News.Scotland.Org

November, 30

A step taken to eradicate the deadly killer Superbugs is proving to more fatal. It was noticed that to get some relief from the superbugs menace an alcohol based hand gel was introduced in UK hospitals. But the tragedy is that some patients started consuming it causing a health hazard. It was known that after this alcohol gel was introduced in the hospitals in UK, an increase of complaints was found in the London poison unit with people consuming this alcohol gel.

In the majority poisoning cases with the consumption of alcohol gel, it was more among alcoholics who were consuming this gel as a substitute for alcohol. Even few of them were either confused or taking the gel by mistake. At first this alcohol gel was introduced two years back as a preventive measure for superbugs.

Looking into the report of the research from Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, the problem started way before this new alcohol gel was introduced in the hospitals. As about 23 such cases of poisonings were reported before the alcohol rub came into picture and soon the figures jumped up with the gel launched in hospitals around UK.

Superbugs has been in news since quite a long time for its threat as a dreadful virus affecting mainly the hospital patients. It was found out that the poor hygiene standards maintained by the UK hospitals are the main cause for this widespread. In an attempt to lower the rate of superbugs cases, this so called alcohol gel was introduced, but for what effect this remedy also resulted to be fatal for some patients.

The hospital staffs in order to prevent any misuse of this alcohol rubs have left with a option to keep this in some locked holders, so that it does not get drunk by patients. But still, superbugs is making patients restless in one or the other way.

November, 28

It was noticed that huge number of Scottish youths are falling prey to sexual offences; all such cases are at a high, which are being reported to the Children’s Reporter. It is said that bad parenting is one of the main reason for such offences. This alarming fact came in to light after the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) released the figures showing a real shocker. It is projected that over 19000 youngsters are the victims of heinous offences, including sexual assault, bodily harm and cruelty. Such adverse change in the society has raised a serious question on the parental care of children.

SCRA reported that they are receiving many such cases which have made the figures much higher than of last year. Out of the 100,000 cases referred to SCRA, about a quarter of these children are reported to be under four-years of age. This issue has triggered a serious message for the government, to make sure they tackle this growing problem soon. The Children Minister Adam Ingram said, “every young person deserves the best possible care, the report has highlighted how many children need the support of adults, agencies, communities and government.”

It is known that children are vulnerable and they deserve proper care and guidance from their elders and parents. But it is seen that due to the lack of care and guidance to children they are becoming victims of such crimes. Even there are several schemes and plans setup to eradicate such serious crimes in children, but not up to mark. There are antisocial behaviour orders and other rehabilitation schemes to bring the youth crimes to a lower level. Though the funding on these plans has gone up, but the utilization is still a serious problem.

With such an upward trend in child offences, now this issue has taken a bigger shape and need to be sought out with proper approach. Youths are the future generation and they should be shown the right path, even the parents should take care of the children and guide them towards a bright future.

November, 28

A new report has raised a serious concern over the financial status of the people of Briton. This report has pointed out the fact that, one out of every four person in UK is under the burden of debts and up to one in three mortgage-holders can face serious financial hardships. It is noticed that with the growing rate of borrowing the people of UK have agreed that they are facing severe problem to cope up with their debt level. Some have also agreed that they are not in a state to overcome this financial crisis. The comparison website uSwitch.com reveals these facts. This problem has raised an alarm for some solid measures to bring the situation under control.

It is told that the debt facing people have also admitted that they have missed payments on debts and even their payments have been bounced by the banks. The situation has become so worse, that one in ten people are in the clutches of the debt. The present status of people in UK is so adverse that they would further need more debt to meet their financial needs. Even many of them are living their lives on credit; this current credit crunch has made the lives of people restless.

With such a condition the money burden is continuously mounting on people day by day and even they are finding hard to come out of the debt cycle. Looking at the present market situation the money lenders have also become more cautious. It is for sure that this growing problem needs a prudent measure.

Several market analyst and financial experts are concerned over this rapid increase of the debt burden on people. It this problem will not besought out soon then it may take a massive shape.

November, 27

The virus which has haunted the Scottish hospitals from a long time is still making the life of patients restless. The deadly infectious Clostridium difficile is at present the major focus for the hospital authorities and health departments. It is known that, the fight against superbugs is going on since a long time. Moving a step further the government has come up with an ambitious £54 million plan to tackle this deadly illness. It is fact that till now this infection has claimed many lives and still remains to a big distress for patients and their wards in and around Scotland.

Expressing her side Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary said taking in to count the pain people are going through due to this bug such as MRSA, the announcement came of a raft of measures to curb the infection which affects about one in ten hospital patients in Scotland. This ambitious plan has received welcome from all corners, but the main area to be considered is the massive funding which would be required to execute this plan. The government has chalked down the investments in two phases, around £7 million would be utilized for a one-year pilot of the programme in 2008-09. While £16 million a year will be roll out nationally from 2009-10. All these plans are aimed to out throw this deadly bug completely from Scotland.

Taking in to count the problem faced in the diagnosis of the patients suffering from superbugs, Ms Sturgeon announced to open up a new C difficile reference lab at Glasgow to provide the right treatment to the patients. The government will also check the hygiene levels the hospitals at regular intervals and see whether they are following the required standards. All hospitals are expected to achieve about 90 percent compliance during the spot-checks conducted by the Health Protection Scotland.

The government has pulled up their socks and is all set to fight strongly against this deadly threat to patients and would try all measures to overcome this problem soon, to make Scotland free from Superbugs.

November, 26

Honey! Where is the honey? Sure the people of UK will ask this question because of the scarcity of honey in the UK markets. This global shortage of honey is caused due to the unfavourable weather this year. It is reported that the largest exporter of honey Argentina experienced a drought this year, which was the main reason for this deficiency of honey.

The adverse situation prevented the flowers to grow from which the bees could gather the pollen. This climatic change affected the honey market, meanwhile the weather also played a spoil sport this time with unusually cold summer, forcing bees to cut short their working time.

All these problems diminished the production rate of honey to half the amount this year. This sudden drought condition also affected the areas of Eastern Europe and Australia disturbing the honey industry immensely. Even Scotland was not left with this honey shortage and here also the markets experienced honey scarcity.

To meet the growing need for honey in markets, the shopkeepers have to rely on the foreign honey to cope up with the demands in the local markets. It is known that usually honey is produced during May to September and weather plays a vital role. If the weather is not favourable then the honey production gets a beating. Even the beekeepers have to face the burnt of this weather tragedy this time.

Expressing his views on the poor honey production this year, Thomas Heck, the Chairman of Honey Association said, “this time the prices of honey would rise up. He added, this year one can also look out for a 25 percent hike in the prices of raw-materials too”. Also with the festival season on the door this shortage in honey would be a major concern for all.

November, 24

The major threat the people of UK are facing today is HIV, this deadly virus has taken a major crunch of the population into its clutches. It has been noticed that several cases of HIV infection has been reported in Europe and has one of the highest rates of the disease. The research has suggested that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are one of the main carriers of this disease. The dilemma is that the people infected by this deadly disease even are not aware of it. In order to curb this serious situation health groups and campaigners are spreading messages for safe sex in UK.

Reports have shown that about 73,000 people are at present living with the HIV in UK. Out of which Scotland accounted to about 300 cases in the last year. This HPA’s report has also shown that more HIV cases are reported among the gay men and over 2700 fresh cases has been traced recently. Another worry sign for UK people is that HIV cases are on high spree among the heterosexuals.

Many health experts and doctors have backed the need to spread a campaign to promote safe-sex among youths, gay men and other section of society. According to Prof. Peter Borriello, Director of HPA’s Centre for Infections, “gay men should have regular HIV tests, STI clinic attendees should be tested for HIV at every visit, and young sexually active adults should be screened for chlamydia annually,” he said.

If we look at the figures of previous year we can see that about 149 new cases of HIV is seen in per million people in UK, which is one of the highest rate in Europe. From all these figures it is clearly visible that even after so much technological and communicational advancement still there is major lagging in the promotion of safe-sex message. There is a need for awareness among people not to fall prey to this deadly virus. Susan Macdonald, of the sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland said, “We need increased investment in HIV prevention, stronger national leadership, and stronger safer-sex messages.”

With HIV becoming a serious concern for the UK people now the government has planned some stringent measures to contour this menace and make sure the rates of HIV falls in near future to give the people of UK a safe and healthy life without any threat of HIV.

November, 23

In a latest survey it was revealed that, the British manufactured cars are one of the most and least reliable on roads. This shocking fact was disclosed after a study on the older car models was done. In this survey Toyota Corolla models manufactured in Derbyshire topped the charts as the most reliable car. It was noticed that this car has been the least complaint car and reported just three faults per hundred models. In second position was Honda CR-V manufactured at Swindon with only five complaints.

The survey highlighted that the Japanese car models were built using a modern state of art techniques in comparison with the UK counterparts. This is quite visible from the study which showed, about six of the top ten most trustworthy cars are UK made Japanese models. Out of this the Land Rover and Jaguar are among the worst ten car models.

The main reason for this is the outdated car manufacturing factories; it also raises a question mark of the highly skilled workers and experts involved in the manufacturing process of these cars. This survey has highlighted the grey side of the British car sector which needs improvement.

Just giving some reasons to cheer for the British car manufacturing giant, the UK based MINI was named the fifth most reliable manufacturer. In the list for top cars the car making giant Honda has six of its different variants sitting quite happy.

Whatever the survey has revealed but still the British car industry has some reason to be happy for. Now one can hope in coming years that the British car manufacturers will improve they will gift some really reliable cars to the UK car lovers.

November, 22

They may be too young, and even can’t talk but they have grown a unique skill to observe what’s going on around them. We are talking about infants; the research has shown that these babies can judge people on the basis of nice, naughty, or neutral ranks. This eye-raising report was unveiled after a study conducted on the infant behaviour showed such signs. These young infants showed positive signs towards those who helped others.

The study was conducted at Yale University involving babies of six months, ten months year old babies. At first the babies were shown a climber, basically a wooden toy, glued on eyes which rested at the bottom of a hill before repeatedly trying and falling to climb. Further the climber was helped by a triangular thing helping from behind. It was noticed that babies preferred the triangular object which acted as a helper.

This experiment showed how babies act positively towards the helping factor. It is seen that babies have some social traits when they are born. While this amazing research was guided by psychologist Prof. Karen Wynn, they said “This supports the view that our ability to evaluate people is a biological adaptation – universal and unlearned,” she said. The presence of social evaluation so early in infancy suggests that assessing individuals by the nature of their interactions with others is central to processing the social world, both evolutionarily and developmentally.”

But many scientists have shown mixed views over this study, as few of them suggest that it’s too early to draw any conclusion from this research. Some scientist have even doubted on whether babies possess such sophisticated moral capabilities. But if this study and its outcomes can be seen as the ability of these infants to taken such crucial decision then it’s a healthy sign for our future generations.

November, 21

A sudden decline has been noticed in the new houses been built in Scotland, as per the figures the rates at which these houses are taking shape has shown steep fall in last year. It is seen that the difficulties which builders face to grab the planning permission and other legal formalities in order to move further is one of the main reason for making the process slow. With the growing number of population and demand for more and more houses, it is predicted that in coming years about 270,000 new houses would be needed.

The graph shows that there was a 9 percent fall in the number of new houses built last year, if we look at the present rate at which these new houses are taking shape, one would feel a need to exhilarate this current trend. According to the Community minister Stewart Maxwell the number of houses built last year was inadequate; he backed for radical housing reform, to curb this problem. “To control the situation we have proposed a national goal to increase new housing supply to 35,000 a year by the middle of the next decade” he said.

Even the private builders have informed that there is a great demand for new houses in the market, but the government is not providing the adequate land for building these homes. This lack of supply of land is making the work slow, along with this, poor planning system and other infrastructural problems has made the situation worse.

All these statistics and graphs shows how adverse are the situations, and sudden action is needed to seek out this in efficiency. Now it’s the time for the government to take some positive measures to meet the demand and give the Scottish people their dream home.

November, 19
Petrol stations one of the new victims of the severe competition in UK, has left no other option for these filling station resulting to their closure. It is known that every day at least one petrol pump shuts down with the increase in prices and less profits share. There are several factors responsible for this downfall, with supermarkets and other small filling station making the competition more tight, its very hard for these petrol station to resist such a fight.
Not bothered by the decline in petrol stations in Scotland, the demand for petrol continues to rise. Figures suggest that in present context the number of petrol station left in UK is the lowest number since 1920. All these facts points out the poor state of petrol stations in UK.
This problem has now taken a huge shape making the authorities to workout plan to contour this serious issue. Action is needed to stop the downfall of many such petrol pumps in coming years. Looking to the graphs it is known that about 30 percent filling stations has shut down in past thirty years.
Highland Council has now began new research to identify what action can be taken to halt the decline and what can be done to help vulnerable businesses in order to maintain a viable network of pumps in rural areas. Not only the rural petrol stations have been the victims of this competition but even the urban filling stations are forced to close down. Ray Hollywood of the Petrol Retailers Association said “In recent years in Scotland it has been the urban areas that have lost the forecourts. An underlying problem is the supermarkets, but the closures have also much to do with the major oil companies coming out of ownership. They can’t get the volumes to warrant development and are selling on those pieces of real estate.”

It is also seen that nowadays people prefer to head towards local supermarkets to fill petrol, killing the business of the filling stations. People are looking for local convenience these days, this change in physiology of people have made the survival of petrol station very hard. If this trend continues in future then people living in rural sections or highlands have to face severe problem to get petrol. Now the government needs to chalk out some strategy to handle this problem or else it would change in to drastic problem for Scotland.