It’s obvious that whomever wins the leadership we’re going to have to nurture a lot of new people (as well as the `old hands`. I think it’s important that we do so working with the grain of that individual’s personality to allow it to grow for the benefit of the Party. After all, celebration of […]
Op-eds
Opinion: A life discarded
View image | gettyimages.com Mr K. had arrived on the wing at Brixton Prison on the Friday. By Monday morning he was dead. He had managed to hang himself using a sheet tied around the window bars. No-one knew what time he had died. It would be interesting to know whether the inquest showed […]
Opinion: Ending mental health inequality
I joined the Liberal Democrats partially due to the importance that has constantly been put on mental health issues by the party. I have suffered from extreme depression and have ended up in A&E due to self-harm and suicidal thoughts. A couple of weeks ago I was officially discharged from psychiatry and I’m using my […]
Opinion: We made Mental Health an issue – now we must lead the fight to make it possible
Having worked as a frontline mental health social worker for the past 15 years, there was no-one prouder than I was to see Nick Clegg and Norman Lamb push mental health care (and its place within the NHS) up the political agenda . There is no doubt that without the determination of our gutsy Party, […]
Opinion: Conservative health policies are short on detail
What have the Conservatives said on health so far? Their manifesto makes big promises – but is vague on detail. NHS England’s Five Year Forward View called for £8 billion more annually by 2020 (alongside £22 billion efficiency savings) to maintain NHS standards. Liberal Democrats were the first to sign up to this – and […]
Opinion: First term councillor diary – mental health, the Council and me
In 1998 I lived 500 yards from Mick Philpott who was later convicted of killing 6 of his children. I’d met him on one occasion and was told even then he was an odd individual. Never did I expect to see him on the telly, but, having lived in that area, hearing what he had […]
P-37: What are the Liberal Democrats talking about today? Mental Health and the manifesto for the mind
We’ll be having daily deeper and more detailed look at the party’s main theme. Today it’s mental health. Nick Clegg and Norman Lamb this morning said that Liberal Democrats (or should that be Democats?) would invest £3.5 billion in mental health over the next Parliament. Part of our record in Government includes securing £150 million […]
Opinion: Plain Packaging: Will Tobacco Be the End or Just the Beginning?
While I think I was pleased to see the vote by MPs earlier this month, introducing plain packaging for tobacco products, it did also set off faint alarm bells – with me at least. There is something rather drastic about passing a law that requires legally produced and distributed goods to be wrapped in plain […]
Annette Brooke MP writes…Choice at the end of life is vital – free social care can make that happen
There are no dress rehearsals when it comes to where we are and who we are with when we die – so it’s crucial that people have as much choice and control over the situation as possible. This is important not only to the person who is at the end of their life, but also […]
Opinion: Time to dump the 4 hour A & E target
View image | gettyimages.com To be frank, as a doctor, I have been underwhelmed by our Liberal Democrat offering on health issues over the years; certainly we are not as strong on health as we should be. The almost daily drip feed from the right wing press on NHS shortcomings and failures is demoralising to […]