WASPI's Swarm on Westminster in Protest

The 8th March 2017, also International Women's Day,  was the scene of a mass protest by 1950's WASPI women, some with their partners, against the Government's point blank refusal to hear our calls for fair transitional arrangements to compensate us all for our losses of up to £48,000 of stolen state pensions.

I  was delighted to be there along with so many others of the "sisterhood" and especially pleased that so many of us were able to travel down from Scotland and the North of England as well as those from as far south as Devon and Cornwall.

Our small group of ladies from Chorley, Lancashire were among the first arrivals in Old Palace Yard and already the atmosphere was truly buzzing as we started chanting "We paid in..you pay out" and "Hey, hey, Theresa May...how many women have you robbed today", enabled by our whistles, clackers, drums, pans and tambourines to make as much noise as possible. Horns were sounded, to roaring applause, by sympathetic truck and van drivers, and no-one could doubt that we were heard! The Welsh contingent then arrived en mass waiving their patriotic flag, to rapturous applause and, I kid you not, I don't think there was a 
dry eye in the crowd.

  


It was, truly, an outstandingly emotional event, as more and more throngs of purple-clad women arrived and joined the group! 

Our Twitter hero, Peter Stefanovich, gave a rousing speech, along with the Unison boss Dave Prentis, who promised massive support for our cause, and shortly after the budget reading I spotted Lord Paddy Ashdown merging with the crowd followed very soon after by the wonderful Dennis Skinner MP. 

I am assured that many more MP's came down to speak to the ladies in the square to offer their assurances of support and the only disappointment was that the media, for reasons unknown, were not allowed to cover our demonstration.

Not to be outdone though, some of us persevered and eventually one of the reporters from Russia Today, came over and did a short video interview. I want to add a big thank you to Mr Afshin Rattansi and Russia Today for their willingness to listen to us. Shame on you LBC and especially BBC1 who left it to BBC Wales to do the reporting! The video is at the bottom of this report.

Shortly after this many of us joined the long queue at St Stephen's Gate to get access the Commons Lobby from where we went on to meet with our local MP's. In our case it was Deputy Speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle, who has always been very supportive of the Waspis. It's a shame he doesn't have a voice in the Commons but he has promised to help us in any way he can. 

Mike Gaskell, Lindsay's Parliamentary Press Secretary, very kindly obtained some tickets for us to visit the gallery of the Chamber and we spent an enjoyable half hour watching the Proceedings before finally setting off, extremely tired, but joyously happy, back to Euston for the two hour journey home.

All in all, a great day! New friendships were created and I for one am looking forward to many more and like all of you will not give up the fight for our rights.     

WE PAID IN...YOU PAY OUT!!!

                                                

                         Russia Today with the Waspi's

Here's my own short video - proof that the Waspi's were making lots of noise!

    

WASPI Ladies Need Not Struggle To Survive!

I had an interesting day yesterday, on Twitter, discussing some of the feedback from my blog "The Waspi Dilemma - To Heat or To Eat".

It seems that while the majority of my readers were grateful for the advice I gave, mainly gleaned from my own personal experience, there were a few who appeared to usher in a word of caution.

I had received a message from a Waspi lady who was on a zero hours contract but who was mainly working 12 hours per week, with the odd 20 hours per week when available. See hadn't specifically stated how many occasions she actually worked for 20 hours so I, rightly or wrongly, assumed that she could qualify for Working Tax Credit (WTC) by stating that she worked for an average of 16 hours per week.

It seems that some people felt that I was encouraging the lady in question to lie about her hours in order to qualify. This is most definitely not the case. Whilst it is perfectly acceptable to state an "average of 16 hours per week", obviously this must be the truth or, as one of my critics rightly pointed out, you could be accused of benefits fraud.

The main point of my blog was to highlight the fact that WTC is also paid to people who are self-employed and I illustrated this by explaining my own situation as an Ebay Business Seller in addition to my small printing business and my employed position as a Wine Adviser, which is also "zero hours".

In the case of the lady in question, all she has to do to be within the law and entitled to claim WTC is to work an extra four hour a week on a self-employed basis. This is obviously not that difficult for those of us who have access to the internet and can use a computer but I understand that not everyone wants to be an Ebay seller!

So here are some ideas that you might like to consider that you could do from home as a business.

Are you artistic? Do you have a flair for designing and making things? What about designing t-shirts or knitting baby clothes? Do you like photography? There are websites that will pay you for your photos. Can you write? Become a freelance writer and get paid for your work - or write a book. Become a blogger and Google how to make money from your Blog. Good at organising? Become an event or wedding planner! Crafty? Make gift items and sell them online or a local markets/wedding fayres. Do you have accounting experience? Become a freelance book-keeper and offer your services to local businesses.Good at baking cakes? Make them and sell them to your friends or through the internet.

I could go on but I think you get the idea! Find something you love to do that you could do for a minimum of 16 hours a week, or less if you already have some paid work, and you can claim Working Tax Credits of anything between £10 and £130 per week to top up your income.

So ladies, and gentlemen, don't hold back. Go to the HMRC website and check out the online calculator to see how much you could claim. Do it now!!

Finally, an appeal. If you know any 1950's lady who lives in the Chorley, Lancashire area who would like to join the WaspiChorleySupportersGroup please ask them to contact me by email at waspichorley@gmail.com. I would be delighted to welcome them to our group.


Thanks for visiting!