that could give rise to entitlement to benefits.
It will not just be PIP that people with these symptoms may be eligible for, income replacement benefits such as employment and support allowance and universal credit are also relevant.
According to the most recent PIP statistics, released last month and covering the quarter to April 2021, new PIP claims have reached an all-time record high.
Reports of changes of circumstances are also at a record high. It is likely that Long-Covid will exacerbate some symptoms for people who already have another health condition, leading them to report a change of circumstances.
This rise is unlikely to simply be the result of things getting back to normal as the country opens up again. PIP claims were already running 5% higher than the previous year by January of this year and changes of circumstances were 18% higher.
So, the continued rise is likely to be due to other factors. The lack of availability of many planned and routine treatments, meaning that people’s conditions worsen, is probably one.
But the appearance of Long-Covid and people’s realisation that they may not get well for a very long time, if at all, is undoubtedly an important part of the picture.
And with infection rates on the rise again, the number of people who develop Long-Covid is likely to be rapidly increasing too.
Expect to see a new PIP (Personal Independence Payment) battleground opening up if, as seems quite possible, the DWP try to refuse claims on the grounds that the condition does not meet the 9 months prospective test, in spite of all the evidence that for hundreds of people it will.
From Canada and the United States to Russia and even the Arctic, record-breaking heatwaves are putting lives, livelihoods, and communities at risk. The soaring temperatures not only pose individual health dangers, but they also put entire ecosystems and communities at increased risk of wildfires and failures of power grids.
Israel was the star pupil of vaccinations.. but do they even work? We’ve heard so many tall stories by now that no one believes in the next wave of vaccinated victims . And everyone knows about the plague of post vaccination deaths and serious injuries. But hey, what can we do …RESIST
Also in the US there are ”big numbers of ‘breakthrough’ cases” even after the CDC decided NOT TO COUNT cases of Covid after vaccination unless the victims are hospitalized and have no other pathologies , only Covid 19. ..COVER-UP: CDC Caught Cooking the Books on COVID Vaccines
Les ha costado a los poderes, tanto los formales como los fácticos y tenebrosos, hacer la digestión de la lucha social contra la conscripción que culminó con la insumisión y la desaparición de la mili, esa escuela de adoctrinamiento social y de degradación moral, pero al final, parece que ya la han hecho y quieren volver por las andadas.
No es la primera vez que la sombra de la vuelta de la conscripción, civil y militar, reaparece en la agenda de la élite política. Un repaso a la hemeroteca nos deja un paisaje de políticos, tanto del PP y del PSOE como de otras fuerzas parlamentarias (incluidos los partidos de izquierda de inspiración militarista) y de capitostes militares que suspiran por la reaparición de la mili y la reintroducción de otras modalidades de disciplinamiento social patriótico.
Hasta ahora no se han atrevido a pasar de las nostalgias y los deseos, pero parece que ahora la cosa va más allá y animados por la excusa de la pandemia (que más bien parece una pandemia social que sanitaria) quieren reimplantar los servicios forzosos por razones de seguridad.
This impressive and comprehensive contribution caps a canny few years of the careful development of the Tyneside Anarchist Archive. This phenomenon started life as bundles of leaflets and zines from the 1980s boxed in the founder’s bedroom, and subsequently – inspired by examples such as the Kate Sharpley Library in London as well as Newcastle’s Canny Little Library – has grown into an important and extensive collection of material not only from Tyneside and North East England but also books, journals and magazines representing much of the history and records of the activities of anarchists and fellow-travellers across the UK and further afield. But it is the local and regional texture which sparkles in this volume, written with the intention of providing a ‘history from below’ to match the corresponding libertarian…
Following the (completely contrived) Capitol Hill “riot” on January 6th, Joe Biden made it clear – or rather, the people that control Joe Biden made it clear – “domestic terrorism” was going to be a defining issue of his presidency.
Indeed, in an act of startling prescience, the incoming administration had been talking about a new “Domestic Terrorism Bill” for well over three months before the “riot” happened. The media had been calling for one for at least six. Major universities were writing papers about it.
