Lou Today

George Monbiot: 'This story is one of the most disturbing I've ever covered. It's about how the views of a deeply weird ideological sect affected science, medicine and the media, with devastating impacts on patients ... This horror has to stop' . theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Of course, a simple Google search turns up the doc who wrote this opinion piece treats Long Covid related mitochondrial dysfunction with graded exercise therapy.

Everyone left speechless at how bad Labour arguments for disability benefits cuts are.

"The new universal claims to 50 pounds a week, a loss of £2444 pounds per year push 1000s into deep poverty, stripping away legal protections and forcing people to choose between food and essential medication". - #TakingThePIP

Listening to the House of Lords debate it is clear that everyone supporting the "reforms" gets their "facts" from Fraser Nelson and the Times and have likely never seen a disability benefits form or met anyone with a disability...or tried applying for a job recently.

The Government wants most people to die before they can receive their Pension. It's an easy money grab. I got my N.I card at 16 and was told I'd work till I was 60. Others were told the same thing. They raiding the pension pots of dead people. Us because we won't get it.

Kendall wants to remove the perverse incentives to not work til you drop dead. Fortunately employers are crying out for 70 year olds- almost as much as they are for people with severe health difficulties. Learn to code Grandpa!

Are you going to re-write the delivery plan correctly, giving the actual value of awarded funding rather than using patient funding (PRIME) and covering it up as goverment funding? Not that it matters. The online training is appalling, there’s nothing for severe @wesstreeting

Please sign ✍🏼 and share 🙏🏻 Savannah is in a UK hospital, she has very severe ME complicated by paralysing pain. She is suffering from neglect that has caused infections, and under threat of discharge to an FND service (dangerous for pwME). change.org/p/save-savanna…

Today is not a victory. The @DHSCgovuk have, through their own inactions over decades, placed #myalgicencephalomyelitis patients up the creek without a paddle. The plan is a PR exercise. New ways of campaigning will have to be considered.

5 Live Breakfast segment on the UK government's new #MECFS Delivery Plan (9 mins) Interview with Sarah Boothby “There is no expertise anywhere within the NHS and this plan is not going to provide any.” youtu.be/myisnymUcC0?si…

Thank you to Elly for speaking up about her family's experience of false FII claims. We know this is happening to families with Long Covid - even from mother & child both having the illness. Instead of care there are accusations of abuse - urgent reform is needed @RCPCHtweets

Clip of Dr @BinitaKane speaking on BBC Breakfast about the new #MECFS delivery plan. There is no commitment to a new service for severe ME. “If Maeve were still alive now, this plan doesn't actually mean anything would have changed and that will be very disappointing to people.”

Sorry to say that's it. The universal credit bill has been passed. Not a great advert for the #Lords this evening, despite a small number of good speeches by those opposed. Full report by DNS on Thursday. Not feeling thrilled about democracy this evening. #UniversalCreditBill

The BBC was at a different tribunal to the rest of us. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Lord Sikka (Labour) in HoL on #UCBill: no assessment impact of bill on NHS, public services, families, or human dignity. Huge financial savings are unlikely to materialise. Violates any notion of equality: 2 tier system & existing claimants not safe as circumstances can change.

Ok, possibly less bad /actually good news perhaps as a result of our lobbying. For the Severe Conditions Criteria, a diagnosis will count IF recorded in the NHS system i.e. recognised by the NHS. So a private autism or ADHD diagnosis will qualify IF your NHS GP has it on record.

Some of the press have focused on NHS staff being trained on ME/CFS. This is not accurate. The delivery plan is only going to promote its optional (bad) eLearnings. There is no training plan to produce specialists or even have the NHS staff broadly aware of ME/CFS at all.

Tonight, ask this: Why did the DWP wait until after MPs voted to cut disability benefits to reveal deaths under Universal Credit were rising? And why are they still hiding key reports from 2020? #DWP #UniversalCredit #DisabilityJustice voxpoliticalonline.com/?p=99182

Where's the outrage now? There was plenty of hate and outrage when disabled people were being accused of defrauding the system, so why not the same outrage when DWP staff are caught stealing?

Sean O’Neill on Times Radio talking about the new government delivery plan for ME/CFS “I’ve never seen a plan that lacks detailed quite such as this. I think it you couldn’t really call it a plan at all, it’s a kind of wish list.” youtu.be/wu21bQ6GEg4?si…