Liverpool Care Pathway - The Likely Customers

"If you can catch their eye, you've got their attention and you're in."






The elderly are of a generation old enough to have made a personal sacrifice or to remember that of their parents or to have been displaced in this extraordinary attempt to save OUR children.

An army of children were taken away and billeted with strangers; well-meaning strangers, but still strangers. These were the evacuees.

“By this time I wanted my Mummy and Daddy and to be back in that little terraced house all together again. 

Later, in a strange cold bed at the end of that long weary day, I hid under the bedclothes and cried. Then I remembered that we hadn’t  said our prayers and with this as an excuse I climbed into my brother’s bed while he said, “Gentle Jesus...” At the end of our prayers we curled up together and my little five-year-old brother said, “Don’t cry, Jean, I’ll look after you.””

These elderly have been frugal and prudent enough to have worked and to have saved through their lives to be self-sufficient and to own their own homes. Having been turfed out of their homes a lifetime ago as this land endured the deprivations and terrors inflicted by a foreign Jackboot State, along comes a homegrown Spendthrift State to turf them out again.

Their cards are marked

In the eye of the Communitarian, the bed blockers are also home blockers.

- Mail Online

The elderly, already pressured into pint-sizing their care expectations by an aggressive lottery-funded campaign promoted by a pro-euthanasia group, are now being pressurised into pint-sizing the roof over their heads.

The social architects who want to design our lives are amok with ideas to make them complete.

'Charity' has become radicalised and redefined as the so-called Third Sector. Traditional charity has been transformed, so-called registered charities are in abundance and the Charity Commission is very much out of its depth.

The above-mentioned pro-euthanasia group is a 'charity'. It is a registered charity. Permitting your group to be called a 'charity' gives it a 'Colgate Sparkle' and raises its profile almost to sainthood.

The Third Sector has spread like a noxious fume, a virtual third arm of the State in forming policy and then participating in its promotion and enactment as with the LKP.

In 2012, Lord Shawcross took over the helm at the Charity Commission and was very critical of the aggressive fundraising tactics being employed in the Third Sector.

This is Civil Society –

Giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) today, Shawcross agreed with Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, a long-standing opponent of chugging, that it was “damaging to the brand of charity”.

But Shawcross said it would be a huge responsibility for the Commission to start regulating fundraising in place of current self-regulation. “It would be a huge departure for the Charity Commission to police chuggers,” he said. He suggested instead that the public should put pressure on charity trustees about chugging.
Sam Younger, chief executive of the Charity Commission, also said chugging was a real concern, but that there was a resource issue and it would cost the Commission an estimated £4m to regulate fundraising.

The Commission's stance is at odds with the minister for civil society, Nick Hurd, who also gave evidence to the PASC today. He defended chugging, saying self-regulation appeared to be working, referring to recent activity between the PFRA and the Local Government Association in promoting local site management agreements.

This claim of Nick Hurd that self-regulation was working has been demonstrated to be nonsense and has ended in tragedy.

Nick Hurd's insensitive and ill-thought  response upon how to deal with aggressive chugging was to "cross to the other side of the road".

Vulnerable people - likely customers - are sought out and pursued and might not escape to the other side of the road. These are 'charities' and you cannot refuse to spare a few coppers each week that will go barely noticed.

Aggressive chugging, once permitted and left unchecked, as all things inevitably do, spread and entered the home via mailshots and came into earshot via cold calling.

A Review has just been published. This is NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) –

Lord Shawcross has given his response to the Fundraising Self-Regulation Review. This is The Charity Commission –

William Shawcross, Chairman of the Charity Commission, said:

"Sir Stuart’s review is an important step towards rebuilding public trust in charity fundraising. The review makes recommendations to reform and strengthen self-regulation. Charities must now step up and lead the way forward.

"The Charity Commission will play its part to support the development of any new fundraising regulatory body. It is crucial that charity trustees meet their obligations to oversee fundraising and I welcome the emphasis on this in the review."

- The Charity Commission

- The Report

Another Review, another report, another regulator. The Third Sector is still intact. All change. Nothing’s changed. The ‘stakeholders’ again are consulted, agree and approve; themselves are the participants, the promoters of the selfsame uncharitable tactics that have prompted the Review.

Three years ago, it was a 'resource issue' that prevented the Commission from policing. It was estimated £4m would be required to regulate fundraising.

Setting up a new regulator and all the infrastructure required for that is going to be substantial in itself, the actual cost of regulation aside. is this all just a window dressing attempt to address the issues?

In a response to the above Civil Society report, Helen Cowell of Disability Challengers commented:

I agree with William Shawcross. 'Chugging' is a legal loophole that has been milked by some charities. The collection of money on the High Street is governed by the Police, Factories (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 which states that collectors of cash must be stationary, positioned at least 25 metres apart and cannot approach shoppers. The only reason 'chuggers' get away with what they do is because they are not collecting actual cash and the rules do not apply. I think the law needs updating in line with cash collections.

Was all that was needed was a simple change in the law with provision to cover the extension of those selfsame tactics that has been pursued? It is harassment, plain and simple, after all.

Three years ago, Lord Shawcross came under heavy fire for his then comments about the aggressive tactics being employed.

This is Third Sector –

ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) Chief, Sir Stephen Bubb, accused Shawcross of being ‘out of touch’.

Bubb is the Chief Executive of the Chief Executives.

Hallelujah! This man is the King of Kings of the Charity Leaders Network, the 'Third Sector Coalition' which Esther Norman champions in Tameside. 

Esther Norman has successfully sidled up with Age UK to pick out the likely customers to sign up to ACDs.

ACEVO has its Annual Conference in November -

And what will be the out of that and what will they have to say about yet another regulator?

Additional reading -

Liverpool Care Pathway - NICE One!