SHOULD CHEMOTHERAPY PATIENTS BE LOOKING FOR WORK?

The UK government's Department of Work and Pensions has proposed a policy in its desperation to save money at any cost (as it spends more and more on JSA because of the catastrophic economic situation). This policy would see cancer sufferers, even ones currently on chemotherapy, made to undergo work availability interviews at the Jobcentre.


No, it's true apparently. 


So, your hair is falling out on your pillow, you've never felt more sick in your life, you are weak, fragile, and you look awful. All you want to do is curl up in bed and hope that this awful feeling will go away.


You're not even sure that it will work. You may have gone through all this for nothing. You may die. You have a certificate from the hospital. At least all that is taken care of.


But no. You haven't taken the Iain Duncan Smith element into consideration. The job centre writes telling you to appear before them on Tuesday at 9.30 am. There is a bold line at the bottom of the letter which tells you in stark terms that failure to attend this interview will result in your (meagre) benefits being cut off.


Just imagine.


So two Liberal bloggers from the sidebar bloglist, Caron and George, have put together a petition to the government to try to stop them implementing this most desperate of policies.


They reckon they may be pushing at an open door as their Liberal colleagues and even one or two of the Tories, find that it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth to do this to people. And it's so pointless. After all, just how many employers would be likely to take on someone undergoing chemo?


I wish the petition success. After all, it could be me...or you one day. 


And there's a limit to how low even this UK government can sink, surely.