Serving Disaster Victims
I'm sure you've all heard this story before, but it needs to be said! Thank you for bringing the news to me for free. You provided me with your news coverage for free when I was looking for information and all I could find was propaganda. Since then, I paid for a membership because I was attracted by the value you provide. It's worth the reward (even though I don't earn much). I work in the service industry and am a master of communication behind the bar or counter. When a new customer comes in, I often can't continue to “educate” them because I know the topic of conversation is an unfamiliar topic to them. In these situations, I immediately refer to UKColumn.org as a “holistic” source. It keeps me out of trouble at work and provides a reliable source of information for the curious people I meet. Every day, I see people hurt by “what's going on” such as “V” or the blurring of the boundaries between adults and children, or other attacks on our society and customs. I try to help them all, and I use you and several other sources to provide them with the truth they crave. They know something It's wrong, but they don't know what it is. I feel like I'm a kind of pastor now, selling stuff casually in the store, trying to heal their souls. God bless you guys for your work, because it's God's work.
James Carnson
BBC surveillance
(This letter is Brian Gerrish's 2014 article BBC Monitoring's track record in Central Asia (Editor)
In my home country of Kyrgyzstan, a heated debate about nepotism is currently taking place on social networks. BBC KyrgyzstanThis summer, the BBC stopped operating its Kyrgyz-language service after a journalist revealed that it had been run by the Kasmanbetov family for 27 years. First, his eldest daughter joined the London bureau, and then his sister and brother-in-law were hired as BBC journalists. This was not a total secret, but it came as a surprise to most Kyrgyzstans. Many are shocked that the nepotism so prevalent in Kyrgyz government institutions is also prevalent in a reputable news service like the BBC. Mission In a familiar phrase, the BBC is defined as “acting in the public interest and serving all audiences by providing impartial, high quality and distinctive products and services to inform, educate and entertain.” The question is how this nepotism was able to thrive for nearly 30 years unnoticed by the BBC's management. This situation sends a message that democratic governments and their institutions are indifferent to the kind of corruption that is common in countries like Kyrgyzstan. Through its hiring practices, the BBC fosters the suspicion that only democratic countries are corrupt. Sermon They value democracy and transparency, but don't always practice it. Gulnara Kasmanbetova joined the BBC in London 27 years ago. She was awarded the Order of Merit by the current Kyrgyz president for helping to arrange interviews with international media, which was crucial for the Kyrgyz president to legitimize his regime. Taking power in 2020 After his supporters released him from prison, Gulnara is now head of the BBC Kyrgyzstan bureau. Gulnara's sister Ainara Kasmanbetova is head of BBC Kyrgyzstan News in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. Her daughter Ermek Maksutova also works in the same office. The husband of the third daughter Aktyorpon Koycheeva, Arslan Koycheev, worked at the BBC's London bureau for almost 20 years before joining the Kyrgyz presidential administration as an adviser. The Kasmanbetova sisters' brother Suyunbek Kasmanbetov is the deputy secretary-general of the current government responsible for the status and development of the Kyrgyz language, but the development of the language has made little progress. Moreover, he is silent about the spread of Islamic extremism, but at the same time he is a rather vocal critic of the West and democracy, even though his sisters live and work in the UK and their children live in the US. Ibrahim Nurakun Uri, a former BBC Kyrgyzstan journalist, defended the Kasmanbetov family. While Nurakun acknowledged that several members of the Kasmanbetov family, including his brother-in-law, were employed by the BBC, he argued that it was unfair to accuse the family of nepotism. “In 2004,[he]was given the opportunity to work at the BBC, despite his poor English, limited journalistic experience and not even being related to the family.” Nurakun added that the “so-called nepotism” exists not only in BBC Kyrgyzstan, but also in BBC Pashto, Persian and other regional bureaus. In other words, rather than denying the accusation of nepotism, the ex-colleague is trying to weaken it and place the blame on the BBC and not the Kasmanbetov family. But his admission of his own poor qualifications only exacerbated the scandal. Such a person would not have been in a position to challenge the Kasmanbetovs. On the other hand, there are many competent journalists who are much more fluent in English than Nurakun and the Kasmanbetovs and have more experience as journalists. Nurakun admits that because she had such a good relationship with her family, she turned down an invitation from Gulnara Kasmanbetova to work again at the BBC in London in 2015. The media plays an important role in informing society. The impartiality and transparency of the media are called into question when credible concerns are raised about the way it functions. Kyrgyz journalists claim that they raised the issue of nepotism in the BBC Kyrgyzstan bureau to BBC headquarters, but say that their concerns were not taken seriously, but rather dismissed as complaints from disgruntled former staff. (Similar concerns were also raised at the US-funded BBC's Kyrgyz bureau.) AzaticKyrgyz Language Services Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyand garnered similar responses.) Thus, Kyrgyz society continues to suffer from a lack of credible and impartial media. This example only reinforces the claim, often dismissed as propaganda, that democracies are hypocrites, praising transparency and openness while falling far short of practicing it. This only gives corrupt governments an incentive to continue their corrupt practices. Therefore, to restore credibility in Kyrgyz society, the BBC management (and Radio Free Europe) should take these allegations of nepotism seriously, because they affect the BBC's mission and create the notion in society that even Western media serves the interests of corrupt governments around the world.
Aidai Masirkanova
Hospital horror
I am writing about the standard of care and treatment my late mother-in-law, Brenda, received from the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust on 8 June 2023. On 8 June 2023, Brenda was picked up from her home to be transported to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge to receive immunotherapy as she had terminal cancer. The driver arrived from a patient transport operated by the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The driver lowered a ramp onto the ambulance and Brenda was able to climb in without any major issues. However, as this was a newer model ambulance and Brenda had previously been picked up in an older model ambulance, she struggled. When Brenda and her husband arrived at Addenbrooke's Hospital, the driver refused to lower the ramp. The steps were too steep for Brenda to climb forward and both Brenda and her husband had told the driver this at least four times. Despite this, the driver refused to lower the ramp and forced Brenda to walk backwards down the stairs. Unfortunately, as she was descending the stairs her hands slipped off the banister and she landed awkwardly on her feet. On admission to Addenbrooke's Hospital, she was diagnosed with a spiral fracture of the left femur. Brenda underwent open reduction and internal fixation on June 10th and was discharged on June 20th. The standard of care at Addenbrooke's Hospital was terrible. Again, no one came to check on her and she was left in bed in her own urine and faeces. She was so heavily medicated that she was hallucinating. On her discharge, nothing was said about her fall while getting out of the ambulance. This fall led to a decline in her health. She lost her motivation and confidence, as well as her ability to walk. She was then admitted to Bedford Hospital in mid-August, where she received absolutely no care. No one helped her get in and out of bed. There was no help getting to the toilet and staff just left her in bed. She lost all the muscles in her legs. There was no care given at night either. No one answered the buzzer when it rang. Brenda was a proud woman, so she tried to get out of bed to go to the toilet by herself, but she fell and hurt her shoulder. She was left on the floor until staff arrived, and only after another patient rang the buzzer did someone attend to her. No x-rays were taken, they just left her to waste away. My sister-in-law spent the next night in an upright chair beside her bed as there was no one to sit with her. Even after she was discharged from Bedford Hospital, there was no talk of her falling out of bed. Brenda was basically sent home to die. We tried to look after her but it was too much for my father-in-law to bear. She was sent to Sue Ryder Hospice where she died on Monday 28 August 2023. This is just a brief outline of what happened. There is so much more to this. She had a horrible experience whilst in NHS care. And I thought I should also add that my mother-in-law had received three doses of the Pfizer Covid vaccine. It was in December 2021, after the Covid vaccine, that she was diagnosed with cancer.
Helen Abrahams
Main article image: Scott Graham | Unsplash license
