Dr Mike Fitzpatrick sympathises with the effects of the Covid pandemic lockdown on the elderly, but warns against older people disregarding the restrictions, not least because robustly proclaiming that the interests of young people should not be sacrificed to those who have lived much longer ‘gives succour to those who are inclined to the view […]
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield OBE, has issued a series of reports showing how the children’s residential social care system is “broken” and is failing many of the most vulnerable children. She warns that children are being “dumped” in “rat-infested care homes”, that thousands of young people are being failed by the State, […]
High death tolls have been one of great scandals of the Covid 19 pandemic. By May, a third (46,400) of all coronavirus deaths in the United States were among nursing/care home residents and workers. In New York state the toll was increased by thousands of recovering Covid cases being released from hospitals to nursing homes. In Britain, […]
It is reported that a woman has been jailed for two years for coughing (‘Woman jailed after coughing at officers’, Sunday Telegraph, May 10, 2020). This punishment may seem a trifle harsh, especially when meted out to a woman; however, last April, 34-year-old Stacey Blackham ‘coughed and spat at police officers after threatening to infect […]
In a welcome move, the Government has announced that this summer it will set out details of its plans to ban under-18s from undergoing sex-changes, with equalities minister Liz Truss saying that the development was about ensuring that under-18s were ‘“protected from decisions that they could make, that are irreversible in the future”’; she insisted: […]
Coronavirus cases are now ‘soaring in care homes’, with around 2,200 care homes – one in seven – affected; Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has ‘disclosed that outbreaks had been identified in almost 100 institutions in the past 24 hours’; with an infection rate of 13.5 per cent among the UK’s 17,000 care homes […]
Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, palliative care specialist Dr Kathryn Mannix urges people to talk about dying; from her experience, most ‘very sick people’ – ‘[f]rom teenagers to pensioners’ – although mostly ‘afraid that their illness and death will cast a shadow over the people they love’ find themselves ‘utterly unable to discuss this worry with […]
A GP surgery in South Wales is apologising for asking some patients ‘to complete a “do not resuscitate” form in case their conditions deteriorated due to coronavirus’; the letter from Llynfi Surgery in Maesteg ‘said that indicating they would not want to be resuscitated had “several benefits”’, informing them that ‘people with life-limiting illnesses who […]
A coalition of nine charities for older people has warned that ‘[d]enying the elderly access to intensive care units’ in the current Coronavirus pandemic is ‘“discriminatory, ageist and morally wrong”’; following Telegraph reports of ‘a major London NHS trust’ saying that ‘“very poorly patients with coronavirus may need to be on a ventilator for extended […]
It seems that ‘[y]achtbrokers have seen a surge in bookings as people fleeing the coronavirus crisis look to go into isolation for months afloat’ (‘Demand for luxury yachts fuelled by self-isolation of super-rich’, Telegraph Business, March 23, 2020). As someone who has been involuntarily confined to barracks for a number of years there are a […]
In an interview, Sir David Attenborough says the Corona virus is not the worst danger we face, but the state of the environment: ‘Even the worst outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic are nothing on the scale of what is eventually feared will be the catastrophic implications of climate change’ (Joe Shute, “‘This will be serious, […]
“Let’s hear it for ordinary, unremarkable women,” ran a headline in the Sunday Telegraph on International Women’s Day. Below it, Lauren Libbert, a single mother and freelance journalist lamented the fact that IWD celebrates “outstanding” women instead of the “normal” ones who keep the show on the road without any fanfare of publicity. That is, […]