The Shropshire Star, along with most of the UK media and the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, all incorrectly reported that the two bowel cancer drugs Avastin and Erbitux were being denied to patients in the UK.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has refused to license the drugs on the basis of cost for English patients. Health is a devolved matter and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales put a higher price on the lives of their own people than the British government does on the lives of English people.
The annual £20bn subsidy that English taxpayers pay to the rest of the UK covers the cost of expensive medical treatments along with the many other perks that our neighbours have become accustomed to at the expense of the same benefits and life-saving treatments being made available to the English.
The situation with these bowel cancer drugs is the same as with Herceptin and means that English sufferers are denied the most effective drugs because the drugs are worth more than an English life. Like Herceptin, these two bowel cancer drugs are available in every EU member state except England.
The British government, when considering funding for expensive medical treatments, has to consider the impact it will have on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devolved administrations in those countries only have to consider themselves. If we were allowed an English parliament then we might be allowed the same life-saving drugs that our taxes fund for the rest of the UK.
Stuart Parr, Telford
Archive for September 2006
Letter: Shropshire Star
What about a PASBO?
The British government, under the benevolent leadership of Chairman Bliar, is planning to slap ASBO’s on entire families – including unborn children.
The theory is that kids born into scutter families are probably going to turn out to be tearaways themselves. It’s a good theory and quite accurate. Upbringing and parental discipline are important in the development of a child and given a broken home or crap parents, the child will most likely turn out to be a little shit.
However, the British government’s plan to monitor young children from birth on the basis that they are likely to grow up to be naughty boys and girls is just plain wrong. There hasn’t been any mention of what part the new childrens database will play in this but my guess is that it will be a pivotal part of the whole plan. The childrens database is being sold as a tool to protect children from paedophiles and child abusers but it clearly isn’t. The childrens database is the juvenile equivallent of the national identity register and nothing to do with child safety.
The fact is that most people don’t want identity cards, a national identity register or a childrens database. We don’t want young children monitored from birth and having ASBO’s put on them before they’re even born. The British government is constantly and consistently acting against our wishes and interests and it’s about time it stopped. To put a stop to this I propose the introduction of the PASBO – the Politician ASBO. The PASBO will force politicians to do what they are told to do, what they were elected to do and what they say they’re going to do and if they don’t then they either get community service litter picking condoms on Brighton beach or an extended stay at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
Germany unveils “trans-national” regions
Germany has unveiled their planned “trans-national” regions which they will propose when they take over the EU presidency in January. They have also promised to revive the EU Constitution which was rejected in referenda in France and the Netherlands – both pro-EU countries.
The new euroregions will cross national boundaries in an attempt to destroy the borders between member states and foster a European national identity. A German minister called Wolfgang Tiefensee is quoted as saying “There is the great hope underlying the goal of a United Europe that we can overcome old borders.” The best map I’ve seen today is, I’m afraid, in the Sun. Apologies in advance for linking to the gutter press but needs must – The EU’s Mad Map.
Wolfgang, Schieben Sie Ihre Karte auf Ihren Arsch.
Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin, better known as the Crocodile Hunter, died yesterday whilst filming a documentary. He was stung by a stingray and the barb penetrated his heart causing heart failure. His programmes are fantastic – education, entertaining and bloody scary at times! It’s a real shame that this happened, especially when it was such a freakish accident. The odds of the stingray hitting the area where his heart was and missing the ribs were pretty slim but that’s life I suppose – he took the risk and died doing what he enjoyed doing.
EU Constitution poll
A man from Patriotic Poll has contacted me about a poll they have on the EU Constitution. The question is simple – Should the UK ratify the treaty establishing an EU constitution? This is the question the British government said they were going to ask us but, as early indications showed the constitution stood about as much chance as a ghost’s fart in a force 10 gale of getting approved, they predictably cancelled the vote.
It’s the wrong type of patriotism for me – British rather than English – but I’m happy to work for the common good. Click here to vote.
Practice what you preach
Telford & Wrekin Council send a “free” newspaper round to houses and businesses in the borough eight times a year. It’s an opportunity for the council to tell us all how fabulous they are and to splash the EU flag around on every other page while they tell us about the tiny percentage of our forced EU contributions we have been given back in the form of grants to the borough.
The August edition has an absolutely priceless article written by someone at Telford & Wrekin Council which has recently signed the borough up to the West Midlands city region (now known as the Birmingham, Coventry and Black Country City Region) without any public consultation or a referendum – both of which they have actively refused to provide.
LOCAL Democracy Week, running from Monday 16th October until Friday 20th October, is a very special time both nationally and locally as it’s during this week that democracy, participation and active involvement is celebrated.
What is democracy?
A democracy is when people are able to play a part in decision making and vote for people to represent their views and opinions. In a democracy there is debate and discussion before decisions are made and people are encouraged to be actively involved in their community.Since Local Democracy Week started in 1997, councils in England and Wales have held over 2,000 events ranging from Question Time to Mayor for the Day, I’m a Councillor Get Me Out Of Here and Political Speed Dating. Last year more than 300 councils took part in Local Democracy Week.
The Local Democracy Campaign 2006 aims to:
- make councils more relevant and useful to young people
- encourage young people to ‘take part: take power’
- make Local Democracy Week bigger and better than before
- increase councillor involvement in citizenship teaching in schools
- get councils to devolve power, wherever appropriate, to local people
The theme for this year is “Take Part:Take Power!” and we are inviting young people from across the borough to “Take Part!” in lots of fun events during this week to celebrate their active involvement within the local area.
Young people will also be encouraged to “Take Power!” by sharing their thoughts and feelings about issues that affect them with local decision makers from across the borough. LDW 2006 is being jointly organised by the Borough’s Children & Young People’s Active Involvement Service and Legal and Democratic Services.
For the record, I phoned Legal and Democratic Services at Telford & Wrekin Council after reading this and asked if this applied to the city region. It doesn’t.
If you don’t like our flag go somewhere else
The Daily Mail has a letter today from 4 young muslims who want to change our flag because its Christian symbolism is offensive to them.
We British Muslim lads, born in England of Pakistani parents, are football fans and our team is Manchester united.
We’d like to support England at football and other sports, but we can’t because the flag is unacceptable to Muslims.
No Muslim home in our area displayed the England flag during the world cup. That flag represents Christianity: it’s the anti-Muslim flag of the Templars and the Crusaders.
The vast majority of Muslims and, we believe, Englishmen in general would support changing the flag from its present style to the three lions.
That would be a flag which all elements of the community would be willing to support.
We don’t wish to be ‘radicalized’ and we would never become terrorists, but the continual use of an anti-Islamic flag increases our sympathy for, and understanding of, our fellow Muslims who believe direct action is the only way to make our voices heard.
Samir, Said, Ahmed and Tariq, Manchester
Samir, Said, Ahmed and Tariq, let me just tell you in no uncertain terms that no, we don’t want to change our flag because it offends your unreasonable and intolerant religion. Most English people don’t want to see the Cross of St George replaced with the three lions of our national football team. If you can’t support your national football team because the flag of your country is offensive to you then it’s about time you went somewhere else. The crescent and star of Islam are offensive to me because they represent an anti-English, anti-western, anti-democracy, anti-women religion, the aim of which is to Islamify the whole world whether they want it or not.
Hat-tip: Armchair Activist
Council Baiting
I was a busy bee this afternoon trying to find out what work it is that the city region is going to be doing as nobody seems to have been able (or willing) to tell me before. First stop Telford & Wrekin Council.
Called T&W Council and the switchboard operator put me through to a bewildered Leisure Services person who then referred me to the PR office. The lady at the PR office told me that there are only two people at T&W Council that know enough about the city region to talk to me. I asked her why it was that not even council employees knew anything about this and why, if it is such a good thing, it is all being kept secret. She took offence at this and haughtily gave me her opinion that it wasn’t a secret at all. I told her that I had been refused a copy of the proposal for the city region more than once, one occasion being a Freedom of Information Act request. She took my name and number and left a message for the man in the know to ring me because he is conveniently unavailable today.
Next on my list was the Standards Board for England to ask them if the Leader of the Council, Keith Austin, had a predetermined opinion and/or prejudicial interest when he recommended the cabinet vote in favour of the city region when he gets a job with them and had been quoted more than once in the Shropshire Star beforehand saying what a wonderful idea it is. They said there may be a case and invited me to submit a complaint.
The thought of this New Labour toad being hauled in front of the Standards Board kept me amused for all of 5 minutes so I decided to phone Birmingham City Council. I spoke to a North British gentleman called Sandy who I spoke to once a few months ago. He remembered who I was. We had a heated discussion in which he failed to explain why the councils in the West Midlands euroregion can’t just co-operate without setting up yet another unelected regional government at the taxpayers expense, where and how the extra investment and benefits are coming from and why there is not going to be any referendum on the city region when even Telford’s europhile Labour MP said that the people of Telford don’t want regional government. He also explained that the reason people in the North East euroregion rejected their regional assembly in a referendum was because they were unelected, couldn’t pass legislation and didn’t have much power whereas the city region … oh, there’s no difference. He said that I should trust in the council leaders’ decisions as they were doing what is best for the region. I suggested that they approved of it because it’s Labour Party policy and it’s a Labour council at which point he shouted that I couldn’t say that to which I replied “I can and I just did” and that the Chief Exec of T&W Council is a card carrying member of the Labour Party. He got a bit wound up at this point and we weren’t getting anywhere so I made one final stab and getting him to contradict himself by asking him to confirm that we won’t be getting a say in the city region and that the consultation will be held once the decisions have all been made. He said I couldn’t twist his words like that but confirmed that there wouldn’t be a referendum so … we aren’t going to have a say?
MP in worry over jobs
The following is an excerpt from the newly-redesigned (and frankly appaling) Shropshire Star website on the city region.
MP in worry over jobs
Telford will be losing out on jobs and investment because its name has been left off the newly-planned West Midlands city region, it has been claimed. It was announced today that the proposed new strategic policy-making body will be called The Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country City region. Telford and Solihull councils are the only two to be ignored by the new title.
Today Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said leaving Telford out of the title would mean it would not benefit from the same opportunities as the named areas. But bosses at Telford & Wrekin Council said the work and decisions of the body was much more important than the name.
This is all well and good Mark but I warned you a while ago that Telford was going to be shafted and did you listen? No, you wanted to wait and see what happened before you did anything. Well, I told you so and even now that you can see that Telford really is getting taken for a ride I bet you still do nothing about it.
City Region gets its name
The West Midlands City Region have officially got its name. It will be known as the Birmingham, Coverntry and Black Country City Region.
Where does this leave Telford and Solihul, the only two parts of the City Region that aren’t even mentioned in the name? Exactly where I said we would be – left out in the cold, a suburb of Birmingham.
Thanks Defra
Defra have created a wiki for an Environmental Contract. Wiki’s are a collaborative tool in which web users can contribute to the content and help build up a kind of online encyclopaedia. For an organisation, such as a government department, there is the option to restrict who can make changes to the wiki in question. Nobody appears to have told Defra this though and some enterprising individuals have been making some helpful changes.
This page obviously isn’t going to last long so, for posterities sake … click here.
Hat-tip: Devils Kitchen
Update:
Someone at Defra has reverted the pages back to their original state but the good news is that the old revisions are preserved by tagging ?revision=### where ### is a number from 139 downwards. For example: http://wiki.defra.gov.uk/WikiHome/EnvironmentContract?revision=139
Tony won’t go
Traitor Blair has again refused to give a date for his departure. This time he has been asked to give a departure date at the Labour Stazi conference.
He’s been asked so many times by the electorate, the media, opposition MP’s and even his own cabinet when he’s going to resign – when will he take the hint?
