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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Om Ali: Womanhood, Redefined
But I wanted to respond, too, and here's what I've come up with so far.
Today we went to the annual winter festival in a town not far from ours. They have a host of fun events like ice carving and concerts and puppet shows, and the highlight (for us, anyway) is a parade that crosses the bridge between two states. It's a pretty spectacular parade for the middle of the winter: there are girl scouts, of course, and people in classic cars, but there are also lots of bands, and performing arts groups, a guy on stilts, mummers, even a guy playing George Washington (because the river they're crossing is the Delaware). And almost every group that passes has something to give away, whether it's candy (thrown at you from the floats), or caribeeners, or bubble pens, or magnetic clips, or flags.
While we were waiting for the parade, we happened to run into a family from I's school whom we see everywhere, it seems (they live around the corner from us and my husband plays poker with the father of the family, so it's not entirely strange that they circle through our lives so often), and even though they aren't in the same class or grade, I. sat and watched the parade with his schoolmate, giggling and waving his flag and pretty much ignoring us until the end, unless it was to hand over loot for us to hold. N. watched the parade with some interest, too, "woooowww"ing at appropriate moments, and pretty much ignoring me.
It occurred to me, as I was watching my children watching the parade, that these little beings who depended on me for everything will need me less and less as time goes on, at least for the day-to-day things. I won't need to entertain them any more, because they will want to entertain themselves with their peers. I won't need to feed them snacks any more, because they will go rummaging through my cabinets. Maybe they'll eventually do their own laundry and clean their rooms. And then they'll go off to college, or out into the world, orbiting me with a larger and larger radius.
And yet, I will have spent the better part of my life defining myself in relation to them. Which is not a bad thing, per se, but and interesting observation about the nature of womanhood. Because despite what the Virginia Slims ads of my adolescence proclaimed, I feel like women are so often defined in relation to: in relation to their kids, in relation to their spouses, in relation to their parents. Are we good daughters? Good partners? Good mothers? Good career women (and, it should be added here, good career women who put others first? Who use our careers to further others? Because you know what they say about a woman furthering her own professional interests, don't you)? These are the yardsticks that are used to measure women. And if we fall short in any of those measures, or (heaven forbid) one of those measures can't be used at all, people are at a loss for what to do with us.
Mel asks: "when we write the definition for ourselves and state emphatically in our hearts what we do or don't want to become, are we staying strong and following our dreams, or are we being sidetracked by self-doubt when others voice their opinions on our choices? How can we tune out the judgment; which when we boil down judgment to its essence is simply other people trying to define our lives for us, to write the dictionary of our selves"?
As someone raised in a house with one parent whose first language was not English, I am particularly sensitive to the vagaries of translation. I happened upon this recipe this week, trying to figure out how to use orange flower water (which has another story itself), and began to play with the words.
According to most websites, Om Ali literally translates to "Ali's Mother." Woman in relation to. But the "OM" that we chant at the beginning of yoga is made up of three Sanskrit letters, aa, au and ma which, when combined together, is believed to be the basic sound of the world, and to contain all other sounds. It's said to be the sound of the universe vibrating, always moving and changing. Chanting Aum is supposed to remind us about this movement of the universe, through the movement of our breath and the vibration we feel in our bodies.
And "Ali" means "exalted."
I don't know Arabic. And perhaps I have no right to make my own translations. And yes, there will always be families, and partners, and careers that help us to figure out our places in the universe. But wouldn't it be interesting to redefine womanhood as the exalted movement of the universe? As change itself? As individual as we all really are?
Om Ali : Egyptian Bread Pudding
adapted liberally from here
The traditional way of making this dessert is with phyllo instead of bread. I used bread because that's what I had. It'll turn out a bit less solid with the pastry; don't be alarmed!
1/2 lb. day-old bread (or 6 sheets phyllo or puff pastry, baked/toasted; some people even use day-old croissants)
1/4 c. raisins
1/2 c. coarsely chopped nuts (I used roasted almonds)
1/2 c. sugar
1 T. orange blossom water (optional)
pinch of salt
4 c. milk
1/2 c. cream
ground cinnamon, for dusting on top
Preheat the oven to 425F. Lightly butter a 2-qt (2L) baking dish.
Trim the crusts from the bread into ½ inch (12mm) cubes or crush the phyllo into a bowl. In the prepared baking dish, alternate layers of bread or phyllo with raisins and nuts.
In a medium pot, whisk together the sugar, salt, and orange blossom water until blended, then whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil. Pour the mixture over the bread, dust with the cinnamon. (If you're using bread, set aside for 20 minutes to moisten well. Tilt the dish occasionally to keep the bread evenly covered with the liquid.)
Place the baking dish in a bigger pan and pour hot water into the pan to reach halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Carefully remove the baking dish from the water bath and let cool completely on a wire rack. Serve warm or chilled.
18 comments:
One of the better blog posts I have read in a long time. Thank you, from another New Jersey mom.ReplyDelete
Beautiful, Justine. I think that I often define myself in relation to other people because it seems like everything in my life comes down to relationships. Relationships with other people - family, friends, co-workers, neighbours, acquaintances - give meaning to my world, so it makes sense that I would define myself in relation to them. I often wonder if there can even be a "me" that exists outside of all relationships. I'm not sure that there is...and I'm not sure that that's a bad thing.ReplyDeleteReplies
Stephanie, I completely agree ... I think that humans are fundamentally relational beings. But I think when all people see us as are "X's mom" or "Y's wife" or "Z's teacher," we can potentially lose the things that make us unique: she makes awesome clay baboons, for example. ;)Delete
And the "in relation to" can be limiting, I think, when it plays into the stereotype of what people think those relationships should look like ... if that makes any sense?
It's interesting to use term exalted -- and to sort of look at motherhood as the salt of the earth -- and yet in reality, how much is mothering looked down upon? From the idea that a self-sufficient adult should be completely separate from their mother (I remember teasing a boy in college because he brought his laundry home to his mother every other week -- which is a little bit sad on the self-sufficiency front, but also speaks volumes to his need to still be cared for and her need to still care for him. I don't think we necessarily need to hit a wall that we go over and become completely separate entities) to the term "just" in front of stay-at-home mum. We don't honour mothers, except to throw them a Hallmark holiday. We also don't scorn mothers as much as people vent about. But we don't revere them as we do basketball players.ReplyDeleteReplies
Mel, I love the point you make about the way we preface talk about SAHMs with "just," as if that work was not enough. I feel both ways about it, I guess: that in the one sense, defining ourselves only in terms of the mother-child relationship can underrepresent who we are ... AND that in another sense, mothering -- even as its manifestation changes over time -- does shape our personhood. One thing that has been made clear to me, though, again and again, is how all of us do this mothering thing differently ... even though if we find our "tribes" of women to whom we can relate in that experience.Delete
I think, Mel, that we (as a culture) "exalt" a very particular IDEAL of motherhood: a 25-35 year old married woman actively mothering 2 or 3 young, healthy, children. Being older or younger, single, or with a same-sex partner, having a child with a physical or mental disability, having an only or more than what is considered a "normal" number of children, parenting an older teen or adult child (who should, if we do our jobs right, be "self-sufficient" & not need mommy anymore)...none of those fit in the "ideal".Delete
None of us are "just" anything, no matter how we spend our days, or if we are we're denying something essential about ourselves.Delete
JeCaThRe, I agree ... but I've heard women talk about other women that way. Not only does that word allow us to deny something essential about ourselves, but about each other.Delete
I love this post. And I would love for womanhood to be defined as the exalted movement of the universe, of change, of redefinition.ReplyDelete
I think it's true that people are relational beings and that it makes sense for us to be defined in terms of our relationships to others, but I think this happens to women so much more than it happens to men. We are our mother's daughters, our children's mothers, our husband's wives. I mean, most women still take their husband's name, and in doing so are more than just figuratively defined by their relationship to that person. I'm sure there are many reason's for this, one being women's historical place, and power, in our culture. For hundreds upon hundreds of years women were given from their father to a man to be his wife. Another is that many women, as Stephanie touched on above, feel fulfilled when they are defined in relationship to others.
But, as you said, what of women who are missing some of those relations? Are women who are not someone's wife or not someone's mother less than other women who are? And if that woman is also an author or a chef or a lawyer, when is that noted? I am mother's daughter and my daughter's mother and my husband's partner and my students' teacher but I'm also a woman who loves to write, who wants to illustrate a book, who hopes to own a home, who puts her thoughts out into the world and receives a response. I am all of those things and they have nothing to do with anyone else but me. Well, it's not that they have nothing to do with anyone else, because those things are of course touched by the people in my life, but they are MINE, they are ME, they make me distinct, unique, from the people I'm usually defined by and from other women in the world.Replies
Great point about name-taking, Esperanza. And yes, the other apirations you describe are exactly what I'm talking about ... the parts of us that are unique and creative. Sometimes those parts have nothing to do with the traditional roles of women.Delete
I'm thinking, too, about the women who are childless not by choice, or who are single because they never found the right person to pair off with ... they define womanhood as much as those of us with children and spouses do.
Interesting post..and topic. The way we define ourselves through our relationships can be rewarding and wonderful, and also be stressful and sad...especially when things change and we must change as a result. I remember when my sister graduated from high school, and mom talked about how she had worked on preparing herself for that moment for a long time. She knew the event was changing her life too---she had to become someone new because she now had a "grown-up" child. Later, when my sister passed away, I watched my mom have to adjust again--to being a mother of non-living child. Sometimes, like with graduation, it was an underlying good thing. As it also was when my sister got married and then later got pregnant. We have this saying---transitions are bumpy, even when they're good. At the same time, my mom also says that in order to have the ultimate wonderful things in life (like those mother-child relationships) there is risk involved.ReplyDelete
Lots of speculation :)Replies
Thanks for this, Lisa. Your mom sounds like she is an amazing person (I love what you say in your blog about running over to her house to chat in bed). I wonder if part of my resistance to being defined in relation to my children is how I felt my mom never truly had a voice of her own when I was growing up ... she seemed subsumed by the things she did for other people. But those relationships can also be life-affirming, as they seemed to be for your mom.Delete
And yes, definitely ... the part of ourselves that is defined by our relationships is particularly vulnerable ... both for better and for worse.
While I agree that relationships and connections are a very important (crucial) part of life, the danger in defining ourselves solely by our relationships is the fact that relationships change over time & sometimes very abruptly & unexpectedly (as Lisa points out). I've seen women cling so so tightly to an old definition of themselves as a mother that they never develop a life for themselves once their children grow up; by clinging to being the caretaker or being in charge, they can also jeopardize relationships with their adult children & spouses. Yes once you are a mother, you are always a mother, and I don't think that ends abruptly at age 18, but it DOES need to evolve over the years and mellow into a different role. By nurturing some aspects of YOURSELF, that are not related to your children or spouse, or even your job (because that can end abruptly, too) I think you can foster an easier (still bumpy but hopefully not devastating) transition. When you think about it, most of us were non-mothers for much longer than we've been mothers, and the time that we're mothers of young, constantly needy children is a very short time indeed. It is odd to define our entire lives by that 5-6 year role. I say this, but its hard to remember to put myself first some times, to prioritize things that are solely for ME and MY future and not for my family.ReplyDeleteReplies
Ana, I think I've seen some of this as part of your resolutions for this year? :) I agree that women need to find time for themselves, too, to cultivate a part of their identity that isn't just about motherhood or being a spouse or being at work (even if you love all of those aspects of yourself, and they consume you) ... I think it was easier for me to do so when I worked outside the home, but that may be just personal. And great point about your professional identity changing abruptly, too ... that happened to me, and it was an interesting lesson about how I create my own identity.Delete
My husband's grandmother was a master at word games. Though her family was her life, she was a voracious reader and could beat anyone at scrabble even when she was working in the kitchen, and came out to take her turn. :)
It's so true what you say about women always being judged "in relation" to something else. I think that's why infertility is especially cruel. We are told growing up that we will be judged most importantly as a mother in relation to our kids and then to find out that you not only don't measure up, but can't even get in the game is so heartbreaking. What a great observation for you to make. Rest assured though, I am, well, lets just say I'm getting old, and still call my mom three times a day. They will always need you. :)ReplyDeleteReplies
Manymanymoons, this is exactly what I mean ... the measures of womanhood are outdated and unfair, especially to women who don't, either by chance or by choice, have children ... or who never settle down with a long-term partner ... or even, sometimes, who don't try to juggle a career with family responsibilities.Delete
I am older than you are, and I don't call my mom much, but she jokes that she's our shoestring babysitter. ;)
- AnonymousJanuary 30, 2012 at 7:14 PM
I have loved this series of posts and this one is no exception. I agree about the tendency to define women "in relation to" and I feel that we have a deep responsibility to work to alter this. First and foremost, we owe it to ourselves and each other. And yes, I absolutely believe that we face an incredibly difficult challenge of finding ways to simultaneously raise motherhood to it's proper place i society and extricate ourselves from it's tendency to consume us whole.ReplyDelete
Great post. Someone just commented on one of my posts that women are often invisible in their middle years BECAUSE they have so much to do in relation to being parents or caring for their parents or the grind of work. And so we have very few visible women. I thought this was very interesting, and really built on what you said.ReplyDelete
I saw a sign for a big real estate magnate around here who is a woman, and it took me aback because a) She's a visible woman in our community over the age of 50 and b) She really is one of a handful that I know of.
That realization didn't make me very happy.


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Maps Created using Biblemapper 3.0
Additional data from OpenBible.info
OccurrencesEzekiel 47:10 It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
en-eg'-la-im, en-eg-la'-im (`en `eghlayim, "fountain of calves"?):
Strong's HebrewH5882: En Eglayim
"spring of two calves," a place on the Dead Sea

subset: commoncrawl


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Walmart's so-far futile pursuit of Amazon
Although Walmart (WMT) has spent tens of billions of dollars in recent years to build up its e-commerce business, the world's largest retailer continues to struggle against rival Amazon (AMZN).
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based discount retailer on Thursday reported online sales growth of 8 percent in its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter (ending Jan. 31) and 12 percent for all of 2015. That's well under Amazon's 22 percent fourth-quarter growth and 20 percent gain last year. Concerns about Walmart's e-commerce business are one of the reasons the company's shares have slumped more than 25 percent over the past year.
Many experts are doubtful that Walmart will ever catch up to Amazon. Global sales rankings by Internet Retailer, a trade publication, show Apple (APPL) ranked second behind Amazon in recent years, with the retailer in third.
"The growing popularity and convenience of Amazon Prime, now in 50 million homes, makes it less and less likely shoppers would go anywhere else but Amazon," said Stefany Zaroban, director of research for Internet Retailer.
Walmart's e-commerce sales were about $15.6 billion in 2015, accounting for about 3.2 percent of its overall sales, among the lowest percentages of major retailers. Dan Toporek, a company spokesman, attributed the results on sluggish performance in key foreign markets such China, the U.K. and Brazil.
Walmart has tried to create a high-tech vibe in recent years, adding technologists and data scientists among others. The headquarters of its e-commerce business, which has a staff of about 3,500, is in Silicon Valley. The retailer has also made more than a dozen e-commerce acquisitions, though it hasn't disclosed the amount it has spent.
Speaking on Thursday's earnings conference call, Neil Ashe, head of Walmart's e-commerce business, struck an optimistic tone, noting that the company saw a dramatic spike in orders on Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday compared with a year ago. It also has high hopes for the expansion of its grocery delivery business and its Walmart Pay app.
Like Amazon, Walmart has built a network of fulfillment centers to process e-commerce orders and has expanded other services, such as allowing customers to order products online and pick them up later in its stores. Try as it may, though, Walmart will find Amazon difficult to beat at its own game.
"Walmart doesn't have the assortment, the fast shipping or the innovative culture that Amazon has," said Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Walmart is certainly trying as best they can, but they have a lot of legacy systems and a big-company culture, which are difficult to change."
Shares of Walmart fell 3 percent to $64.12 on Thursday as Wall Street reacted negatively to its earnings report. Rising costs -- including its decision to raise employee wages -- depressed profits, which fell 7.9 percent in the quarter. Per-share profit excluding some items was $1.49, topping analysts' estimates of $1.44. Revenue, though, fell to $128.7 billion, missing forecasts.
According to retail consultant Howard Davidowitz, one reason for Amazon's success is that CEO Jeff Bezos is following the aggressive pricing strategy made famous by Walmart's late founder Sam Walton, who vowed never to be undersold. The retailer, however, has lost its pricing edge in recent years to a variety of rivals including Amazon, Target (TGT) and discount food retailer Aldi, according to Davidowitz.
"Jeff Bezos is Sam Walton," said Davidowitz. "That's who he is. He believes in exactly the same principles. ... Sam Walton was determined, determined to underprice everybody and he did."
for more features.


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Queen Latifah In Talks For 'Barbershop 2' Cameo, Spinoff
Ice Cube's "Barbershop" was a huge success, but hey, women need haircuts too. That's why Queen Latifah's opening up the "Beauty Shop" next door.
MGM wants Latifah to produce and star in a spinoff of "Barbershop" and make an appearance in "Barbershop 2," alongside Cube, Eve and the rest of the cast. Last year's hit flick about a struggling Chicago parlor took in $75 million. The plan is to have Latifah make a cameo in the sequel as a beauty shop owner whose business is next door, setting the stage for a separate movie that would be developed at the same time. Latifah is currently in negotiations for both films, according to an MGM representative.
Latifah, who was paid $1 million to produce and star in the current hit "Bringing Down the House," could receive an eight-figure salary for "Beauty Shop," according to Hollywood trade paper Variety. Though "Bringing Down the House" continues to draw in moviegoers, it was recently hit by a lawsuit alleging the story was plagiarized (see [article id="1470872"]"Queen Latifah Hit With $15 Million Lawsuit"[/article]).
In addition to "Barbershop 2" and "Beauty Shop," Latifah also has the romantic comedy "Just Wright" (see [article id="1470642"]"Queen Latifah Signs On For NBA Cinderella Story"[/article]) and the CBS detective drama "Mali Anderson" in the works.
A lot of the current interest in her is undoubtedly due to her critically hailed turn in "Chicago," which earned her nominations for best supporting actress at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.
Queen Latifah first came on the scene with 1989's All Hail the Queen, a landmark album in hip-hop that addressed women's rights, apartheid and self-empowerment. She made her feature film debut as a lesbian bank robber in director F. Gary Gray's "Set It Off."
MGM is courting Elizabeth Hunter, who wrote Beyoncé Knowles' upcoming movie "The Fighting Temptations" (see [article id="1458820"]"Beyonce Transforms Into Bohemian, Motherly Nightclub Singer"[/article]), to script "Beauty Shop," according to a representative for the studio.


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Saturday, 26 November 2011
fictional hybrids
In the summer of 2009 Australian artist Vera Möller spent time in the King's Wood at Challock, not far from here, as part of an exchange program between Stour Valley Arts and Heide Museum in Melbourne. On Thursday evening the fruits of this period of research were revealed when Möller's show opened at the Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury. She was trained as a biologist and microbiologist in Germany subsequently studying art in Melbourne. The 'hybrids' are tiny models of imaginary fungi which were placed in the natural environment of the King's Wood and photographed with a macro lens. The large hall at the rear of the gallery shows these large photographic images while a small glass case houses the surprisingly small models. In the hallway and the front room are works on paper which conjure up additional imagined images of mycological specimens and cellular forms. Stour Valley Arts have put together many fine artists books and Vera Möller's is no exception. It's a beautiful production concentrating on the photographed hybrids and including critical texts by Justin Clemens (Melbourne), Peter Vujakovic (Canterbury), a witty imagined taxonomy by Ian Bride (Whitstable) and poem/journal extracts from me (Faversham).
Posted by Laurie Duggan at 15:29 2 comments:
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Blue Bus fifty-something
Tuesday night's reading at The Lamb featured Gavin Selerie and Kelvin Corcoran. Gavin read new work centred on the great English/West Indian saxophonist Joe Harriott together with a longer piece from Music's Duel, the selected poems. Kelvin read from the new Longbarrow Press book Words Through a Hole Where Once There Was a Chimpanzee's Face (there's a rational explanation of this title but you'll have to buy the book to find out). It's always a pleasure to hear these two poets. It capped off an enjoyable evening eating out with August Kleinzahler.
Posted by Laurie Duggan at 10:28 No comments:
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
On Saturday I also picked up Simon Smith's wonderful new book from Veer, Gravesend. The poems within were 'written whilst travelling by train between Charing Cross and Chatham'. I once amused myself on the trip in to London by counting all of the footballs at the bottom of embankments. Smith has done a lot more than this. The poems aren't sonnets (strictly speaking) but they nevertheless have the feel of the modern sonnet about them.
Posted by Laurie Duggan at 10:12 No comments:
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Red Lion Square
The annual Small Publishers' Fair took place on Friday and Saturday at its usual location, Conway Hall, off Red Lion Square. I was there for a good part of Saturday and read with Jaime Robles in a Shearsman bracket. On Saturday morning sales seemed sluggish but as the crowd increased things looked like they were picking up. One of the pleasures of this event is purchasing things from the smallest of the small publishers. I bought a couple of Jaime Robles self-produced books at the Shearman stall. She is a wonderful book designer, having run Woodland editions from her native California and further work under her own name from Exeter. I also bought more little books from Laurie and Thomas A Clark's Moschatel Press produced in Scotland and Japan. And Geraldine Monk and Alan Halsey kindly sold some copies of my Allotments volume at their West House Books stall.
Posted by Laurie Duggan at 09:55 No comments:
Friday, 11 November 2011
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
wild & woolley
In 1973 Michael Wilding and Pat Woolley decided to start a publishing house. Michael, originally from the West Midlands, was writing short stories and teaching in the English department at the University of Sydney. Pat, a Californian, had publishing experience with her own Tomato Press. That press had published Pam Brown's first book, Sureblock, a couple of years before, and it was through Pam that I met Pat. Wilding's memoir, just published by Giramondo details the years of Wild & Woolley Press. One evening in 1973 not long before the idea of the Press was hatched, Pat and Michael came back to his place in Balmain to discover that 'the poets had already entered through the bathroom window . . . eating and drinking whatever they could find . . . Robert Adamson, John Forbes, Laurie Duggan and Nigel Roberts as I remember, give or take a few'. I ended up working for Wild & Woolley at their Chippendale office as a storeman, packer and driver. There's a photo in the book of the tiny van (powered by a two-stroke engine) with which I did the Sydney deliveries. The Press distributed American books from New Directions, Black Sparrow, City Lights, Four Seasons, Greywolf and other smaller presses and a good deal of my income was spent on these volumes. As an employee I got them practically at cost but I remember Michael saying once, watching me sweating under some boxes 'it's like paying the slogging natives off with alcohol'. The Press subsequently published my second book, Under the Weather, in 1978. I'd shown the manuscript to Michael and he'd immediately taken it on. His faith in the book wasn't reciprocated by the reviewers mostly. One well-known Australian poet called it 'an easy tiny read'. It was the book, I've since realised, in which I found my own way to write. I'm grateful to Michael and Pat for letting it into the world.
Posted by Laurie Duggan at 10:42 2 comments:
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
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Motion made, and Question proposed, That the sitting be now adjourned.[Angela Smith.]
Dr. Gavin Strang (Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh): I start by welcoming the publication of the national strategy for sexual health and HIV. It is the first such strategy, and the Government are to be commended on their work. The document is not the end of the story: it is out for consultation, and the policy development work continues.
Hon. Members might be aware that my interest is in HIV-AIDS, on which I shall focus in the main. I am sure that other hon. Members will talk about other sexual health matters. My interest in HIV was triggered in the 1980s as a result of my being an Edinburgh Member of Parliament. Hon. Members will be aware that Edinburgh had a huge problem with HIV transmission caused by injecting drugs. In 1985 and earlier, 81 per cent. of HIV diagnoses in Scotland were for infections caught in that way. That has all changed. Injecting drug use accounted for 11 per cent. of diagnoses in the first half of this year, while sex between men is now the largest exposure category.
Many people have been tempted to see HIV as a threat of the past, but that is far from true. It would be helpful to take a quick overview of the HIV epidemic in the UK. There were 3,550 new HIV diagnoses last yearthe highest number on record. The majority of cases stem from heterosexual sex, mostly in high-prevalence countriesthe number has been rising steeply for several years. However, the majority of transmissions in the UK still arise from sex between men, and there is little evidence that the number of new infections is declining.
The UK's performance in limiting HIV transmission from mother to baby has been poorer than that of several other European countries, but there is evidence that rates have begun to improve. The number of cases that result from intravenous drug usage remains low, but the rate of works sharing is thought to be worsening.
The Government have said that the rise in the total number of HIV diagnoses could be accounted for partly by increased antenatal testing, and I would be grateful if my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health, the Member for Salford (Ms Blears), could elaborate a bit further and tell us what proportion of new diagnoses results from antenatal screening.
The final point that I want to make in this overview was mentioned in the Government's strategy document. HIV is not distributed equally through the population. The Terrence Higgins Trust recently published a report showing the association between HIV infection and social exclusion.
The life expectancy of people with HIV has been transformed by combination therapy, and as a result many people with HIV are alive today who would
I do not want to exaggerateit is not all bad news. The HIV epidemic here is not as bad as that in many comparable developed countries, and there has not been the explosion in numbers that many people feared in the 1980s. Prevention work in the early years of the epidemic achieved successesfor instance, needle exchanges, which were controversial at the time, and the high-profile public information campaigns. I am concerned that such prevention work has been allowed to go off the boil in the latter years of the epidemic. In 1998, Peter Piot, the executive director of the joint United Nations programme on HIV-AIDSUNAIDSsaid that, at the very moment when we knew most about preventing HIV infection, there had been a weakening of the global effort to do something about it.
My hon. Friend will be well aware of the National AIDS Trust paper "HIV at the Crossroads" by Professor Peter Aggleton. Professor Aggleton said:
I draw attention to the words of "John", a gay London man in his 30s, who was diagnosed HIV positive on 10 July. When interviewed by BBC News Online, he said:
John managed to capture many of the key points. The epidemicor epidemicsamong gay men are complex and changing, and the safe sex message is simply not getting through.
I am aware that these matters are now largely devolved, but I should point out that Scotland might suffer a second wave of HIV infection. This summer,
Derek Bodell, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said that people becoming sexually active now will not have been influenced by the campaigns of the 1980s. He said:
I welcome the Government strategy and the additional money that they have announced. The Minister may be aware that there is some concern, which I share, that very little of the new money attached to the strategy is intended to increase HIV prevention efforts on the ground. I would be grateful to receive assurances on that point.
"Mainstreaming" has been a buzzword in the HIV field for a few years now, and it has several aspects. The mainstreaming of HIV policy is nowhere better illustrated than in the subsuming of the proposed HIV strategy into the current strategy for sexual health and HIV.
I understand the motivation behind the integration of HIV policy with other sexual health policy. Benefits may be secured from an integrated approach. However, there are dangers. We must ensure that the policy framework is not so tightly integrated that the specificity of HIV-related concerns is mainstreamed away, and that the growing skills and knowledge base acquired around HIV is lost.
Funding is also mainstreamed. From 1 April 2002, the HIV-AIDS budget ring fence in England will be scrapped, so the only central mechanism that has required health authorities to spend in this area will be abolished. The worry is that while good work will continue to be done in some areas, HIV work will disappear in others. The most vulnerable spending areas
Although the Government's strategy document contains helpful proposals, there are no mechanisms to ensure that they are implemented. I hope that the Government will consider delaying the removal of the ring fence, because it is the main weapon that ensures that the money set aside for the purpose is spent on tackling HIV. There is enough concern about it to justify further consideration and consultation.
As well as the removal of the HIV budget ring fence, the existing health authorities will be scrapped on 1 April 2002 and commissioning responsibility will pass to primary care trusts. That will give rise to two dangers. The first is the risk that we will lose the expertise in HIV-AIDS that some health authorities have developed. A great effort must be made to equip the primary care trusts with the knowledge and resources that they will need. The second is that, in the upheaval of the changes, we may lose sight of the areas for action on HIV that are set out in the strategy.
We can all agree that what is important for HIV prevention is what works, but that is where agreement ends. I read with interest in the strategy document that the Government's view is that the evidence base for HIV prevention is still dispersed and unsystematic. It is regrettable that that is still the case, but it is good that the Government have recognised it and that the Health Development Agency has been commissioned to address the problem.
The Minister knows that I piloted the AIDS (Control) Act 1987 through the House of Commons as a private Member's Bill. I hope that she is also aware that I have set out proposals to bring the Act into the 21st century, so that its provisions for accountability and information are improved, and it allows a better vision of what should happen regionally and nationally. The all-party group on AIDS has also recommended that the Act be updated to include a requirement to report more widely than within the health sector, to provide for greater consultation and to require health authorities to account for discrepancies between spending and local epidemiology. Accountability and communication are as necessary now as they were in 1987. The reports have a valuable role to play in that regard. The strategy promises that the Act will be reviewed, and I look forward to hearing what the Minister has in mind.
The Government announced in December 1997 that they would draw up a strategy on HIV. The membership of the strategy steering group was announced in April 1999. The strategy was published in July 2001 and the Government are now embarking on further consultation to refine it, as is right and proper. However, the situation is urgent, and I hope that the publication of the strategy and its implementation, combined with the work of the Health Development Agency, will prove to be a landmark in the efforts in the UK to reduce the spread of HIV.
Some countries have worse epidemics than we do. However, that is largely thanks to the work that was done in the earlier years of our epidemic. The commendable effort of those years has not been sustained. That complacency might be because combination therapy has allowed many people who
Mr. Michael Weir (Angus): I congratulate the right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) on securing this debate. As he rightly said, the health service in Scotland is a devolved matter, so my comments will be relatively brief. Although the matter is devolved, there is the possibility of a second AIDS problem arising in Scotland very quickly. AIDS is a worldwide problem and the virus does not respect borders. Given that we are all travelling more, we should consider the problem more on a pan-European and worldwide basis, not just in terms of the UK or Scotland.
The right hon. Gentleman stated that the highest rate of HIV infection in Scotland was originally among intravenous drug users. However, that has changed over the years. Last year saw the highest levels of HIV infection on record in Scotland, and the number of new cases of HIV diagnosed among heterosexuals was almost the same as among gay men60 compared with 61. That shows that AIDS has moved out of the groups that were originally hit, and is hitting people throughout the population.
It has been suggested that Scotland's young heterosexual middle classes are becoming the new victims of AIDS. Why is that happening? The right hon. Gentleman hit on it when he said that the message of safe sex has been lost to some extent. Those of us who are now in our 40s remember the almost apocalyptic advertising about the dangers of AIDS that appeared in the 1980s, which had a great effect on young people at that time. That effect has largely disappeared, and many young people have become complacent about the dangers of AIDS. That is shown by the rising number of infections in Scotland and throughout the UK.
There may be other reasons for that increase. I draw the Minister's attention to an investigation carried out by the Sandyford initiative in Glasgow, which found that the recent rise in HIV cases in Scotland may be set to accelerate dramatically. The institute specialises in sexual health matters. It carried out tests on 59 people who were receiving the highly active anti-retroviral therapy HIV treatment. Its study, which was published in The Lancet, showed that 11 of the 43 men and 16 women had become infected with sexually transmitted diseases while they were receiving the treatment, so there is evidence that people infected with HIV are not practising safe sex. The right hon. Gentleman hinted at that.
The Government Minister and Ministers in the Scottish Executive must consider how to retarget the message at young people who are becoming sexually active. Young people are travelling much more than they would have done many years ago, so if there is a problem in other countries, it can be imported into the United Kingdom. Moreover, the message about the importance of practising safe sex should be reinforced
AIDS is not the only sexually transmitted disease with a rising rate of infection: there has been a dramatic rise in instances of chlamydia over the past few years. The figures from my own area of Tayside show that infections have more than doubled during the past three years. The reasons for that worrying trend may be complex, but I suspect that the safe sex message is at the root of it. If the message has been lost in one area, it has probably been lost throughout the population, and that has led to the rises.
Although sexual health is a devolved matter, it concerns everyone in the United Kingdom and Europe. I welcome the Government's strategy. More funds must be made available. Ultimately, the message of safe sex must be put across to our young people. We must be on guard for changes in how the disease appears in Scotland and in the UK as a whole.
Mr. Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow): I am glad that my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) has secured the debate, as it is important that we consider the strategy on sexual health and HIV. As he said, the strategy is long overdue. It was announced in 1997, and progress appeared to have been made in 1999. I want to concentrate on HIV, for which we initially had a separate strategy that struggled to make any progress until it was merged with the sexual health strategy. That led to the publication of this strategy document earlier this year.
I recognise that the strategy covers many issues other than HIV. There are obviously relationships between actions on the prevention of HIV and those on the prevention of other sexually transmitted infections, such as hepatitis B. Some subjects not mentioned in the strategy may not be directly relevant, such as hepatitis C, which is not sexually transmitted but which remains an important issue and one that the Department of Health needs to tackle.
Anyone who read the strategy would accept that its scope was comprehensive and that it covered a wide range of issues. Someone described it to me as ticking all the right boxes, and it picks up on all the questions that need to be answered. Few would disagree with the key aims in the section on objectives and targets, which are to reduce the number of newly acquired infections, to discourage the practice of unsafe sex, and to raise awareness of services. Nor would many disagree with the methods that it proposes to achieve those aims, such as work in collaboration with health authorities and the voluntary sector, improvements in outreach services, and enhancing the role that HIV treatment and care services play in prevention. We have tended to regard treatment and care as a separate service from prevention, but it can affect prevention so we should ensure that it plays a role.
My right hon. Friend mentioned the building of an evidence base. It makes sense to find out precisely what has worked. When we develop new programmes, especially to prevent HIV and other diseases, we often do not consider what has been effective in the past.
The strategy document for the first time sets specific targets. Paragraph 3.12 sets a target
I am not clear exactly how that target will be achieved, and I shall return to the problem of implementation. How was the figure of 25 per cent. determined? Why was not 20 or 33 per cent. chosen? I suspect that the figure has been plucked out of the air, especially in the light of what has been said about the evidence base, and the uncertainty about what works. We clearly need to monitor progress towards the target.
Few people would fundamentally disagree with much in the strategy. However, the Department of Health will not be directly responsible for implementing most of it. That will be carried out by health authorities, primary care trusts and the voluntary sector, which has a significant contribution to make. It is unclear to me how some of the proposals will be put into practice and what mechanisms will be used to ensure that that happens.
Much of the strategy is about encouraging health planners to do the right things, but it is unclear how some of their actions will be monitored. We know from experience that monitoring is necessary. For example, it became clear from a survey by the National AIDS Trust in 1999 that money from the prevention budget, which has existed for some years, was not necessarily being targeted at the groups most at risk.
My right hon. Friend mentioned the AIDS (Control) Act 1987, and I am far from clear how that will operate within the new NHS structures. At present it requires reports from health authorities. I do not understand how the new structures will relate to the Actas it is now or as it might be if reformedif there are changes as to where commissioning takes place, and in responsibility for commissioning.
I am concerned about mainstreaming, which my right hon. Friend mentioned in opening the debate. We know that as from April there will be mainstreaming of all HIV budgets, at least within the health service. Various budgets exist, including the care and treatment allocation, the prevention budget, section 64 grants to voluntary organisations and the AIDS support grant to local authorities. The different allocations are not always planned together terribly well. However, we are told that the money will be mainstreamed. As my right hon. Friend said, that will remove the central mechanism that requires spending by health authorities on particular areas of work.
I understand the argument that ring-fencing does not apply to many other medical conditions, and I know that people ask why HIV should be considered unique. However, one of the achievements of the ring fence was to ensure that the money was spent on HIV. Without that pressure, some health authorities may not have spent it on that. The approach has led to the development of services that may not otherwise have
It is particularly worrying that the change to mainstreaming is happening while health service structures are in a state of flux. Primary care trusts and the new strategic health authorities are moving from the present system towards much more commissioning. Although I have read the strategy, I am still very unclear about how HIV commissioning will fit into the new structure. Most commissioning is expected to go to PCT level, but HIV services such as care and treatment have been regarded as specialisms. Will the new strategic health authorities have a role in commissioning? Will commissioning responsibilities be split in any way? I am not at all clear about the new structure of the health service.
As my right hon. Friend said, if mainstreaming and changes to the structure take place at the same time, there is a danger that we may lose some expertise. Such expertise usually involves a fairly small number of people providing specialist HIV services for a health authority. Some of those people are not clear where their jobs will be in a few months time, or whether they will even exist. Some GPs are well aware of what HIV means, and what type of services and prevention should be provided. However, many are not. If a lot more commissioning is to take place at PCT level, how will we ensure that services are developed and that GPs and PCT boards are aware of what is happening?
My right hon. Friend mentioned the worries that do indeed exist throughout much of the sector. Mainstreaming is an issue that we must think about very carefully. I realise that we cannot argue for ever that HIV should be funded in a unique way, but perhaps we should at least delay removing the ring fence for a year or two, until the new structure has settled down and we are clear about where the money will go and where the responsibilities will lie.
The strategy recognises that HIV is not simply a medical issue. It refers to social care and support for those living with, and affected, by HIV, and to how access to education, employment, leisure, housing and advocacy could be provided. It also refers to the Department's efforts to help deliver social care and support, but it makes little reference to other Government Departments. It discusses developing standards in consultation with the social services inspectorate, local authority commissioners, service users and voluntary organisations, but it says little about the involvement of other Departments.
Earlier this year, the all-party group on AIDS published a report on the United Kingdom, HIV and human rights, which made recommendations about what we should be doing. The report, and all of us involved in its production who talked to those working in the field, made it clear that HIV is much more than a medical issue. We made recommendations about the way in which other Departments should be involved. The Department of Health must clearly take the lead in certain areas, but the Home Office and Departments responsible for employment and for education have a
There must also be links with international policy. In his opening remarks, my right hon. Friend mentioned that many people diagnosed in the UK acquired their infections overseas. At the United Nations Special Assembly in June, at which the Department for International Development played an important role, it became clear from the discussions that domestic and international policy must be related, even though strategies may differ. We must make sure that those policies are linked.
Given yesterday's announcement on changes in the asylum system and the setting up of reception centres, perhaps the Home Office could re-examine what health checks could be carried out in those centres to help to deal with the problems affecting asylum seekers with HIV infection, who do not always find it easy to disclose that fact.
Those are the areas that concern me. There is a great deal in the strategy document to be welcomed, and I am glad that it has been published. I think that there is very little in it that people would fundamentally disagree with, but we need to consider how it will be implemented, how to ensure that its targets are met and how we can drive its policies forward within the new structures in the health service.
Dr. Evan Harris (Oxford, West and Abingdon): I should like to thank the right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) for securing this debate. His long-standing interest in HIV and AIDS is known by all hon. Members. The Edinburgh clinical community has played a leading role, and its paediatric work on identifying the epidemiology of maternal transmission from the intravenous drug-using community was staple education for those of us in medical school at the time. I remember the papers authored by Dr. Jacqueline Mok, who was active in the Edinburgh clinical community.
We have heard useful contributions from the hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir), and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on AIDS, the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard). He has been tenacious in advocating the need to address the issue of HIV-AIDS, as he has been over the issue of refugees, which he mentioned in the last part of his speech. The two issues come together, especially over heterosexually acquired infections that are acquired abroad.
The right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh made the point that new infections represent a failure of prevention. I want to concentrate my first remarks on why there has been such a failure, as the number of infections increases, and why the Government delayed introducing the strategy. Information was available from an early stage that made clear the extent and the shape of the epidemic. While we have been waiting for the strategy, all the key indicators have shown that the sexual health of the nation has worsened.
Figures covering 1995 and 1996, which showed the worsening situation, were known to Ministers by 1998. Since then, the number of new cases of sexually
Projections made by the PHLS clinical diseases unit suggest that cases of HIV infection are set to increase by 50 per cent. between 1999 and 2003. According to what they describe as conservative forecasts, the total number of people diagnosed with HIV or AIDS may increase from 20,800 in 1999 to 29,000 in 2003. Within that, the figures for heterosexually acquired HIV infection are projected to increase from 6,579 to 11,215. Those figures show a worsening situation. The commentary by the PHLS points out:
The highest rates and increases in STI diagnoses are focussed in those aged 16 to 24, peaking earlier in females than males. Young people are behaviourally vulnerable to STI acquisition as they are more likely to have higher numbers of sexual partners and a higher frequency of partner change than older age groups. Young women may be at particular risk through lack of skills and confidence to negotiate safer sex resulting in inconsistent use of barrier contraception."
It then set out the figures, and continues:
However, there has been significant delay in bringing forward a strategy: not in starting the workthat has been announced and is under waybut in making progress. The public health Green Paper of February 1998 contained only two paragraphs on sexual health and no mention of STDs generally, only of teenage pregnancy and HIV and AIDS. The absence of that information was explained away by the sentence:
However, no draft strategy was issued during 1998, 1999 or 2000, and the membership of the steering group was not announced until April 1999.
The second promise was also made by the then Minister for Public Health at a conference of the Family Planning Association in March 1999. She said:
Of course, there was no sign of it. The public health White Paper described the strategy on HIV-AIDS as "forthcoming".
The third major promise, which was announced in a Department of Health press release on 24 April 2000, was of an integrated strategy. The Minister for Public Health, the hon. Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), announced the integration of the HIV-AIDS and sexual health strategies into a single programme. She said:
She was referring to spring 2001, which came and went without the strategy being published.
The fourth promise was made in June 2000 by the Minister for Public Health in a written answer. She stated:
Autumn became winter, and still no strategy was issued. On 6 February 2001, in another written answer, she announced:
Finally, at the end of July, we got the strategy.
I understand from members of the steering group that during the time they were appointed they never saw the draft strategy. One member publicly criticised it after it was produced, which was presumably the first time that he had seen it. Derek Bodell, the chief executive of the National AIDS Trust, is quoted in The Guardian on 27 July 2001 as saying:
As the hon. Member for Walthamstow said, there is much in the strategy that is unarguable, and can be welcomed and agreed with. It is important to state thatbut I want to stress that we have been waiting an awfully long time to make the pointmany of the Government's ideas can be welcomed. The Government point out that little clear evidence on prevention has been gathered. It is sad that the Health Development Agency has only now been asked to gather evidence to find out what works. One would have hoped that that had been done from 1997 to 2000.
Despite recognising that little evidence is available, in paragraph 3.5 of the strategy the Government state that various initiatives, including
I am sure that that was the intention, but I do not believe that there is any evidence that it has worked. Indeed, people working in the field, who were disappointed by the guidance, suggest that it may not be working. We need to ensure that we do not limit ourselves in our examination of what might work. In that respect, the Government have been timid when considering European models that have worked. In paragraph 3.15, the Government state:
We do not have much in the way of a co-ordinated Government health promotion campaign related to safer sex. It is not a question of worrying about behaviour changing when intervention ends; we want intervention actually to start. As the document makes clear, the Government have not set out a health promotion strategy with an advertising campaign or a sustained, co-ordinated programme through schools and youth activities.
Is the Minister convinced that helplines, such as the national AIDS helpline and Sexwise, are coping with demand? Is too much or, as I suspect, too little money being spent on those helplines? As the right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh said, the Government cut funding in real terms for prevention work in earlier years, and that has made it very difficult for professionals in the field.
Reference has been made to targets, and I want to question the Government further. I have always wondered whether setting targets is sensible because they are targets also for Opposition parties who are more interested in making attacks than examining policyI do not include myself in that. They are also a
A fascinating meeting took place last week to examine the national strategy on HIV and sexual health. A number of matters were raised, and I should be grateful if the Government would respond to them. There is potential tension between the PCT's commissioning of sexual health services and specialised HIV treatment and care that is planned at the appropriate strategic level, which may not be PCT level. Split level commissioning following abolition of the health authorities and the need to involve the strategic health authorities will not lead to integration. There is also tension between open access and local funding, because people may congregate on one service and funding may not follow that flow.
The hon. Member for Walthamstow hinted at a significant worry about funding. Money has been announced, but it is only for two years, and if we are to develop new services in this area a commitment to long-term funding and a 10-year funding strategy would be most welcome. The fear is that money is available only for projects and not for the necessary major systemic change. Indeed, primary care organisations have been asking when the money will arrive and when they will know exactly how much they can do. There is also a significant worry that the organisations that currently deliver the service are about to be abolished. The Minister must accept that the effect of continuous change is causing major difficulties.
A spokesman for the Association for Genito-Urinary Medicine has said that general practitioners do not want, or are unable to, become more involved in genito-urinary medicine. Diverting funds to GPs who are not motivated to deliver the service would diminish the service in the short term. Education and training of GPs is needed, but genito-urinary specialists are already overloaded, so who will provide the training?
There are many other issues but not enough time to raise them. I shall finish by asking the Minister some specific questions. It is well recognised that the presence of section 28 on the statute book impedes the ability, whether legally or not, of teachers and other professionals in schools to deliver effective sexual health education. During the previous Parliament, the Government were committed to its repeal, so it is reasonable to ask the Minister whether that will happen sooner rather than later and, if sooner, how. When will the health promotion strategy start, and will it take the shape of a national advertising strategy as well as local initiatives that are properly funded? Will she say whether she thinks the prison service is winning or losing
I want to finish on the same point as the hon. Member for Walthamstow. I am no great believer in ring fencing and bids for funds; I would be inconsistent if I were. There should be more flexibility locally to deliver services. It is wrong to worship on the altar of eternal ring fencing. However, there will be significant structural changes when ring-fencing ends, so will the Minister consider retaining ring-fencing for one year so that we can track whether funding is being retained in the services?
Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford): I congratulate the right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) on securing an extremely important debate. Given that it has been 20 years or so since the emergence of HIV-AIDS, it is depressing that in the area of sexual health, which is dominated by HIV-AIDS and other important issues, many of the problems of 20 years ago remain. In that time there has been a move forward, although sadly not far enough, in research, in the development of drugs to alleviate medical problems and in the work done by the voluntary sector, charities, the health service and the Health Department to improve public health.
Unfortunately, three critical areas remain that I think are unacceptable: stigma and prejudice; ignorance and complacency; and delay and procrastination, to which many hon. Members have referred. The first is a matter not only for government; we need to deal with attitudes throughout the country. Any hon. Member who receives constituency mail on the subject is left in no doubt about the prejudice and stigma attached to those suffering from sexual ill-health, particularly, but not solely, from HIV. We all have an important role to play in that area. We must provide a lead to break down the barriers caused by prejudice and to help to educate public opinion. The media also have an important role to play.
While listening to the right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh, I was reminded that 10 years ago, when the House of Commons was sitting, I was living in London not 20 yd away from where Freddie Mercury died. I was appalled that the paparazzi and tabloid photographers turned up before his death and patrolled the area for six weeks until he died. To be able to remove his body after his sad death, the coffin had to remain in his home for 12 hours until the Sunday evening. The police then emerged to clear the street of the press so that his body could be removed with dignity and without the glare of press photographers. Photographers and the press would not intrude on other people's private grief if it involved any other illness that has resulted in death. That is all part of the picture of prejudice.
Mr. David Borrow (South Ribble): I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has seen submissions to the Government on these issues, particularly on prejudice. Most submissions call for the abolition of section 28, and point out that however symbolic it is, it makes it more difficult for those working in this area to deal with
Mr. Burns : I confess that I had expected a question on section 28 if certain hon. Members were in the Chamber. I sincerely believe that a genuine difference of opinion on an issue does not necessarily mean that there is prejudice. That there is ignorance may seem staggering to many of us, given what has happened in the past 20 years, such as the campaign to explain the problems and to show the preventive measures that people can take in their active sexual lives.
The Government's strategy document for sexual health and HIV shows that the extent of the problem is depressingly formidable, even now. The number of visits to departments of genito-urinary medicine has doubled in the past 10 years. According to Public Health Laboratory Service statistics, since 1995 syphilis has increased by 143 per cent.by 225 per cent. among gay menchlamydia by more than 106 per cent. and gonorrhoea by 99 per cent. The number of new diagnoses of HIV last year was the highest for more than a decade. The 3,616 people diagnosed last year represented a 20 per cent. increase on the previous year.
Although the United Kingdom can be reassured by the fact that it has one of the lowest rates of HIV in Europe, it is estimated that more than 30,000 people in this country are HIV positive. Every year, about 400 of them die, although, as has been said, it is reassuring that developments in medical science and drug treatments are helping people to live longer and to sustain a better quality of life than was possible a decade ago. That is a step in the right direction, but until a vaccination is possible or a cure is discovered more must be done to try to reduce the death rate.
Sadly, it is estimated that by 2003 HIV prevalence in the UK will be 40 per cent. higher than in 1999. More worrying in some respects is that, as predicted many years ago, the problem has increased in the heterosexual community to a greater degree than in the gay community. In 75 per cent. of cases recently diagnosed the disease had been picked up abroad. Far more must be done to bring it home to people that they are playing Russian roulette with their lives if they do not heed the message of safe sex, or are ignorant of it, and do not know how to minimise the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections.
The extent of ignorance and complacency is staggering. Recent studies show that between 33 and 50 per cent. of teenagers do not use contraception when having intercourse for the first time. A 1999 survey of gay men showed that 58 per cent. under the age of 20 did not always use a condom, and that of the 44 per cent. who were HIV positive who had sex with a new partner, 40 per cent. reported that they inconsistently, if ever, used a condom. That is partly due to a lack of advertising, particularly on television. In the mid to late 1980s, advertising on television and in newspapers, magazines and specialist communications was considered highly controversial and, as I understand it from reading political biographies and autobiographies, it presented a squeamish problem for some of my former
Sadly, time and the lack of constant reminders has dulled the message, and we have slipped back considerably. It is a dangerous position and the Government must act quickly, so that they do not undermine work being done in other sectors. For example, a survey showed that 90 per cent. of teenagers thought that the pill would protect them from sexually transmitted diseases. That is equally staggering and shows the depth of their ignorance. I urge the Minister to do more to back up other work and her Department's strategies by ensuring that the message is brought home to people across the board that they cannot afford not to indulge in safe sex.
Dr. Evan Harris : Some people have said that there is too much sex education in our schools. On the basis of what the hon. Gentleman has just said, does he identify himself with those of us who believe that there is too little or the quality is too poor? Does he believe that what we require is not a return to Victorian ignorance, but more information for young people?
Mr. Burns : As the hon. Gentleman will know, I accept that the question of sex education in our schools is controversial. I believe that it is up to individual parents to decide whether they wish their children to attend sex education lessons in schools. As a parent, I would want my children, at a suitable age, to gain the benefit of impartial sex education from both their parents and schools.
The final strand of my speech concerns delay and procrastination. I have great sympathy with what hon. Members have said about that. The Government announced the idea of a strategy in 1997. Four years later, in August this year, the strategy document was published. It is now out for consultation and has not yet been implemented. We must await the end of the consultation process and the Government's final decisions. On an issue so crucial to the country, that was an unusually long delay and a wasted opportunity.
Steve Jamieson, a key sexual health adviser to the Government, told delegates to a conference earlier this summer:
He also suggested that the strategy was launched on a Friday in mid-summer in an attempt to ensure minimum media interest. I am quoting not an Opposition spokesman, but one of the Government's key advisers on sexual health. I emphasise that we cannot tolerate such a delay any longer. It is time for the Government to act quickly and put the strategy in place, and to make sure that it is backed up by a proper advertising campaign to start to reverse the trend.
It is crucial that we have a strategy to deal with such a problem. However, given the four-year delay, it is slightly surprisingit shows an odd sense of prioritiesthat the Government spend time telling people to eat more vegetables rather than producing a coherent strategy to minimise sexually transmitted infections. I accept that the sum of £47.5 million has been described in the strategy as an initial investment, but I echo the comments of other hon. Members that it could be seenif the Government are not carefulas too little money overall to develop the programme. I urge them to keep an eye on the position, particularly as that investment was described in their in-house NHS magazine as comparatively modest. I am sure that few hon. Members here today would dispute that description.
The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) referred to targets. The Government seem to need a target for everything. Their target for the waiting list initiative led to gross clinical distortions. It would be a disservice to this area of health care if targets were imposed that caused clinical distortions. I therefore warn the Minister against having targets. Has an assessment been made of the extra work that the strategy will place on GPs? We already know of the pressures that are placed on them, so if the strategy is to be delivered successfully, what consideration has the Department of Health given to their extra work load? How will the Government ensure that GPs are not so burdened and overworked that the whole strategy falls flat on its face because of their inability to deliver?
The Minister will know of the worries that have been expressed by GPs in the past few months. For example, how confident is she that they will be able to provide the sophistication that is required for them to undertake HIV counselling? It is a crucial area, and I hope that the Government have given some thought to it.
Given the publication of the strategy three months ago, it is extremely fortunate that the right hon. Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh has enabled us yet again to discuss this subject and to explain our genuine worries to the Minister. We are united in wanting the problem to be tackled successfully. We want help to be provided to bring down the figures and to relieve the suffering that STIs have caused to far too many members of our population.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ms Hazel Blears) : I, too, thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh (Dr. Strang) for having given us the opportunity to debate this subject. I also thank all hon. Members for supporting and welcoming the strategy in spite of the issues that they have raised today.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh has a tremendous record on the issue. Indeed, it was he who brought the AIDS (Control) Act 1987 on to the statute book through his private Member's Bill some 14 years ago; and he has continued to take an active interest in the development of policy on the issue. He wrote to the Department when the strategy was first announced, suggesting that a review of that Act would be timely. We entirely agree. Experts have already started reviewing the Act, and the review will be
I thank the all-party parliamentary group on AIDS for its comprehensive report, to which reference has been made this morning. It is entitled "The UK, HIV and Human Rights: recommendations for the next five years" and was published almost simultaneously with the strategy, at the end of July. Work on several of its recommendations is being pursued as part of the strategy implementation. The report is extremely helpful and contains several practical recommendations that we shall be extremely keen to pursue.
As hon. Members said, the strategy is the first ever national strategy for England. It recognises the need to take a holistic approach to sexual health. It covers HIV and AIDS as well as the broader issues of contraception and sexually transmitted infections.
Several hon. Members mentioned delay and procrastination and the fact that the strategy has taken some time to emerge. Some delay was perhaps inevitable with the merger of the sexual health strategy and the HIV issue. We also wanted to make absolutely sure that we consulted extensively with voluntary groups, NHS organisations and service users to try to ensure that the strategy was in touch with the experience of people in the field. In spite of the delay, I am pleased that they gave the strategy a broad welcome. The Terrence Higgins Trust welcomed the proposals, and although the National AIDS Trust expressed reservations about the need to join up the proposals throughout government, it has given the strategy broad approval.
Many hon. Members asked what is being done to promote the safer sex message to the groups that are most at risk. A fundamental part of the strategy is to improve health promotion work with those most at risk and those who already have HIV, and to try to reinforce safe sex messages for both those groups. Several contracts are already in place that are designed specifically to target those at risk from HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Health Promotion England undertakes sexual health promotion work aimed specifically at young people aged 16 to 24. The Terrence Higgins Trust undertakes work with community-based groups directed towards those most at risk of HIV and AIDS, including gay and bisexual men in England. The Department of Health has funded health promotion work for African communities, including a pilot African AIDS helpline, a Health Africa radio show, a website and printed information resources. We have used the mass media and funded the National AIDS Trust's work to support World AIDS day. We are funding a National AIDS Trust project to tackle the stigma suffered by people with AIDS, which the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) mentioned. It is important for that work to continue.
A great deal of health promotion work is already being done. A key aim of the strategy is to build up an evidence base on effective promotion work, but little is done in the field. It will be important to draw together the evidence on what succeeds, otherwise there is a
My right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East and Musselburgh asked about the effect of antenatal testing on the number of diagnoses. He is correct to say that diagnoses are increasing as a result of the introduction of the test. However, it is right to offer a test to mothers. If it is part of normal health carenot special or singled out but treated as part of general good healthit will reduce stigma, and we should continue it.
Many hon. Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard), raised worries about the effect on funding of removing the ring-fenced budget and putting the money into mainstream health authority budgets. I assure hon. Members that the Government are determined that when the funding goes into mainstream allocations, it will continue to be monitored through the service assessment frameworks that performance manage all NHS funding. We will closely monitor where and how money is targeted. In the future, health authorities will receive a fair share of the funds. The distribution of HIV infection is uniquely skewed and we want to ensure that allocations take account of that. Money should go to the areas in which there is greatest need and the most people who need treatment. We will ensure that we follow the money through the mainstream budgets.
All hon. Members asked how HIV services will be commissioned, following shifts in the balance of power and the creation of strategic health authorities. Services will be commissioned at primary care trust level, and we will ensure that a number of primary care trusts come together to share their expertise and knowledge. Perhaps one primary care trust in each area could take the lead and develop the expertise that is the key to specialist commissioning. Such an arrangement will apply not only to services for people with HIV and AIDS, but to other specialist services, such as those for burns and haemophilia. The development of specialist commissioning expertise in primary care trusts is crucial if people are to rely on the quality of those services. That will require support, and that is already provided in the system. We must ensure that the experience gained at specialist commissioning level is available to primary care trusts, so that their commissioning process is of a high quality and provides correct services to local people.
The hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir) asked whether there is a strategy for Scotland. I am delighted to tell him that the Minister for Health and Community Care has committed the Scottish Executive to producing a strategy for Scotland, and preliminary work on that is under way. Obviously, we keep close contact with colleagues in the devolved Administrations to ensure that expertise and knowledge is available for developing strategies. The hon. Gentleman also asked about chlamydia screening, and the extent of that disease in the community. A phased roll-out of targeted screening will
My hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow asked, as did other hon. Members, why we have a target. Clearly, that is a matter of controversy, but it is difficult to persuade an organisation to focus its work without having a target. Targets were drawn up following extensive consultation with voluntary groups and service users, not just plucked out of thin air by the Department of Health. Targets were developed that were intended to be realistic but challenging, so as to have a major impact on public health. We want to maintain focus on those targets, but accept that that must not distort our other policy objectives. We have to get the balance right. Having done that extensive consultationwe did not simply decide on a figure ourselveswe hope that the targets will have broad support within the community.
My hon. Friend the hon. Member for Walthamstow raised the issue of commissioning. I hope that he will be reassured that we intend to make the role of primary care trusts as robust as possible. He also referred to cross-governmental work on education, housing and social care to support people in the community with HIV and AIDS. The strategy has a health focuswe did not want to dilute the health focus messageand mechanisms at official and ministerial level will ensure that we implement the strategy across the board. We are learning from the teenage pregnancy strategy, in which those mechanisms are already in place and which, two years on, is beginning to show some real results.
I can tell the hon. Member for West Chelmsford that our strategy on teenage pregnancy has resulted in a downturn in under-18 conception rates. Under the Conservative Government, teenage pregnancies went up by 25 per cent., but I am delighted to say that our strategy is beginning to work.
Mr. Burns : I did not mention teenage pregnancies, but it is nice to know that the Minister can blame the Conservative Government even for that. Will she comment on the work load placed on GPs, which is far more important in the context of this debate?
Ms Blears : The achievements of the teenage pregnancy strategy are a matter of record.
Training for professionals will be a key part of the Government's HIV strategy, not only for GPs but for people involved in supplying the full range of services for people with HIV and AIDS. However, we want to mainstream not just the finance but the general approach to HIV and AIDS. It is a serious health problem but it should be treated like many other health conditions. We should not single it out, but should provide support and training for a whole range of professionals, which they can integrate into their practice. That commitment is part of our strategy.
The hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) raised the issue of repealing section 28. The Government remain committed to that, although we will clearly need to find appropriate parliamentary time for it. He also referred to the Prison Service. It is fair to say that the message we are receiving on the Prison Service's practice of supplying condoms in prisons is
The hon. Gentleman also asked us to delay the ring-fencing issue for a year in order to track the funds. I hope that he will be reassured that our commitment to track the funds through the single assessment process will ensure that funds are targeted where they are needed for best effect.
The strategy is the first ever to cover such matters. It has been improved by the length of time taken to involve all the interest groups, and there will be a further period of consultation until 21 December. Comments from people in the services and the voluntary sector, and from users themselves, will be welcomed as they will inform the development of the implementation plan. We have been encouraged by the work that has been done on our campaigns to target teenage pregnancy, and we want to learn from them. The evidence base for information campaigns is poor, but we are beginning to build that base and we hope that we can continue to make similar progress with this strategy. The consultation period will enable us to learn even more about building evidence of what is effective.
People with HIV who live in the community clearly need the best services that we can provide. I want to make sure that the strategy helps us to make a real difference to essential services in the community, such as care, treatment, support, counselling and screening. We have a real opportunity to make significant step changes in the way in which services are provided. I look forward to working with all hon. Members to implement the strategy and to ensure that we improve services for people with HIV.
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Our prediction for this match:
This friendly game between England and Switzerland will take place at the King Power Stadium in Leicester. The fans will gather in force to spur England, encouraged by their performances in the World Cup and the prospect of the young squad. Switzerland will be disappointed they didn't make it into the quarter-finals in Russia, after finishing second in the group stage. Two nations have met 24 times and England has a superior score of 16 wins compares to the Suisse who only have three. The last time they met was in 2015 and England won 2:0. England have managed to win two games at the start of the World Cup but have of course lost the last two games in Russia. Switzerland only have one defeat in their last 10 matches which came in the last 16 round of the World Cup, where they were beaten 1:0 by Sweden. Still, with the crowd on their side, England should have this.
Highlighted Player (Marcus Rashford):
Marcus Rashford is one of the most talented English footballers. Rashford was born in Wythenshawe, Manchester on October 31, 1997 and he began his youth career at Fletcher Moss Rangers. Manchester United scouts spotted him in 2005 when he joined the famous Premier League club.
The pacey footballer, who is capable of playing as both winger and striker, marked his Manchester United first-team debut with two goals in a 5-1 crushing of Midtjylland in the Europa League.
Marcus Rashford scored seven goals in 35 appearances for the Red Devils in the 2017/2018 Premier League season. Speaking of his international debut, the Manchester United attacker played his first match for England against Australia on May 27, 2016 and he did well to find the net in a 2-1 win over the Socceroos.
After producing fine displays with Manchester United in the 2017/2018 season, Marcus Rashford was named in the 23-man England national team squad that will take part in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Highlighted Team (Switzerland):
While missing the first ever World Cup, Switzerland played at next four, reaching the quarter-finals on three occasions, but they were unable to repeat the success in next six appearances. Nati reached the first knockout stage in 1994, 2006 and 2014, but they couldn't make the next step.
When it comes to their European Championship appearances, the situation is even worse, as the team only qualified for the 1996, 2004 and 2016 finals, while they automatically qualified for the 2008 tournament together with co-hosts Austria. Switzerland national team of late have profited from the multicultural environment, as they appear to have closed the gap behind top European sides and also adopted a more adventurous style of play.
The new generation is probably the most talented yet, with players like Xherdan Shaqiri, Granit Xhaka, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Ricardo Rodriguez and Valon Behrami all held in high regard. Nati now have a unique chance to try and reach the closing stages of a major tournament as their key men are either at their peak or will be there in the next couple of years.


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Whether it be with my family, friends, or peers, ever since I was a little girl, tradition has always been something I value. I remember counting down the days till my Kindergarten graduation, waiting for the afternoon I got to sing on stage with my friends. I remember waking up each Christmas morning and sitting on the last step of the staircase, waiting for the moment I got to see all of the presents from Santa. I remember watching my dad on Sunday mornings while he cooked breakfast in his blue pajama pants and slippers.
Then, I remember moving to Singapore, losing those traditions, and feeling a little uncomfortable. My school was bigger, our Christmas tree was smaller, and my dad threw out his slippers and pajama pants, unfit for Singapore's tropical weather. I had to restart. Traditions were being born, but they were just ideas, events that had no successors quite yet. My first Thanksgiving in Singapore, my Mum made butternut squash soup, and it was finally something that made this country feel like home. Since then, we've made butternut squash soup every Thanksgiving, and as my first tradition created in Singapore, it means everything to me.
My journey from New Hampshire to Singapore
Since those first few years of reconstructing our traditions, many have fallen into place. My Mum and I have a dance party at least once a month when we're feeling energetic and silly. My older brother Jack and I go downstairs for a snack before bed and end up talking for hours. My dad and I take bike rides and explore the best coffee shops that we can find. Traditions makes my world feel instantly smaller.
One thing that has always made this country feel like home is the traditions at Singapore American School. In intermediate school, you get the red and blue music shirt. It shows your superiority as a fifth grader, a symbol of your growth into your teens. In middle school, you have your first CWW trip away from mom and dad to a worn down camp in the middle of Malaysia, but you love it because it means you're growing up. And then comes high school, you get your first class shirt with your graduation year sewn on it. You go to your first pep rally, and as a freshman, you mumble your chant in the embarrassment of being the underdogs while you gaze across at the seniors, covered in red, screaming chants and waving flags, a symbol of their survival. You fail your first test, you get your first green slip, you have your first dress code violation, and you pass it on. As you enter your Sophomore year, you take your first AP and experience the added responsibilities of a high schooler. Junior year is tainted by copious amounts of work and SAT prep. Every student coming in below you will go through the same steps of transitioning from middle school to high school, and each will take part in these traditions as a right of passage. You go through all of this, the hard work and the pressure to enjoy your last year at SAS: your much-anticipated senior year.
Freshman pride in the Singapore American School Senior Video 2012
Now as far as traditions at this school go, the seniors of SAS have always valued their privileges the most. You sit in the Senior Section of the cafeteria, you vote for a sweatshirt design, you take part in the senior video, you leave assemblies first, you have senior privilege, and second semester you start to experience a series of "lasts." As one senior put it in an anonymous survey sent out to the Junior and Senior class, "It's the things that come along after having worked for them, after having survived high school, now having earned those privileges." You fill the spots of the Seniors who took part in these traditions before you, following their footsteps towards College life.
Screamin' Seniors in the Singapore American School Senior Video 2014
As the years have gone by and SAS administration has transitioned, many of the moments that high school students waited for have vanished. Change has been implemented so rapidly the past few years, that it's left students confused and lonely, or (as professed in the survey) feeling "like the teachers and admin have tried to push too much on us." No longer do students get to bear their graduation class year on their chest, or sit with their grade level on bleachers painted in their class colors. No longer do they feel like have a sense of community among their year.
Although the majority of the student body is on defense against newly implemented systems, what they don't realize is that these were put in place for their well being. One of the main changes that has lead to the decrease of traditions is the implementation of the house system and advisory. Support Teacher and Student Council leader Lauren Murphy discussed the beginning and execution of these ideas. Several years ago, the Research and Development [R&D] board sent out a survey that asked students if they felt connected to the school, and whether or not they had an adult they felt they could talk to. "Surprisingly, about 60% of the students answered "no,' which came as a total surprise to faculty. They [R&D] began to create a system that they thought would bring students together and help them to connect with the people around them." Murphy added: "Whatever changes that the school is making, it is with […] the student body's best interests in mind…. We are not stoic; we want to take feedback and make things better for students."
Despite our belief that admin wants to take every tradition from us, that clearly isn't the case. Students fail to recognize that the very reason these changes were made is because of their own feedback, and that these systems are for them.
Central Admin of Singapore American School
Ms. Murphy acknowledged that the pushback against change, especially this year, has been predominantly from the senior class. As seniors, we feel as if our traditions, held so dearly by the students of the past years at SAS, have been disregarded. No more class unity at rallies. No more sitting with our fellow seniors. No more wearing college sweatshirts until May 1st. We may walk across the same stage at graduation, but we can no longer follow in the footsteps of our predecessors. As a senior class, that has left us feeling frustrated and at a loss, craving that feeling of community. We no longer have the spirit that once pumped deep in the veins of an SAS graduate, and we are fearful that as we move on into the next part of our lives, we will look back at high school not as a loving community, but rather a disconnected one.
Singapore American School Graduation 2016, That Camera Guy photography
Although I often feel lost in the adjustment of the traditions at SAS, I have to keep in mind that, even though it's cliche, change is a part of life. Robert Kiyosaki, author and motivational speaker suggests that "The hardest part about change is going through the unknown." It's hard to be caught in these waves of change at SAS, because the system that we were all used to is suddenly different. With each school event or advisory meeting, we're not sure what is coming. With each step towards graduation, we're not sure what changes will be implemented, or what traditions will fade. It may feel scary, like a challenge or a betrayal, but what we have to remember is that traditions have to start somewhere.


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The NTM missionaries of Papua New Guinea say it's time for a dental check-up. In fact, missionary Shara Moritz writes, it's an urgent need. "I think a dentist could come and easily serve us full time," she says. "Dentistry is a huge need here."
She cites an example. Their son needs extensive dental intervention and to get it, they would have to fly him to a big city. The airline ticket for one person would be $2000.
The door is wide open in related ministry opportunities, too. In addition to the extensive dental needs of missionary families serving God in Papua New Guinea, local dentists need and desire additional training and "would love to have the time to learn more," Shara continues.
"We wanted to get the word out to everyone we know so you can pass on the word," Shara explains. "We have a fully functional dental clinic just waiting for a dentist!"
Would you pray for God to graciously fill this need?
Did you know that your vocation might also be useful on the mission field? There are opportunities for teachers, construction workers, information technology specialists and more. The Associates program is designed to help you apply your skills in missions. Learn more.


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Happy Friday Novas! As mentioned a few posts ago, I was recently sick and found myself binge watching a series on Starz called The White Queen! It's no secret that I love watching period pieces like Reign, The Tudors, Versailles, etc. The White Queen falls right in to that time as well.
It's funny, I actually first came across this story from my friend's fiance. She has a crazy book collection and let me borrow some books to read. She has a collection of Phillipa Gregory books that are historical fiction. Since its right up my alley, I of course grabbed a few of the books. The White Princess, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker's Daughter. The same day I saw a commercial for The White Princess and knew it was my book coming to the screen. Fast forward I've watched 3 episodes of the White Princess and had to stop because its currently showing. But Starz recommended The White Queen and voila I've completed the show! The White Queen starts before the White Princess in history.
Story: This 10 episode series follows the life of Elizabeth Woodville and her secret marriage to King Edward IV. Since the now Queen of England's family were middle class commoners, the English Court was in an uproar. One of the outrage subjects was Richard Neville who earned the title of "Kingmaker" due to his ability to, well to get a king placed on the throne. He had been Edward's right hand man in his climb towards the throne where Henry VI was de-throned. The "War of the Roses" starts here. Normally you think of Henry VII teaming up with the House of Lancaster to take down the House of York, but the blood and violence runs deeper than that. Both houses bear the sigil of the Rose, one House with a White Rose and the other with the Red.
Characters: I thoroughly enjoy the development of the characters in the series. You have the 3 brothers Edward (The King), George (The favorite) and Richard (The Loyal) of the royal house. Each brother takes on the characteristics listed above. There are also the 3 main female characters of Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville. Richard Neville (Anne's father) plays a large role in the series as well. here's plenty of drama and even treason boiling between the characters of the series. You have everyone reaching for the throne and trying to carry favor with King Edward, what's a monarch to do?
Historical Accuracy: I didn't know much about Edward IV other than his brother was Richard III who fell in the War of the Roses, allowing Henry VII to ascend the throne. This story was completely new to me. After a few episodes I started researching what events are documented (because who knows what really happened right?). The events in this series seems to match up well. What I found particularly interesting is that in this series (and the following White Princess series) both took different takes on the "Princes In The Tower" story. Since we can only speculate what happened, it's nice that both sides were presented. There's also another take on Richard III's position towards the Crown that is commonly debated. The general timeline is followed however, since it is fiction here's more drama inserted to make the series Starz worthy.
Acting: I've really enjoyed the acting in this series. The only thing that bothers me is that the accents of some characters do not seem as genuine. It doesn't really detour from the plot of the story so it is bearable. I like the sometimes gory scene or childbirth or battle. Watching from all 3 perspectives of Elizabeth, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville is really interesting as well. Their dynamic really brings the story alive in my opinion. The main plot revolves around Elizabeth, however, the links that each woman takes towards securing the throne is well represented.
This is the section of my reviews in which I list my main reasons that you should watch or "Play" the series and reasons why you may like to "Skip" this series.
- You love historical fiction and watching the drama of Royals
- A well acted plot and interesting timeline of events
- A short, binge worthy series with a glimpse of historical events
- If you have a niche for English accents lol
- Not a fan of period dramas
- If you're looking for a longer series (10-1 hour episodes, although the series links to The White Princess).
Thank you for reading my review! This weekend I will have the Extreme Rules Predictions post and Wonder Woman movie review! Have you seen The White Queen? Are you a fan of historical fiction and if so, what are some of your favorite series? What are you currently binge watching? Next week: Riverdale! Let's talk historical fiction!
-Luna <3
Credits: Starz.com