Cosmos

Links of the day 02/09/2012

2012-02-09T22:30:00.001Z

Hair Problems in Fibromyalgia

"Fibromyalgia affects everything, from your hair to your toenails. And if you're thinking, "Hey, I wonder if my hair problems are related to fibromyalgia," there's a good chance they are."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia
The Financial Times comes out against the NHS bill

"It lays the blame for its failings squarely at the feet of the “political skill”, or lack thereof, of the government, and Andrew Lansley in particular."

tags: cosmos nhs
The Jobbing Doctor: Desperate Measures

"The "Independent" newspaper has now joined the other News International papers (News of the World, Sun) and the Daily Mail as a repository for Government spin and cheap nasty spoon-fed journalism."

tags: cosmos journalism uk
Senior Tories told Cameron to drop health bill six weeks ago

"With Ed Miliband citing calls for Andrew Lansley’s scalp from the Tory Reform Group at PMQs yesterday, it has now emerged that senior Conservative figures urged David Cameron to ditch the Health and Social Care Bill as long as six weeks ago. These are thought to include a “senior cabinet minister” and Tory whips."

tags: cosmos uk nhs
Source of hard facts on housing in England

"63% of households in the social rented sector were in receipt of Housing Benefit, compared with 25% in the private rented sector."

tags: cosmos uk benefits
Cameron to voters – here’s two pointers why I’m going ahead with NHS privatisation anyway ….

"1) He doesn’t give a shit.
2) He doesn’t give a fuck."

tags: cosmos nhs

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/08/2012

2012-02-08T22:30:00.001Z

You’re dying – but are you trying for a job? – Fury at DWP back to work letters…

"THOUSANDS of dying people are being sent letters urging them to consider getting a job, it has been revealed."

tags: cosmos uk benefits
Oh no – Atos are in the S### again….

"... eventually Atos will be sitting in so much S### that they won’t be able to step anywhere without covering themselves in it, well done Atos, keep up the good work…."

tags: cosmos atos
New study shows a Robinhood tax would boost growth

"It would also raise revenue to combat poverty and climate change at home and abroad, and help re-balance the economy by making long-term investment more worthwhile than short-term, high frequency trading."

tags: cosmos
Pain & Cognitive Function in Fibromyalgia

"When you take a drug that makes most people all kinds of loopy and causes obvious impairment, then scientifically demonstrate that our pain is actually harder for the brain to deal with, it says volumes."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia
Liverpool offer Anfield cat three-and-a-half year contract

"Liverpool have looked to bolster their attack by signing the Anfield cat, who showed much more promise in the one minute he was on the pitch against Spurs on Monday night than Andy Carroll has all season."

tags: cosmos
Quotes | Thoughts About ME

"CFS sufferers are driven to suicide by loneliness and self-doubt, which arrive part and parcel with the disease itself. Although they are ill with a debilitating flu-like illness every day of their lives, neighbors and even friends and family insist they look “just fine.”"

tags: cosmos me_cfs
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Misnamed, Misdiagnosed, Misunderstood » White House Chronicle

"For most patients, CFS is a one-way ticket to hell. The affliction is acute and mostly incurable. Horrifically, it takes away even life's littlest pleasures. According to many interviews and hundreds of e-mails I have received since first covering the disease, sufferers are hit first with symptoms of what seems to be flu. Sometimes there is a short, deceptive remission — sometimes two or three. Then the pattern emerges of collapse after every exertion, especially exercise. Finally, it is full onset: There are no more normal days, only different degrees of weakness, pain and other symptoms. Doctors term the disease relapsing and remitting. That means you might have weeks, months or years of slightly better days, and then stretches — often years, sometimes decades — of almost total helplessness. It is goodbye to the life you have known; to work, to hobbies, to lovers and spouses, to everything short of hope. "

tags: cosmos me_cfs
Chronic Fatigue Initiative

tags: cosmos me_cfs
Another medical student educated!

"All in all, I am very satisfied with this visit, i think that I made an impact on this student and that I haven't wasted my time. However I feel that so much more needs to be done, at a global level. We can only hope that the newer projects, notably the Chronic fatigue Initiative (I hate the name) http://cfinitiative.org/ will help break down barriers and get us some help. "

tags: cosmos me_cfs
A Simple Solution to the Debt Crisis | Positive Money

"Ever wondered why we're all in so much debt? This 3 minute video explains the root of the problem and what we need to do to end the debt crisis..."

tags: cosmos
New diet: Top off breakfast with -- chocolate cake?

"When it comes to diets, cookies and cake are off the menu. Now, in a surprising discovery, researchers from Tel Aviv University have found that dessert, as part of a balanced 600-calorie breakfast that also includes proteins and carbohydrates, can help dieters to lose more weight -- and keep it off in the long run."

tags: cosmos
CHRONICLES OF FIBROMYALGIA: Restless Sleep Syndrome

"See Fibromyalgia is a "syndrome". The condition that caused my strokes (RCVS) is a "syndrome". Hell even SIDS is a "syndrome" (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). And AIDS, oh yes, AIDS is indeed a "syndrome" too. All the word syndrome denotes is, "A set of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together and which reflect the presence of a particular disease or an increased chance of developing a particular disease."* That is all. It does not mean it is not real. It is not imaginary or make believe or fantasy. It simply means they don't know the cause of a specific set of symptoms but the same symptoms are prevalent in enough people to assess there is actual illness causing these symptoms. So they give it a name and slap syndrome on the end of it and set out to research the cause of these symptoms. Sometimes they find it, as in AIDS, the cause is HIV. But sometimes they don't. Or it takes generations of patients morphing into an epic health crisis to really push them to source the root cause. The word syndrome will continue to be used in the medical community to denote an illness of unknown origin. And it will still be used by society to label things they cannot explain. But please, my friends suffering with Fibromyalgia Syndrome, don't think for one second your illness is any less real than a stroke-causing, baby-suffocating, deadly virus. It is not killing us, but man oh man is it real!"

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia me_cfs
Ministers admit to sickness benefits backlog

"According to the DWP's own research, 35,000 people who put in their claim before May last year are still waiting for a medical assessment to determine whether they should receive the benefit. "

tags: cosmos benefits uk
Ten years after decriminalisation, drug abuse down by half in Portugal

"This is a far cheaper, far more humane way to tackle the problem. Rather than locking up 100,000 criminals, the Portuguese are working to cure 40,000 patients and fine-tuning a whole new canon of drug treatment knowledge at the same time."

tags: cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Not gunna work?

2012-02-08T07:08:00.000Z

Oh heck it had better do when we get our Cavalier on Sunday! LOL

Dis not gunna work

Links of the day 02/07/2012

2012-02-07T22:31:00.001Z

Where's the Benefit?: Simplified Version of Draft PIP Criteria

"We hope it will give you all the information you need to decide how you will be personally affected by the change from DLA to PIP. "

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
Stop Andrew Lansley selling off NHS

"They’ve pocketed billions in bonuses. They’ve wrecked the global economy. Now the fat cats want to bleed the NHS dry."

tags: cosmos uk health nhs politics
Experts now generally believe that infectious agents set off a persistent, hyperactive immune response that causes chronic fatigue syndrome

"Experts now generally believe that one or more infectious agents, or perhaps exposure to toxins, set off a persistent, hyperactive immune response — the likely cause of many of the symptoms."

tags: cosmos me_cfs
Is there really not a shortage of jobs as the govt claims? | Liberal Conspiracy

"Not unwillingness to apply for jobs but the deepest recession we have had since the 1930′s, which has not just affected unemployment in the UK but globally. "

tags: cosmos benefits uk politics
Queen commemorates over 60 years on benefits

"The Queen, who has been the head of the UK’s most prolific family of benefit claimants since 1952, said she felt “deeply moved” by the amount of cash she has received over the years without even having to queue up and sign for it."

tags: cosmos benefits
Smoking, Oxidative Stress, Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"We all know smoking is bad for us. But did you know smoking may exacerbate symptoms of fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)?"

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia me_cfs
Number 10 source: “Andrew Lansley should be taken out and shot”

"Tomorrow’s Times adds to the metric tonnage (£) of commentary observing that it is “extraordinary that Andrew Lansley is still in position” having — from the perspective of both the government, health professionals and much of the public — thoroughly botched the Health and Social Care Bill."

tags: uk cosmos health

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/06/2012

2012-02-06T22:31:00.001Z

The DWP’s ‘scrounger’ rhetoric is causing real harm

"But although the tabloids are doing the dirty work, the DWP is not innocent in this peddling of slurs. They routinely misrepresent their own statistics in a manner guaranteed to generate negative coverage of disabled people – and, surely coincidentally, ease the passage of their legislation."

tags: uk disability benefits cosmos
Disabled face hostile climate in wake of benefits assault

"Some are declining to use disabled parking bays lest they accused of not being worthwhile recipients of support for their impairment, with people with less visible disabilities at particular risk of abuse."

tags: cosmos uk disability benefits
Minister for disabled people: there is no shortage of jobs

What fucking parallel universe does this stupid woman live in?

tags: uk politics disability cosmos
Jobs tsar Emma Harrison turns on the Tories over welfare reforms

"Emma Harrison, employed to spearhead the Government’s drive to get people off benefits and into a job, said the £26,000 limit could end up punishing the wrong people."

tags: uk benefits welfare cosmos
Welfare reform: capping truth, benefiting from spin

"The reason the government can cite opinion polls to show that "the public supports a benefit cap" is that a vast number of people, misinformed by the government's allies in the tabloids, have not thought beyond this simplistic conclusion. And the details are undeniably complicated."

tags: uk benefits welfare cosmos
England today is truly a nation of lions led by donkeys, and for that we only have ourselves to blame

"It is not an exaggeration to claim these elites regard the most economically disadvantaged section of society in much the same way as they were viewed in the 19th century, that is as a potentially criminal, homogeneous worthless block of humanity, who are totally responsible for the dire economic situation they find themselves in. The fault lies with the individual not with society they claim, despite all reputable research into poverty proving otherwise, i.e. the wider the inequality gap, the more people fall into poverty. "

tags: cosmos uk politics benefits welfare
What Does It Mean When You Hear Your Heartbeat in Your Ear?

"Anyone who hears the sound of their own heartbeat in their ear needs evaluation by a doctor. In many cases, an MRI will be necessary to look for tumors or AV malformations. An ear exam can be done to look for fluid in the middle ear. In some cases, no cause for pulsatile tinnitus will be found and the symptom will disappear as quickly as it came."

tags: cosmos
People hate the disabled because Cameron shows it’s OK to do so…

"The sick and disabled – and I know I’ve said this before, it doesn’t make it any less true now – have had the role of the Jews in mid 1930s Nazi Germany thrust upon them. We are now government-approved hate figures, whipping boys for all the ills of society, plunged into poverty and homelessness as “punishment” while those who really are responsible – Cameron’s city pals – rake in vast bonuses."

tags: cosmos uk disability benefits

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/05/2012

2012-02-05T22:31:00.001Z

Denial to the point of being delusional

"Where is their evidence for the assertion that no infectious agent “could be confirmed in subsequent studies” in (ME)CFS patients?
Is their assertion correct? Did The Lancet’s editorial team check the authenticity of that assertion before publishing it?
Here is some evidence that Professors van Kuppeveld and van der Meer (and The Lancet’s editors) seem to have overlooked:"

tags: cosmos me_cfs
Benefit cuts are fuelling abuse of disabled people, say charities

"While the charities speaking out – Scope, Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability, the National Autistic Society, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), and Disability Alliance – say inflammatory media coverage has played a role in this, they primarily blame ministers and civil servants for repeatedly highlighting the supposed mass abuse of the disability benefits system, much of which is unfounded."

tags: uk benefits disability cosmos
Women put at more risk of violence since government cuts

"Violence against women is escalating due to the swingeing ConDem cuts, a new barrister-led inquiry has been told.

The nationwide Consultation on Women’s Safety heard evidence that health and lives are being put at risk by cuts to police, domestic violence charities, local authorities and legal aid."

tags: uk politics cosmos
Guest post: Andy from Disabled People Against Cuts

"Rome wasn’t built in a day. And these terrible cuts won’t be stopped in a day either. This was just the first in a series of planned joint actions with the anti-cuts movements, as part of an on-going wider campaign over the next few months to show that we have power to resist, and that we aren’t afraid to exercise it. So watch this space."

tags: uk politics benefits cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/04/2012

2012-02-04T22:30:00.001Z

Welfare Reform: Disability Movement Set for Court Showdown with the Government | Social Welfare Advocacy

"The disability movement looks set for a legal showdown with the government, after the coalition prepared to force deeply unpopular measures within its welfare reform bill into law."

tags: cosmos uk disability benefits

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/03/2012

2012-02-03T22:30:00.001Z

The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions

"Do not attempt any of them unless you have professional experience with (a) sleeping and (b) being some kind of a cat."

tags: cosmos Kittehs
Another cold night for UK as temperatures plunge

"... animal charity Blue Cross is warning pet owners to keep cats indoors, away from gritter salt and antifreeze which can be fatal for them."

tags: cosmos uk weather
Withhold Royal Assent from the Welfare Reform Bill

"If we are to do everything we can, we must ask the Queen not to pass this bill. Please sign it. Whether you are ill, disabled, poor or simply disgusted by the total disregard for the law shown by our government, please sign. We only have a day or two and no matter how anachronistic our political process, it is what it is.
"

tags: cosmos uk benefits
Atos is “black and white” on fitness and disability

I was plunged into a horribly unfair struggle to prove what I knew what wrong with me; all the time aware of the irony that if I applied for an actual job then my real abilities, or lack of them, would be glaringly exposed. It was cruel. With the government "unreservedly and implacably opposed" to letting the "real world" impinge on the work capability test, the cruelty and colossal expense, estimated at £50m, of thousands of sick people appealing against the injustice, will go on. I hope it never happens to you.

tags: cosmos uk benefits
Move Your Money UK - a new campaign launches!

"March 2012 is ‘Move Your Money Month’. The month when we act together, move our money, and begin to change British banking for good."

tags: cosmos
Antioxidants for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"One theory of fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is that oxidative stress plays a key role and possibly a causative one as well. Evidence in support of this theory is growing "

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia me_cfs
Right-wingers are more stupid than left-wingers, say researchers

Obviously reiterating Captain Obvious. Personally, I thought it was because they're thick and reactionary.

tags: cosmos politics
Hate crime laws extended

"People who murder disabled or transgender people in hate crime attacks will face life sentences with a starting point of 30 years, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced ..."

Is there enough room in our prisons for all the coalition politicos as well as all the ATOS staff?

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
Papworth Trust News - Help change Government policy: take the new disability survey

"Ahead of writing their new disability strategy, the Government is asking for feedback from the public, charities and other organisations. They want to know how they can support disabled people to:

reach their goals
gain more independence
change attitudes
get more involved in society.

Papworth Trust will be submitting a response to the consultation based on what you have to tell us. If you would like to have your say, please follow this link to a short survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/FulfillingPotential. "

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
I don’t want to live this life… #wrb #disability #ukpoli

"I’m newly disabled – it’s tough enough having to cope with all the things I can’t do and need help with and the pressure & upset brought on by the DWP & Atos has made things much worse. I’m tearing my hair out with worry over becoming homeless again. "

tags: cosmos uk benefits

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/02/2012

2012-02-02T22:30:00.001Z

Oxidative Stress in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"A new study supports the theory that chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) may be related to oxidative stress, and that oxidative stress may play a key causative role in the illness."

tags: cosmos me_cfs
Daily Mail duped by fake snow over Lutterworth Leicestershire

"... the MailOnline posts any old crap, and hang the research."

But then you knew that already, didn't you?

tags: cosmos dailywail
Pharmaceuticals and fat - 13 Drugs That Can Make You Gain Weight

"If your doctor has put you on any of these, and then starts to nag you about your weight, make sure he's aware that weight gain is a known side effect. Sometimes they don't know."

tags: cosmos
A tricky diagnosis - Conditions That Mimic Fibromyalgia

"Here are some common conditions that your doctor may consider when trying to figure out if your pain (or other symptom) is caused by fibromyalgia, something else, or possibly both."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: WARNING - TOXIC GOVERNMENT

"To translate, this Government have ridden roughshod over any thread of democracy we might have thought we still had in the UK. They have treated Parliament and the House of Lords with complete contempt. They've cheated** and steamrollered and sneered their arrogant way through the whole process, believing they were above the law, that no-one would hold them to account, that no-one would notice. "

tags: cosmos uk benefits politics
Government Overturns Welfare Reform Bill Amendments

"Last night MPs overturned key amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill that had been won in January by Peers in the House of Lords. This is a blow to disability campaigners as it reinstates many of the Governments original proposals, including one which plans to reduce contributory Employment and Support Allowance to 12 months for those with a disability, but who are judged capable of working at some point in the future."

tags: cosmos uk benefits
How to Create a Facebook Timeline Cover Photo: Examples and Best Practices

"The biggest visual change included in Facebook timeline is creation of a cover photo. When someone lands on your page they not only see a small square profile image but also a large photo that you have selected for the top of your page. "

tags: cosmos design
Judge Judy and (the Lack of) Disability Awareness

"... a perfect example of the total ignorance of what a disability IS, and the complete lack of understanding that people with disabilities face every day from the “healthy” population."

tags: disability cosmos
Coalition overturns Lords amendments on welfare and bans further dissent

"Government uses rare parliamentary procedure to annul seven adjustments to reform and prevent further challenges from peers"

We are living under a cruel dictatorship. The Lords was meant to protect us from the tyranny of a single chamber. No longer.

tags: uk benefits politics cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 02/01/2012

2012-02-01T22:31:00.001Z

IBS and the Vasovagal Reflex

"Do you ever experience symptoms of sweating and feeling like you are going to pass out during an IBS attack? As with many symptoms associated with IBS, this can be frightening and may make you wonder if something is more seriously wrong with you. This discussion of the body's own vasovagal reflex may help to put your fears to rest."

tags: cosmos ibs
Which is the best energy company?

tags: uk environment cosmos
Gov't launches effort to stop benefit fraud

"... the southeast Aegean island of Kalymnos appears to have an exorbitantly large occurrence of mental ailments, while Zakynthos in the Ionian could well be described as the “island of the blind.” A doctor on the island allegedly charged 5,000 euros to provide blindness certificates."

tags: greece benefits cosmos
IT’S THE TESTS THAT DECEIVE, NOT THE PEOPLE CLAIMING BENEFITS!

"In a nutshell, the system is that you chuck as many people as you can into the deep end and whoever floats long enough to take you to tribunal, well, congratulations. Think of a 16th-century witchcraft trial, take away the transparency and public approval, and you have it about right. It is wicked, out-dated, & just plain wrong!"

tags: uk benefits cosmos
The Parliament Acts – last resort of the unspeakable…

"Note that none of those uses was to persecute, impoverish, render homeless and, directly or indirectly, kill or encompass the suicide of some of the most vulnerable members of society. This is because nobody as unconscionably evil as that dismal, lying, despicable, scumbag, David Cameron, consumed by an insane hatred for the chronically sick and disabled, had yet come to power.

Until now."

tags: uk politics benefits cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/31/2012

2012-01-31T22:30:00.001Z

“More please sir I’m hungry “Hungry boy, this is Great Britain don’t be silly”…

"My mother often talked about rationing when she was a child and during the war, the problem is where not in a WAR, we are a vastly rich nation, no child or adult should go hungry in this country in this day and age, how do our bloody politicians sleep at night, how do they look at themselves in the mirror?"

tags: uk politics benefits cosmos
Margaret Williams: The biopsychosocial model has no empirical foundation in relation to ME/CFS

"Attention is drawn to a letter recently sent to two high-profile members of The House of Lords by Douglas Fraser, a former professional violinist but now severely affected by ME/CFS (http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/FraserToTGTandMM.htm ).

In it, Fraser sets out his concerns about a paper circulated by Lord (David) Freud, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Welfare Reform) to certain members of the House of Lords (this being “Models of Sickness and Disability” by Waddell G and Aylward M, whose track record on the alleged deviance of sick people -- those with ME/CFS being specifically targeted -- is documented in “Magical Medicine: how to make a disease disappear” by Professor Malcolm Hooper available at www.meactionuk.org.uk/magical-medicine.htm ).
"

tags: uk benefits cosmos me_cfs
38 Degrees | Cuts to support: email your MP

"The government is planning to inflict devastating cuts to support for sick and disabled people. Despite the plans being voted down in the Lords, they are still trying to push through some of the most unfair cuts – including support being ended after only a year for some people recovering from very serious illnesses like cancer.
"

tags: uk benefits disability cosmos
Evidence That ME/CFS Is Not A Somatisation Disorder

"Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is not a somatisation disorder. That ME/CFS is not a somatisation disorder is not simply a matter of belief or opinion but is a matter of substantive fact."

tags: cosmos me_cfs

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

How to…give your wardrobe a green-over

2012-01-31T12:18:00.001Z

1. Empty wardrobe
Give yourself at least two hours to complete the task. Start by completely empting your wardrobe. You may as well give it a dust and a spruce up now you have the chance and hang a few scented wardrobe fresheners.
2. Create four piles
Your four piles will consist of:
• Items you wear
• Items you do not wear
• Items you do not wear but have value (sentimental or financial)
• Items you’re not sure about
3. Organise
• Put the items you do not wear but have sentimental value in a bag and store.
• Think about selling the items of value on an online selling site or take to a second-hand designer clothes shop (you may get more for your money here).
• For items you aren’t sure about, be realistic. If you haven’t worn that item in the last six months (seasonal and black-tie clothing aside), you’re not likely to wear it in the future so pop it in the bag for the charity shop.
• Restock your wardrobe with the pieces you wear in item order: i.e. tops, jeans, suits, dresses, skirts, shorts etc. Put the items you wear most to the front and centre.
4. Coordinate
Group colours together within your item sections. For example, white tops, jeans, dark suits, black tops.
5. Recycle
Walk to your local charity shop and donate the clothes you don’t wear to a worthy cause.

Read the full article at The Ecologist …

Note to self: Step 1 seems to be taking 2 years. Get on with it!

Links of the day 01/30/2012

2012-01-30T22:30:00.001Z

A police state for benefit claimants?

"Are these arsewipes serious? In what even approximately sane universe does being on benefit mean you are subjected to conditions normally imposed on convicted criminals? And not just the claimant, but their partner?"

tags: uk cosmos benefits
Is it too late to call Paris over the LondonOlympics bill?

" The true cost of the London 2012 Games for the UK taxpayer comes in at over £12 billion, £2.7 bn more than the 9.3bn budget, a Sky investigation has revealed.

And yes, that is 6 times the number the lying scum told us it would be before they bid for the damn foolery. Jeebus, do we really need to pay £12 billion to give athletes a drugs and sex jamboree?"

Especially when it is claimed there isn't enough money for the truly needy.

tags: uk cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/29/2012

2012-01-29T22:32:00.001Z

HOW A SAFETY NET DESIGNED TO HELP THOSE MOST IN NEED BECAME A KAFKAESQUE NIGHTMARE

"“People are waiting for about eight months for an appeal. They appeal, they win their appeal, and almost straight away they get their letter asking them to come to the next one,” he says. This system, he says, “is not helping people into work, it’s hounding people who can’t work.”"

tags: uk benefits cosmos
Tory cllr: “unwashed” disabled should “move to North Korea”

"A Conservative councillor from Basildon, Essex has sparked outrage after posting on Twitter that disabled protesters in London today should “move to North Korea” if they didn’t like government plans."

tags: cosmos uk politics

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/28/2012

2012-01-28T22:31:00.001Z

Common Gastro Disease Occurs Even With High-Fiber Diet

"Eating a high-fiber diet does not lower a person's risk of diverticulosis, but a low-fiber diet might, according to a new study that contradicts what doctors have believed for decades."

tags: cosmos health food
Cameron – Capping Banker’s Benefits At £26,000 An Hour “A Basic Issue of Fairness”

"People living in benefit dependent households, such as bailed-out bankers, have been urged by the Prime Minister to “go out and get proper work” rather than complain about the loss of state handouts to pay for their bonuses."

tags: cosmos
Support The Spartacus Report – be part of an on-line and media campaign against the government…starting today. « Pride's Purge

"Today we are seeing a modern day version of Roman decimation by our government. As in ancient Rome, a majority of us are being enlisted to turn on a minority – and relieved it’s not happening to us, many of us are willing participants – by accepting government attacks on some of the most vulnerable members of our society – the sick, the disabled, the unemployed, the very young and the very old."

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
BBC News - Welfare Reform Bill prompts protest in London

"Activists and disability campaign groups are staging a demonstration in opposition to the government's welfare proposals. "

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
Press release: Disabled activists joined by UK Uncut for ‘disruptive’ protest against 'unfair and unnecessary' Welfare Reform Bill

"A group of people from Disabled People Against Cuts(1) and Disabled People’s Direct Action Network(2) will today be joined by UK Uncut(3) to occupy an area of central London in a ‘daring and disruptive’ act of civil disobedience in opposition to the government’s Welfare Reform Bill."

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
URGENT! Write to your MP NOW « We are Spartacus

"We have recently found out that the government intends to debate the Welfare Reform Bill on Wednesday 1 February and to seek to overturn the Lords’ amendments on that day."

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
‘Pretend bigots’ really ARE sick.

"There’s lots of money to be made from being a bigot. If you can reliably work the readers of a tabloid into a lather with a mixture of baseless opinion and made-up statistics, the editors will literally chuck money at you until you can afford to go and live in Florida like Littlejohn."

tags: cosmos
Personal Independence Payment: assessment thresholds and consultation - DWP

"The Department is keen to hear views from all interested parties but in particular from disabled people and disability organisations."

tags: uk cosmos benefits disability

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/27/2012

2012-01-27T22:31:00.001Z

Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: What can we do Now?

"... the welfare reform bill will go back to the Commons on Wednesday 1st Feb. That's just one day after the third and final reading of the bill in the Lords."

tags: uk cosmos benefits disability
Attack on the disabled: Daily Telegraph’s James Delingpole joins in

"the Daily Telegraph’s James Delingpole has waded into the “pretend disabled” debate – siding with, erm, Rod Liddle and adding an attack on charities for good measure."

tags: uk cosmos benefits disability
Tom Greatrex MP informs me of Debate on WCA/Atos on 1st feb 9.30am – 11.00 – Westminster Hall…

"Next week a debate is to be held on the WCA & Atos, Tom Greatrex has informed me he will try to get a question in about the recording of assessments"

tags: uk cosmos benefits atos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/26/2012

2012-01-26T22:30:00.001Z

Statistics watchdog raps Tories over immigration spin

"... actual figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions don’t back this up. In fact they show that “non-British” workers are far less likely to be drawing benefits than workers classified as British."

tags: cosmos uk benefits politics
How to Help Your Doctor Understand ME/CFS Disability

"The reason for this restriction of activity might be fatigue, but by showing the effect this symptom has on their life the symptom becomes meaningful. The tired physician who works 16 hours a day will stop and listen about fatigue so severe that it prevents a person from going out of the house."

tags: cosmos disability me_cfs
Rod Liddle attacks “pretend disabled” in Sun column

"the most disgusting attack on disabled people yet"

tags: cosmos uk benefits disability
How incompetant can Atos get – They really are taking the piss with this one…

"If getting shot and suffering multiple strokes and heart attacks doesn’t get you disability benefits and into the support group God knows what will?"

tags: cosmos atos uk benefits
Psychiatry’s Grand Confession

"Since the chemical imbalance theory is often presented as a rationale for taking SSRIs, such patients now understandably feel lied to by their clinicians."

tags: cosmos depression fibromyalgia
Changing Dietary Sensitivities With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"This is one of the areas of our illness that we don't know a lot about, other than that it's really common for us to have food sensitivities."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia me_cfs
Busting the means testing myth

"Using analysis of the level of expenditure, the degree of targeting and the amount of poverty alleviation associated with 11 OECD welfare systems at different times between the 1970s and the 1990s, the data shows, counter-intuitively, that the more you means-test, the less poverty alleviation you achieve."

tags: uk benefits cosmos
New claims for ESA

"Outcomes of completed initial assessments for claims started from March to May 2011 show:"

tags: uk benefits cosmos
Quote of the day: Castro blasts Republican nomination race

"“The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalised and expansive empire is – and I mean this seriously – the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been.”"

Snicker. Castro nails it with this astute observation!

tags: cosmos politics

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/25/2012

2012-01-25T22:31:00.001Z

Where's the Benefit?: And in the news...

"Whenever there's a benefit-related news story the DWP are always given a right-to-reply in which they invariably tell a pack of lies. "

tags: uk benefits cosmos
Where's the Benefit?: Finally!

"It's taken more than a year of begging but: 38 Degrees have finally decided that welfare issues are sexy enough to support. "

tags: uk politics benefits disability cosmos
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Sacrifice More!! Hang the "Cheats" out to Dry!!

"So here's the problem. No matter how hard they try, no matter how cruel the policies they design, no matter how many rocks they search under or plugholes they peer into, no Government has ever been able to find this mythical army of feckless, workshy sick and disabled people. Well, not until they designed ESA obviously, where they just defined everyone as fit for work and had done with all that silly evidence nonsense."

tags: uk politics benefits disability cosmos
UKuncut to join disabled to oppose Welfare bill

"On Saturday 28 January, activists from Disabled People Against Cuts, Disabled People's Direct Action Network and UK Uncut will occupy an area of central London in a 'daring and disruptive' act of civil disobedience in opposition to the government's Welfare Reform Bill which is currently being debated in the Lords."

tags: uk politics benefits disability cosmos
MPs laugh as government minister nearly votes against his own bill

"Prompting laughter from colleagues, the image above captures the moment when local government minister Andrew Stunell was caught in the "no lobby", seemingly attempting to vote against his own bill in committee stage."

tags: uk politics cosmos
Lyme disease risk from dogs 'higher than thought'

"Ticks that can transmit Lyme disease may be more prevalent in the UK than realised, say researchers who have found out how many dogs harbour them."

tags: uk cosmos health
Matthew Norman: Cameron is the David Brent of welfare reform

"Whatever damage peers inflict on this snarling Pitbull of a Bill, however many of its teeth they remove, its advancement has taught us something chilling about the Prime Minister. For all his personal experience, expressions of paternal goodwill towards the disabled and fraternal concern for their carers, at the first clanging of the alarm bells his instinct was to scarper, and leave them in the stairwell to burn."

tags: uk cosmos benefits disability politics
ME/CFS Warrior: "I Never Thought My Sister Would Die...from ME" by Roisin Wilson

"Sophia’s death from ME made news around the world, but it hasn’t changed how people with ME get treated in Britain – well not yet it hasn’t."

tags: uk cosmos me_cfs
Voices from the Shadows

"‘Voices from the Shadows’ is a breakthrough event. In a compelling and intensely moving one hour feature documentary these hidden voices can at last be heard. It is an act of witness, supported by concerned professionals who illuminate an injustice hidden in our midst. "

tags: uk cosmos me_cfs

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/24/2012

2012-01-24T22:30:00.001Z

'The disabled and sick': a breed apart?

"Everywhere I look I see this phrase - “The Sick and Disabled”. It is as if somehow 'these people' are a separate commodity - other than us. A breed apart. And of course seeing ‘them’ like this is what allows politicians and journalists and everyone else in the end, to discuss ‘their’ future in terms of statistics and graphs and percentages. Talking of ‘them’ in these terms makes it easier for people to dissociate and thereby give consent for actions which will have an adverse effect. "

tags: uk cosmos benefits disability
Bankers are real scroungers

"... while Cameron is clamping down on benefits, he doesn’t mind giving handouts to his banker pals."

tags: uk cosmos benefits politics
I need a good laugh….LoL,LoL…

"I thought we all need a good laugh now and again, problem is this video isn’t that far from the truth, please enjoy….."

tags: uk cosmos benefits
Hospital checklists for common conditions 'cut deaths'

"Checklists that spell out exactly how to care for patients with common conditions have dramatically reduced hospital deaths, say doctors."

What is wrong with this picture? Surely, if such checklists are needed this merely indicates that staff are not qualified and are inadequately trained to do their jobs.

tags: cosmos uk health
Pegby is a Free, Web-Based To-Do Manager That Keeps Your Eyes on Your Next Actions

Looks worth a try.

tags: cosmos tools
Benefit cap to see rise in applicants per job from 23 to 2.68 million

"Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith insists that the current system means that there is little incentive for people to seek employment, but critics have claimed that actual jobs being available are also vital when it comes to finding work."

Many a true word and all that ...

tags: cosmos
Welfare cuts: now they’re slamming the door on the truly desperate

"Social fund crisis loans were supposed to save people from using the likes of Wonga, whose interest rates can soar to more than 4,000%. With the social fund gone, there’ll be nowhere else."

tags: cosmos uk benefits
House of Lords debates - TheyWorkForYou

"About 60,000 people with ME are either bedbound or housebound. To go to a face-to-face interview would cause enormous stress and probably exacerbate their symptoms. Will that be taken into account? They cannot provide medical evidence because there is no treatment; yet they cannot come out of their homes. How will the Minister deal with that?"

tags: cosmos uk benefits me_cfs
Is David Cameron actually sane?

"And bear this in mind – there will be barely a single extended family which does not have at least one member whose life will be wrecked by this over-privileged, detached from reality, shitweasel. So don’t think for one moment it’s not your business, because even if it’s not right now, odds are it will be at some point."

tags: cosmos uk politics
Fibromyalgia & Falls: Why We're Prone

"People with fibromyalgia are known to be prone to falls, and new research may provide insight into why."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia
Whilst ruthlessly cutting the Welfare State, the coalitions policy of subsidising private business goes into overdrive.

"Whilst the Tory led coalition government are serving the NHS on a platter to the private health care industry, and taking a hatchet to the welfare state, they are also channelling ever greater sums of money to the corporations which dominate the retail trade. Some of the most 'successful' UK businesses in this field have the tax payer to thank for their profit margins, which since the turn of the century have risen to levels which would have been unthinkable in the 20th century."

tags: cosmos uk benefits health nhs politics

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Today's Bargains 01/24/2012

2012-01-24T08:31:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/23/2012

2012-01-23T22:31:00.001Z

My life as a (legally) homeless child | Make Wealth History

"... our government minister in charge of homelessness doesn’t seem to understand it very well."

tags: cosmos
Where's the Benefit?: ♫...Here in my car I feel safest of all...♫

"The government only care about business and profits, not people. They're not listening to the human case for not taking benefits, so I think we need to try another tack: The business case. As I understand it; Motability was effectively the only thing that stopped the car industry from caving in."

tags: uk cosmos benefits
Four patients die thirsty or starving EVERY DAY on our hospital wards show damning new statistics

"Officials who compiled the figures pointed out that not all deaths could be directly blamed on poor care. Some illnesses such as Alzheimer’s or certain forms of cancer make it very difficult for patients to eat or drink. But campaigners said that no one in this day and age should be dying hungry or thirsty in hospital, regardless of the circumstances."

tags: uk cosmos health
Exposed: The six myths of IDS’s benefits cap

"The government faces a battle in the House of Lords today over its controversial benefits cap, with bishops joining Liberal Democrat peers – led by former leader Paddy Ashdown – in opposition to the plans that will push 100,000 children into poverty. In 2012. Under this cabinet of millionaires."

tags: uk cosmos benefits
Offshore tax-dodging makes a farce of austerity

"We are told that money is so tight that the cap on housing benefit and the cutback for families of disabled children must be maintained whilst the super-rich are laughing all the way to their offshore bank."

tags: uk cosmos benefits
With its continued demonisation of the sick and disabled the UK Coalition is engaged in the same ideological process which led to the Nazis euthanasia program, with its accompanying defamation of the sick and disabled.

"To contravene these established compassionate norms, then, requires a compelling and strongly persuasive argument, one which is capable of overturning common sense conceptions; that work can cause further difficulties for the sick and disabled, or indeed that work has played a significant part in contributing to illness in the first place. "

tags: uk benefits cosmos disability

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/22/2012

2012-01-22T22:32:00.001Z

Paddy Ashdown takes on coalition over benefits cap

"The peer, who has consistently voted with Nick Clegg until now, said on Sunday that he could not back the plan for a £26,000 annual limit in a vote on Monday without greater measures to ensure that children living in poverty are protected."

tags: uk benefits cosmos
Terminally-ill man offered `return-to-work’ advice – Have the DWP no F###### compassion…

"A MAN in the final stages of a terminal illness has been offered the chance to meet with a Jobcentreplus return-to-work advisor."

tags: cosmos uk benefits
Why do smells make some people sick?

"Do you get a headache from the perfume of the lady next to you at the table? Do cleaning solutions at work make your nose itch? If you have symptoms prompted by everyday smells, it does not necessarily mean you are allergic but rather that you suffer from chemical intolerance. According to Linus Andersson at Umeå University, this hypersensitivity can be the result of an inability to get used to smells."

tags: cosmos mcs
The Jobbing Doctor: Please E-Mail - send Bill to the dustbin of history.

"It will not take long to email the Acadamy of the Medical Royal Colleges and your specific Royal College President to pressure them into opposing the Bill, so get emailing and do it now:"

tags: cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/21/2012

2012-01-21T22:30:00.001Z

eReader Benefits for Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"I got an eReader for Christmas, and not only do I love it, I've discovered several benefits for someone with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome."

tags: fibromyalgia cosmos
The human cost of the government’s inhumane welfare reforms

"The horror of the welfare reform bill continues to loom large, with the stress and fear engendered by the government’s inhumane reforms taking an ever more worrying toll."

tags: uk cosmos
Message from the Invisible: scrap the Welfare Reform Bill!

"On Saturday 28th January in central London, a brave group of disabled, sick and elderly people are going to engage in a daring and disruptive act of civil disobedience – and they’ve asked for our support. Meet at 11.30am at Holborn tube station with a charged Oyster card, ready to travel to a secret location."

tags: uk cosmos
Surviving the Winter with Fibromyalgia

"When you have a chronic illness like fibromyalgia, every season has its challenges, but I think winter is the hardest to cope with. Not only is it cold, which tenses up muscles and increases pain levels; but there are so many other issues as well. "

tags: fibromyalgia cosmos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Today's Bargains 01/21/2012

2012-01-21T08:31:00.001Z

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Links of the day 01/20/2012

2012-01-20T22:30:00.001Z

The Mental Clutter Scale for Fibromyalgia

"Cognitive dysfunction, often called fibro fog, is a major and debilitating symptom of fibromyalgia. However, it's been difficult to measure clinically because the specific dysfunctions common to fibro fog are different from those of established learning disabilities."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia
Cardiac autonomic impairment and chronotropic incompetence in fibromyalgia

"Patients with FM who undertook a graded exercise test may present CI and delayed HR recovery, both being indicative of cardiac autonomic impairment and higher risk of cardiovascular events and mortality."

tags: cosmos fibromyalgia
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: So How Am I?

"This is the reality of sick and disabled people fighting back. I can put it in very stark, unemotional terms, but that is what it takes. There is no doubt at all that some of us did this knowing that our lives were at risk. What on earth is happening in 2012 when sick and disabled people will go to such lengths to be heard???"

tags: uk benefits cosmos disability
Where's the Benefit?: Just a form - some benefit myths

"Here are three myths that have been annoying me recently, the first two repeated constantly by government ministers."

tags: uk benefits cosmos disability
Disability: man in coma declared fit to work

"... as he has failed to return the ESA50 without good cause and is therefore capable of work and no longer entitled to ESA…"

tags: uk benefits cosmos
Yes, but are you REALLY disabled?

"You’ll have to be beyond hope if you want any charity from us."

tags: uk benefits cosmos disability

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.