Policies 21-27 Please Use
I have been lobbying for years and here are some more of my policies that I have either lobbied directly or through www.writetothem.com or via Consultations:
21. BBC could useful improve daytime TV by coverning more festivals like for instance the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Book and Politics festivals. If the BBC would offer a package deal to people or groups that are engaged in culture, theatre, dance, politics, books, arts etc such as a package fee plus BBC made DVD of their production and a promis of a daytime slot on a BBC channel during the daytime, then TV would be improved across daytime tv rather than just coverage of the festival per se. There are festivals and cultural and arts activities across the UK that could usefully be aired as daytime TV with reciprocal benefit. At the moment daytime TV is the same programs shown during the day and repeated early evening and the schedule is then repeated every six months: this is tedious and programing is tired being shown so much. This does not have to be the way forward and programming could usefully be revisited to events and coverage across the UK especially for festivals like Edinburgh Festival which is open to a global audience and impact and is currently an untapped resource by the BBC or any TV channel. Glastonbury and Belladrum are captured so why not all Festivals and cultural events or more of them for a purpose - to take out the repeats on daytime TV scheduling.
22.1 The Monarchy could usefully be changed to a Committee of Monarchs in the event of Queen Elizabeth's reign ending. No one person should be able to do all the work the Queen currently does and for so long. A Committee of the heir only of each monarchy of the UK or a family representative in the event that the heir does not want to do it, or is to young or too old would suffice. Everyone could either be specialist or generalist or do both as issues that a Monarchy has as their duties to their subjects. To be on the Committee you would probably need to be age 14 (when you can actually do work) to probably age 75 and for a period only of 25 years before handing on to someone else. All the hangers on would be dispensed with and would revert to ordinary people as would the members of the Committee but they would be supported financially by Government and facilitate modern history. Much of the pomp and ceremony could go too and modernise the monarchy for the 21st century. So either an heir of a King or Queen of the UK or the high probability of such a person being so would sit on the Monarchy Committee.
22.2 There is a need to look at the Scottish Interregnum x 2. The Scots are hiding their history behind this word. The Interregnum related to the reign of King John Balliol and King Edward Balliol but not King Robert the Bruce - yet King John and King Robert were cousins. There must be a reason for this and I have a couple of haunches, but consider it would be worth investigating, so am going to try as I have unravelled a couple of bits of mystery in relation to the Jermy/Balliol pedigree of Suffolk and Norfolk which identifies Princess Ellin Balliol's marriage to Sir John Jermy in the 13th Century and could prove to be fascinating if not also informative : Just saying ...
The mysteries on the Jermy Pedigree are being solved - firstly the marriage of Sir William Jermy to Anne Langford of Devon is important. The clue is that Thomas Bretherton gave two parts dowry to his brother-in-law (Sir William Jermy) and one part to his wife - unravelled by implication as Thomas Bretherton's sister or half sister which is significant as Thomas Bretherton is the half brother of Edward II, ie the 17th child out of 20 children of Edward I and therefore second surviving son. Edward I married twice, Eleanor of Castile and Margaret of France. If Anne is from the first marriage then she is sister to Edward II. If Anne is from the second marriage there is another mystery: is Margaret on her second marriage in which case Anne would be a step sister to Edward II or is she via the marriage to Edward I and therefore a half sister to Edward II / sister to Thomas Bretherton. Further Thomas Bretherton is born in 1300 and lives till 1338. This causes some dating problems with the pedigree as the question arises at what age did he give the dowry to the Jermy family. This is important because Princess Ellin Balliol marries after Sir William Jermy and Anne Langford to their child Sir John Jermy - query is when. The reason why this is important is because King John Balliol was forced under duress to adbdicate in 1296 (and died in 1314) and if she is the heir or her brother Edward Balliol is the heir they should have held the throne of Scotland if born before 1296 or 1299. (King Edward Balliol did hold the throne of Scotland but not in 1296 and died without issue, which again should have meant Princess Ellin was heir). King Robert the Bruce is coronated in 1299. By all accounts Robert the Bruce was a despicable character, when the 13 stood for the Crown of Scotland he was doing deals with three heirs against John II Ballioll who was eventually selected on the premis of primogeniture. Robert the Bruce then sided with the English Edward I against King John Balliol and the Scots ensuring he was forced to abdicate - not nice. He also murdered John Comyn the husband of Eleanor Balliol, King John Balliol's sister establishing that Princess Ellin, as daughter, and Eleanor as sister of John Balliol are two different people: there was some confusion over this issue now clarified. As stated, the marriage of Sir John Jermy to Princess Ellin Balliol led to the birth of John Jermy who was also knighted. This mystery is significant as through birth he should have been a prince not a knight, as knighthoods are conferred. (The Jermy family are knights from 1221 to the 17th Century so who has been conferring and why?). This marriage is significant to my "haunches" as to what the interregnum is about which hides Scottish history twice - King John Balliol and his son King Edward Balliol. So is the reaason potentially for hiding the Jermy family pedigree and its link to the Scots and English Crowns because Edward II may have been gay or is it a birth issue. Thomas Bretherton is not to be confused with Thomas of Lancaster who was one of the wealthiest men in England with estates in Salisbury, Derby, Lincoln, Lancaster and Leicester who was cousin to Edward II. Therefore for the Scots to claim that King John Balliol was "emptycoat" is not quite true as his daughter has married into a wealthy family - so the issue of the interregnum TWICE may not be about wealth or money it may be about whether Prince Edward Balliol and/or Princess Ellin Balliol were born before 1296 as they should have succeeded if they did at 1296 effectively if Princess Ellin putting the Scots Crown on an English head potentially linked to the Crown of England, via Prince Thomas Bretherton. Either way, it is not quite certain yet whether it is Sir John Jermy, father of Sir William Jermy who is provicded the dowry or Sir William Jermy's son, Sir John Jermy who receives the dowry - me and my brother are in dispute on this fact at the moment and he might be more right than me. Just saying...
I said the information was fascinating: King John Balliol's genealogy goes back to the first King of Norway Harald Fairhair with a brother Bloodaxe. He is linked to the Kings of Sweden and Iceland and had an estate in Picardy in France around Calais and died at Helicourt. His wife was Queen Devorgilla of Galloway who also had estates and was linked genealogy wise to Eleanor of Castile of France. (She also was born on January 28 like me!!!!) If married into the English Crown and Edward I his genealogy is linked to King Britain who had sons Lontrine, Albastran, and Cambrai and as a consequence Scots are required to do fealty and hommage to the English Crown. Edward I also is linked to King Arthur and goes back to Ely and Saul. This is according to two letters written in the 12 Century : Pope Boniface to Edward I claiming the rights to Scotland for King John Balliol; and the response by Edward I to Pope Boniface as above. Wikipedia also refers to kings of Wales and Jerusalem etc but I have not as yet checked them out.
So do you think I could have a Norwegian gene - Battleaxe instead of Bloodaxe!! Unfortunately the pedigree has to go on the balance of probabilities in that regard albeit Scots can do "primogentiure" or "presumptive heir". The pedigree informs that under Royal Licence in 1838 (so Queen Victoria) the estates of the Jermy family were swindled away by a Judge Preston and there was a murder. The heir was a gardener Thomas Jermy and the pedigree informs the Gunton line is the true line. As a consequence of the swindle and the high esteem the Jermy family were held in Norfolk and Suffolk, all names and derivatives of Jermy - Jermyn, Jarmin, Germany etc changed their names to Jermy and also married each other because they did not know who the heir was. This is a genealogy nightmare and one that means that my mother's maiden name Jermy is mythical concerning the Jermy Pedigree for the time being anyway, but she was born in Norfolk. (Not to detract from her mother's genealogy (Cole) which is also interesting as it leads to Guernsey, and an Amos Woolcock Whicker, a Headmaster of St Peter Port's Boys School, which must have been great fun as he was a classics scholar apparently and goes back to Marie Seigal). Such fun.
23. I had an idea about self-driving cars - the technology is available for cars to self-drive now. With satnav and possibly technology on road signs, cars could self drive. But I was thinking, cars are now not able to bump into each other with sensing technology. Whilst a human can still bump into a car or perhaps a train could bump into a car or inanimate object, self sensing technology means that a car cannot bump into another car or human or inanimate object. Only one car could be on a motorway or road at any one time and could not bump into front, side or back as the technology can slow down and stop a vehicle in the event of an accident. Satnavs can pre-programme cars to drive one way, ie forward - no two cars could occupy the same spot.
24.1 China has been topical and I was interested in the Cities and their trees as there is a problem of air pollution in Chinese cities. I was thinking, the rain forests and deserts must be on the planet for a reason. Is it necessary for the "rain" forest to have trees and do trees create rain and the absence of trees create deserts. Just saying. Therefore in Chinese cities is the water the real problem: it goes up into the air which is seriously polluted and comes back down into the waterways and rivers and is affecting the trees cycle in the cities. So is the answer - clean your water by water cleansing plants. There are some types of trees such as Leylandii I am informed, that are better at purifying the air than others - so more conifers in cities, plants on flat roofs and balconies etc. Anywhere you can plant a tree, do so - it might make it rain though!
24.2 There may be a problem with the Hinchley Point Nuclear plant deal. I checked out the Official Journal of the European Union concerning this deal. The last report logged in the bottom section informed there was "insufficient" information and a "risk" associated with this project. The report informed that the area had been assessed on the basis of welfare, poverty, employment, property and housing but did not appear to have done environmental concerns - why? Is Mark Carney and George Osborne doing misconduct in public office by proferring this deal to the Chinese and involving the French when the OJ informs there is risk associated with this deal and the project does not appear to have got its publication code as good to go yet? A wee bit concerned there is a rush to do a deal with the Chinese - without going through the proper channels / due diligence that is usually associated with a construction project of this size. My concerns are not against the Chinese per se - just want to see proper and correct approach adopted to handing out projects - we may have a referendum but we are still members of Europe - what would the sanctions be if improper approach occurs?
25. I had an idea about insurance - people buy travel insurance when they go abroad, by plane, by rail, by coach and if I am going overnight to London I tend to spend the £1 buying the insurance for the return trip and it has never been necessary to make a claim so far. I don't begrudge the £1 to have peace of mind and am willing to pay the money. But what about all the day to day trips I make in a car, by local bus, by local train, or ferry as well as cheap flights. I willingly pay for insurance for flights. So what about an across the board travel product for everyday use which could usefully pay for upkeep and maintaining and creating new roads, rail travel, flights, ferries, transport in rural areas etc. Makes a lot of sense if everyone spent £10 or £20 or so a year on a domestic travel policy for everyday use and frequency of use across all travel sectors - plus peace of mind.
26.1 I have said about employment issues and an umbrella act for mismanagement legislation already. But I have noted that their is a lack of mental health lawyers in Scotland with only a handful of solicitors practising especially under the Scottish Legal Aid Scheme such that practices are lax and illegality is occurring at solicitor level as a consequence. Broadening the scope of employment, human rights and insurance lawyers into the mental health sector would improve the service across Scotland. For instance a cross department issue is the Mental Health legislation and the Disability Discrimination Act and Insurance law. People with mental health disability do have contractual and statutory sick pay rights which could keep their employment open if "reasonable adjustment" was processed immediately when someone comes under mental health legislation. Insurers should assess risk and process a reasonable adjustment contractual or statutory sick pay issue which could ensure some flexibility within the scope of the employment contract or if the risk assessment determined the contract as a fatal determination then compensation could be paid out to the employee, worker or self-employed person. This would be a specific anti-poverty measure and prevent people going onto welfare benefits as too often that is the outcome of being sectioned under mental health legislation. Also Mental Health legislation needs to encompass issues of (a) misdiagnosis; (b) not being diagnosed; (c) wrongful diagnosis; (d) and forced medication contrary to a persons freewill and independence. Currently the legislation has to process a person for mental disability and cannot not process them where they do not concur with diagnosis or can't get a diagnosis. This quite often is contrary to human rights and things like right to liberty, right to life, right to freedom of expression, right to family and private life and may also impact on right to a fair trial/hearing. There is also a problem in mental health with jurisprudence - people can be "hidden" from society by being sectioned under mental health legislation and the system can be abused by organised crime and corruption and by other public bodies who do not wish to deal with the causative issues that are associated with a particular person. People can also be "parked" on medication and can also be "invisible" to society. Therefore there is a case in Scotland and probably the rest of the UK for mental health to come under an umbrella of Employment law, Human Rights and Insurance law to widen the number of lawyers practising in the area and also practising via the Scottish Legal Aid Board and for an upgrading of training and skills within mental health as a CPD practise development issue. Ideally all solicitors should have to do Scottish Legal Aid Board work, or, a percentage of pro bono cases, to have a licence to practise law in Scotland / UK, especially as trainees and paralegals need to learn their craft somehow and there are sometimes lax periods in law for some firms especially the larger firms and quality needs to be engineered into the system of law somehow. I am also concerned that some Scottish Legal Aid Solicitors refuse to represent clients and I don't quite get that - only if you have a "conflict of interest" should you be able to refuse to represent a client if you are required to do SLAB work aka UK too, especially if you are being touted as available for client work by public bodies. Something needs to shift in Scotland as sadly I can report the legal profession are found wanting in Scotland big time.
26.2 There is already common law for (a) wrongful dismissal; and (b) unfair dismissal. There is need for either common law or legislation for DEFAMATION BY DISMISSAL. This blog is an example of it - see previous posts.
27. I lobbied on this one years ago. A person in the military let me know that a serious employment issue is that military members who play musical instruments that are deemed to be weapons, ie Bagpipes possibly also drums and Bugle and maybe others, are paid less than military personnel who play musical instruments. This seems to me grossly unfair and if it has not been rectified since I last lobbied on the issue, asap would be good.
21. BBC could useful improve daytime TV by coverning more festivals like for instance the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Book and Politics festivals. If the BBC would offer a package deal to people or groups that are engaged in culture, theatre, dance, politics, books, arts etc such as a package fee plus BBC made DVD of their production and a promis of a daytime slot on a BBC channel during the daytime, then TV would be improved across daytime tv rather than just coverage of the festival per se. There are festivals and cultural and arts activities across the UK that could usefully be aired as daytime TV with reciprocal benefit. At the moment daytime TV is the same programs shown during the day and repeated early evening and the schedule is then repeated every six months: this is tedious and programing is tired being shown so much. This does not have to be the way forward and programming could usefully be revisited to events and coverage across the UK especially for festivals like Edinburgh Festival which is open to a global audience and impact and is currently an untapped resource by the BBC or any TV channel. Glastonbury and Belladrum are captured so why not all Festivals and cultural events or more of them for a purpose - to take out the repeats on daytime TV scheduling.
22.1 The Monarchy could usefully be changed to a Committee of Monarchs in the event of Queen Elizabeth's reign ending. No one person should be able to do all the work the Queen currently does and for so long. A Committee of the heir only of each monarchy of the UK or a family representative in the event that the heir does not want to do it, or is to young or too old would suffice. Everyone could either be specialist or generalist or do both as issues that a Monarchy has as their duties to their subjects. To be on the Committee you would probably need to be age 14 (when you can actually do work) to probably age 75 and for a period only of 25 years before handing on to someone else. All the hangers on would be dispensed with and would revert to ordinary people as would the members of the Committee but they would be supported financially by Government and facilitate modern history. Much of the pomp and ceremony could go too and modernise the monarchy for the 21st century. So either an heir of a King or Queen of the UK or the high probability of such a person being so would sit on the Monarchy Committee.
22.2 There is a need to look at the Scottish Interregnum x 2. The Scots are hiding their history behind this word. The Interregnum related to the reign of King John Balliol and King Edward Balliol but not King Robert the Bruce - yet King John and King Robert were cousins. There must be a reason for this and I have a couple of haunches, but consider it would be worth investigating, so am going to try as I have unravelled a couple of bits of mystery in relation to the Jermy/Balliol pedigree of Suffolk and Norfolk which identifies Princess Ellin Balliol's marriage to Sir John Jermy in the 13th Century and could prove to be fascinating if not also informative : Just saying ...
The mysteries on the Jermy Pedigree are being solved - firstly the marriage of Sir William Jermy to Anne Langford of Devon is important. The clue is that Thomas Bretherton gave two parts dowry to his brother-in-law (Sir William Jermy) and one part to his wife - unravelled by implication as Thomas Bretherton's sister or half sister which is significant as Thomas Bretherton is the half brother of Edward II, ie the 17th child out of 20 children of Edward I and therefore second surviving son. Edward I married twice, Eleanor of Castile and Margaret of France. If Anne is from the first marriage then she is sister to Edward II. If Anne is from the second marriage there is another mystery: is Margaret on her second marriage in which case Anne would be a step sister to Edward II or is she via the marriage to Edward I and therefore a half sister to Edward II / sister to Thomas Bretherton. Further Thomas Bretherton is born in 1300 and lives till 1338. This causes some dating problems with the pedigree as the question arises at what age did he give the dowry to the Jermy family. This is important because Princess Ellin Balliol marries after Sir William Jermy and Anne Langford to their child Sir John Jermy - query is when. The reason why this is important is because King John Balliol was forced under duress to adbdicate in 1296 (and died in 1314) and if she is the heir or her brother Edward Balliol is the heir they should have held the throne of Scotland if born before 1296 or 1299. (King Edward Balliol did hold the throne of Scotland but not in 1296 and died without issue, which again should have meant Princess Ellin was heir). King Robert the Bruce is coronated in 1299. By all accounts Robert the Bruce was a despicable character, when the 13 stood for the Crown of Scotland he was doing deals with three heirs against John II Ballioll who was eventually selected on the premis of primogeniture. Robert the Bruce then sided with the English Edward I against King John Balliol and the Scots ensuring he was forced to abdicate - not nice. He also murdered John Comyn the husband of Eleanor Balliol, King John Balliol's sister establishing that Princess Ellin, as daughter, and Eleanor as sister of John Balliol are two different people: there was some confusion over this issue now clarified. As stated, the marriage of Sir John Jermy to Princess Ellin Balliol led to the birth of John Jermy who was also knighted. This mystery is significant as through birth he should have been a prince not a knight, as knighthoods are conferred. (The Jermy family are knights from 1221 to the 17th Century so who has been conferring and why?). This marriage is significant to my "haunches" as to what the interregnum is about which hides Scottish history twice - King John Balliol and his son King Edward Balliol. So is the reaason potentially for hiding the Jermy family pedigree and its link to the Scots and English Crowns because Edward II may have been gay or is it a birth issue. Thomas Bretherton is not to be confused with Thomas of Lancaster who was one of the wealthiest men in England with estates in Salisbury, Derby, Lincoln, Lancaster and Leicester who was cousin to Edward II. Therefore for the Scots to claim that King John Balliol was "emptycoat" is not quite true as his daughter has married into a wealthy family - so the issue of the interregnum TWICE may not be about wealth or money it may be about whether Prince Edward Balliol and/or Princess Ellin Balliol were born before 1296 as they should have succeeded if they did at 1296 effectively if Princess Ellin putting the Scots Crown on an English head potentially linked to the Crown of England, via Prince Thomas Bretherton. Either way, it is not quite certain yet whether it is Sir John Jermy, father of Sir William Jermy who is provicded the dowry or Sir William Jermy's son, Sir John Jermy who receives the dowry - me and my brother are in dispute on this fact at the moment and he might be more right than me. Just saying...
I said the information was fascinating: King John Balliol's genealogy goes back to the first King of Norway Harald Fairhair with a brother Bloodaxe. He is linked to the Kings of Sweden and Iceland and had an estate in Picardy in France around Calais and died at Helicourt. His wife was Queen Devorgilla of Galloway who also had estates and was linked genealogy wise to Eleanor of Castile of France. (She also was born on January 28 like me!!!!) If married into the English Crown and Edward I his genealogy is linked to King Britain who had sons Lontrine, Albastran, and Cambrai and as a consequence Scots are required to do fealty and hommage to the English Crown. Edward I also is linked to King Arthur and goes back to Ely and Saul. This is according to two letters written in the 12 Century : Pope Boniface to Edward I claiming the rights to Scotland for King John Balliol; and the response by Edward I to Pope Boniface as above. Wikipedia also refers to kings of Wales and Jerusalem etc but I have not as yet checked them out.
So do you think I could have a Norwegian gene - Battleaxe instead of Bloodaxe!! Unfortunately the pedigree has to go on the balance of probabilities in that regard albeit Scots can do "primogentiure" or "presumptive heir". The pedigree informs that under Royal Licence in 1838 (so Queen Victoria) the estates of the Jermy family were swindled away by a Judge Preston and there was a murder. The heir was a gardener Thomas Jermy and the pedigree informs the Gunton line is the true line. As a consequence of the swindle and the high esteem the Jermy family were held in Norfolk and Suffolk, all names and derivatives of Jermy - Jermyn, Jarmin, Germany etc changed their names to Jermy and also married each other because they did not know who the heir was. This is a genealogy nightmare and one that means that my mother's maiden name Jermy is mythical concerning the Jermy Pedigree for the time being anyway, but she was born in Norfolk. (Not to detract from her mother's genealogy (Cole) which is also interesting as it leads to Guernsey, and an Amos Woolcock Whicker, a Headmaster of St Peter Port's Boys School, which must have been great fun as he was a classics scholar apparently and goes back to Marie Seigal). Such fun.
23. I had an idea about self-driving cars - the technology is available for cars to self-drive now. With satnav and possibly technology on road signs, cars could self drive. But I was thinking, cars are now not able to bump into each other with sensing technology. Whilst a human can still bump into a car or perhaps a train could bump into a car or inanimate object, self sensing technology means that a car cannot bump into another car or human or inanimate object. Only one car could be on a motorway or road at any one time and could not bump into front, side or back as the technology can slow down and stop a vehicle in the event of an accident. Satnavs can pre-programme cars to drive one way, ie forward - no two cars could occupy the same spot.
24.1 China has been topical and I was interested in the Cities and their trees as there is a problem of air pollution in Chinese cities. I was thinking, the rain forests and deserts must be on the planet for a reason. Is it necessary for the "rain" forest to have trees and do trees create rain and the absence of trees create deserts. Just saying. Therefore in Chinese cities is the water the real problem: it goes up into the air which is seriously polluted and comes back down into the waterways and rivers and is affecting the trees cycle in the cities. So is the answer - clean your water by water cleansing plants. There are some types of trees such as Leylandii I am informed, that are better at purifying the air than others - so more conifers in cities, plants on flat roofs and balconies etc. Anywhere you can plant a tree, do so - it might make it rain though!
24.2 There may be a problem with the Hinchley Point Nuclear plant deal. I checked out the Official Journal of the European Union concerning this deal. The last report logged in the bottom section informed there was "insufficient" information and a "risk" associated with this project. The report informed that the area had been assessed on the basis of welfare, poverty, employment, property and housing but did not appear to have done environmental concerns - why? Is Mark Carney and George Osborne doing misconduct in public office by proferring this deal to the Chinese and involving the French when the OJ informs there is risk associated with this deal and the project does not appear to have got its publication code as good to go yet? A wee bit concerned there is a rush to do a deal with the Chinese - without going through the proper channels / due diligence that is usually associated with a construction project of this size. My concerns are not against the Chinese per se - just want to see proper and correct approach adopted to handing out projects - we may have a referendum but we are still members of Europe - what would the sanctions be if improper approach occurs?
25. I had an idea about insurance - people buy travel insurance when they go abroad, by plane, by rail, by coach and if I am going overnight to London I tend to spend the £1 buying the insurance for the return trip and it has never been necessary to make a claim so far. I don't begrudge the £1 to have peace of mind and am willing to pay the money. But what about all the day to day trips I make in a car, by local bus, by local train, or ferry as well as cheap flights. I willingly pay for insurance for flights. So what about an across the board travel product for everyday use which could usefully pay for upkeep and maintaining and creating new roads, rail travel, flights, ferries, transport in rural areas etc. Makes a lot of sense if everyone spent £10 or £20 or so a year on a domestic travel policy for everyday use and frequency of use across all travel sectors - plus peace of mind.
26.1 I have said about employment issues and an umbrella act for mismanagement legislation already. But I have noted that their is a lack of mental health lawyers in Scotland with only a handful of solicitors practising especially under the Scottish Legal Aid Scheme such that practices are lax and illegality is occurring at solicitor level as a consequence. Broadening the scope of employment, human rights and insurance lawyers into the mental health sector would improve the service across Scotland. For instance a cross department issue is the Mental Health legislation and the Disability Discrimination Act and Insurance law. People with mental health disability do have contractual and statutory sick pay rights which could keep their employment open if "reasonable adjustment" was processed immediately when someone comes under mental health legislation. Insurers should assess risk and process a reasonable adjustment contractual or statutory sick pay issue which could ensure some flexibility within the scope of the employment contract or if the risk assessment determined the contract as a fatal determination then compensation could be paid out to the employee, worker or self-employed person. This would be a specific anti-poverty measure and prevent people going onto welfare benefits as too often that is the outcome of being sectioned under mental health legislation. Also Mental Health legislation needs to encompass issues of (a) misdiagnosis; (b) not being diagnosed; (c) wrongful diagnosis; (d) and forced medication contrary to a persons freewill and independence. Currently the legislation has to process a person for mental disability and cannot not process them where they do not concur with diagnosis or can't get a diagnosis. This quite often is contrary to human rights and things like right to liberty, right to life, right to freedom of expression, right to family and private life and may also impact on right to a fair trial/hearing. There is also a problem in mental health with jurisprudence - people can be "hidden" from society by being sectioned under mental health legislation and the system can be abused by organised crime and corruption and by other public bodies who do not wish to deal with the causative issues that are associated with a particular person. People can also be "parked" on medication and can also be "invisible" to society. Therefore there is a case in Scotland and probably the rest of the UK for mental health to come under an umbrella of Employment law, Human Rights and Insurance law to widen the number of lawyers practising in the area and also practising via the Scottish Legal Aid Board and for an upgrading of training and skills within mental health as a CPD practise development issue. Ideally all solicitors should have to do Scottish Legal Aid Board work, or, a percentage of pro bono cases, to have a licence to practise law in Scotland / UK, especially as trainees and paralegals need to learn their craft somehow and there are sometimes lax periods in law for some firms especially the larger firms and quality needs to be engineered into the system of law somehow. I am also concerned that some Scottish Legal Aid Solicitors refuse to represent clients and I don't quite get that - only if you have a "conflict of interest" should you be able to refuse to represent a client if you are required to do SLAB work aka UK too, especially if you are being touted as available for client work by public bodies. Something needs to shift in Scotland as sadly I can report the legal profession are found wanting in Scotland big time.
26.2 There is already common law for (a) wrongful dismissal; and (b) unfair dismissal. There is need for either common law or legislation for DEFAMATION BY DISMISSAL. This blog is an example of it - see previous posts.
27. I lobbied on this one years ago. A person in the military let me know that a serious employment issue is that military members who play musical instruments that are deemed to be weapons, ie Bagpipes possibly also drums and Bugle and maybe others, are paid less than military personnel who play musical instruments. This seems to me grossly unfair and if it has not been rectified since I last lobbied on the issue, asap would be good.
posted by Lesley McDade at 1:59 pm
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