Bill Carmichael: UN lunacy on ‘bedroom tax’

Take the front page splash in the left-wing Guardian this week about a UN inspector who has demanded our government scrap the so-called “bedroom tax” because it infringes the human rights of tenants.

This was deemed more important than the threat of World War III in the Middle East, or the meltdown of Barack Obama’s credibility in the US, or the TUC conference at home.

The BBC’s flagship Today programme, which does little more these days than read out stories from the Guardian, repeated the tale almost word for word.

So who is this UN special rapporteur on housing who has made these devastating criticisms? Step forward Raquel Rolnik, an academic and former housing minister from Brazil and a leading member of the far left Workers’ Party, which allies itself to the brutal communist dictatorship in Cuba.

She is also reported to be a devotee of witchcraft and, according to her sister, once made an animal sacrifice to 
persuade the ghost of Karl Marx to stop bothering her. Let’s face it, we are talking certifiable madwoman here – bonkers 
with a capital B.

But let’s put aside the far-left politics and the chicken entrails and concentrate on the facts. Surely her report is packed with statistical evidence to support her claim that the rights of benefit claimants are being violated?

Er, no. Miss Rolnik spent a couple of weeks in the UK talking to un-named professional activists who told her they were starving to death and they were all going to commit suicide because of the nasty Tories and the “savage cuts” etc etc.

She didn’t even bother to speak to Iain Duncan Smith, the main minister responsible for the policy, who might have explained that the “bedroom tax”, more accurately called the spare room subsidy, is designed to free up larger social housing desperately needed by families stuck on the waiting list.

If Miss Rolnik really wants to improve the lot of poor people in inadequate housing perhaps, she should look a bit closer to home. More than 50 million people in Brazil live in appalling conditions in the slums known as favelas, 26 million have no access to clean water and 83 million are not connected to sewerage systems. As a former housing minister, Miss Rolnik is at least partly responsible for this disgraceful state of affairs.

As for the UN, hasn’t it got enough on its plate in the Middle East? And if any crazy person can become a UN rapporteur is it any wonder the organisation lacks any credibility.

Inglorious battle

THE skirmishing has already started over how to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War next year.

The Government has made £50m to mark the occasion, but the issue has proved to be politically charged with one group of activists, the No Glory Campaign, backed by actors Jude Law and Alan Rickman, objecting to the “glorification” of war.

One casualty appears to be a scheme by the Royal British Legion to plant millions of poppies across the UK, which has been turned down for funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund. In contrast the pacifist Peace Pledge Union has been given almost £100,000 to mark the role of conscientious objectors during the war, after it was invited to apply for a grant by the HLF.

I know of few people, least of all those who have served in combat, who think war is glorious, but it is undoubtedly part of our history and heritage and World War I should be marked with dignity and pride.