Should addicts who do not work have benefits removed?

My answer on this is yes and no.

I am not for cutting benefits for those with addictions but unless they are engaging with treatment I see no reason for the health system to sign them off work.  Put it this way, you would not give a suicidal patient the paracetamol to top themselves with, so why should an addict be funded to engage in the addiction?  Of course things would be easier if the same government that proposed this acted on a fat tax and took more action on cheap alcohol.  And things would be even better if narcotics were legalised & REGULATED as the war on these drugs that ruin so many lives is being lost.  

So, yes I am in favour of addicts who fail to engage not being signed off due to medical reasons, but I think it is far more important to act on alcohol pricing and bringing in a fat tax to aid healthy eating.

So the man who sang, "I believe in miracles," has died. Which is a bad omen for Ed Miliband.

There is an election tomorrow.  Vote.

I hope you find the videos on this of interest. And just in case you can not be bothered to read any of them, vote.

Roses are red, violets are blue, if you love Star Wars, may the force be with you.

Well, today involved a trip to Legoland for May the Force/4th.  Woke up early, did not leave as early as we were hoping and got there after the place opened, but all in all, had a great day.  The kids though, I think may be growing too old for Legoland as both now appear used to the rides.  This means that this may be our last trip there, but it is a place full of happy memories, and if we do return, it is somewhere that I am sure the kids will still love.

The more of them I see, the more convinced I am that IKEA employees were once shoppers who just got lost.

Well, this bank holiday weekend has been fun. I had to work on Saturday, but was home in time to read the kids a story and out them to bed.  And that was before we had some guests round as my amazing wife served up a fantastic meal for the night.  And the best bit is that there are leftovers!  Today has been a slow day as my wife has not been as well as we would like (not alcohol related) so the kids and I had a Nerf war and spent a relaxed day together.  Unfortunately, there is not much to say other than the kids are almost back to full health, though that is a fortunate occurrence and one which I am grateful for.

RIP Keith Harris. KFC Orville.

The Daily Malicious has been telling half truths again.

It seems to have been offended about a drive to ask patients about what preferences they have for care.  Under guidance from the Department of Health, through NHS England, GP's in England have been encouraged to arrange care plans for people who are more likely to have to go to hospital than others.  These care plans document issues like next of kin, medications, allergies, the place where a person would like to be looked after when unwell, and to the apparent horror of the Daily Malicious asking people what views they have on resuscitation.

It appears that there are those who consider this to be encouraging euthanasia which is sad.  It is a view shared by many in healthcare that attitudes against discussing things like this are bad for patients.  It is bad enough that the Liverpool Care Pathway was abandoned.  I am not going to say that there were no issues involving it, but this was with people who were not following it properly, forgetting that the aim of it was to allow people to die with dignity.  The solution then was not to get rid of it, but rather to train healthcare professionals to use it properly.

And now it appears that there may be a campaign against helping people be involved in healthcare decisions.  Dying Matters, it happens to us all, and working in healthcare, I have seen many horrible deaths.  It is my aim that no one else should have to see those deaths, that the families do not have to live with the guilt that a loved one was not allowed to pass away in peace and most importantly, that someone who is to die, has a say in passing away peacefully, if that is what they want.  Discussing matters like this takes time, if a GP surgery is to do this and still provide the care to patients they are meant to do, then they will need funding to hire the extra staff needed to meet this extra work.

And just in case anyone forgets, euthanasia is illegal in the UK.

I gave my phone number to some girl the other night and she said that she'd call me just as soon as she gets home. I'm guessing that she's homeless.

We are the house of ill this weekend.  All four of us have the plague, or if you want to be literal, a flu like illness.  My daughter, who is never tired, has on several occasions taken herself to bed.  My son, who like my daughter, should be on the St Georges Parade in Colchester today thanks to rest, has more energy, but I am just waiting for the coughing and sneezing snot monster that he is, to crash.

Right now he is working how to use his Nerf Retaliator without it jamming.  Once this is done he is going to want a Nerf War, but at the moment, this looks like it might not be for a while.  Right now, my daughter is in bed reading Harry Potter again.  I suspect that this might have something to do with me proving that Harry Potter dies in the last book and it has rekindled the love that she has for the books.  A love to be fair that I have but one that we have yet to get my son into.  He loves the films, those that he can watch that is.  We have watched Indiana Jones recently, the kids have loved the first two films.  Admittedly, we stopped my son from watching what happened after the Arc of the Covenant was opened.  It has not been that good for my daughter this month, a sprained foot, then on Wednesday, when using the scooter on the way home from school (I forgot not to take it) she fell over and injured her hip, and now she is not able to do that much without running out of batteries.

This week in school, my son has had two reading assessments, but on asking him what the fun thing he did at school, he told me that he can not remember and said that everything was boring.  My daughter was able to take part in a quiz where she realised that not everything I say needs to be ignored as some of the stuff that I rant about came up!  My son has started to take an interest in football, and may watch the Arsenal-Chelski match with me later today, though I am not sure if that is safe as I have a tendency to swear lot when watching Arsenal.  I am hoping for a win, fearing that yet another defeat is on the cards, but would accept a draw. 

The Deplorable Word

Trident, should we renew it?  I was certain that we should up until today but then I had a chat with my daughter about the election next month and now I am not too sure.

While some would say that we would save money by scrapping Trident, we would not.  Instead the money would be spent elsewhere on the armed forces as most parties have made commitments to spend 2% of GDP on the military.  However, it would mean that the other services would not face the cuts that the armed forces have faced since the election in 2010.

Also, Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in return for promises to respect its territorial integrity, promises broken by Russia who had made such promises.  I doubt that things would be as bad as they are now there if they had kept the nuclear weapons that they destroyed.

In addition to this, Russia has been resurgent in projecting its military power.  While some argue that this is only a recent issue and is a reaction to the west doing the same near Russian airspace, Russia has been doing this for a while.

Western Europe has been sheltered under the nuclear umbrella of the USA, but this might not be always the case, and all it takes is a politician to be elected in the USA who wants to take a more isolationist role and then we in the west are left high and dry.  And we have seen how threats and promises by the USA have not been kept in the recent and less recent past.

Iran is both a reason to disarm and retain weapons.  It is argued by many that Iran is seeking the ability to use nuclear weapons, while North Korea and other nations such as Pakistan have them.  We in the UK will find it hard to argue that other nations should not gain nuclear weapons when we are keeping them.  But while I doubt Iran and North Korea are going to be a threat to the UK, it is possible that they can be one.

A big issue is where such weapons would be stored.  At the moment, this is in Scotland, but in the event that Scotland decides to become independent, then the weapons would have to be moved.  And this would involve additional costs.

And of course, there is the destruction that nuclear weapons cause.

So if we keep weapons, we are offered protection from nations with nuclear weapons, and if we get rid of them, we will have a stronger conventional military force and can state that we are leading by example to other nations.

Tough choice.