Eileen Kersey writing out of Yorkshire, England

New President of Alzheimer's UK, David Cameron, calls for more funding

26/1/2017

Donations to the group

Former PM David Cameron is the new President of Alzheimer's UK.

Making the announcement on their website this is what the organisation says:

The Rt Hon David Cameron, President of Alzheimer’s Research UK

Mr Cameron’s commitment to dementia while in office made huge strides in raising awareness of dementia and delivering much needed funding for research. We are delighted he will continue his personal mission against dementia by taking on this role as the charity’s foremost ambassador.
Mr Cameron comes to the role with a strong legacy around dementia research. In 2012, as Prime Minister, he launched the Dementia Challenge – an unprecedented programme of action to deliver sustained improvements in health and care, create dementia friendly communities, and boost dementia research. Writing at the time, Mr Cameron said that “dementia is one of the biggest challenges we face today – and it is one that we as a society simply cannot afford to ignore any longer.”

Following this, in 2015 he published the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020 to build on the Government’s work and set clear and ambitious goals for the coming years, including to deliver a disease-modifying treatment for dementia by 2025.

Alzheimer’s Research UK fully supported these goals and remains at the forefront of global efforts to deliver new treatments. Mr Cameron pledged his support for the charity at the launch of our £100m Defeat Dementia campaign in 2014. As our President, we look forward together and will work harder than ever to achieve our mission to defeat dementia.

Thursday Mr Cameron called on PM Theresa May to increase spending on research into the condition saying it should not be as far behind stroke and cancer research as it is.

Opinion?

You have to laugh or else you would cry.

David Cameron and his sidekick Chancellor 'Slasher' George Osborne cut so much to the bone especially in the NHS.

The pair of them mismanaged the economy making poorer and middle income families pay for an economic crisis which began in the USA.

Throughout the pair's slashing years an allegedly necessary period of painful austerity to help reduce the country's deficit was pushed through.

It was all just another Tory lie.

The deficit grew and grew and continues to grow.

As the financial axe was put to work cash giveaways to those who did not need more money ran alongside.

If any research is dangerously underfunded David Cameron needs to take a long hard and honest look in the mirror.

In May 2015 Cameron highlighted dementia putting it in the spotlight but failing to supply the necessary funding.

Perhaps David Cameron fears dementia on a personal level or has family links to the condition or is about to make money out of his new role?

But his apointment as President of the Alzheimer's society has caused some anger and rightly so.

David Cameron should be kept as far away from anything related to healthcare and the NHS in the UK as possible.

Our healthcare and its funding is not safe in that man's hands.

Related reading:

More:
http://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/about-us/our-organisation/our-president/
http://news.sky.com/story/david-cameron-calls-for-more-funds-to-fight-dementia-10741913
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/furious-families-dementia-patients-say-9696342

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Crucial EU summit takes Cameron to Brussels AGAIN

18/2/2016

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Cameron is in Brussels where waffles are often on the menu

David Cameron has left the country. Once again he is in Europe trying to secure changes to the UKs EU membership before he calls a nationwide referendum for the people to decide to either Brexit or Bremain.

In order to fulfil this one election manifesto promise Cameron has clocked up more air miles than a 24/7 globe trotter and you have to wonder why.

He appears set on a June 2016 referendum but could wait until the end of 2017.

It's a fact an extended period of uncertainty about the UKs EU future is not good and may affect big business but we surely do not want to act in haste.

No matter what deal he secures some in the UK will vote to leave the EU. For them the right and proper future is an independent one out of the EU.

If the nation as whole agrees the future of the EU could also be at stake.

One sticking point appears to be the City of London. Cameron wants the banking sector of London ring-fenced; protected in a way that he will not protect the NHS from TTIP.

He who pays the piper plays the tune on this one.

BBC News has published what it sees as his four key objectives and they are:

Economic governance: Securing an explicit recognition that the euro is not the only currency of the European Union, to ensure countries outside the eurozone are not materially disadvantaged. The UK wants safeguards that steps to further financial union cannot be imposed on non-eurozone members and the UK will not have to contribute to eurozone bailouts.

Competitiveness: Setting a target for the reduction of the "burden" of excessive regulation and extending the single market.

Immigration: Restricting access to in-work and out-of-work benefits to EU migrants. Specifically, ministers want to stop those coming to the UK from claiming certain benefits until they have been resident for four years. Ministers have reportedly been warned by the UK's top civil servant this could be discriminatory and any limits may be reduced to less than a year. An option of an "emergency brake" to stop the payments for four years is being discussed as a compromise deal.

Sovereignty: Allowing Britain to opt out from the EU's founding ambition to forge an "ever closer union" of the peoples of Europe so it will not be drawn into further political integration. Giving greater powers to national parliaments to block EU legislation.

If you analyse those four objectives closely you can see how is achieved they will be open to political interpretation here in the UK and could be used for the wrong reasons.

However if the UK leaves the EU any such fears will be real as the country withdraws for the good aspects of the Union as well as the not so good.

Today as leaders from the EU meet it should be to sign off Cameron's reform package but agreement is still some way off. Today there will be more posturing, chewing the fat and political spin from Cameron when he returns to the UK or even from the EU summit as he attempts to create positives out of any negatives.

European Council President Donald Tusk is chairing the crucial summit in Brussels today and has said he feels the EU has little choice but to agree Cameron's reforms.

But no matter what EU leaders and PM Cameron agree what will the people opt for - Brexit or Bremain?

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David Cameron chooses shop floor over House of Commons

2/2/2016

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Holding a press conference on Siemens shop floor instead of attending the Commons

Op-Ed: So UK PM David Cameron has what he thinks is a good draft deal on renegotiating British membership of the EU but instead of sharing it with parliament he ran to the mainstream media in particular sections of the press that appear to be in Tory pockets.

As the House of Commons prepared to listen to an urgent question put forward by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Cameron and friends were nowhere to be seen.

Neither were senior Tory ministers; instead it was a foreign office minister left waffling his way through a half-ass debate that from the Tory benches was more about dragging up any old history pertaining to the Labour party.

Tuning in I was disappointed but not surprised that in effect Tory party leader David Cameron was spitting on British democracy from a great height and not for the first time.

So where was our David and his senior ministers?

Cameron announced he had secured a draft deal worth fighting for but at a press conference held in a Siemens factory. On hand to ask questions was the BBC's top political editor Laura Kuenssberg.

Who is Laura Kuennssberg you may ask.

Well according to Wikipedia "she is the daughter of Scottish businessman Nick Kuenssberg, OBE, and his wife Sally Kuenssberg, CBE, her paternal grandfather was the German-born Dr. Ekkehard von Kuenssberg, a founder and president of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Her maternal grandfather was Lord Robertson who was a High Court of Justiciary judge. Kuenssberg was born in Italy, while her father was assigned there by Coats Viyella. She grew up in Glasgow, with her brother and sister, and attended Laurel Bank School, an independent girls' school. Kuenssberg studied history at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a journalism course at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where she worked on an NBC News political programme. Her brother is a senior civil servant in the Department for Communities and Local Government and her sister is a diplomat, High Commissioner to Mozambique since 2014."

Just an ordinary working-class lass then.

Kuenssberg is a recent addition to the BBC's political news team and she is often accused of being a Tory mouthpiece.

So as far as the Tory party goes it was perhaps fitting she was there asking questions that the PM opted to answer while the leader of the official opposition was in the Commons being ignored and as usual receiving no straight answers from the Tory benches.

Kuenssberg is in the habit of helping the Tories out by bad-mouthing Jeremy Corbyn and undermining him at each and every opportunity which could of course be down to her Scottish background. She like Cameron maybe has a vested interest in the SNP keeping a grip on political power north of the border.

There is already at least one petition online demanding Kuenssberg be sacked.

Still she may be popular with some of the electorate or Labour party but the Tories like her.

Cameron is rushing to get an EU deal signed off so that he can put it before the electorate at a time to suit HIM and no other person. It may suit his political ambitions this year or even his desire to resign from the role of Tory party leader between now and 2020 but the timing will have nothing to do with the electorate.

The bets are on for June 2016 although Cameron can hold the EU ref anytime before the end of 2017 and fulfil his election manifesto.

But can he fulfil his election pledge to renegotiate a good deal.

According to the right-wing Telegraph he has failed on that one.

They write Tuesday"David Cameron's EU deal a 'slap in the face for Britain' as PM admits it won't cut migration" but perhaps that gives the rest of us hope.

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Jeremy Corbyn headline news after Andrew Marr show

17/1/2016

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Opinion: BBC news 6pm Sunday and Jeremy Corbyn is the main headline news after appearing on the Andrew Marr show earlier in the day.

Forget other main news the Beeb's news running order was Mr Corbyn, the Iran nuclear deal, the US freed hostages, a UK murder, conservation zones in British seas and a South American volcano erupting with perhaps another story but no mention of the expected hundreds of job losses at Tata steel announced earlier today or the 400 Syrians kidnapped by Daesh with many feared executed.

The Corbyn news related to his words on Labour's expected review into Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent; a review which will decide whether Labour Party policy will favour renewal, amendments or scrapping Trident.

But perhaps Mr Corbyn warranted BBC News' headlines after he said he thought striking in sympathy of other strikers was OK.

There will be some in Labour who will hold their hands up in horror at that view but they should remember it was Tory Margaret Thatcher that banned such action taking place more than 20 years ago.

Scaremongering followed Corbyn's outing on Marr yet the next general election is still more than four years away and the new Labour leadership and shadow cabinet are still settling into roles.

There is a long way to go.

Union bosses involved in Trident want to maintain the status quo to keep jobs but if Trident is not fit for purpose it could be a costly white elephant.

Mr Corbyn has been headline news almost daily since he became party leader in September 2015 unlike new Liberal Democrat party leader Tim Farron who is treat like the invisible man.

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Cameron gives his MPs free EU hand at least for now

5/1/2016

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Cameron in a thoughtful pose

If all goes to plan those members of the British electorate eligible to vote in an in / out EU referendum will have their say by the end of 2017.

The timing is crucial and the date at this time is not specified.

UK PM David Cameron continues to scuttle around Europe supposedly to secure a good deal that will persuade 'we', the great unwashed, to vote to stick around the European community.

Cameron has vowed to secure change to Britain's membership contract with the EU before putting the decision whether we should stay or go to the people.

It is a complicated and at times heated subject.

2015 migration and refugee figures, news, spin and information will encourage those who want England for the English, a stand-alone government and independence from Brussels to vote to leave the EU.

David Cameron has previously said he wants the country to stay a part of the EU but political hot-air does not always translate into action.

Tuesday Cameron has said he will allow his ministers the freedom to campaign for whichever side floats their boat, that is either the in or out campaign, once he has a deal to put forward.

At that time it will be every man and woman for themselves as the mainstream media, political pundits, MPs and those with their own agenda bombard voters for support.

The Tory party has a long-standing pro-Europe / Euro-sceptic split and allowing ministers a free rein once the new deal is clear may help keep the Tory party working as one.

It will prevent early party splits until such time as a deal is announced.

That will make the Tory party look more unified than the reality.

If Cameron announces the deal and schedules the vote to quickly follow there may be little time for dissension.

As usual Cameron is trying to dictate the timeframe and more in this important debate.

Summing up today's decision to allow Tory Ministers a free campaign BBC News writes:

Former Chancellor and veteran Europhile Ken Clarke said Mr Cameron had been forced into a "most unfortunate" decision and any ministers that disagreed with the PM's position should resign and argue for withdrawal from the backbenches.

Former deputy PM Lord Heseltine - who last month warned of a Tory "civil war" if ministers were allowed to openly defy the prime minister and suggested Mr Cameron would be seen as a global "laughing stock" if he allowed it - declined to comment on the PM's decision.

But the move was welcomed by those campaigning to get Britain out of the EU.

David Cameron is a sly and cunning politician with well-paid advisers.

If he took a different stand now he may have to sack dissenting Tory MPS and in doing so lose a grip on his narrow voting margin in the Commons.

Instead he is taking the long view and will still have time for a U Turn before the actual vote.

But for all the political manoeuvring the great British public will ultimately decide the fate of the UK, in or out of Europe, and we can be unpredictable.

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Syria, Self defence or illegal killing of British citizens

8/9/2015

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Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin

Op-Ed: Having taken time to ponder news Monday that an RAF drone strike in Syria killed two British citizens this writer feels unable to applaud the news.

Two-years ago the Prime Minister of the UK's coalition government suffered a Common's defeat; airstrikes against and in Syria were ruled out although Cameron admitted he could use special veto powers if necessary.

Parliament did not approve air strikes and neither did the majority of the UK population; many people had contacted their MPs to ask they voted against air strikes.

This time around Cameron has made sure the 'deed is done' before coming clean to British parliament and the country.

Cameron cited 'self-defence' for taking out two British citizens in Syria but refused to give any specifics.

What we do know is that the men, Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan, 21, and Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, reportedly planned attacks against and in the UK; plans for those attacks were uncovered by a Sky News undercover investigation.

Toward the end of their report on August 11 the Sky News investigator says "It's impossible to know if any of this is true, of course. But we suspect much of it is."

Does that sound a good enough reason to kill two British men in a country, Syria, which the UK is not at war with?

It comes after ex-top brass last night urged the PM to set a date for action.

War is a dirty business but there are rules of engagement. The Geneva Convention and Human Rights Acts around the world offer guidance and some protection; should we discard these rules so easily when it suits?

If we do we set dangerous precedents that can easily back fire.

Part of the problem is the alleged attacks planned against the UK were all scheduled for events that happened on or before the two men were killed-non took place.

Legal eagles in the UK have already said that our laws do not allow for retrospective action against possible attacks.

So many times when Cameron cannot act at will he tries to change or reform legislation. This time however it will not be easy. BBC News reports;

The "act of self defence" was lawful, despite MPs previously ruling out UK military action in Syria, the PM said.

Khan was killed in a precision strike on 21 August by a remotely piloted aircraft, "after meticulous planning", while he was travelling in a vehicle.

Another British national, Junaid Hussain, 21 and from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on 24 August.

Did others die in the 'precision airstrike'? Were any civilians caught up in the madness?

According to Forces online no civilians were killed and both men died in the same vehicle.

"The Prime Minister insisted that the strike was "entirely lawful" and was approved by Attorney General Jeremy Wright."

Attorney general Dominic Grieve was replaced by Jeremy Wright QC July 15, 2014. Wright has said the killing of Khan and Amin broke no rules but many people describe him as inexperienced and a 'yes' man.

One man that does have the necessary experience is Lord Dannatt who google describes as "a retired British Army officer and the incumbent Constable of the Tower of London. He was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1971, and his first tour of duty was in Belfast as a platoon commander."

Dannatt has previously worked for or with David Cameron as a defence adviser but he quit that role in 2010 when Cameron became UK PM.

And Lord Dannatt's conclusion is the "Strike On British IS Fighters "May Well Not Be Right"."

"I'm accepting that the British parliament has not authorised action from the air over Syria at the present time.

"For all I know British drones have been operating in the airspace but gathering intelligence - delivering explosive ordnance and attacking issues is another matter.

"And by the letter of what parliament has authorised, that may well not be right."

When it was suggested that drone operators had targeted and taken out British individuals in Syria without the endorsement of the Commons, he said: "Put it like that, then that is wrong."

"Another British national, Junaid Hussain, 21 and from Birmingham, was killed in a separate air strike by US forces in Raqqa on August 24."

Note: Rupert Murdoch is the man behind Sky News and The Sun publication-"THE Sun today lays out the military options open to David Cameron for air strikes on Syria to ease the migrant crisis, was Sunday's headline. What a way to sell newspapers and war!

The UK would not hesitate to launch more secret drone strikes in Syria to thwart potential terror plots, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said reports BBC News-that presumably means illegal or not.

Related reading:
Today - David Cameron faces scrutiny over drone strikes against Britons in Syria
David Cameron knew RAF personnel were on bombing raids in Syria-July 2015
Cameron commits UK on US TV to war against Islamic State-also July 2015
British Prime Minister David Cameron loses vote on Syria action-August 2013

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New President of Alzheimer's UK, David Cameron, calls for more funding

Crucial EU summit takes Cameron to Brussels AGAIN

David Cameron chooses shop floor over House of Commons

Jeremy Corbyn headline news after Andrew Marr show

Cameron gives his MPs free EU hand at least for now

Syria, Self defence or illegal killing of British citizens

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