donderdag 25 november 2010

None of us should be left to fade away

In the UK every 5 minutes someone gets dementia. This disease unleashes a devastating domino effect through families as they watch their loved ones slip away. The loss of mental awareness and emotional connection is the trademark of an illness now responsible for one in six deaths.
The disease had become the biggest health and social care challenge now a days. Up to a quarter of hospital beds at any one time are occupied by dementia patients. Alzheimer is the most common form for almost two-third of cases. Last year’s Apprentice winner Yasmina Sadatan tells about how she come face to face with the disease since her aunt, former NHS consultant Mary Hughes was diagnosed with dementia. Those feelings echo around 820.000 families living with dementia. A third of over 65s will die with some form of dementia. Only 2.5% of the government’s medical research budget is spent on dementia compared to 25% spent on cancer, according to the alzheimer’s research trust. The harsh statistics are that 15% of deaths each year are caused by dementia and that number can only rise.


Reaction:
I did not know that dementia prevented that much. If this disease prevent that much why doesn’t the government give more than 2.5% medical research budget. I think most of the time everybody thinks cancer is a terrible disease. I think because the people who are suffering on cancer they experience a lot of pain themselves and also the relatives. The people who are suffering on dementia don’t feel the pain, the ones who are really suffering are the families because they forgot about them and the beautiful memories.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2010/11/25/none-of-us-should-be-left-to-fade-away-115875-22737734/

Phil Woolas ejected from parliament over election slurs

Phill Woolas, the former immigration minister, is ejected from parliament after finding out that he lied about his liberal democrat opponent during the general election. He made false statements about his opponent two high court judges secured and also Woolas claimed the ruling which also triggered a by-election and barred him from standing for three years. Also is said by Elwyn Watkins that Woolas on purpose misled voters in Oldham East in the last days of the election by claiming Watkins, in such a way to stir up religious tensions. After the court saw confidential emails between Woolas’s team they upheld those arguments. These emails proved that Woolas knowingly made false statements about his opponent. The result of this all is that Woolas lost his seat in the commons, is barred for three years and was suspended by the Labour party.


Reaction:
I’ve never heard about a Minister lying about his opponent just to win an election. Off course you see often they withhold information about themselves to get no stories about their past or personal life, because a lot of journalist can make a mountain out of a molehill. But to lie to win an election that makes you just not trustworthy. If they didn’t do anything with that, then the whole parliament would not be reliable in the eyes of the people. So I think they made a good decision about this political issue.