Eccentric Seal

People who know me may remember the times when I used to bring my baby to meetings with me. The seal pup has been to anarchist bookfairs, conferences on Scottish independence, planning meetings, public meetings, meetings to wind up failing leftist sects, meetings to decide the content of workshops, meetings to deliver the content of workshops. I’ve even taken him to day long meetings in which I have discussed social reproduction, in the abstract and at length, while demonstrating the reality of said social reproduction even as I spoke, positioning him on a breast or jigging him about on a hip. And through all these meeting, baby has smiled and amused himself quietly with linky toys and slept peacefully in my arms and everyone has said “What a good baby” and I have been smug and complacent and thought how easy it is to combine motherhood with activism. Well, that's all gone now.  Baby still loves meetings. He’s always happy to be taken to a meeting. It’s just t...

I am sitting in the community centre on my estate, attending a meeting on the Bedroom Tax.  25 people have turned out. Not too bad for a weekday evening, but then these are worried people.   A lot of them are looking at a 14% increase in on their rent. That’s £11, maybe £15 depending on the property. (1) The bedroom only affects people on benefits. So everyone here is on the breadline anyway. There is no way anyone here has a spare £11 per week. This is food from their children’s mouths.  Or from the electricity, which everyone pays by key meter and is off half the time already.   I’m here as a benefits advisor, in case any legal questions come up.  The idea is that maybe I can answer them. And I can, but only to crush any residual hope that might be remaining. There are very few loopholes in this one.  From now on Housing Benefit will only cover one room for each couple, an extra room for any single adult and one room between every two ki...