Late last night Twitter buzzed with the bad news that the Lords had rejected efforts to delay implementation of the Welfare Reform Bill, the austerity-led assault on the disabled being opposed by, amongst others, the fantastic #spartacusreport campaigners. For a detailed summary of what happened, both in terms of Ministerial speeches and the amendments, read Sue Marsh’s relatively optimistic report on it here.

The second thing Twitter buzzed with was word that Floella Benjamin had voted with her Lib Dem colleagues and against the disabled. Confirmation is here – disclose the Lib Dem section of those Not Content with the amendment to see the name Baroness Benjamin.

For some reason this particular voting decision stuck in my throat worst of all. Sure, it may be unfair to pick on her out of the 229 unelecteds who voted for this Tory agenda, but I grew up watching her on Playschool, and I feel personally aggrieved.

Floella – you were a ground-breaker, not just a rare and charming non-white face on our black and white TV but also the first woman shown properly pregnant on TV, apparently. You came across as such a kind and benevolent person, and yet last night you chose the Tory agenda over the needs of people with disabilities. Previously I might have looked at your twitter stream and thought it looked like the kind of anodyne and inoffensive stuff you might expect from a former childrens’ TV presenter, but today crap like this looks like a pretty sick joke.

The best childrens’ TV introduces kids to difference and helps them understand the diversity of society. I remember this including some fairly cack-handed efforts on the disability front (I do also remember that going horribly wrong in the early 1980s, admittedly) by Playschool and others. To discover that the lovely lady from the television helped to end DLA last night, and helped to push people with disabilities into poverty is just too much to tolerate. Tell me I’ve had a failure of perspective, but did the Dukes of Hazzard vote to hike up tuition fees? Did Ivor the Engine decide not to try and overturn his own privatisation? Did the Wombles do a u-turn on nuclear power? Did Dangermouse join the bloody Lib Dems?