What makes you happy ?

Hundreds of protesters are expected to gather at Oxford University after students voted to allow BNP leader Nick Griffin to speak at their union

Martin McCluskey, president of the Oxford Student Union, said it was “disgraceful”

Sabby Dhalu, secretary of campaign group Unite Against Fascism, said: “If the event goes ahead as it stands, it does not even have the appearance of a ‘debate’.

Lee Jasper, secretary of the National Assembly Against Racism, added: “Oxford Union is jeopardising the safety of the students by continuing with this event. Guardian

This is the same as “I believe in Freedom of Speech but…”
It’s not some sort of variable.
It’s not there just for the cosy warm stuff.
It’s not there just when you agree.

You either have Freedom of Speech or you do not. There is no grey area. There is no in-between. So the “I believe if free speech but not if I find it offensive” trio of Martin McCluskey, Sabby Dhalu and Lee Jasper along with their obedient little followers in the “I can but you cannot” troupe should STFU.

England manager loses details of 25 million alternative goalkeepers

Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Islamic cleric serving a prison sentence for soliciting murder, is to be extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges. (Times)

… the US is likely to detain Abu Hamza in one of the country’s notorious Supermax prisons. The court was told that conditions in these jails include inmates being locked up for 23 hours a day in small cells — between 48 and 80 square feet (4.5sq m and 7.5sq m) — with no natural light, no control over the electric light and no view. During this time they have no contact with other prisoners, even verbal, and no meaningful contact with staff.

They may be able to spend up to an hour every other day alone in a concrete exercise pen, but access to books and writing material is limited and visits from family are believed to be infrequent.

He should have been there ages ago. We can only hope he does not return.

“They’ve called me a whore, a gold digger, a fantasist, a liar,” she added, complaining that she had endured “eighteen months of abuse [and] 4,400 abusive articles”.

They can call you what they want – it’s legal. and stop counting.

Mills appeared on GMTV with a large file of press clippings, calling for European law to make the press “just and fair”.

She’s weird. First because she’s collecting press clippings and second because she thinks she can make the Press fair. If it was fair it wouldn’t be interesting.

“What did the paparazzi do to Diana? They chased her and they killed her,” said Mills.

Blonde. That’s the single connecting thing. Trying to connect with a princess is not a good thing.

“I’m gagged at the moment because I’m not allowed to say a word while the media are fed this spin by a certain corner,” she said.

says the woman on GMTV, News 24 and no doubt others.

The dignified thing would have been to say “Paul, it’s over. I couldn’t possibly take any of your money because I did not earn it. Let’s be decent for our child and work things out there”. No press and probably admiration from others. But no ….. so the result, as messy as it is, can be laid at the door of one person.

Experienced nurses should have the authority to decide if patients should be resuscitated, according to new guidelines to health professionals. BBC

Economics. That is what triggered this. Not patient care, not experience, not patient knowledge, just economics. People are becoming more aware that Do Not Resuscitate orders exist. Gone are the days when all this was hush hush and terms like “No crash” “No 333″ “TLC (tender loving care) only” were used as professional jargon. And when people know of something they will rail against it at some point.

“So your father – who had had 9 heart attacks, had advanced chronic obstructive airways disease, had kidney cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, gangrene in both legs, probably brain damage and warts – had his last heart attack and died, and because he had a DNR you think that’s wrong and are going to sue this hospital?”
“Yes”
“Okay – suspend the nurse who made that order”

Suspending a Dr costs a lot of money. They need full pay, the hospital needs to pay over the odds for a replacement and it could drag on forever. Effect on patient care can be measured.
Suspending a nurse means they still need their wage, but compared to the Dr they are cheap. There are lots of nurses so effect on patient care is zero.
The British Medical Association will have instigated this and there are 2 important factors here:
- Dr’s are supremely protective of their little empires. So giving any territory away is serious.
- The BMA could not care less about their handmaidens.
The BMA know that Drs will get sued, know it will bring their profession into the headlines and know they do not want this to happen. So easiest thing to do is wash their hand of the whole affair and make sure their ties are straight for when they are interviewed .. “Oh no, I would have said he could recover, We can treat gangrene very well these days and 9 heart attacks? Well you have to ask if they were even giving him the medication we prescribed”

This role is a poisoned chalice.

Parents to be notified if their children are working class. Newsbiscuit

BBC: “Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was about making the NHS the “best it can be”.”

Guardian: The Darzi report states that the government … doesn’t mention the many ways in which the erosion of tax funding is already occurring to NHS service loss

Times Online: Take a blank canvas. Talk to 1,500 NHS staff. Spend 12 weeks thinking hard. And then come up with the ideas you first thought of. by
Telegraph: “Lord Darzi, a world-renowned consultant”
Daily Mail: Professor Sir Ara Darzi – a pioneer in robot-assisted surgery

Daily Mail snippet:
Nurses will swab anyone admitted to hospital to test for life-threatening infections such as MRSA.
Those with positive results will be placed in isolation and given creams and body washes to clear the bugs.
Really? Smidge of cream and a good wash fixes MRSA? As if.

They are doing to general health what they did to mental health and learning disabilities nursing over the past 20 years. What people should be doing is investigating every management level in every hospital and Trust – backhanders will be happening. They probably always have but the bungs just keep getting bigger.

Work in the Health Service? You must be mad. Get out while you can.

(Read the Guardian article)

Girl almost died in crash as navel stud shot through her ‘like a bullet’

The seatbelt she was wearing forced the metal stud through her body almost to her spine, causing serious internal injuries. … also left the student with facial injuries and blood on her brain. But the most serious injuries occurred as a result of her piercing.
This is not good.

If it had not been for the piercing, she would not have been in a life-threatening situation.
No. If it had not been for the crash, or her wearing a “stud”, or her wearing the lap belt as she did, or her being so skinny. Many factors, not one.

Infections and other complications because of piercings are thought to cost the NHS up to £1.5 million a year.
5 years ago the NHS budget was 48 BILLION. In fact, Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust raised that amount in parking charges alone. So that £1.5 million isn’t anything really is it?

… that his step-daughter was determined to make others with piercings aware of the possible risks.
What’s she going to do? March on Parliament? Demand changes to legislation? Have a Support group? Give her 6 weeks and she won’t care less.

Infection is the main risk associated with body piercing. If hygiene standards are not adequate, those with piercings can catch hepatitis and HIV
Now this – pardon my language – is absolute bollocks. I’ve been pierced over 50 times if not more, I know people with many piercings done by many people and none have HIV and none have Hep A B or C. That sentence is scaremongering. It’s crap.

“If hygiene standards [insert place] are not adequate” …
- [restaurant] then you can get hepatatis, salmonella, e.coli 157, listeria etc.
- [hospital] then you can get MRSA and hospital acquired infections or dead
- [your own kitchen] you can get salmonella, listeria, e.coli 157, other gastro-intestinal disturbances
- [swimming pool] you can get verrucas, conjunctivitis
- [anywhere] [practically anything]

So to summarise that news article from the Times Online:
- the girl had an accident and got hurt but not entirely by the navel jewellery
- NHS Direct haven’t a clue.
and lastly, but most importantly – it’s not a stud. Not.a.stud. IF it WAS a stud then she deserves everything she got because she really should have got a clue.
Oh yes – and Times Online need to write better articles on bodyart.

At least the BBC don’t trot out the NHS twaddle, though they do end with “Have you had a negative experience of body piercings?” And here was me thinking they gave a balanced view….

British history should be rewritten to make it “more inclusive”, says Trevor Phillips, the head of the new human rights and equality commission. BBC

There is no other word for this – bollocks. It’s complete garbage. History is done. Rewriting history is the stuff of Dictators, censors and those with an alternate agenda (That’s you Mr Phillips).
Who will write it, who will appeal to everyone that wants to help? Who will then want a slice of British life because of something their forefather’s forefathers’s great uncle did? Where do we start? Wherever you pick I can argue for 100 years previously. Who will demand that history books are tossed onto a fire to make way for the new world version? (And who will pay for the schools to get new books when they can’t afford old ones even now?) Who decides what is or is not worthy of inclusion, what did or did not affect England / Britain / United Kingdom / the British Empire / the Commonwealth (and any other variants successfully argued and agreed by all present at the junket convened to waste money while making out they are pondering it).
Trevor Phillips – the rest of us know that Political Correctness is a terrible thing. It’s genuinely Bad. And crap like this coming from your “new commission” simply reinforces the fact that people like me see people like you as leeches on society. You suck that cash in but you give nothing tangible back. Trevor Phillips – a waste of time and oxygen.

The very simple fact is this: No amount of rewriting will change a damn thing.

Want a rewrite? Thank the Butterfly instead.

Their headline: Additives ’cause bad behaviour’

What the actual article says: Cocktails of food additives in children’s diets may be responsible for hyperactive behaviour, say researchers.

There is a whole world of difference between ‘bad’ and ‘hyperactive’. Does the BBC employ trainees to write their main site copy?

And it was also only 300 kids. Hardly a definitive study.