UK Newswire Archive
Bristol City Council Harassment
13-11-2010 21:22
Collection of Council Tax crosses line into intimidationBristol City Council's bullying tactics regarding the collection of Council Tax are pushing the edges of intimidation and harassment. A recent case has come to light where a married couple, one of whom is disabled, having paid on time and in full on their Council Tax, went on holiday for a few days, and returned from holiday to a Summons from Bristol City Council, even though they had paid over £800 in the year to date.
The Bristol City Council e-mail address for complaints and enquiries about Council Tax is council.tax@bristol.gov.uk
Militarisation strategy to counter civil disorder - Having an effect?
13-11-2010 21:07
Is escalation of state repression imminent?corp media lies about squatters
13-11-2010 19:05
On Monday, various BBC TV and radio channels and newspapers ran assassination pieces on the squat scene, and on Advisory Service for Squatters in particular.Sumac Debates
13-11-2010 18:25
The Next Sumac Debate was scheduled for November 18th, due to a double booking it will now be on the 25th.
Cutting up our Communities- November 25h
Every government talks about the importance of communities, whilst at the same time it creates hardship and divisions through welfare cuts and scaremongering. What do we think our communities are? How can we go about strengthening them? And how can we respond to the current cuts in the public sector?
haringey vodafone protest
13-11-2010 17:22
around 20 people from various groups protested outside a vodafone shop in wood green this lunchtime. shoppers and passers-by generally gave them a good reception and many agreed with the connection to fighting tory cuts that was made by the protestors.
at 1pm today, around 20 people began a protest outside the wood green high street vodafone branch. the protest was attended by representatives from several groups including the haringey alliance for public services (HAPS), and the haringey solidarity group (HSG)
the alliance brought a large home made banner against cuts, and others brought smaller placards announcing that vodafone were dodging 6 billion pounds in tax, which is equivalent to a third of the total benefit cuts announced by the con-dem coalition.
a nervous shop manager manned the door, only letting in a small trickle of occasional customers. there was no doubt that the business was severely affected by the protest as it would normally be quite busy on a saturday lunchtime, and today staff were standing around chatting for most of the time. there was discussion of an occupation, but it was felt unnecessary given the strength of effect of the outside demo.
police liaised briefly at the start and then near the end of the demo, but otherwise protestors were free to hand out leaflets, use a megaphone, and generally create a stir.
the leaflets made the connection between corporate tax-dodging and the fight against tory cuts, particularly promoting a cuts protest which will take place outside haringey civic centre (the council hq) on the evening of the 22nd november when the council is in full session.
the protest on the 22nd of november is calling on councillors to reject privatisation, reject and refuse to implement the cuts, or to resign on principle. haringey council has already had £17 million central funding frozen or axed, and has announced it is facing cuts of £100 million over three years, with £50 million next year alone. these cuts will have devastating effects on public services and jobs, hitting the vulnerable, the young, and the voluntary sector hardest.
their last protest attracted more than 250 local people and they are hoping to expand dramatically on that on the 22nd.
other leaflets publicised the coaltion of resistance who are holding their planning conference at the camden centre on the 27th november.
www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk
Juarez Mexico: Residents are “extorted” to pay $100.00 a week or else
13-11-2010 16:33
Government Scraps Several Animal 'Welfare' Laws in Favour of Big Business
13-11-2010 15:40
The Con-Dem Government has scraped several animal welfare laws put in place by the previous government to protect animals in captivity – proving that the Tories aren't just the enemy of the working class, but the animals too!Anti-cuts protest at tax-dodging Boots
13-11-2010 15:28
BNP Councillor in Racism Probe
13-11-2010 12:26
The BNP's Elections Officer for the East Midlands, Wayne McDermott, is being investigated by the police after posting racist material on his website. Allegedly, racist insults and the promotion of torture were posted although they have now been removed.
McDermott is a Parish Councillor for Ellistown and Battleflat ward, located in North-West Leicestershire. According to the Leicester Mercury, he was recently elected as a parent governor at Ellistown school.
McDermott, along with Ashfield BNP man, Edward Holmes, had a run in with BBC reporter Des Coleman who challenged their ideas about Britishness: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/leicester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8296000/8296477.stm
Advertising -Piling on the Radioactive Rubbish
13-11-2010 12:23
The 'Managing Radioactive Waste Safely' Partnership is piling on radioactive rubbish with an advertising campaign sent to every house in the Lakes with the aim of "implementing geological disposal" in Cumbria.
Palestine Today 11 12 2010
13-11-2010 12:22
Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Center, www.imemc.org, for Friday, November 12th 2010.Education in the UK, Lib Dems & the dictatorship of hedge-fund gangsters
13-11-2010 11:33
Re-post/re-write (with additional information)The Lib Dem's went into the last election on a ticket that they opposed any increase in student fees, which, as is now widely known, they have done a u-turn on in the new Con-Dem coalition. Now today, the Guardian newspaper reports on documents showing Clegg's public claim was at odds with secret decision before the election.
Back in March 2006, main Lib Dem thinktank - Centre Forum - funded and chaired by hedge fund speculator and founder of the Ark academy network Paul Marshall were then calling for an increase in student fees. Marshall is a special advisor to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg. The chameleon-like nature of the Lib-Dems and what they supposedly stand for not only rings even more hollow but is further exposed as being as slippery as the lizard skin of their wealthy benefactors.
Health Care in Bristol 2010. An OAP describes events following a "simple operation".
13-11-2010 11:22
At 4.00pm, now convinced that this was not at all just "normal post op. swelling", I followed the instructions on the written leaflet I had been given in case of problems, and phoned my GP Surgery. Dr **** asked if I could get to the Doctor's Surgery by 6.00pm, presumably that's when the surgery closes.As soon as she saw the swelling she phoned Frenchay Hospital and arranged for my admission into Ward 207. The doctor's tone of voice as she spoke on the phone conveyed to me the seriousness of my situation. She told them, "I have a man here who underwent hernia repair surgery at Southmead Hospital this morning and he is now displaying a haematoma the size of a grapefruit".
Earlier this year a lump appeared in my groin that from time to time would cause me pain. It took me a while to pluck up courage to go to the doctor's but eventually, on the 24th May 2010, I did so and was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia.
I was given an ultrasound examination and saw a consultant at Frenchay. Then on the 27th of September I received a letter telling me that I had been added to the waiting list, that I had 14 days to confirm that I still wished to go ahead with surgery, otherwise my name would be removed from the list and my GP informed. I didn't jump to the phone, far from it, I hesitated about coming to a decision. I searched for information about hernia repair operations on the internet but this research didn't do much to reassure me, quite the opposite in fact. It turns out that the hernia repair is more complex than I had previously believed, not an operation to be delegated to a novice looking to gain experience in the field of surgery. Now quite anxious I let a week slip by before phoning to say that I wished to remain on the waiting list. The person who took my confirmation phone call told me that the Bristol Waiting List Office, (another department) would be in touch with me to take some details. Being a self-confessed coward I took some comfort in the fact that the waiting list is long.
"Do you mind who performs your operation?", that was Ms **** phoning me from the Bristol Surgical Waiting List Office. My brain raced, what do I know about the different surgeons practicing in Bristol? Was this some sort of macabre joke where the patient is told to randomly pick a winner or a loser, a sort of surgeon roulette? Surely not, one would hope that the surgeons are all of a sufficiently high standard that patient choice should be deemed unnecessary, at least I hoped so because I didn't have a clue. But I had finally got Ms **** on the phone and I wasn't going to let her go. She had left an answer-phone for me to call her back which I had done several times only to get Ms ****'s answer-phone in return and the thought had crossed my mind, "had your chance, muffed it!"
"Do you mind who performs the operation?", N-n-n-no I blurted out afraid that I was going to lose my chance and end up on the bottom of the legendary long hernia op. waiting list. "Just hold on a minute then", she said, and then, "Is next Tuesday 12th October alright for you?". Brain raced again, is Ms **** having a laugh, next Tuesday? That's only five days away - what about the long list of waiters? "Y-y-yes please." I said. Was I really saying these words? Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. Next day my pre-op examination at Southmead hospital showed that I was ok for surgery to proceed. And before I knew it, Tuesday morning had arrived, my hernia op was over and I was laying in H Ward of Southmead hospital admiring the flatness of my abdomen, the neatness of my operation scar. But not for long.
Before you are allowed to go home after your hernia op, you have to prove that you can still pee ok after surgery. A good precaution, but isn't it always the way, nature works in her own good time! Eventually I needed to go and it was then that I noticed that the area around my op scar had started to swell up. The nurse brought a gentleman in a suit to examine the swelling. Then the nurse said "That's alright then, Mr **** said that it's normal post op. swelling and you are alright to leave hospital". So I waited in the ward until I was picked up at about 1.00pm and taken back home to Yate. But the swelling round the operation site just kept on growing.
At 4.00pm, now convinced that this was not at all just "normal post op. swelling", I followed the instructions on the written leaflet I had been given in case of problems, and phoned my GP Surgery. Dr **** asked if I could get to the Doctor's Surgery by 6.00pm, presumably that's when the surgery closes.
As soon as she saw the swelling she phoned Frenchay Hospital and arranged for my admission into Ward 207. The doctor's tone of voice as she spoke on the phone conveyed to me the seriousness of my situation. She told them, "I have a man here who underwent hernia repair surgery at Southmead Hospital this morning and he is now displaying a haematoma the size of a grapefruit".
Immediately my daughter drove me to Frenchay and stayed with me in Ward 207 until 8.30pm, all the while the swelling was worsening. A nurse inserted a cannula for a saline drip into my arm and at about 10.00pm I was moved to the Day Case Ward, put on a saline drip and my long night of waiting began.
At about half past three in the morning I became conscious of a wetness around my op scar, brought my hand into the light and saw that it was covered in blood. I called the night nurse and told her that it had started to bleed. I asked her in a tired voice, "When are they going to sort me out!" She was really considerate and sympathetic and said, "An emergency has come in that they have to deal with at the moment". I gestured towards my swollen stomach, now the size of a melon or small football, the once neat scar now an inch wide red ribbon under the distorted plastic patch that had been applied at the time of the failed operation 18 hours ago, and leaking blood. I'm of slight build weighing about 10 stone, and it appeared huge. I said in a tired weak but meaningful tone, "Isn't this an emergency?" She said that things were being kept under control - but for one who is knocking on seventy I was seriously beginning to wonder if I would ever see the light of another day. She went away and returned with a large pad of lint and told me to hold it over the area to staunch the bleeding. Then I heard her on the telephone explaining that my operation site was now bleeding. It seemed another age before a suited man appeared at my bedside and asked the nurse to turn on the bright light so that he could examine my abdomen still expanding under arterial presssure. And not long after that, I was being wheeled towards the operating theatre.
I woke up in the large operating theatre with two lovely nurses (all the nurses I was privileged to meet at Southmead and at Frenchay are lovely) welcoming me back to the real world. "Did they manage to sort things out?" I asked. "Yes, you're alright now, they cauterised the artery and you're on the road to recovery".
Then I noticed the surgical staff, a little group of white coated angels bathed in a pool of light in close discussion round the central desk of the operating theatre. I just couldn't resist calling out to them as I was being wheeled out on my hospital trolley ,"Thank you, team!" They all stopped talking, turned towards me, and waved. What a moment! I say again now, "Thank you team, thank you for your skill, thank you for your chosen profession, and thank you for helping me when I so needed help". And then I was back in my bed in the Day Case Ward.
Six o'clock in the morning, I lay in a daze following the surgical procedures when a smartly dressed lady that must have been a consultant appeared at my bedside.
The consultant lady told me not to do anything that would put a strain on my abdomen, not to drive or lift anything or even go shopping for, I think she said six weeks. Through the post op. haze I seem to remember making some inane reply along the lines of, "That should stop me playing the saxophone or lifting motorbike engines for a while!" before drifting back into post op. euphoria. Then I snoozed 'til about 9.00am when I enjoyed breakfast in bed with a cup of tea. "I don't get this at home!" I quipped. "Bet you do!" one of the nurses called back. At midday, a few hours after my second operation in less than a day and a night, I was ready to leave Frenchay Hospital and by one o'clock on Wednesday the 13th of October I was being driven back home to Yate.
It would have been nice to get some explanation of how a simple hernia operation could turn out so badly in 2010, if only as an assurance that lessons have been learnt and that other patients will not experience the same fate. But not a syllable of explanation has come my way. It is hard to imagine what the rapid and massive swelling has done to my sense of well-being. I recall saying to one of the nurses, "now I know what women have to go through". It was like being four months pregnant on one side of my belly. I wonder what effect this stretching of my tissues had on the original open mesh hernia repair operation? A little time spent explaining the possible after-effects would have helped to allay some of my fears . But nobody has explained. I'm still recovering from my physical and psychological shock, concerned about the lack of essential resources in a civilised society.
PS.
It has taken a month to bring myself to write this but it has helped me to come to terms with things, thank you for reading.
Hopefully some good may be salvaged from what happened to one OAP if others may be spared the trauma of waiting several hours for life-saving operations.
Monday 6th December – Viral Xmas Fun & FOSBR Celebration!
13-11-2010 11:22
8pm at the Cube Cinema, Stokes Croft, Bristol8pm at the Cube Cinema, Stokes Croft, Bristol
Entry £3/£4 (but nobody refused entry for a lack of funds.)
Come and join Bristol Indymedia as we come to the end of 2010 to
have a light hearted look at the year and celebrate 15 years of
campaign group Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways (FOSBR).
Looking back, we’ll be showing some clips from the best talks of
the past couple of years, bringing along our favourite interesting
(funny/amazing/powerful/shocking) viral videos (not including cats
falling off things or dogs wearing sunglasses, honest).
We're also going to be celebrating a campaign that after 15 years
is still going strong. After decades of dominance by car-culture,
join the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways as we celebrate their
impressive record of victories that have secured the survival of
local railways. Join us in celebrating this achievement with
films, songs and poems and a look at what Thomas Cook (the man not
the company!) considered the most scenic railway in Europe.
An informative and entertaining night is promised!
http://fosbr.org.uk/
http://bristol.indymedia.org
Find The Cube at : Dove Street South, Bristol BS2 8JD
Directions to Cube: http://www.cubecinema.com/cubewebsite/directions.html
Advice for students fearing arrest
13-11-2010 09:26
Over 50 people have been arrested so far, and the police have claimed they took the details of a further 250 people in the kettle using powers under the Police Reform Act. There may be more arrests to come.Students who are worried should consider taking the following actions:
And so it begins.....
13-11-2010 08:27
Arrests begin following Millbank protestPeace Oil in Guildford
13-11-2010 02:21
National Firefighters Rally and Lobby of Parliament 17.11.10
13-11-2010 01:24
anticuts.org.ukStudent produced film about millbank protest
13-11-2010 01:23
view on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHK39GQw7Bg