(no subject)

I knew it - I broke the internet!

Last night I was so tired that I went to bed without checking my gmail on the way. This morning? My gmail will not open. No mobile, no email - how am I meant to function?

(Ooh, it just changed from a 500 error, to a 502 error.. I wonder if that's good?) I'm sorry I broke the internet through my carelessness.

ETA: It's back!

(no subject)

oxfordgirl: "A dear friend of mine is currently being refused medical treatment on the NHS for a debilitating condition which seriously threatens her health, in one of the most vicious, idiotic and arbitrary Catch-22 policies I have ever had the horror to encounter in my frequent skirmishes with British bureacracy.

She has created a petition to attempt to get the government to recognise the inhumane treatment to which she is being subjected, and to compel the Primary Care Trust in question to bring its policies in line with the rest of this (apparently 'civilised') country."

To further explain the Catch-22:

Gender reassignment, in the UK, is mediated through specialist clinics. For the south of England, the specialist clinc is at Charing Cross Hospital in London. In order for Charing Cross to put you forward for surgery, you have to demonstrate that you are functioning day-to-day, living in your target gender.

In order to get funding out of Oxfordshire PCT, you have to demonstrate "extreme need" - and pretty much the only way to do this is to be so depressed as to be at risk of suicide. A state of mental health which then makes you ineligible for treatment by Charing Cross.

Oxfordshire PCT will only fund your gender reassignment when your condition, through non-treatment, has made you too ill to undergo surgery.

You can read the full report here. If you are currently living in the UK - please sign this petition. Wherever you live - please propogate this.

<<< http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/gdoxpct/ >>>