Beatification of John Paul II

Beatification of John Paul II has come at the time when Catholic church is seeing rapidly declining interest. Church attendance has declined as well as recruitment into priesthood. This means reduced income for the church at the time of record payments being made to compensate victims of sexual abuse by clergy. The beatification dates are highly symbolic. May Day celebrations originate from prehistoric times. It has always been necessary to measure time for agricultural and hunting purposes.In prehistoric times this was done using astronomy. Year was probably divided into sixteen months. The time was measured in terms of solstices and equinoxes. The days which fell in between solstice and equinox were called quarter days. May day is such a point and denotes the start of summer. Many prehistoric sites have large stones to mark such passage of time. Large stones are arranged in circles, henge, but sometimes rows. May Day sun declination is +16 67 +- 0.14 and stones helped to mark the point in time. Festivities amongst Celts and others have various symbols of fertility such as Maypole associated with quarter days in May. During periods of Christianity many pagan festivals were taken up and somewhat modified. It is said one must not fish on May Day. Fish is symbol of Christ. May Day celebrations were forbidden at different times in history such as during protestant opposition to Catholicism. So, I am not surprised that May Day was chosen for the beatification. The pleasure element of May Day did not appeal to puritans. They banned it. It is interesting to read that allegedly the sign that John Paul II should be beatified was that on of the nuns who attended to him in his final days and had Parkinson's disease recovered allegedly miraculously. Of course, doctors do know that signs of Parkinson's Disease such as trembling can come from various types of poisoning. Some sedative medication can cause it as a side effect. When medication is stopped the signs of parkinsonism go away usually. Maybe it was stressful looking after the Pope and nun needed some sedation, or was given medication for another condition and it caused the symptoms as a side effect. Click here to read about just a small selection of toxins that can cause parkinsonism. May Day is also symbolic of work such as planting. In secular states May Day was designated as Labour Day, International Workers Day, and much celebrated with spectacular military parades in communist countries (and time off work for a day or two) and HERE. The presence of Polish ex union leader Lech Walensa and Mugabe who was a socialist at some point in his political career is symbolic of Catholic power over communism which opposed religion as Opium of the people. Both Walensa and Mugabe were raised as Catholics. Mugabe opposed homosexuality and his predecessor was found guilty in court of many offences of sodomy.

GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL AND SWEARING ON THE BIBLE

Following years of religious privileges at the General Medical Council, UK, and the persecutions of the innocent doctors by the religious left, now the General Medical Council has put a Bible on its website in the section on helping the witnesses. Now click here to watch Mr George Carlin on the subject of Stop Swearing on the Bible The rise of the religious fundamentalism has been noted in the last ten years in the world and so has the deterioration in human rights. At the General Medical Council doctors run the risk of being declared mad simply for being critical of some religious practice or local NHS small lords while doing this in the interest of the patients. Women are more at risk than men of being declared mad but this is to be expected from a sexist organization which would employ people who applaud their own narcissistic image. Most religions are patriarchal and asserting religious supremacy as the General Medical Council has done now has a number of political motives, one of which is to sabotage the reforms that the new government wants to make to this notoriously poorly performing body in the eyes of those who have experienced that dark side of controlling the freedom of thought by the state organs. Discrimination against freethinkers/atheists is rife in medical profession and having the Bible and other religious texts for witnesses opens witnesses just to that discrimination. A bit like declaring one is a homosexual to homophobes. So the whole thing is really not just silly but actually nasty.

Men wearing make up by Dr Helen Bright

Men wearing make up look sexy and cool, but in some countries this leads to arrest and persecution. Seven men were recently arrested in Sudan for taking part in a fashion show wearing make up. They were all fined, including the woman who was their make up artist. There is also a possibility of additional 40 lashes each. Men have worn make up for thousands of years. The earliest historical evidence is probably Egyptian around 3500BC. The purpose of wearing make up was not just aesthetic. Some make up was believed to contain medicinal properties. Eye make up for men was of different types. Some was thought to act as aphrodisiac and black was thought to deflect the "evil eye". Make up was worn by adult men and children and every day not just for special ceremonies. It is women who copied men later on and started wearing make up themselves. Some of Egyptian ancient make up survives today in the form of Kohl eye make up. Today there is a lot of make up to choose from. Men take care of themselves more than before and why not. In countries like Sudan one may have to protect one's make up with a gun, it seems. It is enjoyable to give pleasure to oneself and others as one does by wearing tastefully applied make up. This is exactly what religious authorities tend to object to: human happiness. Religions feeds on misery of human beings and not prosperity and happiness. And it loves dividing the sexes in order to rule.

BANNED ADD

Antonio Federici had yet another of their advertisements banned by English Advertising Standards Authority, presumably due to the fact that during Blair years many religious people were given posts in institutions to spread the Gospel. There is an excellent article on Ethics and Religion by South Place Journal about how religious people are drawn to the subject of ethics.

The last Federici add. which has been banned simply claimed: " immaculately conceived" and "ice cream is our religion". Yes, it is very offensive to have to think about oneself and why one holds certain beliefs about ice cream or religion.

Uniforms, per se can be construed as an advertisement for the organisation too. So why is then that religious uniforms have been allowed in England to be worn contrary to Human Rights Laws when working with mentally ill some of whom have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy. Why ASA does not ban that?

Well, all the reasons for this kind of opression are purely psychological and have nothing to do with law.

The idea of a nun still appeals to some people in all sorts of ways and there is no such thing as thought police to eliminate creative thinking yet.

Italians must be having a smile thinking of England while licking their ice cream.

Where to buy this ice-cream:

http://www.antoniofederici.com/

Picnic: Yes, Mass: No

National Secular Society reported recently about forthcoming Papal visit: "Ordinary, working class, educated, 'aware' Catholics are boycotting the event (papal visit) in their tens of thousands. (In one parish in Fife the priest put up two notices: one for the parish picnic, the other for the Papal Mass. 129 names went up for the picnic, 6 for the Papal Mass.)"

This is in sharp contrast to British Medical Regulation where the feelings and wishes of the religious come first and the needs of the patients second. 11 years (in November) after I raised the issue of wearing of religious uniforms when working with mentally ill, all relevant British medical institutions have been unable to do what is right for the patients and remained silent, heavily loaded with not basket cases but religious doctors on ethical and regulatory bodies. They are not easy to spot as they do not carry picnic baskets to work nor do they declare their conflict of interests. They just tuck in invisible matters, I guess, to get some relief regarding their own inevitable mortality.

Religious indoctrination of children from early on in life may explain something, but upbringing can be only a very partial explanation. Those of us who have stood up for what is right have been systematically persecuted, defamed and punished for telling the truth. The last Health Secretary did not even wish to even hear it (paper on whistleblowing) and refused to meet with me and the patients' groups. He was schooled in Catholic school but never grew out of it when it came to patients' rights. He lost his position in election. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats met with us and they won.

It is now estimated that one million men or so have been raped as children by clergy all over the world.

Meanwhile, British medical regulator has failed to remove Phallic God from a secret niche (see picture on the right above) to which it bows repeatedly. Malicious communications from male medical directors are treated as truth, not investigated properly and women doctors, in particular, labelled as basket cases. In 2007 twice as many women doctors were declared mentally ill compared to male doctors by the British regulatory body which also employed religious psychiatrists to eliminate those who were a bit more keen on evidence.

Burka Ban: Syria 1 England 0 by Dr Helen Bright 26/7/2010

Predictably, England remains backward when it comes to social justice and interestingly, national security. Syria has banned the wearing of burka in public places but UK has not.

Burka has been banned in many countries before eg socialist states. Some Arabic states, where Muslims are the majority faith holders, have also banned burka for a variety of reasons: security as well as allegedly some respect for women to be more free.

I read various arguments for and against burka.

My thinking is along these lines:

1. Burka unjustifiably segregates men and women. We know that millions of women are telling men every day what to wear and what not to wear. Men, usually, do obey. Women cannot use the excuse of wearing burka just to look a total mess underneath it. It is not fair to men! And to women who see a lot of self-neglected women.

2. Burka gives false impression that men are in charge. All the evidence of chaos in our world shows nobody is in control, but that the second principle of thermodynamic dominates matters. Please, read about it here.

3. It is a security risk. Criminals and terrorists can and do use it to hide their identity.

4. Women can make rude faces while hiding behind the veil and that is not honest communication. In fact, burka prevents effective communication. General Medical Council in London is very keen on effective communication. They blew it up when it came to the wearing of Christian religious dress and working with mentally ill (now one million men have been raped by Catholic clergy world wide and some of these men find the sight of religious uniforms panic provoking. Those who have panic attacks have twice as high mortality rates from cardiac arrests)

5. It is unsuitable for dining out etc. Burka looks silly in a swimming pool. Not dignified. Not fair to ice cream sellers, either.

6. It is not very good (protective) when it comes to radioactive radiation as it absorbs more radiation energy and causes more damage to the body. Look at the radiation burns on the body of a Japanese woman (photo above right) and how the pattern of radiation skin damage matches the pattern on her dress. Where the fabric is darker in colour it has absorbed more radiation. This is also interesting, as the last time I visited one Arab country, I noted some Arab men wearing long white shirts while women are dressed in black burka. In Saudi Arabia women do have reduced life expectancy compared to men. I am not aware that anybody thought of burka contributing to decreased life expectancy for women.

In Afganistan where one finds white burkas (and blue) women have slightly increased life expectancy over men, but still both sexes have life expectancy of only 44 years.

Religious Bias and Medical Regulation by Dr Helen Bright

Anthropological research has already shown that human societies change. For example. early societies could have been matrilineal, with descent traced through mothers. Some were matrilineal and matrilocal, with mother-child bond the primary unit of social organisation.

Primatology research has shown that not all monkeys are the same in terms of their gender relationships. While some groups are characterized by male aggression and competition, others have females who are able to resist, protect themselves and their offspring.

Smutts (1995) found that social organisation of male dominance and violence in primate species has following factors:

1. Few and weak female alliances, with little support from kin

2. Female competitive strategies that reinforce male control

3. Elaboration of male alliances in organising attacks on females

4. Strongly hierarchical social structure among males

5. Male control of food resources in a confined area, limiting female mobility

It is so hard not to see the parallels in present day medical regulation. We have not moved that far from some monkeys, it seems to me.

In 1954 Taylor (G. R. Taylor "Modern Morality" Chapter 15 Sex in History) wrote about attitudes to gender as linked to political orientation in that "matrist" attitudes favour egalitarian relationships, cooperation and tolerance, while "patrist" attitudes favour social hierarchy, competition and punitive policies. Patrist attitudes can be held by women and men can have matrist attitudes.

Today, in human societies where women have higher social status (eg Nordic group) are known to have less social inequality, less mental illness, less crime, less teenage pregnancy and decreased early mortality rate.

UK medical regulation has not addressed religious bias as one of the root causes of gender inequality, injustice in professional regulation, and increased mortality.

There is no process of assessing religious bias by medical regulators other than occasional declaration by those compelled to do so by law (bias against freemasons while others are allowed to hide). Fitness to Practice Panellistsat the General Medical Council could be e.g. complete misogynists, religious fanatics, have anti-science stance, and there is no punishment for those who abused their position of trust. There has been apathy and lack of creative thinking, closure of ranks and growth of illusional crops of multi-faithism solely for the protection of a hierarchical structure and power.

Read this article on apparent bias and religious case where justices were screened contrary to the General Medical Council view that anything goes as long as it can read and write. As if we did not know, as doctors, that even very demented people can read without remembering what they read or what it meant:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/07/religion-judiciary-supreme-court

Cardinal Ratzinger slaps reporter on hand

Cardinal Ratzinger also known to US Judge Rosenthal as mere: "defendant Joseph Ratzinger" was in charge of Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (aka Inquisition) whose duty was to deal with allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy. Click here to see Cardinal Ratzinger being interviewed by a reporter on child abuse you can see him slapping reporters hand when asked awkward questions.

Judge Rosenthal (23-6-2005) ordered defendant Joseph Ratzinger to file a report why he claims diplomatic immunity in cases of child abuse by clergy in USA when he knew of the allegations being made about abusive priests.

In August 2005, Ms Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State intervened in her letter to Assistant Attorney General to obtain prompt dismissal of the proceedings...in view of the significant foreign policy implications of such an action against the Head of foreign state."

The proceedings were dismissed.

Mr Geoffrey Robertson QC wrote an article stating that there is no immunity that could protect Pope from International Criminal Court. Quite right, from my reading of Rome Statute Articles 4(2) and 7(1)g in particular.

Interestingly, Pope Benedict XVI (previously Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) father was a police officer. Here is a rare study on psychology of children whose fathers were police officers.

One group of offspring were desribed as having addictions.

Some regard religion as a form of addiction in that it is used to alter emotional state, leads to tolerance for religious practices and the need for increased doses, ritualized behaviour and pain on withdrawal. Addictions can lead to social difficulties and problems with the law.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND DEMONSTRATION

ALICE IN WONDERLAND DEMONSTRATION To take place on: 26-5-2010 3-7pm In front of: General Medical Council 350 Euston Road London NW1 3JN Nearest underground station: Great Portland Street Dress: as any character from Alice in Wonderland if you like. Bring your own tea and cakes, folding chair. We will demonstrate against Human Rights Abuses by the General Medical Council 1.Against GMC failure to protect patients and public 2.Against predeterminations of guilty verdict in the cases of innocent doctors and failure to erase those doctors whose have ended lives of their patients. Against discrimination based on race, age and gender. 3.Against faulty, inadequate, biased and prejudiced investigations of complaints raised 4.Against false allegations by GMC psychiatrists of madness in doctors who have no mental illness used to prevent addressing issues raised by whistleblowers 5.For freedom of speech 6.Against religious fanatics sitting at Fitness to Practice hearings 7.Against breaches of Data Protection Act 1998 8.Against failure to address conflicts of interests of all of those involved in investigations, determinations as well as persecution and defence Characters in Alice in Wonderland:

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/school/char1.html Alice in Wonderland trailer

Professor Dora Kohen, GMC, uniforms

Professor Dora Kohen was appointed to work at the General Medical Council, UK as Health Screener (screening complaints against medical doctors in order to refer doctors for psychiatric examinations). She also worked for Parole Board (2007-2008) paid for by Department of Justice.

Interestingly, at the time when religion was forced by Blair Administration on many public institutions, she wrote an article: "Nurses' uniforms" in Psychiatric Bulletin Vol 26 No4 April 2002 page 156. Essentially, she claims that nurses balloted to go back to wearing their nursing uniforms in all the psychiatric intensive care unit, acute male and female wards, and rehabilitation wards. and that this was followed by "a great reduction in aggression, violence and the number of untoward incidents on the ward".

Professor Kohen's article is only the length of an average abstract, does not have any critical appraisal of other literature about the wearing of uniforms in psychiatric setting, or of her own research, contrary to all the principles of good science. There are no references given, no scales or tests mentioned, no statistical analysis and no explanation why no bias was excluded. Presumably, it is the same nurses who voted for uniforms that subsequently would not be filling untoward incident forms. It was left to them to report any incidents.

It is very easy for me to note that one of the editors of Psychiatric Bulletin was at the time Dr Mike Shooter (a religious man), who was also a President of The Royal College of Psychiatrists to whom I wrote about my concerns about the wearing of religious uniforms when working with mentally ill. He was completely incapable of addressing the issue. He did not seem to care about science or evidence by allowing such an article to be published.

The facts are that in UK mental health care professionals have not worn uniforms when working with mentally ill for over thirty years. The papers on wearing of religious uniforms are not readily available on line, or in the average good medical library. These have to ordered and paid for (hundreds of pounds). It appears, Professor Kohen did not dip into her own pocket as I did to find out why uniforms are not worn. I did not regret spending hundreds of pounds in search of truth. I can give references to what I write about simply, because I am willing to do so.

Having found out that the wearing of uniforms in psychiatric setting leads to a barrier in communications, increased violence, more self-harm, more absconding and worse treatment adherence I did research on religious uniforms and what mentally ill people think about it by administering a questionnaire (and not uniforms). Most people found religious uniforms off-putting.

Professor Dora Kohen could have administered questionnaires with photographs of the actors dressed as nurses and controlled for sex as well as uniforms. There should have been two different questionnaires: A and B. In A questionnaire she could have had a female nurse dressed in uniform, male in casual clothes with a Linkert scale below and in B questionnaire other way round. Linkert scale could have on one end Most attractive and at the other end Most-Off putting. Patients would than put a vertical line across the horizontal Linkert scale line to indicate how they feel about it. This would remove nursing, and administrative bias in deciding to go ahead with uniforms.

My research on religious uniforms in psychiatric setting (the first in the world) was followed by furore and mobbing leading to sham peer review before the General Medical Council.

Interestingly, GMC Health Screener thought I had mental health problems ( I never had mental illness in my whole life). When I obtained documents from GMC about the investigation of my case under Data Protection Act 1998, it was 10 years later. Medical Screener's name was blackened. Why such secrecy is required? I sign my patients notes and so do other doctors. Covering up the wrong doing is old and stinky and it is not lawful.

The stigma of mental illness was attached to me so that what I say can be disregarded and this is the case up to present day. GMC should ask for its money back from all of those experts who gave it poor service.

Religion is politics dressed in drag, as somebody said and the low standard of Professor Kohen's paper is noticeable as well as that of the editor who approved it.

Professor Kohen, in her paper, refers to patients as service users but staff as "in patient staff". Clearly, Professor Kohen cannot stomach being consistent and saying in service users staff.

There is no mention of the fact that nurses can be badly paid, houses can be expensive to buy to live in and not spending money on professional clothes which cost a bit, can result in a desire to wear a uniform because it is a cheap alternative. I do not think the same nurses would be spending hundreds of pounds to get publications on the wearing of nursing uniforms.

I guess, under Labour Government we are supposed to think that nurses, workers did the right thing and doctors the wrong, as I also note they did not opt to wear white coats. They do not need to, and could not be forced to.

Once again, The Royal College of Psychiatrists acted in its own interests: preserving the power of the religious psychiatrists and not putting patients first.

Now, that thousands of Catholic priests are known to have abused children, The Royal College will continue protesting that they really, always do their best in the interest of patients.

The famous experiment of Little Albert, see below shows how fears can be formed: through bad experience. Surely, abused men would fear clergy who were under obligation to cover up abuse as well.

However, the evidence is there, when the choice is presented to The Royal College of Psychiatrists to choose between science and abuse of power, it's choice was abuse of power.

If nurses needed to be identified by patients or relatives they could have had their big badges clearly displayed. There is no need for uniforms for identification purposes. Why they would not go to a nursing office on the ward if they needed a nurse? Why is not there a member of staff on duty to assist relatives during visiting time? Etc, etc.

Little Albert and other famous experiments

I have been delighted to see that someone has thought it appropriate to bring to public attention psychological experiments that are famous in showing some aspect of human behaviour. Little Albert is the experiment that is relevant to my case before the General Medical Council and so is Milgram's. I objected to the wearing of religious uniforms when working with mentally ill people some of whom would have suffered abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy. Nobody listened, patients died, Health Secretaries resigned or were sacked and UK government like in Milgram's experiment remained a servant of Catholic church authority. Mentally ill people in UK are still exposed to the religious uniforms as per government policy makers who refused to specify that religious uniforms are not to be worn when working with mentally ill despite the fact that doctors and nurses working with mentally ill know that no uniforms should be worn at all.

To see the experiments click here.

The real photo of Little Albert is the experiment in which it is human being who is the subject of the experiment and not the rat. Little Albert who had no fear of rats or dogs or monkeys or even fire learned to fear when showing the rat to him was coupled with a loud noise. The fear generalized to other things including artificial fur and of course, the rat.

So, children raped by priests (mainly boys) grew up fearing many things in their life including living itself and some committed suicides. Others lived miserably and missed on many things.

Today, British government is spending 15 million pounds on Pope's visit when 8.16 million of British people are unemployed, and local authorities are at a loss how to meet their duties to the poor.

The estimated number of raped men by Catholic clergy is now, at around one million and thousands of priests have been exposed as paedophiles around the world.

Easter, It's Spring again

I was amused by one of the blogs calling themselves feminist theologian. Oops! Feminism is not about propagating patriarchal fantasies with women writing to support it even if one writes about women in those fantasies.

London feminist free thinkers had this to say this year about Easter: "Let us reclaim 'Easter' named after various European goddesses, not about a man on a cross, but about the celebration of the Spring Solstice - a folk festival of warmth, light, women and fertility, a few drinks and eats perhaps to make the evening go with a swing. We still have the relics - flowers, chocolate eggs and rabbits. Let's remind everyone that it is only a religious 'celebration of a crucifixion' to Christians." Women remain repressed and not celebrated enough in the world still oppressive to them in many way and in many state institutions. Easter is a name given to festivals marking the change of seasons on planet Earth, where many confused and ignorant people have lived for a long time. In the last couple of thousands of years patriarchal religions made out of it a fantasy of supernatural resuscitation. I wonder how things would be if male fertility was not so obscure to people for such a long time and if it was celebrated equally from the start.

If you would like to know the science of how to calculate when Easter should be read here.

Elephant in the Room video here.

Dr George Tiller's murderer sentenced

Dr George Tiller (see photo below) was murdered on the church doorsteps by a religious fanatic Mr Scott Roeder who has now been sentenced to 50 years of imprisonment. Dr George Tiller performed abortions to which Mr Scott Roeder objected. He stalked Dr Tiller before murdering him. Lee THompson, attorney for Dr George Tiller's family gave press statement: "The sentence handed down today was appropriate. It is the most severe penalty available to Judge Wilbert under Kansas law. This crime was cruel and heinous not only because it took our husband, father and grandfather; but because it was a hate crime committed against George – but also against all women and their constitutional rights. We only can hope that this sentence will serve as a deterrent to those who have conspired and continue to conspire to murder abortion providers. Certainly everything possible should be done by the prison system to insure that this man does not continue to foment hatred and violence from his prison cell. Dr. Tiller's story is being told every day in the lives of the women he helped. His legacy cannot be diminished by the act of a single terrorist. We appreciate the efforts of District Attorney Nola Foulston and Assistant District Attorneys Kim Parker and Ann Swegle, their entire staff, and all law enforcement personnel who have been so helpful to us over the years. "

PROTESTS AGAINST POPE

UK government has now admitted that British taxpayer is expected to pay £15 million for Pope's visit to UK this year.

Somebody said that Religion is Politics dressed in drag.

Politicians like to have the vote of the religious people, but I do not see that religious people would necessarily approve of injustice, crime against children and adults or that they should pay for it themselves.

There are voices in USA asking for the Pope to give himself in to authorities. for covering up the abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

Do they mean that considering the scale of abuse (over 32 000 victims) International Tribunal e.g. such as the one in Hague is the only way forward?

Pharmacist refuses to issue contraceptives

Once again a patient goes to an English Chemist to get her prescription of contraceptives

(in Sheffield this time) but gets an explanation that pharmacist's religion does not allow her to dispense it.

Religious privileges in United Kingdom mean that medicine comes into second place if at all for some people in some instances.

It is not difficult for me to understand that there are people who see medicine or pharmacy as business and have no emotional connection to their profession in a way that could be described as compassionate.

When I started my work as a Consultant Psychiatrist I had many difficult cases. I shall never forget one man who was the product of rape and his mother could not get morning after pill. He was never loved, had poor self esteem suffered from depression and could not be cured by any pill a psychiatrist could prescribe. Psychotherapy was painful and I would say partially successful. At that time I managed to stop him from killing himself, but did he ever find true love is something I never learned and even today I wonder about it.

I also had to treat parents who had unwanted children and had to deal with their guilt and help them become better parents which was really hard for them. It did not escape my attention that

they punished themselves by not allowing themselves to be successful and happy in other areas of their lives.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has to review its code of ethics so that patients always come first and not religious beliefs. I think they could do well by showing the video or two to their students about psychological aspects of failed contraception of which there are several: poor self esteem, difficulties forming relationships, lack of committtment, depression, agression and hatred.

Lloyds Chemist is the largest community chemist in UK with about 1600 branches.

John Lennon Airport and multifaith prayer room, Blasphemy Conviction

It was bound to happen sooner or later: atheist enters multifaith room and leaves there material that religious people find offensive. This is exactly what happened at John Lennon Airport Multifaith Room.

Read about it here.

Nobody thought that it might be offensive to the memory of John Lennon that there would be a Multi faith Room on "his" airport. He was an atheist.

Religious bias in British Courts is rather archaic and leads to victimization and loss of life.

All state institutions should be secular and religious activities part of the private life.

ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Judge Hawksworth ruling that Catholic Church was responsible for the employment of its staff at St. Williams' Community Home where over the period of thirty years more than 140 men have allegedly suffered physical, sexual abuse and rape, has paved the way for the victims to obtain about £8 million compensation.

This is the largest claim in UK so far and needless, to say, has been resisted by Middlesborough Catholic Diocese.

In my opinion, the compensation is really quite small if one takes into the account the suffering of these men and that many ended up in prison.

Abuse and rape can lead to chronic post-traumatic stress disorder with a number of manifestations including changes in personality and affect (such as increased irritability). Anger can lead to violence and violence to prison, especially when authorities turn a blind eye to the crimes and things spin out of control. Thus, there is nothing novel in finding out that disproportionate number of men ended in prison.

One would have to consider how these men who alleged abuse have been treated by authorities, in my opinion. When the victims of the alleged crimes blew the whistle on the abuse by De La Salle Brothers employed by Catholic Church were they thrown into prisons? Were the victims scapegoated in any way?

Lawyers acting for the victims of the alleged abuse put in a huge amount of work. There have been all sorts of obstacles on the way. One key witness hanged himself in prison. The trial of several abusers collapsed. What support if any did this man have in prison?

It is expected that Pope will visit UK and there was a request for the tax payer to pay 3-6 million for this visit. I wonder if this was because Catholic church expects UK to pay for the negligent treatment of children in their care. Questions can be asked and answered why so many people did nothing for so long. Where were social services, medical services, and police?

My own experience as a psychiatrist with special interest in post-traumatic stress disorder tells me that good doctors can be hounded by authorities such as the General Medical Council and the Royal College of Psychiatrists' members of the Special Interest Group in Spirituality. It appears that it does not matter that it is well known that victims of abuse self-harmed, were never able to form intimate relationships and attempted suicide. Medical institutions are committed to conformity, not to patients, it appears to me.

In 1999 I pointed that psychiatrists, nurses and social workers working with mentally ill do not wear uniforms in UK and therefore, it is ethically wrong to allow those who are members of religious orders to wear their religious uniforms when working with mentally ill.

Uniforms make a barrier to trust between patients and doctors especially in psychiatry where one would reasonably be expected to see emotionally distressed people.

If religious uniforms form barrier to trust, patients do not give their history and without history there is no diagnosis Thus, a Catholic nun employed as a Social Worker would be handicapped in her ability to do her work and Catholic Church would benefit financially from e.g. non-disclosure of sexual abuse by clergy. Very simple, really.

When I raised my concerns about the wearing of religious uniform in mental health setting quite appropriately, nothing was done. I raised the concerns publicly through media and then harassment commenced with the aim to humiliate me and ultimately exclude me from the medical profession altogether. This campaign has been successful and the General Medical Council obliged by putting 15 conditions on my practice which make it impossible for anyone to give me medical work.

It is very easy for any doctor to be eliminated in this way. The Fitness to Practice Committees have had religious extremists working there for years. In my case, in 2003 one believed that demons cause epilepsy. In 2007, I had a psychiatrist judging me who also has supernatural beliefs and was a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Spirituality Group. She judged me even though her mandate at GMC had expired. GMC gave their reasons "because she sat at my hearing before". They did not use the same people at Fitness to Practice Hearing as they did at Interim Orders Hearing.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists for ten years refused to address the issue of the wearing of religious uniforms. Finally, when they did, they conformed to the status quo of religious privilege. Religious bias at the Royal College of Psychiatrists has been present for many years.

The General Medical Council never considered the issue of ethics or how to protect patients and public interest with reference to the wearing of religious uniforms.

The political situation in all that time I have been hounded has been of religious policies and practices being forced into mental health services, education and prisons.

Human Rights are often not respected in UK because it would mean major changes in British institutions. Establishment does not want to change. It is comfortable and that pleasure of comfort is the major motivator for conformity. It has nothing to fear and it is not compelled to do anything by anybody.

Recently, Equality Bill has been defeated in the House of Lords in London which I would expect to be the case. It was religious opposition that defeated it. Lords law won.

The House of Lords still hangs to its name even though it is a misnomer. Surely, there are women there now and the name of the institution is so archaic.

Ask yourself why in England many toilets have Ladies written on the doors of the cubicles and men do not have Lords. I think, this is because men do not like the idea of Lord defecating and desperately hang onto the image of fancy clothes in fancy buildings saying self fancy things. Narcissism galore even in toilet politics.

If UK was a secular society, and human rights were really respected many institutions would disappear all together, in my opinion.

I doubt that my thinking is original and that many other people have not noticed the expansion of church into running of the business previously done by state institutions. Or is there a difference between the two (state and organised religious institutions)?

What I would propose that nobody goes to work in Parliament without learning about dysfunctional family psycho dynamics and how to take responsibility for their own feelings, actions and beliefs. MPs need to be trained and sign up to Continuous Professional Development Plan like all other professionals. The same applies to police, social services, lawyers, and doctors.

I had to laugh when I was informed that barristers are compelled to do 12 hours of Continuous Professional Development per year and think this is too much. What a joke.

SACRED PLACE = TOILET

Atheists have confessed to going to empty churches in search of solitude. Religious have confessed to going to toilets in search of solitude. Busy executives harassed by endless interruptions of telephone calls, and knocks on their doors have found that toilets are places of contemplation and creativity. Mobile phones and bleepers slip into toilets too. Psychoanalysts may consider such events non-accidental. Parents search solitude in toilets. Away from their children and spouses. Children can be scared of toilets and it appears that political campaigners know it. Now some have exploited this fear of toilets in their campaign to preserve water by having a running toilet (see photo on the left) to scare children. No Royal flush is no longer acceptable. Children fear sometimes things coming up from water like a monster. I had a patient, a sweet, little girl who expected a huge shark to turn up in her tiny toilet. Some institutions like our National Health Service in UK under the pressure of the religious groups allocated rooms known as "quiet room" for the observance of faith. However, these facilities are not private and anybody can walk in. They are usually avoided by most. I wonder if the future architects would design solitary cells to accommodate human need for solitude. Something we all need. Human beings can be vicious beyond imagination, and at the lower end of the scale spiteful out of their own fears, usually fears of facing their own inadequacy and inferiority. Solitude is a great escape from envious attacks and intrigues. There is also expectation that human beings as social animals must be social at all times and that living with others at home is a sign of health. But solitude can be both an escape from cruelty of human beings and allow one the time for: creativity, healing, happy reflection on past events and being more in control of whom one lets in into that precious space of personal intimacy. In solitude great works of art, science and politics were completed for the benefit of society for centuries to come. Hardly, antisocial behaviour. Those who have anti-social personality have used their solitary time to plot destruction and wicked pleasures. Solitude is also a bit of anxiety provoking situation to insecure people as they feel excluded and not in control of what those who live alone actually do. There is a science fiction writer who predicted different future, where there are more people living alone in a state that controls everything including their genetic make up. I find it interesting, as it actually suggests that state would view people living alone as a threat unless their genetic make up is also controlled. Creativity can be a threat. Blackboard covered in a chalky writing gets erased for new material. But what if everything we have worked for our whole life is erased from history for ever because somebody comes along who is more creative, more persuasive and more successful? Fate worse than death for those who dream of eternal significance for themselves. Envy of creative people can lead to destruction of those people but also to growth by actually helping those people and feeling part of it. Rich aristocrats knew that one has to conquer own envy and supported arts. Some are remembered only because of that. Everybody has to deal with their envy, but it does require work. Sometimes very little: A kind word of support is all that is sometimes needed. Giving someone space to be alone and not harassing them with social expectations. At other times an awful lot of work is required if trying to entice a great person to live with you.

RUSSIANS BEAT BRITISH IN UNIFORM FASHION

Less religious, more happy

The research by Gregory Paul published in Evolutionary Psychology Journal established that the happiest societies are those who have the least amount of religion.

He showed that dysfunctional and poor countries turn to religion in the way that prosperous do not.

I have certainly seen increase in religiosity in former Yugoslavia during the recent civil war which started as a response to economic and political crises. It has not gone yet but neither has the poverty for many people.

On one of the flights to Belgrade I spoke with a representative of a religious organisation. She was on the religious hunt under the pretex of organising bussiness conferences. Some people would be keen to learn how to do things better economically only to find themselves on the religious sale patch of turf.

Click on the the title of this article if you wish to read Gregory Paul Article.

Here is Archbishop Nichols offering to increase the income of the church:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpqxjzzwJvw