John Hemming's Web Log

Horsham DC, Holbrook West LD Belinda Walters 602 (43.9; +11.1), Con 554 (40.4; -6.5), BNP 163 (11.9; +11.9), Lab 52 (3.8; +0.2), [Ind (0.0; -16.6)]. Majority 48. Turnout 32.2%. LD gain from Con. Last fought 2007. Chippenham TC, Pewsham LD Mark Packard 493 (58.8), Con 346 (41.2). Majority 147. Turnout 19.5%. LD gain from Con.

The link is to Dr Rant's post about hospital acquired infection. In that he effectively supports my arguments in my EDM about HAI. - see earlier this week.

John Hemming: I have an example of egregious behaviour by the family justice system to present. The petition states: The Petition of a British Citizen Declares that a Local Authority has recently told a mother that she will not be allowed contact with her adopted child if she continues to protest outside the Family Court. The Petitioner therefore requests that the House of Commons urges the government to legislate to prevent Local Authorities from using control over contact with their children to prevent parents from protesting about the unfairness of the Family Justice System in England and Wales. And the Petitioner remains, etc.

This week I have tabled two amendments. One to the Criminal Justice Bill to deal with street racing and another to the Legal Services Bill to assist membership organisations such as the Medical Protection Society. I have also tabled an EDM on hospital acquired infections. HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED INFECTION That this House recognises the trauma caused to patients and families by hospital-acquired infection such as MRSA and C Difficile; believes that there are examples the UK can learn from in other countries such as the Netherlands; recognises that this involves having sufficient beds to keep some empty and isolate infected patients from others; recognises that having medical staff travel in their work clothes also gives a risk of infection; requests that the tendency to blame patients for the spread of infection is resisted; and calls for an urgent review as to whether reductions in bed numbers and planning for 100 per cent. bed occupancy and other cost saving measures are resulting in incre...

With Martyn's recent death and Ray's last week I think some comments are warranted. Martyn and his wife Sadie have been the leading lights of West Bromwich Liberals since I have been involved in politics (1970s). Martyn was also ran the West Birmingham CHC for many years. In the County Council elections many years ago they won two of the three seats in the West Bromwich East Parliamentary Seat. Sadly Martyn did not, however, convert that into winning the Parliamentary Seat itself. Martyn was a hard worker for the Liberal/Lib Dem Cause in the black country. It is sad to hear of Martyn's death. Ray Holtom was a Lib Dem Councillor who joined us in Birmingham from Labour. I first got to know him at the Trinity Centre which used to support the harder to manage end of the roofless sector. Ray always backed the powerless against the powerful and it is sad to hear of his passing.

There is a process for agreeing the words in parliamentary petitions. The words in petitions are not supposed to be intemperate. I have been told, but not had it confirmed, that egregious is too intemperate to appear in a parliamentary petition. Merriam-Webster's definition Main Entry: egre·gious Pronunciation: i-'grE-j&s Function: adjective Etymology: Latin egregius, from e- + greg-, grex herd -- more at GREGARIOUS 1 archaic : DISTINGUISHED 2 : CONSPICUOUS; especially : conspicuously bad : FLAGRANT - egre·gious·ly adverb - egre·gious·ness noun The word is becoming less obscure.

The European Scrutiny Committee of the House of Commons has concluded that: The EU treaty is 'substantially equivalent' to the EU Constitution. On that basis a referendum is due. I have, to be fair, taken this position for some time.

We have now identified the best technological solution for handling the issue of efficiently and cost effectively advising on the completion of forms for court and court bundles the the court of appeal. There can be a lot of work collating things properly for the court of appeal. However, proper use of technology and software means that a good job can be done and the software is not expensive.

An impressive Youtube video. (particularly as it was only done in the last less than 24 hours).

Labour cannot pretend that they were not planning on a potential General Election. Obviously they would wait until they have full information and a sort of dry run election during the conferences does give a better steer. The postal strikes do not help. However, we now believe that Brown has bottled it. We are waiting for the annoucement.

The link is to a criminal prosecution (that in the absence of any evidence to the contrary I would believe to be safe) for FII or MSbP. FII is a better description of the situation as it is Fabricating an Illness (by proxy). One of the problems with the debate about MSbP (and also SBS and CML) is that it does exist. The question is how one can identify when it is the case. It is not suffiicent to say a) If the doctors cannot work out what an illness is caused by ... and b) If the child is separated from the parents it recovers. (aka a parentectomy). That this is "proof" of FII. The evidence we have from recent deaths of children is that the systems we use for determining the truth of these issues fail and to some extent end up as random results. What I find is that parents who get angry with the system generally lose. That does not mean, however, that the parents are bad parents. If you ignore the corruption in the system (which is a minority) the majority is affecte...

I like the full information rather than just the summary already posted. Here is the detail of the Scottish by-election Argyll and Bute UA, Helensburgh and Lomond South LD Andrew Nisbet was elected at stage four. The percentage poll was 37.4% and the quota was 1060. 1st Round LD 642 Con 627 Ind 493 SNP 356 (SNP eliminated) Round 2 (with SNP votes redistributed) LD 752 (+110) Con 684 (+57) Ind 606 (+113) (Ind eliminated) Round 3 (with Ind votes redistributed) LD 1014 (+262) Con 839 (+155) (Con eliminated) Result: LD win.

The text here is from the Essex Enquirer which is available on the web, but only as a PDF which is quite difficult to negotiate. What it demonstrates is the court deciding that a child should be adopted after it had been confirmed that the parents were good enough parents for a newer child. This is one of the things that happens that I really do not think is right. Inept Social Services have written to a mother of five telling her she is a good parent – despite taking four of her children away for adoption. The 33-year-old was told she could keep her fifth child just days before a four-year court battle with Essex County Council ended with her fourth child released for adoption. On Friday, the judge also took the unusual step of insisting the Brentwood woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, be given regular access to the fourth child when he was re-homed. But on 21 September social services wrote to the woman,who is in a “committed” relationship, stating “no further action”...

The story (on 24 dash) underlines one aspect of the problems in housing today. It is worth me just linking to this story and not commenting for the moment (because I am too busy).

Argyll and Bute UA, Helensburgh and Lomond South LD Andrew Nisbet was elected at stage four. The percentage poll was 37.4% and the quota was 1060. LD gain from Ind. Last fought 2007. Hambleton DC, Northallerton Broomfield Con elected unopposed. Con hold. Last fought 2007. Leicestershire CC, Shepshed Lab 1217 (30.2; -12.7), Con 1074 (26.6; -10.2), LD John Popley 933 (23.1; +2.8), BNP 807 (20.0; +20.0). Majority 143. Turnout 37.3%. Lab hold. Last fought 2005. Windsor and Maidenhead UA, Datchet Con 799 (63.8; -8.6), LD Tim O'Flynn 352 (28.1; +12.0), Ind 102 (8.1; +8.1), [Lab (0.0; -11.5)]. Majority 447. Turnout 35.8%. Con hold. Last fought 2007. Not that these say anything particularly.

The link is to a story in the Birmingham post. I will comment on this at a later stage.

This issue is gradually moving from the sidelines into the mainstream. That to some extent is inevitable. It is quite simple really: In a conflict between the laws of physics and the laws of economics physics wins every time. Perhaps I would say that with a degree in Physics. However, I am right.

MRSA and C difficile are only two of a number of infections that can be caught in hospital. Gordon Brown talked about a "deep clean" once a year. To some extent that should demonstrate his disqualification for the role he is in. He proposes as a solution something that basically would have no effect. I have linked to the BritMeds a collection of blog entries by people in the medical profession. Note that they generally support a return to providing facilities and clean clothing for medics to change into. The shortage of empty beds also has an effect relating specifically to MRSA. for example This brings us back to the over stretched NHS front line and the shrinking number of beds available, as this has rather significant knock on effects on our ability to 'isolate high risk groups' and to 'isolate carriers'. Most people working on the front line will tell you that it is routine in many hospitals for known MRSA carriers to be nursed in open wards with pati...

Labour, it appears, have started doing automated phone calls. This, where a computer phones people, is of dubious legality. It shows they are preparing for a November Election. At the same time we have the complications that people may not actually be registered to vote even though they have recently filled in the electoral registration form. Then again the situation is better than it used to be for autumn elections where there weren't rolling registers. That means that people would have to vote where they were previously. All in all I would not expect the AEA's concerns to have any effect on Labour's decisionmaking.

In Darlington the result of the referendum for an elected Mayor was: No - 11,226 (58.4%) Yes - 7,981 (41.6%) Turnout was 24.7% The proposal to have an elected mayor is therefore lost. In Birmingham there is some effort to get a petition for an "elected Mayor". Of those campaigning for the petition not everyone wants the "elected Mayor". In the mean time the BBC are having a real go at James Purnell about a photoshopped photo. I cannot bring myself to be bothered really. Yes he is a Labour Minister, but having a go about something trivial that he does not seem to be responsible for is a waste of air time.