Comments for This is my Truth

Comment on Putting on a show by Robert Llewellyn Tyler

Robert Llewellyn Tyler — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:55:07 +0000

What an excellent idea. I look forward to hearing of the success of this venture. All best wishes.

Comment on A New Era for Welsh Public Policy by Dr Paul Worthington

Dr Paul Worthington — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:41:09 +0000

Any moves to enhance and strengthen the policy community and debate in Wales has got to be a good thing. But a couple of notes of caution:
- genuine independence is key. Be it Wales, England or wherever, if a significant commissioner of research is the governmental centre, how will that impact ? which begs the quesion of how to achieve independent funding of research ?
- timeliness and usability of whatever’s produced is important. Some of the health stuff I see in the UK is great, but at 60+ pages, often can’t get the attention it merits. Policy debate and analysis is great, but it needs to have a clear purpose and audience; and it we want to widen that audience, thought needs to be given as to how it ticks that box
- I’m all in favour of capturing the zeitgeist, but I rapidly lose patience with Thinktank work that grabs the headlines and then falls apart as soon as you read it. (IWA and Bevan are definitely not culprits). Maybe it’s a consequence of a plethora of Thinktanks all chasing a small pool of available funding, political attention and available headlines ? No problem with thinking beyond exsiting norms or flying kites – but decent policy work should stand up to scrutiny or be clear about its parameters and caveats are

Comment on There is a crisis and there’s no silver bullet solution by Aimands91

Aimands91 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:58:27 +0000

How can I get a small personal loan if I have bad credit?

Comment on Cancer is preventable by Donald Johnson

Donald Johnson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:15:45 +0000

I’m very interested in meeting with Claudia McVie to discuss her article above and also the responses underneath it. I have some positive insights that I feel would improve the debate about what we can do as individuals to prevent cancer attacking us. I feel the answer is actually very simple — but not easy, and that’s why people avoid looking the truth in the face. I want to do volunteer work with people who really want to find ways to PREVENT cancer instead of spending billions on researching cancer and providing expensive palliative care. In my truth, it all starts with “emotional ownership”.

Donald Johnson
029 2089 1376

Comment on Cancer is preventable by Peter Thomas

Peter Thomas — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:42:07 +0000

Claudia,

Sort of agree with the majority of the comments. I would say though – not being a medical expert or scientist, that a lot of Cancers are completely out of the blue. Take childrens Cancers. Yes great progress has been made over the years, but perhaps most of that is not down to their ‘obese’ lives, its just something that is still to this date unexplained. My cancer for instance NHL DLBC, was that down to me being a little overweight? – well acording to the people i spoke to, probably not. What about the many, many thousands of very fit athletic people throughout the World who develop Cancer – they weren’t obese – Lance and Mr Hartson are 2 obvious examples. So, in brief summary, i think your spot on with many points in your article, but would advise caution on your overall comment about the ‘generality’ of the causes.

Peter Thomas
Cancer Survivor
Carmarthenshire

Comment on Cancer is preventable by Ed Bridges

Ed Bridges — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:20:35 +0000

I think this piece is useful and timely. There is a lot more to be done in Wales to enshrine prevention as the norm in health and social care. But I would caution against seeing prevention solely in ‘traditional’ terms or smoking cessation, healthy eating etc – I think it needs to encompass a much wider set of values around wellbeing.

Living a ‘healthy’ life, abstaining from fags booze and burgers is all very well – but what makes us HEALTHY is different from what makes us FEEL GOOD. Social relations, interactions and quality of life are all equally important, and those need to feature too in any policy change.

Comment on Cancer is preventable by Lyndon

Lyndon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:52:46 +0000

Um….no. A certain percentage of cancers are preventable. The majority are down to nothing more than age and bad luck. By perpetuating this idea you are reinforcing the enormously unhelpful message that if you get cancer it is somehow your own fault.

For a major cancer charity to be putting over this idea is unfortunate, to say the least.

Comment on Clowning Around by Gethin Nadin

Gethin Nadin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:04:14 +0000

I went to this show too and although expected a comedy gig, I left feeling a tinge of activism inside. Its genuinely inspired me and I’ve since become a big supporter of ‘The Bevan Foundation’. Its like Charlie Chaplin says in his inspirational speech at the end of the film ‘The Great Dictator’: “In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich… our way of life can be free and beautiful…we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned mens souls”

Comment on Government misses the bus by Sue Maw

Sue Maw — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:49:57 +0000

It’s very disappointing that the Welsh Government does not recognise the importance of bus services. There will probably be knock on effects in higher unemployment and damage to rural communities.

Comment on How much does a baby cost? by Me

Me — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:02:58 +0000

It’s just this simple. Stop having babies if you aren’t married. And stop crying because nobody will give you a handout. Life is tough and it’s meant to be that way. Grow up and face life’s harsh realities, like, if you don’t work, you don’t eat. I hear people talk all the time about not being able to find work, when the reality is they aren’t willing to take the work that is available because they think they are above it. I was a janitor when I was young. I took the job because I needed to work. Now I’m a lawyer. It took me years to work my way up. Now I am finally able to have things a little easier, but I took a lot of work and a number of bad jobs to get to where I am. I sacrificed and worked full time and went to school full time in my 20s and 30s, with occasional breaks to restock the money along the way. I don’t feel bad for people who make bad choice then suffer the consequences of their bad choices. Pay attention to the choices you make. Get your money the old fashioned way… Earn it. Sha na na na, sha na na na na, get a job….