| Gathering Place
IT IS distressing to see Hawaii on the verge of losing a golden opportunity to make serious inroads in reducing homelessness. Twenty years of evidence in the fight against homelessness has demonstrated clearly that emergency shelters simply do not work. Too often, they exacerbate the very problem they were meant to attack. Yet, apparently, this is the path chosen by the state. But there is another path. Brilliantly articulated in 2001 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the key ingredients include permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless, short-term rental housing subsidies for working families, housing specialists acting as rental agents to help locate and negotiate a rental situation, and prevention programs that identify those at risk for homelessness and that work to keep them housed.
Charity's a winner
March Air Cadets, staff and civilian committee members joined up to Race for Life at Cambridge and raised more than £700 for the charity. Despite sweltering conditions everyone completed the course in under 50 minutes.Two cadets were in the first three under 16s to complete the course. Male cadets and staff who had come along to support worked as volunteers at the finishing line handing out the medals, bags and drinks.The 1220 (March) Squadron is actively recruiting. Parade nights at the squadron's headquarters in Gas Road, March, are Tuesday and Fridays (7-9.30pm). If you are aged between 13 and 17 visit the website at www.1220atc.org.uk or call 01354 651788. .
Government to act on mesothelioma claims
The controversy over compensation for mesothelioma sufferers looks set to take yet another turn after Tony Blair promised to take action over a recent House of Lords ruling. The judgment means that a single employer will not have to pay full compensation if another employer could also be guilty of exposing the same employee to asbestos. Because the time between exposure to asbestos and the diagnosis of mesothelioma can span decades it is not always possible to prove which company is responsible. The House of Lords judgment was intended to safeguard employers from having to pay full compensation in cases where another employer could have been held responsible but is no longer operating. The ruling was met with dismay by the families of mesothelioma sufferers and by the unions and prompted the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to promise action on the new law.
MP slams decision to ditch asbestos drug
ROCHDALE MP Paul Rowen has slammed the ‘disgraceful' decision to withdraw a vital drug used by people fighting the deadly asbestos disease mesothelioma. He says the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) decision to withdraw the drug Alimta for NHS patients has been done for purely financial reasons. It will affect scores of people in Rochdale, which has an above-average number of mesothelioma sufferers because of the town's past links with the asbestos industry. The Turner Brothers complex at Spotland was once the largest asbestos factory in the world. Mr Rowen said: "I find the decision of Nice to be disgraceful. They have quite obviously put money before people's suffering and I am shocked. "Experts have told me the Nice appraisal cost around £1M, yet the cost of using this effective drug is estimated to be only £3M a year.
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