8/2/2019 NL Front 26 March
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ULSTER Unionist leadershipcandidate Mike Nesbitt hasdismissed a
Conservativelink as a way to turn aroundthe partys ortunes.
Mr Nesbitt also pouredcold water on calls orunionist unity and
going intoopposition.
He said: I there is a bigidea, it is ourselves; that we arethe
masters o our own destiny.
When we oer better policies,better communication, abetter
organisation and arebetter resourced, we can hitthe ground and work
hardto reconnect with the tenso thousands o pro-Unionvoters who eel
they currentlydo not have a party to supportor to represent
them.
Tory lin isdismissed
Youre ft or work,thousands are toldTHOUSANDS o incapacity
ben-eft claimants in Northern Ire-land have been ound ft to
work,according to new Governmentfgures.
O the 9,328 people reassessedto date, 2,202 have been
cleared
to commence employment, witha urther 4,262 deemed to have
atleast some earning potential.
There are a total o 76,000 re-
cipients in the Province. Com-pared with England, we havealmost
twice the percentage oclaimants on disability-relatedbenefts.
Economist John Simpson has
welcomed the reassessments, de-scribing them as a move towardsa
more logical system.
Minister or Social Develop-
ment Nelson McCausland saidthe reappraisal o peoples capa-bility
was shiting the ocus towhat people can do rather than
what they cant. Around 30 per cent o those
assessed so ar have been oundincapable o any work, primarilydue
to ill-health or learning di-fculties.
It has long been argued thatNorthern Irelands high numbero
incapacity beneft claimants isa legacy rom decades o violenceduring
the Troubles.
BY MARk RAINEY
[email protected]
See page 3PICTURE:
Jonathan Porter/Presseye
GLORY DAY FORHOEY AND LITTLE
INSIDE: 29 PAGES OF SPORT
The pride of Northern IrelandPrice: 75p (IR 1.05 EURO) Monday,
March 26, 2012
TV personality ZoeSalmon and presenterStephen Nolan tae
their
positions at the startingline as thousands joinedthem on the
streets ofBelfast city centre forthe Sport Relief Mileyesterday.
Huge crowdswere entertained by localbands and cheerleadersas
runners, joggers andwalers made their wayaround the city to
boostfunds to help transformthe lives of poor andvulnerable people
hereand in some of the worlds
poorest countries
Zoe andStephengo theextra mile
AN elderly man has spoken ohis shock at waking up on thecouch
with a robbers handspinning down his chest.
Three men with their acesmasked by scarves ransacked73-year-old
Brian HillicksBelast home, demanding20,000.
Mr Hillick, who had beendozing on the settee ater hisdinner on
Friday evening,said he woke to fnd one othe men pushing down on
hischest.
The pensioner, who was
with his 78-year-old mentallyhandicapped sister, said therehad
been a rumour goingaround that he had won20,000 at the bookies
butthat it was untrue.
OAP tells ofattac ordeal
Since 1737www.newsletter.co.uk
275
thAnniversaryY
ea
r
Turn to page 5
See pages 6 & 7
17NewsLett , y,March26,2012
NL
Woman
Pick up a peplum
P48
Cracking Easter eggs
P51
Spring-forwards tyle
P52
Make-upbagsecrets revealed P18&47
INSIDE
Great ideasfor Easter
Crowds hit the beach as Ulster soaks up the sunPAGE 4
See page 5
