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.

Scotland, Nov 30: Soon after giving birth to a baby the young mothers feel lot more depressed as they consider that they are losing their financial independence, work status and freedom a latest research has revealed. A conference in this regard will be held in Falkirk.

According to Dr Cynthia Mc Vey and Melanie Clarke of Glasgow Caledonian University the stress of modern lifestyle is the reason behind the increasing rate of postnatal depression among women who have a stern belief that they have all the qualities. Both the researchers had interviewed several new mothers who are having the symptoms of such postnatal depression and they also expressed the emotion of being lost. The improbable prospect about childbirth and parenthood are considered as the prime reason behind the decline in their positive approach.

“You have to be ready for the compromises linked with the child birth those compromises includes your freedom, your financial stability and lot more. Giving birth to a child is not at all considered as a loss. All the women should face this in a positive mode so as to escape from the clutches of the postnatal depression,” opined Mrs Clarke.

The research shed light on to the fact that the new mothers are lot more worried to accept this social reality. The postnatal depression is regarded as mournful process.

“There is a lot of chatter about getting back to the normal life. When the transition from a daughter, sister, and companion to a mother it is something irretrievable,” said Belinda Phipps a spokeswoman for the National Childbirth Trust.

Mass awareness about the value of motherhood and proper counselling to those mothers stricken by the postnatal depression will help in bringing permanent solution to the issue.

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.

Scotland, Nov 29: Owing to the space limitation in jails the criminals including those convicted for violent crimes will be released even before their punishment period. This move was put forth by the financial secretary Kenny MacAskill as an attempt to restrict the overcrowding in Scotland’s jails that currently accommodates hundreds more prisoners than its full capacity.

This move from the financial secretary draw flak from victims’ groups and former member of the judiciary, they opined that the move will question the public faith in judiciary.

The change will allow serious criminals who are sentenced for imprisonment for the period of four years or more could be released six months earlier than normal. Those imprisoned for less than four years will be automatically released midway through their sentence.

The SNP expressed its views to extend the home detention curfew (HDC) to long term prisoners who are considered to be safe by the parole board. The move is expected to raise the number of prisoners released under the home curfew scheme to 400 as against 300 earlier.

“The measure would have to be approved by the Scottish Parliament and is expected to alleviate the problem of congestion in Scotland’s jails that are presently accommodating 1000 prisoners more than its full capacity. I am not ready to see our prisoners collapse due to overfilling. The government should have a clear vision and we have to deal this issue positively with immediate effect,” said MacAskill.

While commenting on this a spokesman of Victim Support Scotland, David Sinclair said: “We realised this as a grave problem but at the same time one thing has to be kept in mind that the deduction in punishment will lead to ruining of the public view towards judiciary and its verdicts. The public particularly the victims of crime will loose their faith in the system. The punishment should fit the crime.”

Extending the jail premises will be the correct way to solve this issue without any further controversy.

Scotland, Nov 28: The residential areas close to the seashores are facing threat of being flooded as the Edinburgh city council officials are not in a position to allocate fund to strengthen the crumbling sea walls in the flood prone areas. At present there is a shortage of £480,000 for the period of next three years to maintain the vital walls that have been ruined by frequent storms and adverse weather conditions.

A full-fledged maintenance work has to be carried out along the seashores in Cramond and on the sea wall connecting Seafield and Portobello. The total expense required for the fulfilment of all these sea wall maintenance is estimated at £740,000. But the city council allocated only £260,000 in the present budget for the two years period. That leads to the shortage of £480,000, which has to found before 2010-11.

According to the Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city’s transport leader, the flood prevention is under his purview: “The water of Leith floods of 2000 were a recent memory for many people. The council has already started to give shape to the flood prevention schemes at the water of Leith and Braidburn.”

He further added that: “The repair and the maintenance work will not come under the purview of government grants we have to look for an alternative way to gather funding for strengthening these vital defences for the safeguard of the city.”

It is estimated that at least about £150,000 is required for the maintenance work of Cramond sea wall and its breakwater that prevents the River Almond from accumulation and flooding.

“The maintenance work demands lot of money but it is not astronomical. Defences have to be maintained at any cost,” said the Labour’s transport spokesman, Councillor Ricky Henderson.

The protection of seashores by strengthening the seawalls along the seashores is an inevitable one the finances issues have to be sorted out amicably.

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.

Scotland, Nov 27: The people carrying the minor drugs in the city centre will not be arrested! Those people carrying minor amount of cocaine, Ecstasy, heroin and other illegal substances will only have them confiscated. This move is an attempt to make the Police chiefs gain more time for patrolling in Edinburgh’s busiest area rather than dealing with minor cases of drug possession.

The door staff in pubs and clubs will also be informed not to call police if they get hold of any small drug possessors. They would be asked to store the drugs in sealed containers so that the officers could collect them later.

But the politicians severely criticised this proposal as they believe that any relaxation of the law would create a ‘drug tolerance zone’ in Edinburgh.

This proposal was put forth last week by Inspector Andy Gilhooley soon after taking charge of the central policing team at the West End station. Even though the proposal was not implemented he supported the idea.

“If someone is caught with little amount of drug worth £2 the police have to spend considerable amount of time for arresting that person. This has happened in various UK cities. Just we are looking for best practical way. I would like to keep officers on the streets rather than being distracted and wasting time to deal with someone caught with little amount of drugs,” said Andy Gilhooley.

While commenting on this the convener of the police board, Councillor Iain Whyte said: “This move was not brought to my notice. I’m lot more concerned about encouraging the door staff to take possession of the drugs we can’t be sure where they would end up.Most among the public are also worried about the ides of the drug tolerance zone in the city centre.”

According to a Scottish Government spokesman the crack down on the drug possession remained official policy.

Let us wait and see what will be the after effects of this sensational proposal and its implementation.

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.

Scotland, Nov 26: In the backdrop of the sinking of MS Explorer that was holed by an iceberg in Antarctica, safety alarm is being raised over ‘extreme holiday’. MS Explorer carried 150 passengers on board hit an iceberg that damaged its hull and the water started flooded into the ship and paved the way for its gradual sinking. All the people on board were forced to escape in open lifeboats and they endured the sub-zero conditions.

Operators who organise extreme holidays indicated that the holidaymakers should be aware of the risks being involved in these type of holiday celebrations.

“The increasing trend to run cruises in extreme remote location in extremely dangerous conditions is a grave matter of concern. The condition of the ships involved in this kind of operation is also not up to the standard. The area chosen for these trips are also far away from the reach of the search and rescue team,” said the assistant general secretary of maritime union Nautilus UK, Mark Dickinson.

The passengers who escaped from the MS Explorer include 24 Britons after experiencing the hours’ long lifeboat ordeal. They overcame the unbearable temperature level of -5c before they were transferred to another ship named Endeavour and later to the Norwegian vessel named Nord Norge. The tourists had paid £4,400 each for the 19-day tour package.

In an inspection conducted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency they found five faults, the main thing among them are the missing of search and rescue plans and the improper maintenance of the lifeboats. Water tight doors were not up to the standard and the fire safety measure also draws criticism.

The thorough examination of the reasons behind the sinking of MS Explorer is definitely an eye opener to codify the safety measures in these kinds of ships that are used for extreme holidays in and around Scotland.