You will find here material about the legal, health and Social Security systems in the United Kingdom. Weasel Words operates in the crevices between these fine edifices of the British Welfare State. If you need advice about a problem Advicekit may be a good place to start. I am afraid I don't keep up to date enough any more to give advice. In fact you will find more up to date stuff on my Facebook.
At the end you will find more about my more personal interests. If you have any comments, ideas for new material, links to other interesting sites, questions or find any broken links please send them to me.
The time I have which is not spent in employment or home improvement is mostly devoted to Gorton Labour Party and Manchester LINK
Official Government consultation
Government, citizens and rights
British Election Manifestos Since 1945 - full texts of all three main parties' election manifestos
British Government and Politics on the Internet
They work for you - MPs and Lords
I spent twenty years of my life giving advice about social security. Information and links about social security law as it is now and related topics are on a separate page.
This is a picture of me (to give a human scale) outside the
DWP and Department of Health Lubianka building in Leeds, a monument to the
centralising ambitions of the Thatcher government. From inside it the
Department of Work and Pensions now run a very useful website.
There are two well known Social Security cases in which I played a significant part. I am the man who almost single handed sank the Ophelia, a vessel on which many of my colleagues had pinned their hopes.
The House of Lords decision in the case of Eric Mallinson was a substantial change in the law to the benefit of disabled people, although you also need to read the case of Fairey to understand how important it was. Action For Blind People have a fact sheet explaining how to use the decision. If you ever fill in a Disability Living Allowance claim pack I claim some credit for the existence of the extra pages about needs outside your home. Mind you, the Disability Living Allowance Unit has never really accepted these decisions and will not take into account any needs you might have outside your home without a fight. The House of Lords say that help you might need to live a normal life should be taken into account, but the DLA Unit really think that the most exciting thing a disabled person might want to do is going to the toilet.
I was the lay member of the South Manchester Primary Care Group, which turned into the first Primary Care Trust in the North West. One of my main interests is in public involvement in decision making in the NHS. Rather to my surprise I have been appointed to the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards for the North West.
An important step in getting people involved is to make the documents produced by public bodies easier for ordinary people to understand. A glossary of abbreviations used in the NHS and social services seems a useful tool, and it may be my life's work to keep it up to date.
I am the Director of the Socialist Health Association, which is a small national organisation affiliated to the Labour Party and claims credit for establishing the National Health Service. It exists to promote health and wellbeing, social justice, and the eradication of inequalities through the application of socialist principles to society and government.
Rathfelders come from Stuttgart, but I was brought up in Litherland, and went to Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby. Then I studied education at St John's College York where I was very involved with the Students Union, and eventually got a degree from Leeds University (although I never actually studied there). I became a member of the Socialist Workers Party and sold papers on street corners for eleven years. There I met Peter Hitchens, who was also a member and was just as much a plonker then as he is now. I also met Greg Dyke, who wasn't a member but was a much nicer bloke, and did things rather than just pontificating. He seems to have kept his principles but lost his hair.
I taught English for five years in Cheadle, Staffordshire where I imposed my literary tastes on the unsuspecting pupils. Then I worked in Citizens Advice Bureaux in Hanley, South Oxhey and Exeter. I lived in Stoke on Trent and helped to start the North Staffs Campaign Against Racism and Facism. I trained at the Citizens Advice Bureau with the legendary Mike Wolfe and eventually became a Welfare Rights Officer. For 13 years I worked for Manchester Advice, ten years of which were at Manchester Royal Infirmary and then as an advocate for the Community Advice and Resource Centre at the Kath Locke Centre in Moss Side. I work part time for the South Manchester Law Centre administering their contract with the Legal Services Commission. I have written books about social security, compiled Constitutions and Standing Orders and done various odd jobs, like lecturing, designing databases, electrical wiring and plumbing, auctioneering, running quiz nights, a bit of consultancy and training, and setting up websites. Mostly for good causes, but I am always open to offers. I managed the 2001 Census in Moss Side - the culmination of a thirty year career with the Office of National Statistics.
I live in Manchester with my mother, my daughters Katy and Emily and baby Oscar.
Oscar has started campaigning about health services already
There is some uncertainty as to how we should describe the location of our home, Blairista Vista. Culturally speaking we think we are in Chorlton, politically speaking we are in Fallowfield Ward, and geographically most people think we are in Whalley Range, but I have decided to call this part of the world East Chorlton. If we are what we eat then I am at least partly the responsibility of the Barbakan delicatessen, the finest bakers in Manchester, while the children are the responsibility of a wide range of fast food emporia.
I had an operation on my parotid gland in 1998. My left ear is numb because I think the nerve which used to be connected to it has been taken away. My medical friends told me that this scar make would me irresistible to women.
Outside politics, health and social security I was involved in setting up a Credit Union in South Manchester. Cooking, eating, and keeping in touch with my friends are my main personal interests. My friends who have confessed to having web pages are:
Jo-Anne Richards is a well established South African author.
Guy Lancaster, reformed IT Contractor to the sex industry
Richard Armitage's transport consultancy
Robert Pitt's contributions to What Next, including his famous biography of Gerry Healy
Dominic Powesland's archaeological work in North Yorkshire
John Band's Indian Investment advice
Bob Wilson, author of Stanley Bagshaw
The Reverend Canon Myles Davies, Vicar of St Anne's Liverpool
Avril Quinn's rugby club
Greater Manchester Cycling Campaign
Tony Lloyd MP
Pauleen Lane CBE, former mayor of Trafford: Pauleen's sex discrimination case, as reported by the Evening News -Day 1, Day 2 or watch the BBC clip
Beavers Arts - Hilary Hughes and Susan Clarke
Sheffield Labour Party - Paul Blomfield
Rupa Huq's blog
Tricia Sloan's Cambodian Adventure
Robert Jones Isle of Wight Landscapes
Last updated November 22, 2009
