Mental Health Manifesto

I am about to publish the Mental Health Manifesto, which calls for more rights including Habeas Corpus for mentally unwell people detained in the UK. This came about because the UN declared the practicies of dentention without trial and forced treatment unlawful.

I have been contacting people for comment on this document, which can now be purchased in print form here:

As part of this process I have contacted Liberty and Justice for their comments, but they have not yet got back to me.

However, I did speak to Professor Peter Beresford, who is the Chairman of The Centre for Citizen Participation and has been appointed to the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. He says that Civil Liberties groups take little or no interest in Mental Health issues, despite the gaping hole in human rights for the mentally ill. He also says that he sometimes feels that patients would be better off taking their chances with the criminal law, than mental health law, because mental health law is so open to abuse.

Non Responders

In my efforts to obtain support for this campaign (to get compo for users of A-Typicals who contract Diabetes), I wrote to the following leading politicians and mental health academics, campaigners and journalists. All but one (now two) failed to acknoweldge my letter. Even a follow up letter was ignored:

Professor Appleby (DoH) – no response.
Zac Goldsmith MP – no response.
Ron Coleman (Campaigner) – no response.
Prof Fulford (University of Warwick and Oxford) – no response.
Richard Bentall, University of Manchester – no response.
Ed Milliband – responded - has written to MHRA (09/11/11).
Lord Jones – no response.
Paul Farmer (Mind) – responded and are helping me.
Marjorie Wallace (Sane) – no response.
Paul Jenkins, (Rethink) – no response.

Ben Goldacre - The Guardian - no response.

And just today leading psychaitrist Dr Alex Mitchell said he would be happy to help (see http://www.psycho-oncology.info/). Still waiting for the others...

Download the letter here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zI4AYpNDKIsayIFmRCzkemBSz_5c2czXvBpriGSG1LA/edit

An Open Letter to Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly set up a compensation fund in the US for $750m, to compensate users of its drug who contracted diabetes. This was done a while ago, but UK sufferers don't get a penny. Why? Because UK law is rubbish. It requires such a high level of evidence that solicitors won't touch it and even if they did on the basis of the law, and the strength of the evidence, the government, keen to slash budgets don't want to fund these types of cases anymore. So, Eli Lilly et al get away with pushing a drug that kills you.

The mentally ill are kind of special on this particular issue, simply because when elderly users, who were prescribed A-Typical medication to control symptoms of dementia (incidentally this was the starting point for anti-psychotic drugs), they came down hard on care homes and doctors using them to treat the older patients. The older patients were dying earlier than they should, via strokes, heart attacks and the like. But when it comes to the mentally ill, that fear factor I've discussed excludes the mentally ill from protection, simply because the various authorities desire the mentally ill to be medicated up to the eye balls rather than running around killing strangers. They'd rather have a sedated, quiet patient with diabetes, or a dead patient, than a patient killing people and generally causing havoc.

I know it all sounds very cynical. But I have experienced this first hand. I know what I am talking about.

Another Death - Another Lost Friend

I mentioned my friend Kerry (not her real name), in an earlier post. She was in her thirties and suffering from cancer. She collasped and died last month from a Deep Vien Thrombosis. It is another tragic sign that the pills are killing us and the system stands by and does nothing. She leaves her boyfriend and her sister and parents behind, who may or may not realise that her pills contributed significantly to her death. And the tradegies continue...

Vagabond Unlimited Gets its New Site

Vagabond Unlimited, finally has its own site again! Visit it at: http://www.vagabond-unlimited.co.uk.

V&G Now Out In Print Edition!

Amazon.co.uk: The Vast and Gruesome Clutch of Our Law. RRP: £4.99.

Vast and Gruesome

Hi all - I have had a fourth attempt at publishing a book The Vast and Gruesome Clutch of Our Law, which is now available at: www.amazon.com. Please buy this book. It is good.

Synopsis:

The world is in the grip of a large catastrophe. Edward lives in a small community which has barely survived the long cruel winter. But when a stranger called Dean arrives in town hope returns and he seems to have a magical effect on them. But Dean is being tracked by a large foreign military power and the town is in big trouble for giving him shelter.

Reviews:

"The book is intriguing. I found it overwhelming. I found myself unwilling to let the book go until I had finished it. I would definitely pick up the sequel if I were to come across it."

"I was genuinely interested in where this tale was heading and there are some fine ideas in here."

"Its post-apocalypse setting and ambience stimulated an affectionate nostalgia" – Reviews from the book (2005).

“It had me absolutely enthralled from the moment I picked it up.” - C Toohill (2010)