Emergency care system ‘struggling to cope’ while ‘many departments spend their time firefighting’ Hospital casualty departments are struggling to cope with growing demand for emergency care because they have too few staff and not enough beds, Britain’s top accident and emergency doctor has warned. As new figures pointed to a steep rise in A&E waiting times and 890 ambulance jobs were lost, John Heyworth, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, joined a growing chorus of doctors warning that the NHS funding pressures are already hitting frontline services. “The emergency care system is struggling to cope at the moment,” he said. “Many departments spend their time firefighting because of the number of patients coming in, the limited number of emergency department staff and limited availability of beds.” David Cameron and the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, have insisted that the NHS will not be affected by the deep cuts to public spending elsewhere and that frontline services will be protected during their shakeup of the health service. But medical organisations, health charities and patients’ groups are increasingly sceptical that the pledge can be kept as health spending fails to keep pace with the rising cost of treating Britain’s ageing population. “The line that the NHS is being protected from cuts – even to frontline services – is looking increasingly absurd”, Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association’s ruling council, told the Guardian on Tuesday. “The financial pressures are really starting to bite and these are yet more examples of vital services that are showing signs of the strain and that will be stretched to the limit.” Heyworth pointed to NHS figures showing a steep rise in patients waiting more than four hours for A&E treatment, saying they showed “an increasing mismatch between ever rising demand, ever limited emergency medicine consultant numbers, which are woefully inadequate, and limited hospital bed capacity for emergency patients.” The hospital statistics reveal that 292,052 people in England were not treated within the four-hour target between July and December last year, soon after Lansley announced in June that he intended to scrap the rule. That was up from 176,522 patients in the same period in 2009 – a 65% leap inside one year. The A&E statistics coincided with the axing of 890 jobs by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and the disclosure that services in which specialist nurses help people with diseases such as cancer and diabetes are also facing cuts. The ambulance service cuts in London will see 560 frontline posts disappear, including paramedics. The capital may also see some of its ambulance stations close, while, according to LAS chief executive Peter Bradley, solo paramedics rather than two-person crews will start responding to more callouts from September as part of a drive to save £53m over the next five years. “Unfortunately we are not immune to the financial pressures facing the NHS,” he said. “With nearly 80% of our budget spent on staff costs it would be impossible to make the savings required without removing posts.” The health union Unison’s regional organiser, Phil Thompson, warned the cuts could endanger patient safety. “These cuts are so deep they may not heal. With demand escalating and nearly 1,000 fewer staff no one can now be sure of a safe service.” The ambulance cuts prompted the NHS chief executive, Sir David Nicholson, to issue his second reminder in 72 hours to health service managers that there should be no cuts to patient services as part of the drive to make £15bn to £25bn in “efficiency savings” by 2015. Cameron, Lansley and Nick Clegg will on Wednesday morning hold their second “listening” event since last week’s confirmation that the coalition’s plans to radically reorganise the NHS in England were being delayed and a team of experts brought in to improve them. They will meet about 20 voluntary sector and charity leaders at Downing Street to hear their concerns about the plan to hand GPs in England control of commissioning healthcare for patients and about 60% of the NHS budget. Health Health policy Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance James Ball Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …ABC’s Bill Weir Is Smitten by ‘Fashionable,’ ‘Vivacious,’ ‘Telegenic’ Desiree Rogers
April 12, 2011 No Comment
Nightline co-anchor Bill Weir on Monday couldn't help but fawn over former Obama White House social Secretary Desiree Rogers, lauding her as a ” fashionable, vivacious, interesting, telegenic person in a town with not a lot of that, frankly. ” The journalist failed to offer much in the way of tough questions. Regarding the 2009 fiasco of having Michaele and Tareq Salahi crash a state dinner with the President, Weir gently wondered, “…What are your thoughts now that that night won't be remembered for [being a success]?”
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Hey, guess what? Adobe has found yet another serious security flaw in Flash . Surprised? Neither are we. And we can already hear the iOS fanboys warming up their commenting fingers. The vulnerability affects all platforms, including Android, though only attacks on Windows have been seen in the wild so far. Just like last month’s exploit , this one is spreading via malicious .swf files embedded in Office documents, only this time it’s Word instead of Excel being targeted (a hacker’s gotta keep it fresh, after all). Once again Reader and Acrobat are also vulnerable, but attacks can be thwarted using Reader’s Protected Mode. When exactly Adobe plans on plugging this hole is anyone’s guess. Until then, might we suggest you become friends with a little browser extension called FlashBlock? Adobe finds another ‘critical’ flaw in Flash, Steve Jobs smiles smugly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …During the recent budget brawl, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl argued against government funding for Planned Parenthood—since, as he said, “well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does” is abortions. “That is unbelievable!” said Stephen Colbert last night . “In that it is not true. Because only 3% of what Planned…
Continue reading …NY Times: Republican Budget Cuts Threaten ‘Life-Affirming’ Public Radio Station in KY
April 12, 2011 No CommentNew York Times reporter Katharine Seelye is the latest Times reporter to defend government spending, this time on a tiny but ” life-affirming ” radio station threatened by the Republican budget ax – public radio station WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky: “ A Regional Radio Voice Threatened From Afar .” The story was accompanied by a cutesy sidebar, “88.7 on Appalachia’s Dial,” describing such original programming as “Holler to the Hood,” “which plays hip-hop aimed at the growing prison population in the region.” Sounds vital. Only one problem: The funding is being challenged by “the rise of the Tea Party and with anti-earmark, budget-cutting fervor gripping the nation’s capital.” Seelye handed the mic to a lefty from the “private Community Action Council,” a “private” group that nonetheless gets 95% of its money from the federal government. Rich Kirby, a part-time producer for WMMT, the community radio station here, was interviewing two local aid officials the other day about the effect of Washington’s proposed budget cuts on this region, in the heart of Appalachia. “We’re in one of the poorest if not the poorest districts in the country,” Ricky Baker, of the private Community Action Council, which receives 95 percent of its financing from the federal government , said into the microphone. Without that money, he added, “we’ll have people either freeze to death, starve to death or die of a medical condition because they can’t get appropriate health care.” Mr. Kirby refrained from chiming in that his own employer, WMMT, is also imperiled by the same budget ax. As lawmakers seek to cut billions of dollars in federal spending, the Republican-controlled House voted in February to end financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2013. While President Obama wants to continue financing the corporation, the current budget turmoil has left its long-term fate uncertain. Seelye cited WMMT as creating “a connective tissue for its far-flung, geographically isolated listeners. It also offers respite from the daily grind,” providing sounds that “ if not essential, at least life-affirming .” She quoted many local supporters, even a competitor, who conveniently said “They fill a void that commercial stations cannot fill.” Seelye lamented: But with the rise of the Tea Party and with anti-earmark, budget-cutting fervor gripping the nation’s capital, little of that sentiment is being expressed today, especially by Republicans. Advocates of ending financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting argue that government spending must be reined in and directed only toward essential services like national security. Although WMMT broadcasts no NPR programming, which some critics say has a liberal bias, Mayor Craft said the station still had to battle a perception that it was “anti-coal,” which is the local equivalent of liberal. He said that perception was wrong. Seeley concluded by advocating for funds: [Rebecca] Winterhoff said she had never donated to public radio because she lived paycheck to paycheck, but she said she intended to start doing so now. Her new station may need it more than ever.
Continue reading …The latest debate raging in school cafeterias: Should kids be allowed to drink chocolate milk, which often has more calories per ounce than Coke? Fairfax County and Washington, DC, schools banned it outright last year, and, shockingly, not everyone was happy. Parents, nutritionists, and, of course, special interest groups lobbied…
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At least 18 people killed in suburb of Yopougon as militas take to the streets to express anger over leader’s removal The killing of at least 18 people and a fresh wave of violence, lawlessness and looting has underlined the challenge facing Ivory Coast’s newly installed president . Alassane Ouattara sat calmly as five generals – formerly diehard loyalists of his rival, the deposed Laurent Gbagbo – pledged their allegiance to him one by one in the unlikely surroundings of the Golf hotel in Abidjan. But hopes that Gbagbo’s arrest would put an end to the murderous chaos in Abidjan were soon dashed. At least 18 people were killed on Monday night in the predominantly pro-Gbagbo suburb of Yopougon, where almost a quarter of Abidjan’s 4 million residents live. Militias took to the streets as news spread of Gbagbo’s arrest and fired in the air to express their anger. “The militias are breaking down doors of people who they suspect of being Ouattara supporters, and they steal and kill whichever way it pleases them,” a local official said. “It’s a bit like an urban guerrilla war. This is happening in a particular area called Niangon. I spoke to two witnesses who managed to escape this morning. They say at least 18 people were killed, most of them men, but probably more. I’ve also had a report in from a different area where a man was dragged out of his house and killed for his alleged political sympathies.” The lagoon-side Golf hotel remained an oasis of calm. It has been home to Ouattara since the election crisis began four months ago, with UN peacekeepers pitching their tents on its lawns encircled by razor wire. In a simple ceremony, General Philippe Mangou, once the defiant chief of Gbagbo’s army, saluted Ouattara and referred to him as president. In a message on Ouattara’s TV station, Mangou said “all the generals of the ground, air and navy forces” had declared their loyalty to the new leader. It was likely to have been an uncomfortable night for Gbagbo, even though he, his wife and entourage reportedly spent it in a suite at the hotel following his flushing out from the presidential bunker on Monday. Other Gbagbo officials were sealed inside the bar – with its disco floor, mirrors and glitterball – Doh Ouattara, a member of hotel security, told Associated Press. Gbagbo met UN mission chief Choi Young-jin on Tuesday and was assured the UN would contribute to his protection and ensure he is treated in a “dignified manner”. He was then moved out of Abidjan. UN spokesman Farhan Haq did not give his new location, although officials had said he would be transferred north, which is Ouattara’s stronghold. Ouattara has said he will be put on trial and a truth and reconciliation commission established. But it will take more than symbolism to calm the fears of reprisal killings, violent criminality and Gbagbo loyalists who refuse to surrender. The streets were still littered with burnt bodies, broken glass, tyres, discarded furniture and burning rubbish on Tuesday. On a French military patrol, the Guardian encountered a frantic group of civilians claiming that about 300 militia members were close by. “They are at the end of the road,” one said. “Every day they come and harass us for food and water.” In another relatively peaceful neighbourhood, residents told how a Lebanese man had been carjacked on his way to the airport. “They took his car, luggage, everything,” said Ali Gandour, 45, a timber factory worker. “He came walking back with nothing.” Gandour said he did not share others’ optimism about post-Gbagbo Ivory Coast. “I’m scared. Most people felt happy when they heard the news but I didn’t because we just don’t know what’s going on. You can see on the street, people going all around the place and stealing. “We hope things will settle down but so far, we don’t see much peace. We’ll have to wait and see.” Two British journalists were attacked by six men at a hospital in Abidjan while making a documentary for Channel 4. Seyi Rhodes, 32, said: “We’d been interviewing patients for about 20 minutes when a group of five or six big guys walked in. You can see in the footage how the interviewee’s face goes from passive to absolutely petrified. “They grabbed the cameraman’s headphones. The cord wrapped around his neck and they dragged him against a wall and held him there and slapped him a couple of times. I tried to intervene but they dragged me by the hair against a wall as well and slapped me a bit as well. “It continued to get more and more aggressive. The only thing that saved us was the nurses, mainly women, who put themselves between us and the men. If they hadn’t intervened it could have been a lot worse; they could have killed us. It was terrifying.” Ouattara used his first speech after Gbagbo’s arrest to urge Ivorians to refrain from vengeance attacks and pledged to bring to justice those on both sides responsible for a civilian death toll which has surpassed 1,500. “Our country has turned a painful page in its history,” he said, urging the youth militias to lay down their weapons and promising to restore security to the divided nation. But his appeal for reconciliation fell on deaf ears in Gbagbo strongholds such as Yopougon. Sporadic gunfire and the launch of at least one mortar could also be heard near the French military base. A steady flow of hundreds of Abidjanais seen heading north out of the city in cars and minibuses on Tuesday suggests that few believe peace will come quickly. Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo Alassane Ouattara David Smith guardian.co.uk
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Prime minister was mistaken on Oxford’s black student numbers, but wants more state school entrants at top universities Egypt, Brussels, Pakistan, Spain – David Cameron makes Blair’s shuttle diplomacy look like a go-slow movement, resulting in a prime minister largely absent from the domestic scene. This week he took aim at a target back in Britain, but it looks to have been a misfire. On Monday Cameron said it was not right that, according to recent figures, only one black student won a place at Oxford last year. There was a flurry of texts around Whitehall as it emerged the prime minister had picked a fight with Oxford and got his facts wrong – for 2009 it was 27 black students and 14 mixed race, making 41 in total, including one Caribbean student. But even once Downing Street had released a quote admitting the technical point, it did not concede the broader one. Cameron is expected to be making a speech on keeping immigration down at the end of this week, and it has been suggested that race relations – and reminding the public that his government is not racist – could have been percolating around his subconscious. But he also made a point on Monday that Russell Group universities were terrible at admitting students from state schools. He probably meant to make a point more about university access than racism. There is a view inside Tory government bolt holes that the debate on access to university has been stillborn and not to their liking. It was meant to be launched by Nick Clegg’s social mobility strategy last week, but that backfired. Clegg’s team said it was his first large piece of work since becoming deputy prime minister and indeed it’s a serious issue. But they had not thought through his own personal experience – stints of work experience in banking and politics – before announcing an end to free internships for future generations. As a result, the headlines were about his own privileges. “The launch of the social mobility strategy was meant to be a turning point but that didn’t happen,” one Tory said. Cameron’s closest advisers are very mindful that issues like access to universities and social mobility should not just be the preserve of the Lib Dems. They have been scarred since photos emerged of Osborne hanging out with Oleg Deripaska on his yacht and subsequent polls showed ordinary people thought the Tory top brass were not like them. To be seen to be helping people up became a Cameroon driving force. They’ll be damned if it, like protecting the NHS, social mobility is allowed to become the sole preserve of the Lib Dems. But both parties are tied into the coalition and so both have a stake in increasing the numbers of poorer students going to university, despite Conservative backbenchers grumbling that the coalition telling universities charging £9,000 fees to open up their doors is nothing less than social engineering. Even David Willetts, the universities minister – who is a free-marketeer through and through – believes that the way to square the circle and ensure higher fees do not deter less advantaged young people from applying is to enforce the access agreement. Willetts thinks the coalition is winning – that in the end, universities will open up to less well off kids and that headline figures of £9,000 will in reality be lower. When Cameron rounded on Oxford, many on his side stuck up for the universities and said it was the fault of the previous government not doing enough to get less privileged students into higher education. The coalition is attempting to deal with this too – through early intervention and pupil premiums. Cameron and co are more conscious than their backbenchers that fixing the school system will take too long to show in the admission figures before 2015. If they are to right the tuition fees decision so it does not become electorally fatal, both sides need universities to open up. David Cameron Access to university Higher education Liberal Democrats Conservatives Liberal-Conservative coalition University of Oxford Students Student politics Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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British government accused of betrayal after allowing Libyan defector Moussa Koussa to travel to conference in Qatar Libya’s most high profile defector, foreign minister Moussa Koussa, flew out of the UK on Tuesday to take part in a critical peace conference amid anger from Lockerbie campaigners and accusations of “betrayal” levelled at the British government. Koussa made his surprise departure to Doha after the Foreign Office said he was “a free individual, who can travel to and from the UK as he wishes”. He was expected to “offer insights” in advance of the conference on Libya in the Qatari capital, being held with representatives from the Benghazi-based opposition. The UN, Arab League and EU will all be represented, as will France, Italy, Germany, Turkey and others. But families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing accused the British government of “betrayal” for allowing the former minister to leave the country. Brian Flynn, the brother of J P Flynn, who died in the 1988 attack and now organises the Victims of Pan Am 103 Incorporated campaign group in New York, said the UK authorities had “crossed a line” by allowing Koussa to attend the conference and thereby suggest he is a peace negotiator rather than, as they believe, a key instigator of the bombing. Other relatives said they were incensed that the defector was being allowed to travel, while a Conservative MP accused the government of allowing Britain to be used as “a transit lounge for alleged war criminals”. Koussa, a longtime Gaddafi loyalist, is said to be seeking to establish whether he has a role to play in the rebel movement along with other senior defectors from the Gaddafi regime – perhaps by brokering a deal between Tripoli and rebel-held Benghazi. It is understood he spent a week being debriefed by the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, at a safe house. He was also questioned by Dumfries and Galloway police about the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, in which 270 people died, though was he was not a suspect. William Hague, the foreign secretary, had insisted that Koussa would not be given immunity from prosecution. He was helped to defect by MI6 after leaving Tripoli for Tunisia on what was initially described as a private visit. The hope in Whitehall is that Koussa’s lenient treatment by the UK authorities will send a positive signal to other would-be Libyan defectors as part of a broader strategy of eroding Gaddafi’s position. He is expected to return to the UK after his Middle East trip. The Doha conference is being billed as a follow-up by the “contact group” formed after the London conference on Libya last month. Hague is co-hosting it with the Qatari prime minister, Hamed bin Jassem, but Hillary Clinton is staying away, perhaps signalling an attempt by the US to leave the heavy lifting to Europeans and Arabs. “I think the British are being played by him,” said Flynn. “He has convinced them he can be valuable in this process, but he is not the suave diplomat in the suit sitting on the sidelines, he is one of the key guys who masterminded [the bombing of] Pan Am flight 103. He is a stated enemy of the British government. Our feeling is that the British government gave a nod to Lockerbie by questioning him two days before this conference, but that feels disingenuous. “The Scottish and American prosecutors on Lockerbie are being betrayed by the politicians and the diplomats. Cameron has been good on Libya, but this sounds an awful lot like Tony Blair is back in charge.” Flynn’s group, the largest victims’ group in the US, seeks to discover the truth behind the bombing and bring justice for those who died. He said the families believed the decision to allow Koussa to travel to the meeting in Qatar was part of a British strategy to encourage other defectors to flee to Britain from Gaddafi’s regime, as there was no way either the rebels or the regime would trust him as an intermediary. Diplomats say the aim of the one-day event is to take stock of the Libyan situation. But it will be dominated by the rejection by the Libyan opposition of the African Union plan for a ceasefire and talks on a transition period with Gaddafi and his family staying in place – a position unacceptable to the opposition in Benghazi. The crisis has become a long haul, with a military stalemate and no immediate prospect that the Libyan leader is preparing to surrender. British officials said Hague will reiterate demands that Gaddafi step down and allow the Libyan people to determine their own future in line with UN security council resolutions. Agenda items include plans for humanitarian aid and stabilisation assistance, with the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Red Cross being tasked to deploy assessment missions in eastern Libya as well as rebel-controlled enclaves in the west such as Misrata, which is under siege by regime forces. Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter Dix died in the Lockerbie bomb aged 32, said she was incensed by the move. She said it seemed the decision showed a British government once more placing political pragmatism ahead of justice for the Lockerbie families and for other groups who claim to be victims of Libyan state-sponsored terror. “I feel now the politicians have decided they are not interested in getting a resolution to Lockerbie. They have entered the same diplomatic game that David Cameron vocally criticised the previous government for playing. I am extremely frustrated. It seems never to be the right time to ask any Libyan about what happened at Lockerbie. The thought of William Hague sitting down with this man at the summit is deeply unpleasant.” Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, said Britons would be “very concerned that our country is being used as a transit lounge for alleged war criminals”. He added: “This sends the wrong signal to Gaddafi and those complicit in dictatorships everywhere. It should not be forgotten that Moussa Koussa was allegedly behind many IRA outrages, the Lockerbie bombing and the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. He should be here in the UK or facing trial in the international courts for complicity in the Gaddafi regime.” Moussa Koussa Libya Qatar Middle East Foreign policy Lockerbie plane bombing Ian Black Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
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Rochdale pensioner asked Lib Dem leader to explain why he ‘went in’ with Tories and whether he was happy with policies Gillian Duffy has shot back into the political limelight with a little help from friends in the party she helped to bury at last year’s general election. On the eve of the anniversary of her encounter with Gordon Brown, who infamously described Duffy as a “bigoted woman”, the Rochdale pensioner challenged Nick Clegg to explain why he “went in” with the Tories. In a script that could have been written by the Labour party, Duffy asked Clegg to look her in the eye and tell her whether he was happy with the government’s spending cuts. “Can you honestly tell me now, look me in the eye, and say that you’re quite happy with all these policies that have gone wrong for your party?” she asked the deputy prime minister when he arrived at Holroyd Precision Ltd at 9am in Rochdale. Clegg’s team were given an inkling that the tables were about to be turned when Duffy, who was criticised by Brown after challenging him on immigration from eastern Europe during a televised encounter, demanded to see the deputy prime minister outside the company on Tuesday morning. Clegg was in town to announce that £450m has been allocated from the regional growth fund to help companies claw their way out of the recession. In a scene that the satirists behind The Thick of It would struggle to match, Duffy was ushered into the company’s reception area just as Clegg’s minders spotted three Labour activists waiting in the wings. The pensioner is close to Simon Danczuk, the town’s Labour MP, who captured the seat from the Lib Dems last year. Clegg headed straight to Duffy as soon as he arrived, accompanied by Lord Heseltine, who is overseeing the regional growth fund. “Hello Gillian, how are you, all right?” a cheerful Clegg asked his rival for the title of celebrity of last year’s election. Duffy replied: “Could I ask you one question, because you are in such a rush and I don’t want to take the limelight off these people? Could you please tell me why you went with the Conservatives last year instead of going with the Labour?” Clegg remained unflustered as he embarked on a little lecture about how no party won the election – while of course acknowledging her role. “Gordon Brown and I talked about it, and I know you talked to Gordon Brown on other things, there was no way the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats would have enough MPs to run a government,” he said. “I thought it was very important, and I still think it is very important, that you have got a government that actually can do things, because we have got to sort out the mess we inherited from the previous lot.” This prompted Duffy’s request for Clegg to look her in the eye and say whether he is happy with the coalition. Clegg replied: “I’ll tell you what, whoever was in power now, whether it was Labour – any government now would have to take difficult decisions. If anyone is telling you from the Labour party that somehow there’s a magic wand solution, that we can do this without any controversy, they are frankly fibbing to you.” This failed to impress Duffy. “I’ve just been listening to you on the television, and I’ve listened to you on the radio, and that’s just the same speech you gave out,” she said. Duffy also said that Clegg had failed to persuade her about the merits of the coalition. “It’s gone wrong,” she said. “Let’s face it, it’s all gone wrong.” Suspicion among Clegg’s aides about Labour’s involvement in Tuesday’s face-off was confirmed when Danczuk admitted he had suggested to Duffy that she should challenge the deputy prime minister. Danczuk, who befriended Duffy after her confrontation with Brown last year, made the suggestion to her in a telephone call on Monday night. “I said did you know that Nick Clegg is visiting Rochdale? I said it is the talk of the town. She said she did not know that. I said in a jokey way that she could go down there and have a word with him. She said she did not think much of his broken promises. I said go down and have your say.” Duffy said that she could not go because she had no way of getting to the company. So the MP arranged for a Labour party member to give her a lift. Danczuk went out of his way to befriend Duffy after last year’s general election and played a hand in persuading her to endorse David Miliband in the Labour leadership contest. “Gillian baked me a cheese and onion pie the other night. It was very nice. We are good friends,” he said. Gillian Duffy Nick Clegg Liberal-Conservative coalition Liberal Democrats Conservatives Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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