Dignity at heart of social security.

Byline: GEORGE ADAM

We should be thankful for small mercies.

It is very true; we should appreciate the things in life that we have and maybe do not appreciate. The small things. A home, friends and family.

We should also understand that not everyone has the benefit of friends and family, older people whose family has grown up and moved away, maybe having difficulty keeping up with friends or meeting up with them because money is tight nowadays.

This can lead some to feeling a bit isolated and lonely.

One way to help those people out is to help them out just a wee bit financially, through Winter Fuel Allowance.

Ah, wait, it seems these people are indeed being asked to be thankful for small mercies. After having the payment whipped away from them, we are being told it will be reintroduced. To some people. At some time. At an amount still to be disclosed. Maybe.

A government's first priority is to protect its people. What sort of government comes into power and attacks pensioners in its first action.

What a message to give to the people, especially those that voted for them.

When the Scottish Government learned about these plans, the SNP stated they would introduce the universal Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, stating 'this Scottish Government is determined to stay true to our values'.

Wow. Maybe there is a government south of the border that may want to read that statement.

Staying true to your values. It's a simple phrase but actually it can be extrapolated and examined when looking at actions taken by individuals and organisations.

Staying true to your values. Well, let's have a comparison of that phrase and the PS5 billion cuts to welfare, including disabled people.

This is another section of society through no fault of their own have challenges getting around, keeping up with friends and family, getting to work, it costs them more to get around.

They can't just walk a couple of miles or hop on a bus.

Journeys must planned and costed and if you don't have the resources, then social contact can be reduced.

Another group targeted by the 'new' Westminster government.

There is a song that has the lyrics 'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss'. It is by The Who and it's called 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. It is strange when you get better advice from an old song than you do from the present Westminster government.

The Scottish Government on the other hand has developed a new social security system, delivering fifteen benefits.

We must remember that our purse strings to our own is hampered by the limits of devolution.

But we have built Social Security Scotland - the new social security system based on dignity and respect, treating social security as an investment in Scotland's people.

Now there's an example of staying true to your values.

CAPTION(S):

A dignified approach Social Security Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville with First Minister John Swinney