THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO

Chimpanzee’s Spine

Most people get problems with their spine, particularly as they get older, some from wear and tear and other people for many other reasons, but have you ever considered why? Well, people with lower back problems are more inclined to have a spine similar in shape to the chimpanzee, our closest ape relatives.

And there is a lesion which develops in the disc within the bones of the spine that is the reason for its differing shape, and it would have caused the vertebrae to change as humans evolved from using four legs to two legs, and now researchers say that their findings could assist doctors to predict who may be at risk of back problems.

The vertebrae of chimpanzees, orangutans and ancient human skeletons were examined to investigate the connection between the shapes of the bones of the vertebrae, perpendicular movement and the health of the human spine, and evidently, they provide helpful insights into our ancestor’s health and lifestyles.

The skeletons further provided data about how humans evolved to move on two “rear” legs, and the findings revealed that the vertebrae of humans with disc problems were familiar in appearance to those of our closest ape relatives, the chimpanzee, than are the vertebrae of humans without disc problems.

The study picked up that these individuals have a lesion described as a Schmorl’s node, a small hernia which can happen in the disc between the vertebrae, and even though there’s not one explanation for the node, it’s believed to be associated to stress and strain on the lower back.

Evolution is not perfect, so over several thousands of years humans have not all adapted in the same way, and it suggests that the pathological vertebrae of some people may be less well adapted for walking upright.

But human and chimp genes may have divided 13 million years ago, more than twice as long ago as had been generally believed, and it has further been found that male chimps pass on far more genetic mutations to their offspring than male humans do, showing earlier unknown evolutionary differentiation between the species.

Chimpanzees are the nearest living relations to humans, so studying chimps could assist scientists to learn more about human development.

The amount of genetic differentiation between two species shows how closely related the species are, and by calculating the rate at which those variations happen, researchers can then determine when the ancestors of species such as humans and chimpanzees may have diverged.

Chimpanzees usually have one more thoracic, one less lumbar vertebra, and one less caudal vertebra than do humans. Both usually have seven cervical vertebrae and usually, the combined thoracic, lumbar, and sacral regions consist of 22 vertebrae, and chimpanzees lack the acute curves of the human column, and the angle between the lumbar and sacral area is more acute.

But the actual enigma for the evolutionist is not to explain the species of organism that have actually ever existed, the actual problem is for the evolutionist is how is it that most classes of potential and apparently reasonable organisms have never existed.

The dilemma is to explain the location of the void spaces in the clustered assembly of occupied points. It’s easy to describe organisms that have never existed. There are snakes that live in grass, but there is no grass eating snakes. Birds rest on trees, yet, apart from a few exceptions, they don’t all eat the greenery around them, but rather consume a vast abundance of energy hunting for food.

But if you suffer from lower back pain, your vertebrae might closely resemble that of our nearest ape relative, the chimpanzee.

Our vertebrae have discs of cartilage between the vertebrae, which allow our spines a measure of pliancy, and further, play a significant role as shock absorbers when we move around and do anything that’s high impact. But sometimes these discs can shift, or become herniated. This means a small lesion opens up in the fibrous outer layer of the disc, and the inner viscous hub is able to move out of place, either moving horizontally or vertically, into the bone.

These lesions, further known as Schmorl’s nodes, can result in some pretty severe back pain, but how and why they occur isn’t very well understood, and it’s been suggested that the shape of someone’s vertebrae could be directly linked to their probability of developing Schmorl’s nodes.

And because humans exhibit considerably more degenerative and traumatic spinal pain than non-human primates, many research groups have hypothesised that the cause of this usually debilitating damage might be associated to the way we move around, on two feet.

And with this hypothesis in mind researchers have led a cross-species study of spine shapes, looking at medieval period human skeletons, matching them with the bones of chimpanzees and orangutans.

The aim was to examine the relationship between the shapes of the bones making up the spines of each species and their means of movement, in order to understand that disc lesions are more prone to affect people with spine shapes closely resembling those of our ape ancestors.

As humans evolved, our vertebrae slowly morphed into shapes that can better handle the pressure of walking erect, but, as researchers pointed out, our vertebral shape is almost certainly determined by multiple genes. This suggests that within the human species, some individuals can be expected to have vertebrae that are closer in appearance to those of our common ancestor than others.

It further suggests that those people are less adapted for bipedalism (using two legs for walking), and after analysing the skeletons, researchers discovered that healthy vertebrae were distinct in each species, but unhealthy vertebrae in humans, those afflicted with Schmorl’s nodes, were statistically indistinguishable from those of chimpanzees.

This suggests they more closely resembled the chimp vertebrae than the healthy human spines, and the conclusions showed that the vertebrae of humans with disc problems were closer in appearance to those of our closest ape relative, the chimpanzee, than are the vertebrae of humans without disc problems, and that the pathological vertebrae of some people are well less adapted for walking upright.

I honestly couldn’t envision us all walking about on all fours, but then I did say that it was a truly bad thing us coming out of the trees!

Warzone Paris – Paris In Flames

Teargas and baton ammunition were adopted by fired-up riot cops on a so-called ‘Act XVIII’ Day of Rage created by the intrepid Yellow Vest movement as strife broke out on the Champs Elysee, the most prestigious avenue in the under-siege city, by 11 am, where there had now been 25 seizures.

Demonstrators targeted symbols of the luxury industry, stores including labels like Hugo Boss and Lacoste, where they destroyed, looted and torched, and an opulent restaurant called Fouquet’s, long connected with politicians and celebrities was also trashed and set aflame by the rampaging crowds who promptly turned Paris into a warzone.

A vehicle ignited outside the luxury boutique Kenzo, one of the numerous fires on and around the famed Champs Elysees. The violence kicked off when protestors hurled smoke bombs and other things at police along the famed avenue scene of repeated past rioting and they began hammering on the windows of a police van. Riot police then withdrew, with demonstrators booting the side of a large truck screaming that Macron should resign.

Gangs were targeting police and carrying out infinite acts of vandalism. Fires were being lit, including vehicles, and thousands of people were appearing all over the city, with the police already extremely stretched.

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Protests were not only organised by the Yellow Vests, who are identified after their high visibility motoring jackets, but also by climate change protestors, and all were endeavouring to close in on the Elysee Palace, Macron’s official home, but were held back by barriers and rows of police.

There were 7,000-8,000 demonstrators in Paris on Saturday of which 1,500 were ultra-violent ones that were there to destroy things, but pushing a hard line, Castaner ordered police to retaliate against these unacceptable acts, rebuking those who call for disorder and that was there to ferment chaos in Paris.

About 12 members of the Yellow Vest movement have died in the blockades that were established at the major roads around France, while hundreds of others were wounded in the rioting.

The Vest had been protesting since November 17 last year, and despite a series of concessions by Macron including scrapping green taxes of diesel and petrol, there was still a continued call for him to step down.

Many were detained, including some 700 who were held in custody on a single day in Paris last December, and mounted police, water cannons, and 14 armoured vehicles competent of spreading high-intensity gas were all on standby as part of the security operation, yet they failed to stop extensive turmoil over the past few weekends, with the worst brutality coming at night, with the Vests being joined by fanatics from the far Right and the ultra-Left, as well as insurgents hell-bent on creating as much destruction as possible.

But crisis-ridden Mr Macron has not only climbed down on forcing green taxes, but raised the national minimum wage by seven per cent, and scrapped taxes on bonuses, but the Yellow Vests said their objections would continue indefinitely as they fight for even more concessions.

Just blame it on Brexit, everyone else does because this is precisely what you get when governments disregard the very people they’re supposed to serve, whether they agree with them or not they’re still only delegates there to carry out the people’s wishes and that is a fact! And it’s coming to the UK shortly.

But it’s just like us Brits to lie back and watch the government destroy our country. At least these people are taking a stand! But this country is heading the same way because there has never been a worse example of anti-democracy that’s been shown in parliament over Brexit, and whichever way people voted, you actually do have to recognise the deception and dishonesty of the speaker and the Prime Minister, and their lack of loyalty to the electorate is shocking.

Universal Credit Dad-Of-Three Tried To Kill Himself

A dad who was driven to desperation by Universal Credit tried to kill himself while on the telephone to the DWP after he was denied payment for 10 weeks.

Dean Lovell-Payne, 52, who was disabled by a fall, took a large overdose in September 2018 after having to endure approximately three months without getting any benefits at all. Presently Dean, his partner Paula and their three children Andrew, 30, Lou, 17, and Phoebe, 15, have been made to move into a house in the woods on the outskirts of Bournemouth which is only obtainable by a dirt road, meaning that wheelchair-bound Dean is completely housebound.

Despite appealing to the Universal Credit helpline, following a 10-week payment delay Dean said he believed he had no alternative but to take his own life during the call as he believed his life insurance would pay out more swiftly.

Funnily enough, he got his benefits the same day after police were thought to have alerted the DWP to the incident, yet they made him wait all that time before swiftly paying him out because he’d tried to take his own life just so that they didn’t look unsympathetic.

The former ambulance worker, from Poole, Dorset, said that each and every day is horrible, and he realised things were utterly hopeless and that his life insurance would be more inclined to pay out in time to support his family than by Universal Credit, and he thought that it was his only choice to end his family from its misery, so he took an overdose.

He didn’t even hang up the telephone and he told the cruel monsters at the DWP precisely what he was doing, and it seemed like the only way his family would be saved and no longer suffering, the only end to the hardship and instability.

The next thing he knew the police and ambulance had arrived, but the only reason he survived the overdose was that he had a tolerance to the painkillers and sleeping tablets that he’d taken, which was more luck than judgement.

And even though he’s the same person, he’s now apprehensive, nervous and mistrusting of anyone in the benefits system, and even though he survived it, he doesn’t see much of a future for himself.

Dean has been on benefits since 2011 after he developed sepsis and global nerve and joint pain following an operation, but despite his health improving and being able to work part-time with the ambulance service, he suffered a major fall and consequent infection in June which prevented him from walking.

He was forced to move to a cheaper home, after which Dean applied for Universal Credit the same month, but their current home, which is a converted motel in secluded woods outside Bournemouth near Ringwood, Dorset is totally inadequate for him and his family to live in.

The access to the house is shocking, it’s only gravel paths and sometimes he feels like a hostage there, and the house is freezing in the winter. Half the month they don’t have any heating because they can’t afford to heat the house, and after going through the mandatory checks, Dean was told that he would have to wait five weeks for the payment to be processed.

He maintains that the delay of 10 weeks in total meant he and Paula came close to being forced to put their children into care and meant that they extinguished any little savings the couple had, but five weeks came and went, and they waited and waited and they were reaching crisis time.

Their money had long since run out and the end of the school holidays meant the knock-on effect of no Universal Credit was going to bite, and without confirmed Universal Credit they couldn’t get their children to school, and couldn’t sort out their free school meals or feed them at home.

They also had letters from council tax demanding money, and they couldn’t get any prescriptions either, and all of their standing orders were set to bounce within days.

The only security net he had left for his family was his life insurance, and even though Dean survived the overdose, his life has not improved, and he struggles to get out of bed in the morning to take his daughter to school, and then get back into bed.

Dean has worked all of his life, but now he’s being made to feel worthless, simply because he’s too ill to work, and he feels helpless, and there doesn’t appear to be anywhere to turn.

Paula is Dean’s full-time carer and has to carry him to the car every day so that he can drive his daughter to school, but he doesn’t know from one day to the next if they can get their daughter to school or not.

He wants to provide for his family but he can’t, and Paula sees Dean struggle every day and it’s terrifying for her, and she feels like a failure as a mother because they can’t do the stuff for their children that they’re supposed to do.

The DWP stated that they sympathise with the distress Mr Lovell-Payne felt, but as far as they’re concerned Jobcentre staff managed his claim with sensitivity and in line with their duty of care, and that the Universal Credit payment was made as soon as Mr Lovell-Payne’s claim had been properly established.

The Universal Credit system needs to be examined by proficient thinkers because this is affecting people’s lives psychologically, physically and emotionally, and this is ethically incorrect, and the DWP has ruined countless genuine people’s lives.

Of course, there are scammers out there that know the system inside out, they know what boxes to tick and what answers to give, this is why genuinely sick people who have worked always get the worst treatment.

It was never about fraud, it was all about conserving money by any means possible, and if people died along the way it wouldn’t be any skin off their nose as far as the DWP is concerned, a few more deaths simply means that they save a little more money.

There will be some people out there maintaining that insurance companies don’t pay out if someone commits suicide, but there’s a number of companies that do pay out for suicide, and suicide prevention in the United Kingdom has been credited for the current slump in the number of suicides, but sadly, it’s still pretty much a daily occurrence.

Over the past 3 years, there has been a drop in the number of suicides, but that doesn’t suggest it’s a problem that can be disregarded. In 2016, 4,941 people in the United Kingdom committed suicide, with the number of men being three times greater than that of women, that said, female suicide rates are higher than they have been in a decade.

And losing a loved one not only brings heartache as they strive to interpret their thinking, but it can further present severe financial hardships to a loved one and their family, and it’s a popular misconception that life insurance doesn’t pay out if the cause of death was suicide, this is just not the case, but it’s also not that simple.

It’s all in the policy’s small print, and there are several clauses drafted into a life insurance policy that decides whether or not a payout is issued.

The suicide clause is the period of time following the commencement of the policy in which a payout will not be made if the event of death is suicide, and this clause exists to protect the insurer and is intended to prevent vulnerable people from committing suicide, for the purpose of obtaining a payout.

However, on occasions, if suicide is committed inside a period stated by the suicide clause, insurers will reimburse the premiums which have been paid to date. Therefore, even if suicide was committed during the suicide clause period, it’s still important to communicate with the insurer.

The suicide clause, in summary, describes the time period at the beginning of the policy in which if suicide is committed, a payout will not be made. The clause is typically 2 years, but can occasionally be 12 months, depending on the insurer.

After this period, a full payout is likely to be issued, even if the cause of death is suicide, and the clause normally restarts if an existing life insurance policy is replaced with a new one.

This man did work until his injury, and we shouldn’t knock any genuine sick person but of course, there are scammers out there that make us question some of the real ones, and at the end of the day Universal Credit is destroying people, and it needs scrapping.

It’s a shame, but the DWP do have to follow a process, and there’s nothing that the other person on the other side of the telephone can do, and even if an MP steps in, they can only go so fast, and listening to suicide calls is not part of their job description.

Sadly, what isn’t part of that process is hurrying up the process, in fact it’s likely to dawdle it slightly as they attempt to make sense of the new information coming in and how it affects benefits, and these people on the other end of the telephone aren’t callous, and they don’t have the choices that people believe they do, and those people that do make these decisions can’t be directly contacted by the public.

Even the decision makers can only do so much and they have to follow the law and administration that the Home Secretary has set out, they can’t deviate.

We understand that people need help, but lately, the government have been useless at providing help, because the Tories perpetually use a divide and destroy strategy when it comes to benefits, making out that all those getting benefits are scroungers, well they’re not!

This guy and his family are entitled to these benefits, and we should all be considering how this would affect our lives if we were in his situation, and after paying into a system for numerous years and contributing to society as an ambulance worker, don’t you think this man deserves to be supported by the welfare system 101 per cent, unlike EU nationals claiming child tax credit for children they may or may not have in another country?

However, we have a host of rabid Tories, killing those in need of assistance, but this is what they’re entitled to by law, but instead, they’re simply punishing those people in need.

Yet again here is a perfect example of the government not looking after their own, but they spend millions of pounds on less important things, yet our country has no money to support the ones that require it.

Austerity when it suits the government, same old crap, different day, and we should quit condemning him and others like him because everyone would do the same if suddenly they fell sick or were disabled and helpless to fend for themselves.

And those people out there that are happy to rebuke the unemployed or people that are seriously disabled, don’t say that you wouldn’t claim a penny from so-called hardworking taxpayers, and if he is getting as much as some people that are working, don’t you think that shows you that the wage system is antiquated and that taxpayers are being short-changed?

If someone on benefits requires that amount to live on and still struggles, then rather than reprimanding them, people should stand up, and demand more wages. The government lie to the public every day and the people put up with it, choosing to take their disappointments out on people like this man and his family.

Remember this man has already paid into the system, unlike many others who never have but make benefits a lifestyle alternative. The problem is the Tories have demonised all benefit claimants as parasites, which implies that the worthy are suffering because of a tiny number of offenders.

This man was driven to desperation, and if anyone believes it was a ploy to make a buck, which appears to be the case, then maybe people need to re-evaluate how much of a totally idiotic idea this is, putting a gamble against your favour with your life would be, considering that perhaps he’d get some free money if he took his own life.

Now consider for the briefest moment, this guy and his family get a place, not by choice because look there’s no social housing, but the outgoings were just too much because being without support for ten weeks is going to make someone do drastic stuff, yet there’s a lot of people who are willing to talk down about him as if he should be ashamed, but there’s a lot of people who are capable of working 50 hours a week, but then they have their limbs, they’re not broken, and they’re not disabled.

He further worked for the NHS, so people should really be thankful for their good health because anyone could find themselves in his situation. Not only that, in England and Wales, it’s an offence to cause harassment, fear or suffering under the Public Order Act 1986.

This carries a £1,000 fine or a penalty notice of £80, and if the crime was perpetrated with intent to cause harassment, fear or suffering, the wrongdoer can be given 6 months jail time or a fine.

This shameful repugnant government has to go, and Universal Credit is evil. Does anyone actually believe that it takes 5-6 weeks in this age of computing to sort out a claim? And why do they make the forms so complicated? They actually don’t need to make them so difficult, after all, there will never be enough jobs to go around anyhow in an island of 68 million people, so we need to quit buying nukes, end foreign aid, and let other nations take their share.

As long as people and poor people keep voting, and keep voting for their perceived betters our lives will be rubbish, and all strides made to make the ordinary person’s life civilised and more comfortable will be succeeded by 19th-century cruel means-tested procedures.

The level of deprivation we see now will be nothing compared to what it will be if the government keep on with their grand scheme of de-regulation and economic duality, and don’t think it can’t happen, it can, and it will if people keep voting these vile people into seats of authority.

We need a government with a social conscience, and we need it thirty years ago, but people choose Tory because they believe it makes them better than the rest of us, but the system won’t be right until it works for everyone, and that includes people on the streets.

Universal Credit is just not fit for purpose, and we should all feel for this guy who was a hard worker, but fell on hard times but was treated in such a disturbing way. Everyone that works pays National Insurance to make sure they’re covered should something like this happen, and it’s utterly shameful.

Our biggest opponent by far this society has is the working class Tory voter, who has immortalised this scandal but still can’t see how exploited they are, and it’s a scandal quite frankly, and our government are taking us back to Victorian standards.

How Theresa May can sleep at night knowing that people have to use food banks to survive is beyond me. She takes from the poorest with one hand and plates it out to her wealthy mates with the other, true evil!

Universal Credit is going to cause serious harm and injury to thousands and people are never going to be able to get themselves out of debt, and the Tories either know this and are hoping for mass suicides or they just don’t give a damn.

Jobcentre workers get bonus payments for sanctioning claimants and have fixed targets per month, and people who attempt to challenge workers at the Jobcentre, or suggest that they have caused them to become suicidal are considered hostile and possibly violent on their record, and this world that we now live in really is cursed!

This Could Save Lives

Sleeping pods for displaced people in Newport have been praised as an emergency lifeline for rough sleepers and welcomed by residents across the capital.

Charity Amazing Grace Spaces first unveiled the pods in October 2018, having recorded a rise in the number of rough sleepers in many cities. The charity arranged for two pods to be sited in the city centre after a businessman gave consent for them to be located on land at the rear of his site.

The pods which cost between five to six thousand pounds each were currently occupied by two rough sleepers, who had access to a bed, light, toilet and phone charger, and the Newport residents have embraced the arrival of the pods, with one rough sleeper stating that the project had stopped him committing crime just to have access to a warm prison cell.

This is excellent work from the charity and those who have served to make it possible, and anything that benefits people without a home can only be a good thing, and it gives an emergency lifeline to rough sleepers, and rather than fight the cold, they can now be inside one of these great pods.

There are far too many homeless people out there, and if homeless people are using these pods, then they must be working, and this could save lives.

Let’s pray that they work because there shouldn’t be anyone in 21st century Britain who is homeless, and let’s hope that these pods can turn people’s lives around. However, one person expressed his reservations, saying that he didn’t think that it would make a difference.

These pods supposedly only give interim settlement, so how will this all work in the long run? Of course, rough sleepers require help but will it actually work and to what degree? And there is the off chance that they might get vandalised.

But rough sleepers need the right help, integrated support and mental health triage needed with more supervised emergency accommodation. But of course, the concern of this person should be noted, but we must also have more compassion for the homeless, and maybe we can find suitable places for these pods or similar.

It would be nice to see some wasteland that has been fenced up and unused finally put to some use, maybe build a bit of a community for the homeless with shower blocks, and they should be put first in regards to providing homes for them so that they can be put back into society and to help them find help with alcohol or drug abuse et cetera.

And even though this is all quite well-meaning, we shouldn’t be condemning these people to ghettos when there’s enough land to build houses and enough investment out there to do so.

The pods are a very good idea, but not on a permanent basis because then we would end up with ghettos for the homeless. The money has to come from somewhere to build these houses, and there are families out there with children that are presently in dire straights as these rough sleepers who should have a preference.

This is a well-intentioned but perhaps flawed in thinking, and perhaps it might only be a matter of time before a body is found inside one of these pods because there is a drugs problem with some of the homeless, but these pods should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

This is a homeless problem, and giving people someplace to stay, even just for a night is helping a few, or if these pods take off, then more than a few, and it might not be addressing the cause but at least it’s putting a roof over their heads and out of the cold so that they don’t die on the streets.

It’s not the case of funding their addictions, it’s the fact that these are human beings, and whether they have a problem is irrelevant, they warrant the same reverence as your next door neighbour, which we wouldn’t think twice about doing, but a tramp on the streets, well now, that’s another story.

It’s not only drug users that end up on the street homeless, homelessness is created by a mixture of circumstances, both structural, for example, the benefits system, employment rates, and the housing market, and individual addiction problems, mental health, family breakdown and past trauma, and these pods might be a sticking plaster but at least they will benefit a few people a great deal.

We should be very impressed with the work that this Newport charity do and we should feel especially proud of them because they’re doing their bit for the city. Of course, the pods won’t save the plight of homelessness, and the pods aren’t supposed to be a long term thing, but it does give a human being hope for one more night, and that’s how we can transform the world with a bit of hope and progress at a time.

We know that social difficulties like homelessness need a more complex solution for the long-haul, but launching our hands up on the air and saying that it’s pointless, we miss the chance that we have at this moment to do the little things because we’re not powerless to do something, and something is better than nothing, RIGHT?

Each one of us is able to help someone, somehow, right now, at this moment, and if we don’t use that power, we lose it. So, consider for one second and think about the tiny gift of assistance you can give in your life, from holding a door open for someone who’s trying to catch a train, and then reflect on the impact it would have had on that person.

Now, examine the impact a pod could have in saving a life, and perhaps one of those rough sleepers will cross your path and transform your life in some tiny or vast way that you could never have foreseen, and we should never discourage anyone from putting their time, strength and heart into something that can improve the environment that we live in.

Childcare Payments Are Stopping Parents From Working

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A new report from the mighty Work and Pensions Committee shows the governments Universal Credit policy is preventing people from returning to work, and the way that childcare payments are paid in Universal Credit directly clashes with the Government’s principal aim for the policy, getting more people into work.

One of the government’s principal selling features for the scheme is that it will see a further 200,000 people back into work, so that would suggest that the UK’s workforce will contribute over 100,000 million additional hours every year under the new benefits scheme.

However, its success or downfall in accomplishing these aims depends mostly on working parents, and if the government had set out to create a policy to make it more difficult for parents to get into work, it could hardly have done better than this one.

It’s not only pushing parents into desperation and debt and creating difficulties for childcare providers, but it’s further actively serving to prevent the Government from obtaining its own aim of getting more people into work.

And it is totally irresponsible of the Government to imply that the way around this policy’s inherent problems is for struggling, striving parents to take on more debt, and this about more than employment numbers.

Good quality childcare enhances a child’s life prospects and that enhances our society and our economy, and if the government doesn’t sort this out, Universal Credit childcare support will work against all that good, as well as against the objectives of Universal Credit itself.

Universal Credit claimants must pay for childcare up-front and claim recompense from the Department after the childcare has been given. This can leave families waiting weeks or even months to be paid back, and many households will end up being in precarious financial positions.

Too many will face a stark decision, turn down a job offer, or get themselves into debt to DWP, or to friends, family or other loan providers in order to pay for childcare, but the department said that its approach in reimbursing childcare costs under Universal Credit is designed to lessen rates and high rates of fraud and failure in the legacy policy, but prioritising this goal has built a wall to employment that will be unconquerable for some families.

The Tories have misled the people and continue to lie, it’s like they believe that being poor, further means that people are ignorant, and the report says that their own policy works against the very thing they’re claiming for, a higher employment rate, and it’s blatantly apparent that Universal Credit has pushed many into actual poverty.

The entire thing is drivel, they say that they guarantee you an interview, and they preach this openly, but numerous disabled people have nothing to contribute, and that’s not an onus on them, and numerous work coaches are quite honest by telling people that they have barely any funding because it was cut by the government.

The DWP have silly expectations of employers taking on people with disabilities, which need workplace modifications and support et cetera, but it’s really difficult to determine disability discrimination on this subject because the employer can simply say that they didn’t meet all the guidelines.

There are numerous disabled people who want to work, but sadly many doors are closed with barriers in the way, far more than a person who’s not disabled, but that’s merely the tip of the iceberg, wait till we come out of the EU, then you’ll see the complete picture of what Hell looks like.

Universal Credit is an unmitigated catastrophe and has destroyed countless lives already, with numerous families that work full time and have lost their homes as they couldn’t afford the rent because it was a choice between keeping their homes or paying out for childcare instead, and if they hadn’t of paid for childcare, they would have lost their jobs.

A Safe Sign Fell

A dead end sign has labelled as needing repair, but before it was repaired it caused £1,500 of damage to a car belonging to a struggling 76-year-old pensioner.

Alan Boor parked his car outside the entrance of his house on Woodland Avenue, Rayleigh, near a sign that was based on the nearby grass verge, but after being informed by a friend that the sign had fallen down, Alan Boor quickly realised the sign had actually fallen onto the roof rack of his vehicle, breaking his passenger window and denting the door where it was hit.

Alan Boor took his vehicle to the Nationwide Crash Repair Centre in Benfleet, Essex, where they calculated it would cost £1500 to fix the damage caused. Regrettably, Alan can’t afford to pay for the repairs to his Nissan Almera and County Hall declined to support him.

This is simply money that Mr Boor doesn’t have, and he’s enraged that they simply couldn’t care less and that the sign obviously hadn’t been maintained, and had it been maintained the whole thing wouldn’t have fallen, the signpost was rotting at the base and all rusty, and he’s now waiting for them to assume responsibility and pay up.

Following the incident, Alan got in touch with Essex County Council, claiming they should be responsible for paying the repair fee, but the council notified Alan Boor the latest routine inspection was conducted on October 24 and it had since been inspected again, while lying broken on the floor, and was still certified as safe enough.

A report from the risk and insurance team at County Hall said that a post-incident inspection was made of the incident location whereupon the Highway Inspector observed a no through road signpost had broken at the bottom and was laying on the verge with the base of the post connected to the stump in the verge.

A risk evaluation was made of the site but it wasn’t thought to be serious.

Throughout the risk assessment, the fault was given a risk factor of three. Any score below six implies that it isn’t deemed to be serious, so the inspector allocated a low priority defect ticket advising repairs should take place throughout the next schedule of works.

Section 58(1) of the Highway Act (1980) provides a defence for the Highway Authority to prove it’s taken the prudent measures to ensure it wasn’t dangerous and was maintained to a consistent standard. The letter then proceeded to say that Essex County Council was unable to grant any compensation whereby there was a legal defence against any such claims and that it was for this reason that they confirmed that liability in regard of Mr Boor’s request had been refused.

But Alan said that this antiquated bylaw was enabling the council to claim immunity from prosecution.

A spokesperson for the council stated that the claimant had communicated with them raising additional points in relation to the matter, and consequently, they’re proceeding to examine the case.

Maybe Mr Boor should have pushed the signpost down before it fell down, it was rotten so it would have avoided all that misery, but of course, then he would have been charged with criminal damage. Yet, the council cause criminal damage and they appear to be free from prosecution.

Fortunately, the signpost only fell onto a vehicle, but what if that very signpost had fallen onto a child, they could have either been pretty severely injured or killed, so who would have been responsible then? What would have the council said then, “Oh, we’re so sad to learn that your child’s death but we’re not at fault here and we’re not settling.”

It’s the same with pothole cases, the council perpetually appear to deny liability because of some reason or another, and if this was a sign owned by a private company such as a construction firm or a high street shop then they would have public liability insurance, so clearly the council must have some sort of insurance in place.

Of course, most businesses will initially deny responsibility, and for the preponderance of personal injury compensation cases, it’s normally clear enough to see who’s responsible.

In situations such as car accidents where one car smashes into the back of another stationary vehicle, it’s easy to apportion responsibility and hence work out who will be the responsible individual when it comes to making a claim for damages.

When liability is denied, in this case by the council it would seemingly be simpler to get a solicitor to dispense with it, such as a no win, no fee solicitor who would tell you as to whether or not they believe you have any realistic possibility of winning if your claim were to go all the way to court.

Mr Boor’s solicitor could then ask to see the risk assessment or any checks that had been done in the last few years before the signpost fell, if the council are found that they hadn’t checked it, or if they’d had warnings about it, but did nothing about it, then surely they must be liable?

So, let’s look at this realistically, the signpost had failed and was laying on the ground and the council said it was perfectly innocuous, well, that’s beyond surreal, in fact, it’s like a sketch out of Monty Python. So, clearly as far as the council were concerned it didn’t pose any further menace, but of course, it did, because it fell on poor Mr Boor’s car, and the evidence that it fell on the vehicle is faultless evidence that it was unsafe and that danger is what?

The Arron Banks Allegations

Concealed in a stash of police files in South Africa, hidden documents expose a series of remarkable assertions. A story of diamonds, guns and Russian money, and, if the allegations are to be believed, they could cast some light on how British campaigners fought for the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Centre to the Leave.EU campaign was Arron Banks, a millionaire businessman who tapped millions of pounds into the movement, but now, an investigation has revealed startling allegations about Arron Banks’ business ventures, and where he is alleged to have got his Brexit cash from.

Many of the claims arise from his former business associate, Chris Kimber. The pair fell out, and are now battling a painful legal action, and as a consequence of this controversy, a wealth of extraordinary documents has come to light.

They include the allegations that Arron Banks solicited financial help from Russia, specifically from the country’s state diamond company, Alrosa. Another allegation relates to the claims of dealing in illegal diamonds, but Arron Banks has been made to dismiss the accusations that he bribed an African politician to get a licence to prospect for diamonds.

Strangely, the documents include the claim the business magnate planned to provide “mercenary support” – “if need be,” in order to keep this same politician in power, but Arron Banks strenuously denies the allegations.

It’s essential that we now find out who bank-rolled Brexit through Arron Banks, and this must be read by everyone in the United Kingdom who now knows that they were shafted by a guy who wanted to make money without giving a stuff about the UK people so long as he got his own way.

He’s just another dishonest businessman, like thousands of others. Study any them and you’ll find dodgy dealings, but there’s no real proof of any ties with the Russian government or assumed connections to the Leave campaign.

In brief, Arron Banks bought a dog of mine employed people for nothing, greased through licences, Branson fashion, but what has this got to do with Brexit? Well, he gave millions to the Leave campaign, so that’s what it’s got to do with Brexit.

But to be frank, most people aren’t interested in what money went where because they’d sooner stare at a bare wall for a few days, even though Brexit’s biggest bankroller faced a National Crime Agency inquiry over alleged ties with Russia throughout the Brexit campaign.

But there’s no smoke without fire, and articles broadcasting it, and how the bad boys of Brexit formed links with Russia and the Trump campaign is always deserving of a read, and if he is found to have done anything dodgy, then he should be penalised to the full scope of the law, and then some more.

Arron Banks is now the centre of a criminal inquiry which could unfold into a serious political disgrace. One which involves the unlawful undermining of the UK government as well as the EU by agents of the state which is antagonistic to both.

Leave.EU was established by Arron Banks in 2015, and he stated it would campaign for Brexit outside the Westminster Bubble, but how far outside the SW1 postcode of the Leave.EU donations were originally sourced, and Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin and his oligarch associates loom large in this tale, and now it’s the business of the National Crime Agency, but still, Arron Banks denies any wrongdoing.

Peter Pan Syndrome

Michael Jackson suffered from Peter Pan syndrome, it’s actually an illness, it’s the inability to grow up or engage in behaviour normally associated with adulthood. The term comes from the fictional children’s character Peter Pan, who never ages, and while transageism, or adults considering themselves as juveniles or adolescents, also referred to as juvenilism or adolescentilism.

Respectively this is not recorded in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and isn’t seen by the American Psychiatric Association as a specific mental disorder. The idea is modelled on transgenderism, and this transeageist theory has accumulated a great deal of debate.

The concept earned notoriety through Dr Dan Kiley (psychoanalyst) in his book The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up, first published in 1983. His book became a worldwide bestseller and led to a stream of copycat pop-psychology books.

Dr Kiley got the idea for “The Peter Pan Syndrome” after noticing that, like the legendary character in the J. M. Barrie play, several of the troubled adolescent boys he treated had difficulties growing up and accepting adult responsibilities. This problem extended on into adulthood.

Another example of Peter Pan syndrome is used in the Aldous Huxley’s 1962 book “Island” in which one of the characters talks about dangerous male delinquents and power-loving hooligans who are “Peter Pans.” Their class of males boys who couldn’t read, wouldn’t learn and didn’t get on with anyone, and ultimately turned to the more extreme patterns of crime, and he used Adolf Hitler as an archetype of this phenomenon.

A notable example of a celebrity with Peter Pan syndrome was Michael Jackson, who stated, “I am Peter Pan in my heart.”

Michael Jackson called the 2,700-acre Los Olivos, California home, where he lived from 1988-2005, Neverland Ranch, after Neverland, the fantasy island on which Peter Pan lives. He stated that it was his only way of claiming the childhood he never had, having started early as a performing artist with his family.

He built various images of children, a floral clock, a petting zoo, a movie theatre, and a private amusement park containing cotton candy stands, two railroads, a Ferris wheel, carousel, Zipper, Octopus, Pirate Ship, Wave Swinger, Super Slide, roller coaster, go-karts, bumper cars, a tipi village, an amusement arcade.

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On Jackson’s dime, thousands of schoolchildren attended Neverland over the years, from neighbourhood children too sick kids from far away, with visitors frequently calling it dreamlike, and a preschool teacher visiting the site stated that Neverland was scented like cinnamon rolls, vanilla and candy, a bit like “Willy Wonkers Chocolate Factory.”

The ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’ affects people who don’t want or feel unable to grow up, people with the body of an adult but the mind of a child. They don’t know how to or don’t want to cease being kids and start being mothers or fathers.

The syndrome is not currently deemed psychopathology, given the World Health Organization has not identified it as a psychological disorder. However, an increasingly greater amount of adults are presenting emotionally juvenile behaviours in Western society.

They’re unable to grow up and take on adult duties, and even dress up and enjoy themselves as adolescents when they’re over 30 years old, and that the overprotection of parents can motivate children to develop Peter Pan Syndrome, given it normally affects dependent people who have been overprotected by their families and haven’t received the required abilities to brave life.

The Peter Pans of present society see the adult world as highly problematic and glorify adolescence, which is why they want to stay in that state of privilege. It can affect both sexes, but it appears more frequently amongst men, and some of the characteristics of the disorder is the inability of individuals taking on responsibilities, or to commit themselves or to keep promises, extreme care about what they look like and individual well-being and loss of self-confidence, but even though they don’t appear to show it, they actually come across as exactly the opposite.

Young People Still Struggling

Even though society is more open about mental health, support is still difficult to obtain. There might be more recognition of young people with mental health problems that are developing, but it’s still considerably hard for young people to get the help that they require.

Mental health is just as important as physical health, and the resources are simply not there for young people who need to be supported for their mental health. There really isn’t enough help for children and young people with mental health complexities, and those young people who have succeeded in accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services found it especially difficult to get an initial referral, and there’s a pretty long wait between referral and their assessment, and the assessment and treatment.

Countless adolescents first visit their GP for advice and guidance and are frequently told that they’re depressed and their GP will give them a prescription, so they pop a tablet or two and when that doesn’t work, they go back to their GP who increases the dosage without considering making a referral to Mental Health.

There’s a number of these kids that are self-harmers, whether it’s cutting, drinking or using drugs to escape from the torture that they’re feeling, and many of these kids don’t make it and end up taking their own life, but then they simply become a statistic and it’s all brushed under the carpet, AND THIS ISN’T OKAY!

This simply reflects on what we hear every day from young people and parents, and despite there being vast progress made, there’s still an unacceptable barrier to young people getting help.

Every day there are calls to “Parents Helpline” from parents whose children are not getting help at school, and who have been waiting months for an assessment, or who are told they don’t meet the threshold for treatment. What do these parents have to do, do they have to wait until something really serious happens or their child takes their own life because they didn’t meet some ridiculous criteria?

We hear about young people that have started to self-harm or have become suicidal while waiting for support, and sometimes even then, they don’t always get the help or fit specific criteria, yet evidence confirms that getting the proper help quickly can prevent problems from intensifying, and it’s simply not good enough that around half of those young people who reach out for help are merely turned away.

Getting the nation to talk about mental health is a vital component of the fight, but it further needs to be met by a mental health system that’s equipped to manage the current crisis, and we are at breaking point as far as mental health goes.

It’s brilliant that things are changing and attitudes around mental health make it more acceptable to talk because these youngsters find it really challenging, but we further need the support to back up that social reform.

This involves extra funding for all mental health services, and a new focus on mental health education in schools, with designated specialist support for young people to talk to.

If you’re a parent of a teenager, or you can simply recall your own adolescence, you know this can be an emotionally difficult time under the best of circumstances, but for millions who are parents of pre-teens and teens, adolescent years can bring difficulties that go beyond the normal dread of growing up.

Around 20 per cent of kids aged between 13 to 18 has a behavioural disorder. A category that includes mental illness, substance use, and eating disorders and many more.

In fact, half of all lifetime cases of mental disorders start by the age of 14. Left untreated, mental illness can lead to poor school performance, substance misuse, and precarious sexual conduct, as well as tension within the family of the sufferer.

It can further have serious long-term consequences if the teenager drops out of school or ends up in the juvenile justice system, but as is the case with adults, not all teenagers who need help with their mental health get it, even if their situation is serious.

And with adolescents aged between 13 to 18, half of those with mental disorders that had caused them severe distress or impairment had never received treatment for their symptoms, such as mood disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD, behavioural disorders, substance use disorders and eating disorders.

So, why do so few adolescents receive the mental health care that they need? Solely because there are not enough qualified children’s mental health professionals to handle the number of children and adolescents with mental illness.

The average waiting time for an appointment for a child or adolescent psychiatric care is close to two months, more than three times the standard waiting time of two weeks for children’s hospital services, and this widespread lack of access has far-reaching consequences.

Teens and families suffer longer, with adverse behaviour patterns continuing unchecked, and if mental illness is involved, the disease progresses, and with many being turned away because they’re not ill enough, others suffer long waiting times and it could be years before that changes.

The provisions are greatly below required levels and numerous people who do get help face long waits for treatment, and this can be disastrous for people’s life prospects, their physical well-being, education and work chances.

We need the right staff with the proper skills in the correct places because effective action on prevention and early intervention can help young people more swiftly, as well as ease the pressure on health services.

As a mother of a child who suffered from mental health and depression I was fortunate enough not to be clueless where my child was concerned and noticed several different things going on and got the ball rolling, but for many teenagers with depression or any mental illness it’s almost too late because many of them never get diagnosed.

Lack of screening for depression is one part of the problem in children’s mental health, and there should be screening and detection for depression or any kind of mental illness, and parents may also not recognise the manifestations of a mental health problem or may not be aware of how severe the problem is, due to the lack of their understanding or perception of depression in children.

However, some parents know there’s a problem and ignore the blatant symptoms of depression in their children, or merely don’t want to help and are reluctant to seek help for their child’s depression, so would this be considered child abuse for a parent not to get medical help for their depressed teen?

Well, neglect is a continuous failure to meet a child’s basic requirements and is the most prevalent form of child abuse. If you left your child starving and filthy, without sufficient clothes, shelter, supervision and medical health care, that establishes abuse.

If a child is in danger or is not shielded from physical or emotional harm, that’s abuse, and this further involves not getting the love, care and attention they need from their parents.

A child who’s neglected will frequently suffer from other abuse as well, and neglect is dangerous and can cause severe, long-term harm, even death.

Neglect happens when parents or carers can’t or won’t meet the child’s needs, but sometimes this is because they don’t have the skills or support needed, or just because they don’t have the skills they don’t want to bother because it’s easier to brush it under the carpet, this is neglect!

Child abuse is an act by another person, adult or child that creates significant harm to a child. It could be physical, sexual or emotional, but it can just as often be about the lack of love, care and attention, but whatever form it takes, it can just be as crushing to a child as physical abuse.

An abused child will usually encounter more than one kind of abuse, as well as other challenges in their lives, and it frequently occurs over a duration of time, rather than being a one-off event.

Teens experience depression for much longer than their parents are aware, but there are several reasons for this, including the stigma of mental illness, and teens not being forthcoming because they blame themselves for feeling depressed and don’t want to upset anybody.

In fact, feeling like things are your fault is one of the manifestations of depression, and we’re lucky if a teenager tells their parents they’re feeling depressed or a parent recognises that flag signalling and takes their child for evaluation because the depression is likely far more severe than the parent might recognise.

And most teenagers who attempt suicide have never been assessed or treated for depression before, but after a child attempts suicide and a parent begins to understand and learn about depression, most parents are prepared to do anything to support their child, but in some cases, this doesn’t happen.

This is especially harmful to teenagers who ask for treatment and the message they get is that their suffering is not serious enough to treat, and depression and its worst danger, suicide, are severe and frequent problems in children and teenagers. Suicide is the second leading cause of death, resulting in more deaths than from cancer or any other illness or disease.

In addition to deaths by suicide, depression can cause progressively exacerbated brain changes, yet, even after a qualified mental health professional diagnoses a child with depression, some parents refuse treatment, and consequently mental health can be ignored with a parent who willfully refuses to provide treatment for their child for depression which could be seen as a form of child abuse.

The term medical neglect refers to a child being harmed due to a lack of medical care, but this not only applies to parents but also to the inadequate mental health treatment that they get or don’t get from service providers in the medical profession.

But medical neglect further happens when parents understand the medical advice given, along with the favoured treatment that would have important benefits for the child’s well-being, and the parent or caregiver still denies or ignores treatment or access to care, another way for neglect to occur is to disregard visible manifestations of the illness.

Nevertheless, GP’s and doctors are likewise just as negligent when they don’t or won’t do anything about the child or teenager that has asked for help and just brushes it under the carpet, and while there’s a criterion which is normally applied to chronic physical illnesses like HIV or asthma, it seems to be rarely applied to mental illnesses.

It appears that if a child or teenager has an illness such as diabetes or asthma, a parent would take their child to the GP for treatment, but it’s frequently found that if it’s a teenager with depression or has attempted multiple suicides the parent is less inclined to agree to any help for their child.

Depression is difficult to diagnose because it is not always obvious, and parents may not believe in an illness they don’t see, and families who may not want to engage in psychotherapy or may object to their child taking pills, what are the alternatives for ensuring these children get proper care?

Well, I guess when parents and physicians view depression like any other illness, then more people will be helped, and GPs and doctors should be pulling together to stop neglect like this from happening by talking to parents about depression and treatment, and implementing education and discussing their concerns.

Parents need to be taught that some illnesses still exist and cause pain even if they can’t always see it, and parents should also know doctors aren’t blaming them for their child’s illness, but they’re responsible for getting their child appropriate treatment, and if they don’t, that’s neglect!

Danny Dyer Says

Danny Dyer said that a teenager who left London to join up with ISIS in Syria should be permitted to return to the United Kingdom because the UK security services could get necessary information from Shamima Begum about how young people are radicalised by revolutionaries.

Maybe she does need the opportunity to perhaps explain herself and what’s going on over there, perhaps we do need to learn a little bit more about how they got to her and how she felt it was the right time to jump on a plane and leave the United Kingdom at the age of 15 years old.

She is still a young girl, and perhaps we can learn from it.

Shamima left Bethnal Green, East London, aged 15 in 2015, with two other schoolgirls, and joined up with ISIS in Syria, and partnered a Dutch national who fought for a terrorist group, but now, with the caliphate on the verge of collapse, Shamima has moved to a refugee camp in northern Syria, where she was hunted down by reporters, who she told about her desire to retreat to London.

Shamima has recently given birth to her third child, a baby boy. Her two other children died in infancy, so maybe this is the mindset of why she wants to go back to the United Kingdom with her son?

She thinks that a lot of people should have compassion towards her and her son, and doesn’t want to remain in the camp permanently with her son and that the British administration doesn’t have any proof to say that she’s a security threat, and she’s asked her family to keep trying to get her back to the United Kingdom and that the biggest priority is her son, and she hopes that perhaps for the well-being of herself and her son that the British government let her back into the United Kingdom.

Shamima lived as a homemaker throughout the four years in the ISIS region and maintains she never did anything bad, and never prompted people to go to Syria, but Home Secretary Sajid Javid has indicated that he will fight to prevent ISIS fighters retreating to the United Kingdom, but Justice Secretary David Gauke said that Britain can’t make citizens stateless.

Numerous ISIS supporters have returned to European nations, but it’s a tough hurdle that we now front because what should we do about those who are still attempting to return? And as Home Secretary, his precedence is to guarantee the security and protection of the country, and should not let anything endanger that.

This is quite a debatable subject and there are copious amounts of people who would not agree with her coming back to the United Kingdom, she made the decision to join ISIS and marry a Dutch national, but if she fears for the safety of her son, perhaps she should send him back to England for the safety of his future and stay behind.

Yet, with all this publicity she will sell her story and end up becoming a millionaire, whilst we have to endure on our pensions for being loyal, hardworking British taxpayers all our lives, so where is the fairness?

She only wants to come back because ISIS has been defeated, and she has nowhere to hide now, so what really happened to her Dutch hubby? Is he dead, or did he just abandon her for another wife?

We don’t really need her to be returned to the United Kingdom in order to obtain information from her. The United Kingdom has security services that are more than competent in getting the information they need, and the very sentence where she says, “They don’t have any evidence against me that I’m dangerous” so she’s not saying that she’s not dangerous, she’s simply saying there isn’t any evidence against her that she is dangerous.

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