Para-Olympics Day 2; The ATOS Protest.

ATOS are a French Information Communications Technology (ICT/IT) company who have recently moved into the 'service industry.' This means that along with Mite, Vieola, G4S and others they now operate internationally bidding for lucrative government contracts to provide services such as refuse collection that governments used to provide. Therefore the mere mention of their name provokes a massive argument about the role of the state in a post-globalisation (World Trade Organisation, WTO etc) world. However the most important things to remember about them today is that they provide IT services to the 2012 Parallel Olympic games in London and they operate a contract from the British Government's Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to assess people's ability to claim disability payments through something known as the "Work Capability Assessment."

This is a policy that the current Conservative Party government inherited from the previous Labour Party government and added their own spin to. Obviously the details of such lucrative contract between a multi-national corporation and national government are considered trade secrets and therefore beyond the realms of even a Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI) request. However according to some people I know who are not exactly concerned about mere FoI's under the terms of the contract in order to get paid ATOS need to pass 8 out of every 10 people (80%) they assess as fit to work. This statistic has certainly been borne by the anecdotal evidence which has seen the DWP declare people with terminal cancer and in permanent vegetative states (comas) as fit for work but curiously not affected people like me in the slightest. Therefore you have to ask whether this is a particularly sensible policy because even the civil servants tried to spike it by labelling it the "Work Makes Free (Arbeit Macht Frei) policy."

Now at around 23:15 on 31/8/12 while you all consider that detail I need to catch up on some details and cigarettes so more words will appear here.

Edited at around 23:35 on 31/8/12 to add;

The day began with a USA Swimmer - Megan Weggemen - going public with the news that weeks before the start of the games she had been re-classified from S6/7 up to the S8 category. As S8 represents a lower level of impairment this means that Weggemen will now have to compete against far better athletes. Not only that she will be stripped of the 8 Gold and 1 Silver medals she was awarded at the 2012 Eindhoven World Championships. Apart from the fact that the para-Olympic impairment assessment is as complicated and opaque as the ATOS/DWP "Work Capability Assessment" this was mainly a reminder that impairment classification is to the para-Olympics what drug testing is to the Olympics. After all depending on their specific coding para-Olympians are actually allowed to take lots of drugs.

Then later in the day Ukraine's Mariia Pomazan was awarded Gold in the F35/6 (Field, Cerebral Palsy, medium to light impairment) discus with China's Wu Qing being awarded the Silver. After the complaint of absolutely no-one the British organisers (LOCOG) apologised for getting the result wrong and tomorrow (1/9/12) will be holding a second medal ceremony to award Wu the Gold and Pomazan the Silver. LOCOG have blamed the mistake on official Olympic Timer Omega but the data upload was most certainly the fault of ATOS - the offical IT service provider.

Then Britain's MI5/Socialist Workers Party (SWP) held a demonstration outside ATOS' London HQ. Some people were pushed, some people were shoved and some people were sworn at while lots of people took lots of photographs. This was really just Britain 'apologising' for the way that the SWP in their "UKUncut/Pay Your Tax!" guise acted as something of Her Majesties Revenue and Customs (HMRC/tax collectors) enforcers or "Pearly Kings" as I believe they're known in the east-London (Cockney) rhyming-slang although "Cunning Stunts" really rhymes better

No believe it or not there still more so at around 23:55 on 31/8/12 more words will appear her I promise.

Edited at around 00:20 on 1/9/12 to add;

Nope tell a lie. My day actually began with me listening to Cheryl Cole (nee Tweedy) talking to Ferne Cotton on BBC Radio1. Obviously this sent me straight back to sleep but on the plus side I had a great dream. Rather then talking in a sweaty London radio studio the conversation was actually happening in a southern European (Mediterranean) cafe. While they talked I went off and killed lots of people in a very bloody fashion which at the very least comforted me. But that's enough about my latest screenplay.

For many people in Britain the day began with the news that for no discernible reason former mental health support worker and now professional comedian Frankie Boyle had been engulfed in massive controversy about some 'jokes' he'd made on Twitter. If you're not familiar with Frankie Boyle you're missing out because both the USA and China have referenced his jokes in actual grown up foreign policy and I believe the UK broadcast regulator "OFCOM" have a dedicated Frankie Boyle desk. Personally I think a lot of the people were actually using Frankie Boyle as a metaphor to complain about Channel 4's (C4) coverage of the para-Olympics. The main problem seems to be that although they receive a degree of state funding Channel 4 are a commercial channel so have to include advert breaks and only have 3 live feeds versus the BBC's 22 live feeds. This obviously an ongoing argument that is happening in many countries and feeds into that argument about the prominence given to the para-Olympic's V the Olympics. I'm pretty sure I've already explained this by pointing out that at the Olympics many nations discuss many political issues. At the para-Olympics a smaller group of nations discuss a smaller number of issues raised at the Olympics in far more detail. Apart from me and my grandmother's case one of the issues raised for the in detail treatment is how best to control Twitter and wider Internet. Of course the Australians already know this through the 'news' that TV presenter "Charlotte Dawson" had to be taken to hospital (implied suicide attempt) after being abused by Twitter trolls.

Now if anyone needs me I'm really going to have to go upstairs and 'work on my screenplay' because I'm now about attempt to improve on the work of the actual William Shakespeare.

00:40 on 1/9/12.