The NHS in North Essex have been giving out some usefull tips for this winter.

Winter conditions can be seriously bad for our health, especially for people aged 65 or older, and people with long-term conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, diabetes or heart or kidney disease.

Being cold can raise the risk of increased blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

The cold and damp weather, ice, snow and high winds can all aggravate any existing health problems and make us more vulnerable to respiratory winter illnesses. But there are lots of things you can do to stay well this winter.

Feeling unwell? Don’t wait – get advice from your nearest pharmacist

At the first sign of a winter illness, even if it’s just a cough or cold, get advice from your pharmacist, before it gets more serious. Act quickly.

The sooner you get advice from a pharmacist the better. Pharmacists are fully qualified to advise you on the best course of action.

This can be the best and quickest way to help you recover and get back to normal.

If you can’t get to a pharmacist yourself, ask someone to go for you or call your local pharmacy.

Have you had your flu jab?

The best way to protect yourself and your family is to get the flu jab. If you are in a risk group, are pregnant or aged over 65 or over, it is really important to get vaccinated; contact your GP surgery and make an appointment.

The flu virus strikes in winter and it can be far more serious than you think. Flu can lead to serious complications such as bronchitis and pneumonia, and it can be deadly.

That’s why the flu jab is free if you’re aged 65 or over, or if you have a long-term health condition.

If you have children or grandchildren, they too may also be eligible for a free flu vaccination. 

And if you are the main carer of an older or disabled person you may also be eligible for the free flu jab. Just speak to your GP or pharmacist.

Also, don’t forget that if you’re aged 65 or over, you are eligible for the pneumococcal vaccine, which will help protect you from pneumococcal diseases such as pneumonia.

For more information on staying well this winter visit nhs.uk/flujab.

Tips for staying well if you are living with a long term condition

Taking care with asthma

Taking care with COPD

Taking care with diabetes type 1

Taking care with diabetes type 2

Taking care with heart failure

Resources

Stay Well This Winter leaflet

Easy Read Stay Well This Winter leaflet

Audio version of Stay Well This Winter leaflet

Stay Well This Winter leaflet - large print version

5 reasons to vaccinate your child against flu poster

All about flu and how to stop getting it - EasyRead version for children with learning disabilities

All about flu and how to stop getting it - EasyRead version for people with learning disabilities

Protecting your child against flu

Who should have the flu vaccination and why: 2017-2018

Your Quicker Treatment Guide

Theresa May is now earning more than £10,000-a-year from renting out a flat in central London, Mail Online’s Tim Sculthorpe writes. The extra income was revealed in a new entry on the Commons register of interests.

Roy Kerr, is starting an organisation for Colchester Renters.

Roy is going to hold a street stall on Saturday 28th October, 11.30am to 1.30pm, outside Baptist Church, Eld Lane, Colchester CO1 1LS. The theme is "Vent your rent", inviting people to come by and share their housing issues. This will help the group identify the best campaigns to pursue.

As it's Halloween the group decided on a "nightmare landlords" - " renters horror story" theme for their artwork. More seriously they will be  highlighting the deep effects of the housing crisis and solutions through action. 

Please visit Facebook pages  https://www.facebook.com/groups/883769015122612/ and https://www.facebook.com/Colchester-Housing-Campaigns-784626155029833/

If you are a Colchester renter, we are sure that Roy and his team would be pleased to meet you. 

Image: Vent your Rent.

Image: Colchester Baptist Church, Eld Lane, Colchester CO1 1LS.

The Scottish government has launched a rental income guarantee scheme (RIGS), aimed at boosting investment in private rented housing.17 Oct 2017

The scheme will guarantee half of any gap between actual and projected income in the first three to five years of the operation of a build-to-rent development. The launch follows a consultation last year, which in turn came on the back of feedback from developers that a government guarantee was needed to build investor confidence.

RIGS will be managed by the Scottish Futures Trust. Through the scheme, the Scottish government will underwrite 50% of any gap between 95% and 75% of agreed rental income. If actual revenue is less than 75% of agreed rental income, the government will guarantee 10% of projected revenue.

The scheme is available to Scottish developments with at least 30 units, where the developer or investor has demonstrated long-term financial viability. Housing minister Kevin Stewart said it could deliver £500 million of investment and support the delivery of 2,500 new privately rented homes.

Image: Housing minister Kevin Stewart

Property expert Ewan Alexander of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said RIGS had received a warm welcome from potential investors.

“Investors are clear that this would be of interest to them," Alexander said. "There hasn't been as much build to rent development in Scotland as the industry had hoped for in the last couple of years, but momentum will build and RIGS should give investors and developers added confidence.”

“It's part of a bigger picture; we're not building enough homes for people in Scotland or in the rest of the UK. Renting as opposed to owning a home is often a bit more affordable and it's something that there has been increasing demand for in the last few years. RIGS is the Scottish government trying to add another tool in the box to facilitate the building of more homes to rent,” Alexander said.

The Scottish government also recently published planning delivery advice (3 page / 30KB DOC) for the build-to-rent sector, outlining the opportunities and challenges for developers and investors. It said build-to-rent can deliver housing quickly and would support economic growth, although there were challenges connected with development viability as upfront investment was required.

Alexander said Scotland and London were the only places in the UK where there is specific planning delivery advice for build-to-rent.

“It's an indication that the Scottish government recognizes that for build to rent to be successful there needs to be a degree of flexibility in terms of how you consider that type of residential development against how you consider other types of residential development,” Alexander said. “You have got to consider build-to-rent differently.”

Two linked companies have been wound up for persuading elderly and vulnerable people to purchase overpriced health supplements.

Greenlife Wellness Limited and Naturecare Wellness Limited made false and misleading claims in persuading elderly and vulnerable customers to purchase grossly overpriced health supplements. The companies, both based in London, have now been shut down following an investigation by the Insolvency Service.

The two companies purchased data lists containing details of UK-based individuals over the age of 65 with health concerns over arthritis and joint pain. They then used third party call centres in India, some operated by the same common directors of the two companies, to make unsolicited calls to the individuals to try to sell them a range of health supplements.

The investigation found the companies’ customers were subjected to lengthy telesales calls during which the callers gave the impression they were calling on behalf of UK medical bodies and that they were healthcare professionals promoting an official healthcare campaign.

Some customers were found to have paid several hundreds of pounds a month in separate transactions spread over several years. In one case, an 81-year old customer had paid over £19,000 for supplements over a 4 year period.

Customers were called repeatedly, some despite being registered on the Telephone Preference Service or being ex-directory, and falsely told that their details had been obtained from their GP or medical centre.

Customers were also pressurised into purchasing supplements despite being concerned that they those supplements may adversely affect medication they were already being prescribed.

Other customers felt pressured into purchasing more supplements than they wanted as sales agents were persistent and demanding.

Between January 2013 and August 2017 the companies generated a combined turnover of around £2,000,000 from the sale of health supplements.

Commenting on the case, Irshard Mohammed, Senior Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

The sales methods used by the companies were manipulative, misleading and wholly unfair.

These winding-up proceedings show that the Insolvency Service will use the full weight of its powers to take action against companies that operate in such an unscrupulous way.

Sales representatives acting on behalf of the companies:

• made claims about the health benefits and qualities of the supplements which have no medical basis
• implied that they had medical experience when they had none
• implied that they were calling on behalf of genuine medical bodies when they were not
• claimed to be conducting an official healthcare campaign, when that was not found to be the case

The petitions to wind-up both Greenlife Wellness Limited and Naturecare Wellness Limited were presented under s124A Insolvency Act 1986 on 20 July 2017. The companies were wound up on 18 October 2017 and the Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator.

The SNP have called on Tory MP Douglas Ross to donate the money he earned at last night’s Champion’s League match to his local food bank. Tory MP Douglas Ross is a football referee and was in Barcelona for a match.

The SNP were making much of this today, when of the course the Tory’s (bar one) did not vote anyway in the Great Universal Credit debate.

The SNP made much of his absence, but has MP Douglas Ross scored an 'own goal' with his struggling constituents? 

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Image: MP Douglas Ross 

Serial absentee Douglas Ross, the “part-time” Tory MP for Moray, has been criticised by the Moray food bank and cross-party MPs for ditching his parliamentary duties yet again, and leaving his constituents without a voice or vote on the disastrous roll-out of Universal Credit – which has driven many people across Scotland into poverty, debt and destitution.
 
The Chair of the local foodbank said they felt “let down” after taking the time to brief the MP on the damaging impact of Universal Credit – which was partially rolled out in Moray in November 2015, and has seen people forced to rely on emergency aid and food parcels.

Image: Moray Food Bank
 
Mr Ross’ Register of Interests show that the last time he was an assistant referee in a European match, he declared more than £1400 in earnings.
 
Commenting SNP MP Drew Hendry said:
 
“If Douglas Ross had turned up to the Universal Credit debate on Wednesday, he would have heard countless politicians, from all parties, relate harrowing stories from their constituents being driven into hardship, hunger and rent arrears by the botched roll-out of Universal Credit – but he thought his time was better-spent rubbing shoulders with big-name footballers and raking in lucrative earnings from his second job.
 
“Ironically, if Mr Ross was himself a DWP client, he would likely have been sanctioned for his behaviour on Wednesday. He should apologise and sanction himself by donating the money he earned to his local foodbank, which some of his constituents are having to rely on because of his party's cruel policies.
 
“Tory MPs have never looked and sounded so out of touch with reality as they did in the debate over Universal Credit – and it is shameful that even among those who bothered to turn up to parliament, not a single Scottish Tory MP stood up for their constituents by opposing the disastrous roll-out.
 
"The Tory government must now call a halt to the roll-out of Universal Credit, and serial absentee Douglas Ross must call time on his highly lucrative refereeing career - which he previously pledged would not interfere with parliamentary duties."

Image: SNP MP Drew Hendry.

A woman’s right to control her own body is a fundamental freedom say the Womans Equality Party. But women in the UK still do not have that right.

The 1861 Offences Against the Person Act made it illegal to have an abortion. That Act still exists today, even though it was passed before women had the chance to vote.

Next week marks the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act, a law that made abortions easier to access for millions of women in England, Scotland and Wales. The activists that made this possible saw it as a temporary fix, not a long term solution. Because the Act did not legalise abortion, and it did nothing to help women in Northern Ireland.

Women in England, Scotland and Wales still have to prove their pregnancy involves a bigger risk to their physical or mental health than having an abortion. They still have to ask for permission from two doctors to terminate their pregnancy. They still risk prosecution.

This is a controversial area that arouses many passions. 

Click on the image if you want to support this campaign:

Labour will seek to expose Tory divisions over Universal Credit by calling a House of Commons vote on Wednesday to demand that controversial roll-out of the flagship benefit reform be paused.

Amid reports that up to 25 Tory MPs could be willing to rebel over criticism that people are waiting six weeks for any money and getting into debt, Labour will call on ministers to "pause and fix" the benefit.

On the eve of the vote, Theresa May held talks with would-be rebels in an effort to stave off an embarrassing revolt

ABC Note: Universal Credit telephone line to be made a freephone number. 

The UK’s key inflation rate has climbed to 3%. Consumer Price Index (CPI) is at its highest for more than 5 years.

This will, of course, continue to fuel the debate on the likelihood of an increase in interest rates, currently at 0.25%. Another debate it is likely to reignite is that of the young vs. old financial disparity.

In this regard, the figure is significant because state pension payments from April 2018 will rise in line with September's CPI. Under the "triple lock" guarantee, the basic state pension rises by a rate equal to September's CPI rate, earnings growth or 2.5%, whichever is the greatest.

The greatest in this instance being 3%. Wages, of course, are not growing at the same pace.

It is also worth noting that business rates will go up by September's Retail Prices Index (RPI) of 3.9%.

Image: Unemployment, June - August 2017

UK unemployment fell by 52,000 in the three months to August to 1.4 million, leaving the jobless rate unchanged at 4.3% from the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate is still at the joint lowest level since 1975, although the claimant count increased by 1,700 to 804,100 last month.

People are struggling to find employment because of their age, ethnicity, disability, or where they live and poverty is rising. 

Image: Employment up, June - August 2017

Work and Pensions Committee

Wednesday 18 October 2017 Meeting starts at 9.30am

Subject: Universal Credit rollout 

This promises to be a lively debate. It feels like the whole country is asking the DWP to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit. This is due to the financial hardship the scheme is causing and the loss of confidence it is instilling in landlords, knowing that the DWP are driving claimants into debt where defaulting on rent payments is a necessity to pay for essentials like food.

The DWP has failed to respond to the Committee’s call for written evidence, or any of the four letters requesting statistics and clarifications of policy sent to the Secretary of State over the past six weeks.

The ABC has tried to get information on interim payments from the DWP, but no response has been forthcoming. It is unusual to see the DWP Select Committee criticize the minister and the DWP in such strident terms. 

Subject: Universal Credit rollout

Witnesses: Rt Hon David Gauke MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions, and Neil Couling CBE, Director, Universal Credit Programme, Department for Work and Pensions.

Later in the day in the House of Commons there will be an Opposition Day debate on Universal Credit. We hope to cover that too.