French IT firm Atos saying they are planning to pull out of Work Capability Assessments, the shambolic and cruel tests designed to strip away benefits from sick and disabled people, is the most humiliating blow yet for Iain Duncan Smith’s bodged attempt at reforming social security.
In a stunning victory for campaigners, Atos say the Work Capability Assessment isn’t working, for them, claimants themselves and even the hapless DWP. The attempt at early withdrawal from the contract comes just days after protests were held outside Atos assessment centres in towns and cities across the UK.
If ATOS pulls out of this bludgeoning of the sick and disabled, it will be due to the sustained persistence of those who campaigned relentlessly against their savage implementation of the DWP policy, of punishing the most vulnerable in our society. It is of course only a partial victory, as there is an army of blood sucking leeches waiting to jump into the place vacated by ATOS. It is Ian Duncan Smith and the whole stinking system that he represents that has to be flushed down the toilet.
We are a very rich country, we can afford to keep a family of parasites, that we call "Royals" in unimaginable splendour and pomp, we can buy and maintain the most expensive weapon systems on the planet, we can spend billions of pounds on spectacles such as Olympics, Commonwealth Games, we can indulge in endless wars. However, we can't keep our sick and vulnerable in reasonable comfort, we have people dying from hypothermia, because they can't afford to heat their homes, and we have 25% of our children living in poverty. Any sane person can't accept this, we have the wealth and resources for a fair and just society, all created by the people, but sadly we leave that abundant wealth in the hands of thieving parasites, and call it a market economy, as if that made everything OK. We can do better than this.
