Professor Karol Sikora has warned that Britain faces “the biggest cancer crisis” he has ever encountered. The Government’s focus on suppressing Covid has “sucked the oxygen away from other pressing health issues” which now require urgent attention, he says in the Spectator.
Cancer, cardiac and countless other patients are crying out for help – but are ministers listening?
Over the last year, politicians have been adopting untried and untested policies, the consequences of which none of us can yet fully grasp. The main aim, of course, of these extraordinary lockdown measures has been to suppress Covid in order to reduce pressure on our hospitals. That has been the metric on which Government approval has been judged.
Whether or not you agree with every restriction, it is clear that this focus has sucked the oxygen away from other pressing health issues. Covid required a response unlike anything we have seen in modern times. But was it right that this happen at the expense of so many other illnesses which have torn apart millions of families?
Too often it has been framed as Covid or cancer; it does not need to be like this. We turned the country on its head to deal with this virus; we now need to tackle the non-Covid health crisis with the same vigour.
I’ve been a consultant oncologist for 40 years. I thought I had seen everything but make no mistake: this is the biggest cancer crisis I have ever encountered. While daily updates on Covid case numbers and deaths give a picture of the grim toll of the pandemic, cancer just doesn’t work like that. A delayed diagnosis can turn a 80% survival rate into 20% and that is over a matter of months, not years. At Rutherford, my cancer centre network, we are now seeing far more patients than usual presenting with later-stage cancers. Lives have already been lost and the insidious, relentless nature of cancer will mean that will continue for some time.
Professor Sikora notes that the biggest issue which needs to be overcome if the crisis is to be dealt with is awareness. He suggests a Downing Street press conference dealing with non-Covid health issues as a starting point.
The PM needs to outline the urgency of the situation and stress that help is there for those that need it. It won’t solve everything, but it will at least start a conversation. It would do a lot more good than some of the current scripted attempts.
In a recent pice for Lockdown Sceptics, Dr Ann Bradshaw, a retired senior lecturer in adult nursing at Oxford Brookes, wrote that the Government’s mixed messages about the safety of the NHS could be putting people off using it.
And what of the mammogram? Will I be socially distanced in the waiting room? Will the radiographer have clean hands? Will the equipment carry Covid specks? The Government warnings ring again, loudly in my ears. Hospitals are breeding grounds. How many secret Covid spreaders will I encounter? To put my mind at rest I Googled “mammogram” and “Covid”. Oh no – apparently, mammograms after Covid vaccinations can give false positives. So that’s out. Easy decision this time. Or is it? What if I have a hidden lump?
Professor Sikora’s article is worth reading in full.
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Labour on 23%? After what they have done?
Who are these people?
I must live in a bubble but I don’t know anybody who considers them anything else than a bunch of incompetent ideologues.
Speaking of which, here’s Angela Rayner, tying herself in knots again. Sounds to me like you don’t have a ‘housing crisis’, you have an ‘immigration crisis’;
”Housing Minister, Angela Rayner in another car crash i/v with @TrevorPTweets
. Apparently 5 out of 7 new homes will go to migrants.
She says there is plenty of housing but needs to build 2.5 million more.”
https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1865724329570312283
Top comment. Yep, sounds like yet another bad case of ‘chronic oral flatulence’ to me. It’s going around something rotten in the Labour party…
”As an engineer who has a background in all kinds of construction including development of land to construct residential & commercial properties I can 100% state she has no idea what she is talking about.
To achieve what she says by 2030 means building over 1400 houses per day
Which is the best part of 10000 a week.
Absolute nonsense.
I’m guessing Abbott’s in charge of the abacus.”
Bless them. These people genuinely do want to go back to their country, it would seem. I hope the Labour Party aren’t going to do a ‘Hotel California’ and stop them from leaving. And to be fair, anyone who’s supportive of jihadists who go around beheading people are probably not the sort you want nabbing social housing in your community, really;
”Syrian refugees in Manchester say they ‘can’t wait to get flights back home’
Hundreds of people have gathered together in the city centre to celebrate the end of the regime – one that many fled in fear for their lives.”
https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1865805219973464261
I have a good friend who owns a construction company and he tells me that 1.5 million homes in five years is an impossibility and for one simple reason – there simply aren’t the trades people starting with brickies who can now command a grand a week for their services. And that is just one of many skilled trades. Furthermore, everybody involved in the construction industry knows this.
Totally agree (having recently been involved with a house build). Joiners, brickies, plasterers, plumbers, heating engineers – just not available especially in the numbers they need.
I heard an interviewer over the weekend making the point that no-one can expect 1.5 million homes to be built – so why make the ridiculous pledge – and the answer was – oh well, we might get 95% built and then be able to say ‘stay with us and we will build the rest’.
There is NO logic behind this. This is total madness.
There is no logic behind their other major policy pledge [net zero] but they plough on at ruinous cost
Militwat failed from Day One as all the subsea cable laying ships are booked up until into 2030. So even if there are anymore offshore windmills built they can’t be connected up. In addition his ignorant plans include Carbon Capture & Storage which does not exist on grid scale anywhere in the world and is yet to be shown to be economic. There are also floating windmills which again are not in operation and are even more expensive than normal windmills. And there are storage batteries that are hugely expensive and of little use as they store very little energy as well as hydrogen which is also too expensive.
Talking of Ranting – the 2 homes tax dodging electoral fraudster – have you seen the youtube video of her interview where she is repeatedly asked to name a single company of the ones she claims to have consulted with and who like her forthcoming labour regulations. Every time she fails to name even one. The only big name on letter that supported Rachel from Accounts was the Iceland boss who has now gone very quiet given the increase in his running costs.
Rona tards.
Climate tards.
Open borders.
Queer, trans fascism.
Socialism.
Kamalalalalarama supporters.
EU 4th Reich lovers.
There are a lot more than 23%. More like 60%.
Better late than never. And a ‘two-fingered salute’ to the dreadful Uniparty too;
”I have left the Conservative Party because it has become a shadow of what it once stood for.
Its incompetence and failure to deliver have betrayed the trust of the British people.
I deeply regret that it has come to this, as there are still a handful of decent MPs trying to do the right thing.
I believe in politics driven by conviction and a genuine commitment to serving our nation, not by empty promises and mismanagement.”
https://x.com/raelbrav/status/1865681391167373697
Interesting that within months of a landslide Labour victory, [albeit a minority of voters], the polls put the two right wing partes added together MILES ahead of Labour. Personally, I am disappointed that people still support the Conservatives, given how badly they let us down, but once the balance of power between Reform and CUP tips towards Reform, hopefully the CUP will melt away…
Anyone who voted Tory at the last election is either not “right wing” or is utterly deluded. I hope they change their minds but I doubt it.
The Tory party are now just a footnote in our history although the way things are going we will shortly not even have any history left.
Or voting tactically. Reform has the effect of splitting the “right wing” vote letting Labour in. If polls show that many intend to vote Tory, joining these voters is more likely to keep Labour out than an empty gesture.
The Tories wasted 14 years in power – committed to net zero, failed to peel back the rise of woke, eroded freedom of speech, raised taxes and to cap it all off, “covid”. They do not deserve anyone’s vote.
The Tories brought in legally binding targets on net zero, then funded the NGOs that sue the government for not doing enough to meet those targets. For so many reasons I will never vote for them again.
Me neither. Badenoch represents an improvement over Sunak but let’s not forget she was a covidian. I think the only way I would consider it would be if the entire leadership and most of the MPs were swept away – something I was hoping would happen in July.
Not that boring old trope again
Reform is in danger of becoming just a rebranding of the failed Con servatives.
Yes, there are signs that Reform are drifting towards becoming centrist under their useless leader Farage and I fear that unless Reform becomes a proper party and not the preening Farage’s plaything we are going to miss the opportunity in 2029 to get a conservative government.
Farage is the most influential politician de nos jours. I think he knows when to hold em and when to fold em. Reform is now attracting disillusioned Labour voters – and God knows, there are plenty of them – so I’d trust Nigel’s strategic plans a lot more than your sneering comments
Reform needs to do better than provide a new home for unsuccessful old party hacks
We aren’t just letting anyone in you know
The Conservative Party is finished. It will never recover. There are no signs or leadership that indicates it can provide any leadership that is needed. They are still completely lost. This is probably a good thing.