In the late 1970s/early 1980s, over 4,800 British Haemophiliacs were knowingly infected with Hepatitis C through D.O.H approved N.H.S treatment. A further 1,200+ were also infected with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Of those 1200, only 360 remain and hundreds have died from Hepatitis C. The rest are left in the shadows of terminal illness with no official backed Government inquiry into the circumstances of how this deplorable situation happened.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for our community. We’ve been exposed to and infected with potentially hundreds of other contaminants, such as C.M.V, Hepatitis B and Vcjd [the Human form of mad cow disease] which some 800+ have also been exposed. Across the decades the death toll has now accelerated into the thousands from both Hepatitis B, C and AIDS, with many more lives, marriages and families torn apart.

To this day, the British Government and subsequent Governments have steadfastly refused to hold an inquiry into this tragedy. Against absolute and overwhelming evidence, an extensive independent inquiry [The Archer Report] and a successful High Court review our calls are still shamefully ignored time and time again.

We are campaigning for Mr Cameron and this coalition Government to morally and finally do the right thing and give us victims our justice and to let those lost rest in peace.

Many thanks.

Campaign links:

Main campaign site:

http://www.taintedblood.info/index.php

Our most informative you tube site:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CampaignTB

Our Facebook pages:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/6802221935/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blood/93650027858

The Archer Inquiry:

http://www.archercbbp.com/

It's three months until the UK's first ever referendum on electoral reform. We will finally get the chance to vote to take back some of the power that political parties have stolen from us. 38 Degrees members should be encouraged to get out and help with the campaign for a Yes vote.
Switching to the Alternative Vote system, would make MPs more accountable, requiring that they have a genuine majority to be elected. It would give everyone an equal say, as the option to specify an order of preference will mean your vote will always be counted. And it will significantly reduce the number of MPs with jobs for life, by bringing hundreds more safe seats into play.

The govt has granted licenses to drill using "fracking" and intends to issue more by the end of the year. There has been little, if any, unbiased information published on this, despite the many cases of long term damage to the environment and severe health problems in those areas in the US where fracking is used.In Blackpool, things are moving ahead quickly, yet the concerns of the local community are not being taken seriously. The government appears to be soldiering on, yet again, without properly exploring the issue or being open and transparent. I suspect they hope to implement the process before it becomes a high profile public issue. Fracking is not a process that we should accept without proper debate and unbiased scientific opinion. Take a look at the docu-film "Gaslands" which is a "warts and all" look at the impact of fracking in the US. It kills... literally.

Manchester Central Library has been closed for a while for refurbishment. What people are not aware of is that senior management at the library seriously miscalculated the shelf space needed to house the reference books when the library is re-opened in 2013.

At this very moment library staff are engaged in a continuing process of segregating for destruction a large proportion of the very thing that makes Manchester Central Library unique amongst British public libraries – its extensive and historic reference stock. It is probable that up to half the reference and lending non-fiction stock (up to half a million volumes) will have been destroyed by the time Central Library re-opens. These texts, which were housed in the old ‘stacks’ in Central Library, represented a storehouse of non-fiction reference volumes, many of which date back to the late nineteenth century. The criteria for the selection of books for destruction is unclear. The staff charged with responsibility for this job are not subject specialists, indeed many of them are not trained librarians. Many of them feel uneasy about what they are being asked to do, but they fear for their jobs, particularly in the current economic climate.

Once these books have been pulped (and many thousands of them already have been) there will be no record of them ever having existed, they will simply be erased from the system. There will be no way of knowing how many of them were rare volumes, or even unique. This is cultural vandalism on an industrial scale.

Through the introduction of the E-Bac, Michael Gove has dramatically altered our children’s education.

By leaving out subjects like RE, Music, Art, Drama ICT, Business Studies and Design Technology from the new performance measure, creativity and diversity in the curriculum are being eroded, and children in many schools are being dissuaded from taking these subjects up to GCSE level. Instead, they are being strongly persuaded to take those subjects that will help schools to “look good” in the new E-Bac “league tables”. Consequently, the richness of our children’s education is now in danger of being severely compromised.

Following the work of the “Better Bac” coalition, (http://abetterbaccalaureate.org), Archbishop Sentamu Academy believes that any overarching qualification should be inclusive, aspirational and personalised. It should also prepare our children for further study and the workplace, fully equipped to take their place in society.

We have therefore launched “The Modern Baccalaureate” as an alternative to Mr. Gove’s E-Bac. Full details can be found on our web-site:

www.modernbaccalaureate.com

We are now inviting schools to join us in refining and developing the award over the next 12 months (see website), pending general release for September 2012.

We would also like everyone who believes the E-Bac to be a flawed concept to join us in asking the government to pause, reflect, consult with the Profession, and support the development of a more modern baccalaureate – because our children deserve better.

We are concerned about the future of the British train building industry.

Our concern is a consequence of the decision to appoint Siemens as the preferred bidder for the new fleet of trains for the Thameslink Programme. This will result in 1,400 jobs being lost in Derby and up to another 20,000 in the UK, as suppliers are also affected.

Politicians from all the parties including Conservative MPs, businesses and the unions are calling for the contract to be reviewed.

Independent experts argue that the if the sums are done correctly, awarding the contract to Siemens can't possibly offer value for money to the British taxpayer as 20m a year will be lost in income tax, a sum that has not been factored into the government's decision. Alternatively, awarding the contract to Derby will increase tax receipts by as estimated 100m a year. We are calling on the Government to revoke the preferred bidder status and ensure that there is a vibrant train building manufacturing industry in the UK at Derby in order that railways play a big part in transport planning.

Many communities across the UK are fighting their local councils about decisions to build waste incinerators in towns, near homes, on farm land and in areas of natural beauty and interest. There are many more planned for the UK. The USA has not commissioned an Incinerator since the mid 1990's however they are still being built in the UK by American companies. There are better, greener and healthier alternatives to waste management. Typically councils are locked into 25 year contracts and agree to provide the privately owned incinerator companies with a certain quota of waste or else face hefty fines. This undermines recycling and is bad news for the whole of the UK as in areas with incinerators rubbish set aside for recycling is diverted to these incinerators. Please support this campaign.

Lyme disease is frequently misdiagnosed, in the early stages as flu, cellulitis, rash, fevers; in the late stages as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME), fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease (ALS), lupus, glandular fever etc. Despite many of these latter syndromes having no diagnostic test or treatment, a diagnosis is made due to the lyme test being negative in many cases. Yet a paper by the former head of the lyme borreliosis unit showed 14% of screening tests do not pick up a borrelia infection (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21117376), without a positive screening test the NHS will not pursue further testing or diagnosis of lyme disease. In glandular fever, 3 negative tests aren't sufficient to rule out a diagnosis, yet in lyme the NHS/HPA refuse to accept the possibility that their current tests are inadequate.

In the lucky early cases identified by the erythema migrans rash or those detected by blood test between 7 and 28 days of antibiotics are prescribed. This is also insufficient (http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/6/704.full and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21117376) with documented cases of active infection continuing post treatment - these cases will not be treated any further by the NHS. Other cases may relapse many years after the original infection, this is not treated by the NHS either.

Lyme disease can be complicated by a number of co-infections including bartonella and babesia - non-classical presentations of these infections due to altered immune response from multiple infections are not accepted by the NHS either.

Testing, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and its co-infections are completely inadequate in the UK. NHS guidelines are based on flawed American guidelines, which suffered heavily from conflicts of interest by panel members, and are based on the American, not European strain of the bacteria; they need to be updated to reflect current research, European presentations and the interests of patients who have to leave the country to get proper treatment.

Unemployment amongst 16 to 25 year olds in the UK has reached record levels with more than a million young people struggling to find work; yet, following cuts to the Connexions service, thousands of young people across the UK now have either very limited or no access to face-to-face career guidance, a situation caused directly by the Government's decision to place the statutory duty to ensure impartial careers guidance on schools, who have been given no additional funds to deliver such important services; and calls on the Government to reverse its policy and instead to provide sufficient funding to the Careers and Connexions Service to help our young people plan and organise their futures.

No ethical animal breeder supplies pet shops. Selling through pet shops encourages 'back yard breeding' with littel regard to the health or welfare of the animals. Surplus small rodents are used as reptile food.

Pet shops cannot provide the stimulating environment or the human interaction that pets need. They end up stressed and unable to behave in ways that are natural to them. Some animals are kept in very poor conditions and fish often suffer from diseases.

Selling through pet shops also encourages impulse buying, often by people who have little idea of the needs of the animal that they have bought. Often these end up at rescue centres if they are lucky, or are just thrown out.

People who want to own pets would still be able to buy directly from the breeder so that they can see the conditions in which the animal is being reared.