Will Hutton on Osborne and Cameron

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/25/osborne-kamikaze-chancellor-double-dip

The only thing wrong with this in my view, is the misattribution of incompetence rather than malice. I think Osborne and Cameron know exactly what they are doing, they are not surprised but what has happened, they are blinded by the their own ideology and lust to dismantle everything public that Labour have built up. They are just gambling that the core 'me me me' people who generally support the Tories in the good times will feel better off by the end of their conveniently fixed term parliament and vote them in again.

The only good thing about what is happening is that I think the public are finally disbelieving the weasel words this mob have been trotting out for the past 2 years now, so they will have to find a new narrative to replace 'the mess that Labour left us', 'difficult decisions' etc.

NEW European Parliament Level Petition for Low Dose Naltrexone Research Funding


Please consider signing this petition and passing it on.

NOTE - NO donation is required to the petition site, after filling in your details on the first page you have signed the petition and can leave the site without donating. Any donations that are made do not go to LDN Now or the EU government but rather to the petitions site.

NOTE - This petition is open to anyone, anywhere, not just EU citizens.

Thanks.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ldnnow/

UK Government Response to the 13,000 Signature LDN Now NHS Low Dose Naltrexone Trial Petition to Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister.

Link - http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21825

Text -

All drugs need to be thoroughly tested to make sure they are safe enough to be made available to patients. Most research of this kind is done by the pharmaceutical industry. The Government is aware that occasionally there will be few or no commercial incentives for companies to fund clinical trials.

The Department of Health’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) supports the research most likely to bring benefits to patients and to the NHS. High quality proposals for support into any aspect of human health are always welcome. The NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme in particular is keen to receive suggestions for research topics in areas of market failure. These can be sent through the open access form at: www.hta.ac.uk/suggest/index.shtml.

To date, no application has been received regarding low dose naltrexone. Any application would be considered on its merits.

----

Author's Note - There is reason to suspect the sbove is not factually correct and that one application has been made. More news to follow later.

Audit Scotland Warns of Pressures on the NHS Scotland Budget - Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Savings Cannot Be Ignored


And so it goes on, yet another reason why the 4000%+ higher price of currently used auto-immune and cancer treatments vs Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) cannot be ignored any longer. The potential billions of pounds in savings here make the millions required for LDN clinical trials a sound investment for the NHS in Scotland and the UK as a whole.

http://bit.ly/SPLDNcost

UK Telegraph - NICE Propose to Restrict Key IBD Treatments to One Year on Grounds of Cost


Yet more justification, if any were needed that the UK NHS needs to seriously look into widespread use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) as a low cost treatment for Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and the any other conditions it has been used successfully to reat including other auto-immune disease, cancers, autism and HIV/AIDs.

At £12,500 per patient per year for Infliximab versus £300 per year for Low Dose Naltrexone, it is the proverbial 'no-brainer' for the NHS to do whatever it takes to convince consultants and GPs that LDN is a suitable drug choice for IBD.

The government and public bodies need to cease dithering on this and take action now so that IBD sufferers need not suffer unnecessarily.

http://bit.ly/NICEIBD

Round-Up of LDN Now Low Dose Naltrexone Campaign at The Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee


Original video of the meeting here (Click link 01/12/2009 and fast forward 39 minutes to LDN Now meeting) -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNvid1

youtube version -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNvid

Interview segment from Holyrood TV Highlights programme (Click link 03/12/2009 and fast forward to 16:00 minutes) -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNint

Full transcript of the meeting -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNmin

LDN Now Group Petitions and Meets with The Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Commitee on Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Availability on the NHS in Scotland

The meeting is available on vide here (Window Media file) -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNvid1

(Click the 01/12/2009 link and forward to 39 minutes in)
This video extract will be available on youtube.com shortly.

The first minute of the meeting is available here - http://bit.ly/SPLDNmin1

Some key quotes (Paraphrased)

Robin Harper, (Scottish Green Party) - Basis for clinical trial exists with current LDN evidence. Suggest GPs gather clinical data on LDN use.

Anne McLaughlin (SNP) - Committee needs to write to charities to ask if they will help fund trials.

Nigel Don (SNP) - LDN is a drug that treats the immune system drug and clinical trials are required for all conditions it can be shown to treat.

John Wilson (SNP) - Health charities should be encouraged to ensure they are spending money on researching all options for their patients, including LDN.

Frank McAveety (Labour) - The issue that the private sector will not fund trials due to no profit motive is clear and is noted.

A full transcript will be available on 8th December,

The Beginnings of Hope for the US Healthcare System?

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/house-democrats-unveil-plan-for-health-care-overhaul/?hp

This story documents what I believe is the start of a long, long journey for the US towards the sort of Universal Health Care Coverage that its citizens need and deserve.

I would never say that the UK NHS and welfare system is perfect but the stories I read on here, and see on US TV programmes like Extreme Makeover Home Edition make it patently obvious to the outsider that the US system lets huge numbers of people get into dire straits very easily, usually through no fault of their own.

So I hope after all the in-fighting, dis-information battles, horse-trading, fear-mongering about the evils of 'Socialiased' medicine (Shock horror - get over yourself America, Socialism is not a dirty word, just an ideology that large parts of the world seem to manage to make work just fine thanks), that this process will allow the US to move beyond this system that only serves to line the pockets of the healthcare industry rather than serve its patients.