The EU Parliament’s Procedure to Decide on the Immunity of Catalan MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín to Begin Tomorrow Monday

I do hope that the EU Parliament come down on the side of Catalan leaders Puigdemont, Ponsatí and Comín, rather than the Spanish authorities.

For the leaders Puigdemont, Ponsatí and Comín were following their convictions and the wishes of the Catalonian population in the 2017 independence referendum.

For, if, the results of any referendum are not abided by, then what is the point of having a referendum.

However, the EU and some countries within the EU are not good in progressing the views of referendums, has can be seen with the UK Brexit referendum of 2016 and previously referendums in Ireland in 2001 and 2008, Greece in 2019 and France and The Netherlands in 2005, .

Lets hope on this occasion the views of the Catalonian population will be upheld.

Josep Goded

Tomorrow Monday, November 16th, the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs will start discussing whether to lift the immunity of Catalan leaders Puigdemont, Ponsatí and Comín. This comes at the request of Spanish authorities, who have openly expressed their desire to have them extradited in order to jail them for their roles in the 2017 independence referendum, even though Belgian justice recently rejected the extradition of exiled Catalan leader Lluís Puig arguing that the Supreme Court did not have the authority to issue a European arrest warrant against him.

The ultra-conservative Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki will be the head of the committee and will present the case, which will then be discussed by the rest of MEPs on the committee.

Monday’s session will be held virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions. Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí will be summoned for a hearing at a later date. The debate on their immunity is…

View original post 33 more words

I’m still here. My continued battle with Long Covid and good memories.

No truer words have been published and my heart goes out to Charlotte Hughes and her family.

The Government also play their part in this debate, for all their work is there to discredit benefit claimants, for they make it as difficult as possible to claim benefits. Also, in most instances the assessments that claimants have to undergo add to this discredit of benefit claimants. Assessors have been shown to be producing incorrect assessments and some shown to have deliberately so, but has one assessor been prosecuted for doing so?

I fear not, which if correct is a disgrace.

The Government goes out of its way to make like difficult for vulnerable people, disabled people, the poor and sick, etc.

then, this Government and many previous Governments have deliberately kept Social Care short of fun ding, so it is not just welfare benefits they are using to make like difficult for persons in need, but also Social Care, which they require to live a reasonable life.

Governments have made numerous promises to provide the correct funding for Social Care and to solve many of the other problems, but to date, they have not done so. So, Social Care continues to slide greater into crisis and there will come a time, if it has not already been reached when the failure to solve the crisis will cause, not only distress and pain, but the ultimate, death.

It could be argued that in the COVID-19 pandemic this failure to solve the Social Care crisis as already created deaths, a great stain on this Government.

To bring this to the attention of everyone, especially the Government I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care,

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care.

Please view the petition and, if you agree, please sign and share.

But funding is not the only problem, even if it is the main problems, so, if you wish for further information please see,

https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aq2MsYduiazgoEy6ROxeV0abd2mT?e=tA03zo

Thank you

Chris Sterry

#care #socialcare #crisis

The poor side of life

Dear readers an extra blog post from me, I hope that you don’t mind.

I’ve been a tad quiet recently because my recovery has been set right back.

My daughter unknowingly brought home a nasty virus with her when she returned home from school about two weeks ago.

What would normally would have been a slight cold etc completely floored me. I was forced to retreat back to bed.

I really hated having to retreat to bed because I wanted to be out and about and I had plans to do ‘stuff’.

I’m now out of bed but I’m coughing a lot and I can’t get my stats above 94 to 96. I’m also experiencing the return of the stabbing pains.

Yes I know that I should go back to the hospital and I will do when I’m financially able to do so. Shite happens and I’ve got to learn…

View original post 910 more words

UK government fails to publish details of £4bn Covid contracts with private firms | World news | The Guardian

Good Law Project and MPs call for independent inquiry over apparent breach of UK law

Source: UK government fails to publish details of £4bn Covid contracts with private firms | World news | The Guardian

Government Guidance on Covid safe visits for care home residents and families | Care Industry News

• Visits should be tailored to residents and facilities and should prioritise residents and staff’s safety to limit the transmission of Covid-19 • Care homes, especially those who haven’t allowed visits since March, will be encouraged and supported to provide safe visiting opportunities as new national restrictions come into effect • Measures put in place should provide Covid-secure opportunities for families to meet using visiting arrangements such as floor to ceiling screens, visiting pods, and window visits

Source: Government Guidance on Covid safe visits for care home residents and families | Care Industry

 

 

Some Republicans break with Trump, say take time to count all the votes

Their comments came after the president urged that ballot counting in some states be stopped and baselessly claimed a “major fraud on the nation.”

Source: Some Republicans break with Trump, say take time to count all the votes

Trump asks election questions he ought to know the answers to

Trump’s election night speech appeared designed to undermine confidence in his own country’s election system. His latest tweets were no better.

Source: Trump asks election questions he ought to know the answers to

Team Biden’s mood changes dramatically as vote counts shift | TheHill

Joe Biden’s campaign breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday morning, as the Democratic nominee, in a dramatic turnabout, was able to overtake President Trump in key battleground states that could

Source: Team Biden’s mood changes dramatically as vote counts shift | TheHill

‘Wait and see’ is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results

Media outlets used visual metaphors to explain to the public how election results would emerge.

Source: ‘Wait and see’ is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results

Donald Trump and Masculinity as Motivator | History Matters

Thank you, a great insight to the image, ego, etc. of Trump. How anyone can support him is beyond my comprehension, but support him they do.

In addition to your insight, is it not true, that his supporters have no one other than Trump to cling to and to cast him out would mean they are on their own, which they feel they have been for far too long.

He is their last hope, in some ways their ‘Messiah’.

I do feel sorry for his supporters, that they have felt so alone and have to cling to Trump, the worst of ‘Mankind’.

Source: Donald Trump and Masculinity as Motivator | History Matters

Social care challenge appears to be getting worse – By Silva Homes | Care Industry News

Indeed Social Care is in crisis and has been for many years, this is down to a number of factors

lack of Government investment
abysmal staff salaries
lack of care workers
unsocial hours
poor working conditions
no staff sick pay scheme
and many others

I put lack of Government investment at the top because if this was solved then some of the others could also be.

As to investment in social care, this has never been sufficient, but 10 years of austerity cuts and now COVID-19 have made the crisis very more serious.

So, lets look at social care, before 1970 social care was administered by a ‘mishmash’ of organisations

local authorities
charities
voluntary sector
health
and many others

But in 1970 the Government of the day decided to bring all social care to be administered by local authorities, but true to form, the Government did not provide anywhere near the funding that was required and over the years the gap from what funding is provided to what is actually required has been increasing.

Many Governments in the last few years have promised to solve the funding process and a considerable amount of the work required as already been done.

In fact, in the David Cameron Governments they were prepared to go ahead in 2015, but decided to defer until April 2020.

Now in April 2020 we were in the COVID-19 pandemic and still are, so was this the reason for no action, who knows.

But, urgent action needs to be taken, not just for care homes, but the whole of Social care which includes home care, respite, supported living, hospices for both children and adults as well as care homes.

Well some action has occurred for in July 2020, an advisor was appointed on the proposal for the NHS to take over social care.

So, action has been taken, but how is it proceeding, who knows?

Governments are ‘ace’ at putting proposals forward and creating working groups, but they are not good at putting proposals into action and thereby solve the crisis and they could well be lost in the ‘black hole’ of Government.

To ensure actions are finalised, I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care.

Please consider looking at the petition and, if you agree, please sign and share.

Should you require more information this can be found here.

 

 

Source: Social care challenge appears to be getting worse – By Silva Homes | Care Industry News