Random Ideas: MRSA, Powell and Barking Dogs
Rough Notes for 6 Nov 07. Some of the ideas we're taking a look at this week below. We hope that you'll also suggest stories here too, or help us develop some of these ideas. Feel free to add your ideas in the comments, or if you'd rather email them contact us via ipm [at] bbc.co.uk
So the stories that caught our attention this week were:
Marc: I'm looking at a new way of dealing with the menace of barking dogs. Residents of Croydon can now report noisy pooches on a map-mash-up. And sticking with sound, we'll be venturing even further afield and listening to the music of the spheres - think of it as NASA's take on Holst.
Chris: I'm looking at this post by Dr Grumble which argues that Britain lags behind the rest of Europe in screening for and isolating cases of MRSA (warning: that link has a pretty grisly photo in it). A lot has been written about this issue, Dr Grumble's post contends there have been serious policy failures in the way we treat penicillin antibiotic hospital bugs. Is he right? If you've read an interesting blog post on this, or have expertise in this field we'd be interested in knowing what you think. And on a completely different tack, do you have a Monopoly strategy? This blogger thinks he has it all figured out
Rupert: I'm going to try and find out how many people are currently in the UK. There's more to that question than meets the eye. Various groups measure population in different ways, some have suggested that the official figure is low of the mark by several millions, though these estimates are often based on closely guarded proprietary information. We'll try and find out more. Naturally any insight into this very welcome, in the comments, or back-channel via email: ipm [at] bbc.co.uk
George: Lots of bloggers discussing the legacy of Enoch Powell this week after another Tory bites the dust for invoking his ghost. Let's see where that conversation goes. We've also been asking people to share their favourite websites for the My Bookmarks segment. Among the first guests will be Steven Pinker and Helena Kennedy - who else should we ask?
Jenny: I'm looking at blogging about depression. There's a great deal of stigma associated with mental illness, so why do sufferers blog? Why make something so private, public?
If you've a thought about these or other stories you'd like us to cover, email ipm or leave a note in the comments. View our regularly updates list of del.icio.us links to see other websites that have caught our attention:
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Comments
Ron Paul nor his campaign is being manipulated. What is happening is that people are tired of the Republican/Democratic Dictatorship in America. I myself am a Libertarian and I am campaigning via my blog.
An idea, perhaps for a future programme:
"We don't really need the internet or a computer. What are we going to use it for?"
My Dad said this to me last year , and I refused to get into what promised to be a gargantuan discussion on the subject- but perhaps the IPM team could take it on?
The foundation of this radio programme is 'interaction' - but there are many technophobic people out there for whom 'emailing' is something to do with putting eels in envelopes.
Do your listeners know anybody who is either timid about, or downright opposed to , the computer, the internet, its blogs and emails, - and do those listeners have any suggestions for welcoming these 'stray sheep' into the flock?
Could IPM organise a 'Beginner's Introduction to the Blog' written and broadcast in baby language for the Terminally Terrified/Opposed.?
Perhaps we should all put down our computers and get into the fresh air. Lets hear, by phone and snailmail, the views of those who aren't online.
I suspect that we are entering an age when online communication will be the norm so all those who are opposed to it or feel we might lose something by it should have the opportunity to speak now.
As an addition to Alan Bradshaw's post above - I'd like to include the number of cyclists -especially students in Bournemouth' who don't have lights.
Eddie Mair is keen to show us what he is wearing today.
But girls love love love shoes!
Please please please can we take that web cam lower...
We'd love to see the gloss beneath his trousers. Is it a brogue?
These are extremely important matters for us girls and I think we need to discuss. (Size might well come in to it.)
Elizabeth.
2 story ideas: 1 The real effects of the no smoking ban on the small independant bars/pubs and the UK social scene. My business is 75% down follwowing the ban. The Publican website evidences the same from many landlords - possible solution is to lift the ban after 10pm - this gets around diners and smoking, non smoking staff can go off duty, a good compromise given the effects it is having on the social landscape, hijacked by ASH and punters lured by cheap Sainsbury's boooze they can enjoy at home while smoking in front of kids. Hidde problems eg. outside noise from smokers also. 2. The internet and the anonymous abuse that rival businesses and barred clientele can post agianst individuals and their business 2.
Is anyone else out there totally confused as to what we can and cannot eat? What is and isn't safe. What is a concerned parent to do apart from breast feed the kids until they leave home?
Seems BBQ's need to be banned. No bacon butties. No spam and fries (a staple on school meals when I was young together with asbertos lagging to keep us kiddies warm.)
I thought we were being told only a while ago that a glass or red wine was good for the heart. Now it seems to be bad for cancer.
So what does processed mean? Seems to suggest all sliced meats - except off the bone - should be taken off the menu. If I put some chicken (good) in with a 'cook in sauce' is that bad?
I think the Government maybe on to something. Compulsory schooling to 18. Ration cards and mandatory exercise classes for all is the logical next step.
A cool story would be 'social lending' - a new breed of websites connecting borrowers and lenders directly. The UK based Zopa has recently 'personalized' its social lending mechanisms so that Mr Smith from x knows exactly who is giving money to. This way of lending/borrowing can produce better returns/less interest than traditional banks....
http://www.openbusiness.cc/2007/10/30/social-lending-taking-next-step-in-the-uk/
I enjoyed the most recent "Top Gear Special" (Sunday 4 November 2007 8pm BBC2) as I'm sure many of you did. However has the time come for Mr. Clarkson to be reigned in? To dismantle two cars in the Botswanan bush and burn the unwanted side panels, seats and rubber trim is surely an unacceptable BBC sponsored activity. I would also be concerned about the impact on the salt planes, apparently never crossed in cars before. Even if the individual impact of the three cars was negligible, what example has this set to the locals, and is a super highway now in the making? Also could someone at the BBC tell me how many cars he used? It seems wholly implausible that his constantly 'dead' Lancia was brought back to life and I suspect that there was more than one car for him to destroy along the way, potentially leaving a string of broken cars along some road in Botswana.
It is not the first time we have seen him recklessly neglect the environment as he ploughed his way up the side of a Scottish mountain and over the Antarctic ice caps. I appreciate that the show is not a David Attenborough documentary on the current environmental plight and is essentially an entertainment programme but to actively disrupt delicate ecosystems in the name of a challenge is wrong.
On a separate point, how does such a big budget show sit in the BBC's plans for the future? Would it not be better to scale down Top Gear operations, move the challenges that they seem so intent on setting themselves on to a domestic theatre and save a few pennies that could be better put to keeping on a few of our treasured correspondents around the world?
Is anyone else concerned about the public voting for a new multi million pound lottery project? In view of the recent scandals is it wise to give this huge windfall to the winner of a phone/internet vote? will people just vote for their nearest project regardless of its worth? Will the vote be carefully monitored? I think it would be better to have a panel of experts who know the science etc. involved to choose and why does it have to be just one winner?
I'd like to suggest a story about whether journalists and politicians are helping the public understand current affairs with the way they currently conduct themselves, and whether the completely confrontational level on which they operate is the reason that the public are so 'turned off' by politics.
Journalists and politicians always top the most hated lists, and seem to exist in their own world that completely excludes most normal people. If message and messenger are so fatally flawed, how does the public benefit?
Dear PM,
You may be aware that 'You and Yours' have been running a series looking at the illness ME/CFS. On the Radio 4 Message board concerning this series (The Choice is Yours) there have been nearly 500 contributions in just a few days. The main theme has been anger that there is no government funding for Bio-medical research into this illness. What funding is being provided by the Government all goes to Psychiatrists who have a very different belief about this illness. These Psychiatrists are also blocking all applications for research grants from those making Bio-medical studies. So why are they doing this? Apart from empire building on a massive scale (they have recently been awarded over £100 million extra per year for the likes of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)), there are interesting connections between these psychiatrists and the medical insurance industry (see the following link http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/UNUM_UNITED.htm).
The Kurdish Question in Turkey suffers from being misreported and labels are applied in relation to the Kurdish Freedom Fighters of the PKK.
The Kurdish Question is in the news but most people do not understand the issues.
PM should do a slot looking at how the Turkish Military use psychological warfare to label the Kurdish side as 'terrorists' and how the international media accept the Turkish military line.
The government has declared a cull of lambs that cannot be moved for the latest Foot & Mouth regulations.(NB it was started in a Government laboratory). Farmers receive £15 compensation for each lamb destroyed. The abattoir receives £17.50 for each lamb it disposes of. The waste is reprehensible, surely. But can we be sure the meat is not going for pet food or the third world - as a sideline? And why are farmers always the ones underpaid? Without the export trade, now stopped because of F&M, the hill farmers livelihood, on a knife edge at the best of times - and this is not one of the best of times with fuel and feed prices soaring, no hay crop and the weather all to pot - is in serious jeopardy. Does no one in Whitehall know anything at all about the real rural areas of this country - ie not the ones where there are Midsomer Murders all day?!
Rupert
Up to 20% missing..!
Who or what took it & WHY..?
How do we get it back? Do we need it..?
Rupert, I don't want you to be worried in any way. BUT, the future of the remaining Universe may depend upon your investigative nature...
http://www.uah.edu/News/newsread.php?newsID=958
"A big chunk of the universe is missing - again (11/05/2007)
Not only has a large chunk of the universe thought to have been found in 2002 apparently gone missing again but it is taking some friends with it, according to new research at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)"
I guess we all remember the very recent excellent "PM" and "Today" coverage of the Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson et al story...
A couple of years ago, I overheard a conversation between an accountant and a tax lawyer regarding the likely effects of a certain part of Mr Brown's latest Budget
One said to the other:
"Well, frankly, I think he's taking the p--s"
To which the other replied:
'I don't think he can be, because he's clearly taken it all already..."
This article from the "TimesOnline" reminded me of the Ben Parkinson story and that conversation. I was going to say that the MOD must be taking... But then, I know better:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2801051.ece
"Troops face £1,000 life cover bill
BRITISH soldiers going to war are to be charged private insurance premiums of up to £1,000 to make up for inadequate government compensation for death or injury.
The effective doubling of premiums is revealed in a leaked Ministry of Defence (MoD) document. The insurance scheme, known as Pax... is officially recommended to soldiers before they go to the battlefield.
In the document, the MoD blames the increase in premiums on the high casualty rate in Afghanistan and Iraq. They say that a surge in payouts has wiped out the scheme’s profits.
The MoD’s own compensation scheme is limited. A soldier who loses the sight of an eye receives only £28,750 from the MoD – but those with full private insurance get £150,000. The MoD pays £115,000 for the loss of a leg or an arm, but those on Pax receive £300,000.
One lieutenant-colonel, who asked not to be named, said: “Young soldiers on little more than a grand a month after tax are having to buy insurance simply because the compensation that the MoD provides is so inadequate.”
Another officer said soldiers even have to insure their kit through Pax. “It is absolutely disgraceful that if a soldier loses a piece of his kit in theatre, he is charged for it and then has to claim the money back on insurance,” he said.
A total of 252 servicemen and women have died in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 and at least 561 have been wounded in action. Some 47 have suffered the loss or use of limbs or eyes.
Last month the armed forces compensation scheme was revamped after criticism that it was unfair. But in a letter written four days later, on October 15, the MoD effectively admitted that it remained inadequate
Nearly 58,000 members of the armed forces, a third of Britain’s troops, have taken out insurance with Pax.
...soldiers and officers (now) face a double hit. Instead of taking out a policy to cover the six-month period of a typical tour of duty, they will have to pay for a minimum of 12 months. Monthly premiums will also rise by at least 30%.
The forces compensation scheme was revamped last month to ensure that soldiers with serious disabilities received the maximum payment of £285,000. The MoD acted in the face of public anger at the disclosure that Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, who lost both legs when his Land Rover ran over a mine in Afghanistan, was offered just £152,150, little more than half the maximum payout and less than a third of the £484,000 awarded by the courts to an RAF typist who suffered repetitive strain injury to her thumb...
Global warming seems to be a fact. It may or not be the case that it is caused by man-made CO2 emissions, though we're probably at least contributing to global warming. However, why does no one ask whether it matters that global warming is taking place? Why do we assume it's in our, and the planet's, interests to try to stop it? The planet has warmed and cooled many many times in its 4.5 billion years of existence - why do we believe that our climate today is the paradigm that must be preserved at all costs? And why are we ineffectually rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, destroying our visual environment with wind turbines for dubious and unproved benefits, instead of planning how we will deal with the effects of global warming when it inevitably yet again causes great changes to our planet?
On the subject of longer detention periods. Can you explain to me how it is that the existing "remand in custody" system cannot be applied to terror subjects? We regularly hear about remand prisoners held for months at a time. The principle of innocent until proven guilty seems very badly eroded already and the risk of "death by terrorist act" is so low down the threat list in my life that I think civil liberty should be given more protection than my personal safety.
If MPs beleive it is so very important to keep people in prison without charge then I think the least they could do would be to allow themselves to incarcerated with the prisoner. One MP (of the party in power or a volunteer from opposition) per cell should do. The MP would not be allowed special privilidges, apart from a bodyguard? or be able to vote.
I think this rule would get proper prosecutions arranged PDQ and, you never know, the MP might learn something from / about the alledged wrong-doer.
Red poppies are about to appear again. Isn't it time that there was proper recognition of civilian deaths casued by these idiots and especially the brave, cruelly treated conscious objectors who are far more worthy of our respect and to be remembered. The killers in the earlier wars were largely conscripted. Now they volunteer to go off and kill and still we celebrate them. The sight of senior military personnel and politicians at these events around the country is deeply offensive and you should do something to redress the balance.
Rupert
Here's the thing...
We're nowadays, bombarded with statements like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7079799.stm
"Obesity 'fuels cancer in women'
Being overweight is a risk factor for cancer
About 6,000 middle-aged or older women in the UK develop cancer each year because they are obese or overweight, a Cancer Research UK-funded study says"
But, as the saying goes, there are lies, damned lies & statistics...
Would iPM consider a report that actually EXPLAINS the biology behind the claims?
Rupert
Confused..?
Well, I am. Thoroughly!
Hope you can see why...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/07/MNR1T7DH7.DTL&feed=rss.news
"Death risks of fatness called complicated
Extra pounds aren't always bad for you, new study concludes
Rob Stein, Washington Post
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
"Being overweight boosts the risk of dying from diabetes and kidney disease but not cancer or heart disease, and carrying some extra pounds appears actually to protect against a host of other causes of death, federal researchers reported Tuesday.
The counterintuitive findings, based on a detailed analysis of decades of government data about more than 39,000 Americans, suggest that being overweight does carry risks, but the dangers may be less dire than experts thought.
"The take-home message is that the relationship between fat and mortality is more complicated than we tend to think," said Katherine Flegal, a senior research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, who led the study. "It's not a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all situation where excess weight just increases your mortality risk for any and all causes of death."
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was greeted with sharply mixed reactions."
Adrian Moss @ 06
I forget now, which American President (Roosevelt perhaps?) it was who, when asked, approaching the festive season, a seemingly banal question by a Press reporter:
"Mr President, what would you like for Christmas..?'
Replied: "A one-handed Economist"
When asked for an explanation, the President replied along the lines:
"Because I'm fed-up of asking a question and being told, in reply, "Well Mr President, on the one-hand you could do this, on the other..."
So it is with your question
I've asked (see above) the iPM team if they'll consider doing a report not specifically on diet and cancer but on... well, yes I guess, at the end of the day, diet and cancer
Simply put, I don't understand the biology of what we're being told/reading/hearing re diet and cancer and, articles such as the one I've highlighted above:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/07/MNR1T7DH7.DTL&feed=rss.news
...seem to be in direct contradiction of what we (the general public) were advised earlier this week...
Incidentally, according to Prof Karol Sikora (who spoke on R4 earlier this week) the UK's Cancer Guru and WHO Representative on Cancer, a glass of RED wine (NOT white or Rose) a day is still recommended for heart protection purposes
Make of it all, what you will...
Would like to look at health care spending in other EU countries - Mps went to look at countries in western europe to see what they were doing right and to try and implement it here in the UK but have heard nothing more
What is France doing to give their citizens such good care and why is it so different in the UK - can we not learn from the French? Also, why are there STILL mixed wards here
Suggestion for Item on IPM.
The value of the UK
What is the total cash value of the UK
Total of:
Homes and property/land
Businesses
Bank accounts/savings/shares
Cars/Planes/boats
Other
Would love to know.
Could be linked to a competiotion to guess the total value of each category.... but no phone polls please.
How about a story on "getting a grip"? We seem to be so anxious in this country, about absolutely any and everything it seems; is this purely media driven or are we really so fretful and fraught these days?
And while we're worrying about what to eat or not, whether we're too fat or too thin, whether young people really are outriders of Lucifer --- is it not more important to get a grip of ourselves, calm down and clarify what really matters, without some self seeking politico, hysterical "celebrity" or po-faced "expert" telling us what to do/not do?
How about a piece on the mentally handicapped? Mencap says there are about 1.5 million of them in the UK (it so happens that three of them are members of my family), but the media never seems to be interested in them, because they tend not to be photogenic (not as eye-catching as someone in a wheelchair), and most cannot string articulate sentences together or give neat "soundbytes".
It's not only the media that tends to ignore them - the government is even worse. The minimum wage legislation has wrecked any chance of paid work for most of them, because they cannot do enough work to earn that much per hour. The Health & Safety "police" also put the boot in by refusing to believe that a mentally-handicapped person is safe in any workplace. And so it goes on - and on. They don't even get any concessions in tax legislation, so they may have their long-term homes sold to pay the Inheritance Tax when their parents die.
Is it possible that this treatment of them as "non-persons" may have contributed to the several incidents reported in recent months of mentally-handicapped people being viciously done to death by those who apparently viewed them as members of a sub-human species?
It really is time somebody brought all this into the public eye and got a debate going, in the hope that things will change. Is PM decent enough to rise to the challenge where others slide off to find sexier topics?
UK Population
Much of the discussion of the current UK population takes as its starting point the 2001 census with an implicit assumption that that census was reasonably accurate.
I was an enumerator and subsequently a team leader during the 2001 census in part of London. It would not surprise me at all to find that the census signifcantly under counted certain groups of people. When I discovered a number of previously unrecorded households containing foreign immigrants and asylum seekers my easiest option would have been to pretend they didn't exist and not count them at all. They mostly couldn't speak English; I couldn't get my hands on the translations of the forms that were supposed to be available. In the end I got a couple of forms back and made reasonable estimates of numbers for the rest.
I'm sure that many enumerators would have been less conscientious - and many areas of the UK would have been much more difficult than mine. Many enumerators with whom I worked were clearly interested in maximising income for minimum effort. In a number of the areas for which I ended up trying to sort out the mess left by others as a team leader, forms were only received back from around 70% of the recorded households - and many of those had evident errors in them. It appeared clear to me that the total figure would tend to undercount the groups which are now causing so much debate.
Elizabeth W @ 26
I couldn't agree with you more
I too have a member of my family (a very close member) who falls within the "Mentally Handicapped" category
Sir Brian Rix, happens to live not that far away and he's done so much... But, at the end of the day...
Realistically, few seem to really care
"Out of sight..."
Add to the situation, Dementia, Alzheimers... Few family's will be left un-touched
And by then...
There are now regular reports from Iraq and Afghanistan that British troops do not have the resources that they need or should have to fight the rebels. I feel that if the Government is going to keep British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan then the troops should have all the funding and resources they need to be as safe and effective as possible. If this requires an increase in taxation then the Government should increase taxes and justify the benefits of keeping troops in Iraq and/or Afghanistan to the British people.
I'm not a member of the armed services nor do I know anyone in the armed services.
I would like to echo the idea of the impact of the smoking ban - will the cold become a 'smoking related disease' when the die-hards who wish to live their own lives sit outside in the cold? The BBC did a piece six months into the ban on smoking in Scotland and it showed a willful ignorance of those who were pro-ban...
And the other idea is shouldn't the police be held up to criticism for having 'special ammunition'? Is it appropriate to have a 'law-enforcement' organisation which treats it's ammunition especially - does it break the Geneva Convention? And why has no-one criticized this policy on ammunition?
i wonder why it was felt necessary to send firemen into a building that contained vegetables, i would have thought that to save lives no-one would question the decision but in this case i do.
Suggestion for a story,
Given the recent Radio 4 dispatches show with the Governor of the bank of England regarding Northern Rock and the Governments reaction, added to the £23Bn that has been extended thus far as emergency funding for an institution in crisis. How do Northern Rock justify denying their own customers who have run into financial difficulties access to an IVA by routinely rejecting proposals? They do not seem to feel it necessary to give reasons for rejection and generally move quickly to secure their debt against debtors property. Thus denying their fellow creditors a reasonable return and pushing their competitors down the queue for payment in the event of bankruptcy. I suggest a trawl of the various forums on the Internet regarding personal debt and the problems people are facing because of it will provide plenty of evidence of the actions taken by Northern Rock and some other creditors with regard to their customers. Now it is of course the right of any institution to reject any proposal which would lead them to realise less than a 100% return but surely Northern Rock's attitude to their customers must be considered morally questionable given their current travails
I'm just about to embark on extension to standard blogging that may be of interest.
I've been writing a popular and reasonably high ranking blog, "London Daily Photo" http://londondailyphoto.blogspot.com for two years, and I am going to try to harness the power of the blog to raise money for charity.
The "City Daily Photo" format is interesting in itself, a crossover between a text and a photo blog. It attracts a large number of people around the world to do the same and has created a cross cultural self-supporting community. However, I was amazed that when I looked around: apart from some blogs that chart the progress of fundraising, there seem to be none that are fundraising themselves. I cannot recall visitng any blog that asks visitors to donate, or where advertising revenues go to charity.
I've set myself the goal of raising £10,000 for a breast cancer charity in one year. I've come up with some interesting ways leveraging the strength of my blog to help achieve this and, although it is a challenge, I believe it will be achievable. If it is successful, I image the model may well bere-used and copied - I hope it is.
I'm intending to "rebrand" and launch the effort on Monday 12th November. There are several links that would help illustrate this, but I am conscious that by posting them, this message starts to look like self-promotion (which I will be doing, in abundance after the re-launch).
I hear there are moves to impeach Dick Cheney. Is there any truth in this?
I've recently acquired a new outrage!
Discovered that the government passed a law, seemingly did nothing to publicise it beyond Hansard and people are now being fined for transgression of what is for all intents and purposes secret law.
What is the law? Some obscure regulation affecting a few specialists in an area of business? No, its a law that might affect any one who drives a motor vehicle. Hands up who new that it is now an offence to park adjacent to a dropped kerb? Well, courtesy of the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003 it is. Admittedly only in London, but as of March 2008 it rolls out over England and Wales.
So you're thinking that sureley there's something about that in the highway code. Yes, it says you 'should not' do it but even the brand new code fails to mention the new law even though a London only provision about pavement parking IS included.
Nobody's under much illusion about the role of parking fine revenue for London Local Authorities, and some have now started issueing tickets for this secret offence. BTW, the law is quite specific about no special signing or road markings being required. Check out Transport for London's website, Camden and Wesminster Council's sites, even Westminster's 'London Parking Guide' - no mention of the prohibition.
It's gets better. You could try an appeal to the Parking and Traffic Appeal Service (set up and administered by London Councils!) but that tribunal has very limited powers of discretion and an argument on the law being unconstitutional is not going to run. Appeal to the higher courts - no direct right of appeal at all!
It's just another licence for local authorities to raise revenue so that the Chancellor doesn't have to.
To iPM
Please, please, please, can you do a story on when did you last see a Water vole...?
Liam 34
In your dreams... And mine
Maybe via iPM we can turn a rumour into a movement
I believe many Americans view Mr Cheney as that already...
On a visit to the City of London today from arriving at London Bridge and visiting lots of different shops etc I found it impossible to find a poppy dispencer to purchase a replacement poppy that had fallen off my coat. What ever happened to the selling displays you used to see so widely spread or is it that all shops have so many things stuffed onto their counters to encouraqe us to make last minute purchases!
I'd be intrigued to hear a piece about COBRA - no, not the snake or the Indian beer, but the government committee that meets in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A when there's a crisis.
It seems to be meeting quite a lot nowadays. I'd like to know something about its history (is it new?) and who decides when it should meet (does the PM decide?).
Anyone agree...?
Couple of thoughts from me about the above.
Jonathan ( 10 ) - think there is very much a strong case about certain members of the press and the political classes endlessly talking or shouting at each other. I would hope that programme's like this one look out more than they do in.
Nicky ( 23 ) - Mixed wards - covered extensively by the Today programme. On your point about spending, the recent report by Sir Derek Wanless we did cover. Some other interesting articles here:
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/kings_fund_publications/our_future.html
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070613_921562.htm
George ( 24 ) - why?
Elizabeth ( 26 ) - There is obviously more reporting to be done here - found a couple of examples with not too much bother:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7081085.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6432447.stm
But if you are keen to hear more stories about people with disabilities - exactly what interests you? Or do you feel is being ignored/overlooked. I'm wary that some coverage of this area can sound tokenistic.
Rupert ( 35 ) Fine name, fine post. Have you tried top.gear@bbc.co.uk?
Finally,
George ( 36 ) - Err no.
LINGUAPHONEYS
No one of moderate perception can be in any doubt that politicians are phoneys. Indeed, it seems to be a qualification for being accepted by whichever party ones allegiance is given too. Nowhere are they more phoney than when being grilled on TV or radio. This does not serve the public good.
I propose that our public service media should formulate a program that retrieves the week’s most heinous political misdemeanours – in terms of disingenuousness, deviousness, digression, deception and like manoeuvres of the spoken word – and put them before a LANGUAGE EXPERT and PSYCHOLOGIST to be dissected. The specialists must, of course, be chosen for impartiality and monitored carefully.
Oil, oil was about $80 last rise may be more and the $ was 1.8 to the £, making the oil £44/brl, yes?
Now oil is $100/brl ish, the £ is $2.1 making the oil £40/brl, If I am right either no price rise was due or there should be a price drop.
The oil producers are looking for more $'s because the drop in the $'s value.
Speed cameras, we must be doing well on the speed as I suspect their profits must be low, hence the pricr jack!!! Masked by the points jacking.
Regards,
James.
I'm 16. This probably seems quite odd to some as I know the idea of a Radio 4 listener under thrity is a foriegn concept; a teenage one must be shocking.
Anyway, the thing I want to have a rant about is the redesign of the British Institution that is Pudsey Bear! I have loved him for as long as I can remember (I still even have my Pudsey teddy for God's sake!). I don't know anyone with a bad word to say against the cute yellow bear! So why on earth has he been replaced with a thing that looks like little more than a blob?!? And to add insult to injury, his bandage is no longer white with red spots. It is still white but the spots are now multicoloured!
I suspect I am the only one really outraged about this but it is the final straw in the stealing of my childhood. All my favourite characters have either been retired by the BBC (Playdays :-() or altered to the point that they've lost all their original charm (Fireman Sam and Postman Pat).
Ok, I'm done ranting now but it is about Pudsey so I think it can be excused.
Do we really need yet another news program on Radio4 ? and on a Saturday? Saturday at 5.30pm would be a good time for a comedy slot
A question about asylum policy
Gay and lesbian asylum seekers are routinely deported from the UK back to some of the most homophobic countries on the planet. Why Is it acceptable for a country (the UK) that recognises that gay and lesbian people are members of a group that require protection from discrimination and persecution to deport gay/lesbian aylum seekers back to countries like Iran where persecution of LGB people is enshrined in law?
A resolution has been put to Congress for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney for crimes and high treason in connection with the Iraq invasion. How solid is the case, and what was the British involvement. Is there a similar case for impeachment or prosecution on a counterpart in the UK, and if so, who?
What about Communication 2007 as a topic for discussion?
As a crusty old pre-war uneducated Cockney fart (sorry codger/geezer/git) I am still mind blown by hand held pocket calculators that allowed us to dump slide rules, let alone computers and email. Hell, I can write a book, poems, articles, emails, then press a button and zap, anyone in the world with a computer connection can download it and can read it free within a couple of seconds, even though it may take them a week to read it if there is a lot of it. Likewise can I pump something into Mr Google and read up on virtually any subject matter known to man – a virtually free education.
True enough, probably 99% of all the stuff on the internet, just like the media, radio, television, newspapers, films, books, chats in pubs, is all junk; but one percent of a hell of a lot is a tidy bit of interesting stuff. Thus, a quantum leap in human communication potential. I started writing with a pen and ink, and often by candle light, back in…. well, we will not go into that. However, the question now, and given that the potential is there, is what is there today worth communicating? The world is full of white noise and dissonant harmonics and people yelling at each other into the sound of silence, for most of them just seem to listen to themselves these days alas. But, as they say, there you go – civilisation 2007 style.
Tis a bit like the question of longevity is it not, which is more important, forty years of a productive life and whilst enjoying it whilst doing something useful here, or a hundred years of sitting picking your nose wondering what it is all about and why and not enjoying a jot of it. Do you remember the days when people used to smile at you and mean it – and even if bombs were dropping on you all day and night? Ah, dammit, I remember it well, and dare one say that life was more fun then? Well, I will say it anyway. If you want to live, and live well and enjoy it, then you have to have something worth living for and aiming for. They now seem to be moaning all the time about the kids of today, but what the hell have so many of them got to live for? And why is that one wonders? Well, who cares; what shall we talk about – the mating habits of Three Toad Sloth’s maybe, or big brother, or brothels ? Evolution is slow is it not !
Dick.
I'd like to ask why the 'latest' price of the Olympic Stadium has gone up since 2004, because the original quote 'did not include VAT' and was quoted at 2004 prices, not 2012 prices? Am I the only one who thinks this is babble? If I get a quote for an extension, I think I might be inclined to ask for the total cost, inc VAT! More to the point, if my fictional builder starts work but is probably going to finish in a year. I expect him to give me the price in advance at the time the build commences. Not a price based on future fluctuations in inflation and the pound! This is mad, and it's our money, didn't anyone 'learn the lessons' - a phrase our politians love - from the Dome?
Almost an idea: Why do some bloggers adopt ridiculous pseudonyms, whereas others use their real names?
How about a story about unbalanced sports coverage in BBC radio news bulletins. For example, the Today programme is quite likely to do speculation about a football-related event that has not yet happened, whereas there might well have been a genuine and full World Championship event in motorcycle racing the day before, which goes unmentioned. Let us not forget that, unlike in the Formula One this year, Britain has produced the World Champion in Superbikes. The same was true in 2003 and 2004. Motorcycling provides thrilling entertainment, and the competitors really earn their money. Do footballers?
How about asking the politicans how we are going to feed this growing population that they seem to think is so good for the economy.
Im not sure what proportion of Food eaten in the UK is imported, but given the worry it caused the government in 1939 I would think it must be much higher today.
With the price of oil increasing and supplies starting on a downward trend I would like to know if the government has considered how it will feed us in the future. Sail power is inpractical for the volumes needed. Ships use a lot of energy both for propulsion and for the refridgeration of the cargo. At some time in the future imported food costs will skyrocket. As usual politicans seem to be ignoring the future. Will our grandchildren have to starve?
,In august of this yearour daughter ,started a one year contract with a british company called "Nova",to teach english in Japan. She had to pay her own air fare, and after only three months the company went bump, owing her back pay.She and so m any more young britsh people like her were left high and dry,and to a great degree their plight has been ignored by the british gvernment andmedia.
it has been such an ordeal for these young people,and a terrible worry for their families.
Rupert, since when did Top Gear cover constitutional issues?
Gareth @ 44
I'd have thought yes
Especially a programme where the listeners can possibly help shape the content
I hold no brief for Enoch Powell but I really would like to see an end to the expression 'rivers of blood', a phrase he never used. Neither did he mean that the rivers of Britain would flow with blood as a result of racial conflict.
He was merely referring to the old Roman belief that when some misfortune was about to befall Rome, their seers would see the Tiber runnning red with blood.
I am concerned about the number of innocent people who have been prosecuted by dubious evidence from Police Officers, dragged through the Courts, convicted and sent to Prison on what MUST be FALSE EVIDENCE, as they are later found to be not guilty!
Why are the Police allowed to get away with presenting FALSE EVIDENCE to a COURT of LAW and not be prosecuted for doing so! No wonder that people do not trust any Police Officer!
For years, during the horse racing season, Radio 4 has given a racing selection of horses that they think will win.
I find this astonishing yet it goes on from year to year without abatement. Who is it in the BBC that thinks that Radio 4 listeners have an all abiding interest in gambling on horses? And why only on horses.
Moreover, has nobody thought of the distorting effect that naming certain horses is likely to have on the betting oddds? People who wish to manipulate the betting odds have only to chat up the BBC person who collects this information... and PRESTO! they have excerted a national influence on the odds!
As this is allowed, why not a list of Stock Market companies that are likely to rise or fall that day? But,of course, this would not be allowed as it is obvious that the share prices are likely to be moved as a consequence.
Where is the logic and reasons for giving the horse racing selections on Radio 4? Or anywhere except a gambling web site?
Perhaps not for immediate attention but for some future planning on the programme.
Covering the issue of disability and in particular the way that service provision is allocated for Learning Disability and Autistic groups after the 19 year age group.
Both are subject to regidification within their ability to retain and grasp skills and yet most provision in care or educational settings is institutional in nature and is subject to the often dubious care of private companies who see this field as lucrative.
Disability groups/individuals are generally policed and contained by these provisions and proactive strategies of care are sidelined for the cheaper option.
Is this todays Bedlam?
Perhaps not for immediate attention but for some future planning on the programme.
Covering the issue of disability and in particular the way that service provision is allocated for Learning Disability and Autistic groups after the 19 year age group.
Both are subject to regidification within their ability to retain and grasp skills and yet most provision in care or educational settings is institutional in nature and is subject to the often dubious care of private companies who see this field as lucrative.
Disability groups/individuals are generally policed and contained by these provisions and proactive strategies of care are sidelined for the cheaper option.
Is this todays Bedlam?
Ms Bhutto has been moving through Islamabad under tight security. Good
May be Blackwater's brain dead trigger happy rednecks can be given a contract to protect her and oops!!!!!!!!! kill a few Pakistanis for fun at a road junction in Islamabad and do hi-fives and You Tube it
All Bhutto has to do is make a phone call to Condi Rice. The rednecks will come in plane loads. Armed to the teeth with plenty of Humvees.
The police do not need dum-dum bullets to bring down human beings; only if they are shooting elephants.
The marksman responsible must have lost the head and he should be the one to be fired, not even given time to resign.
In any other job, a similar grave mistake wouldd result in dismissal.
E.
With Dan Brown's new book coming out on the Freemasons', and the most written about subject on the internet being conspiracy theories, let's investigate whether the "masonic ritual of Polaris" really exists.
Looking at newspapers a hundred years ago questioning the freemasons alleged darker side has been going on for centuries, yet the "point of polaris" as a sanction or sword of Damocles (described by Gerry Coulter) would seem to explain why it never goes any further than simplistic wanderings in the media. It would seem to be the real "glue" that unites Masonry, rather than the "cement of love" I used to believe.
I've written what i have found out under "This is England" on my latest news section. All is conjecture and possibly erroneous at that such is the scarcity of whistleblowing in this area.
Programme sounds like a great idea, am looking forwards to hearing it.
Suggestion for the future:
Shirley Williams said on Any Questions that she'd risk jail rather than have an ID card forced upon her - so would I. With both main parties offering up essentially the same policies, is it time we became more like the French and made our voices heard through civil disobedience if the politicians won't listen?
Programme sounds like a great idea, am looking forwards to hearing it.
Suggestion for the future:
Shirley Williams said on Any Questions that she'd risk jail rather than have an ID card forced upon her - so would I. With both main parties offering up essentially the same policies, is it time we became more like the French and made our voices heard through civil disobedience if the politicians won't listen?
My suggestion for a future topic - the US bias of BBC news reporting.
I don't mean simply the siding with the US in world affairs, I mean the tendency of the BBC news department on radio and tv (and possibly ITN - I don't know because I don't watch them) to present huge reports on domestic US stories (like the latest nutter to shoot down thousands of his school friends, a bit of a brush fire in California, Bush's latest falling over trick - you know the kind of thing). Whereas we hear nothing of the goings on in Europe. We are, after all, part of Europe and I feel we should be receiving more news stories from our European neighbours rather than from the US.
Lets talk about the total waste of energy employed to heat OUTDOOR smoking areas
In reply to John Osborn, I would prefer to have some coveragae of US politics after all there is alot going on over there that des directly affect us: The Bush Administration sabre rattling against Iran, the mystery of the Nuclear weapons flying around (obviously with some-ones orders!), the financial cold wind that will be coming our way. So, yes, don't forget Europe, but the US idoes have more impact on us (and the world)!
A good news story on next years presidential elections and Electronic Voting Machines is likely to worry the collective pants off us, I'm suspect
I'm not sure that I'm writing in the right place! My husband is a war veteran and this weekend is a special time for both of us. I am no ardent royalist but can not help but think how much Princes Harry and William might have advanced their cause by making an appearence at rememberance ceremonies held this weekend.
Whilst Prince Harry is making headines being seen in a variety of London and Canadian nightclubs, his graduating class at Sandhurst is serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. I am not blaming William and Harry for the family into which they were born, I do, however question the decision to train them and prepare them for military service that they will never see. I also wonder how families of their Sandhurst contemporaries feel as their children face conflict, injury and death, whilst at least one of the Princes seems to be constanltly in a night club or exotic holiday destination and is nowhere to be seen over rememberance weekend.
Watching the veterans walking past the cenotaph today I found myself thinking of my father who died this summer aged 88. He was conscripted into the army in 1939 and wasn't free to persue his life until he was demobbed in 1945. He was bitter for the rest of his life for the war having taken the best years of 20s. He became a Quaker later in life - a result of his horror of war and his belief in peace. Where do these people fit in? The ones that wouldn't want to parade for something they had no choice about and something they hated. Yet it still to these people, the majority?, who did what they did in the war against Hitler, that we should also remember. Young people who join the army now have a choice - there is a difference.
I now live in Germany (in a house that Hitler once vivited) I help an old couple who were both in the Hitler Youth, he was a prisoner of war in Africa and she was forced to work packing munitions. The ordinary people on both sides of any war are the ones who suffer and who go unrecognised for the contribution they have made.
It is all these people who I remember today.
hi
i was wondering if you would be interested in featuring a book that has been just published aftre been discovered from the friday project publishers from a blog. The book is called in stitches; the highs and lows of life as an A&E doctor.
It tells an honest and amusing account of what really happens in the front line of the nhs.
the book is fast becoming talked about as a blog to book sucssess story revealing the trutch of how nhs politicis revade down to patient care - being featured pn newsnight and the guardian newspaper.
I have attachded the back cover so that you can get a feel for what it is about
any comments please contact,
drnickedwards@gmail.com
Book Back cover
'Despite the headlines, actually the NHS has just had its best year ever.'
Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, eulogising to the BBC, 22nd April 2006
'Despite what the politicians say, things seem to have gone a bit tits up recently.'
Dr Nick Edwards, A&E doctor, ranting to his mates down the pub, 22nd April 2006
Dr Nick Edwards is an Accident and Emergency (A&E) doctor working in the UK and a passionate believer in the NHS. However the reforms, political correctness and the Anglo-Saxon culture of binge drinking and fighting and the resulting A&E visits are a strain on his sanity. So to keep up his morale, he began writing down his feelings - a form of literary cathartic therapy - the results of which make up this book.
From dealing with cardiac arrests and car accidents, to people with 'Arrest Avoidance Syndrome' and others who hadn't quite read the big red sign above their heads as they walked into A&E, In Stitches paints a vivid picture of what it's really like working at the sharp end of the NHS today. It's funny, it's heartbreaking and it's infuriating. It's also more informative than any government press release.
So join Dr Nick Edwards as he describes the frustrations and joys of working in the NHS. The traumas and tragedies, the patients and colleagues and most of all the successes and humour that make up life at the front line of medical care: Accident and Emergency.
Note to reader: Ever-conscious of meaningless targets, the author would like it to be known that 98% of the stories contained in this book were written in under 4 hours!
I understand that the Vulcan bomber took to the air again on 18th October after a massive restoration project but apart from reading a bit in the papers at the time I've heard nothing more. Is this something you might follow up or keep an eye on? It's had a special place in my heart ever since I saw if fly low over Brands Hatch at a British Grand Prix there many many years ago. You could feel the bones in your body vibrate! See also http://www.tvoc.co.uk/
Joan
Short story... I'm leading a single and happy life, which also involves working, paying taxes spending my spare time with my two sons from a previous relationship. My Cardiff salary is £14,000 a year which gives me just enough to pay ALL my mortgage, domestic bills and car costs, which leave a little left over which is given to my ex-partner. I don't go out, at all, as ALL of my weekend time is spent with my two sons. The CSA have a straight forward formula to calculate a contribution (deduction). This is basically "X". £14,000 - X = Not enough to pay bills. I am gradually getting deeper and deeper into debt, and the only advise I have been given is to contact my MP, since I have exhausted all other avenues. My MP happens to be Lord Mayor of Cardiff. Has anyone got any suggestions? I'm feeling quite desperate.
I got this idea while talking with my friends
"Top ten ways to reduce the world population"
1. Mass nuclear war
2. Mass fascism
3. Only 1 in 5 couples can get married
4. Mass carcinogen distribution
we only got that far so i am asking you if you could fill in the left over spaces and sort of expand them
(if you think this is childish it is because i am 13 years old and i want my ideas heard)
C'mon guys, I want the BBC to address different issues without prejudice. Everyday I listen to politicians and ""experts" talking non-news and nonsense - Cameron and his latest concerns regarding sexuality within society comments or are we drinking too much or 8 years left to tackle climate change...nonsense. I understand the day's story is rarely as it seems. Max Clifford told us that decades ago.
I want you to address matters as e.g. ...
9/11 Truth...
http://www.911blogger.com/node/10025
Former pilots and officials call for new U.S. UFO probe...
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1248419720071112
THE APOLLO MOON LANDING that never happened...
http://moonmovie.com/index.htm
Well, there's 3 for a start. Of course, you'll laugh and dismiss. Nevermind.
A Story suggestion:
Homeopathy
A few years ago scientific research effectively derided the practice of Homeopathy. It may have spoken too soon...
The synopsis below of a "longish" but well balanced article from the Guardian indicates that another look at Homeopathy is probably needed
Water that remembers and nano-particle behaviour may now, fundamentally, require us to change the way we look at this range of "Medical Treatments"
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/wellbeing/story/0,,2210104,00.html
Jeanette Winterson
Tuesday November 13, 2007
The Guardian
"Objections to homeopathy begin with what are viewed as the impossible dilutions of the remedies, so that only nano amounts of the original active substance remain, and in some cases are only an imprint, or memory
Yet our recent discoveries in the world of the very small point to a whole new set of rules for the behaviour of nano-quantities. Thundering around in our Gulliver world, we were first shocked to find that splitting the atom allowed inconceivable amounts of energy to be released
Now, we are discovering that the properties of materials change as their size reaches the nano-scale. Bulk material should have constant physical properties, regardless of its size, but at the nano-scale this is not the case
In a solvent, such as water, nano particles can remain suspended, neither floating nor sinking, but permeating the solution
Such particles are also able to pass through cell walls, and they can cause biochemical change.
We do not know whether this has a bearing on homeopathic dilutions, but it may well be that nanoparticles offer a clue
...water as a solvent has properties that are not yet understood, and there was great excitement recently when a team of Korean scientists seemed to show that water has "memory"..."
BBC To Apologize For 9/11 Truth Hit Piece?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2007/121107_bbc_apologize.htm
Is this factual?
Here's the website from the "nutter" Wogan unecessarily humiliated live on the BBC...
http://www.davidicke.com/
The concern for me is I am now wondering who exactly the nutters really are?
LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION IN CHESHIRE
I am astonished and disappointed that this ongoing period of uncertainty regarding the two proposals for Cheshire is still continuing. Surely anyone who can see the bigger picture cannot be in any doubt as to what the outcome should be and that is a single unitary authority for what remains of Cheshire. We cannot afford, in any sense, to have our wonderful and highly successful County carved up any more, as it will definitely become uneconomic to run and all council tax payers will suffer hugely, initially and forever thereafter. It will inevitably cost a huge amount to set up 2 separate authorities and even Deloittes, who were instructed what to cost in, say that the figures they have produced are ‘high risk’. Any reputable accountancy firm which suggests something is ‘high risk’ means it is highly unlikely to be achievable (and by the way I wonder where the money came from to pay them?)
Cheshire has built up, over very many years, a hugely successful administration which deals with 80% of all services provided in the county and has been rated ‘Excellent’ by the Government. Why split it up into 2 regions now and discard all the expertise and experience and hand it over to people who have only had experience in administering much smaller authorities and will inevitably have a more parochial outlook. It is unlikely they will understand the importance to the economic well-being of the county of an integrated and supportive administration. Splitting Cheshire arbitrarily into East and West would be total folly. All the criteria set out by Government have been met by Cheshire County Council’s proposal. The East/West split fails the test on affordability, ie payback over less than 5 years. Is there some political or other agenda which we are not being told about? If so we need to know NOW. Why are we the only county that is having to go through this unnecessary exercise? The so-called Neighbourhood Engagement theory has always been trotted out by people trying to justify the importance of having services provided more locally than now. What rubbish! Who genuinely cares where the service is administered from. If it works it doesn’t matter and if it doesn’t work, having it closer at hand is not going to make any difference.
Cheshire is a hugely successful county as it is and has out-performed the NorthWest economic average for over 10 years now, and that has been because it has a strategy for the whole county, not just small regions. We must have an overall strategy to maintain and increase our successes in the knowledge-based economy and other higher valued added sectors, such as banking, computer software services, research and development in the pharmaceutical, chemical and nuclear industries. All businesses based in Cheshire understand the economic arguments for retaining Cheshire as a single authority as they realise the added cost they will have to pay if we split, and fear the probable lack of strategic strategy that has been so successful for over a decade.
The business community, the Centre of Sustainable Urban & Regional Futures (SURF) based in Salford, surveys of local opinion, correspondence and many Parish Councils all agree that a Unitary Authority for the whole of Cheshire is the future for the county. I repeat, to suggest otherwise is wrong and would be sheer folly, and it would inevitably trigger a Judicial Review. On all the evidence available now, this would have to find for a single Unitary Authority.
Do we in Cheshire, if there is a 2-way East/West split, want to become a suburb of Manchester in the East and Merseyside in the West? I think definitely not.
With all the very interesting content there seems to be very little actual explanation of who the "insurgents" are. Where do they come from and what exactly is their motivation?
There was a man rattling off the names of some ?fringe Islamic groups but I think this needs simple clarification. An interview with a group of suicide bombers would be very revealing.
Otherwise I realy enjoy the in depth questioning.
Something just crossed my mind. There has been lots of reporting about the effects of the sub-prime disaster in the US on executives jobs etc in recent weeks. However, there seems to have been little reporting, as far as I've seen, on the actual effect of this crash on the people who have taken out these mortgages. I've seen a little bit on the BBC website, but have yet to see anything reported either on BBC radio or TV.
I would be surprised if most people paid any attention to another executive losing their job surely this angle is worth exploring?
In reply to sameh hussain.
If you want a serious answer surely the best means of population control/reduction in the world would be a reduction in child mortality. This reduction would reduce the need for so many children in that the majority of children would be expected to survive. If that was coupled with mass sex education and contraception we would be getting some of the way there. Of course this oversimplifies things a bit but you get the idea...
All easier said than done though of course.
If you're interested check out the recent Reith Lecture series here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2007/lecture1.shtml
This has to be worth a story, surely: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/g/gravesend_and_northfleet/7089473.stm ?
Frankie ( 81 )..I recommend you catch our Dr.Blog who will have more on this on PM today around 5.50-ish.
How about a story about Care Homes. They're trying to shut most of the council run homes in Nottinghamshire and we're trying to save ours.