As you've probably noticed, I've been posting less on this blog than usual. This has been partly due to pressure of other work, but also because I'm finding that my strip cartoon 'The Criptarts' has taken a stronger hold on my creativity. I'm finding that instead of creating a single cartoon around an issue and then writing something to accompany it, as I've been doing with this blog for several years now, my pen gravitates towards the blank frames of the Criptart...

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You can never really be sure just how much of the stuff that get's posted onto Facebook is accurate or just another attempt by someone to stir things up or to act as an agent provocateur (surely not?! - Ed). The following has been posted on the 'The People Vs The Government, DWP and Atos' Facebook page. If it's true then it's mind boggling, but then I've ceased to be amazed at what this government are capable of. Anyway, see what you think ... (Post begins) I work...

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Why is it that when this government is shown to be making up its own figures about the number of people who are allegedly fraudulently claiming benefits - those who are sick, disabled, elderly or unemployed - people continue to believe them? The government would have everyone believe that taxes and national insurance contributions from hard-earned income are being fed to this monster with an insatiable appetite. How can we allow the government to continue making these outrageous statements...

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Dear Comic Relief, have your ears been burning lately? They should have been, because you have been a hot topic amongst members of the disabled people's community over the past month. Things came to a head recently when Prime Minister David Cameron appeared on your fund-raising music video with One Direction. Many disabled people - who are being subjected to massive cuts in their benefits, allowances and legal rights - felt that this was one PR stunt too far! In fact, I understand that...

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Currently running on Facebook is a campaign lambasting the Comic Relief 'Red Nose' day because, they say: "(We) are annoyed and distressed at Comic Relief's decision to include David Cameron in the video to this year's charity single by One Direction. They then go on to list all of the atrocities committed by Cameron, aimed at sick and disabled people, and those on benefits or on a low income. Firstly, let me make it clear that I agree wholeheartedly with this group's stance against...

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There's a new kid on the block folks ... Identifying himself as 'Bonk Bipolar' (inspired from the Criptart character) he'll be adding his thoughts and feelings to the DAO Blog section on a regular basis.  He boldly opens up his head and heart and invites us to follow him along some extraordinary paths. So let me introduce you to his unique style of poetry/rapping with this piece entitled Wrap Rap. Wrap Rap Too many ideas to achieve today, so many thoughts that have run away. Often I gaze...

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One of the things I enjoy about being part of the Disability Arts on Line (DAO) family is that it provides for me a unique platform on which I can present my more adventurous cartoons. Take the Criptarts for example. I haven't a clue where it's going each week and the end result is usually more of a surprise to me than to you. Of course I've got a rough outline in my mind for each episode, but it's as though the characters come alive once I've started to lay them out in the strip and they just...

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Hands up all those Crips who know what's going to happen in 2013. Yes, you've got it, the Government are stopping Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and replacing it with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment or PIP. This is the new system by the way that most disablity organisations claim is not fit for purpose and will leave some half a million disabled people without benefits after change over. You'll remember that the government pushed through these changes under the Welfare...

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Living on an island we could be forgiven for thinking that the harsh cuts that are being inflicted on us Crips in the UK are unique and out of step with the rest of Europe. Wrong! Listening to disabled people in France, Greece and especially Spain, we hear that the exact same policies of cuts to benefits and services, along with an orchestrated move to get us all back into institutions, is taking place throughout Europe. Thousands of disabled people rallied in Madrid last week to protest...

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This week I’ve handed my blog spot over to an artist whose medium is being creative with the airways. Her name is Merry Cross who, apart from being a presenter on Reading community radio, is also well known as a disabled activist and one of the organisors of the Berkshire Disabled People Against Cuts movement. Here’s her contribution: Community Radio for disabled presenters "Years ago, it struck me that radio is an ideal medium for virtually all disabled people, except...

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Several people have commented recently that my cartoons have become more 'dark' of late. I suppose that it's inevitable considering the subject matter to hand these days; disabled people dying after having their benefits stopped, the government disassembling the welfare state and taking equality back to the dark ages, what can you expect? I'm not consciously looking for bleaker material you understand. It's just that it's being thrust into our faces everywhere we turn. Even the so called 'right...

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I read a letter in a local newspaper the other day. The writer was praising David Cameron for reducing the number of people who were on benefits and for making them work for a living instead of scrounging off the state. He seemed to think that some 60% of those people on benefits had now been found work by the government, freeing up a considerable amount of money from the welfare fund. Where on earth had he got this evidence from? Surely he didn't just rely on the government or the right wing...

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Several nights ago, a young disabled woman was at home on her own when a knock at the door heralded the arrival of police officers from the local constabulary. She claims that there aim was to intimidate her into stopping posting comments on Facebook critical of government cuts and specifically the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and their attacks on the rights of disabled claimants! Several other reports have now filtered in of similiar tactics by police in other areas. It's...

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It is being stated that physical and sexual abuse has been prevalent within mental hospitals, disability institutions and care establishments throughout the UK for the past 50 years. Many of the incidents that were reported were allegedly ignored, either because the resident or patient was not believed or because it was not considered in the 'best interest' of the care community to make such allegations public. Now we have a growing list of statements made by people who were...

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Someone in Parliament has finally found the guts to stand up and accuse the DWP of being totally inept in its dealings with ATOS. I  didn't have much time for Margaret Hodge MP, especially when she was Minister for Disabled People, but her recent statement in the House of Commons as Chair of the Public Accounts Committe will have redeemed her in the eyes of many of us Crips. Pulling no punches, she told MPs: "The DWP's management of this contract has been unacceptably loose...

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It's like a feeding frenzy out there. All the funding that was originally allocated to us Crips to enable us to live and work out in the community seems to be slowly but surely eaten away by the vultures of private enterprise. You'll know about the biggest vulture, I take it? The French company ATOS who've had the contract to get as many disabled people off Benefit as they can. As an added incentive, the ConDems also gave ATOS a bonus for every Benefit payment that they stop. And...

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Disabled people across the country are furious following the Prime Minister's comments at the Tory party conference about his own experiences based on his late disabled son and father. He painted a rosy picture of the lives of disabled people in the UK following the recent Paralympics and that people were now "seeing the person and not the wheelchair". Although as one pundit commented, thanks to his policies people saw neither the person or the wheelchair, but instead saw a...

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Following the sad demise of yet another Disability Arts organisation due to funding cuts, I'm letting my cartoon speak for itself this week ...

RIP dada South/Ardent Hare

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For those of you too young to have seen the 1973 film Soylent Green with Charlton Heston this cartoon won't have the same impact on you that it will to us oldies. It was basically about a futuristic government getting rid of its dissidents and solving a world wide food crisis by turning them into food - Soylent Green! We're being such a pain in the arse to the present Tory government that it's a wonder they haven't thought of this as a solution for us! Remember ... you are what...

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Like hundreds of other disabled people in the UK today, Adam Lotun has experienced verbal and physical abuse, has been spat at, pushed off the pavement in his wheelchair into oncoming traffic and accused of single handedly bringing this Country to the brink of bankruptcy by claiming disability benefits. Now on top of this, like thousands of other disabled people in the UK, Adam has been subjected to the ATOS work capability process and as a result has had his benefits cut and his accessible...

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Beware men from the Ministry wielding paint brushes.

Nothing is as black and white as it appears, especially when Crippen links badger culling to thinning out the ranks of us Crips ... puts a whole new spin on painting by numbers!
 

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For those historians amongst us you'll have realised by now that this Tory government is just another manifestation of the idle rich, raping and pillaging their way through the land with their eyes very much fixed on the short term. As far back as ancient Rome, the various emperors manipulated public opinion and made sure that there were plenty of scapegoats to blame for the decline in the standard of living. They also became very adept at creating colourful distractions in order to...

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When these latest figures hit my in tray this week I couldn't help wondering if this was further evidence of the effect of the government's targeting of disabled people? Police figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show that there has been a rise in hate crimes against disabled people during the past two years. Although some of this could be attributed to an increased willingness to report such crimes, more than 2,000 such offences were recorded in 2011, which is up a third...

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Can we dare to believe it ... According to a report in the Daily Mirror on-line, outraged athletes have lined up to slam PM David Cameron and his beleaguered Chancellor George Osborne in a storm that threatens to taint tonight’s ­ Paralympic closing ceremony. It claims that Team GB’s Paralympic athletes have launched a furious attack on the Government over ­savage plans to slash vital disability payments. Last week George Osborne was booed as he appeared in front of an...

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He's at it again ... the so called comedian Frankie Boyle is once again attempting to get laughs aimed at disabled people. This time his target is the disabled athletes taking part in the 2012 Paralympics. And not content with adding this material into his current road show, he's now also tweeting the 'jokes' to his fans. This is the man who found so much to laugh at when watching people who have Cerebral Palsy or those with learning difficulties. Encouraging his fans to laugh...

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