- Sense and Sensibility (DVD 1998) dlvr.it/TZMzV
2 hours ago
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Today's Bargains
- Romeo Must Die (DVD 2001) Jet Li, Aaliyah dlvr.it/TWgdV
- Erin Brockovich (DVD 2000) dlvr.it/TWgdY
Monday, 30 May 2011
Gazpacho Soup FAIL
LOL! Covent Garden seem to have slightly lost the plot here, providing heating instructions for Gazpacho soup! I hope nobody follows them.
Blimey, even Delia knows that this soup should be CHILLED. That said, it was jolly pleasant. Could use a tad more garlic for my taste, but otherwise, it’s pretty close to how it should be, having eaten plenty of it in Spain.
Celebrity Shilling
What’s with this country nowadays that nobody has their own taste and opinion and they can’t even decide what to like unless some celebrity says so?
Case in point: I made a cake today (OK, only from a packet mix) and the instructions said to beat it with an electric mixer.
Well, I don’t have one and I don’t have a lot of strength and ability left in my wrists and hands now either, so after a few seconds of manual beating, my wrists were tired, my hands hurt and I wished I did have an electric beater.
So, off to Amazon / eBay to look for one … for next time.
And I’m met with an array of kitchen gadgets advertised as Delia’s cheats (although, I don’t see this a cheating: more of a *disability aid*), or marketed under the name of some so-called celebrity chef like Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Antony Worrall Thompson, Marco Pierre White, James Martin, etc.
This, of course, is a win-win situation for the manufacturer who appears to get a celebrity endorsement and for the celebrity who’s paid to shill the said piece of junk. The only losers, of course, are we consumers, who inevitably pay more for the appliance than we would have if no name was attached to it.
But I think what riles me most about this situation is that, in order to market these items and shift enough of them off shelves to make a profit, these manufacturers seem to think that they need to treat us like idiots.
Do they honestly think that no *mere mortal members of the public* have ever been in a professional kitchen? (There’s enough *ordinary folk* being exploited to make cheap reality TV programs – including the cookery ones – to prove otherwise.) Because, as anyone who has ever been inside a professional kitchen (or is in possession of a bit of common sense) will know, the likelihood of any professional chef using a £20 plastic mixer in their busy professional kitchen is pretty close to the same as finding hen’s teeth or rocking horse poo!
There probably are people who believe that said celebrity actually uses the appliance in question. There are also probably not a few who actually believe (or at least hope) that the said item does possess the necessary qualities of robustness that is inferred by inferring professional use.
To me this seems deliberately misleading, dishonest and morally wrong.
What’s next, hookers advertising themselves by the name of the footballer they last shagged? Oh, sorry, that already happens, doesn’t it? 
One upon a time a decent brand name was enough. That’s what I want: a brand know for it’s quality, not merely for its associations with the latest in a long line of professional marketers. This has become impossible to buy, because reading the reviews, they’re full of stories like, “We just replaced the one we got as a wedding present 37 years ago …”, but “this last 9 months.”
That’s not just a decline in quality and standards, it’s taking in-built obsolescence and waste to a criminal level. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I thought we were supposed to be reducing waste, recycling, being green …
Today's Bargains
- BNWOT Outdoor gear black / grey nylon canvass bag dlvr.it/TNsgP
- Black canvas holdall / travel bag on wheels CABIN SIZE dlvr.it/TQ12g
Sunday, 29 May 2011
What is it like to have severe ME? Emily's story
"Severe ME is utterly devastating. It's time for proper research and proper care". That is the simple, but vitally important message that Emily is desperate for the world to hear. Beginning months ago, she has written a letter which she ho...pes will spread her message across the Internet and garner support for those severely affected by ME. Please help her achieve this.
(Permission to re-post)
Emily's Appeal
It has been said that the following is hard to read. But that is all we ask you to do: to read it, to forward/re-post it and to pledge your support for the many thousands of people like Emily who have to LIVE it.
"My name is Emily. I developed the neurological condition Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) when I was 6 years old. In April 2011 I turned 30. I still have ME.
ME coloured every aspect of my childhood; it painfully restricted my teens and it completely destroyed my twenties. Now, as I move into the next decade of my life, I am more crippled than ever by this horrific disease.
My doctors tell me that I have been pushed to the greatest extremes of suffering that illness can ever push a person. I have come very close to dying on more than one occasion. If you met me you may well think I was about to die now - it's like that every single day. After all these years I still struggle to understand how it's possible to feel so ill so relentlessly.
My reaction to small exertions and sensory stimulation is extreme. Voices wafting up from downstairs, a brief doctor's visit, a little light, all can leave me with surging pain, on the verge of vomiting, struggling with each breath and feeling I'll go mad with the suffering. Of course it can also be as bad as this for no particular reason - and often is. I cannot be washed, cannot raise my head, cannot have company, cannot be lifted from bed, cannot look out of the window, cannot be touched, cannot watch television or listen to music - the list is long.
ME has made my body an agonising prison.
My days and nights are filled with restless sleep interspersed with injections, needle changes (for a syringe driver), nappy changes (as well as experiencing transient paralysis and at times being blind and mute, I am doubly incontinent) and medicines/fluid being pumped into my stomach through a tube. My life could be better if I had a Hickman line (line which goes into a major vein and sits in the heart) for IV drugs and fluids, but such a thing would likely kill me. I'm on a huge cocktail of strong medications which help, yet still most days the suffering is incomprehensible. During the worst hours I may go without the extra morphine I need as I feel so ill that the thought of my mother coming near to administer it is intolerable - this despite pain levels so high that I hallucinate.
I live in constant fear of a crisis driving me into hospital; our hospitals have shown such lack of consideration for the special needs of patients like me that time spent in hospital is torture (eased only by the incredible kindness shown by some nurses and doctors) and invariably causes further deterioration.
Many days I feel utter despair.
But, unlike some sufferers, over the long years in which I've had severe ME (the illness began mildly and has taken a progressive course) I have at least had periods of respite from the absolute worst of it. During those periods I was still very ill, but it was possible to enjoy something of life. So in these dark days I know there is a real chance of better times ahead and that keeps me going.
My entire future, and the greatly improved health I so long for, however, currently hinges on luck alone. This is wrong. As I lie here, wishing and hoping and simply trying to survive, I (and the thousands like me - severe ME is not rare) should at least have the comfort of knowing that there are many, many well-funded scientists and doctors who are pulling out all the stops in the quest to find a treatment which may restore my health and that the NHS is doing all possible to care for me as I need to be cared for - but I don't. This wretched, ugly disease is made all the more so through the scandalous lack of research into its most severe form and the lack of necessary, appropriate support for those suffering from it. This is something that must change.
And that is why I tell my story; why I fight my painfully debilitated body to type this out on a smartphone one difficult sentence at a time and to make my appeal to governments, funders, medical experts and others:
Please put an end to the abandonment of people with severe ME and give us all real reason to hope."
By Emily Collingridge 2010-2011
You can support Emily and everyone with severe ME by joining the "Severe ME/CFS: A Guide to Living" Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114380158590669. Both sufferers and non sufferers welcome! See also www.severeME.info
Links of Interest (weekly)
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Overcoming the Isolation of Illness | Psychology Today
""Loneliness ...is the central and inevitable fact of human existence," wrote Thomas Wolfe. But the profound aloneness that often follows getting diagnosed with a serious medical illness can make this "central and inevitable fact" much worse."
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Our new guidance on completing the ESA form will be ready next week | ME Association
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Five reasons why marmite should be at the top of every eco-warrior’s shopping list
"The Danes might not like it much but marmite is one British institution that’s worth keeping. Here’s why, love it or hate it, marmite is an eco-friendly essential"
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Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: This is what the fight costs us.
"It is wrong to traumatise sick, disabled and dying people already living difficult enough lives for being unable to manage their bodies or minds well enough to sustain work."
-
The Jobbing Doctor: The end result of commercialisation
"Hospitals these days are no longer seen to be places where the sick are cared-for and nurtured back to health, but much more a trial to be endured."
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Allies in the Fight: The Gulf War Illness/ME/CFS Connection
"Gulf War Illness (GWI) and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) have both struggled for recognition. Recent findings implicating similar findings in both disorders suggest each disorder could soon be helping the other gain more recognition and study."
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Elliot Krane: The mystery of chronic pain | Video on TED.com
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Family claims the stress of Tory government's sickness benefit tests killed dad
"His widow Sandra, 57, said being lumped in with “dole scroungers” and the fear of financial hardship had a devastating effect.
David – who worked for 40 years as a miner and telecoms engineer – had already gone through a stressful eight-month appeal process to keep his £91-a-week benefits." -
Arthritis Care : Government must ‘get a grip’ of musculoskeletal disorders
"1 in 3 people with arthritis in unbearable pain as a consequence of their disease.
The UK’s leading arthritis experts have condemned the Government for failing to meet the needs of the millions of people with musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs) in England, causing pain and unnecessary suffering for the largest group of people living with long-term conditions." -
Rapture: Harold Camping issues new apocalypse date
"But he said he could not give financial advice to those who spent their life savings in the belief the end was nigh."
And I guess he can't bale them out with all the millions he's had in donations either? When will people see this idiot for the fraud he obviously is? October maybe? -
A Child’s CFS Misdiagnosed as Munchausen’s by Proxy
"There are many forms of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse… I would like to suggest that the term “medical abuse” be used when children are directly hurt by apathy or ignorance of health care providers."
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When chronic illness strikes: Tips on talking to family and close friends
"The physical suffering that accompanies chronic illness is difficult enough without adding mental suffering to it."
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Overuse of drugs in animal farming linked to growing antibiotic-resistance in humans
"In the UK, government vets estimated that 350 tonnes of antibiotics were used on farm animals in 2009. "
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My Life Living With Dysautonomia
"Eight Most Unhelpful Myths About Chronic Pain:
1 - Pain always means there’s something wrong.
2 - If the cause for your pain can’t be found, it must be in your head.
3 - Pain is good for your character: Unrelieved chronic pain is soul-destroying, not character-building.
4 - Showing pain or complaining is a sign of weakness.
5 - Some people don’t want to get better because they benefit from being in pain.
6 - The best patient doesn’t ask too many questions of the doctor.
7 - Chronic pain is generally well-managed medically.
8 - You’ll just have to learn to live with it.
Do not become discouraged, keep asking and looking for information." -
What to say vs. what not to say to someone who is acutely or chronically ill
"Compare the first bullet list to the second bullet list. Anyone who honestly cannot see the differences between the two sets of sample utterances has problems that are beyond what I could ever hope to fix."
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"... the UK’s annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle."
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Disabled people – we have to stand up for our rights – so stop explaining!
"Seriously, a member of the public does not have the right to question you. That’s it. End of argument. Nobody has a right to challenge your disability. It’s nothing short of persecution, and not to be tolerated."
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“Chronically sick and disabled” is not the same as “disabled”…
"... we’re suffering because nobody wants to accept that our disabilities are not fixed and immutable, but continually renewed, even amplified, day after day after day after fucking day… A fixed definition of disability does not work for us, which is why I always use the term Chronically Sick and Disabled."
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MP Ian Swales asks about the fit to work ESA rules for people with ME/CFS
"People with limited capability for work will be placed in the Work-Related Activity Group. These individuals may be required to undertake work-related activity, detailed in their action plan, which must be reasonable in their circumstances. If they feel the requirement on them is unreasonable, they will be able to request the activity is reconsidered. Advisers will not be able to direct people on ESA to seek, apply for or do work, nor will they be directed to undertake medical treatment. "
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Buggering up the English language, Part Umpteenth…
"So look, in the normal run of social intercourse, as an adult you may feel actual hatred only a handful of times in a lifetime (or whenever you see David Cameron). More than that and you’re probably BNP or EDL material."
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A note about DLA for the hard of thinking – and the Guardian.
"Bottom line – pay attention at the back! – DLA is not for being unable to work, it’s for being unable to walk even a short distance without pain. There are other criteria, like the risk of falling, or being unable to go out alone, both because of your disability. Not every DLA claimant – hell, not even most – has a visible disability, so don’t go thinking because you can’t see it, it’s not there. OK?"
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Life as we know it: 10 Tips from 10 Years Sick | Psychology Today
"9. We're fortunate to live in the Internet Age.
I can't imagine how much more difficult this illness would be if I couldn't connect with others on the web who are similarly sick." -
End of the world predictions to end in 2015
"After careful study of centuries of failed prophecies, a group of scientists has concluded that the final false prediction of the apocalypse will be made on August 12th, 2015. The London-based scientists claim that all the evidence points to that particular date as the day when an Age of Reason will finally dawn. “By that time even the most stupid, red-necked Texan Bible Basher will have realised that the end of the world is simply not going to happen,”"
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Biblical apocalypse leaves much of Britain unchanged
"Britain's dozen or so Christians were transported to a lovely garden on a cloud with soft beanbags, friendly wildlife and Enigma playing at ambient volume, while the country's remaining humans began an eternity of torment."
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White tiger toy scare causes Hampshire police alert
"It is understood that the tranquilliser dart was not used." :)
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Unhappy families: UK is third worst in Europe for home life
"... research paints a picture of a country where, in stark contrast to David Cameron's pledge to make Britain the "most family-friendly" nation in the world, British families are among the most pressured in Europe, only ahead of Bulgaria and Romania. "
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Soundings: a journal of politics and culture
"Jonathan Rutherford looks at the connections between government and the insurance business in their joint project to reduce eligibility for sickness benefits."
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Where's the Benefit?: Welfare for the people, by the people - a Consultation
"Shall I sum them up for you in a natty soundbite?
"I despair"
Or another?
"Get a bigger stick, throw away the carrots and beat 'em to despair"
I read their "proposals" with incredulous dismay. I wonder just how many have ever actually experienced any of the problems they wish to solve. From the mid nineties, politicians who timidly took the first steps towards reducing the welfare bill have been encouraged to "think the unthinkable" and over the years, they've forgotten that it was ever considered unthinkable in the first place. The "unthinkable" is now not radical enough and, as I write on an almost daily basis, we've reached the tipping point. We are on the brink of removing sickness benefits altogether and disability benefits are to be slashed so far, that sick and disabled people have only the last resort of our judicial system.
We have reached a stage, where only the Human Rights Act or the European Court of Appeal can save us now.
Why? How has it come to this? When asked to "think outside the box", why did every last politician think inside a tiny, claustrophobic box tied up with ignorance-string?"
Friday, 27 May 2011
Fluffy Friday
Or Flatulent Feline Friday as it’s known in these parts.
Young Balu snuggled up with my stuffed toy King Charles spaniel (who’s called Rufus, BTW), just before the near fatal farting incident the other day.
And he looks so cute and innocent, doesn’t he?
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Links of Interest (weekly)
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Serotonin & Blood Flow in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"We hear a lot about low serotonin in fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and it's usually in relation to its function as a neurotransmitter (chemical messenger in the brain.) However, serotonin is also busy in the rest of your body as a hormone, and body-wide serotonin dysregulation is believed to contribute to many of our symptoms and comorbid conditions."
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Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Swearing against Disablism
"Our country, the 6th richest in the world, has decided - with general consent - that it is OK for people with terrible illnesses or life threatening disabilities to live in abject poverty, scraping around for fucking scraps to make a bit of soup with.
On top of that, they have decided - with general consent - that it's OK to take away around a third of their already inadequate incomes. It's OK to make them pay an eye watering 10% of the entire deficit reduction plan. £9 billion pounds taken from people who already can't afford to feed themselves.
" -
Birmingham council's plan to cut care for disabled ruled unlawful
"High court judge describes move as potentially devastating and says cuts failed to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act"
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11 Reasons Why The World Ends On May 21 2011 – In Pictures
"AS you know the world will end on May 21 2011. May 21 is Doomsday. The world is ending on Saturday. The world is, readers, ending tomorrow." (Once again, if you're reading this on Sunday, somebody got their sums wrong!)
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First wanking made you blind, now "Viagra linked to hearing loss" :)
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World Ends May 21 2011 (Oh, what again?)
And, if you're reading this on my blog after it's auto-posted on Sunday 22nd, it probably didn't happen.
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Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Kindergarten Debate
"Every time I read any of the above arguments, I immediately dismiss those who make them as utter lollipops. They contribute nothing to running our country well. They mis-inform and divide and allow gross pillock-hood to flourish."
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Childhood Abuse & Risk of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"So while it is a valid area of study, I think it's well past time to stop re-verifying that abuse is a risk factor. We've been hearing that for years. Let's start looking at the specific physiological changes that occur because of child abuse. Then we can compare them to physiological changes caused by other kinds of long-term stress, chronic immune system activation and automotive accidents (which are also all risk factors.) Maybe then we'll find some commonalities that will shed light on central sensitization, which is a key factor of these conditions. Then we'll be making some real progress."
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Where the feck are Brian May and Roger Taylor, asks Ireland
"Millions of Irish people have taken to the streets to express their outrage at paying millions for a legendary rock gig only to find a badly-dressed old woman and her racist husband wandering round their capital city."
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Spanish ‘ revolution’ shakes social networks
"what is this “trending topic”? If you are outside Spain well worth you know that they refer to a number of popular actions convened this weekend by “Democracy Real Ya”, in protest by “job insecurity, difficulties in access to housing and the lack of prospects for young people”."
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Nobody expects the Spanish revolution: photos from "Real Democracy" protests in Spain
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CBT "does not work” says high-profile clinical psychologist
"A second high-profile clinical psychologist has delivered a hard-hitting criticism of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) claiming it is simplistic and “does not work”
Dr Oliver James accused government ministers of being "downright dishonest” when they claimed that new NHS CBT-trained therapists will cure half of 900,00 people of their depression and anxiety.
"“There is not a single scientific study which supports that claim,” says Dr James.
"Being cheap, quick and simplistic, CBT naturally appeals to the government. Yet the fact is, it doesn’t work,” added Dr James." -
‘Houses heading for another boom & bust’
"The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has today called for urgent and fundamental reform of the housing market after the failure of policy-makers to learn the lessons from previous boom and bust cycles.
They say the UK has one of the most persistently volatile housing markets in the world.
The report recommends policy options that would help create a more stable housing market, protect existing home owners and enable more new households to get onto the property ladder. " -
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and...: 16 May 2011: Written answers and statements (TheyWorkForYou.com)
"To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children and young people up to and including age 16 who have been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) have also been referred to social services for a child protection (section 47) investigation; and, of all the children referred to social services for a child protection investigation, how many have been diagnosed with ME/CFS either before the start of the investigation, or subsequently in the past 10 years."
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Southampton, Sat 21st May 2011 | UK Uncut
"Come dressed as a doctor, nurse or patient even. Bring banners/signs & fliers/leaflets and we'll bring the music. "
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Nadine Dorries says child sex abuse victims should “just say no”
Somebody gag this woman, she's getting on my tits. Adults are supposed to protect children. It's never the child's fault. End of.
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Childhood physical abuse linked to chronic fatigue syndrome, study suggests
"Childhood physical abuse is associated with significantly elevated rates of functional somatic syndromes such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivities among women, according to new findings by University of Toronto researchers."
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Pay gap widening to Victorian levels
"Wage disparity between the UK's top earners and the rest of the working population will soon return to the levels of the Victorian era unless action is taken to curb executive pay, a new report by the high pay commission claims."
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Fix banks to avoid eurozone meltdown, IMF warns
"The International Monetary Fund has warned that the eurozone debt crisis could spread across the region unless European countries step up efforts to fix their banks."
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Switzerland: Zurich votes on 'suicide tourism' laws
"The Swiss are uneasy that so many foreign citizens are coming to Switzerland because assisted suicide remains illegal in their own countries. "
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Disabled face increasing hostility from strangers, survey finds
"Disabled people have faced greater hostility from the public since the government launched its controversial benefits reforms, according to a survey by a leading charity."
Friday, 20 May 2011
Two snoozin’ kittehs
Quality’s not great, coz I had to grab these snapshots with my laptop’s webcam – moving the laptop very quietly and only slightly - because, if I’d have moved to get the camera they’d have thought it was food time (yet again) and would have gone to the kitchen at the speed of bullets leaving a gun.
And they have gone now, but they’d spent most of the evening curled up together like that by my right shoulder. Balu was even snoring!
Living ONE AWAY from Financial Crisis
This video may be about the situation in the US, but this is also the reality for many in the UK too and will apply to more and more people as benefit cuts hit.
It could apply to you too if you become ill, are involved in an accident, loose your job. It could be your parent or grandparent. Is this what we want?
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Links of Interest (weekly)
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Life as we know it: Local Man Battles Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
""I'm amazed that he's kept his sanity" That's the surprising part about most of us -- that we've kept our sanity through it all."
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Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia cause 'bone-crushing fatigue,' pain for many
""We are victimized by the illness, and victimized all over again by people's disbelief in the reality and legitimacy of our illness," she said in an email interview, as holding the phone and talking for long periods of time sometimes proves to be too much for her."
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Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia cause 'bone-crushing fatigue,' pain for many
"If it isn't fatigue, it's pain and the constant baths have led to eczema. Lying down all the time has given in to gastric reflux, causing chronic laryngitis and even asthma, and light-headedness when she stands too long and her brain is in a endless fog. But it wasn't always that way."
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Tenerife Murderer Recently Released from Pyschiatric Care
"How in hell was this creature ever let out to roam the streets like a wild animal? Valentinov was not someone who got along in regular society and then one day, suddenly went ballistic. This is a man who was a clear danger to himself and more particularly to others. Valentinov was a time-bomb. Was his release part of some government cost-cutting exercise? "
If that is the case, given the cuts, events such as this are probably far more likely to occur in the UK. -
EastEnders ‘bestiality’ storyline criticised
"A spokesman for the BBC denied any attempt to deliberately use controversy or sensationalism to boost ratings, and argued that the show was merely trying to raise the level of public debate on the rights and wrongs of having sex with household pets."
Eastenders has become such a parody of itself nowadays, nobody would be the least bit shocked any more, even if they actually did pursue this story line. -
New data shows an immunological pattern associated with XMRV/CFS
"Results: This study identifies a signature of 10 cytokines and chemokines which correctly identifies XMRV/CFS patients with 93% specificity and 96% sensitivity.
Conclusion: These data show, for the first time, an immunological pattern associated with XMRV/CFS." -
Pro-cuts Rally Against Debt fail to fill allotted area (not much support then :)
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Society and the media are failing the sick and disabled
In perhaps the worst ambush of the day, we were asked to take part in a Radio 4 “You and Yours” debate that simply felt like a political broadcast for the coalition, in which callers suggested sick or disabled people had no right to go to a pub, or meet friends for coffee or own a car.
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Life as we know it: MRI scans show CFS link to brain changes
"An MRI study has suggested that chronic fatigue syndrome may be linked
with a dysfunction in the midbrain, challenging claims that it is not
an organic illness.
Using MRI scanning, researchers at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in
Adelaide say they found signs that white matter volume in the midbrain
decreased with increasing fatigue duration in patients with CFS.
This "midbrain dysfunction", they say, could explain many of the
symptoms of CFS which are normally consistent with autonomic nervous
system, immunological and cardiovascular dysfunction." -
Britain 'could do more' to discourage tourism
"... a new visa requirement for tourists to watch an hour of regional television from any part of Britain they intend to visit, as well as being kept on the plane until they have read a whole Melanie Phillips column."
We're so good at self-depreciating humour. I, on the other hand, think these things about Britain (not about keeping tourists out, but why the hell would they want to come?) and I'm not joking. -
Disabled marchers turn out in thousands for benefits protest
"Jane Asher, the actor and president of the Arthritis Council, National Autistic Society and Parkinson's UK, told the rally: "This is the largest rally of disabled people in living memory, and that's something to be proud of – at the same time, it is very sad that it has come to this." She described the cuts as "cruel and misguided" and said: "The prime minister said that the savings would protect the vulnerable. Far from protecting the vulnerable, these cuts are bearing down disproportionately on those with disability.""
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The Daily (Maybe): Top YES to AV votes... notice anything?
"they are all areas where the Greens either have councillors or, in the case of London, had councillors until the dual general election /council election last year."
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Police buy software to map suspects' digital movements
"Britain's largest police force is using software that can map nearly every move suspects and their associates make in the digital world, prompting an outcry from civil liberties groups."
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Met Police to use 'unsurvivable' hollow point bullets
""How can the police in the UK use bullets that the Army is not allowed to use?""
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Where's the Benefit?: More Sloppy BBC 'Journalism'
"The impression this article is going to give to most people reading it is that only 6% of ESA applicants are genuinely disabled, and that 94% are faking it or trying it on. "
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Arthritis Care : Jane Asher to speak against disability benefit cuts at the Hardest Hit march
"Jane Asher will be speaking out against disability cuts at the Hardest Hit march and lobby on 11 May in central London. Jane is President of three health and disability charities – The National Autistic Society (NAS), Arthritis Care and Parkinson’s UK – whose members she will be representing at the event."
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The Broken Of Britain: Welfare Reform Bill Committee Confirms Disabled People As The Hardest Hit
"Public Bill Committees are formed in order to scrutinise proposed legislation, and should be the stage at which amendment are made to the Bill. The Welfare Reform Bill Committee has failed miserably at this task with the creation of PIP and abolition of DLA passing unamended, with absolutely no changes from the original proposals. "
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The Broken Of Britain: The Hardest Hit: More Than Market Failure
"One of the suggestions he made on the show for a flexible, low-cost welfare system was devolving responsibility to local authorities. Such a move would probably cost more as each locality duplicated its own system, and it seems odd that an economist would make such a ludicrous suggestion. That is until you remember that the Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs isn’t even an economist. "
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Decline in philanthropy leaves Cameron’s “big society” in tatters
"Yet according to research by the Charities Aid Foundation, charitable donations by the top 100 philanthropists in the UK fell by almost a third in one year. In 2009, the figure stood at £2.49bn, but was reduced to £1.67bn by 2010 — an £818m drop."
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The Broken Of Britain: PIP Assessment Criteria Published
"The PIP Objective Assessment Development Group will be considering comments received by 6 June 2011 before they test the likely impact of the draft criteria during the summer. The Broken of Britain intends to read through this material and set out our reply, but we need your help. We would like you to scan the assessment criteria and tell us whether the test would account fairly for your particular disability.
" -
The Broken Of Britain: Does NHS waste up to £850 million per year on Benefit Scroungers?
"No. But that could well be the headline from a recent redtop, the Mail or the Telegraph."
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EastEnders not realistic, says boss (Fuck me, this is news?!)
"EastEnders does not offer a realistic portrayal of working-class life and is not as multicultural as the real East End of London, its boss has admitted."
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Disabled people are hardest hit in social care cuts, say campaigners - Adult Care Blog
"We rarely get to see the people affected by the social care cuts. They are often invisible. Today The Guardian has a good feature on the fallout from the High Court decision against Birmingham City Council. "
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"So we were beaten this time. We’re tired. Some of us are in physical pain. We feel let down, yet again, by lying, cheating politicians. We feel abused by people who purely want to protect their own interests rather than the people they serve. But this was a battle, not the war."
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Where's the Benefit?: News, Numbers and Nonsense
"The point is that someone has to experience a significant level of functional impairment in order to qualify for any disability benefits. Just because a condition is common doesn't mean that a minority of people don't get it very bad. Almost everyone has had the flu at some point in their lives, but that doesn't make it remarkable that a few thousand people who die of it each winter."
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Arthritis Care : Arthritis Care Week 2011: A letter from Jane Asher
"As president of Arthritis Care, I’m grateful to have this opportunity to draw your readers’ attention to Arthritis Care Week, which this year is from 9-15 May."
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"Before meeting this remarkable mother and daughter I had seen African children suffering from starvation, met people dying of Aids, patients paralysed from the neck down, others in the last stages of terminal cancer. But I had never seen a living person as desperately ill as Lynn Gilderdale."
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Suicide watch down at the Job Centre…
"But here’s a thought. If the DWP is worried that its policies are driving people to suicide, I have a suggestion – DON’T fuck up their lives by trashing their benefits! It’s not rocket science, you dumb bastards."
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Walking: My Exercise Choice with ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia
"I have personally found that for my own situation, and in talking and reading about others with ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia, intense aerobic, hard, physical exercise is NOT beneficial and makes our health worse. It causes our ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia symptoms to worsen and while doctors “claim” we would have more energy from this form of exercise, it actually does the reverse and causes our bodies to go crash (post-exertional malaise). For Fibromyalgia patients, the extreme exercise can make fatigue worse and the pain and other Fibro symptoms a lot worse also."
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Dodgy Dave’s support remains as strong as ever…
"Stupidity seems to be the only answer, since “my party right or wrong” will only take you so far if you have any sort of intelligence. And a conscience."
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Jobcentre staff 'sent guidelines on how to deal with claimants' suicide threats'
"Julie Tipping, an appeals officer for Disability Solutions, represents claimants who try to overturn decisions made following work capability assessment tests that they are fit for work.
She says that in the last year, two of her clients have made "real attempts" at suicide after a decision was made that they were fit for work. Both were taken to hospital and subsequently sectioned." -
All Terrorists are Muslims...Except the 94% that Aren't
"Yet, Americans continue to live in mortal fear of radical Islam, a fear propagated and inflamed by right wing Islamophobes."
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Links of Interest (weekly)
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Psychiatric research on this disease is just plain silly
"Suppose you broke your leg really badly. You knew it, your family knew it, your friends who were with you knew it. Somebody called emergency, and the ER techs came out. They had already been told by your family that you had a broken leg, but they said they had to find out for themselves. They came up to you and said, “Why do you think you have a broken leg?” Startled by the question, you said, “because it is obviously broken!” (Selfreported, one says to the other.) How about you stand up and we can see what’s going on with that leg. “NO!” you responded! “That’s going to hurt!” (Catastrophizer, they murmur among themselves. People who catastrophize about pain are more likely to feel pain.) Then they write a prescription for Prozac, say “Take this until you feel more comfortable about the prospect of standing up,” and they leave."
Yep, this is EXACTLY how we are treated. -
Week of action against Atos begins Monday
"Disability activists, claimant groups and anti-cuts campaigners have called a week of action against “poverty pimps” Atos Origin beginning on Monday 9th May with a picnic and party in Triton Square, home of their head office, at 2pm."
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The Broken Of Britain: Attitudes More Suited To 100 Years Ago - Is It Due To The 'Official Stance'?
"It did make me question though, is he just of a type that thinks disabled people have a place, but only out of the mainstream, or is it a sign that the Gov/media campaign is taking hold? Will it be that soon the only ‘right’ place for us with be the modern equivelant of the workhouse? I feel that this situation is proof positive our rights to ‘normality’ are slipping, and we must fight like never before to halt the slide. "
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Life as we know it: Quote of the Day
""As a pediatrician I have been involved with disabled people for over 30 years.... I have seen babies with disabilities like cerebral palsy grow up into disabled adults. I know from personal experience how tough their lives and the lives of their parents can be. No amount of money can make up for being disabled, but a civilised society should be doing all it can to enhance their quality of life. I am shocked and saddened that instead our Government is reducing their benefits and adding to their burdens."
Professor Sir David Hall FRCPCH, FRCP, FRCP" -
Isle of Wight braces itself for flares to drainpipes switchover
Yeah, there's a fair few - figuratively at least - still doddering around in their demob suits on this side of the Solent too!
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76 year old woman detained for 7 hours for feeding pigeons
"Now don't get us wrong - the BBW team loath pidgeons, or "flying rats" as we have been known to call them - but to detain an 76-year-old lady and her daughter for seven hours under suspicion of commiting a public nuisance offence and to later seize her house keys, bank statements and cheque books is nothing short of outrageous. "
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Disability Claim? You're Not Paranoid... They Really Are Watching You
"Surveillance is more frequently used by insurers in cases where claimants allege disability based on ‘invisible’ conditions like Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)."
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Social workers must challenge consumerism in elderly care
"Consumerism is supposed to be synonymous with choice, efficiency and a rise in standards. In reality, it has contributed to an indifferent attitude where abuse and neglect has been institutionalised."
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Say no to AV and doom the country…
"Will you vote against AV simply because change scares you? You’re a reactionary cretin."
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Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: 3 Claimants die after being found "Fit for Work"
"The examples given in the report above are not unusual. 3 people died before their ESA tribunals could be heard having been found "fit for work". Not only were seriously (well, it turned out terminally) ill people found "fit for work" by ATOS, but even when the decisions were overturned at appeal, ATOS continued to harass them them with further assessments."
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Brain Fog & Sleeping Brains in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
"Has brain fog ever made you feel like your brain just "shut off" or "went to sleep" for a bit? New research on sleep-deprived brains suggests that could be exactly what's happening."
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Too much or too little sleep may accelerate cognitive aging, study shows
"A study in the May 1 issue of the journal Sleep describes how changes in sleep that occur over a five-year period in late middle age affect cognitive function in later life. The findings suggest that women and men who begin sleeping more or less than 6 to 8 hours per night are subject to an accelerated cognitive decline that is equivalent to four to seven years of aging."
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Where's the Benefit?: The GMC, ATOS and Duty of Care
"The GMC Standards and Fitness to Practise Directorate have now issued guidance that the argument made in the comment is not correct, that ATOS assessments are a doctor-patient interaction and that doctors have to make the interests of their patients their first concern at all times. "
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Doctors Best Quercetin and Bromelain - 180 Capsules
"Bought this as an afterthought and so happy I did. I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, so my feet feel as if I'm walking on glass or on fire. It makes it so difficult to walk! After I tried this because I heard that quercetin was just a good supplement, I was amazed how much better my feet felt."
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NHS managers “thrilled” by 1,011 dead organ donors (what did they use before, live ones?)
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Neurological inflammation in Severe M.E. as found Post mortem in Lynn and in Sophia
"There have been no material changes to prevent repeat tragedies. There is still no public funding for biomedical research into the same proven post mortem neurological inflammation found not only in Lynn but fellow M.E sufferer, Sophia Mirza, also from Sussex, who died in 2005. There is no change in emphasis on M.E. as a psychiatric or somatoform illness, for which there never was any justification.
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The Jobbing Doctor: Conspiracy or cock-up
"For those who think that the new order of Healthcare in England will be better, don't believe it. And don't get ill either. "
This is advice from a Doctor? -
Where's the Benefit?: #badd2011 Vulnerability
"this government, with their cuts and their propaganda, are making me vulnerable. Is this disablism though? Abso-bleeding-lutely when so many of the cuts and so much of the hate is aimed at us."
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