Still re-covering...

I think I'm going to need a toasted teacake soon. 

It's not what you'd usually follow a large glass of Rioja with, and you wouldn't usually have a large glass of Rioja with a samosa, of course, but if you've read Limited Capability you'll have a bit of a clue of what these bits and pieces are for (and that the samosas for the cover photo of Episode Ten should be veggie ones, not lamb!)

I've now either found or staged photos for the covers of the first eleven (out fourteen) episodes of Limited Capability.  Three to go!  Without straying too far into Spoilerland, I've used a portion of a photo from a real-life first birthday party for the cover of Episode Six, our Christmas tree from a couple of years ago for Episode Seven, a wintery shot taken in a much smaller garden than the splendidly romantic grounds of Andromeda House for Eight and a suitably muted shot across Southampton Water for Episode Nine.

Episode Eleven has a very bland cover (the water in a swimming pool); I had a more interesting alternative in mind but this struck me, somewhat perversely, as a good choice for the episode reviewed as 'boring' - especially as nobody has yet put in a review to defend it!

So all that are left to do are those for Twelve, Thirteen and Fourteen.  I can see all of them in my mind's eye, but I haven't got anything in stock that meets the spec, so won't get them in the camera lens for a little while.

The tweaks to the text that I've spotted as necessary after a paperback proof-read have also been made to all the episodes with new covers, but I'm expecting more corrections when I get feedback from 'the team' checking for mistakes.  I'm sure that, as previously, fresh eyes will pick up things I've missed. 

And then I've got to finish my revised cover design for the paperback, and order a fresh proof copy for checking before it 'goes live' for sale.  It's amazing how much work there is still to do when you've finished writing a book!

Short stories

On location - Burleigh Pottery, as featured in my 'Too Write' entry.

At the end of last month, I finally put the finishing touches to my short story entry for the forthcoming Stoke-on-Trent Literary Festival.  That's the one with The Sun among the sponsors, as if self-publishing ebooks via Amazon wasn't enough of an ethical dilemma for a leftie feminist writer of claimant-friendly counter propaganda...

Being in the habit of giving away my literary efforts (at least the ebooks - on the basis that if Amazon don't pay tax and don't pay a living wage to their staff, we shouldn't pay them either), I was tempted to post the short story on here now, but I'm not sure whether that would break 'the rules' for the competition.  I will post it, in full afterwards, come what may.  I have already warned my friends that it contains no politics, no benefits, and none of 'that sort of thing'.  But it does contain a character you may have met before.

With my short story safely filed, I planned to get back to work on my long stories, but in the event spent last week composing even shorter ones, as part of our on-going benefits take-up campaign.  Using a fairly rough-and-ready calculation, we've worked out that if there are (as the DWP and HMRC estimate) £16 billion in unclaimed benefits and tax credits left sitting in the Treasury's coffers every year, about £50 million of that is owed to people in Stoke-on-Trent.  And if, as Age UK estimate, every year £5 billion in benefits for older people isn't claimed, about a third of what's owed to Stokies is due to local pensioners.

So yesterday was spent at a stand in the Potteries Shopping Centre, offering people little leaflets with these headline figures about 'Stoke-on-Trent's Missing Millions' on one side, and a 'short story' on the other.  About Jean and John, a pensioner couple entitled to full Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support - but only if Jean claimed a benefit that couldn't actually be paid to her.  About Lucy, another pensioner, who qualified for Guarantee Credit and other goodies only after her income went up.  And Mark, who got 100% rebate on his Council Tax when his Employment and Support Allowance increased, but paid 30% when he was poorer.  There are some parts of the Social Security system that could have been created by the Brothers Grimm - and some that are just grim. 

There were also tales with happy endings for a young family with a disabled child, a guy returning to work after illness and a pair of potentially star-crossed lovers who didn't think they could afford to live together (but could, thanks to Tax Credits).  Hopefully some of the leaflets will find their way to people who'll say 'that's a bit like our story', and claim what they're due.

But it's not all happy news.  Our local council are re-running a campaign against fraud, and while it's supposedly against fraud generally, it's only the benefit fraud and Blue Badge abuse cases that seem to make the papers.  The campaign posters ask 'Know a Cheat on your Street?', encouraging neighbours to report each other and are adorned with a photo of a cheetah.  No doubt a few folk up to no good will be turned in, but it's completely the opposite message to the one me and my colleagues are trying to promote, and will put the very people off claiming that we are trying to reach.

And I can't help wondering how many real life Lyns and Terrys will go through the misery of being under suspicion with vital payments suspended and Court action threatened, Severe Discomfort style, and all because someone in their street thinks they're a cheat.

Part of the Union



Demonstrating for the NHS in Manchester

 It's a Bank Holiday weekend and all I've got for you is a repeat!  But it seems like an appropriate choice for May Day.  Here's an article my Trade Union, Unite, put on their 'Unite for Our Community' blog earlier in the year... 

If you’re a welfare rights adviser exasperated by programmes like ‘Benefits Street’, how do you tell people what life on Social Security is really like without breaching your clients’ confidentiality?  Stoke-on-Trent Citizens Advice Bureau Training Officer and former benefits specialist Sarah Honeysett thinks she has an answer – she writes what her colleagues have nicknamed ‘welfare rights lit’.

Sarah’s first novel, Severe Discomfort, follows a middle-aged couple’s fight to clear their names of an accusation of Social Security fraud.  Despite the subject matter, it’s an upbeat story with a good helping of humour, a light-heartedly naughty romance and a devious, hypocritical villain, but it also challenges many myths and stereotypes about benefit claimants and the Social Security system.  The unlikely heroes Lyn and Terry Walker wouldn’t dream of appearing on ‘Reality TV’ and no television company would be interested in such apparently dull people - but their circumstances are the reality for many working-age claimants.  They’re reliant on benefits after tough, responsible working lives and - at least at first - are well-supported by a benefits system set up to give them a decent standard of living, despite their disabilities.

“When I started work in the 1980s recession there was a lot of compassion for people who were out of work,” says Sarah.  “Since then, reality TV shows and documentaries such as Saints and Scroungers, On the Fiddle, Skint and now Benefits Street have painted a picture of a Social Security system open to abuse, with benefits supposedly available as a ‘lifestyle choice’. But the rules for claiming whether you’re a lone parent, unemployed or sick are very much tougher now than they were in the Thatcher years, and getting harsher still.  I hope this story will encourage people to take a more sympathetic attitude and think about how they would cope in Lyn and Terry’s shoes.”

Sarah has pledged the profits from sales of both Severe Discomfort and its sequel, Continual Supervision, to Stoke-on-Trent CAB.  Paperbacks of both stories are available from proper tax-paying bookshops, and Kindle versions are available from Amazon.

You can see the original article here - and read other news and views on how Unite is fighting for its Voluntary Sector members.
http://www.uniteforoursociety.org/blog/entry/the-other-side-of-benefits-street/