One of this morning’s news headlines was that the Royal College of Nursing, the professional body that represents qualified nurses, along with the Royal College of Midwives, have finally joined all the other professional healthcare organisations representing doctors, physiotherapists etc and come out against the government’s Health Care Bill.
Two days ago, I was photographing an event opposite the Houses of Parliament against another controversial government bill which the House of Lords were to be debating later that afternoon, the Welfare Reform Bill, which will remove funding and support from many of the disabled and least well off, adversely affecting, among others, many with terminal cancer.
It wasn’t a large protest, but had representatives of single mothers, disabled activists and others including the Rev Paul Nicolson, chairman of the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, a London-based charity which addresses poverty issues caused by unfairness in the law, legal and benefits system, which had organised the event together with Single Mothers Self-Defence and WinVisible, a grassroots group for women with visible as well as invisible disabilities. At the front of the group of protesters was a woman holding a placard ‘Nurses vs Welfare Reform Bill!‘ being photographed for publication in a nursing magazine.
One other and possibly older profession was also mentioned in the placards.
See more at Welfare Reform Bill Lobby at Parliament on My London Diary.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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