UK
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The NHS: A Symbol in Peril By Doctormagiot
The NHS is now locked into a transformative process since the enactment of Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill last year. My friends in the world of public health tell me there is a fair amount of confusion as to what is actually going on, with the dissolution of primary care trusts in favour… Continue reading
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The Iron Lady may be no more, but her poisonous free-market legacy lives on
Despite the undeniable devastation caused by late PM Margaret Thatcher and the free market fundamentalist ideology that bears her name, Thatcherism continues to dominate British society politically, economically and socially. Continue reading
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Police State UK: Stripping UK citizenship by stealth By Alice Ross and Patrick Galey
Despite official denials, evidence has emerged that the Home Office has deliberately waited until UK citizens it plans to deprive of their citizenship have left the country. This requires no judicial approval—and greatly hinders any appeal Continue reading
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The nasty country? Debating immigration in the UK By Roger Roberts
A new Bill removes the right to appeal wrong immigration decisions, excludes undocumented migrants from the rental market, turns landlords into immigration police and extends charges for NHS care. On Monday Lords debated the proposals. Continue reading
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UK watchdog takes another bite out of failing outsourcer G4S By John Grayson
Stephen Small spends a lot of his time trying to convince Members of Parliament that his employer is nothing like as bad as they think. He works for G4S, the gigantic security company that holds £2 billion worth of UK government contracts spanning public health, welfare, education, immigration and the justice sector. Continue reading
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Ed Miliband, the NHS, and the lurch back towards Blairism By John Lister
Ed Miliband’s Hugo Young lecture this week represents a giant step back to Blairism, and an extended statement of Labour’s failure to get the message. Continue reading
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GPs slam NHS England for poor publicity of data grab plan By Kelly Fiveash
The Tory-led government has failed to make a good case for its plans to share GP medical records with information that is already stored by NHS England, the Royal College of General Practitioners warned on Wednesday. Continue reading
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Years of government cuts worsen UK flooding By Paul Mitchell
The government has sought to shift blame for the weeks of misery and chaos caused by the floods onto the EA. Accusations by Floods Minister Eric Pickles that the agency was driven by political correctness, gave bad advice to government, and attempted to divide town and country over funding matters have been met with almost… Continue reading
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UK: ACT NOW to protect your medical confidentiality
Sometime in January 2014 you may have received a leaflet via junk mail, entitled ‘Better information means better care‘ (2MB PDF file). It may not be clear from the leaflet that a significant change in what is done with your medical records is about to happen. Continue reading
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The fight against TTIP is also a fight for public services everywhere By Ruth Bergan
The 1999 Battle for Seattle was a moment of triumph for trade campaigning. Activists from across the world came together with developing country governments and stopped the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from agreeing damaging trade rules. Through the 2000s campaigners continued to mobilise against the WTO and Europe’s unfair trade deals with the world’s poorest… Continue reading
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How safe are your medical records?
At Liberty we’ve reacted with significant concern over NHS England’s new plans for a ‘care.data’ database. This could see your private medical records – including highly sensitive data – shared on a single database. Continue reading
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If Owen Paterson was your GP, would you look for a new one? By David McCoy
Paterson, as Secretary of State for the Environment, leads on government policy on climate change. His reaction to the latest report on the physical science of climate change by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raises questions about his fitness to play this vital role. If his attitude towards the care of the planet… Continue reading
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Hunt seeks to shed his duty to keep our medical data safe By Benedict Cooper
Last week in a public committee session of the Care Bill, MPs grilled Conservative ministers within the Department of Health over the dangers of the “unintended consequences” of changes to the way data is handled which could, they said, lead to private providers and insurance companies gaining access to confidential records. Continue reading
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Snowden Confirms Spy Agency Launched False Flag Attacks and Used Honey Traps
We’ve repeatedly noted that the spy agencies aren’t just like giant peeping Tom’s, but they use their capabilities in mischievous offensive actions. Continue reading
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UK Conservatives face crisis over referendum on European Union By Julie Hyland
British Prime Minister David Cameron is threatening to invoke the Parliament Act, to force a bill on the UK holding a referendum on European Union (EU) membership (UK) onto the statute books. Continue reading
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UK national health records database to have ‘backdoors’ for police, govt?
While care.data will not store the names of the patients, it will include National Health System numbers, dates of birth, postcodes, ethnicity and sex, in addition to health condition and prescribed drugs. The goal is to sell access to the data to university researchers, health insurance companies and other parties, which can make use of… Continue reading
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Care.data questions mount – just who’ll get our medical data? By Jane Fae
Official attempts to inform patients about what will happen to their data when the new care.data database is implemented are inadequate and, on the latest evidence, seriously misleading. In August of last year, the Information Commissioner warned GPs they’d likely breach Data Protection Act if they allowed their patient data to be uploaded to care.data… Continue reading
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The Quenelle: Blame Dr Strangelove and the Bomb By Stuart Littlewood
The Quenelle is a gesture, some claim, made famous by the French comic Dieudonné M’bala M’bala. As explained by the BBC it involves touching or gripping your shoulder with one hand while holding the palm of your other hand outstretched and pointing to the ground. “Some describe it as a combination of the bras d’honneur… Continue reading
