Link to video: Anti-fracking protesters arrested at Balcombe

“We want an energy policy devoted to the needs of people, not the needs of corporations. Fracking is all about profits.” 

~ DPAC Member Paddy Murphy


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3 thoughts on “

  1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    On last nights BBC news there was a snippet of a story relating to physiotherapists being given the right to prescribe medicines. This morning the story had mysteriously vanished….

    Forgive me for my tenacity in following up things, but i have a feeling that something else is unfolding without our knowledge.

    I found this article in the Independent;

    Physiotherapists in the UK will be the first in the world to be able to independently prescribe medication to their patients, the Department of Health has announced.

    Confirming plans that were first outlined last year, the care and support minister Norman Lamb said that the new legislation, which will also empower podiatrists to prescribe medicines, would speed up treatments and free up GP’s time.

    Currently, physios and podiatrists must refer a patient to a GP in order to get a prescription. Practitioners who want to issue prescriptions will have to complete a training course and will only be able to prescribe medications in their specific area. The changes will come into force when the first wave of training courses has been completed in summer 2014.

    “This change will not only benefit patients by making it more convenient to get treatment but it will also free up valuable GP time,” Mr Lamb said. “We are showing the world that the NHS is at the forefront of healthcare, paving the way for other countries. Physiotherapists and podiatrists are highly skilled professionals and these changes will allow them to give better care to the millions of people with acute and long term conditions.”

    Phil Gray, chief executive of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: “This is a landmark moment that will lead to patients receiving faster, more effective treatment for their condition.”

    END

    Nothing may seem sinister, but on the BBC news it also reported that at present, nurses can also prescribe medicines as well……..

    When you put Physios and Nurses into one sentence the word ATOS and HCP’s, springs to mind.

    Our government, the crooks who purport to pull the strings on behalf of their paymasters, have just come up with a plan to try and introduce the disabled back into mainstream work. It is mandatory to attend a briefing by a HCP, ALTHOUGH TAKING PART IS SAID TO BE VOLUNTARY.

    Upon seeking clarification about the, so called course, a freedom of information request was submitted to the DWP, requesting many points to be made clearer.

    These actual questions were asked…..

    Can a doctor, nurse or physio employed in conjunction with the DWP, enforce a course
    of action or taking of medicines, against the wishes of the claimant, the claimants own GP, or the
    claimants specialist advisors?

    By virtue of the fact that you have chosen to include, “they will not replace a persons GP”
    casts much doubt on the inabilities of the health team who will carry out the procedures. Will the
    claimants own GP have the authority to deny any procedures that are prescribed?

    This is the answer they gave in response;

    If the HCP was unsure of any aspect of the claimant’s treatment the claimant would be
    referred back to their own GP. Claimants’ GPs will not have the authority to deny any
    procedures recommended in the 18-24 months prognosis pilots.

    What they are saying is, they have the authority to overrule your own GP!
    Meaning a physio or nurse wields more power than a qualified doctor, in this case, your doctor, the person who knows you best and has treated you……..

    I see this as being absolutely preposterous and wonder what other “SHABBY”,short cuts they will try to implement.

    If your GP is in a position where, he or she, has a damning workload, will you be hived off to a “SECOND BEST”, who will have the ability to prescribe medicines and treatment?.

    Watch this space carefully, the dirty tricks department is in full swing to cut costs and endanger even more lives, hiding beneath the banner of welfare reform!!!

  2. geoff reynolds says:

    “DIRTY LITTLE CIRCLES WITHIN CIRCLES”
    How the British Public are getting conned, lied and cheated by the very people who purport to represent our interests…….

    Taken from the independent;

    George Osborne was facing fresh questions yesterday over his controversial push to make Britain a worldwide hub for fossil fuels, after it emerged that his father-in-law is the head of a lobbying organisation for big oil and gas companies.

    Lord Howell of Guildford, who is an energy minister at the Foreign Office, is also the president of the British Institute of Energy Economics (BIEE), which is sponsored by Shell and BP – prompting suggestions of a conflict of interest.

    Green campaigners demanded to know whether Lord Howell, a former energy secretary under Margaret Thatcher and who was a political influence on the young Mr Osborne, had pressed his son-in-law to promote oil and gas from inside the Treasury while weakening the renewable energy sector.

    Last week, the Chancellor and the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, reached a compromise deal over the coalition’s energy policy after a cabinet showdown, with Mr Davey fending off an attempt by Mr Osborne to slash wind energy subsidies by 25 per cent, instead agreeing to 10 per cent cuts. However, the deal alarmed environmental campaigners as it contained a £500m tax break for offshore drilling for North Sea gas as part of Mr Osborne’s mission to make the UK a “gas hub”. There was also no commitment for all electricity generation to be green by 2030, a demand of the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc).

    While Lord Howell, whose daughter Frances married Mr Osborne in 1998, has declared his role at the BIEE on the Register of Lords’ Interests, there was criticism that this clashes with his ministerial brief. The Conservative peer is a Foreign Office minister with responsibility for international energy policy, which involves him travelling around the world setting out British energy policy to foreign governments. Whitehall insiders alleged that Lord Howell, who has been sceptical about climate change and is an enthusiastic supporter of shale gas as well as traditional power generation, has told ministerial counterparts that the British Government is not serious about renewable energy.

    Mr Osborne has not hidden his scepticism for green policies, declaring in his Autumn Statement last year: “We are not going to save the planet by shutting down our steel mills.” He has also pushed for the Government to keep a third runway at Heathrow on the table. Yet the revelation about his father-in-law’s interests will only heighten concerns about the Chancellor’s “dash for gas”.

    Louise Hutchins, senior energy campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said yesterday: “We’d hate to think that the UK’s direction of travel on energy policy was being decided over claret and duck chez Osborne. But Lord Howell’s links with big oil and gas special interests are well established. Questions must surely be asked about whether he has been bending the ear of his son-in-law to help his friends in the fossil fuel lobby.”

    Lord Howell and his son-in-law share their enthusiasm for shale gas extraction, through the controversial method of fracking. Two years ago, the 76-year-old minister told the House of Lords: “There is the fascinating development of shale gas, which has changed the energy landscape in the US. If it is replicated elsewhere, it could be fundamental in altering the energy vista in every continent.”

    Mr Davey has become increasingly frustrated by the belief held by some in the Conservative Party that global expansion in shale gas will lead to lower bills in Britain. A senior Lib Dem source said: “There is a Tory obsession that somehow there is going to be this revolution in gas and the price is going to plummet. We shouldn’t be banking on it being a big game-changer.”

    As the Treasury and Decc fought it out over energy policy last week, Tim Yeo, the chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee, accused Mr Osborne of undermining green energy policy, ahead of the Government’s Energy Bill this autumn, to please backbench Tory MPs.

    It also emerged that Mr Osborne has not met a single renewable energy representative since becoming Chancellor, but has held eight meetings with oil and gas companies.

    In an interview in 2006, Mr Osborne praised his father-in-law, who was a key member of Mrs Thatcher’s cabinet. He said: “I grew up during the 1980s and the achievements of the governments of the 1980s are phenomenal. Whether it was the battle against trade unions, reform of the economy or defeating the Soviet Union.”

    A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “There is no reason for the minister in the Foreign Office responsible for international energy policy not to continue to hold the honorary position as president of the British Institute of Energy Economics, which is sponsored by Decc. The UK Government is clear that it supports the UK energy industry.”

    The most heinous shower of shit that ever took office, corrupt from top to bottom.
    Not one of them could hide behind a corkscrew!……….

    More in UK Politics »

  3. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, VESTED INTERESTS, OR JUST CROOKS?”

    DAILY MIRROR

    George Osborne’s father-in-law and the secret frackers of Windsor Castle
    14 Aug 2013 00:00

    Lord Howell is chairman of Windsor Energy Group which discussed shale gas mining at its meeting in March

    George Osborne is facing questions over his support for fracking after it emerged his father-in-law heads a shadowy energy organisation.

    Lord Howell, who recently called for drilling in “desolate areas” of the North East, is chairman of Windsor Energy Group, which meets at Windsor Castle every year.

    The group, which brings together ­politicians and energy giants, discussed shale gas mining – known as fracking – at its most recent gathering in March.

    In June Lord Howell’s son-in-law, the Chancellor, announced generous tax breaks for firms involved in shale gas exploration.

    And this week Prime Minister David Cameron made a fresh push for the case of fracking, despite growing protests over the potential damage it could cause to rural areas.

    Research group Corporate Watch, which exposed Lord Howell’s ­interests, said the senior Tories’ support for fracking “raises ­questions” about the energy ­industry’s lobbying of Government.

    Greenpeace campaigner Leila Deen said: “The Government’s fracking policy appears to have emerged from a murky world of lobbying, money and hype while communities have little or no say.

    “Lord Howell, who speaks to Osborne regularly on energy issues, has interests in fracking.

    Adviser Lynton Crosby, who has daily access to the Prime Minister, has financial ­interests in fracking.

    “The question now is a simple one.

    “Did Howell or Crosby discuss fracking with Osborne or Cameron before the Government went to bat for the shale gas industry?”

    ……… strangely, if you or i were involved, we would be locked in an eight by six cell, charged with intent to defraud and gaining pecuniary advantage by deception…..

    To these people, just another day at the office…..

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