Blog - Mental Health
Is it weird that I don’t really find this weird?
April 4, 2020 - by Gary ThomasIt feels weird right? I’ve had that word weird in my head for a while now. That moment between not really scared and not knowing what the hell is going to happen. NO ONE in this country has ever experienced this before – super weird – and just, well, actually for ...
Coronavirus Bill frees up psychiatrists to fight COVID19
April 2, 2020 - by Rachel Rowan OliveThe Coronavirus Bill became the Coronavirus Act and passed into law last week. It included changes to mental health legislation which is not yet in force. Only one doctor will be needed to section someone, and sections will be able to last longer without review. Those of us who have been ...
Tips for Lockdown or How to Shave the Eyebrows off a Potato
March 31, 2020 - by Dolly SenI hope people are holding out ok. I live in my own head a lot of the time, which has its weird lockkdowns, and the flashes of the weird virus of the past infecting the present, but a lot of the time, it is my own beautiful, spectacular cosmos. I ...
Crippen exposes loss of benefits in Northern Ireland
March 27, 2020 - by CrippenThousands in Northern Ireland have lost their benefits in the transition to PIP system Almost one in four disabled people in Northern Ireland who were claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) have had their benefit taken away during the transition to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). PIP is designed to replace DLA ...
Liz Bentley on our mad mad world, no Tesco Delivery Man
March 24, 2020 - by Liz Bentley"You need to leave." Said the masked man. "Why?" Asked the mother, with two small children. "Coronavirus." He said. I watched while the family left the park and the man locked up. Opposite the park are flats, full of everyone, families, singletons, couples, pensioners, disabled, with no outside space. As I relish getting vitamin ...
Dementia
March 16, 2020 - by Bryony ParsonsYou may have dementia, But don’t let it define who you really are, You are still my nanma, You’ve always been my shining star. You may have dementia, But you are independent and strong, You often enjoy a sing song, And planting poinsettia’s. You may have dementia, But you’re always smiling, Telling tales from the past, And having a laugh. You may ...
Crippen asks why is the DWP shredding vital evidence about benefits suicides?
March 3, 2020 - by CrippenThe Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) has been accused of “a cover-up” after shredding around 50 reports into suicides that were linked to benefits being stopped. DWP officials have admitted that the files were shredded, but that this had been due to data protection laws stating that all ...
Liz Bentley being comforted by the Tesco Delivery Man
February 12, 2020 - by Liz BentleyI've been away, it was good to come home to a Tesco Delivery. One of the issues of internet shopping is sizing. I have in the past got excited about offers on wine, only to find when delivered they were little bottles, the same with coleslaw, and silver hoop earrings ...
Thoughts on the election and accessible shopping – no delivery man this time!
December 11, 2019 - by Liz BentleyThese last few weeks have been difficult. Chronic insomnia and flu viruses affecting me and most of my family. The general election on Thursday falls on ‘Perverse Verse’ my show I host at the Ivyhouse in Nunhead. It was supposed to be our Xmas Stocking show, it's changed into something ...
Thoughts on how would I ‘pick myself up’ now? While waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man (or occasionally Woman)
November 11, 2019 - by Liz BentleyI love Ken Loach, I really, really love him. I’ve seen ‘Sorry We Missed You’ and ‘I Daniel Blake’ and last week I saw him on a chat show talking with a council tenant about the squalid accommodation and homelessness in our country. A man on the ‘phone-in’ to Ken ...