Depression and mental illness: all in your head or in all our heads?             

 

 

Last night I read a beautifully touching piece by a friend of mine, about the devastating loss of his sister. When I first read it I thought thank god I’ve never gone through that. I was thankful that I have never lost anyone that close, which is quite remarkable in its self, considering I am in my 40’s.

When I read it a second time I felt quite sad that I had never experienced the kind of happiness and closeness that my friend spoke of. The unspoken connection between him and his sister, the fond memories that linger today, faded but not forgotten, made me think that while it is obviously important to mourn the loss of loved ones it is vital that we also celebrate them.

 In my limited experience, I have known the catastrophic effect that losing someone can have on individuals and families, sometimes shaping the rest of the life of the surviving members. I have witnessed the complete transformation of a happy loving carefree loyal friend, who following the death of her beloved father completely lost her self and became a self-obsessed bitter sad individual, dependant on medication to function on day to day basis.

I have wanted to write about mental health for some time but the subject is so enormous and so sensitive that I simply didn’t know where to start.

On reading the text of the eulogy my friend shared led me to wonder how someone can experience such joy and closeness, then have it taken away, without suffering some kind of damage. Depression and stress are still rather taboo topics in this country, but I wonder is the potential to suffer these diseases in all of us.

I think it has never been, and possibly never can be determined which event is the trigger and which is the symptom?

I, in the past have suffered depression and stress and I have blamed the excesses of alcohol. There was a period in my late teens when I would drink 8 or 9 pints at lunch time, sometimes more, eventually resulting in me suffering a fit, when I got blazing drunk when I had measles.  The alcohol fuelled the fever to the point where, were it not for the assistance of others I could easily have died. Following the seizure I went to hospital where I was told to my dismay, that if I continued to abuse my body in such a way, that I would be dead in three years.

That was the wake-up call I needed to reign in the drinking, but have still suffered bouts of real anxiousness, deep depression and self-destructiveness even when sober. This leads me to question whether the booze and behaviour were the cause or just a symptom. Indeed often I can find no cause or trigger, which tends to exasperate the situation in my frustration.

Although I feel no shame for these bouts in times of clarity, during the darkness I have no desire to share my feelings and rarely discuss it even now. I have learnt to recognise the onset and on the whole have managed to pull back from the abyss, but not everyone is so lucky and I am in no way naïve enough to believe that I am now immune.

 I am fortunate to have only experienced relatively mild forms of the disease and suffered little or no detriment as a consequence. Others have more severe, more dramatic break downs and lose their jobs, their homes and their family. Some lose their own life.

England cricketer Jonathan Trott made the brave decision to fly home from the ashes in Australia, due to a long standing, stress related condition. It was brave because he faced a backlash from ignorant people who either don’t understand the illness or simply don’t believe in it.

Some unfortunate comments were made publicly, but on the whole Trott has receives widespread support. There is a growing wave of support for sportsmen and women who suffer from mental illness, thanks in no short measure to high profile spokesman such as footballer Clarke Carlisle, in TV documentaries. Some politicians have publicly admitted to suffering from the potentially crippling effects of mental health issues but still there is not enough awareness. Who knows how many people in the country suffer from such illnesses? Due to the very nature of it, there is still a reluctance to admit to it so there can be no accurate measure of just how many people suffer in silence.

I have in the past been a little unsympathetic to homeless people, believing that they largely choose to be homeless; that may be the case, but how many of them are actually making a rational decision? Surely no one in their right mind would opt out of society and resort to begging in the street, but not in ones right mind it is easy for situations to quickly escalate before one has no choice. The effect of the illness could theoretically be costing millions of pounds each year to just repair the damage rather than treating the causes.

Hopefully, as more prominent celebrities and high profile sportsmen speak out and more people have the courage to discuss mental health issues on social network sites and other media, eventually there will be a realisation that any of us can be hit by depression and stress and that there does need to be help and that mental health issues are not all in your head.


http://jamestringham.wordpress.com/

http://www.bipolaruk.org.uk/bipolar-uk-news/2013/11/29/finding-serenity/
 

 

On January 1^st 2014, Britain opens its doors to Bulgaria and Romania.  UKIP leader Nigel Farage is doing the rounds, telling BBC news programmes such as Question Time and The Daily Politics that the 30million people living in those two countries will turn up on our shores to join the 100,000plus that already live here.

Tempted by the well paid labour and our free health services, Farage claims it is inevitable that they will flood our country, despite the fact that they are also free to enter any other country in Europe, including Germany, Spain, and France.

The main political parties here have done little to quash the scare mongering, with communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles repeatedly refusing to estimate the actual numbers we expect. 49 year old former Conservative member Farage has relentlessly used his exaggerations about immigration to bolster his argument that the UK should leave the EU.

A recent report from University college London’s migration research unit, found that migrants coming to the UK since 2000 are less likely to claim benefits or social housing than people who already lived here. The study goes on to report that immigrants contributed £25 billion to our economy in the same period. This bucks the popular perception  the right wingers would have us believe that foreigners will come here taking all our houses, claiming our benefits and increasing crime rates.

It is high time politicians and certain quarters of the media stopped muddying the waters and had the grown up, honest debate about immigration that Farage calls for, but debate based on facts, not fantasy.

UKIP and Farage deserve to be congratulated for raising the issue from being whispered about behind closed doors, to the top of the political agenda. It is now possible to discuss immigration without being accused of racism, although there are still no doubt those who will have that agenda.

While it is arguable that immigrants are taking all the houses, what is clear, is that we need more houses. The down side of immigration “what if’s” dominating the headlines is that issues such as housing shortages, the increasing cost of living, and precautionary measures against the threat of terrorism get pushed down the agenda or shaped to fit the agenda.

Terror suspects such as Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed are able to disappear by simply entering a mosque and changing into a Burka. He has been undetected since the 1^st of November. Urgent action needs to be taken on the clearly ineffective measures we currently have in place, yet we spend time debating whether the Burka should be banned. Someone asked on TV last week, as terror suspects escape in taxis, should we also ban taxis?
 

We need honest, transparent and sensible debate on the real issues that matter from our democratically elected leaders not lies, hearsay and mis-leadership from second hand car salesmen.

 

Coral the bookmakers are giving odds this weekend on the next premier league manager to lose his job with Fulham boss Martin Jol at 6/5 and Norwich’s Chris Hughton 6/4.

Football managers are paid huge sums of money (compared to most of us) to tell millionaire footballers how to play the beautiful game, but are the games top coaches paid too much or are they worth their pay.

Jol’s Fulham are currently in 16^th position in the premier league, having won just three of their first ten games. In one of those games his team scores two contenders for goal of the season and yet he will if they lose to Liverpool at the weekend he will be edging even closer the exit door. The 57 was previously sacked by premier league London rivals Tottenham, during a defeat against Getafe CF in 2007. He has claimed he found out about his fate via a text from his nephew before the game had ended.

Current leaders Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger faced calls for the sack in the opening days of the season after an opening day defeat to Aston Villa. Criticised for not bringing in fresh talent, fans seemed to have lost patience after failing to win a trophy in almost a decade. Three months later and £42 million spent on highly rated German, Mesut Ozil, the gunners are 5 points clear having not lost since the Villa game.

Even the self-proclaimed special one, Jose Mourinho and new Manchester United boss David Moyes have been subjects of the sack race rumour mill.

So are managers unfairly judged too harshly or are they lucky to be in the job?

An inspirational manager can transform the fortunes of a club, given time and faith. Current Everton boss Roberto Martinez cut his teeth in management at Swansea. At the time they faced extinction narrowly escaping relegation from the football league. Martinez’s style of play and inspirational man management transformed the club into the premier league outfit they are today. Crewe legend Dario Grady has served the club for over 30 years in various capacities and is credited with discovering some of the best young talent in the game.  One could argue then that some managers, given the time by the clubs directors can justify the money they earn are arguably more important than their millionaire playboy charges. In contrast it is easy to feel for managers such as Terry Connor, who enjoyed 13 games at the helm for Wolves before being replaced or former Charlton boss Ian Dowie, who was in charge for just 12 games in 2006.

Chelsea hero Roberto Di matteo was dismissed by the Stamford Bridge outfit after just 8 months in charge despite winning two trophies including the prestigious Champions League trophy.

So while it may not look good for Messes Jol and Hughton, they should take heart from the premier league’s longest serving and most successful manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sir Alex lost his first game in charge to Oxford United, followed by a dull draw at Hughton’s current club Norwich. In 1989-90 there were calls for him to be sacked by fans and journalists alike. After a run of 7 games without a win it was widely expected that his reign would be ended until Mark Robins scored the winning goal against an in form Nottingham Forest. His team went on to win the FA Cup that season, the first of 5 and 13 league titles in a 25 year spell.

Maybe 25 years from now Sir Chris Hughton will be the most distinguished manager in history, but sadly I fear a home defeat at the hands of West Ham this week end could be the final nail in his Norwich coffin.

Is Russia the land that time forgot?

 

I am the first to admit that I know little of Russian culture or history, but there has been several alarming stories coming out of the country in recent weeks.

In June this year, a law was passed by President Vladimir Putin banning propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to miners. In addition there has been a catalogue of attacks on the rights of gay people, including a court decision that attempting to confront homophobia was extremist as it “incited social and religious hatred”. The court went on to comment that such extremist activities present a threat to Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The year before Putin was elected in 2012 the European court of Human Rights fined Russia for violating several articles of the European convention by banning over 160 pride events and marches between 2006 and 2008.

Former KGB officer Putin has done little to improve the rights of Russia’s LGBT community. The law has been interpreted as a tool to ban parades and marches as well as preventing discussions of homosexuality among teenagers. Since the anti-gay propaganda law was passed in June there has been an increase in violent attacks on homosexual’s and even suspected homosexuals.

One would imagine that such outdated ignorance would be condemned by the modern world, but two USA conservatives had defended the attacks. Brian Camenke, an activist for MassResistance,  who appear to be essentially an anti-gay movement in the USA is quoted as saying on the Harvey this weekend show, “the natural way for people to react to homosexuality- outside of the diversity training – is a degree of revulsion, so if two men start kissing in public you can expect a certain reaction from people”.

The show’s host Linda Harvey, defended the law as logical and claimed it was intended to protect children.

The MassResistance website currently carries article entitled “homo fascism- attacks against churches, citizens and business” and “the infamous fist gate report-we broke the news”. There is also a large banner at the foot of the home page saying “say no to same sex marriage”.

It is the mindless, ignorant bile that websites and movements like these that are a blight on this world, not homosexual people. There should be laws passed banning people like Camenker from spouting such hatred on television. It is he and his friend that are inciting social hatred.

It is the integrity of Russia, America and any other nation that shares their views that is at risk.

Russia, who are set to host the 2018 football world cup, has an equally dismal record when it comes to fighting racism. Manchester City player Yaya Toure claims he faced racial abuse this week at CSKA, a claim the Russians deny despite Greek far-right party, Golden Dawn banners being displayed at several football grounds in Russia recently.

Despite the cold war ending years ago, it seems Putin’s Russia is frozen in time, offering no resistance to racism and homophobia and signing policies that should have been outlawed in the ice age.

                            

Former chief whip Andrew Mitchell was forced to step down from the post last year, after allegations that he called a police officer a pleb.

Prior to this accusation the majority of people did not know what the word pleb meant, and yet the outrage was such that the story ran for weeks before he finally stepped down.

The oxford dictionary defines the pleb as meaning an ordinary person-

 

 

especially from lower social classes.                                                         

Mr Mitchell is the son of Sir David Mitchell, former Tory MP. Before becoming an MP himself he worked for Lazard, one of the world’s largest investment banks, after enjoying an education at Cambridge University.

It is therefore completely feasible that this man would think a mere bobby, ordinary and of a lower social class. One would imagine this would be an accurate description.

Former Conservative politician-turned chat show panellist Michael Portillo said last night live on BBC1’s This Week programme, that he has heard Mr Mitchell use this term privately. Mr Portillo did attempt to retract this statement afterwards. Whether he heard it or not, and whether Mr Mitchell used the word to a police officer is rather irrelevant.

The police are accused of lying to discredit Mr Mitchell.

What is apparent is that the police have not covered themselves in glory, yet again. Mr Mitchell admitted that he had sworn at police officers after they refused him entry through a gate at Downing Street, mumbling “ I thought you lot were supposed to effing protect us”.  

As a fit and proper person, a role model, and an elected representative of the government this is not acceptable. If it was Joe Bloggs on a Friday night swearing at police officer’s he could expect an appearance in court facing drunk and disorderly charges and may even find himself in the court report in the local paper. Probably no more, probably no less.

 

At a time when the reputation of the police is at an all-time low in the media, appearing to try to fit up a leading politician was possibly the most stupid thing they have done. Already accused of dishonesty, brutality, corruption, and more they are now accused of having a lack of integrity.

 

The political classes have taken the mistreatment of Mr Mitchell rather badly. Several MP’s from both parties have stated publicly that they have grave concerns for the public. The point being that if the police can dislodge a man of Mitchell’s profile, power and wealth from his job, effectively ending his career, what chance would a normal person, from a lower social class, arrested in a town centre have?

My feeling is that the incident may have been isolated. It was possibly a reaction to government policy, cutting police numbers. It may have started out as a bit of a stitch up which snowballed into the biggest news story of the year.

It is also my feeling that on the whole, police men and women do a bloody good job.

 Let’s not forget that they face danger every time they clock on; their loved ones not knowing whether they will return home.  

They face hatred and malice from the public, insulted and assaulted for trying to protect us. Appreciated by no one, they are blamed when heavy handed and they are blamed when they are too lenient.

 Some people say that they choose to take the risk because they choose to be police because they are a certain kind of people. I agree. The type of person I would call a hero.

There are undoubtedly questions to ask about some senior officials within the force and there are inevitably, like all walks of life, bad Bobbies. Just like there are bad builders, teachers, doctors, politicians, solicitors, or fast food assistants, some police are bad; however it would be disastrous to tar them all with the same brush. The overwhelming majority of police men and women sign up for the job to help people and make the world a better place – just like most politicians.

 

Why Chris Morgan could sharpen the Blades..

                                                   

 

 

Sir Alex Ferguson, Britain’s most successful manager, played football for his country less than a dozen times. He played 317 games for six teams in Scotland, scoring 171 goals. Not a bad return but not what you would call prolific either.

As a manager, he won the Premier League with Manchester United 13 times. He also won the FA cup 5 times and the league cup 4 as well as a cabinet full of silverware won in various European cups.

No one could argue that as a manager he was most definitely prolific.

For much of reign as Manchester United coach his biggest rival was Frenchman Arsene Wenger. Arsenal boss Wenger played 67 professional games, scoring just four times. In management he has won the French title with Monaco, the premier league three times and the FA Cup four times.

England’s most capped player, goalkeeper Peter Shilton played for his country 125 times over two decades. He played over a thousand professional games before retiring at the grand age of 47. After finishing playing he managed Plymouth Argyle reaching the second division play-off final and being relegated the following year.

Former England captain Bryan Robson who played for England 90 times, enjoyed some success as Middlesbrough manager, enjoying promotion to the premier league and spending millions bring in talent from abroad. He eventually left with ‘Boro in a relegation battle and took up the reigns at Bradford who were relegated that season. From Bradford he went to WBA narrowly avoiding the drop in a famous last game escape.

He also had a dismal spell in charge of Sheffield United.

This week Sheffield United sacked manager David Weir after less than 6 months in the role.  Weir is Scotland’s sixth most capped player, representing them 69 times in a 13 year career which saw him play for Hearts, Everton and Rangers. Sheffield United were his first employer in the role of manager but he saw just one victory before being relieved of his duties with United in the bottom three of League one. The Blades are expected to name Nigel Clough as his successor in the coming days. Clough played for Liverpool and Manchester City after making debut for his father, Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. He played for England 14 times, never scoring before going on to manage non-league Burton, leading them into the football league proper. He also spent four years at Derby before being sacked earlier this season. Will he go on to be another highly successful player unable to cut it as a manager, or will he break the mould?

Other world class, brilliant players such as Pele, Maradonna, Roy Keene, Kevin Keegan and Glen Hoddle who were highly decorated as players have failed to maintain that success at managerial level.  Winning trophies as a player does not guarantee success as a manager. Experience in the top division does not guarantee success as manager. The statistics show that even being a great leader on the pitch does not guarantee success from the touchline.

 

It is with this in mind that I wonder if current Sheffield United caretaker manager, Chris Morgan might be the best option. A tough no nonsense defender, Morgan played 185 times for his hometown club Barnsley before moving to Sheffield, playing almost 250 times for the Blades. If the records of the big names above are anything to go by, Morgan could be just what is needed to restore the fortunes of the sorry Sheffield outfit.

 

Answer the call: join a union

                           Answer the call: join the union.

Answer the call: Raising wages and professionalism in call centres, marks the start of a month of campaigning on behalf of call centre workers world-wide. Although staff in call centres around the world are generally on fairly low pay, there is a report that suggests many of the employees are highly skilled and highly qualified.

The report states that in India, staff earn on average, less than 32 rupees (less than 50p) per day.

72% of French call centre workers are university educated but earn less than 65% of the national average.

The story at home is similar with many British call centres employing ex teachers and ex solicitors among their ranks. The average wage in Britain for a call centre operative is just £17,433.

In comparison the average national wage is £31,511 for men, while women on average earn £24,469.

A customer service representative in a call centre where there is collective bargaining with a trade a union earns on average 7% more than none unionised workers.

The wildly varying reward depending on the type of job you do, along with the misconception that call centre operatives are worth less than some manual jobs needs addressing urgently.

One way to improve the situation is clearly by more workers joining trade unions. A worker on £17000 would be £1190 a year on average better off if they belong to a trade union.  The cost of belonging to a trade union is on average, less than £170 per annum.

So why is it, that so few of our major work forces enjoy the benefits of a recognised trade union?

Many none union members claim they are against the political side of unions and are unwilling to pay the political levy. They don’t realise that there is an opt-out clause or exactly what the levy does. The political levy paid to the unions is so that organised trade unions can hold the government of the day to account, whichever party may occupy Downing Street.
Historically the trade union movement has been influential in fighting for many of the employment rights we all enjoy and take for granted today. Maternity leave and paid holidays, health and safety, and equality in the work place would probably not exist without the pressure exerted on governments and business from the union movement.

Some people see unions as the dinosaurs from the 1970’s that were blamed for much of the trouble at that time. They see union representatives and leaders as militants, out for a fight and to line their own pockets.

The modern trade union is much less aggressive. It is instrumental in helping people from all walks of life including the unemployed. Unite the union offers community membership for just 50p a week. This contribution entitles members to benefits such as access to legal help and assistance with C.V writing and job finding skills and debt counselling.

A far cry from the turbulent ‘70’s, the modern union has learning representatives who’s remit is to facilitate up-skilling of members in core subjects such as English and Maths. There are health and safety representatives with a mandate to ensure safe working practices, and there are equalities representatives working tirelessly to ensure minorities are treated fairly.

Many elected union representatives are volunteers, giving up their free time to improve the lives and working conditions of their members. Trade councils meet monthly across the country, for free, to organise demonstrations against policies such as the hated bedroom tax or cuts to probation services that will inevitably put dangerous criminals back onto the streets prematurely. Delegates affiliated from many different trade unions contribute donations from branches to various causes and campaigns.

 Without the trade union movement it would be left for the millionaire political classes to thrash out between themselves what is best for us, the workers.

The current government want to dilute worker’s rights with schemes like the rights for shares idea. They asked millionaire businessman Lord Beecroft, a venture capitalist, to suggest changes to employment law. The Beecroft report suggested making it easier to hire and fire workers with no fault necessary. The Lib-Dems claim they saved us from many of his suggestions and years of Labour governments did little to strengthen the role of trade unions.

A recent survey revealed that the number of people interested in politics was increasing while the number of people who trusted politicians was in decline. This supports the argument that trade unions have a legitimate role to play in responsible politics and in supporting the countries hard working men and women to earn a decent living in decent conditions.

The unions are not of course entirely blameless for the situation. They need to be more vocal and more proactive in telling the masses the real benefits of trade unions. They need to expel the myths of union barons living in luxury and union rep’s being work shy skivers.

They need to extinguish the belief that unions defend the wrongs of workers and promote the fact that they defend the rights of workers. They strive for fairness- Fairness in the workplace and fairness in society.

Trade union representatives and leaders are normal working men and women from ordinary working backgrounds living in normal houses, on normal estates in touch with real issues.