If I could begin a blog all over again...

I'd give it a theme. This one ranges far too widely so not many people visit it on a daily basis thinking "I'd go to Newsjiffy if I wanted information on..."

Really, though, I think most posts (aside from perhaps this one) are worth reading. Also, this blog acts as a catharsis for me.

I'm not well enough to try to set up another blog and ensure the SEO is as good as this one.

So I'll stick with this way of doing things for now.

Scam Student Finance e-mail

Any emails from sfd_wbaster@slc.co.uk claiming to be about "Academic Year 2011/12 Payment Access Review" are a scam and should be deleted.

The link in the email does not go to the Student Finance website but to a spoof site. When you hold your mouse over the address, it begins with: "http://home-da4a.ru".

The text of the website, which is well written, begins:

Academic Year 2011/12

This is a message for all students receiving grants and loans from the Students Loan Company. You are required to verify your account information in order to avoid any delay in your loan/grant payments. You can do this by visiting http://www.studentfinance.direct.gov.uk*/

Yours Sincerely
Student Finance England

*clicking on this hyperlink in the original message will take you to the spoof site.

Student to cycle from London to Paris to raise money for charity

Westminster University undergraduate student Crista La Rocca will take part in the 2011 London to Paris Bike Ride to raise money for the charity Children with Cancer UK.

Crista will be embarking on the 500km ride, along with thousands of other cyclists, on 21-25 September 2011.

Click here to sponsor Crista La Rocca.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks at Ohio University

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an activist, author and politician who founded the women's rights organisation AHA Foundation, speaks and answers questions at Ohio University.



Her book Infidel, which I read in early 2011, is well worth a read.

Via Mick Hartley

Taxpayers' money wasted by local councils and Transport for London

While the government are determined to cut public services and the welfare budget, they seem very relaxed about limiting the salaries of those at the top of the public sector.

Tale Peter Hendy, an aide to Transport for London. He's on £332,000 a year. Even a tenth of that would be more than most Londoners earn.

Yet the right don't call for that to be cut. They say "There is no money left" when discussing cutting benefits for the sick, but not when a man earns an obscene amount of public money.

Tory councils, meant to be run on Conservative values, also pay people large amount of public money.

Andrew Gillian reveals in the Daily Telegraph that:

*Cotswold district council paid £19,000 of taxpayers' money to Shay McConnon, for giving a morale-boosting talks to staff as the authority pushed through £1.5 million cuts.

*West Oxfordshire district council sent 300 staff, including binmen and street cleaners, on £30,000 worth of compulsory "happiness courses" to "share their feelings" about each other.

*The chief executive of Essex County Council, Joanna Killian, is on £237,000, plus pension contributions of £47,000.

*Kent County Council's Peter Gilroy, is on a salary and bonus of £225,000, plus a pension of £56,000.

*Suffolk County Council's Andrea Hill is on £218,000, plus £49,000 pension. You can read more about Andrea Hill, who has been suspended, at Suffolk Wordblog.

*Mike Whitby, the Conservative leader of Birmingham City Council, who took a £750-a-night suite at the Hyatt hotel, three miles from his house, during the 2008 Conservative Party conference, which was in Birmingham.

If you support the cuts but do not oppose these obscene salaries, you are a hypocrite.

New journalism project for East London residents interested in the 2012 Olympics

A new seven week course has eight places for aspiring adult journalists who live, work, study or receive services in the London Boroughs of Hackney and Waltham Forest.

Those taking part have the opportunity to develop their ideas into stories, explore how the Olympic and Paralympic Games impacts on their life and your community*, and have their work published in a one-off newspaper.

Stories may also appear on the BBC London website.

There are eight places on each course. The Hackney course is located at the Hackney Museum, while the Waltham Forest course is located at the Vestry House Museum.

The programme, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and local museums and archives, is delivered by Words of Colour Productions.

Successful applicants can expect to develop basic journalism skills in news, but particularly feature writing, one-to-one tutorials, a certificate of completion and the opportunity to conduct interviews.

The Hackney course will take place one day a week on Saturdays, from Saturday 10th September 2011 to Saturday 22nd October 2011, from 10am to 4pm, including an assignment break.

The Waltham Forest course will take place one day a week on Tuesdays, from Tuesday 20th September 2011 to Tuesday 1st November 2011 from 10am to 4pm,including an assignment break.

All those taking part must be 18 and over, have a keen interest in the 2012 Olympic Games and its development, and cannot be an experienced or trained journalist.

Further information, including application details, is available about the Hackney course or the Waltham Forest course.

Hyacinth Myers, a participant in the Mapping the Change Journalism Programme 2010, says: "This is one of the best courses I have done to date. The course content was concise, but covered the areas of a much longer course.

"Apart from being really enjoyable and teaching me new skills, it also boosted my confidence in being able to write in various formats."

*For instance, a big television that blares out at people in Walthamstow town centre.

Alleged abuse uncovered in Kentish Town's Ash Court Care Home

Eighty-year-old Maria Worroll,a former dinner lady in Belsize Park, was allegedly abused for several months at the Ash Court Care Home on Ashcham Street, Kentish Town, North London, according to the Ham and High.

In an echo of Winterbourne View, video evidence allegedly shows her being slapped, shouted at and having her arm twisted by one of the employees.

She suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and is unable to speak or walk. After seeing bruises on Mrs Worroll’s arms, Mrs Worroll’s daughter, Jane, decided to buy a motion-sensitive camera which she planted in her room for four weeks.

Mr Worroll told the Ham and High: "My mum has been in the care home for seven months and became tearful a month after moving in. Over the last two to three months, my sister kept speaking about the bruising on her arms. My mum was very tearful and would burst into tears whenever anybody visited her. Her food was always left on the table."

The care home have suspended one of their employees and are carrying out an internal review of four others.

Four female carers also filmed apparently mistreating Mrs Worroll were suspended yesterday by Forest Healthcare, which runs 13 care centres in the South-East, according to the Evening Standard.

Mrs Worroll's granddaughter, Rebecca, 26, told the Evening Standard: "You can hear my nan crying and you see the man hit her in the face and slap her. My nan had not done anything, she tried to comply with everything that he said, but he just walks in and hits her. It was so sad to watch, she couldn't do anything."

They face claims that they made fun of the 80-year-old and did not use correct procedures in handling Mrs Worroll.

Ash Court Care Home say "The dignity, health and wellbeing of all the people we support at Ash Court remains our number one priority", but it is shocking that this abuse went on for several months, and was only uncovered by a relative. Heads must roll.

A 30 year old man is due to to appear at Central London police station on July 19 in connection with the ongoing investigation.

Mrs Worroll is currently still living at Ash Court. Detectives from Camden CID are now expected to interview all staff and residents at the home.

We must keep up the pressure on the police, Ash Court and Camden Council to bring the alleged abusers to justice. If found guilty, the carers should be named and shamed.

Kuwait man arrested for tweet

Nasser Abul, 26, was arrested on 7 June for supposedly insulting the Bahraini and Saudi Arabian ruling families while tweeting in support of protestors in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Middle East.

According to Amnesty International, Nasser appeared before the Kuwait General Prosecution office on charges including "damaging the country’s interests" and "severing political relationship with brotherly countries".

Neither his family, nor his lawyer, were allowed to attend the hearing. He was taken to his family’s home on 14 June. The house was searched and his computer and phone were confiscated.

During the search, Nasser told his mother he had been beaten during the first two days of his detention, insulted and threatened, and added that he was not permitted to turn off the light in his cell.

He is currently held at the State Security facility.

Take action to free Nasser Abul.

Tweets in support of Nasser via Global Voices.

The story behind Cameron's photo-op at Guy's Hospital

We've all seen the above clip. An angry manager walks in on Cameron and Clegg cooing at a patient in Guy's Hospital, Southwark, London and tells the reporters to leave as they are wearing ties.

As Max Pemberton reports in the Daily Telegraph, that's not the full story.

The incident was seen as a victory for the man on the street over the slick No 10 machine – until news broke yesterday that Nunn is now mysteriously not at work. The press department at Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust has insisted that he is on leave for an undisclosed period, not suspended, but refuses to comment further.

The trust has issued warnings to its staff not to talk to any members of the press about the matter, which in itself seems a peculiar intervention. However, several friends who work in orthopaedics have privately expressed concern that Guy's Hospital was deeply angered by Nunn's actions, and are trying to oust him from his job. They are convinced that he has been suspended in all but name.

It is also worth noting Pemberton's comments on the "bare below the elbows" policy that Nunn refers to. I will quote a large majority of it as it is so important.

There is not a shred of evidence to show that the policy of "bare below the elbows" reduces the spread of infection in any way. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's actively dangerous, because it diverts attention from the real problems.

Nunn himself has been critical of the policy, not least on the letters page of this newspaper. Indeed, his outburst can be seen as an attempt to highlight the utter hypocrisy and lunacy surrounding infection control in the NHS.

Both the previous administration and the present one know that the public is concerned about hospital infection rates. They must be seen to be doing something. But all the research shows that the single biggest factor in the spread of hospital-acquired infections, such as MRSA and C. difficile, is bed occupancy rate. The quicker the turnaround in hospitals, and the more pressure on bed space, the more infections there are.

Scandalously, this link was emphasised six years ago, in a report funded by the Department of Health. Yet it was ignored by Labour because it did not fit in with its new NHS agenda of closing hospitals, introducing PFI hospitals (which typically have 30 per cent fewer beds) and "streamlining" services.

These policies have left us with some of the highest bed occupancy rates in the developed world, with hospitals often running at over 100 per cent capacity. It's this that is causing the spread of hospital-acquired infections, not shirtsleeves or watches...

Read more at the Daily Telegraph.

Mental health charity Mind to visit six locations in England in early July by bus

From 4 to 9 July, staff from the mental health charity Mind will visit six locations across England in the Mind bus.

The aim is to help people find new ways to stay mentally healthy and to love their mind.

Locations where the Mind bus will be:

Newcastle, Grey’s Monument:  Monday 4 July

Leeds, Briggate:                      Tuesday 5 July

Blackpool, by South Pier:      Wednesday 6 July

Oxford, Bonn Square:            Thursday 7 July

Southampton, Bargate:          Friday 8 July

London, Regent’s Park        Saturday 9 July

The bus will be open from 11am to 3pm every day of the tour.

On and off the Mind bus fun and therapeutic activities will be offered, as well as tea and chat sessions and practical help on things like CV writing and staying healthy in work.

You can make friends with Mind’s human stressball, join a walk to promote better mental health in the area or find out more about your local Mind and how you can get involved.

If you want to support this work, donate to Mind.

Sign up for more information on the Mind Bus.

Memories of the past: My design teacher

I only did Craft, Design and Technology up until the age of 13, but I'll never forget those lessons, thanks to my design teacher.

The design workshop was based in a corner of the sports hall, for some unknown reason.

We all had to queue up outside the room and wait for an earsplitting bell to ring just above our heads.

He would then fling the door open and snarl at us to come in. We'd walk down the steps and each find a workbench.

An Irishman, he always had a Guinness screensaver, the one with the really cool music that I can't find anywhere, on his computer. He also had a backwards clock.

On the back of the door, to further highlight his contempt for students, was the "Midvale School for the gifted" cartoon from the Far Side.

He used to say "Yes, stupid question Number..." whenever any of us put or hand up.

The room had its own phone, and whenever anyone rang he used to delight in sneering about them to us afterwards.

I made some weird wooden tower as well as a car, and I also used a Computer Aided Design Program.

Once, I remember being the only person in a computer room, and all the computers froze. He came in and asked what I was doing, I said nothing, and as he turned to leave he said "If you were doing nothing, then why did you jump like a scaled cat as soon as I entered the room?"

Yes, he was a character all right. I wonder if he's still at my primary school.

Thoughts on 24 hours in A&E and some NHS reform proposals

I watched 24 hours in A&E last week and was shocked at some of the things the staff at King's College Hospital in Southwark, South London have to put up with.

Given the horror stories we hear about care in some NHS hospitals, it's good to see there are some dedicated staff out there.

I was thinking how some people do waste the NHS' time, costing both money and precious seconds that could be used to save a life.

Why should I have to pay around £100 each time I need a new pair of glasses, or someone else have to pay prescription charges, but a Friday night party type who has had too much to drink get free treatment?

I would propose the following:

Each person who needs hospital or paramedic treatment because of their drinking who is not an alcoholic should recieve a bill afterwards based on the salary they are earning (£10 means more to someone on minimum wage than someone on £60,000).

At the time, the paramedic or hospital should try to locate either something with their name and address, get them to give this (risk of a false one) or get the police to do a search.

Then, a week afterwards they would be sent a bill from the hospital. Failure to pay
within 30 days would mean the amount would go up by £5, and then a £5 for every fortnight after that the bill was unpaid.

If on benefits,or earning under £14,000: £20.

If earning £14,000-£20,000: £30.

If earning £20,000-£30,000: £50.

If £30,000 or above: £80.

I would also propose the same for drug addicts.

For those who injured themselves while breaking the law:

If on benefits,or earning under £14,000: £80.

If earning £14,000-£20,000: £130.

If earning £20,000-£30,000: £150.

If £30,000 or above: £180.

Secondly, I would like to see an offence of interfering with the duties of a member of the emergency services or medical worker (such as not going out the room after being asked to again and again) which could result in a fine up to £300 or 200 hours community service.

Thirdly, the hospital should have the option of filming the behavior of gang members or people escorted by police to the hospital, and if the hospital is happy to do so any footage of criminal behavior should be added to the charges against them.

Why aren't people on either sides of the cuts debate proposing solutions like this, alternate ways to cut the deficit that don't hurt the poor?

They are to busy shouting "No cuts aside from Trident*!" or "These cuts are needed. There is no money left. End of"

*I support cutting Trident, it's just that the defence budget isn't the only area where alternate cuts can be made.

Oxford Zone products can be used on Stagecoach, Thames Travel buses from 24 July

Good news for those using public transport in Oxford.

From 24th July, Oxford SmartZone products will replace Oxford Zone ones, allowing people to travel not only on Oxford Bus Company services but also buses in Oxford operated by Stagecoach and Thames Travel.

The key will work on Thames Travel and Stagecoach buses across Oxford, so long as you have a valid Oxford Zone product, you won’t need to do anything until your current product expires. 

 

You can still top up at the Debenhams Travel Shop , or at oxfordkey.co.uk, and you won’t need to change your smartcard.

Brookesbus travel products will not change and will only be valid on Oxford Bus Company Services, as will airline and espress (X70/80/90) travel products.

It should be noted that there will be changes to Oxford Bus Company timetables from 24 July on routes 2, 4, 5 and 8/9. 

Some Stagecoach routes in Oxford will also have timetable changes as well.

Summer Cinema Soiree and party in Walthamstow to celebrate cinema developments

In celebration of Waltham Forest council rejecting the UCKG's third attempt to convert Walthamstow's EMD cinema into a church, the McGuffin Film Society has organised a summer cinema soiree and post-planning committee party.

The soiree and party will take place on Friday 22 July from 8.30pm at Orford House Ballroom, 73 Orford Road, Walthamstow Village E17, a short walk away from Walthamstow Central station.

There will be live music, dancing and a fully licensed bar with all drinks at reduced prices until midnight.

Speakers will be there from Waltham Forest Cinema Trust, Waltham Forest Council and Stella Creasy MP.

There are less than 40 tickets left at time of blogging, and demand is expected to be high. It is recommended you book as soon as possible.

Buy your ticket here.

The event will coincide with the first public screening of a new British film starring Paul McGann.

Partly filmed on location in Walthamstow, this anarchic comedy follows the adventures of a group of young would-be filmmakers as they battle against bureaucracy, police and Section 44 anti-terrorist legislation in their quest for cinematic perfection.

Picture Show in Walthamstow:

This weekend, an exhibition of film-inspired artworks from over 20 East London artists, designers and photographers will premiere at E17 Art House Gallery, 6-10 Church Hill (entrance in Stainforth Road, a very short walk from Walthamstow Central), London E17.

This special launch event will feature the first public viewing of the exhibition, an opportunity to meet the artists and a live performance by jazz group The Jazzaholics in the gallery's courtyard.

Admission is free and refreshments will be provided. All are welcome.

More information.

Two Tory councils in London exposed as wasting money

The latest issue of Private Eye (1291) has an excellent Rotten Boroughs column.

Among its findings are that:

* In outer East London, Havering Council's councilors have new council issue iPads at a cost of £600 each, despite £19m in cuts and 300 jobs being axed.

*Meanwhile, in outer West London, Hillingdon Council's leader Ray Puddifoot has agreed spending £15,000 on putting carp in an old quarry for anglers, despite £26m in proposed cuts.

More on local council incompetence and greed in Private Eye, only £1.50.

British Heart Foundation conducts benefit survey

The British Heart Foundation wants the views of people with heart conditions and people who care for those with heart conditions about proposed changes to the benefits system.

The BHF wants to influence the Government's proposals to make sure that people living with heart conditions are receiving the financial support that they need.

They need your views on what is working well with the current benefits system, and what needs to be improved.

Each survey should only take 10-15 minutes.

The closing date for responses is 10 July.

Survey for people with heart conditions

Survey for carers of people with heart conditions

For more information about the research, please contact David Penn, penndATbhf.org.uk or 0207 554 0152.

Philip Davies is wrong on disabled people and the minimum wage

Rather than pass legislation to improve the right of disabled people or introduce quotas, Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, thinks that disabled people should be able to work for less than the minimum wage.

That's for less than £5.93 an hour, at a time when the cost of living is rising rapidly.

The message Mr Davies sends out is that disabled people are worth less than non-disabled people. Perhaps he should have got a job at Winterbourne View. They'd like him there.

Private sector company British Telecom would disagree. In 2009, the BT Director of Policy and People said:

Many of the barriers disabled people face are external. A diverse workforce can help to access people from different backgrounds, which is a competitive advantage for the organisation.

Disabled people face hurdles on a day-to-day basis and hence can tackle any challenges and find extraordinary solutions. They have unique perspectives and can change not just what we do but how we do things.

Employing people with disabilities is not risky, disruptive or expensive – it is just plain business sense. A diverse workforce makes for better business. It is the difference that can make the difference.

A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission comments:

This is nonsense. It shows a total lack of understanding of the abilities and aspirations of Mr Davies' disabled constituents. Is he arguing that Richard Branson, by definition, is less productive than people who don't have dyslexia? Or that Winston Churchill was unfit to run the country because of his depression?

"Disabled people have the right to work and to be treated equally in the workplace. As long as people like Mr Davies only see the disability, not the ability, the barriers in society will remain for disabled people.

"Evidence from our inquiry into disability-related harassment suggests that the perpetrators view disabled people as worth less than other people. We will be writing to Mr Davies in due course to remind him of his responsibilities and will be inviting him to attend an evidence session for this inquiry.

Philip Davies says that people using a Mind service were in full agreement with him. I'd love to have some actual evidence of disabled people agreeing with him. How many of those he spoke to didn't or wouldn't have agreed with this?

A better way of supporting disabled people would be to donate to Mind so it can fund its Employment Service.

Perhaps Philip Davies, who seems to get a lot of money in expenses, could make a donation.

A debate on Newsnight, featuring Philip Davies and RADAR chief executive Liz Sayce.



Philip Davies mixes up his bottom and mouth again:

In the past, he's asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission "Is it offensive to black up or not, particularly if you are impersonating a black person?" and asked whether it was racist for a policeman to refer to a BMW as "black man's wheels."

Philip Davies also voted against the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 and complained in the House of Commons about a school production of Romeo and Julian during LGBT History month.

New campaign against disabled hate crime in Bolton

On Friday 25th June, during Learning Disability Week 2011, a new disability hate crime campaign will be launched in Bolton, Greater Manchester

The aim of the campaign, called I'm Not Laughing, is to ensure that everyone who visits Bolton town centre on a night out can do so without fear of being verbally or physically abused because of a disability.

I'm Not Laughing was launched following a
letter to Greater Manchester Police from a 19 year old with Achondroplasia, which is restricted growth, after she experienced a serious hate incident in a Bolton town centre bar.

She says: "What made it worse, was the door staff, they just stood there, with their arms folded, watching and sniggering, without making any attempt to stop the group.

"The lads surrounded us and it was very frightening. Yet still the door staff did nothing."

You can support I'm Not Laughing by signing the online pledge, which is still being created, and by joining the Facebook page.

The Bolton Council website also contains more stores of people experiencing disability hate crime (the Downloads section).

You can report hate crime to Greater Manchester Police and to True Vision.

Supporters of the campaign include paralympic swimmer Rachel Latham, England cricketer Saj Mahmood and Bolton Active Disability Group for Everyone (BADGE).

Scum prevent disabled children from going on school trips:

In related news, pupils at Birches specialist support primary school in West Didsbury are unable to go on school trips after the catalytic converter was stolen from their bus for the second time in a month.

Headteacher Andy Pitts told the Manchester Evening News: "I’m so angry. We’re an easy target – the bus is parked in a disability parking area. It’s obvious what it is.

"I’m hoping to prick the public conscience – it’s preventing children with a range of profound and multiple disabilities going out in the community."

This week is Learning Disability Week 2011

Today, Monday 20th June, is the beginning of Learning Disability Week 2011.

Every year thousands of people with learning disabilities are victims of Disability Hate Crime but very few ever report it, according to Stop Hate UK and Voice UK.

Indeed, people with learning disabilities are often targeted because they rarely report crime to the police.

This is usually for one or more of the below reasons:

* They are too scared.
* They do not know how or where to report crime or who to report it to.
* They are frightened they won’t be believed.
* They worry they will be picked on again.
* They do not realise they have been victim of a crime.
* They are not sure what a hate crime is.

The recent BBC Panorama documentary "Undercover Care: the Abuse Exposed" highlighted how easy it is to abuse people with learning disabilities – even in places where they are supposed to be well cared for.

Nobody knew about it or listened to them – and without the programme and two whistleblowers people may never have done so.

Voice UK are launching their Listen Louder campaign.

This is calling upon all of us as well as the criminal justice system to listen out for the voices of people with learning disabilities – voices that have been ignored or unheard in the past.

Stop Hate UK uses a "Words into Pictures" leaflet, which is an easy-to-follow guide for people with learning disabilities which explains what Hate Crime is and what they should do if it happens to them.

Voice UK and Stop Hate UK are fully supporting Mencap’s Stand by Me campaign – a three year project to raise awareness and challenge disability hate crime.

Together, these campaigns are aimed at bringing disability hate crime into the open, as well encouraging people with learning disabilities to report incidents so that they can be better protected and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Please donate to Voice UK and Mencap to held take a stand against the evils of disability hate crime.

You can report a hate crime to Stop Hate UK:
*by dialing 0800 138 1625,
*by posting a letter to Stop Hate UK, PO Box 484, LS7 9BZ,
*by texting 07717 989 025
*or by emailing talkATstophateuk.org (Replace at with @).

Those using written text relay need the number 18001 0800 138 1625.

David Congdon, Mencap's head of campaigns and policy, says:

"Recently, three men who tortured a 17 year old with Asperger's syndrome walked away with a sentence of just 80 hours of community service. And in another high-profile case, Fiona Pilkington killed herself and her disabled daughter after police failed to stop the abuse they were subjected to by local youths.

"Cases like these show that hate crime is still not taken seriously enough by the authorities."

Currently, Mencap is looking for people who are willing to share their experiences of hate crime to support the campaign.

If you would like to share your experiences of hate crime, please call Brenda Shalvey on 020 7696 5568 or email brenda.shalveyATmencap.org.uk.Replace at with @.

Positive memories of London

I'm trying to stay positive, especially as I have an ESA medical coming up soon, which is causing my anxiety to rise and impeding me getting better.

Lots of my memories about London are negative, so I'm going to write down some positive ones below:

*Going to Stratford to see my friends.
*Going to Leyton to see a friend while he still lived there.
*Working at City and Hackney Mind.
*Going to Hyde Park with friends.
*Shopping at the excellent Fopp store in Covent Garden.
*Having a friend over in Walthamstow and Leytonstone.
*The first two months of living in Walthamstow
*The first month of living in Leytonstone
*Working at ISEAL Alliance on a hot sunny day, while we were still in Huguenot Place.
*Taking the 55 or 48 from Lea Bridge Road to Hackney Central.
*Going to a festival in Hackney in August 2010.
*Visiting the Edmonton IKEA for the first time.
*Walking the Lea Valley Walk for the first time, firstly towards Enfield, then towards the centre of London.

Winterbourne View resident was abused at previous care home

The vile abuse meted out at Winterbourne View "care" home by Wayne Rogers, Charlotte Cottrell, Allison Dove, Graham Doyle, Jason Gardener, and several others is sadly not unusual.

I was reminded of this while reading that, of the three people from Cornwall who were allegedly abused at the Bristol care home, one had also been a victim of abuse at the Budock Hospital in Falmouth, closed after a catalogue of abuse was discovered six years ago, according to This Is Cornwall.

If you have not seen the Panorama documentary on Winterbourne View, you can watch it on the iplayer until May 2012.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports of more abuse and neglect taking place, this time at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Bedford Hospital NHS Trust.

We must keep up the pressure on government to reform the care home system and we must ensure that care homes which abuse their residents are closed down and abusers prosecuted.

Winterbourne View mustn't be allowed to slip from the news agenda.

We also need to lobby Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley and NHS trusts to ensure that patient care is improved

Looking back at my blog and my life

I think I've been doing too much blogging lately and am going to try to spent time on other things - not easy when an upcoming ESA medical is vastly increasing my anxiety.

This post made me think about my blog.

It's funny how posts from 2007-2009, when my mental health problems weren't as bad as they are now, make me feel a bit nostalgic, although I also remember some of the problems then.

Posts from 2010-2011 make me wince about what was going on then and I feel very regretful.

I feel like I've wasted years of my life.

Right now theres an angry little man inside my brain who tries to worry me and make me feel useless and depressed. And I'm trying to remove that angry little man but it's realy hard.

I've felt worse than in a long time the past few days and my nervous twitches and shaking has increased.

The dream last night wasn't unpleasant like the last six dreams though.

I'm thinking, when I do blog, of writing more about my self and my mental health and less about the news.


Anyway, here's something to cheer you and me up

How much of a Daily Mail or Guardian reader are you?

Slovenia treck to raise money for Oxfordshire Mind

Fay Joines, of Kidlington, Oxfordshire, will be trekking across the Julian Alps, in Slovenia from 24th – 29th June 2011 to raise vital funds for Oxfordshire Mind.

Please donate to her via Justgiving and help support an extremely worthwhile charity.

About Slovenia and the Julian Alps:

Slovenia, a member of the European Union, is located in Central and Southeastern Europe.

It borders Italy on the west, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north.

Slovenia covers an area of 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) with a population of 2.05 million.

The capital city is Ljubljana.

The Julian Alps (Slovene: Julijske Alpe, Italian: Alpi Giulie) stretch from north-eastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 metres at the Triglav mountain.

They are named after Julius Caesar.

Scottish council bans books made in Israel from its libraries

West Dunbartonshire council in Scotland has banned all books produced and printed in Israel from its libraries, according to Petronella Wyatt in the Daily Mail.

This follows a Freedom Of Information inquiry last summer, seeking to know in what ways the council’s boycott of Israeli goods, introduced in early 2009, would be applied to books in its public libraries.

The council claims its ban is a protest against the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel.

Wyatt comments: "I am not accusing West Dunbartonshire council of anti-Semitism. But its boycott is a gift to the growing pro-Arab, anti-Israel element in this country."

In response, the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC), a partnership of 250 Jewish men’s clubs with over 25,000 members throughout North America, has joined with synagogues both in Israel and elsewhere in "suggesting a boycott of scotch from distillers located in West Dunbartonshire Council in Scotland at Kiddush and [in] public and private" celebrations, according to the Jerusalem Post.

"A boycott is like a snowball heading downhill," commented FJMC Executive Director Rabbi Charles Simon.

"It begins at the top of a large mountain, and gathers momentum until it is transformed into an avalanche.

If we wish to stop it, we need to act as soon as possible."

Among the distilleries named in the boycott are Morrison Bowmore, Loch Lamond and Chivas Brothers.

Via Harry's Place.

It should be noted that books by Israeli authors are not banned, just books produced and printed in Israel.

The Herald Scotland highlights that some false rumours have been spread alleging the former.

In David Cameron's Britain

To paraphrase Neil Kinnock's 1983 election speech:

In David Cameron's* Britain, I warn you:

I warn you not to be old - when your pension barely covers your living expenses and care homes are staffed by sadists and incompetents.

I warn you not to seek learning –when libraries are cut back and university fees are raised further and further.

I warn you not to be different - when yobs abuse you and throw paving slabs at your house for being disabled, or gay, or a refugee.

I warn you not to be sick - when benefits for those who cannot work are removed for most after 12 months and when people abuse you on buses and trains.

I warn you not to be a public sector worker - Nurses, firefighters, teachers, police officers and social workers work long hours and get paid little, and the public, media and government will not care when they go abroad, despite a skills gap. They will, however, protest when the very rich threaten to move abroad.

I warn you that you will have poverty– when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a party who claim ridiculous expenses at public cost.

I warn you that you will be cold– when fuel prices rise again and we fail to exploit renewable energy.

I warn you not to be decent- when yobs run riot but you get prosecuted for standing up to them and being a good neighbour.

I warn you that you must not expect work–when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don’t earn, they don’t spend. When they don’t spend, work dies.

I warn you not to go in large crowds of protest in the light, or you will be kettled by police officers who never show the same force when dealing with real criminals.

I warn you that you will have defence of a sort–with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding.

I warn you that you will be home-bound–when rising fares and unpaid overtime kill leisure and lock you up.

In David Cameron's Britain, I advise you to be a banker,executive, landlord, criminal or MP. All those prosper while other suffer.

This is England, 2011.

The Clash said it best:




*You could replace this name with Ed Miliband or Nick Clegg and most, if not all, of this would still apply.

Conference on female genital mutilation at the University of Leicester on June 18

A national conference on female genital mutilation, organised by Eva Organization for Women (EOW), will be held at the University of Leicester on Saturday June 18 2011.

The event, which is free but requires registration, aims to highlight the impact on victims and to provoke local and international discussion on the issue.

Speakers from the medical and legal professions, as well as local communities, religious scholars and human rights experts will provide different perspectives on the human impact of female genital mutilation.

A key feature of the conference is testimonies from the victims of female genital mutilation, who tell of the mental and physical anguish caused by the procedure and the lasting damage it inflicts.

Event details:

The national conference will take place at the Peter Williams Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson South Wing, at The University of Leicester, LE1 7RH.

It runs from 11 am - 4 pm.

For more information, contact E.O.W. on 44 (0) 7961618589 or 07900536984 or email eowATevaorganizationforwomen.org (replace AT with @).

More information on female genital mutilation (FGM):

Sadiyo Siad, a PhD Candidate at the University of Leicester and the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Eva Organization for Women, says:

"FGM creates massive health problems for women experiencing it.

While illegal, FGM is a highly sensitive cultural issue that is rarely discussed in the everyday media and so not enough light is shed on the consequences of the procedure to reduce the practice.

This is one of the reasons why FGM still occurs.

Most parents who allow their daughters to have this procedure sincerely believe that it is in their daughters’ best interests – it is seen as more hygienic and protecting them from false accusations that can lead them to never being able to marry and have a family. We don’t want to blame – we want to inform.

I sincerely believe that when our communities are made aware of the devastating consequences of FGM they will see that it is in their daughters’ best interests not to practice FGM."

Sadiyo says that in February the UK Government set out clear guidelines on tackling and preventing FGM.

Unfortunately, following the publication of the recent guideline revisions the government has abolished the Whitehall post of FGM coordinator, leaving charities worried that raising awareness among professionals at a local level, where the issue is often still not understood, will be compromised.

There are still girls who are cut in the UK , other European countries, Australia and North America, while other girls may be taken abroad in the summer holidays and mutilated.

Following the national conference, whose proceedings will be published on a DVD and in a booklet, EOW will continue its mission to educate about the consequences of FGM by organising workshops and seminars, publishing information sheets, and by bringing the message of the FGM conference to TV and other media outlets.

Labour compete with the Tories to attack people on benefits

I was going to vote Labour in the 2015 general election and at any by-elections between now and then.

I no longer intend to do so.

The reason for this is Ed Miliband and Liam Byrne's foul attacks on people who claim Jobseekers Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance.

Instead of opposing the Tories' vile decision to cut off Employment and Support Allowance after one year for all but the very poorest, they administer their own kicking to people like me.

Liam Byrne's hypocrisy:

Liam Byrne, the shadow secretary for work and pensions and policy review chief, is determined to make being on benefits even more unpleasant than it is already.

He talks about making unemployed people should report to jobcentres weekly, rather than fortnightly.

This will cost a lot more public money and will take time away from job searching.

If people have to get the bus to the jobcentre, it'll cost them more money.

Transport fares are expensive outside London, thanks to Labour and Conservative governments having failed reverse the Transport Act 1985 and regulate the buses outside of Northern Ireland and Greater London.

A jobseeker going once a week to sign on at a jobcentre in Oxford, for example, will pay £3 return a week. When he gets £65 per week, for which he or she must buy food and clothing, that's a big hit.

The jobcentre staff try to help, but the best way unemployed people can find jobs is by searching themselves online and by going to CV and interview clinics.

Making people attend the jobcentre more often is simply punitive.

His other plan involves requiring long-term workless households with pre-school children to attend compulsory employment workshops.

This is a reasonable idea, but I'm confused why it has to involve "pre-school children". Why not require all people unemployed for more than a year to attend these workshops?

Also, it would be good to know the content of these workshops and how they will help people.

As he's so keen to push people back into work, you'd think Liam Byrne would be keen to save public money.

However, he doesn't seem to employ (pardon the pun) the same principles when claiming
expenses.

In 2009, the Daily Telegraph reported:

During 2004 and 2005, [Liam Byrne] rented an apartment in County Hall, overlooking the Thames, at a cost of nearly £2,400 a month.

After moving out, Mr Byrne spent thousands of pounds over 18 months staying in hotels while searching for a property to buy.

Despite regularly charging the maximum of £400 a month for food, Mr Byrne submitted hotel bills showing a fee for room service dinners, which was rejected by the fees office. He regularly claimed for food during the parliamentary summer recess, when most MPs are in their constituencies.

He is also a convicted criminal, unlike many people on benefits. On 2 November 2007 he was fined £100 and received three points on his driving licence for using his mobile telephone while driving.

This is extremly dangerous and something which really angers me. He could have killed someone.

In a just political system, this man would have had to stand down as an MP for such a dangerous act.

Still, one rule for money-grubbing criminal Liam Byrne, who earns far more than the majority of people he represents, and another for those on benefits.

Ed Miliband's foul speech:

There have been rumours that Ed Miliband will instruct Labour MP's to vote against the Welfare Bill in its third reading.

How likely these rumours are to be true, I am not sure.

For Edward Samuel Miliband seems to believe that he has some kind of mystic power where he can tell by looking at the how suitable people on incapacity benefit are for work.

What other powers does Ed Miliband believe he has?

Will he try to fly from the top of Big Ben and land in the Thames below?

In his speech, he says:

While out campaigning during the local elections, not for the first time, I met someone who had been on incapacity benefit for a decade.

He hadn’t been able to work since he was injured doing his job.

It was a real injury, and he was obviously a good man who cared for his children.

But I was convinced that there were other jobs he could do.

And that it’s just not right for the country to be supporting him not to work, when other families on his street are working all hours just to get by.

So this man hasn't been able to work since he was injured doing his job. It's a real injury, not one of those fake ones that apparently fool doctors and Department of Work and Pensions staff.

He didn't spray a bit of ketchup on his arm and say "Ow, ow ,ow."

It was a real injury, and he hasn't been able to work since he was injured doing his job, but Mystic Miliband was convinced that there were other jobs he could do, and that it's not right for the country to be supporting him not to work, although he hasn;t been able to work since he was injured doing his job.

Milband went on to say:

There is a link between the man on incapacity benefit and those executives at Southern Cross.

What is that link?

That these are people who are just not taking responsibility - and the rest of us are left picking up the pieces.

It’s not about responsibility to the state, or the government, but responsibility to your neighbours, your friends and many others who you may never meet but who are affected by your actions.

He then appears to blame those on benefits for anti-social behaviour:

And people feel the consequences of irresponsibility in different parts of their lives.

The rubbish fly-tipped by the roadside.

The throb of loud music, played by the neighbour in the small hours.
The overgrown and litter-strewn front garden.

If Labour and the Tories had done more to create a more effective police force, a harsher judical system and better rehabilitation of prisioners, we wouldn't have this mess. A better education system would help as well. It's got nothing to do with people on benefits.

Blue Labour? More like sick-coloured Labour:

Liam Byrne says: "There is one sentiment that really shines through.

People are angry about the state we face and they believe a new politics of responsibility is the answer.

There's a sense of too many great sins: wealth without work; commerce without morality; politics without principle."

I reckon two of those three sins apply to today's rancid Labour Party.

Sue Marsh on Ed Miliband's speech and the reality of life on sickness benefits.

Barbara Ellen talks rubbish about gingerism

Remember Kevin and Barbara Chapman and their children? They've been forced to move home three times in Newcastle because of their ginger hair.

At each new place they had had their windows smashed, offensive graffiti sprayed on their property, and the children were been physically attacked.

One of their children even tried to kill himself.

Photographer Charlotte Rushton took pictures of 300 of the UK's redheads for a book, Ginger Snaps. Of those 300, only two have been spared bullying because of their hair, according to the BBC.

Now, given the history of abuse and worse delivered towards ginger people in Britain, you might expect an 11 year old boy who had been bullied at school for having ginger hair to be upset when he discovered that "ginger kid" had been written in place on his name on his receipt from Dominio's Pizza in Midsomer Norton.

However, Observer columnist Barbara Ellen doesn't.

In a piece worthy of a Daily Mail parody, she makes out the family are hyper-sensitive people and the event was a storm in a teacup.

The Domino's branch offered him a free pizza and apologised, saying "ginger kid" was just a reference for the person who took the order. Ross's parents are now demanding a full apology from Domino's head office. At which point, one can't help but think: if this situation were a pizza, would it come with extra toppings of victimhood and ginger self-hatred?

How funny, Barbara. If your column was a pizza, would it come with extra toppings of ignorance and smugness?

Barbara Ellen then tries to imply that gingerism is only an issue in popular culture and history, and ignores the examples I've given at the top of this post. She then indulges in a little gingerism herself:

One doesn't want to get into the idea of "ginger-whingers", but could it be that some red-haired people spend their lives looking for offence, where there is none?

Indeed, it feels weird to be asked to feel sorry for a group that includes Nicole Kidman and Damian Lewis

.
How nice. Of course, all ginger people should be judged by the antics of two of their number.

And what have Nicole Kidman and Damian Lewis and Damian Lewis done to offend Barbara Ellen?

Barbara Ellen goes on to burble:

Likewise, while some red-haired kids get stick at school, so do the overweight, underweight, special needs kids, disabled kids, poor kids, kids with specs, kids in care, kids of different races. Anyone "different", basically.

I think bullying is a bit more than "stick".

Talk about using rhetoric to play down hate.

And if an overweight child received a receipt with "fat kid" on it, to take but one example, I would be just as angry.

On a wider level, is "gingerism" genuinely a sidebar of racism – did anyone ever get faeces stuffed through their letterbox because of their hair colour?

No, but Kevin and Barbara Chapman got their windows broken and abuse hurled by yobs.

Or does it only count when its excrement through the letterbox?

Maybe the red haired should be careful about when to react and when not to overreact. Certainly, in this context, the phrase "ginger kid" seems innocently descriptive rather than actively offensive.

With this in mind, Domino's has already apologised quite enough to the Wajtknecht family, without this non-issue going all the way to head office. I'm sorry Ross was upset, but perhaps his parents would do better to soothe his sense of victimhood rather than encourage it.

They should tell their son to scoff down his free pizza and accept that no malice was meant; above all, to feel smug that whatever else happened in life, just like my friend, he would always be memorable.

Yep, keep your mouths shut gingers, because someone in a well-paid, relatively pleasant job with no experience of gingerism says so.

And telling an eleven year old boy upset by being called "ginger kid" that he was full of "victimhood". Ugh.

Ross Wajgtknecht vs the McCanns: The Barbara Ellen treatment

It's interesting to compare this column with her one on Kate and Gerry McCann, people who recieve a lot of public sympathy and don't face verbal abuse.

Here, she takes a more understanding tone:

It is high time the McCann haters pushed off. I am all for free speech but they've had their say and, raking through innumerable online "wailing walls", most of what they've said is repetitive rubbish.

So there you have it. One law for the media-courting McCanns and another for a little boy who didn't want to be stigmatised when ordering pizza.

In summary:

I used to think Barbera Ellen's column appeared near the front of the Observer because she was regarded as important.

Now I think it's so readers can get it over and done with before moving onto someone worth reading like Nick Cohen.

It's the kind of ignorance that Barbera Ellen displays that makes antisocial behaviour and bullying go unchecked in this country.

She should apologise to the family and write a column pointing out her mistakes and highlighting the issue of gingerism.

Perhaps, as she enjoys sneering at certain groups and moaning about political correctness, she could then go and work for the Daily Mail. They'd like her.

I'm glad to see most commentators on the piece think the same as me about Barbara Ellen.

peeps99 says:

I'm sorry but the parents are right to support their son. If he is feeling as though he is being victimised, then why should he be told to just accept it (with a free pizza). Isn't that what those who are bullied told - just hit them back; stand up to them; get used to it - its life. No, that's not good enough.

Stiffkey says:

Ginger is a term of real abuse amongst school kids.

May not sound bad, but being ginger means that you will be picked on. So the references to being ginger can be quite threatening.

A female teacher I know is frequently called a ginger bitch or ginger minge. Do you think that this is acceptable?

Being ginger is a stupid reason to be picked on, but it is not trivial for those who have to suffer it.

Disabled people fear travelling on public transport due to abuse from commuters

Alice Maynard, chairman of disability charity Scope, says she regularly comes under attack when using trains, the Daily Mail reports.

Commuters shout and swear at her and a personal assistant once or twice a week because they have to give up their seats.

Alice is a wheelchair user with a neuromuscular impairment.

Ms Maynard told the Times she believes the harassment is getting worse with some people 'just hostile and prejudiced.'

In one case, a commuting father with his daughter who appeared to be five years old, screamed at her: 'Get the f*** out of here.'

New data from Scope reveals that almost 50% of those with disabilities face discrimination on their way to and from work.

31% of respondents claim there was discrimination by bus drivers and 25% said the say about train staff.

Of course, the ever increasing spitefulness of popular culture and the campaign by the conservative media against people on disability benefits both play a large part in forming these hateful attitudes.

Commenting on the Daily Mail website, "My Dyson's broke again" says:

Maybe the people dishing out the abuse are the same ones who post comments on DM whenever there is an article about incapacity benefits.

You know the comments I'm referring to, "they're not disabled, they're putting it on, they just limp a bit whenever they have an assessment and get thousands in benefits. Why should they get benefits just because they're disabled.........."

That sort of thing.

Now I think about it, it's probably DM's reporting that encourages this view.

167 people recommended this comment, a welcome sign.

Sadly, many bigots have commented on the article as well, such as Ian from Ramsgate, who says "The problem is not that less abled persons want equal treatment it's that they want special treatment, that just ends up being seen as unfair in the opposite direction."

If you see disabled people being abused on public transport, call the police (for rail,the British Transport Police phone number is 0800 40 50 40) and reprimand the abuser. Get others to help you as well.

Donate to Scope to help end the abuse of disabled people.

Over £500m of public money wasted on useless fire service control centres

Over half a billion pounds of public money has been committed to providing the fire service with empty buildings that will never be used for their intended purpose, according to the Observer.

A private finance initiative, FireControl, was intended to replace England's 46 emergency call centres with nine regional sites, but became mired in technical problems that proved fatal to the scheme.

The eight sites outside London have been cancelled, although the London site will go ahead.

In spite of the scheme's partial demise last year, the Observer has established that £342m of taxpayers' money is committed to paying rent on the empty sites.

Because the properties were purpose-built, it is not clear how they could be converted to an alternative use.

£40m written off on the FireControl IT systems and a further £140m in "project management costs" for civil servants and consultants takes the total spent on the failed system to £522m.

Just think how many fire engines that money could buy.

The project will continue to be rolled out across London ahead of the 2012 Olympics at an estimated cost of £60m.

Last month, it was revealed that the National Health Service is spending £2.8m a year on empty buildings.

Recession? What recession? Public money's still being chucked away left right and centre, but politicans just plant a few stories in the conservative press about benefit cheats and the voters forget about government waste.

Who owns the empty buildings?

Control Centre General Partner (CGCP), an offshore company based in Jersey and owned by City investment bank, Evans Randall, owns five of the empty buildings, in Wolverhampton, Wakefield, Durham, Cambridge and Castle Donington.

The pensions firm Canada Life owns another in Hampshire, while the private lettings company Leafrange owns one in Taunton.

Aviva, the financial services company, owns the remaining building in London, which is still intended for its original use.

The Fire Brigades Union's general secretary, Matt Wrack, told the Observer:

This is a public scandal when frontline fire services are being decimated because of budget cuts.

The frontline is being slashed, while offshore property speculators are raking in millions of pounds for empty buildings, which will never be used for the purpose they were built.

Coventry nursery worker assaults two children, is spared jail

Nisha Rani, 22, has been found guilty of hitting a two year old over the head with a space hopper toy and pushing another young child off a play mat after telling the rest of the playgroup: "This will be funny".

According to the Daily Telegraph, she was spared jail.

It seems that sadistically hitting two defenceless young children doesn't merit a serious punishment.

Instead Nisha Rani, of Barston Close, Longford, north Coventry, has received a pathetic 12 week suspended sentence.

Rani also has to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay just £100 to each of the victims, as well as £150 costs.

Are we not even bothering to deter people from acts of mindless violence any more?

I can't even see any reports that she has been banned from working with children.

Thankfully, a brave female student on work experience at the Tiny Town Nursery reported what she had seen to her tutor, who called the police.

Nisha Rani - vile person:

A student nurse, who was on a placement at the nursery for two days a week, told the court Nisha Rani was 'intimidating', according to the Daily Mail.

She said: 'I wasn't happy with that because the children weren't laughing.

'She hit me with the space hopper as we were going back inside the nursery and it did hurt.

'I felt very uncomfortable and didn't think it was good practice. I've never seen anything like that in a nursery.

'Sometimes Rani was intimidating - she made comments about me being stupid.'

Speaking about the boy pushed off the play mat, another witness said: 'I wouldn't say it was an accident. Personally I didn't think she liked the boy.'

Parents today expressed their outrage at Nisha Rani's behaviour, branding her 'a violent bully'.

One parent, whose son attends the nursery, said: 'Nisha thought she owned the place. She was a violent bully, simple as that. She had a very nasty temper and the parents complained about her shouting at the kids.'

'She made lots of the children cry and they were scared of her. She was every parent's worst nightmare to have looking after your kids.'

On the Coventry Telegraph website, Stringer_Solider comments:

I know this evil,nasty piece of bully from school as she was in my year at secondary school. She was a bully from year seven till year 11. Always had fights and arguments even with lads and teachers.

She should not have been given the right to work with kids as she has a short temper as she always results to violence when she did not get her way.

On the same thread, linfodo remarks:

Let's see what happens now. 2 year old defenceless children assaulted.My bet is she will be given a slap on the wrist.

linfordo, how right you are. A shame this scumbag isn't spending time in jail.

I wonder if Nisha Rani feels any remorse tonight at her Longford home.

Schindler's list typist dies age 91

Mietek Pemper,the man who typed Oskar Schindler's list which saved over 1,000 Jews from the Nazis, has died in Germany aged 91.

Pemper will be buried in Augsburg's Jewish cemetery today, when municipal authorities will order flags to be lowered to half-mast in his honour.

He had lived in the southern German town since 1958.

During the Nazi occupation, Pemper was imprisoned at the Plaszow concentration camp, where he was made to work as the personal typist to commandant Amon Geoth, according to ShalomLife.

Pemper connected with German industrialist Schindler, and risked his own life by supplying him with a list of over 1,000 prisoners expecting to be recruited for work that was "decisive for the Nazi effort."

These work schemes prevented their extermination by the Nazi machine.

Augsburg's Mayor, Kurt Gribl, said: "With Mietek Pemper, the city has lost an important builder of bridges between the Jewish and Christian religions and a contributor to reconciliation."

Augsburg awarded Pemper a civic medal in 2003 and made him an honorary citizen in 2007.

May he rest in peace.

Chris Grayling's benefit reforms are damaging

Further evidence that costly employment minister Chris Grayling is about as helpful as Pauline from Little Britain towards vulnerable people on benefits.

The effects of time limiting Employment and Support Allowance:

Sue Marsh has examined the assessment the Department of Work and Pensions carried out regarding time limiting Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

I will quote her summary below:

-It overwhelmingly affects the poorest most. The % impact falls from the highest in the 1st decile of earnings to the lowest in the 10th.

-It estimates that 60% will simply switch to income based ESA and not be affected. This is absolutely ridiculous, pie-in the sky rubbish. I have absolutely no idea how they can make this claim.

- The report concludes that over the term of the parliament 90% of those placed into the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) will be affected.

-ALL groups will lose income on average through this measure.

-It is based on an assumption that 50% of claims will be appealed!!! How are they able to go forward with a system this inaccurate?

-The report itself claims that 700,000 will be affected by the Time Limit - a figure previously hotly debated, ranging from 400,000 to 1 million. It is expected to cut benefits for those not fully fit for work by 1.2 billion per year.

- The report acknowledges, just as I've been warning, that this is a disincentive to work and may push couples into divorce or into giving up on work altogether. However, they admit that they have no idea how significant this will be.

Possibly the most astonishing part is the claim that the Social Impacts did not need to be investigated, neither under the categories of Health and Well-being, Human Rights or the Justice System. (It does go on to say that an equalities assessment was carried out, which I will do my best to unearth)

As far as I can tell, the research is deeply flawed, based on inaccurate assumptions, incomplete and surely, illegal. If you discount the assumption that 60% will simply move to income based ESA, which I believe is just not true, it is a damning look into what passes for parliamentary research in our so called democracy.

Grayling's Work Programme could be trouble for voluntary sector organisations:

Remember the Big Society? It gave a lot of weight to voluntary sector organisations, but it looks like the government's new welfare to work scheme could counteract that.

Senior economist Neil Lee told Publicservice.co.uk: "The Work Programme is based on a national payment structure and does not take into account local and regional variations in labour demand.

"Economic growth is faltering and parts of the country – still dealing with the fallout from the recession – are facing significant public sector job losses.

"As the Work Programme is based on payment by results, contractors carry the initial risk. There is therefore the danger that private contractors will focus on investing in places where they are more likely to get people into work to secure a return on investment.

"The financial risk may also be passed down to small, local voluntary sector organisations which could be knocked out of the market as a result."

Does Chris Grayling has a vested interest in me not getting better.

The more releases I read from his department demonising people on benefits, the more worried I feel, and the harder it is for me to focus on getting better.

There's a bit in the Times today quoting Grayling saying that about a million people having claimed incapacity or lone-parents benefit for over a decade.

Perhaps that's because they have a serious long-term health condition or have raised a child for a decade by themselves.

Chris Grayling won't know how difficult these two situations are.

He's concerned for the welfare of bed and breakfast owners faced with gay couples wanting to stay there, but not of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Thousands of potential victims contacted by police after fraud investigation

Following an international boiler room fraud investigation, the City of London police have written to 1,800 individuals whose contact details were discovered.

These individuals may have been targeted by fraudsters selling company shares that are either worthless or of very little value.

Confirmed victims will be asked to attend a public meeting.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Skijump, has seen two men arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to money launder.

Anyone who invested in the following companies should report this to Action Fraud.

* Hampton Capital Management Incorporated

* Pacific Capital Resource Group LLC

* Fidelity Capital Management LLC

* North Pacific Escrow LLC

* North American Charter Incorporated

* North Pacific Charter LLC

The banks at which these accounts are held are mainly:

*Wells Fargo Bank
*US Bank
*Bank of the West
*HSBC Bank USA

North American Charter Incorporated and Fidelity Capital Management also have accounts at the Bank of Montreal.

North Pacific Charter LLC has an account at the Royal Bank of Canada.

A word cloud for my blog

Here is a word cloud for Newsjiffy, via Wordle.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Chris Grayling's odious hypocrisy on ESA cuts

It is rather hypocritical of Chris Grayling to cite cost cutting as the reason to stop all Employment and Support Allowance benefits entirely after one year.

After all, he didn't seem very concerned about saving public money when he claimed thousands to renovate a flat in Pimlico, central London despite his constituency home in Ashtead, Surrey, being less than 17 miles from Parliament.

Mr Grayling owns other buy-to-let flats and now has four properties within the M25.

According to the Daily Telegraph:

Within weeks of first being elected in 2001, he bought a flat in a six-storey block for £127,000.

In 2002, he set up an unusual arrangement with the Parliamentary Fees Office, claiming £625 a month for mortgages on two separate properties, both the main home and the new flat in Pimlico.

This is usually against the rules, but Mr Grayling negotiated an agreement because he was unable to obtain a 100% mortgage on the London flat that he had bought.

Stopping ESA after one year, regardless of whether the person has fully recovered, is also a false economy.

If someone is forced back to work despite being unwell, their work will be under standard, causing the company to suffer and hurting the economy.

They will then become unemployed again and have to claim Job Seekers' Allowance.

If they were allowed to stay on ESA until they got better, when they went back to work they'd do a good job and would be off benefits for a long while.

Chris Grayling, with his issues with crime statistics and view that bed and breakfast owners should be able to turn away gay couples, makes James Purnell look like a rocket scientist.

If you live in Epsom and Ewell, and care about people like me who are too ill to work, vote for Labour or the Liberal Democrats at the next election and then write to Chris Grayling telling him why.

Man jailed in Cameroon for being gay

On 28 April, Jean-Claude Roger Mbede was found guilty of homosexuality and attempted homosexuality and was sentenced to three years in prison.

He is currently serving his sentence at Kondengui central prison where he is at risk of homophobic attacks as well as ill-treatment because of his real or perceived sexuality.

Homophobia is endemic in Cameroonian society and the arrests, prosecutions and trials of gay men occur on a regular basis.

Section 347a of the Cameroonian penal code states: “Whoever has sexual relations with a person of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years and with a fine ranging from 20,000 Francs CFA to 200,000 Francs CFA” (approximately £21 to £215).

This contravenes the international and regional human rights treaties (including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights) which Cameroon has signed and ratified, according to Pink News.

Amnesty International’s LGBT Campaign Manager Clare Bracey said:

"Locking someone up for their real or perceived sexual orientation is a flagrant breach of basic rights and should not be allowed under any country’s penal code.

"Because of the state’s intolerance to homosexuality and the general social attitude, homophobia is rife in Cameroon and Amnesty International fears for the safety of Jean-Claude Roger Mbede while he is in prison.

"We’re urging the Cameroonian government to repeal this law under the penal code in accordance with its international human rights obligations, and to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Mbede."

Take action to help free Jean-Claude.

London tube strike dates announced in June and July

UPDATE: These tube strikes are now off.
 ...

The strike dates were announced in the Guardian.

For some reason, this information was not on the front page of the Transport for London website.

Their latest press release instead told us how the new East London Line has doubled passenger numbers in one year.

Well, whoop de doo.

RMT and Transport for London comment on the proposed tube strikes:

Arwyn Thomas, the driver in question was sacked for alleged "abusive behaviour" towards his colleagues, a charge he robustly denies.

The RMT says the "real reason" behind the sacking was because Thomas was a admitted long-standing activists.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow says: "RMT has made every possible effort to get Arwyn Thomas back to work and it is the intransigence of LU management, who have dragged their heels and failed to reach agreement over the past month, that has left us with no choice to put this strike action on."

The union also claims that London Underground has spent "at least £250,000" on legal fees on Thomas's case.

A Transport for London spokesman told the Guardian it would "respond appropriately to the tribunal's finding", and said the strike action had been backed by only 29% of union members.

"It is completely mystifying that, having agreed with London Underground that the tribunal process should take its course, the RMT leadership is now threatening strike action again".

On the Evening Standard article, ASLEF shrugged, from Leyton, comments: "Thomas is supposed to have called a manager working on a station during a strike day a “****ing scab” and it look likely that once again the tribunal will find that he was sacked for something that someone who wasn’t a union activist would have been put on a warning, told to apologise and behave themselves. "

I would advise leaving the house earlier and waiting until the rush hour has died down a bit to get alternative transport back - not always that easy when you're tired I know.

Also, buses, London Overground and the Dockland Light Railway will be much more busy than normal on strike days.

Ineffective protest over Grayling's university plans at Foyles debate

I don't have a strong view on the new private university being set up by Professor A.C. Grayling, but I do think it was stupid of someone to launch a smoke bomb at "The Arts in Britain—Death by a Thousand Cuts" event.

The discussion, which took place in the Foyles bookshop, Charing Cross Road, Central London, encompassed a heated one hour debate, during which protesters chanted: "A.C .Grayling get out we know what you’re all about, cuts, job losses, money for the bosses!"according to Liberal Conspiracy.

This seems like a rather silly chant. The issue with Grayling's university is that it could further divide the gap between rich and poor, not that it'll cut jobs. In fact, it'll create jobs.

It is also rather disappointing that Grayling's offer to talk to protesters and explain his views was declined. It would have been better for the protesters to take Grayling up on his offer.

In fact, a discussion between Grayling and the protesters and no smoke bomb thrown might have converted people there to their cause.

As it is, no doubt some people there will now be too uncomfortable to attend future debates, meaning that less people will attend events where people discuss culture and politics.

Surely not what the protesters would want.

You can see the video of the smoke bomb's effects below:

Gay Syrian blogger revealed to be hoax (update)

UPDATE: The blog A Gay Girl in Damascus was written by Tom McMaster, a 40-year-old Middle East activist studying for a masters at Edinburgh University, according to today's Guardian.

Sorry for wasting your time.

Gay asylum seeker at risk of deportation to homphobic Uganda

Betty Tibakawa, a young lesbian, faces deportation back to Uganda from the UK, despite being outed by Ugandan magazine Red Pepper, which published an article about her illustrated with photos, including the claim that she is ‘wanted’ for being a lesbian.

Gay women who are deported to Uganda risk being raped and assaulted whilst they are in custody.

Before seeking asylum in the UK, Betty was violently assaulted by three men who taunted her about her sexuality.

They kicked her in the stomach, pinned her down and branded her inner thighs with hot irons.

Her injuries were so bad that she could not leave her home for two months.

Betty Tibakawa’s Campaign Group is petitioning the Home Office to overrule this decision from the UK Border Agency, according to Liberal Conspiracy.

Please sign the petition to oppose Betty Tibakawa's deportation to Uganda.

Pink News interview with Betta Tibakawa.

Brain Gym and bad science

Astonishing blogpost from the excellent Ben Goldacre:

Brain Gym is a schools program I’ve been writing on since 2003.

It’s a series of elaborate physical movements with silly pseudoscientific justifications: you wiggle your head back and forth because that gets more blood into your frontal lobes for clearer thinking; you contort your fingers together to improve some unnamed “energy flow”; they’re keen on drinking water, because “processed foods” – I’m quoting the Brain Gym Teacher’s Manual – “do not contain water.”

You pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for Brain Gym, and it’s still done in hundreds of state schools across the UK.

This week I got an email from a science teacher about a 13 year old pupil. Both have to remain anonymous.

This pupil wrote an article about Brain Gym for her school paper, explaining why it’s nonsense: the essay is respectful, straightforward, and factual.

But the school decided they couldn’t print it, because it would offend teachers in the junior school who use Brain Gym.

Goldacre's post also mentions Emily Rosa and Rhys Morgan, two more children who exposed bad science and were shouted down by adults.

With Brain Gym teaching children nonsense like "processed foods...do not contain water" and costing £127,579.45 for Scottish schools alone, it's time for the Education Secretary to ban this schools program.

Perhaps some of the furious middle class lefties wanting to stamp out private schools might look at calling for their local school to ban Brain Gym in order to raise standards in state schools.

And if we raise standards in state schools, less parents will use private schools.

Canadian student suspended from school due to satirical Youtube videos

One of those stories that would cause Richard Littlejohn to exclaim "You couldn't make it up".

Jack Christie, a 12th-grade student at the Donald A. Wilson Secondary School in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, has been suspended from school after uploading a number of satirical animations to Youtube in his own time.

Given that none are about Donald A.Wilson Secondary School, and that Christie uploaded the animations outside school hours, it's really none of the school's business.

However, Durham District School Board spokeswoman Andrea Pidwerbecki thinks otherwise, telling the Toronto Globe and Mail:

"f something is considered detrimental to the positive moral tone of the school, it doesn’t necessarily have to happen inside the school [for us to get involved]"

The videos, created for presentations in economics and politics classes over the course of the last school year, received no complaints from teachers at Donald A.Wilson Secondary School. One even lent his voice to one of the animations, further suggesting that Andrea Pidwerbecki and Warren Palmer's views represent a small minority.

Once uploading the videos to Youtube, Jack was swiftly given a one-day suspension.

A few days later his principal, Warren Palmer, told him to take the videos down or the police would be called. He refused .

Jack hasn’t been allowed to return to class for a week and is not sure whether he can attend his prom on Friday.

He says the school board has not given him the opportunity to defend himself.

A complaint from principal Warren Palmer and his superior was made to the police.

An officer is investigating but has not reached any conclusions.

Gavin Russell, prime minister of the student government, gathered scores of signatures on a petition supporting Jack Christie before two staff members warned him that, if he continued, he could also face punishment.

Jack has created a new video where he speaks directly to school officials through his cartoon avatar.

You can view this below (contains rapidly alternating images, so not sure if suitable for epileptics):



Personally, I think Jack Christie's creativity is a credit to Donald A.Wilson Secondary School, and his suspension is outrageous.

However, I doubt Jack's principal and the superintendent are the types to care what others think.

Rik Myslewski quips in The Register that "From where we sit, considering the hypersensitive and officious attitude of school officials, Christie may be missing class, but odds are he's not missing that school. ®"

Has your school behaved in a draconian way towards you for something that didn't hurt anyone and happened outside of school hours?

London's most pointless bus stations

Dalston Junction bus station, located in Hackney, East London, cost £63m of public money but is only used by one bus route, the single decker 488, which runs five times an hour to Shacklewell, Clapton and Bow.

Via Diamond Geezer, who says this newly opened bus station tops the £3m Dagenham Dock bus station, used only by the EL2 bus, which also departs five times an hour and serves the Thames View Estate, Barking and Ilford.

Boris Johnson decided to cancel the Dagenham Dock DLR extension, seemingly because it would be too useful.

With poor transport links, now only a few people get the El2 from Dagenham Dock bus station each day.

Perhaps when the Barking Riverside development is completed in 2025, the numbers will rise, although the DLR extension being cancelled makes the development far less desirable.

Meanwhile, the DLR extension to Stratford International, which links a white elephant of a station with three already existing stations and two new ones, will be ready for its main purpose, to ferry people around during the wasteful 2012 Olympics.

Youtube: Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up

One of the most uplifting songs I've heard. Fantastic for lifting the mood.

Woman prosecuted for taking food thrown out by Tesco

Sasha Hall, 21, has admitted handling stolen goods after taking food thrown out by the Tesco Express store in Great Baddow, Essex after a power cut.

One would have thought that Tesco would be glad that their £10,000 of waste food was being used to feed people, but a spiteful manager reported her to police.

Clearly Tesco are happy for police time and public money to be wasted on a non-event like this during a recession.

Why shouldn't people take their waste food home if they can no longer make money from it?

How does it harm Tesco?

Officers arrested Hall, one of many people taking the waste food, and seized £215 of food from her fridge, including 100 packets of ham, according to the Daily Telegraph.

For taking home food a supermarket could no longer sell, she could face a jail sentence, meaning it will be harder for her to get a job in the future.

Judge Rodger Hayward Smith QC has adjourned sentencing until June 20 saying "This is more complex than I thought. She cannot consume 100 packs of ham."

No, but she could give them to friends and family, and ham does keep for quite a while.

Perhaps the judge has no concept of how a fridge or freezer work.

I've been boycotting Tesco for years but recently started shopping there.

This news, and their decision to order councils to remove recycling bins from their car parks, means that I'm going to resume my boycott, and I call on you to boycott Tesco as well.

Tesco should have contacted their local branch of Fareshare to dispose of the food.