It was fantastic to meet so many like-minded souls in Bristol at the UK Column On Location conference. Meeting face-to-face and sharing so many hugs felt incredible. Many thanks to you all. Weren’t our speakers incredible, too? I have massive respect for all of them. I would like to share with you the two recurring questions I was asked at the event. My answers are my own, and they don’t necessarily reflect the views of UK Column. I would urge anyone to make their own decisions based on their own circumstances. With that bit of housekeeping done and dusted, here we go:
Question 1. I am due to go into hospital for treatment and I am too scared to go; however, I am in pain, and my life is being affected by my condition. I don’t know what to do. What should I do?
Answer: Don’t be scared. Just be prepared. A close family member of mine recently went into hospital, and the measures I’ve listed here are the ones I took. But please adapt them to suit your own circumstances.
- Inform your family or close friends of what is being planned. Ask someone to attend with you. Make those closest to you aware of your wishes regarding treatment and care plans.
- Don’t be scared to ask politely who, by name and profession, is treating you.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something.
- Make a living will. Inform your GP and loved ones of its existence.
- Arrange for your family to check in regularly if you are an inpatient.
- Make sure you are informed of what you are signing or agreeing. Often, the devil is in the detail.
- Although we all know the NHS is now very different compared to what we remember, I am hearing from many who are having good experiences in the NHS with good, well-trained people.
- You may find a couple of articles on the UK Column website helpful, including ‘On your own in the NHS’ and‘Scared of the National Health Service’.
- Finally, have faith in yourself. You know what you are doing.
Question 2: When will you be revealing more about King Charles aka ‘The Green King’?
Answer: Very soon. What a lot there is to reveal!
NHS Consultation
There is so much news that I barely know where to start. Last week on UK Column News, I reported on the new NHS public consultation that has just been launched. I am sure many of us have much to say on the NHS, but at what cost? Our data? I have been considering whether it would be good to participate. Do I have my say only to know that, in reality, no one will bother to read it, as it won’t promote their narrative? Inquiries, consultations, advisors… do any of them make any real difference? I would argue not, and I will tell you why.
What is it like to be a Government Advisor?
For those of you who were not aware, I was a UK Government Advisor for the Department of Health from 2010-2015. At first, I was delighted to be appointed, and I felt I could now really make a difference. After all, I was at the same table as the Secretary of State, junior Ministers, and eminent experts. I originally bought into the fact that I could actuate change. I was wrong.
My appointment wasn’t easy logistically, as there was no second residence for me. My role meant I had to travel from Cornwall to London and back in a day. With a 10 hour round trip, it meant I had to make many sacrifices to attend meetings. Often, I would leave a flooded home at 6am to return at 11pm that night. It was exhausting but a sacrifice worth making, I thought.
My first few meetings were overwhelming. I remember walking into Richmond House, just opposite the entrance to Downing Street, and being led into the Cathedral Board Room, which is reserved for high level Ministerial meetings. It felt grand and very surreal. As I sat at a massive oval oak board table, I looked up to the amazing ceiling, which gave the room its grand ‘cathedral’ title. I heard Big Ben strike, and I thought, ‘How on earth did little old me get to be here’?
My experience with those around the table was polite and friendly; however, it soon became clear that my presence as a member of the public, a lay person, was merely tokenistic, and no one really wanted to know the truth or the reality of the situation on the ground. That didn’t stop me challenging 80% of what was being discussed. In fact, it made me more determined.
Our Board saw the comings and goings of a few Health Secretaries and Chairs. The most memorable was when Norman Lamb was Secretary of State for Social Care. We had a separate Secretary of State for Social Care back then, before Theresa May got rid of the role entirely. Norman loved my interventions and the way I challenged those in ivory towers. He hated boring, nodding dog meetings. I had no problem with challenging Consultant Physicians and Psychiatrists. I also enjoyed challenging the civil servants who thought they knew my subject better than me. (Theywere wrong). The meetings were always colourful, and when my term finally ended, Norman wrote to me personally, telling me to never stop challenging the system. As you can probably see, I never have.
My time as a Government Advisor was a sharp learning curve for me. I had the good fortune to visit the Palace of Westminster regularly and to attend meetings in other government departments. Perhaps I will reveal what happened during my trip to the Department of Education one day.
The experience taught me that politics and government are merely a pantomime of distractions. Nothing was real andnothing was valued, least of all my opinions and advice. My reports made great reading for the incinerator. They were unread and untouched. Policy is already written, already decided, and already planned. Any debate is purely a show pony to make you think they care. They don’t. If I was ignored as a Government Advisor, what chance do Citizens Assemblies stand? No one wants to hear our voices unless they speak the words of the Government. My face didn’t fit,and my mouth didn’t say the things they needed me to say, so when my term of five years ended, I am not sure whether Ministers or civil servants were more pleased to see me go. Either way, I don’t suppose I was missed.
Devolution or Federalism?
What is federalism?
‘Federalism is the theory or advocacy of federal principles for dividing powers between member units and common institutions. Unlike in a unitary state, sovereignty in federal political orders is non-centralized, often constitutionally, between at least two levels so that units at each level have final authority and can be self-governing in some issue area’.
What is devolution?
‘Transference (as of rights, powers, property, or responsibility) to another
especially: the surrender of powers to local authorities by a central government’
Why am I bringing up the term ‘federalism’? The word is not new to UK Column. I was very interested to read this article written in 2010 by Martin Edwards: ‘World Federalism versus National Sovereignty’.
I was honoured to be a regular weekly guest on Jesse Zurawell’s TNT Radio Show in 2022 and 2023. Whenever he asked to me to introduce myself, I would say my name and that I was from the ‘Disunited Kingdom’. At the time, it was merely a throwaway comment to describe the Convid chaos that we were witnessing on this side of the pond. Never did I think it was a literal description of times to come. How much more disunited are we to become? The United Kingdom appears to be being carved up before our very eyes. The biggest reorganisation of governance and power we have ever seen is about to take place. More power, decision making, and funding is about to move to local governments and away from Westminster.
The Government are not hiding the ‘devolution agenda’; however, few appear to understand the enormity of the shift in power that is happening in plain sight. Whilst some may say that devolution is not synonymous with federalism, we should remember that they do have points of similarity.
Previous Labour governments have been keen to distance themselves from federalism, although they have frequently debated it within the Fabian Society. And what is ‘progressive federalism’? It is a different way of looking at the UK,perhaps. Is there a danger that the UK is heading towards a state of federalism, where devolution stretches to regions within countries? Your region, your choice. More to come on this in the future.
I have one final note on this subject for now. As a Government Advisor, I had a one-to-one meeting with the current Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, when he was Secretary of State at the Department of Health. I worked for hundreds of hours in preparation for the meeting. I was allocated an hour with him at Portcullis House. He glazed over for the whole meeting, no doubt more interested in meatier matters. Who cares about Special Educational Needs children, anyway? Certainly not him. It doesn’t bode well for the future, does it?
Stories in Brief
New Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme announced
It appears the existing Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme has run out of steam. It has become overwhelmed with the number of claims, which now stands at above 15,000. Deemed ‘not fit for purpose’, it appears a new scheme will be set up for those injured after taking the AstraZeneca Covid injection. It has been stated that 97% of claims are associated with AstraZeneca, but I have no way of verifying this statistic. Thus far, no further detailed plans of what’s to replace it have been revealed, or what compensation will be available to those who have been harmed after being injected with the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA injection.
NHS staff must share toilets with transgender colleagues
It appears that NHS staff have been told via mandatory training introduced in the NHS last August, entitled ‘Equality,Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights Skills’, that it is unacceptable for them to refuse to use toilets with transgender colleagues. Are you a transphobic colleague? It seems the NHS want to know.
Grab a jab
This winter, it appears there is a plethora of injections on offer. But what to expect?
As the campaign to jab everyone ramps up, you will not have to go far in order to roll your sleeve up, as localcommunity pharmacies are keen for you to book an appointment. They have even created a page on their website to encourage you.
Looking forward, the campaign will include the use of posters, social media graphics and messaging, letters to patients, flyers attached to prescription bags, press releases, and local radio messaging. All the resources can be found here.
UKHSA
The latest fearmongering updates, aka ‘spooks’ by Dame Jenny Harries’ own admission, are out from the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Flu in schoolchildren. According to the UKHSA, flu cases in schoolchildren are on the rise:
‘As of 22 October (week 42), influenza positivity - the rate of laboratory confirmed flu cases - among school children aged 5 to 14 years is higher than any other age group, at a weekly average positivity rate of 5.7% compared with a whole population weekly average of 2.5%’.
The UKHSA are quick to remind the public that ‘all school-aged children, up to and including year 11, are eligible for a free nasal spray flu vaccine. The spray, delivered through local NHS School Immunisation Teams, is quick and painless. The vaccine usually produces a better immune response in children and evidence from last year’s flu season shows strong effectiveness for children in England with a 54% reduction in hospitalisation for those between 2 and 17 years of age’.
Parents appear to be under pressure to agreeing with authorities that their child will receive a nasal flu vaccine. Please stay informed.
Covid XEC, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus. Despite scary stories of a new variant of Covid XEC filling up our hospitals, the UKHSA appear to take a more moderate approach: ‘In week 42: COVID-19 activity remained stable or decreased slightly across most indicators, but remained at moderate levels. Influenza activity increased slightly across some indicators but remained at low levels. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remained low overall with slightly increasing activity across most indicators and more pronounced increases in those aged below 5 years of age’.
Norovirus. Norovirus, otherwise known as the winter vomiting bug, appears to be on the increase. It also appears to be causing concern for the UKHSA: ‘Norovirus activity has remained high in recent weeks, with total norovirus laboratory reports between weeks 39 to 40 of 2024 more than double the 5-season average for the same 2-week period. Rotavirus reporting has remained high in recent weeks, with activity during weeks 39 to 40 of 2024 63% higher than the 5-season average for the same 2-week period. The number of norovirus outbreaks reported to the Hospital Norovirus Outbreak Reporting System (HNORS) in recent weeks was 22% higher than the 5-season average’.
Professor Sir Christopher Whitty must be so relieved that the NHS is volunteering its patients for a Moderna mRNA norovirus vaccine clinical trial. How fortunate that we also have the 100 Days Mission as a safety net in case we need a novel, experimental drug in a hurry. And what better way to treat a tummy bug than with a jab? I hope you feel my eyebrows raising in horror. Are we to look forward to a ‘sick’ winter of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea? It is almost as if they are warning us now. (rolls eyes)
Perhaps as you read this you may wish to remind yourself or familiarise yourself with Bill Gates’ latest fictional pandemic exercise, Catastrophic Contagion, in which the ‘E’ in the predicted Severe Epidemic Enterovirus Respiratory Syndrome (SEERS) stood for ‘Enteric’. Is this yet more predictive programming, or is it a blueprint of what is to come? I guess we won’t have to wait long to find out.
Smart rings and smartwatches
As we see a transition from the familiar National Health Service toward the National Neighbourhood Service, we should expect to be cared for and treated at home and within our own communities. Large teaching hospitals will soon become appointment-only facilities for specialised procedures. Many will be fully automated in the future. Doctors, nurses, and other staff will be just a distant memory. Remote care, hospital at home, and care in the community will rely on smart technology; your television, computer, or phone screen will become your carer and spy. But how?
Many will be familiar with the existence of smartwatches, aka wearables. No longer do people look at their wrists just to find out the time. Now they are learning how their body is behaving: how many steps they have walked in a day, how much they have eaten, and how they have slept. But that is not all a smartwatch can do. Allegedly it can give you a blood profile, blood sugar, ECG reading, metabolic picture, and even warnings of illnesses which may affect you in the future. The NHS would have you believe that this latest innovation, which they intend to roll out to millions, will keep you safe and is in your best interests. Is it really? I don’t suppose it has anything to do with surveillance, tracking and tracing, otherwise known as spying, does it?
I am noticing that this is being marketed by the NHS as a giveaway; however, nothing in life is free, and your data is incredibly valuable. Are you willing to give away your most intimate details? If so, who are you giving it to, and for what purpose?
But if that wasn’t bad enough, you could be offered a smart ring, bejewelled with sensors to monitor your every heartbeat. Currently, trials are running in association with cancer patients.
And Finally
Here are a few stories that may surprise you. In Japan, a village has replaced young people with mannequins to help loneliness. With less than 60 people left living in Ichinono, Japan, and most of them past retirement age, mannequins have been placed in the village dressed in familiar garments to remind them of youth. The population of people over 65 in Japan is increasing; they account for 29.3% of the population. As these statistics rise, the overall population of Japan is declining.
This next headline may not surprise you, however: the fertility rate in England and Wales fell to its lowest level since records began in 1938. It appears the UK fertility rate is dropping faster than any other G7 country, and whilst it has appeared to decline since 2010, rates appear to be falling quicker. In case you forgot, the UK was also one of the most vaccinated countries in Europe. Could this be related?
With the USA election just days away, the world is holding its breath as to the outcome. Will there be an election? Will there be a result? The West’s future hangs in the balance as Americans watch and wait as their destiny unfolds before them. And as we wait and watch with interest, our priority must be to look after ourselves and our families. With more and more signs of discontent, rumours of wars, supply shortages, and unsustainable hikes in taxes and the cost of living, prepare for a cold and dark winter. If you haven’t been stocking up and preparing, don’t panic; it’s never too late to start, and you don’t need to spend much. What do you already have tucked away that you’ll wish you’d found earlier? Do you remember where your torch and hot water bottle are? Will you need to dig out your summer camping stove and whistling kettle in case the power goes out? After all, a warm drink or cup of soup goes a long way to warming the cockles of your heart on a cold, icy day.
Thank you so much for all your emails. I am so sorry I can’t reply to all of them. I will try to include more of them in my next blog. I would like to give particular thanks to Dr Robert Evered, aka Denier, for his wonderful interview. He is one of our members, and he is active on our forums. He inspires many of us with good old-fashioned common sense and straight talking. I know our members really enjoyed and appreciated it. Fear not; another one is on the horizon.
And finally finally, remember that tender loving care is free, and it never runs out. Comfortingly holding a hand is worth more than any iPad, app, or medical technology. Humans are designed to interact with each other, not black screens, artificial intelligence, or bots. Ditch the phone, scrap the apps (especially the NHS App), and spend time with each other without any distractions.
Until next time
God Bless
Debi
The Parable of the Good Samaritan: Luke 10:25-37
