Pregnancy test company to close base

Unipath, who make home pregnancy testing kits, are to close their Bedford base, causing the loss of around 500 jobs.

The company had been owned by Unilever until 2001, when it was taken over by American company Inverness Medical Innovations (IMI). The company now plans to transfer production to low cost facilities, which are mainly in China.

The plant could shut by 2009.

This is what happens when British factories are bought out by multinational companies – production is often transferred abroad where costs are “cheaper” and the British people are the ones thrown out of work.

Police will be sued over mosque programme

West Midlands Police and the CPS will be sued for libel by the makers of a programme shown on the Channel 4 series Dispatches in January 2007.

The programme – called Undercover Mosque – detailed Islamic extremism in the West Midlands. Police and the CPS claimed that the programme had been heavily edited and therefore distorted the preachers’ comments. OFCOM rejected this and now the makers of the programme say that their reputation has been seriously damaged.

West Midlands Police said that they received complaints about the programme and this led to the investigation.

Several mosques were infiltrated for the programme, including the Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham.

This was an important piece of “public interest” journalism, and more programmes like this should be aired to show exactly what does go on.

Muslims object to hospital hygiene rules

Muslim medics are refusing to follow hospital hygiene rules because it goes against their religion.

Muslim doctors at hospitals in three major British cities are refusing to follow the rules introduced to combat the spread of superbugs because it goes against the rules of their faith.

Female medical students at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool objected to rolling their sleeves up when they washed their hards, and removing their arm coverings in theatre, because it went against Islamic dress codes and was regarded as “immodest”.

In Leicester and Sheffield, Muslims have refused to “scrub up” because it meant their arms would be exposed.

Some Muslims have said they would quit the course rather than show their arms, but hygiene experts have said that no exceptions should be made purely on religious grounds.

The “bare below the elbows” dress code is there for patient safety, as is a ban on wrist watches, nail varnish and false nails in clinical areas. The Islamic Medical Association said that covering the whole body except the face and hands was a “basic tenet of Islam” and that female Muslim medics should not be forced to bare her arms below the elbow.

And British hospital patients should not be put at risk of infection just to suit the demands of a minority group!

Prescription charges should go

People are often put off collecting prescriptions because of the costs, say Citizens Advice.

Prescriptions in Wales are free, and this will follow in Scotland, but in England ministers are refusing to drop the £6.85 charge.

The impact of the charges hits the long term sick and people on low incomes the worst. Almost half of the drugs prescribed are for pensioners, and with many pensioners taking more than one type of medication, the costs soon mount up.

The Department of Health said that removing prescription charges would reduce the amount of money available for other “health priorities”.

Maybe those affected should say they are asylum seekers, whose claims for help with NHS costs are given priority attention (this is not propaganda but a fact – here is the exact wording from the Department of Health website:

“Since the interim support arrangements were introduced on 6 December 1999, the Health
Benefits Division (HBD) of the Prescription Pricing Authority (who run the LIS for the Department of Health) have made arrangements for claims from asylum seekers to be given priority. They have arranged for a separate postcode to be printed on white envelopes, which asylum seekers can use to send off their HC1 claim form.”)

So you see, asylum seekers have priority over our own people. This document can be viewed here

More here.

House of Commons must provide breakdown of MPs’ expenses

The House of Commons has been told it must provide a lengthy breakdown of MPs’ expenses relating to second homes.

The “Additional Costs Allowance” (ACA) system is classed as “deeply unsatisfactory”, says the Information Tribunal.

Andrew Walker, Commons resources boss, said that publishing more details of the expenses would intrude on MPs’ private lives. However, the Tribunal said that information on several individuals such as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, must be released within 28 days.

MPs are said to claim ACA to cover the costs of overnight hotel stays away from home, and in a year could claim £23,000. They can submit claims of up to £250 without producing a receipt and can claim up to £400 a month for food.

More here.

Drug dealers may get assets seized

Drug dealers may have their assets seized under new plans put forward by ministers.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that people found to be innocent would have their assets returned to them. Addicts would also lose their benefits unless they attended a meeting with a treatment adviser.

Maybe there is enough pandering to drug addicts. Whilst law abiding people are told they cannot have medical treatment if they smoke, or are overweight, drug addicts who overdose will get an intensive care bed at great cost to the taxpayer, and by bed blocking they could also be preventing others from receiving treatment.

More here.

Scotland keeps neurosurgery units

All four of the specialist neurosurgery units in Scotland will be saved. The centres are located in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee, and the Scottish Government had wanted to centralise services in one place, either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Objectors in the north east of Scotland said that this would mean certain death for those injured in the region owing to the long journey to Edinburgh or Glasgow.

There was no evidence to support centralising services, and 25,000 people had petitioned the government to keep the units open.

More here.

Many object to Heathrow expansion

Crowded Terminal Four at Heathrow, taken from BA A319 by Louise Scott

Thousands of people who live near Heathrow Airport (EGLL/LHR) have joined politicians and environmentalists in raising their objection the a new runway and extra terminal at the airport.

Yesterday, Greenpeace flouted airport security to climb onto the fuselage of a British Airways Airbus A320 and placed a banner on the tail fin.

If a sixth terminal was to be built at Heathrow, then an entire village would need to be demolished, and more people will suffer the affects of increased aircraft noise as a result of the expansion.

Those in favour of expanding the airport spoke about its importance to the economy and the many jobs provided, whilst those against were worried about the effects of climate change, increased noise, demolition of homes. The rally was supported by 14 councils in the Heathrow area.

Why can’t more disused airfields be converted into functioning passenger airports, as Finningley in South Yorkshire had been? That way there would be no loss of homes and those who say we need more air transport would have their way too.

And why can’t environmentalists concentrate on the damage done to the environment by the destruction of rainforests and the destruction of many important habitats just to grow plants to provide biofuel?

Muslims complain about crisps

Walkers crisps are the latest things to fall foul of Muslims, after it was revealed that some varieties contain a tiny amount of alcohol as a chemical agent to extract particular flavours.

The Asian newspaper Eastern Eye carried the story after a Bradford shopkeeper said that a customer informed him that a few Walkers brands (Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli and Doritos Chilli Heat Wave) were not on the alcohol-free list.

Muslims say that Walkers should make it clear on the packaging that the crisps contain a trace amount of alcohol, and Walkers have been accused of “not being sensitive to Muslims’ needs”.

The shopkeeper concerned said that some of the brands were his daughter’s favourites, and when he found out about the tiny amount of alcohol, he phoned his wife and asked her to destroy all the packets.

The Muslim Council of Britain say that it was “very offensive” for Muslims to find out they had eaten something with alcohol in, and they would be investigating. Muslims say they try to lobby for halal symbols on popular brands.

Are concerns from non-Muslims listened to in the same way, such as when British schoolchildren are fed on halal meat in their school dinners? Many people find halal slaughter offensive but may well be eating the end product without being informed.

Fine over sewage spill

A company has been fined £13,500 for discharging 120million litres of raw sewage into the Firth of Forth.

Veolia Water Outsourcing, which was known as Thames Water Services, made the unauthorised discharge at a treatment plant in Leith.

After a pump failure, sewage poured into the river for 64 hours, causing a foul smell. Tests which were carried out a few days later showed that the water passed the EU standards for clean bathing water.

More here.