‘I’m Not Going Anywhere’

It appears that Keir Starmer’s prospects of leading his party into the next election are dwindling due to growing calls for his resignation.

Additionally, social media users are responding to Sir Keir’s premiership collapsing by posting several humorous memes that mock the circumstance.

Some likened his situation to the Black Knight from Monty Python, a character who refuses to let King Arthur pass despite having all his limbs chopped off.

Others recalled the famous line ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me’, spoken by Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in the 1964 comedy film Carry On Cleo.

There was a meme of Hugh Grant as the PM in Love Actually, captioned: ‘Centre Left Labour backbenchers reveal their choice to replace Starmer as Prime Minister.’

Another posted an image of Steve McClaren on Sky Sports News, quipping that the former England manager was saying ‘he doesn’t think the PM’s going anywhere’. 

In an address meant to set out Labour’s response to last week’s catastrophic local election results, Sir Keir promised to carry on and prove his doubters wrong.

But the address triggered an avalanche of Labour backbenchers publicly calling for the Prime Minister to go, including several junior ministerial aides who resigned in response.

A total of 80 Labour MPs are understood to have signed a letter from former minister Catherine West urging Sir Keir to set out a timetable for his resignation, with most of them having publicly expressed their loss of confidence in his leadership.

In a sign that he could be planning to dig in, Downing Street announced the appointment of six new ministerial aides last night to replace those who had resigned.

But while some backbenchers came out to back the Prime Minister, reports suggested Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had privately spoken with Sir Keir and advised him to consider his position.

Other senior ministers are said to have spoken with the Prime Minister about his fate before a scheduled Cabinet meeting this morning, intended to focus on the situation in the Middle East.

At least, if nothing else, we can have a laugh because we haven’t been able to have a laugh since this delusional despot, who seems to believe his own lies and stupidity, arrived, and has been such a daily disaster ever since.

The memes were amusing, but the real joke is that the world is laughing at us, not with us. Sadly, his replacement won’t be laughing either because all the harm that Keir Starmer has done will be paid forward to the next sitting government.

Nobody in Labour actually has any idea about real life, and what it actually means to be working class. I hate to point this out to them, but to be working class, you have to actually do some work, you know, hard graft – get your fingers at least a little bit dirty. The only thing these people know about is sipping Champagne and scratching their backsides; that’s the only dirt they will get under their fingernails.

I will definitely be delighted to see the back of Starmer, but when I think about the bunch of incompetents waiting to take over, my heart sinks. Talk about ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’, there’s not a single trustworthy person amongst them, and it mangles my mind that the people who voted for them truly believed that they were capable of running a country.

In the immortal words of Gloria Gaynor: “Go on now, go, walk out the door Just turn around now, ’cause you’re not welcome anymore.’

An Update On Bonnie Tyler’s Condition In A Coma

Bonnie Tyler had to be ‘resuscitated after going into cardiac arrest’ when doctors tried to bring her out of an induced coma at an Algarve hospital.

The medical emergency led to the worsening of the singer’s health condition late last week following life-saving surgery for a burst appendix, respected Portuguese daily Correio da Manha has reported.

The Welsh singer, 74, will remain in an induced coma in an intensive care unit at Faro Hospital until doctors manage to control the ‘serious infection’ she is suffering, caused by a perforated intestine, the paper said.

Her long-term friend Liberto Mealha said overnight, doctors are ‘positive’ she can make a full recovery despite the ongoing uncertainty about how things will evolve.

More details have emerged of Bonnie’s health woes, which are said to have led to her emergency bowel surgery and the removal of her appendix.

Mr Mealha, who first met The Total Eclipse of the Heart singer when he opened a well-known Albufeira nightclub in the Eighties near the artist’s holiday home, said last week: ‘She started feeling unwell during a concert in London and went to a doctor for tests, but they didn’t detect anything there.

‘She decided to travel to the Algarve, where she began to feel severe abdominal pain.

‘Two days later, she went to a private hospital, which urgently moved her to the hospital in Faro because her appendix had burst and she needed emergency surgery.’

Overnight, it was reported that Ms Tyler, believed to have first started feeling unwell around a month ago, had been bedridden for two days at her Algarve home before her worried husband, Robert Sullivan, took her to the private hospital she was seen at before being transferred to Faro.

A spokesman for the singer said late last Thursday she had been put in a coma to ‘aid her recovery’ after reports she had suffered a burst appendix.

A day earlier, when her health woes first emerged, the spokesman had said: ‘We are very sorry to announce that Bonnie has been admitted to hospital in Faro, Portugal, where she has a home, for emergency intestinal surgery.

‘The surgery went well, and she is now recuperating.

‘We know that all of her family, friends and fans will be concerned about this news and will be wishing her well for a full and swift recovery.’

Ms Tyler, who has had numerous hits in her lengthy career and competed at the Eurovision Song Contest representing the UK in 2013, is believed to have been rushed to the hospital on April 30.

She was said to have been ‘stable’ in an intermediate care unit at Faro Hospital before an apparent worsening of her health led to her being moved to intensive care.

Sources say she had been maintaining her professional activity in the run-up to being taken to the hospital, despite complaining of persistent pain for several weeks.

Reports that she required resuscitation have not yet been addressed by her representatives.

A medical emergency known as cardiac arrest occurs when the heart abruptly and unexpectedly stops pumping blood, stopping its beating and interfering with the body’s and brain’s ability to get oxygen.

It causes instant unconsciousness and collapse. Prompt action involving starting CPR and using a defibrillator, where available, is essential to prevent death.

An appendix rupture is a serious medical emergency that calls for quick surgery and medications to avoid deadly infections.

When an infected appendix bursts, it leaves a hole that allows germs and faeces to enter the abdominal cavity.

Mr Mealha, whose daughter is Bonnie’s goddaughter, said last week the singer’s husband was spending his days by her hospital bedside and only leaving to sleep at home at nighttime.

He added: ‘He’s very grateful to the doctors and nurses at the Faro hospital and believes that if Bonnie had stayed in the United Kingdom, she would no longer be here.’

On social media, well-wishers have shown their support.

Sara Hadfield wrote: ‘My husband spent 10 days eight years ago in an induced coma in the ICU in Faro Hospital.

‘They cared for him very well. I hope they do the same for Bonnie.’

Jenny Edwards added: ‘Come on, Bonnie girl. Us Welshies don’t give up. Here is to a full recovery.’

And Portuguese national Maria Joao Raposo Fonseca said: ‘Speedy recovery for Bonnie.

‘She is such a lovely lady. I lived close to her in Albufeira and used to see her all the time at my hairdresser’s salon, doing her tanning and then driving her little red convertible.’

So, Bonnie went to the doctors in London, but they missed appendicitis; our NHS health system is apparently the best in the world. I guess it’s so easy for doctors to overlook, particularly when our basic healthcare is rationed this much.

It’s also easy to detect, by doing a physical examination, and if still not certain, laboratory testing and imaging (CT scan and ultrasound), but of course, that commands money, so it’s more affordable overall to ignore patients who exhibit the early symptoms, leaving it until the Appendicitis becomes critical. This means more patients will die, but hey, don’t worry about that if it saves the system money.

The overall death rate from non-traumatic medical comas is significant, although the outcome differs greatly depending on why the coma occurred, how long it lasted, and the patient’s baseline health.

A mortality rate of 63 per cent and only 10 per cent “good recovery” is consistent with several large cohort studies of medically induced or medically caused comas due to severe infection, such as sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis, metabolic crises, hypoxic injury, multi-organ failure, prolonged ICU sedation, and stroke or intracranial haemorrhage (non-traumatic).

These groups are particularly heterogeneous, and numerous patients in those datasets were already critically ill before the coma. In other words:

The coma isn’t the cause of the poor outcome — the underlying illness is.

There are a few factors that dramatically shift the odds.

There are a few factors that dramatically shift the odds, and some causes have a far better outcome than others, such as drug-induced or sedation-related comas, which are usually reversible. With metabolic comas, such as diabetic or hepatic, there is usually a good recovery if rectified quickly.

Then there is infectious encephalitis, this is variable, but a patient can recover well with rapid treatment. Also, hypoxic brain injury has a much poorer prognosis.

Shorter comas (hours-days) have a far better outcome than lengthy ones (weeks).

Younger, healthier patients recuperate disproportionately better, and early antibiotics, antivirals, seizure control, ventilation, and neuro-monitoring all matter.

So, why is ‘good recovery’ only in the 10 per cent in numerous studies? Well, most studies in the Glasgow Outcome Scale were ‘good recovery’, which means independent living, returning to work or normal activities, and minimal cognitive impairment, but many survivors fell into this category where there was moderate disability, meaning needing some support, along with severe disability, meaning dependent but conscious, so the 10 per cent figure doesn’t mean only 10 per cent wake up, it means only 10 per cent return to near-normal functioning.

A tiny percentage of patients recover far better than the average indicates, and recovery is neither linear, predictable, nor uniformly distributed.

Passengers Flout Mask Rules During Quarantine

Several passengers who dismounted from the virus-hit MV Hondius have apparently already been spotted without a properly fitting facemask, just hours after the stricken ship anchored in Spain’s Canary Islands.

Did the headline grab you? It’s designed to.

When the tabloids run with ‘maskless passengers flouting rules’, they are not reporting a meaningful public-health breach. They are creating a morality play – good citizens follow the rules, bad ones don’t.

They are recycling COVID-era imagery because it reliably drives engagement, thereby implying escalating danger without providing evidence of increased transmission.

But with hantavirus, the whole premise is shaky. Masks are not the primary control measure because Hantavirus is not airborne like COVID. Transmission is overwhelmingly through rodent droppings, urine, or dust from contaminated environments. Human-to-human spread is rare to non-existent, depending on the strain. So the belief that mask non-compliance is a significant risk factor is performative at best.

So, have you clocked the pattern? Cruise ship + virus + rule-breaking passengers = instant déjà vu.

It has nothing to do with biology. It has to do with the optics, and because the real science of hantavirus doesn’t lend itself to a theatrical outbreak storyline, the press fills the voids with behavioural drama – masks, excuses, rule-breaking, and chaos on board.

The real public-health relevance of this headline is honestly minimal, and wearing masks is probably a preventive measure while authorities confirm the source, and another way to reduce other respiratory infections, also a visual symbol of ‘containment’ for the public to see.

It’s not the fundamental barrier to preventing the hantavirus spread, so passengers not wearing masks is not the catastrophe the headline implies.

However, what is worth paying attention to is whether the source of exposure has been identified as possible rodent contamination at a port or onboard. Whether any new cases occurred after the passengers had been isolated, and whether authorities confirmed the strain (Andes vs European vs Seoul, also whether there was any evidence that human-to-human transmission had emerged – so far, there has been none.

So, everything else you read is theatre!

Criminals Ignore Community Service Sentences

Thousands of criminals are treating community service sentences as optional – by merely refusing to start or abandoning them.

Ministry of Justice figures reveal courts in England and Wales issued 53,685 unpaid work orders in the year to March 2025 – yet 3,200 were never started, and a third failed to satisfy the required hours.

As an alternative to custody, criminals can be given between 20 and 300 hours of unpaid work – such as litter picking, painting community facilities or gardening.

The figures heap additional pressure on the Government to fix what the Commons Public Accounts Committee has described as a Probation Service ‘teetering on the brink’.

Tory MP Neil O’Brien, who obtained the figures, said: ‘The system is a joke – and thousands of criminals treat it as such.

‘People hear their sentence in court and know they can safely ignore it, if they choose.

‘Some knock off early while others never even bother to turn up. 

‘If you’re a victim of one of their crimes, or the place where you live is affected, you’re going to wonder what’s become of justice in this country.’

The Ministry of Justice said those who do not complete community service face electronic tagging, fines or recall to prison.

It said the Government has pledged an extra £700 million to the Probation Service and is recruiting 1,300 more probation officers this year.

Completion rates have improved marginally since 2021-22, when the Probation Service returned to public ownership.

Then, 8.4 per cent failed to show up, and 40.7 per cent failed to complete their hours.

Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: ‘The Probation Service is failing.

‘The endpoint is demonstrated by our report showing the number of prisoners recalled to jail is at an all-time high.’

Community sentences can be effective, but only if they are upheld. It appears that we are no longer penalising criminals. The actual issue is that enforcement is currently crumbling.

Thousands of offenders are simply not turning up for unpaid work. Some never start the sentence at all. Others walk away halfway through with no direct consequence, and the system is so overstretched that violations are not being followed up quickly, if at all, and staff shortages mean that there aren’t enough supervisors to run the work sessions.

This isn’t a ‘soft on crime’ attitude — it’s a capacity failure. If the state can’t execute the sentence, the punishment becomes pointless.

A community sentence is supposed to be a punishment, a way to repay harm, and a structured alternative to prison, also a way to reduce reoffending, but if a criminal learns that nothing will happen to them if they do not comply, then it ceases being a punishment, and public confidence crumbles, victims feel neglected, and the reoffending threat increases.

Sadly, you can’t just jail every offender that commits an offence because our prisons are already over capacity, so now, courts are being told to avoid short custodial sentences unless absolutely necessary.

Probation is understaffed, so violations aren’t always followed up quickly, and community payback teams are stretched, meaning that enforcement is inconsistent, and quite frankly sending someone to jail for a few weeks usually does nothing to reduce reoffending, and in some cases can make things much worse because criminals mixing with other criminals does not alway mix well because if you went into prison for a petty crime, you will certainly come out with better tools for the trade.

So, what looks like criminals ‘treating it as optional’ is usually a manifestation of a system that can’t enforce what it imposes.

Employees At Meta Erupt In Angry Emojis

An internal Meta post announcing a tracking system used to improve AI assistants received hundreds of angry comments and emojis from workers who feared they were being replaced.

The company launched the software last month, which allowed AI to track each employee’s clicks and keystrokes as they go about their workday.

‘For agents to understand how people actually complete everyday tasks using computers, we need to train our models on real examples,’ the announcement read, per Business Insider.

More than 100 angry and surprised emojis riddled the comment section as employees voiced their concerns, Reuters reported.

Many workers expressed concern that they were inadvertently educating the AI that might eventually replace them.

‘This makes me super uncomfortable,’ an engineering manager wrote in a comment reviewed by the New York Times. ‘How do we opt out?’

However, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, responded that employees would not be able to opt out of the program on their company laptops.

‘Your callousness to the concerns of your own employees is concerning,’ an anonymous employee fired back at Bosworth, according to the Times. 

Others were concerned that the ongoing gathering of employee information and behaviours might pose a security risk.

‘This data is very tightly controlled,’ Bosworth said. ‘This will not be a leak risk.’ 

Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton told the Daily Mail that the new employee tracking program was only meant to improve AI products. 

‘There are safeguards in place to protect sensitive content, and the data is not used for any other purpose,’ he said. 

In recent years, Mark Zuckerberg has invested billions in the developing AI sector, pushing the use of AI throughout Meta’s social platforms.

‘I think we know that AI is one of the most competitive fields, probably in history,’ he has said.

The company’s 78,000 workers have been urged to embrace constantly evolving AI policies. 

Although Zuckerberg claimed that the software was not being used for ‘surveillance or performance tracking or anything like that.

To offset AI spending, the company has allegedly already planned to slash its workforce by ten per cent, according to an April 17 announcement.

Meta’s Head of Human Resources, Janelle Gale, said the workforce changes were meant to ‘offset the other investments we’re making.’

‘I know this leaves everyone with nearly a month of ambiguity, which is incredibly unsettling,’ she said.

The layoffs were allegedly scheduled for May 20, Meta employees told the Times.

As thousands of workers brace for layoffs, none of them knows whether their employment is about to end abruptly, or if they will be replaced by the very software that tracked them. 

‘It’s incredibly demoralising,’ an employee remarked.

If AI ever turns into a ‘worst-nightmare sci-fi scenario’, it won’t be because the technology chose to take over out of the blue. It will be the result of poor human construction, deployment, or governance.

This distinction is significant because it implies that the future is moulded by decisions, laws, and design, rather than being predestined or doomed.

Every real-world AI risk today is human-driven, not machine-driven, and things that feel like sci-fi nightmares are usually failures of power, oversight, or incentives, not rogue intelligence.

Humans design and absolutely control AI; its quality depends on the design, governance, and the people running the systems.

There are three layers: design control – humans determine the architecture, training data, safety rules, and limits. Humans determine where AI is deployed, what it’s authorised to access, and what it can do, and governance control is about laws, audits, and oversight bodies that decide what companies are authorised to build.

AI doesn’t wake up one morning and decide to do something. It runs the instructions and constraints humans give it.

AI cannot act independently in the physical world. It cannot change its own goals. It cannot override safety systems, and it cannot access systems or data unless humans explicitly connect it, and even the most advanced models are pattern-recognition engines, not agents with intent.

However, this is where things get messy, and this is the part people feel worried about, and not without good reason.

Corporations control AI more than the public does, and decisions about training data, safety, and deployment are made by a small number of companies. Governments are behind the curve. Regulation is slow, fragmented and usually written by people who don’t understand the technology, and then bias and power dynamics leak into systems.

If the people building AI don’t understand disability, class, or lived experience, the systems inherit those blind spots.

As for AI becoming aware, that is extremely unlikely because they are made by humans. Deciding to wipe out humanity, possibly because humans are the controllers of the AI. Becoming ‘evil’, maybe not evil, but they could be used to be destructive against humanity.

After all, they are now employed for control and monitoring, and of course, algorithms are always spreading false information, and because the pace is fast, the communication is lacking, and the people building the systems usually act as if they are protected from consequences.

It creates the impression of an unbeatable force, but the reality is more grounded. AI is powerful, but brittle. Impressive, but narrow. Useful, but dependent. It’s not an alien intelligence. It’s a mirror of human systems, including their flaws.

NHS Warns Of Epilepsy Medication Shortage

Thousands of British people require epilepsy medicine, and the NHS has issued a drug shortage alert.

This is significant because when a seizure won’t stop on its own, adults and children with epilepsy utilise midazolam as one of their primary emergency therapies.

Pharmacy leaders say the disruption is linked to supply chain problems caused by the war in Iran and instability in the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping route. They also warn that other medicines—including some cancer drugs, blood thinners, and blood pressure medications—are facing similar pressures.

The UK has about 633,000 people living with epilepsy, and about 30 per cent have uncontrolled seizures.

The shortage notice applies specifically to the 7.5mg pre‑filled oral syringes. Other formulations (e.g., nasal sprays, different strengths, non–pre‑filled solutions) may still be available, but supply is tight and varies by area.

Why is this serious? It references the 2025 death of Paul Nash, who died after missing three doses of his epilepsy medication due to supply delays.

Paul Nash, aged 58, died in October 2025 after suffering an epileptic seizure brought on by running out of his prescribed epilepsy medication, according to the coroner’s inquest.

The inquest into the death of Paul Robert Joseph Nash found that he had epilepsy secondary to HSV encephalitis, with significant brain injury dating back to 2014. His seizures had been well-controlled since 2016 with carbamazepine 500mg twice daily.

In September 2025, he did not request all of his repeat prescriptions.

On 21 October 2025, he told the charity Headway (Luton) that he had taken his last dose of medication. Headway contacted his GP urgently, but the prescription was not ready the next day.

He was found dead at home on 23 October 2025, with evidence indicating he had suffered a seizure during the night.

The coroner concluded that he “died following an epileptic seizure after running out of his epilepsy medication, which meant he had missed three doses”, though the exact trigger for the seizure remained unclear.

The coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report highlighting systemic issues, which included communication failures because Headway had an urgent warning that Nash had no medication left and that was not passed onto the GP, so the prescription was not prioritised. Pharmacy delays in some areas, and some pharmacies were taking up to ten days to process repeat prescriptions. There was a national shortage, and his consultant neurologist reported that epilepsy patients across the UK were struggling to obtain sufficient medication, especially carbamazepine, and in 2025, research found that over 90 per cent of people reported shortages of the drug.

This incident became a well-known illustration of how administrative holdups and medicine shortages may put epileptics in danger of death.

This makes for some awful reading. The thought of having a treatable illness, but not being able to access medication, and presumably, it’s only going to get worse.

This is not a Brexit problem; it’s to do with the war in Iran, which has disrupted international shipping and air routes so harshly that the UK is now weeks away from shortages of essential medicines, particularly generics, painkillers and some cancer treatments.

The impact comes from supply‑chain choke points, not from Iran directly.

The Strait of Hormuz is virtually closed, blocking one of the world’s most significant shipping routes. This is critical because India — the source of a third of UK medicines and most generic drugs globally — ships APIs and finished medicines through this route.

Airports in Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, which are major transit hubs for pharmaceutical cargo, have been closed or are operating restricted schedules, causing rerouting.

Air freight costs have doubled, and sea freight is taking up to 14 extra days, adding about $1 million per journey in fuel costs.

UK distributors generally hold 6–8 weeks of stock, meaning lengthy disruption pushes the system toward shortages. This is why experts describe the problem as a “perfect storm” for the medicine supply.

What does this mean for UK patients?

Not all medications are affected. The risks are concentrated in people on long-term prescriptions with no easy substitutes. Cancer patients who need time-critical treatments. Patients using injectable or specialist formulations, and anyone relying on generic drugs, which make up the majority of NHS medicines.

Hospital Staff Thought A Woman, 24, Struggling To Breathe Was ‘Overreacting’

Hospital staff thought a 24-year-old woman was ‘overreacting’ and gave her an oxygen mask that was ‘not connected to anything’ before her death, an inquest heard. 

University of Manchester graduate Clarissa Street spent over an hour in a corridor while suffering from a pulmonary embolism after arriving at Royal Oldham Hospital in an ambulance late on August 13, 2024. 

She sadly passed away the next day, as the inquest heard how a paramedic had suggested that they believed Ms Street was ‘overreacting and having a panic attack’ when she was passed over to triage staff. 

The inquest, which started on Wednesday and is expected to last for three days, heard how the ‘talented’ and ‘outgoing’ young woman was treated by medical staff. 

Described by her family as a ‘very well-liked, creative and outgoing woman’ who ‘enjoyed being around people and going to concerts’, Ms Street had previously experienced a provoked pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis in 2017. 

After the incident, Ms Street took blood thinners at various points between 2017 and 2024, but when she arrived at Royal Oldham Hospital on the night of August 13, Ms Street was given an oxygen mask that was not connected to anything to ‘try and regulate her breathing’, and subsequently spent about an hour in a corridor before being moved to higher care. 

The inquest heard evidence that a paramedic had suggested that they thought Ms Street was ‘overreacting and having a panic attack’ when she was passed over to triage staff. 

Her condition deteriorated, and she died hours later due to pulmonary embolism with a background of fatty liver disease, the inquest was told.

Ms Street, from Castleton, in Rochdale, had been feeling off for the previous two days before her boyfriend called an ambulance on August 13 when she started passing out. 

In the days preceding her hospital admission, the graduate—who had studied sociology and received the Dean’s Award for her dissertation—had trouble sleeping and was having trouble keeping food and water down.

When she arrived at the hospital, Ms Street was given a disconnected oxygen mask and left in a corridor. 

Staff Nurse Michelle Neale, the triage nurse who was on shift on the night of her death, asked for Ms Street to have an ECG, blood tests and venous blood gas tests. 

Ms Neale said the ambulance had told her Ms Street was hyperventilating, but they had regulated her breathing by talking to her. 

The nurse said she ‘didn’t know’ why she gave her a disconnected mask and accepted that she shouldn’t have done it – but said it ‘did regulate her breathing’ and that Clarissa was ‘speaking in full sentences’. 

Clarissa was then transferred to a more senior nurse by Ms Neale, who informed her that she would need a cubicle. But after that, Clarissa—who had a fast heart rate and low blood oxygen levels—was put in a hallway for almost an hour.

She added that the senior nurse had told her that Clarissa was ‘young, so we’ll just keep an eye on her’ when she was put on fluids and left in the corridor.

Ms Neale said: ‘Normally I would challenge it, but Clarissa was talking to me. She could speak to me in full sentences. 

‘I remember her coming in. She was able to talk to me, and she told me that she had been on holiday to the Canary Islands. 

‘I went back to Clarissa on the corridor, and I asked her had [the oxygen mask] helped her, and she said yes.’ 

She added that a more senior nurse said they would give Clarissa some fluids and then reassess her with the view of sending her to an urgent treatment centre. However, Clarissa was eventually taken to higher care to be treated by a doctor before deteriorating and sadly passing away in the early hours of August 14. 

The inquest heard how, based on national guidelines, there was no need for her to be referred to haematology in 2017 at the time of her pulmonary embolism, and no need for anticoagulant drugs to be used long-term due to her embolism being provoked. 

However, it was acknowledged that, looking back, Clarissa may have benefited from a haematology referral and more testing, which might have identified an underlying contributory issue.

However, the inquest heard her embolism in 2024 was unprovoked and it ‘cannot be said that the two are linked’.

The inquest began on Wednesday, May 6, at Rochdale Coroner’s Court and is scheduled to last for three days, ending on Friday, May 8. 

Now let’s clap for the NHS because this woman had her entire future in front of her, but allegedly it was taken away through total incompetence and blasé attitudes. As a patient with her history, she should have been given priority attention, and this is utterly shameful.

This is total neglect, and I know from personal experience because I suffer badly from stomach problems and bleeding, and I generally know that when I have to be taken to the hospital by ambulance because of the bleeding, I am going to spend quite a few days in the hospital, so I always have a bag packed. When the paramedics turned up, they laughed at me and asked if I was going on holiday, and the ridicule got even worse once I got to the hospital.

This woman died from an embolism, but there is a bit of a difference between that and a panic attack, and this was absolutely tragic, and all concerned should have been sacked, even prosecuted, but the best that these hospitals came up with is ‘Lessons need to be learned’, what is that? Until the next time.

A Migrant On Disability Benefits Is Allowed To Stay In A Retirement Home With His Younger Wife And Twins

After arguing that removal would violate his human rights, a migrant father-of-nine has been allowed to remain at a retirement home with his young family until he finds more suitable lodgings.

Shahidul Haque, 59, has spent over a year fighting attempts to remove him from the one-bedroom property, where he lives with his 28-year-old wife and twin daughters.

He insisted he would fight eviction unless larger accommodation was found, arguing that forcing his family out would violate his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But the case, brought by Southern Housing, has been adjourned until after September 5, while fresh talks take place over finding the family a larger home.

The Bangladeshi national, who has lived in the UK since 1997 and now holds a British passport, is registered disabled and receives benefits for a range of conditions including diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, hypertension and depression.

He moved into the retirement flat at David Smith Court in Reading in July 2024, paying £110.70 a week.

But just months later, on December 20, his wife Jakia Sultana Monni and their twin daughters joined him from Bangladesh – despite the accommodation being designated for over-55s and intended for single occupancy.

Mr Haque claims he did not realise the specialist housing rules prevented him from bringing his family to live with him, claiming his limited English meant the tenancy agreement was not properly understood.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: ‘When I filled out the tenancy agreement, I was on my own, and I moved into the flat alone.

‘I didn’t know that I couldn’t move my wife and children in months later. My English is not so good, and nothing was explained to me in any detail.

‘Southern Housing cannot just throw us out. We have to stay here, because we have nowhere else to go.

‘What we really need is a bigger home. This property isn’t suitable for a family. It’s too small, it’s only for a single person.

‘We have only one bedroom and so have to push two beds together. One for me and my wife, and one for my daughters. It’s too crowded.

‘If Southern Housing or West Berkshire Council can find us somewhere more suitable, then we’ll go. But at the moment we have no other place – this is it.’

Lawyers acting for Mr Haque argue that the terms of his tenancy were never translated into Sylheti, his first language, and say evicting the family would breach his right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a written defence, his barrister, Isabel Bertschinger, said: ‘It is averred that the Terms and Conditions of the tenancy agreement were never explained to the Defendant via a Sylheti interpreter or translated into Sylheti in a written document such that the Defendant could understand them.’

She added: ‘The Claimant’s decisions to institute, pursue and continue to seek possession of the property are incompatible with the Defendant’s rights under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights and possession would constitute a disproportionate interference therewith.

‘He is disabled and has limited English language skills, and that he is in receipt of benefits and therefore has a low income.

‘His wife and children have only recently arrived in the UK and would be particularly vulnerable if made homeless.

‘To evict him from his home would have a serious and drastic impact on the Defendant’s health and wellbeing and therefore on his private life, and to prevent him from living with his wife and children would have a severe and disproportionate impact on his family life.’

But Southern Housing has pushed back, arguing Mr Haque breached the terms of his tenancy by moving extra occupants into accommodation specifically reserved for older residents.

The provider has also cited neighbour concerns regarding the young children’s loudness and disturbance.

Its solicitor, Taiwo Temilade, previously said: ‘The Defendant’s two young children have become a source of excess noise levels and anti-social behaviour, negatively affecting other residents within the estate through misuse of safety features and generally rambunctious behaviour.’

Mr Haque rejected the criticism, saying: ‘My children play and sometimes they argue, and the neighbours complain, but they are only small. I try and keep them as quiet as possible.

‘They go to a local nursery, so they’re not always at home in the day. They have sounded the emergency alarm by pulling the security cords, but I’ve wrapped the cords around the intercom phone to stop that from happening.

‘In London, I lived in a four-bedroom home. We need a house, not a small one-bed flat.’

At a previous hearing on August 4, deputy district judge Simon Lindsey acknowledged the complexity of the case and stopped short of granting an immediate eviction.

He said: ‘Fundamentally, I think the defendant probably should not be in this property with his wife and two children, but the question of how he came to be in this place appears to be unresolved and we have to get to that another time.’

Mr Haque was married to his first wife, with whom he had seven children and lived in a four-bedroom home in Plaistow, East London.

But when he divorced, he became homeless and was put up in temporary accommodation and then social housing in Newham before being transferred to David Smith Court.

A request for comment has been sent to Southern Housing.

It’s all very well and good to say ‘human rights’, but what about the residents’ human rights? They likely don’t meet the requirements to have any, and our government don’t care about the victims.

So, it appears that asylum seekers have human rights, but the British people are treated like cattle, and he might have had very limited English. Still, he has eyes to see, and surely he would have seen that the accommodation was too small to bring his family to, but this will keep happening when our government are putting our own tax-paying, hard-working citizens at the back of the queue.

The man has lived in the UK since 1997, and he still can’t understand English, except that he knows and understands all about his human rights. They are very clued up, even before they get on the boat. ‘I not understand’, ‘I not speak English’, ‘I fled physical torture’, ‘I need home for my many kids’, and ‘I have wives, but oh now I am gay, and there is risk to my personal safety’, and lastly, ‘I know my rights’.

But they don’t need to understand English anymore, do they? They have large communities here, so now they don’t even have to make the effort, and how did his wife get a visa to join her husband when he apparently doesn’t have the funds to support her and two children? – Oh, I forgot, the taxpayer can!

These asylum seekers appear to have nothing when they arrive, yet they insist that British taxpayers cover their living expenses. All they require is a few words: ‘I want’, ‘I need’, ‘I need more’, and they get it.

Amazon Drone Delivery

Amazon has delivered its first parcel by drone in the UK – dropping a small item into a customer’s front garden less than two hours after they ordered it. 

The tech giant is trialling the new ultra-fast delivery service called Prime Air in Darlington, County Durham.

Packages must weigh less than 5lb or 2.2kg and fit into the size of a shoebox to be eligible for drone delivery.

Customers must also have a garden or yard for the parcel to be dropped off in and live within a 7.5-mile radius of Amazon’s fulfilment centre.

While drone delivery is presently only available in Darlington, Amazon hopes to gradually expand the service to other parts of the UK.

The tech giant is using its most modern drone, the MK30, to deliver customers’ parcels.

The aircraft are fitted with sensors that recognise and avoid any obstructions in its path, such as trampolines, washing lines and other drones.

As the drone approaches each drop-off point, it knows precisely where to release the package using GPS.

The parcels, which must contain everyday items such as beauty products or batteries, are dropped from a height of 12 feet into the customers’ garden or yard.

In the UK, Amazon can deliver parcels by drone in under two hours.

However, in the US, where the system is already used across five states, the average time is just 36 minutes. 

The tech giant can carry out up to ten drone flights every hour or as many as one hundred deliveries a day from Monday to Friday. 

David Carbon from Prime Air said: ‘Starting flights in Darlington marks an important milestone in bringing drone delivery to the UK. 

‘Safety is our top priority, and we have worked closely with Darlington Council and the Civil Aviation Authority.

‘Our MK30 drones are designed to operate quietly and efficiently.

‘We look forward to demonstrating how this innovative technology can serve the people of Darlington while maintaining the highest safety standards.’

Rob Shield allowed Amazon to test the drones for the first time on his property using an Airbnb.

He told the BBC: ‘Initially it was a novelty, so we were ordering everything under the sun. Pens, paper, chocolates – anything to make it keep coming.

‘Since then, you obviously start realising “I actually need something today” like tape measures and stuff like that, you’re always losing – we just order it, and it comes.’

The NHS is already trialling the use of drones to deliver blood supplies in London.

Meanwhile, the Royal Mail has begun using the aircraft to dispatch packages to remote communities in Orkney.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong? People are already unemployed, and now there will be more jobless people because, of course, AI is so much better than human contact, and the incessant buzzing of drones will destroy any peace that is left – this will change the landscape permanently. Small children and animals were not injured during this delivery, not this time anyhow!

I’m sure they will be useful for condoms if they deliver at night – what will it be next, robot nail trimming and hair cutting!

The UK’s Broken” Asylum System

Shabana Mahmood has publicly said that she wants the UK to increase the number of refugees arriving through safe and legal routes, but only after Labour has overhauled what she calls the “broken” asylum system.

Across numerous interviews — including Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast — Mahmood explained that her goal is to expand controlled, capped legal pathways for refugees once the government has restored order to the existing system. She framed this as part of a plan to break the business model of people-smuggling gangs, reduce dangerous Channel crossings, restore public confidence in the immigration system and shift from irregular to managed, legal entry routes.

She underlined that her true goal was to expand significantly by safe and legal means.

Mahmood has presented three capped programs, all of which require obtaining refugee status before travel.

Student route – for refugee and displaced students to study at UK universities from 2027

Skilled refugee route – allowing refugees with professional skills to work in the UK

Community sponsorship route – modelled on Homes for Ukraine, enabling civil society groups to sponsor arrivals

The government would regulate the number of routes, and each route would have an annual quota. She has also claimed that tightening rules on irregular migration, including more stringent enforcement and measures to prevent small-boat crossings, is essential before expanding legal routes. Her position is that generosity requires control, and that once the system is functioning, the UK can be ‘much more generous’ through structured pathways.

This framing is also a response to internal tensions within Labour. Some Labour figures, including Angela Rayner, have criticised aspects of Mahmood’s approach as too restrictive, while others claim the system requires firmer management before expansion.

Record Channel crossings and pressure on accommodation have heightened debate. Labour faces criticism from both left and right. The Left are concerned about tougher rules, longer settlement times, and limits on family reunion. The Right claims Labour has ‘lost control’ of borders. Mahmood’s plan is positioned as a middle path, which is strict on illegal routes, expanding legal routes once control is established.

Mahmood’s message is consistent:

  • Fix the asylum system first (enforcement, backlog, small boats).
  • Then expand safe, capped, legal refugee routes (students, skilled workers, community sponsorship).
  • Goal: replace dangerous, irregular migration with controlled humanitarian pathways.

It’s refreshing to see a politician acknowledging that there is clearly an issue that needs addressing because we just can’t carry on the way we are, and something has to change.

So, how is our government going to stop small boats from crossing the Channel? Well, it seems that because we are no longer in the EU, we will have to pay France to intercept boats before they launch at a cost of £660 million over three years.

This is the most aggressive ‘stop them before they launch’ strategy the UK has ever funded. Whether it works depends on French enforcement power, smuggler adaptation, weather and seasonal patterns, and UK asylum processing reforms.

Of course, they’ll do nothing substantial because it’s like an adult telling a child, ‘You’ll get a sweetie tomorrow. Now go to bed.’   

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