Man burned alive in Britain – but does anybody care?

(not satire – it’s the UK today!)

A man was burned alive in Britain – and nobody seems to care.

Malcolm Burge, 66, found himself more than £800 in debt as a result of a government decision to cut his housing benefit by 50%.

The council dealing with his case was also unable to correspond properly with Mr Burge because of a massive backlog they were experiencing – again due to government cuts to local government funding.

And so – on the same day he received a letter telling him he had to repay the money – Mr Burge drove to Cheddar Gorge and burned himself alive in his car.

Just the the latest victim of Iain Duncan Smith’s war on the poor:

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Iain Duncan Smith’s portrait made from photos of people who died for being poor (click on image to enlarge)

Some of his victims:

Malcolm Burge:

Edward Jacques:

Graham Shawcross:

David Coupe:

David Groves:

Trevor Drakard:

David Clapson:

Annette Francis:

Nick Barker:

Leanne Chambers:

Robert Barlow:

Cecilia Burns:

Mark and Helen Mullins:

Martin Hadfield:

Paul Reekie:

Tim Salter:

Colin Traynor:

Brian McArdle:

Mark Wood:

Linda Wootton:

Chris Smith:

Karen Sherlock:

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With thanks – and apologies – to Joe Wezorek:

Given this image’s inflammatory nature, I posted it with a great deal of trepidation. I had a hard time deciding if it was the right thing to do and I am still not sure. No, I didn’t have the consent of the families of those pictured, and I apologize for any additional pain that this image causes them.

‘War Minister’ is meant to be a satirical commentary, informed by the whole project of using the innocent victims of the coalition government’s war on welfare as political propaganda. I’m not making a penny off the image, and never will attempt to do so.

I’d also like to point out that ‘War Minister’ is an image. It is not a textual statement or rhetorical argument. An image is like an empty room and any message that anyone reads in that room necessarily comes in the baggage he or she carries with them when they walk through the door.

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Photo mosaic created using Andrea Mosaic

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Please feel free to share. And comment.

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The Coalition Government Colouring and Activity Book is now available for download as a PDF and in print: