Their What? Are You Sure?

Doctors should use their status as a 'trusted member of the community' to warn patients about the dangers of climate change, health leaders say.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, wait, you're serious?

The Royal College of Physicians today issued new guidance that tells doctors to raise the topic during consultations and 'repeat it often'.

That's if you can actually get a consultation....

It calls on doctors to reduce carbon footprints by considering working from home - reducing their already-limited time with patients - and cutting back on prescriptions and tests.

They are also told to look out for people suffering 'eco-distress' - the name given to anxiety and depression caused by climate change.

One commenter, on a forum designed for GPs to share their views, described it as 'virtue signalling' with 'zero danger of any blame for the stuff that might be missed'. Another described the advice as 'no use to anyone and down right dangerous' warning it could possibly end the career of a doctor if they did not carry out a vital test or issue a prescription.

The document bills climate change as 'one of the biggest threats to human health' and stresses it will 'undoubtedly cause significant additional pressure for the NHS'. It warns that those working in the health service will be some of the first to see the health effects of climate change - 'if they have not done so already' - and calls on them to take action to reduce its impact.

Professor Ramesh Arasaradnam, academic vice president at the RCP, said: 'The need to act has never been more urgent and we hope that our Green Physician Toolkit will support the physician community with small steps that can make a difference.

'It can of course be challenging to prioritise sustainability at a time when there is very high demand for clinical care, but we have to keep in mind that reducing climate change and its health impacts is part of reduced pressure on the NHS in the long-term.'

“Your Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could…”

…yeah, I think you can finish that famous line yourself, eh, Reader?

What's The Point Of The ICO...?

The blunder happened when a recording app, which automatically records all calls, was rolled out in 2017. It was downloaded by 1,024 employees – many unaware their phones were logging calls. The app was supposed to be used as recording software by a small number of hostage negotiators to support kidnap and crisis negotiations.

But both forces chose to make it available for all staff to download on their work phones in 2017, which meant they continued to automatically record conversations for almost four years.

Yesterday the watchdog said it was highly likely that the app captured a large variety of personal data during these calls and the processing of some of this data was 'unfair and unlawful'.

So, a million pound fine is in the offing. But... 

Stephen Bonner, ICO Deputy Commissioner, said: 'Sussex Police and Surrey Police failed to use people's personal data lawfully by recording hundreds of thousands of phone calls without their knowledge.

'The reprimand reflects the use of the ICO's wider powers towards the public sector as large fines could lead to reduced budgets for the provision of vital services.

'This case highlights why the ICO is pursuing a different approach, as fining Surrey Police and Sussex Police risks impacting the victims of crime in the area once again.'

So, basically, if you're in the public sector, you can get away with anything? 

Enforced Celebration...

A Welsh-speaking school has been put into special measures...

Discipline problems? Pupils failing to read, write, add up? 

...for letting children speak too much English.

*blinks* 

Inspectors found many of the 331 pupils at the primary 'turn to English naturally' when chatting and were not given enough chances to 'celebrate their Welshness'.

There's an '...or else!' hanging there, isn't there? Think about what they are actually saying - they want to force the children to do something unnatural. 

Their report said: 'The quality of teaching is inconsistent.

'At times, work that is incorrect is marked as being correct and given positive comments.'

What happened to 'all must have prizes'..? Doesn't that translate well into Welsh? 

The school will be checked every four to six months and given areas to improve. Penarth consistently appears in lists of Britain's best places to live and is sought after for its seaside charm as well as its proximity to Cardiff.

I wonder how long that will continue? 

I'm Really Glad To Hear It, Ehwi...

Ehwi, who lives with his wife and young daughter in Cambridge, sends money to Ghana, and is facing the squeeze. His monthly electricity bill has more than doubled, and he has had to limit the amount he spends on “luxuries” such as taking his wife out to eat.

“The frequency I’m sending money home is increasing because the economic situation in Ghana is worse than the UK … [but] I’ve received practically nothing to help deal with the cost of living here.”

Because why should they, if you have enough excess cash to send it to people abroad, rather than spending it in this country? 

“Sending money home is something I have to do, it’s not an ‘I would like to do this,’” says Toyin Oshinowo. A project manager who moved to the UK from Nigeria when she was one, Oshinowo, 42, remits money between her “two homes” to support friends and family and pay bills in Nigeria.

One year old. And as soon as she starts earning, she's expected to support moochers abroad. Christ, what a 'culture'... 

Those flows of money are hugely important for developing economies, vastly outweighing foreign aid sent by governments.

Let's stop all foreign aid then! It clearly isn't needed. 

Remember, 'They Work For You'...

...while the police, who won't bother to turn up for your burglary unless the criminals are injured in the course of the crime, well, they work for them, clearly:

Retired teacher Fran Swan and yoga instructor Beverley Glock both tried to register for a meeting in a nearby village, hosted by West Dorset MP Chris Loder. But after they submitted questions about sewage in the online registration form, Mr Loder wrote to say the meeting was specifically for villagers in Chideok - but said he would 'see what he could do'.

And what could he do to ensure democracy was upheld? Well...

And at 7.30pm last Thursday, the night before the meeting was due to take place, a police officer arrived at Ms Swan's home to ask the 70-year-old about her intentions.

What a snivelling little weasel of a man. And what a misstep by the police. 

And it gets worse: 

Mr Loder told the Mail it was necessary for him to inform the police about 'anything out of the ordinary' as he and his family have received threats in the past.

The Tory MP added that it was 'unusual to receive the interest of two people who were not invited to attend a localised surgery', and cited the murder of Sir David Amess who was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery in 2021.

But not by a retired yoga instructor and teacher from a nearby village, Chris, so even the bumpkin farce down there in Dorset should have performed a better risk assessment.

A Dorset Police spokesman said officers from its neighbourhood policing team 'wished to understand the intentions' of the women 'to ensure that public safety was preserved and any lawful protest could be facilitated'.

He added: 'Dorset Police would like to apologise if the attendance of a police officer to the home address of individuals going to the meeting caused alarm.'

I suspect that was exactly what they wanted to cause.  

What Happened To 'First, Do No Harm'..?

Older people who spend time in hospital are being discharged suffering from long-lasting incontinence because NHS staff are too busy to take them to the toilet while they're on the ward, experts warn.

One reason, say specialists, is inappropriate use of urinary catheters – a tube inserted into the urinary tract which empties the contents of the bladder into a drainage bag. There are strict criteria for who should have one fitted, including those with existing urinary incontinence and patients unable to move due to having undergone a major operation or suffering spinal or pelvic injuries.

But research has revealed that on some wards the procedure has become almost standard practice.

And why? Because it makes the staff's job easier...

Is there an institution in the UK that isn't letting down the people it's there to help?

Cow Wars!

Almost 20 years ago, hundreds of furious New Zealand farmers jumped into their tractors, farm bikes and trucks and ploughed up Wellington’s main street towards parliament to kick up a stink against the so-called “fart tax” – a levy on livestock methane gases, proposed by the then-Labour government to reduce emissions.

A cow named Energy was led up the building’s granite steps and left an unwelcome mess in her wake. In doing so, she provided the opposition movement with a powerful, if indelicate, visual metaphor: rural New Zealand was ready for a mudslinging match with the capital.

Just months later, the government abandoned the tax.

That was then. And the government bided its time: 

But last month – 19 years after Energy’s memorable performance – the current Labour-government proposed a not-too-dissimilar plan to the ill-fated “fart tax”, with a crucial difference: it had been broadly created by farmers themselves. 

All the farmers? Well, maybe not: 

“As everyone knows, the farming lobby is one of the strongest,” says Dr Adrian Macey, an adjunct professor in climate change research at Victoria University of Wellington and senior associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. But there is growing division within the sector, he says – those who are “ready to be part of the solution”, and those who feel “very oppressed by not only climate change measures but all government regulation”.

Who can blame them? 

Macey says the plan could pave the way for other countries to follow suit. “[New Zealand] is probably the first country to set a hard target on agricultural methane and the first country to put a levy on it,” he said. “We’re showing world leadership on what you can do with the sector – no one has gone there before us.”

Don't mind if we all just sit back and watch to see what happens, then, Adrian? 

Doesn't She Have An Equally Strong Case Against Her Mother...?

A human rights lawyer who was groomed, raped and made pregnant at 14 by her mother's boyfriend has received a payout by her former school after claiming staff failed to protect her.

Her case against the college, which charges fees of up to £35,000 a year, surrounded the belief that if staff had fulfilled their safeguarding responsibilities, she could have been spared months of abuse.

Or does mummy not have such deep pockets?

In 2020 insurers for Ellesmere College settled out of court and paid Miss Fawcett a sum without an admission of liability.

Thought so...

Shakespeare was right, wasn't he?

The Price Of Failure...

Her son, a retired telecommunications engineer, has now received an apology and £1,000 in damages after taking Barnsley Council to court.

You might think that's a pitiful sum for hanging up on your dying elderly mother who had pressed the button she thought would bring help when she needed it... 

Outside court, Mr Belk said: ‘It was never about the money, it was about trying to get justice for my mother and get an apology from the council.

‘It was a shoddy service. The call operator should have called myself and an ambulance the second she realised my mother was unable to speak up. My mother would have been expecting help, having pressed her red button.

‘Lying on the floor in agony was a horrible thing for her to have to endure in the last few hours of her life.’

If you consider you've had justice, good for you. Me? If that was my mother they'd treated that way, I'd prefer somthing a little more...Biblical.  

We Have No Justice Any More...

A minimum term of 18 years: 

Nigel Malt, 45, reversed his car over his 19-year-old daughter Lauren Malt in West Winch in Norfolk after she tried to protect her boyfriend Arthur Marnell. Malt backed over Lauren, then stopped and drove forward over her body on January 23 this year, after he threatened her partner with a crowbar. Afterwards, the defendant put his daughter's body in the passenger side of his Mercedes car and drove to the shop where the girl's mother, his estranged wife Karen Malt, worked. Karen Malt, fighting back tears as she read her victim impact statement at Norwich Crown Court, said: 'I remember the call saying 'I will bring your daughter over, she's dead'. 'I was screaming 'which one' to him down the phone but he wouldn't tell me.'

Allison Summers KC, mitigating, said: 'Had he not been drinking, it's highly unlikely he would have behaved in the way that he did.'

A minimum term of 28 years:

Jamie Crosbie, 48, used two knives and a saw to kill father-of-three Dean Allsop, stabbing him 17 times in their street in Thorpe St Andrew near Norwich after hearing engine noise from Mr Allsop's son's motorbike. Two women who tried to help 41-year-old Mr Allsop - his partner Louise Newell and their friend and neighbour Kerryn Kray, formerly Kerryn Johnson - were also attacked by Crosbie. Police previously released dramatic bodycam footage of his arrest, which showed his reaction to being told that his victim was dead and he was facing a murder charge. He said: 'That makes me happy, that's a good thing, that's the best news I ever heard.'

Elizabeth Marsh KC, for Crosbie, said he had been convicted of "three very serious offences". Miss Marsh said it was a mitigating factor that Crosbie was "provoked" and "taunted" by Mr Allsop and insisted if this had not taken place the murder would not have happened.

I can see no good reason why either of these men should ever see freedom again, how about you, Reader? 

And frankly, I wouldn't be sorry if that sentence also applied to their lawyers too. 

‘I think a person’s physical and mental welfare should be taken into account, as well as their lifestyle.’

It is, for some. But not for others:

Four years ago, Nick had eight weeks of counselling after telling his GP he had suicidal thoughts. ‘This really helped me mentally, but it hasn’t stopped me wanting the operation,’ he says. So far he has raised £856 to have the surgery privately. He believes that giving him the surgery would be more cost-effective for the NHS than the numerous appointments and procedures he has undergone.

You'd think they'd agree. But this isn't someone who wants to be another gender. It isn't even someone whose mental illness takes the form of believing his leg 'doesn't belong' to him. 

And doctors won't tolerate being wrong: 

In 2016, Hope Gordon raised £10,000 to have her leg amputated after ten years of suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a poorly understood condition that causes severe, long-lasting pain. She ended up in a wheelchair, taking strong painkillers and sleeping only two hours a night. She decided an amputation was the only option, but her doctors disagreed, saying they couldn’t guarantee the pain would go.

Hope had the surgery privately, and has since become a national-level swimmer, a Paralympian canoeist and a Nordic skier.

Can't have that happen again, clearly! 

Hey, SSSC, You Know What Really 'Reflects Badly On The Profession'..?

A stalker who terrorised a leukaemia sufferer for over a year before trying to book them into an assisted suicide clinic has been given an official warning...

Typical police, letting criminals off! 

...by the social care regulator.

Wait, what?

Nursery worker Emma Johnston, 50, launched a campaign of false accusations and even tried booking her victim into Dignitas - resulting in her getting sent her own condolences cards and calls stating she had died. Ms Johnston, who was employed at Hazlehead Primary School Nursery in Aberdeen, contacted the assisted suicide clinic to tell them one of her victims required end-of-life care.The victim, aged 71, suffered from leukaemia and received calls and letters from funeral directors stating she had died.

During the 13-month period Mrs Johnston also contacted Police Scotland and filed false reports of domestic abuse. And she even contacted one victim's employer claiming they had committed a criminal offence.

Thirteen months...?! Why isn't she behind bars? 

The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of causing fear or alarm by stalking at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in July last year.

Parents were shocked after Johnston returned back to work at Hazlehead Primary School on the same day she made her plea.

As well they might! How on earth can someone who is found guilty of something like this possibly still be employed?

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) said: 'Your behaviour showed a disregard for the wellbeing of others, for the law and for the time and resources of the organisations that you contacted under false pretences.

'We note there was no harm to any service users.

'You have made some admissions but you have largely focussed on what had been done to you and how you have been treated, rather than looking at the impact your behaviour had on others.'

Typical 'I'm the real victim here!' attitude of someone who hasn't been adequately punished by the weak justice system, I fear... 

'Given the circumstances of your convictions, we have considered that the risk of repetition is low as you no longer have contact with [information redacted].

'Given the low risk of repetition, it is unlikely that you present an ongoing risk to the public. However, your page three of four convictions reflected badly on the profession.'

That you haven't struck her off to force the idiots at Hazlehead Primary to sack her is doing that... 

A Tale Of Two Deaths...

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating Arthur’s death. The driver of the unmarked police car is under criminal investigation for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving. He has not been arrested.

Elsewhere...

A 56-year-old man, thought to be driving a black BMW, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

It's a bit of a puzzle, no..? 

My Heart Bleeds For Them, Harry...

...the review rightly emphasises that both children had the misfortune to be in the care of exceptionally cruel parents and step-parents.

And the double misfortune of being 'safeguarded' by hopeless incompetents. 

So, why are you urging us to take out an onion for them? You cannot deny they failed at their basic function: 

Social workers never saw Arthur on his own to hear from him what his life was like, and they didn’t get close to Star either...

Why not? And if they didn't, why did they ignore those who did their job for them..? 

Star and Arthur’s other relatives could see their deterioration and made reports, including sending photos and videos of bruising to the children that were, after investigation, regarded by professionals as malicious.

Regarded by them with no apparent attempt to verify that? But it's OK, 'new systems' are needed (not, apparantly, any enquiry into why the existing ones aren't working...)!

...while huge attention is given to the need to create such new systems, the psychological and emotional impact of doing child protection work does not get enough attention.

Wait, what? Do you perhaps mean the huilt and anxiety when you fail so hard at your job that the child is murdered?

No. No, Reader, he doesn't... 

A consistent finding in more than 40 years’ worth of child death inquiry reports is that what appeared to be straightforward tasks, such as sending a photograph to another professional, simply didn’t get done. This requires us to explain the unexplainable – and why, time and time again, well-intentioned professionals can’t explain even to themselves their inaction in the face of evidence of marks and injuries.

Well, would you believe it's because the poor dears are just so oberwhelmed? 

...careful attention must be given to the impact that the stress and anxiety that pervades the work has on professionals’ capacities to think, or not think clearly. 

I cannot fathom how someone could write this without a single twinge of shame. 

12 years of research, based on observing face-to-face encounters between social workers and families, shows that those who fill professionals with the most dread and anxiety are parents hostile to involvement. Faced with threats, intimidation or passive aggression in parents not answering the door, the intense anxiety professionals experience clouds their judgement and makes it extremely difficult to think about and tune in to the children, or to even recognise that they have failed to do so.

Perhaps, then, that term 'professionals' is the wrong one to use?

So what will help them, if all that expensive training won't? Is it more money, perchance? Of course it is.

The more compassion social workers are shown, the more money the government invests and time practitioners are given to think and understand how they are relating to children, the less likely it will be that these tragic deaths will occur in future.

Who should show them 'compassion', Harry? It's not going to be me, I can tell you that! 

California 2.0 Here We Come!

The cost of living crisis will trigger an increase in crime and officers should use their “discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute people who steal in order to eat, the new chief inspector of constabulary has said.

Well, great! We haven't got the climate of California, but we'll soon have their rather 'interesting' approach to retail:

When asked how policing could avoid being seen as the arm of an uncaring state, he said forces across England and Wales were skilled in dealing with the tensions and dynamics of their communities.

Mainly by giving up, turning a blind eye and running away, or in extreme cases, surrendering. 

Cooke said he was not advocating an amnesty for people who commit crimes of poverty, nor “giving a carte blanche for people to go out shoplifting”.

Yes, you absolutely are.  

H/T: i.r.jackson via email

I'd Recommend 'A Deep Dive' Too...

Speaking at the latest board meeting last month, Stephen Mayo, interim director of nursing for patient experience at Thurrock CCG, called for a “deep dive” into what caused the incidents.

He said: “There were 85 serious incidents across the acute during this period and one never event which related to an angiogram commenced on an incorrect leg.

“This brings the total of never events during this time period to five. Four of them are related to wrong site surgery and one to a medication incident within maternity.

“We have requested that there is a deep dive regarding these never events and reporting to our system quality group. They need to take as part of that reporting process the impact on patients and staff within their investigation and going forward.”

...but possibly, I'd mean something rather different. Something very different!

"His behaviour was very odd and not normal behaviour for anyone."

Baker qualified as a doctor in 1990 and became an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in 1999.

His vandalism of co-workers’ vehicles came to light recently when the GDC held a disciplinary hearing into his actions and decided to issue an interim suspension, which forbids him from working as a dentist until next February.

Clearly, this person has severe issues... 

At the GDC tribunal the lawyer representing the regulator said that the surgeon’s “criminal offending was not an isolated momentary lapse of judgment but rather appears to be something more sustained.

“[His] loss of control and resorting to violent or destructive behaviour [was] a real cause for concern.”

You'd imagine it is. But what did he have to say for himself? 

Baker did not offer any defence, attend the hearing or get a solicitor to represent him.

I'm sure he'll be all better by February... 

But Do You Want Them To Learn About Everything, Troy?

The footballer Troy Deeney is launching an impassioned plea for more widespread teaching of black, Asian and minority ethnic experiences by schools in England, to help combat racism and give children “a balanced and inclusive understanding” of Britain.

'Balanced'..? Really? I suspect that that's the last thing he really wants. 

“I have seen more and more how important it is for my children to be able to see themselves represented in what they are being taught, and learn about the contribution and background of people who look like them,” Deeney said.

“The importance of education at an early age to inform identity and combat racist beliefs and stereotypes cannot be understated.”

As I suspected. What 'stereotypes' do you want to combat, I wonder? The stereotypes of black footballers as barely human savages given far too much money but unable to disguise their basic natures? The stereotype of black people as fools who see 'the enemy' even when the police are trying to help them catch the murderer of one of their own?

“As my mum always says to me, you can’t understand where you’re going if you don’t understand where you’ve come from. Whether it’s too late for my generation, we need to lay a pathway for longer-lasting change for our kids as I believe the current system is failing children from ethnic minorities,” Deeney said.

How, exactly, is it failing children? How did you do at school? 

He was excluded from school at the age of 15 and left without any qualifications. Later, as a professional footballer, he studied and passed GCSEs in English, maths and science.

Say no more. Maybe if young black children aspired to do more with their lives than kick a ball (or their cat!) around, it'd be a start, eh? 

A Warning For Universities...

A 12-year-old who raped and abused a neglected nine-year-old schoolboy wasn't prosecuted due to a bungled investigation by his teachers, a report has shown.

Aren't the wokies always demanding universities do the same for rape allegations of (supposed) adults? 

The abuse happened while the unnamed boys were both students at Appletree School in Cumbria, a special school for children who have been abused or neglected.

Obviously, so they can be abused properly this time... 

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) heard how the victim was repeatedly sexually abused, 'maybe 100 times', by the 12-year-old and others while at the school.

Which others? More children? Or teachers? 

The damning findings are part of a report into abuse at residential schools published today.

Ooh, a government report, those are really worth paying attention t... 

An Ofsted inspection report from 2006 said that Appletree was 'an effective school which meets successfully the academic, personal and social needs of its pupils', adding that there was a 'consistent management of pupils' behaviour, for which there are high expectations'.

Oh. Maybe not.