What Do You Need Most?
You're the type of person who has a lot to express, and you need many outlets. You love to create - whether you're writing a novel or just putting together an amazing outfit.
You are a deep thinker. You understand the world well, and you are in touch with your emotions. And you don't like to keep your insights to yourself. You love sharing what you know with the world, even if it's in a very abstract way.
What Feels Like Home to You?
You may not be an artist by trade, but you feel like it's important to express your individuality. You can't stand any space that's too generic. You go for character and quirks.
You have a flair for design, and it's likely that you live in a beautiful home. You can see how pieces go together, and you're always looking to add to your collection.
Reply from DoH (Re: Letter to Paul Burstow of 2nd March)
"I would like to assure you that the Department of Health has always relied on the definition set out by the World Health Organization in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) under ICD Code G93.3, subheading ‘other disorders of the brain’. "
The idea that diagnosis of ME is difficult and done by exclusion only is a myth
"The idea that diagnosis of ME is difficult and done by exclusion only is a myth. The Canadian Diagnostic Criteria are an excellent initial guide for diagnosis "
A minister for the disabled – wow!
"We apparently have a Minister for Disabled People, Maria Miller. Who’d have thought it?"
What meds work for depression caused by physical pain?
"It is almost impossible not to be depressed if your sleep is disturbed and you are isolated ..."
No answers to our Atos Origin questions
"The answer? The department's "decided not to disclose the information you requested" as it would "prejudice the interest of Atos Healthcare and the Department's future dealings with Atos Healthcare or other service providers". And, at a wild guess, be highly embarrassing."
Poacher tells the gamekeeper to get off his case
"Telegraph: Expenses bill to soar as MPs force watchdog to relax rules. You see, when you're not in power its all very well telling other people they are self-interested troughers but when you get into power yourself, ah well then it's different. From the article "From next month, MPs will be able to claim for the costs of accommodating their children at a second home". So then not just school fees and commuting costs but also the MP's costs of living "because Jocasta, Tabitha and Hugo have fwends in this area"."
Acupuncture for pain no better than placebo -- and not without harm, study finds
"Reporting in the April 2011 issue of PAIN®, they conclude that numerous systematic reviews have generated little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain, and serious adverse effects continue to be reported."
Here is a map to show disabled protestors who would have gone on the demo if they could but due to the many barriers, were unable to.
Even mild stress is linked to long-term disability, study finds
"The authors say that it is important to consider their findings in the context of modern working life, which places greater demands on employees, and social factors, such as fewer close personal relationships and supportive networks."
Stress affects the balance of bacteria in the gut and immune response
"These bacteria affect immune function, and may help explain why stress dysregulates the immune response," said lead researcher "
Further persecution of the sick and disabled…
"... when it comes to dealing with the sick and disabled, fairness counts for bugger all these days"
Scientists race to find the biological cause for chronic fatigue syndrome
"As scientists race to find a biological cause for chronic fatigue syndrome, long considered by many doctors to exist in patients' heads, the National Institutes of Health could shed new light on the debate at a major scientific workshop on the disorder."
Cuts protests: why we're marching
"Saturday 26 March will see Britain's largest single protest since the anti-Iraq war march of 2003. Thousands upon thousands will travel to London to protest against a wide range of government cuts. "
An afternoon nap tunes out negative emotions, tunes in positive ones
"The perfect excuse for a siesta! " Who needs an excuse?
MPs and the media hardly notice working-class communities, and they care about them even less.
"What type of creature unnecessarily turf tens of thousands or people out of their jobs in a vainglorious attempt to turn the clock back to the type of economic system which existed prior to 1948, and which failed the British people totally and left the overwhelming majority living in poverty, in poor housing and without the safety net of the NHS and the Welfare State."
Tenants legal help – beware gaumping
Despite this being reported in the Daily Wail, I don't doubt that this does go on and, as they say ... "And this is the market where the government expects landlords to reduce their rent to levels which will be affordable to Housing Benefit tenants!" Ain't gonna happen, is it?
" I have talked to many, many chronic illness patients whose families have been horrible to them and treated them absolutely terrible, called them “lazy” and practically written them off because they didn’t believe they were sick. "
The Jobbing Doctor: Funny, that.....
"We have little money, apparently, to look after our sick and needy, but plenty of money to wage war.
With every cruise missile fired, there goes another 10 Hospital beds.
It's all about priorities.
This is so wrong..... "
If I tried this with Ms Kitty ... I'd be seriously dead by now!
Spring has sprung and Balu is shedding a lot of hair. A bath helps get rid of more of it faster, which is better than ejected furballs or visits to the vet. He really doesn't mind the bath and converts to a normal sized drowned rat when wet. Of course I gave him a treat afterwards and his sister wanted hers too!
You're a bit of a rebel and a rule breaker. In fact, you wonder if there should be very many rules at all. You like taking risks and doing things your own way. You always stand out from the crowd. You are flamboyant and outgoing. You always say what's on your mind, whether you're around friends or strangers.
People may try to copy your style, but anyone who does ends up looking like a cheap knock off. There's only one you!
Yeah, after that they broke the mould! 
Ha, great minds think alike, it seems, because the thoughts that ran through my head yesterday as we went through the silly census form were that it must have been designed by a moron.
What use is it – in relation to providing local services today – for them to know what qualifications we left school with? In my case it was long enough ago to be totally irrelevant and in my mother’s case this was well before the war, (I mean WW2, not any one we’re currently fighting.)
Likewise, what good does it do to know about my last job, in 1997, for a company in Tenerife, or my mother’s, in 1984, in a different area of England? And at 87, she’s hardly likely to work again, so no, she wasn’t looking for work last week, nor was she pregnant, but these questions had to be answered!
Useless, pointless and laughably unfit for purpose.
You're no cynic, but you are a complete skeptic. You don't buy into anything without proof - and you'll challenge any established "fact". In your view, evidence is what matters. You don't believe things based on hope. In fact, you wouldn't even be likely to say you "believe" anything. Believe implies faith.
Oh, how well they know me!
Are You a Skeptic?
On the pre-planned lunch menu today were tuna steaks with sweet potato wedges and roast butternut squash. Fortunately, the squash had been roasted, mashed, bagged up and frozen earlier. That just left the sweet spuds to be cut ...
Only yesterday my wrist had given out on me and bent right over backwards, with a nasty cracking sound, when I’d merely put my hands out to my sides to push myself up into a sitting position in bed. And it hurt like f*ck. Now I’ve lost almost all power – what little was left – in the wrist, so this morning I couldn’t even carry a cup of coffee, nor turn a tap.
Cutting up hard sweet potatoes certainly wasn’t going to happen today. Well, I already couldn’t do it with a knife and had bought one of the pictured apparatus – a vegetable wedger – to do the job of chopping them more easily.
Only it still wasn’t easy, because it still requires strength that I don’t have any more and I have to get down on the kitchen floor with it – and, no, it isn’t easy to get back up again – to put my whole weight behind it. Today, because I couldn’t put my weight behind my wrist, I couldn’t even do that.
In the end, I pushed on one side, while my mother pushed the other down with her foot – she couldn’t bend down to do otherwise – and with a bit of a fiddle, some brute force and lots of ignorance, we finally got sweet potato wedges.
What a bloody farce?
(I noticed Balu the cat was laying up the other end of the kitchen watching this performance. He probably thinks we’ve gone stark raving mad!)
We try to eat things like sweet potato instead of always having potato, because it’s healthier. I’ve looked to see if you can buy them ready-prepared and you can, but they come with coatings and chemicals we can’t eat and that would cause other problems, negating the healthy ethic too. And, while not everything is as hard to cut as a sweet potato, there are similar problems or parallel decisions to be made over many domestic tasks nowadays.
You just don’t realize how difficult seemingly simple things can be, until you can’t do them. What’s the alternative here? Getting – i.e. paying - someone to come in and do the preparation, if not cooking, for us, probably.
"What the hell are we getting ourselves into? And what for? Libya is not, at least not yet, posing a strategic threat to the West so why on earth should we risk getting involved on one side of a civil war that is being fought along tribal lines?"
CFS & FM: Did You Push Yourself Too Hard In Life?
"Earlier this week I posted about how as a society we have The I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead Theory mentality when in actuality, it may be causing more harm than good, in my opinion. How many times do we hear over and over again that if we are not getting the proper amounts of sleep ( at least 7 – 8 hours a night, more for those with chronic illnesses), our bodies are ticking time bombs that cannot continually keep up with the demand that we are putting on them?"
Undercover GP uncovers poor and unethical practises by ATOS
"Undercover GP uncovers poor and unethical practises by the private French medical firm responsible for carrying out Work Capability Assessments.
Please share and help spread awareness of the injustices committed by Atos Healthcare.
"
Things do go better with coke* (and bigger, obviously.) (* i.e. Colombian marching powder.)
Blow for Cameron: Tories lose Tunbridge Wells
"It’s a sign of discontent in the truest blue Tory heartlands when their Party can only poll a third of the vote in the home of “disgusted of Tunbridge Wells”"
Govt plans council tax rises for poorest
"Council tax benefit is received by more than 5.8 million people. Both the Tories and Lib Dems are on record as criticising it for being an unfair tax. So, naturally, the Coalition is currently planning to change the system in 2013 to squeeze another £480 million out of people on low incomes, by cutting the amount that central government pays out on council tax benefit by 10% and letting councils decide which of the low paid workers, pensioners, carers and others no longer qualify for help with their council tax."
Benefit Scrounging Scum: Ability To 'Mobilise'
"One of the justifications for the proposed personal independence payment is that there is less of an need to supply a disabled people with cash for mobility costs now that we have the disability discrimination act to ensure laws governing access and the NHS to provide wheelchairs. So, instead of someone's ability to walk, their ability to 'mobilise' will be considered. "
Alysons CFIDS Blog: Part I: The Pains of Vulvodynia
"Another problem that many women with ME/CFS have is vulvodynia -- or chronic vulvar pain (i.e., pain in the female nether regions). Not surprisingly, I have this condition. "
Motion to Annul: 16 Mar 2011: House of Lords debates (TheyWorkForYou.com)
"In every case that I have encountered, people with ME/CFS who have appealed to the medical tribunal have succeeded in their appeals and their benefits have been reinstated."
The Broken Of Britain: ME and my ATOS test
"Something struck me though during the process, he kept referring to CFS in a “mental” disorder, rather than a neurological condition. I called him out on this at the end of the session and he explained that the computer test is set that way.. However, this link from @latentexistence clearly shows that CFS is regarded as a physical condition for DLA claimants. I hope that when the current ATOS test is reformed, this is corrected.
"
"The Government is currently undergoing a review of Local Authority Statutory Duties. If this is something that interests you, you may want to take a look at some information now available on the DCLG website."
Tory MPs in the UK have obviously been taking lessons from their American counterparts.
Problem Sleep Schedules With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"Most of us don't sleep in long stretches, and insomnia is especially common. That can mean we end up napping frequently and sleeping at odd times. My sleep schedule has been a mess for the past few months! It makes it hard for me to get my kids to school, make it to appointments, and function in sync with the rest of the world to any degree."
Benefit Scrounging Scum: Burnt Out Sickies
"I'm a DWP worker sticking his head above the parapet and hoping not to get shot... I work in a busy Jobcentre and my customers are those 25+ who've been out of work for 13 weeks or longer. Probably 60-70% of the one hundred or more people I see every week are evidently not fit for work and yet, in theory, it's my job to whip them through the same hoops as everybody else, persecute them, attempt to stop their benefits and generally shame them into applying for all manner of wholly unsuitable jobs that they're never going to be able to do."
Creeping sense of oblivion up 32%
""Nevertheless there is still fun to be had speculating whether you'll be killed in an oil war, gunned down by Russian gangsters or consumed by a natural event that is just suddenly there."
Why freezing expat pensions makes no sense
"By moving abroad, pensioners would save the Exchequer billions of pounds in health and social care costs - highly desirable at a time when the UK needs to make deep cuts to its welfare budget. So, asks John Markham, why isn't the government doing more to encourage it? "
Housing Benefit - the government answers questions
"The housing law bulletin issued by Garden Court Chambers every week had some interesting links to housing benefit related items this week. Most interesting of all perhaps was a link to the Government's response to the Work & Pensions Select Committee's report on the forthcoming housing benefit changes."
Tory claims on pension and benefits spending don't add up
"It says a lot about how desperate the Tories are getting, and not much for George Osborne and chums' maths skills."
Cannabis Cuisine Ok'd in Australia
" ice cream, cake and beer made with pot have been cleared on health grounds by the country's top food watchdog, "despite fears the 'marijuana munchies' could trigger positive drug tests.""
Benefit Scrounging Scum: ESA Quiz - Guest Post by Sue Marsh
"This is a light-hearted bit of fun. Please send it to the most rabid right wing, Daily Mail reading, stereotype-abuser you can think of. We will never break these myths down unless we challenge them."
Migraines & Central Sensitization in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"A new study shores up support for the theory of central sensitization in chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). It also connects specific types of migraines with sets of ME/CFS symptoms."
"Imagine just having an illness, without the stress of feeling you are on trial constantly. (Imagine what our poor adrenal glands are dealing with, years and years and years of having to defend ourselves.) Most of the time you try and switch off, rise above it, get on with things, but then one morning you wake up to broadsheet headlines telling you that 'ME can be cured by exercise' - clever scientists say so! This unleashes such feelings of injustice and rage, you can't ignore it. You have to fight it. There is too much at stake. "
Don’t underestimate Cameron’s attempted coup d’état
"... this declaration of war against anything and everything public is of a different order. It is clearly a long-planned campaign of dissimulation to foist on the country a profound ideological restructuring of the State for which there is no democratic backing. That can only be adequately described as an internal coup d’état."
CBT for ME: the rudely healthy being in denial of the reality of illness
"What I mind most, though, are the people who listen to my story with such sympathy, but then take equal time to describe the horrors of their current cold/flu/chilblains. My usual response? "Don't worry too much about feeling ill, it gets easier after the first couple of years." That shuts them up."
ME/CFS Blogger Army: PACE Isn’t For Me
"Although PACE Isn't for ME has come to a close, there is still a way you can help. Below is a list of the participating blogs - if you would visit each one in turn and leave a comment, this will help raise the blog's profile on Google, which in turn will increase its public visibility."
Hahahahahaha I’ve always said that if cats were to speak / write, they – being everso clever – would use proper spelling and grammar, not LOLspeak.
(My cats, of course, understand both English and Spanish.)
Fibromyalgia: Pseudo-science and Woo Woo | Women and Fibromyalgia
"There are numerous claims made by those who practice woo woo (irrational ideas based upon lack of scientific evidence) about various concoctions, herbs, homeopathic solutions (sugar pills) and other types of unscientific, unproven remedies or ‘therapies’ that will cure fibromyalgia."
Where's the Benefit?: Beryl's story: Collapsed lung? You still can't have ESA
"A lovely lady works all her life, builds up a successful business, pays her taxes – and then the system lets her down when she needs it most. Ten months from when she fell ill Beryl still hasn’t been awarded ESA, but as she can barely manage to make a cup of tea she certainly couldn’t return to work. This is the system we trust to support us when we need it most. The system, quite frankly, is screwed."
Wii Spanking Swingers Game Pulled: Video
"And there was me thinking the game could have helped this country unite & build David Camerons dinner-party dream of a Big Society …"
Farmhouse in Malaga | Inspiring Interiors
If ever I were rich, this is THE perfect house for me: it's the very house I see in my mind's eye when I daydream. I might add some small splashes of colour, but I wouldn't change much. Of course it would also need an army of cleaners! :)
Coffee drinking linked to reduced stroke risk in women
"Drinking more than a cup of coffee a day was associated with a 22 percent to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared with those who drank less, in a study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association."
Yah, I'll carry on with my daily 2 cup ration then!
People on benefits? They’re all scroungers aren’t they?
"Ultimately, the vilification by the tabloids of everyone on benefits and everyone who is sick and disabled is incredibly harmful. Public opinion is shaped by the lies and the twisted numbers put out by the tabloids which cause the public to back the government in cracking down on benefit fraud and in ruthlessly cutting benefits. In the end that causes great hurt and anguish for the vast majority of people that genuinely need the help."
Long Interstitial Cystitis Remission Ends
"Chronic – I hate that word and I hate what it means. Every time I find out I have developed yet another chronic illness, it is just another slap in the face of how I’m going to have to live the rest of my life with yet even more problems. The word means being doomed to a lifetime of medications, side effects, and more chronic illnesses from taking medications to treat the current chronic illnesses. It’s a maze I can’t even fathom getting through even on a good day."
Expats search for 'better quality of life'
"Most expats leave the UK looking for a happier life - and they find it, according to new research. "
OK, tell me something I didn't know.
Disabled man to be evicted after secret GP report
"It follows a series of cases in the Court of Protection in which judges have been asked to rule on whether or not people judged to lack capacity should be banned from having sex, forced to undergo surgery against their will and even sterilised. "
ICorrect - The Universal Website for Corrections
"The universal website for corrections to lies, misinformation and misrepresentations."
Blimey, this is going to be perpetually busy!
Government urges poor people to die younger
Many a true word ...
"... we're not talking about a Logan's Run style dystopian future. "
No, coz that's pretty much the present already.
New AUA Clinical Guidelines for Interstitial Cystitis Released
"“An unpleasant sensation (pain, pressure, discomfort) perceived to be related to the urinary bladder, associated with lower urinary tract symptoms of more than six weeks duration, in the absence of infection or other identifiable causes.”"
"Unpleasant sensation"? How about absolutely fucking searing pain right off the scale that feels like your urethra is being torn by shards of broken glass? That's a little closer to how it feels.
DWP shares disability data but who said they could?
"I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty pissed off about this. I’m fairly sure that I did not at any point give permission for my local council, the Department of Work and Pensions, or TV Licensing to tell anyone my name and address, what disabilities I may have, or what benefits I might have received. I believe this violates the princicples of the Data Protection Act 1998."
How To Fill In Your Census Form: A Jihadi Writes
"Don’t say ‘yes ‘ to the question about your intentions to overthrow parliament and set up an Islamic state under sharia law centred on Bradford. Don’t tick the ‘maybe’ box either, it’s just as bad"
So, basically, they're suggesting I lie about at least part of that?
Make Quick Work of Internet Trolls by Using Cognitive Therapy
Who knew that CBT actually had a viable use?
"Big Study" on Exercise in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"You may be wondering why I haven't said anything before now about the "big study" on graded exercise therapy and chronic fatigue syndrome. It's captured a lot of headlines and created quite a stir. The reason I haven't mentioned it is simple: in my opinion, it's not much of a study."
Benefit Scrounging Scum: "It's the politics" Innit.
""It's the politics" innit. And like the canaries of old we sick and disabled people are frantically flapping and tweeting about, hoping desperately that those of you not yet sick or disabled will see and hear us before we keel over and the public realise it's not just that it's too late for us, it's too late for you too."
Charities debunk government disability cut reasoning
"The whole thing sets out very clearly why the government, according to these charities, is wrong."
Where's the Benefit?: Addicted to Benefits
"IDS is clearly trying to keep up the government propaganda that benefits are a hook that destroys lives; that they're like Pringles and you just can't stop.
Except benefits don't destroy lives, they save lives. My ability to earn my keep was destroyed by illness. If I lost my benefits, I'd lose my home. It's notoriously difficult to access medical care when homeless. Without my vast amounts of prescription meds every day I would not be able to go on living, the physical pain would be more than I could bear. People have already died after losing their benefits, people like Paul Reekie. It's not the benefits that are destructive, it's their stoppage.
Yes I'm benefit dependent, but that's a world away from being addicted."
Edinburgh study finds cholesterol link to immune system
"Lowering cholesterol could help the body's immune system fight viral infections, researchers have said."
Disability benefit reform elicits massive public response
"The Department for Work and Pension's has described its consultation on the abolition of disability living allowance (DLA) as one of the department's 'biggest ever' consultations."
Here's hoping they'll listen. Don't hold your breath though.
"One in every 40 people can actually work on less than seven hours a night of sleep—not that it stops the myths from happening. The more you sleep, the higher the quality of your work, and the sharper your faculties."
Disabled people tell MPs: Sickness benefit test must go
"One said of their assessment: "I felt it was assumed that I was lying. It was more like a police officer cross-questioning a suspected offender than someone looking at my health and welfare and mental condition.""
The Daily Mail Gives You Cancer: The Dangers Of Recycled Newspaper
Benefit Scrounging Scum: Left Out In The Cold
"Says Franklin, “It’s vital we all remember we are just an accident or illness away from becoming disabled. Many people think if they do become disabled that the state will look after them.
“But the fact is that even under current provisions, disability benefits are not enough for disabled people to live on. If the Welfare Reform Bill is passed, the situation will become unimaginably worse.” "
The immune tests that show that ME is a physical disease are not available on the NHS
"How about our human right to have tests that might actually show what is wrong with us?"
Benefit Scrounging Scum: The Final Countdown
"... to a new national campaign that launches on Monday. The campaign will aim to oppose those provisions of the Welfare Reform Bill that are 'anti-disability'. "
Ian Swales, MP amends his understanding of government policy on CFS and ME
"So in International ICD-10, Postviral fatigue syndrome, Benign myalgic encephalomyelitis and Chronic fatigue syndrome are all three coded or indexed to G93.3 under “G93 Other disorders of brain”, in Chapter VI (6): Diseases of the nervous system."
Keep the UK Disability Living Allowance!!
"This allowance is essential if the disabled are to enjoy any quality of life."
"Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, calls the mind-body connection a "new religion" that encourages false hope. "There is something so biologically implausible that your attitude is going to cure a disease," says Angell, a senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School. "There's a tremendous arrogance to imagine that your mind is all that powerful.""
"Comfort cannot be defined absolutely, but the World Health Organization's standard for warmth is 21C (70F) in a living room and 18C (64F) elsewhere. "
If you're chronically ill and/or elderly and unable to move about much, you probably need it to be a little warmer, but these really are your minimums.
More Europe migrants to gain access to full UK benefits
"A DWP spokesman said: "No-one can just come into the UK and start claiming our benefits. "We have strict rules in place to protect the system from any abuse. For instance, to claim an income-related benefit, a person from the EU will have to pass the Habitual Residence Test alongside all of our other eligibility criteria. They will have to prove they have a right to reside here and will then be asked to prove their attachment to the UK; they will have to show an intention to settle here and their reasons for coming to the UK. "
Incidentally, even as a British citizen, I had to pass these tests before I could claim benefits when I returned to the UK from Spain in 2008. Most prospective repats probably aren't aware of this.
National Geographic journalist gets severe ME
"For the sufferer CFS means a total health breakdown, like a plane that inexplicably begins tearing itself apart mid-flight. "
Dealing With Dismissive Attitudes Toward Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"... we need to be prepared for these conversations so we know what to say. Yes, brain fog may complicate your response, but the better you're prepared the more likely you are to come out with something worthwhile."
"And regardless of future financial contribution, would you really want to live in a world that simply leaves the sick to die?"
Finding Footware With Fibromyalgia "the softer the sole the better. "
Ian Swales, MP, has misinterpreted the clarification by the Health Minister
"the forthcoming revision of ICD-10, which will be known as ICD-11, also has all three terms classified within Chapter 6: Diseases of the nervous system, with ME as an Inclusion term to Chronic fatigue syndrome. "
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: UK Govt: We recognise the condition as neurological in nature.
PACE Trial findings are preposterous
"For what is recognised as a neurological disorder by the World Health Organisation, this illness leaves 25 per cent of sufferers bedbound for life, and this survey is a preposterous and expensive insult. "
New MRI study shows brainstem dysfunction in ME/CFS
"A strong correlation in CFS between brainstem grey matter volume and pulse pressure suggested impaired cerebrovascular autoregulation. "
UK Government now recognises ME and CFS as different illnesses
"Ian Swales MP's fight for better treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) continues as he succeeds in getting the Government to recognise ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) as different illnesses."
Australian Government tells XMRV positive patients to bugger off
"A disease in another Country" Like nobody in Australia has ever been in contact with anyone from "another country", have they?
Video: Rat spotted leaving London Conservative conference (Only one? :)
Supermarkets do not help the economy only rape it
"Analysts at the Swiss bank found prices in Britain were rising at an annual rate of 4.9 per cent - against 3.6 per cent in Germany, a euro zone average of 1.8 per cent and a U.S. increase of 1.5 per cent. And they said the UK stood out for having the 'broadest' range of food price hikes."
The only positive in this is that this will make Europe relatively cheap again for holidaymakers and budding expats.
Hardtack (Ships Biscuits) recipe (My bread, obviously, is suffering a serious lack of maggots!) :)
Banning soup kitchens is only the start of the attack on London’s homeless
"Westminster Council has been leading the push on this – lobbying ministers over a series of specific ways in which the government might weaken the legal duties of councils to house the homeless, believing that this will be necessary to handle the fallout from their housing benefit changes."
Notes from a hospital bed: Dying to get home
"Death is the last taboo in our society and yet it is something we must all face. We strive to live a good life and yet some people are being denied a good death. Despite government promises to allow everyone the right to choose to die at home, half of primary care trusts are still not providing the 24-hour nursing care required to make that a possibility."
CBT and exercise challenge 'no cure' for ME | News | Nursing Times
It is very worthwhile reading all of the comments below this article, which amongst other things, point out that: "The authors of this PACE trial are not just intellectually dishonest, they are morally reprehensible."
Any doctor who prescribes CBT and GET for ME could be sued as advised by the PACE trial
"Given the potential harmful effects of GET members of the medical profession who implement this approach might be subject to accusations of medical malfeasance."
Guardian Journalist wants to sit in on your ESA Medical, Can you help?
"I'm sure the DWP will have something to say about this If you tell them a journalist is going to accompany you but I seriously believe it would help rather than hinder your case."
