vivweb01blog

  The large increase in mental health referrals in the UK's younger age groups since the end of the pandemic has finally got the UK government worried…and so it should. Why ? We have at least 1 million young people in UK classified as ‘NEETs’ (i.e. not in Education, Employment or Training), and some of these are likely to be in this category because of mental health issues. Many more of our youngsters are also being diagnosed with some form of mental health issue, and not all of this is likely to be due to 'over-diagnosis'. There is an increasing tendency to blame excessive social media use for this phenomenon; it is not only a drain on the treasury via the benefits bill, but represents lost work potential, and perhaps more importantly, damages the prospects, and the morale, of the young people themselves.  The issue is now in 'ministerial focus' as being ripe for some form of government action. Their latest proposed solution is to offer all young people in th...

Editor's note: Looking back at this blog from 2022 has been instructive in showing just how much has changed since then...and how much hasn't.... Putin is obviously as resolved as ever to continue is 'special operation' in Ukraine, and as the devious campaigner that he is, has found ways to circumvent all attempts by the West to broker a cease-fire deal. Even that arch-deal maker himself, Trump, well into his last term and clearly in 'legacy-seeking' mode, has singularly failed to make any impression, and has now finally realised that Putin has been 'playing him' all along. His surprise comments in a BBC interview this summer confirmed this, but Trump obviously hasn't given up yet on arranging his 'master deal'.  When he does finally realise it's hopeless, and that Putin's obsession is 'hard wired', things could get quite unpleasant for Russia on the economic front, and more to the point, for anyone found to be continuing to t...

This blog was originally compiled at the time of the Monkeypox epidemic in 2022. A new and more infectious variant of MPox which also has a higher fatality rate, has hit Africa in 2024, and looks as though it has now arrived in UK. Young children are particularly hard-hit by this variant of the virus. Read on to find out more about how the last full-scale epidemic developed, and see also the update compiled this month at the end of the article....hopefully this will provide some insight into what we should expect in UK. T here has been much speculation in the media recently about the current Monkeypox outbreak – not surprisingly perhaps, in view of our recent experience with Covid… Some pundits are even predicting that this could be the fore-runner of the next pandemic   - how realistic a view is this, and should we be worried ? Looking at the evidence objectively, at present the answer to both questions is: Not very so far….but we should not be complacent. First, let’s look ...