Occupy London

What kind of things or jobs do electrical engineers do (forgive my ignorance)? And are there jobs in autism outside the (shrinking) public sector?

Thanks Disputandum, though unless I've missed something (haven't had tme to read all the comments), the vast majority of comments seem to agree with the article. Couldn't see any major new areas/errors highlighted.

Well, we will see- fortunately we are both skilled (DH about to graduate in electrical engineering and MA for me in Autism) and can work from home so we have a chance.

Eurgh, Peachy - know from family that used to live there that SE Wales is not an easy one at the best of times...which isn't now. On the upside, the cost of living is a bit cheaper, but...know that's not a lot of comfort, as half of nothing is still nothing.

Try again !

B&B sadly, bloody S E Wales. He has a small business that has seen us through uni and I am trying to set one up in my field as well but typically my field is a cuts one (disability).

Sink or swim eh, keeps life interesting!

Sorry, link doesn't work. Could you repost?

Here's another link to the Monbiot article, as it appeared in the <a class="break-all" href="//Gwww.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/03/bins-roads-wars-george-osborne" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Guardian. I prefer it cos then you get the comments too.

Good luck Peachy - whereabouts in the country are you looking?

WMMC - did you bother to click on the link that weeonion helpfully posted above?

Really worth reading, so I'll post it again for your convenience:

www.monbiot.com/2011/10/03/more-cuts-please/

It explains that - even if you accept the Tories' arguments that cuts need to be made, and the level of those cuts - there are numerous other areas that could be cut instead, without causing the sort of impact that cuts to the NHS or the disabled, for example, would have.

The current cuts are ideological in that the same amount could be raised from many means - there is no financial reason to target the NHS specifically.

SWC - I don't think I can ever take you seriously again after your attempt to claim, with a straight face, that our NHS is not as highly regarded as those in continental Europe, and that therefore we should abandon the evil 'staus quo' and embrace Tory cuts and privatisation. Whilst it may well be true that the NHS is less well regarded than local versions in continental European countries it seems to have escaped your notice that this is because these countries all spend a far HIGHER share of GDP on their (STATE not private) health services, which are then, correspondingly, better.

So somewhat undermining your own argument, by a long way.

We'll all be rooting for you Peachy ...

It's so unfair that families like yours have to bear the brunt of government's policies. As you say, you have done nothing to cause the problems.

I sympathise Peachy. And I've been made redundant (twice) thankfully pre-kids. It's a constant battle for everyone to stay in work. Unless you have one of those jobs that no other bugger wants to do (I'm told funeral directing is one of the safest professions in Britain in terms of job security).

I can only wish you luck. I can't imagine how traumatic it is to be under the stress of knowing your children's lives rely on an interview. :(

Perhaps, I am not sure I have been doing the bonkers birt though- no debt etc. Only thing that stopped us being self sufficient was a redundancy.

But if we cannot finds work in a very narrow time frame ( when Dh qualifies + about 8 weeks) then we lose the rented house. Lose the house means social housing. As we have specialist needs (SSD has decided ASD boys need separate rooms for safety) then we will have to go into temp accom awaiting that: SSD would foster 2 most severe boys out whilst we are doing that.

Now that is not 30% as bad. For me, as with any Mum, that would be a layer of devastation that I fight the horror of daily.

I understand that Peachy. And I worry for elderly relatives. And I worry for disabled people I know. But I also acknowledge that it will shake down to be about 30% as bad as you think (which will be bad, but not as bad as it could be). And people are massively resourceful when forced to be. I hope, for your sake as much as mine, that it'll work out. Because it sort of has to, we are not a bottomless pit of money.

The problem is we all have our own idea of what is important. And none of us has entirely got it right. I don't have the answer, but I know what's we have been doing is bonkers in the extreme.

Thing is WMMC you might be able to accept it and move on

Me, I am petrified what happens to my SN boys as I see all the services they need to have any chance of working or anything at all vanishing.

I can't just accept everything that is cut, I would do them a massive disservice if I did.

Someone will be along shortly to tell you that we can afford it, chocolate, if we only fleece the rich, fleece the corporate overlords and clamp down on tax avoidance.

If you display scepticism you may well be accused of lacking imagination, being an apathetic sheep or working out of millbank.

Breadandbutterfly actually, having read the documents I know a lot of it won't be going through and the slimmed down version is not actually that bad. And frankly whether or not it worries me doesn't matter we can't afford to go on like this

Glasnost wow rent a gob. You are a classy woman to be sure

I'm not the one bitter about the state of the UK. I just accept it and actually move on. You're the one harking for a bygone age of overspending and irresponsibility.

But hey, my kids believe in the tooth fairy, there's room enough in the society for people with funny ideas.

Incidentally, I'll be at the stock exchange on Tuesday working. Will give you a wave shall I while you sit idle outside.

swc I think others will agree that protecting the status quo lacks both ambition and imagination. However, it would certainly be preferable to the wholesale fragmentation and privatisation proposed by this crock of shite Bill.

Loving your work ukuncut and thanks for the link op

I am genuinely a bit taken aback by the sheer snideyness and sidelining of what is an important issue by dismissing it as student union politics and the like. Protesting about the NHS - the NHS for Gods sake, it's one of the things that makes the UK stand out - as somehow being on a par with growing dreadlocks and being terribly earnest in an indie pub.

Be anti NHS if you like, be apathetic if you like, but to be so reductive and cynical about real people's real concerns is very strange to me.