UK = Worst place for child welfare

The UK is the 5th wealthiest country in the developed world yet according to a Unicef report announced today the UK is also the WORST place for children to grow up in.

According to the UN, we have the unhappiest, poorest, unhealthiest and most neglected children of the world's 21 richest nations. says the UK lags behind in terms of relative poverty and deprivation.

Britain also fares poorly when it comes to the quality of children's relationships with their parents and peers, child health and safety, behaviour and risk-taking and young people's own sense of wellbeing.

The country rated higher for educational wellbeing but languished in the bottom third for each of the other measures, giving it an overall placing at the bottom of all 21 countries, along with the US.

The assessment, titled Report Card 7, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries, is the first study of childhood across industrialised countries, Unicef said.

Countries who fared better were the north European countries who dominated the top half of the table, with child wellbeing at its highest in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Unicef UK executive director David Bull said: "All countries have weaknesses that need to be addressed and no country features in the top third of the rankings for all six dimensions.
"By comparing the performance of countries we see what is possible with a commitment to supporting every child to fulfil his or her full potential.

We have a huge divide in our country which is nicely hidden but cannot continue to be when reports like this are released. I watched a program last night about modern parenting. It showed delightful middle class people with middle class voices talking how supposedly we nowadays we are terribly busy taking children to Manderin classes at the age of two and flute and piano at the age of three but it showed nicely that pompous class divide.

Yet I know children who's parents cannot afford to put a proper dinner on the table every night!

I've just heard on a latest news report that a 'Government spokesman' has stated that "Improvements have been made but growth is still required" You're telling me! Here's some facts for you Labour government seeing as child poverty is was one area you wanted to 'fix'

FACTS:

• There are 3.6million children living in poverty in the UK today, that's one in four children

• Child poverty is THREE times higher than it was twenty years ago

• One in five children lives in a family where no one works at all

• Children born into a poor family are more at risk of being poor themselves

• One in eleven 16 to 18 are not in education, training or employment

• Children from poor backgrounds lag 14% behind better off children in eduational development at 22 months

• Diminished expectations of what of what their parents can afford lead children in poor families to reduce their own hopes and aspirations for the future

• In the school holidays the complex webs of involvement and support that is provided by schools and related agencies falls away from children's lives

Addiction

UK pop star, Robbie Williams has been admitted into a rehab clinic in the US on his 33rd birthday, to be treated for a dependency on prescription drugs. It is not the first time he has entered rebab, after leaving Take That in 1995 he became addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Pop stars, actors and those with money can afford to spend time in world renown clinics but what about those who find themselves addicted to prescription medication,other and are not so lucky? I also find this subject quite close to my heart because being a person who needs to take serious doses of serious medication, I find family members fear for me and worry for my 'addiction' which of course does not exist. There is a fine line between addiction and dependence and mine is dependence. The difference was described to me once:
Those who are addicted need to take medications either presciption or illigal, to make them feel normal or need to get that 'high' they crave; dependence is a bit like a person who takes Insulin for diabetes, you would not stop them taking Insulin would you? No. I for instance need to take pain relieving meds to relieve some unrelenting pain. It never goes completelybut that's what blogs like these are for because they help to take one's mind off!!!!!

Here's a few statistics for you;

Estimated number of regular users of heroin, cocaine and synthetic drugs worldwide 50m

Annual value of the global illegal drugs trade $400bn

Percentage of the 28 musicians behind the top 10 best-selling albums of all time who have
admitted regular illegal drug use 89%

Number of children under 14 who have taken illegal drugs 14m

Percentage of banknotes in circulation in London that have traces of cocaine 99%

Annual cost to society of drug abuse in England and Wales Up to £18.8bn

Number of people in Britain who are dependent on alcohol 1 in 13

Percentage of young men and young women who binge-drink regularly 37, 23%

Number of people who have witnessed a fight after people have been drinking 7 in 10

Percentage of people in the 16-24 age group who are unable to remember if they had sex the night before 10%

Number of beds in male hospital wards occupied by someone with an alcohol-related illness
1 in 4

Number of people killed per week because of drink-driving 10

Percentage of GPs and Practice Nurses who do not know how to treat dependent drinkers 71%

Annual cost to the NHS of alcohol abuse £3bn

Anna Nicole Smith, the model who was famous for being famous, died last week from what the preliminary autopsy report stated 'No natural causes'; however there is speculation because she had several prescription drugs; Methadone, Provigil, Xanax and fentanyl found in her hotel room. Reports were that Anna Niole Smith had been drinking heavily the night before and the toxic combination could well be that the alcohol and medications could had caused her death. Methadone stays in your body a long time and Smith had been prescribed this a couple of days before because a fall in which she injured her back. It is a very strong pain medication though but who am I to judge? Anyway, if Smith was not aware of how dangerous this drug was she may had unintentionally taken more than she needed but I find that hard to believe because her own son dies of a drugs overdose?
(Methadone and Fentanyl are strong painkillers, Xanaxi s a benzodiazepine and Porvigil is a stimulant).

Addiction.............I could go on forever........

Too fat?

Don't operate on smokers and the obese says Patricia Hewitt, Britain's Health Secretary.

Unbelievably she then went on to say that it was right refuse care to those whose lifestyle choices could make treatment ineffective.

Miss Hewitt insisted the Government wanted to see people taking greater personal responsibility for their health. Oh I love it when the wordy ones use patronizing language, don't you?

It is the first time a minister has explicitly endorsed the controversial policy, which has already been adopted by some health trusts and we all know it's to do with finding ways of cutting costs as so many health authorities are in the red.

Health trusts in Suffolk were among the first to announce that obese people would be denied hip and knee replacements on the NHS and I bet they loved this announcement of Ms Hewitt's!

Personally I hate this whole business as I think it should be up to the surgeon to decide as he/she knows the patient and they are in a better position to call it than an accountant who probably smokes and is clinically obese! I'm not trying to be 'thinnest' here but could it be that there is a situation of a surgery between two people one is underweight but has blood pressure issues and food issues and and the other is obese but otherwise in perfect health? So who gets chosen?

The truth is though that in general the risks of operating on obese patients are higher and the treatment may be less effective, with replacement joints wearing out sooner. But consider the fact that the reason obesity is because of inactivity by the prospective patient who has arthritis. I have spinal condition and I'm unable to exercise, I also have an under active thyroid gland which meant I started to put on weight. I didn't have clue why I was putting on weight until the diagnosis a week ago and now that I am having treatment I I hope it will stop. Others in my position with back injuries and/or who suffer with other painful disabling conditions may not be as lucky. They cannot exercise pre operatively to loose weight but are desperate for the surgery so that they can exercise post operatively. They are in a catch 22 situation.

I've been looking for the evidence on which the Government based their reasoning's on and all I have come up is that some health trusts are already denying surgery to those with a body mass index of 30+. This figure accounts for one in five adults. I cannot find any evidence to show why people should be refused treatment if they have a body mass index of 40 or below. (Based on BMI figures.)
A British Medical Association spokesman said: "We would not want to see blanket rules. What about people who diet down from a body mass index of 40 to a BMI of 30 - would they still be denied surgery?"
Recent studies have highlighted shortcomings of the BMI measure, with experts increasingly agreeing that being heavy may not necessarily raise the risk of dying prematurely if the weight is muscle, not fat. Some doctors now suggest waist circumference, or waist-to-hip ratio, which indicates levels of abdominal fat, should be adopted as a more accurate guide. Additional fat around the abdomen releases more of the acids that raise heart disease risk.

I suspect that people will be denied treatment because of their 'lifestyles' as the health secretary puts it. It will be that simple and it is because of money and money alone. I don't care how money government authorities, voices etc come out in support of this it comes down to that one factor. But it is a case of shutting the gate once the horse has bolted.

The Government's drug rationing body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), has said lifestyle choices - and even age - can be taken into account if they directly affect the effectiveness of a drug or procedure.
It said in a recent report: "If... self-inflicted causes of the condition influence the clinical or cost effectiveness of the use of an intervention, it may be appropriate to take this into account."

Nice one NICE!

We all know that NICE have been called into question many times in recent months because they will not sanction a medication because of cost.

If the government is going to state one rule then it should support a structure than helps those people lose weight. The giving up smoking campaign is good one and as a non smoker I find it hard to identify with smokers. I've lost both my parents to smoking related diseases and this is a total turn off. Losing weight however is something I can identify with strongly and it is hard. I've never had surgery cancelled because of my weight and I live in a authority that is 30 million pounds in the red........I suspect that now they will be using this rule though.

I'd like to know when I was struggling to find help to shed those pounds, where was my help? I keep seeing that it is available but it is sporadic and most of it based on EXERCISE - No good for those who are disabled with arthritic hips and knees waiting for transplants but who can't go on those lists now because they are obese smokers!

BAFTAS 2007 Kings and Queens

Helen Mirren won a Bafta! NO you don't say? I didn't see that one coming?

The BIG winners were -

Best film - The Queen
Best Actor - Forrest Whitikar (The last King of Scotland)
Best Actree - Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Best Support Actor - Alan Arkin (Litle Miss Sunshine)
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)

I know Dame Helen, to use her official title, is a brilliant actress but I can't help thinking the only reason this film has won the accolade of best film is because of the subject matter? The Princess of Wales' death was a tragedy and one that a huge proportion of this nation found difficult if not impossible to deal with. I, personally took a train ride up to London and placed flowers up at the gates of Kensington Palace. I found the experience eiry and to see thousands of others feeling the same way was awsome.I queued for over 2 hours to sign a book of rememberence and made friends with people I'm never going to see again but I know how strongly people felt back then and I know that some would still carry such strong passion about this sensitive subject.

Whatever the case, the awards this side of the world are over and it's up to the Americans now.


Full List of Winners:

THE ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP - Anne V Coates

THE MICHAEL BALCON AWARD for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema - Nick Daubeny

FILM - THE QUEEN - Andy Harries/Christine Langan/Tracey Seaward

THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD for the Outstanding British Film of the year - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - Andrea Calderwood/Lisa Bryer/Charles Steel/Kevin Macdonald/Peter Morgan/Jeremy Brock

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film - ANDREA ARNOLD (Director) - Red Road

THE DAVID LEAN AWARD for Achievement in Direction - UNITED 93 - Paul Greengrass

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - Michael Arndt

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND - Peter Morgan/Jeremy Brock

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGEAPOCALYPTO - PAN'S LABYRINTH - Alfonso Cuarón/Alvaro Augustin/Guillermo del Toro

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM CARS - HAPPY FEET - George Miller

ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE- FOREST WHITAKER - The Last King of Scotland

ACTRESS in a LEADING ROLE- HELEN MIRREN - The Queen

ACTOR in a SUPPORTING ROLE - ALAN ARKIN - Little Miss Sunshine

ACTRESS in a SUPPORTING ROLE - JENNIFER HUDSON - Dreamgirls

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for Achievement in Film Music - BABEL - Gustavo Santaolalla

CINEMATOGRAPHY - CHILDREN OF MEN - Emmanuel Lubezki

EDITING - UNITED 93 - Clare Douglas/Christopher Rouse/Richard Pearson

PRODUCTION DESIGN - CHILDREN OF MEN - Jim Clay/Geoffrey Kirkland/Jennifer Williams

COSTUME DESIGN - PAN'S LABYRINTH - Lala Huete

SOUND - CASINO ROYALE - Chris Munro/Eddy Joseph/Mike Prestwood Smith/Martin Cantwell/Mark Taylor

ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS - PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST - John Knoll/Hal Hickel/Charles Gibson/Allen Hall

MAKE UP & HAIR - PAN'S LABYRINTH - José Quetglas/Blanca

SHORT ANIMATION FILM - GUY 101 - Ian Gouldstone

SHORT FILM - DO NOT ERASE - Asitha Ameresekere

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD - EVA GREEN

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