Patient Neglect To Be Made A Criminal Offence

Wilful neglect of patients will be made a criminal offence under NHS reforms being introduced in the wake of the Mid Staffs and other care scandals.

Prime Minister David Cameron said health workers who mistreated and abused patients would face "the full force of the law" in a package of measures to be unveiled next week.

The offence will be modelled on laws against the wilful neglect of adults under the Mental Capacity Act, punishable by fines or up to five years in prison.

The move was one of the central recommendations of a patient safety review commissioned by ministers in the wake of findings that there were up to 1,200 excess deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

It was led by Professor Don Berwick, a former adviser to US President Barack Obama, who said it was needed to target the worst cases of a "couldn't care less" attitude that led to "wilful or reckless neglect or mistreatment".

Mr Cameron said: "The NHS is full on brilliant doctors, nurses and other health workers who dedicate their lives to caring for our loved ones.

"But Mid-Staffordshire hospital showed that sometimes the standard of care is not good enough.

"Never again will we allow substandard care, cruelty or neglect to go unnoticed and unpunished.

"This offence will make clear that neglect is unacceptable and those who do so will feel the full force of the law."

12.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mum's Pain After Children 'Snatched By Dad'

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

A mother has told Sky News that her husband abducted their children and took them to Libya because England is "too Western".

In an exclusive interview, Priscilla Micalleff, 30, from Birmingham, told how Jamal Dgham, 35, who she is separated from, took Aisha, four, and 21-month-old Zakaria, abroad, after telling her they were going to the park.

She said: "He said England was too western you know, because they are Muslims, we came here because there are lots of Muslims."

The couple left Ms Micalleff's home country of Malta for "better mosques and schools" in the UK.

But seven weeks ago, without warning, Mr Dgham unlawfully took the children to his home country of Libya.

It is thought they are living with the children's grandmother in the Bin Ashur area of Tripoli.

Ms Micalleff said her husband had sent her a text message warning her that she would not see her children again.

The text read: "From tomorrow u r not gona hear or c the kids anymore and u won't know where they r."

Ms Micalleff has managed to speak to Aisha on the phone.

She said: "Sometimes it's hard, they don't answer the phone they make it hard for me.

"When she comes on the phone she's always crying, she tells me 'mummy I'm scared'."

In tears as she stands in her daughter's bedroom surrounded by her toys, she added: "You feel a very big pain in your heart that you can do nothing to get them back, all kids need their mum.

Family lawyer Pam Sanghera said: "We successfully obtained an order from the High Court that was served on him by email which he has read, but he says he is not going to return the children to UK."

Ms Sanghera, from The Family Firm Solicitors, says it is "inevitable" that the illegal movement of children will become more serious every year.

Latest figures from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office show that the number of children abducted by parents has almost doubled.

A total of 512 cases involving 84 different countries were reported to British authorities in 2011/2012 - up from 272 in 51 countries in 2003/2004.

Ms Sanghera said: "Libya is not a country which is signatory to The Hague Convention, so there's no automatic obligation on Libya to assist with the safe return of the children to the UK.

"The mother is going to have to initiate some sort of proceedings in Libya which may be obtaining a mirror order of the UK order that was made or another type of order which is similar in that it orders the father to return the children to the UK."

12.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Snow Threat With Cold Snap 'Around The Corner'

The first low level snowfall of winter is expected as early as next week, as temperatures plummet and bitter Arctic winds blow into Britain.

Forecasters at the Met Office warned of "significant snow accumulations" over higher ground, potentially as far south as Devon, as well as in non-mountainous northern areas.

Wintry showers are expected to bring a combination of rain, sleet and snow as they are pushed southwards by northerly winds on Tuesday.

The mercury is set to drop sharply, rising barely above freezing during daytime hours for some.

Heavy snowfall in March meant many roads and railways ground to a halt

Overnight temperatures will feel as cold as minus five degrees Celsius in parts of the North of England, forecasters said.

Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said: "It's been a relatively mild autumn so far, but the first proper cold spell is just around the corner, reminding us that winter is upon us.

"It will turn noticeably colder early next week and by Tuesday, temperatures will range from two degrees Celsius in northern Scotland to six degrees Celsius in southern England.

"There'll be widespread frosts overnight too with a risk of icy patches.

Forecasters say it is difficult to provide a long range forecast

"The unsettled theme is likely to continue, bringing the threat of snow as it turns colder.

"The snow looks mainly confined to the hills, with a covering possible as far south as Dartmoor and Exmoor, but potentially to lower levels in the north.

"The detail of any snow is still uncertain so it's worth keeping an eye on the forecast in the coming few days."

A spokesman for the Met Office said it was difficult to predict the weather beyond the end of next week but warned temperatures are likely to be "just below average".

"Whilst there is also currently no signal for widespread wintry conditions, snow is not unusual during late November and early December," he added.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Illegal Animal Item Seizures Rise By Millions

By Harriet Hadfield, Reporter

The number of endangered species items seized by the UK Border Force has increased tenfold during the past year.

The number of items confiscated has reached an all-time high

A total of 2.5 million illegal items were seized during the period 2012-13, compared with just under 250,000 in 2011-12.

Criminals can make millions of pounds each year from smuggled items ranging from ivory and rhino horn to trophy animals, birds of prey and species facing extinction.

Organised criminal gangs are believed to be behind the smuggling

In the last year, 3,890kg of medicinal products containing extracts from endangered species were seized, along with 326 items of ivory and 93 live endangered animals.

Other contraband that was seized included £4,000 shawls made of Tibetan antelope wool, books bound in elephant hide, a Rolls Royce upholstered in alligator skin and a piece of artwork featuring a rare £35,000 rock pigeon clutched between the jaws of a human skull.

Senior Officer Grant Miller displays some of the items

The seizures partly reflect a crackdown on large international smuggling organisations - who are responsible for huge shipments, often by courier, of illegal goods.

Rhino horn is widely used in traditional Chinese medicines and carries huge value on the black market.

These marine turtles were among the items

Grant Miller from the UK Border Force said: "Poaching levels are unprecedentedly high, for example we are anticipating 1,000 rhinos will be slaughtered in South Africa alone next year.

"We are seeing ivory being trafficked from Africa and new products are emerging in the health and beauty industry which are using endangered species as an active ingredient in those products."

Laws prevent the trade of goods using endangered species

The penalty for importation can be up to seven years imprisonment and an unlimited fine.

Live endangered species are sent to zoos, farms and wildlife parks around the country.

Rachel Jones from London Zoo said: "All kinds of animals, there's huge trade in reptiles, tortoises, turtles are often confiscated, and it's extremely difficult trying to find homes for these animals. Organisations like my own become saturated.

Officials say poaching levels are 'unprecedentedly high'

"The other items, for example furs and stuffed animals, are often donated to educational organisations.

"Ivory is often used for medical research but rhino horn has no value, could pose a threat so often it's burned by border officials."

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ella Hysom: Parents Appeal For Safe Return

The parents of a 15-year-old girl who went missing while being treated for depression have appealed for help in finding their "vulnerable" daughter.

Ella Hysom, who was last seen at around 1.15pm on Monday in Ilford, east London, had been receiving treatment at a residential hospital in Goodmayes for six weeks before she vanished.

Her parents Tim and Alison Hysom, both 43, from Colchester in Essex, made an appeal for her return.

Her mother said: "Ella, darling, please get in touch. We love you so much. You are so loved by so many friends and family and we just want you back."

She added: "If anyone has seen her, please get in touch. Although she could easily pass for 18, she is only 15 and is in a weak and vulnerable position.

"She has been suffering from depression for some time and she has been receiving treatment."

Mrs Hysom, training consultant for a management training company, said that her daughter is likely to be showing signs of anxiety.

A keen rower and ballroom dancer, Ella, deputy head girl at her secondary school in Colchester, is described as a well-liked teenager.

Ella's father, a regional director for a facility management company, said: "We are trying to cope and trying to use all the means we have at our disposal to try to find Ella.

"We have been out searching, helping the police to search, using social media to try to spread the news of Ella's disappearance."

Detective Inspector John Delaney said: "We are taking this matter seriously and a lot of resources, including search teams, have been deployed.

"We are concerned for her welfare because she is vulnerable, she is suffering from depression and she is just 15.

"It is out of character and there has been no contact from her since the day she went missing."

She is described as blonde, five feet nine inches tall, and was wearing blue jeans, Ugg boots, a green coat and jumper when she was last seen.

Anyone who sees her or has information can call police 020 8345 2751 or 07979 311259, or the Missing People hotline on 116 000.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

England Faces Winter Floods After Wet October

Parts of England are facing an "increased likelihood" of flooding this winter following a wet October.

The Environment Agency warned that the west of the country was most at risk.

A  strong westerly jet stream is expected to "dominate" through much of November bringing bands of rain, the Agency said.

It added that strong winds could increase the risk of flooding, as leaves and branches block drains and rivers.

Officials urged families and businesses to check their flood risk.

"The most important thing that we can all do to protect ourselves from the devastation that flooding can cause is to be prepared," said David Rooke, director of flood and coastal risk management at the Environment Agency.

"Every £1 spent on protecting communities from flooding saves £8 in repairing damage.

"Over the last three years, we have protected an additional 182,000 homes and businesses with new flood defence schemes."

Meanwhile homes on low-lying land on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast could be flooded tonight as a consequence of adverse weather, a spokesman said.

A combination of possible gale force winds, large waves and a moderate coastal surge could lead to localised flooding.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Prince Charles Backs Farmers In Country Life

By David Blevins, Sky News Correspondent

A month after he took on the banks, the Prince of Wales has spoken out against the big retailers and expressed his fears for the farming community who supply them.

On the eve of his 65th birthday, His Royal Highness has guest edited a national magazine for the first time - a special edition of the rural affairs publication Country Life.

He describes the countryside as "the unacknowledged backbone of our national identity", adding, "it is as precious as any of our great cathedrals and we erode it at our peril".

"It cannot be right that a typical hill farmer earns just £12,500, with some surviving on as little as £8,000 a year, whilst the big retailers and their shareholders do so much better out of the deal, having taken none of the risk," he added.

Dean Irwin of Greenmount Farm in Richhill, County Armagh, described Prince Charles as, "a friend of the farmer" and welcomed his support for those making their living off the land.

He said: "As farmers, we are on the front line.  We have to produce to a certain specification … and if you don't meet that specification, the supermarkets don't take your product. 

Dean Irwin described Prince Charles as a 'friend of the farmer'

"The bottom line for all the supermarkets, no matter what they say, is profit."

One customer in the Greenmount Farm Shop told us she chose to go there "because I know all the meat is from the farm up the lane".  

Another added: "Supermarkets have got too big and the farmer's not getting a good deal for his product."

Mark Hedges, the editor of Country Life, said, "The Prince has become the countryside's strongest voice, his support for it is something that, as a nation, we should treasure.  What the next king thinks matters."

"There was some struggle reading his handwriting," he revealed "But he worked incredibly hard.  Some of his emails were sent at two in the morning.  He's an incredibly good writer."

The heir to the throne, who turns 65 on Thursday, would appear to have no plans for a quieter life, despite reaching the age of retirement while awaiting the ultimate promotion.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

A&E Services: NHS Plans Two-Tier Service

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

Specialist emergency care could be concentrated in regional hospitals under radical plans for a two-tier A&E service.

NHS England is considering the new-look service as part of a major shake-up of emergency care.

It says other A&E units would not be run down and would still have the staff and resources to treat seriously ill patients.

But according to Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England's Medical Director, critical patients with complex life-threatening problems need expert care - even if it means travelling further in an ambulance.

"We have demonstrated the benefits of transferring patients far outweigh any differences in travel time," he said.

"For example, stroke care in London, where the number of services has been reduced from 32 to eight, has resulted in a significant increase in survival and a return to independent living."

Some A&E departments could end up dealing with less serious injuries

A panel of doctors has drawn up the plans for NHS England in an effort to stem the rise in demand for emergency care. The number of hospitals breaching treatment time targets has trebled in the last year.

The plans would mean many more patients being treated in the community.

:: Patients with minor problems would be given more support to look after themselves.

:: There would be an enhanced 111 phone service, with patients speaking directly to doctors and nurses.

:: And there would also be seven-day appointments with GPs.

Dr Clare Gerada, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners, cautiously welcomed the plans.

"Of course it's important that patients get the same quality of service on a Sunday afternoon as a Tuesday morning," she said.

"But it's equally important that in the quest for seven-day working we don't remove resources from where they are best used, which is in general practice, and when patients see us most, which is in the working day."

The plans also suggest specially trained paramedics could treat many 999 patients at home rather than simply transporting them to hospital.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service already has some 'paramedic practitioners', who keep 30,000 patients a year out of A&E.

Sky News spoke to 92-year old Gwendolyn Kimpton, who had a badly infected wound dressed by one of the paramedics. She said she was relieved not to be going to hospital.

"I would have been a bit frightened, I must admit," she said.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Banks Do Battle In Cyber Warfare Exercise

By Ursula Errington, Business Reporter

Hundreds of staff from the UKs financial institutions will take part in a simulated cyber-attack today.

The exercise, the details of which have been kept top secret, will be overseen by officials from the Bank of England, Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority and will be monitored by the Government's cyber agencies.

It will concentrate on how investment banks would cope with a sustained attack on essential shared and company specific systems, such as clearing and risk management tools.

The cyber war game, called Waking Shark II, will be led by a team from Credit Suisse who have designed a scenario to be released to the participants in stages, as if the situation is unfolding in real time.

The test will take place in one room, with various companies and organisations sitting on different tables interacting as the situation gathers momentum. 

The aim is to help in-house IT security experts and fall-back operations planners to practice making swift decisions and communicate effectively with the regulator and industry partners to contain the problems thrown at them.

The last time such an extensive exercise was undertaken was in 2011, when institutions rehearsed how they would cope with a cyber-attack during the busiest period of the London Olympics.

From that, it became apparent that an investment banking-focused exercise would be useful to lay out communication protocols between banking institutions and governing bodies and to establish who would take the lead to co-ordinate a response in the event of such an attack.

According to David Emm, senior security researcher at internet security firm Kaspersky Lab, the right communication is vital in the aftermath of a cyber-attack.

He told Sky News: "Businesses must have a plan of action which includes all relevant stakeholders from both internal and external parties.

"Communication across other sectors can be important as the effects on one company can have far reaching consequences for many others.

"The UK Government is keen to pursue a joined-up approach to dealing with cyber-attacks which is good news, but more work still needs to be done to help all businesses adopt a more secure mindset; and exercises like this help contribute to this."

Results and recommendations from the exercise will be published by early next year.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Breastfeeding: New Mums To Get Shop Vouchers

Vouchers for Matalan, John Lewis, Mothercare or supermarkets are to be dished out to new mothers if they feed their babies with breast milk.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield are examining ways to boost low rates of breastfeeding in parts of the UK.

Mothers will be given shopping vouchers worth up to £120 if their babies receive breast milk until they are six weeks old, and a further £80 if their babies are still breastfed at six months.

If the "feasibility" project is successful, the authors will conduct a national research project into the scheme.

But midwives have warned that financial reward should not be the main motivation for women to breastfeed.

The new study is to be trialled in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire - in areas where breastfeeding uptake rates are low.

The NHS recommends that mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies during the first six months.

Despite this, only 34% of UK babies are breastfed at six months, with only 1% exclusively breastfed at this stage, said Dr Clare Relton, senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield.

She said: "Breast milk is perfectly designed for babies and provides all they need for the first six months of their life.

"The scheme offers vouchers to mothers who breastfeed as a way of acknowledging both the value of breastfeeding to babies, mothers and society, and the effort involved in breastfeeding."

The preliminary study will focus on up to 130 mothers who give birth between November and March.

If the mothers breastfeed their children for a full six months they will receive £200 shopping vouchers - half for supermarkets and half for high street stores.

The vouchers, which are being funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative, will be dished out in five stages of £40 each.

The initiative will not be rigorously policed and will simply require the participating mother and their health visitor or midwife to sign off to say they are breastfeeding.

Dr Relton said the test will not only look at whether or not the payment improves uptake rates, but also at whether women think they are being "bribed or rewarded" after they receive the vouchers.

Janet Fyle, professional policy advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "Whilst we are not against financial incentives for the right reasons, there is a much bigger social and cultural problem here that needs to be tackled instead of offering financial incentives for mothers to breastfeed.

"In many areas, including those in this study, there are generations of women who may not have seen anyone breastfeeding their baby, meaning it is not the cultural norm in many communities.

"The motive for breastfeeding cannot be rooted by offering financial reward. It has to be something that a mother wants to do in the interest of the health and well-being of her child.

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Walk-In Centre Closures 'Threaten Communities'

By Tadhg Enright, Sky News Correspondent

More than 50 NHS walk-in centres have closed over the past three years, according to a report by a health regulator.

Monitor, the NHS watchdog for England, has blamed problems on the way the nurse-led clinics are funded and warned that further closures could undermine the equality of healthcare provision in the communities affected.

Monitor's Catherine Davies told Sky News: "A lot of patients attending walk-in centres are also registered with GPs and so when patients choose to attend a walk-in centre instead of their GP practice, the commissioner of care in their area is, in effect, having to pay twice."

Walk-in centres were launched eight years ago as an alternative to GP and A&E care. 

Most are open from early morning until late at night, seven days a week with no appointment necessary. 

Nurse practitioners treat patients for minor illnesses and injuries and GPs are often available at times when nearby practices are closed. 

Sky News visited a centre in Teddington and met Sophie Gallagher, a secondary school student who injured her wrist in a hockey game.

She said: "When I've been to Kingston A&E it took a lot longer. This place is more efficient and you get through a lot quicker."

Ms Gallagher was treated by a nurse practitioner who arranged for her to have an X-ray at the centre.

Advanced Nurse practitioner Inge Kievit

Monitor has found that of 238 walk-in centres which opened over the past decade, only 185 remain.

Its research suggests they are popular with young adults, women and people from vulnerable social groups such as the homeless, who cannot register with a local GP.

It also found some care commissioners were concerned some patients were using the service to treat ailments that did not require professional attention.

But out of 2,000 patients who were asked by Monitor what they would do if their walk-in centre closed, only 8% said they would try to treat themselves at home.

Some 21% said they would attend A&E and a further 34% would see their GP.

Teddington's walk-in centre cares for around 48,000 patients every year.

Advanced Nurse Practitioner Inge Kievit said: "If you look at this particular walk-in centre and the amount of people that we see, where would people go? And how are GP practices and A&E departments supposed to cope with the amount of people if you take walk-in centres away?"

Monitor suggests that to preserve walk-in centres, the NHS might need to re-examine the funding model for GP practices, because it pays them to have patients registered at their practices and it also pays the centres for each attendee.

Health Minister Lord Howe said: "Patients should be able to access good-quality out-of-hours NHS services without having to go to an A&E. Walk-in centres may be part of the answer but this isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.

"Family GPs, community services and pharmacists all have a part to play and it's good that Monitor is looking at how walk-in centres fit in."

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Public Pay '£56m Rip-Off' On Government Calls

More than 100 million calls by the public to Government departments were charged at premium rates - costing an estimated £56m, an influential committee of MPs has said.

A Public Accounts Committee report said of 208 million calls in 2012/13, some 63% were made to higher rate numbers with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) receiving 100 million of the calls and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) taking 68 million calls.

Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said: "Customers of Government services should be able to contact those services easily and cheaply. Charging customers higher rates by making them use 0845 or other high rate numbers is not acceptable, especially when the customers are often vulnerable people.

"We found that one third of customer telephone lines across Central Government used higher rate numbers. Half of those lines serve the poorest people.

"Customers spent an estimated £56m on calls using higher rate numbers, from the lines run by the Department for Work and Pensions, to helplines for victim support and the Bereavement Service and the inquiries and complaints line of the Student Loans Company."

Chairwoman Margaret Hodge has said the practice is 'not acceptable'

In its report, the committee also said calls to Government departments take too long to answer. It found most departments have no targets at all, despite a normal industry benchmark demanding calls be answered within 20 seconds.

It said HM Revenue and Customs only answered 16% of calls made to its tax credit helpline on July 31, the deadline day for notifying change of circumstances.

And across the first quarter of 2013/14, average call waits at HM Revenue and Customs were seven minutes, the report said.

Mrs Hodge said: "Performance by departments varies but is often astonishingly bad. HMRC managed to answer only 16% of the calls it received on its tax credits helpline on the deadline day for notifying the department of changes of circumstances.

"Citizens should not as a matter of principle have to put up with standards of service from government which are significantly worse than industry standards."

Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer group Which?, said it was "ridiculous" that people face a bumper bill to call a public body.

HMRC has taken 68 million calls on higher rate numbers in the past year

"The Cabinet Office must now act fast to ensure the Government and public bodies lead by example and put an end to costly calls," he added.

The DWP has already said it will phase out the use of 0845 numbers.

A Government spokesman said: "We agree that it is inappropriate for vulnerable people to pay high charges for accessing vital public services and we are clear that a more consistent approach is needed.

"The Cabinet Office now runs a cross-departmental group to consider customer telephone lines. This group has made good progress in drafting guidance on prefix number selection and establishing best practice.

"We will publish this guidance and have a standing remit to ensure it is kept up to date."

12.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Funeral Appeal After WWII Veteran Dies Alone

Hundreds of people are expected to attend a funeral of a war veteran they never knew after it emerged he died with no close friends or relatives.

Harold Jellicoe Percival served as RAF ground crew and helped with the famous Dambusters raids during the Second World War.

He died last month aged 99 in a nursing home.

Mr Percival's funeral will be held at 11am on Armistice Day at a crematorium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

The veteran never married, had no children and has no close family members able to go to the service.

A request for servicemen first went out in a local newspaper

But after publicity in local newspapers and social media, funeral directors say they are now hoping for a good turnout.

The RAF Association tweeted that its "Northern area will be in attendance" so Mr Percival "won't be alone".

Afghanistan veteran Rick Clement, who lost both legs in 2010, has been using Twitter and Facebook to urge people to turn up to pay their respects.

"Need a big favour from any military or ex serving members. This fallen soldier at 99 years old is having a funeral on Monday," he said.

"It says he has no family to attend in Lytham St Anne's. If your in the area can you give him the send off he deserves." 

He later thanked all those who had supported the appeal, saying: "Harold is going to get an amazing send off."

Comedian Jason Manford has also got behind the campaign.

Mr Percival lived in Penge, south London, before joining the RAF.

He was based in northwest England and became part of the ground crew which helped the Dambusters, the squadron which was initially formed to destroy dams in the Ruhr valley in Nazi Germany.

Mr Percival helped support the Dambusters' daring raid during World War Two

After working in Australia, he later retired to England and lived at a care home in Lytham St Annes.

Matron Janet Wareing said: "Harold was a lovely character, very strong-willed and independent.

"He was quite a private man, and he loved reading his Daily Telegraph every morning.

"We have already been contacted by military veterans who are intending to come, even though they have never met him.

"We've been told one group is looking to bring around 200 people to the service, which would be fantastic."

Mr Percival does have a nephew, David Worsell, but he is not able to attend so his son - Mr Percival's great nephew - will represent the family.

He was a distant relative of former British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, the only PM to have ever been assassinated.

12.26 | 0 komentar | Read More

Remembrance Day Services To Honour Veterans

War Graves 'Have Enormous Power To Engage'

Updated: 1:51am UK, Sunday 10 November 2013

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Burma

Just outside the chaos and the buzz of Burma's largest city, Rangoon, is a place of remarkable peace and tranquility.

Set back from the busy highway linking Rangoon to the Burma's new capital city Naypyidaw is the Taukkyan War Cemetery.

Taukkyan is the final resting place for 6,426 soldiers of the Commonwealth who fought and died in one or other of the two world wars.

The headstones are lined up in perfect uniformity. I spot a Private Jones and a Corporal Johnson.

Their names seem oddly incongruous so far from 'home'. It is a reminder of just how global the two world wars were.

As always at war cemeteries, the ages are sobering. Most of those I pause by in Taukkyan are teenagers.

Around the world there are a staggering 23,000 war cemeteries just like Taukkyan.

You will find them in 153 different countries, they hold the remains and bear the names of 1.7 million individuals and they are all managed and beautifully maintained by an organisation called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

"The CWGC maintains the very fabric upon which remembrance of the war dead is focussed," Peter Francis, from the CWGC, told Sky News.

"Today, the war graves and memorials are perhaps the only physical reminder of the war left. They have an enormous power in my experience to engage the individual in the war and the sacrifices made."

The gravestones that line the fields of Northern France are well-known, but similarly poignant cemeteries can be found in every country where battles of either world war were fought.

From Burma to Libya and from Turkey to Thailand they are all as moving as they are magnificent.

Some are in deserts, some in mountains, some under snow and some lined with palm trees.

Many of the cemeteries are the legacy of an extraordinary pledge made during the two world wars.

These were the days before repatriations of the like we see today. Back then, soldiers were buried where they fell, but admirable efforts were made to record each individual burial location.

When the guns fell silent, as many of the bodies as possible were 'repatriated', not home, but to a central cemetery where they could lie side-by-side.

Mr Francis points out that World War One marked a step-change in how the victims of war were remembered.

"Before the First World War it was unusual to remember the sacrifice of 'ordinary' soldiers," he explained.

"One only has to look around London and see the memorials to Generals, or go to the battlefield at Waterloo (just 100 years before the Great War) to see that there was very little to mark the sacrifice of the soldier. The First World War and the CWGC changed all that.

"It is all too easy, for those of us who have grown up with the two minute silence, the poppy, the war graves, the memorials, to think there was an inevitability about the commemoration of the war dead. That is not the case."

Along with the 6,426 marked graves at Taukkyan is a memorial wall on which are etched the names of a staggering 27,000 others who died during the battles in Burma and who have no known grave.

Burma, now Myanmar, was a battle ground for both wars and has been for many more since.

The upkeep of so many cemeteries, some in countries now the frontline of new wars, is a huge undertaking.

Mr Francis tells me about one cemetery which is a 45 minute boat ride to a remote Scottish Island. Access to another involves a dangerous journey across Libya.

"Every site, every grave is inspected, assessed and maintained by our dedicated workforce - some 1,300 strong worldwide (the vast majority gardeners and stone masons)," he told me.

"Some may stay at one cemetery their entire career, others will move from country to country. Some are even the third generation of their family to work for us - one of the nice things about the organisation is that we do have a sense of 'family'."

While there are cemeteries in unstable counties like Syria, Iraq and Libya, there are challenges even in places like the UK.

"Here in the UK we face a very peculiar challenge," Mr Francis said.

"Most people do not realise that in the UK, the Commission commemorates more than 300,000 Commonwealth servicemen and women who died in the two world wars - their graves and memorials to be found at a staggering 13,000 locations.

"There is little awareness of this. These range from small rural churchyards to large urban civic cemeteries. In essence we have to enter into 13,000 agreements to maintain these sites."

The CWGC, which is well-funded by grants from Commonwealth-member governments, expects that visitor numbers will increase by up to 30% over the next four years.

It has now embarked on a renovation and modernisation programme.

"Our headstone replacement capacity is now at 22,000 headstones a year and we are re-engraving some 19,000 headstones a year in situ - maintaining the very fabric upon which remembrance of the Great War is largely based and keeping alive in stone the names of those who died."

The commission's website now contains an interactive database allowing people to search for a relative who died in a far-away battle.

Initiatives like this help younger people connect to a past with which they no longer have a direct generational link. 

"An increased awareness of, and sense of ownership in, war graves in the UK, will greatly assist the Commission's task of caring and maintaining for these sites, some of which may have been abandoned to nature over the decades," Mr Francis said.

Back at Taukkyan, I watch one of the commission's volunteers, an elderly Burmese man. He rakes away fallen leaves from the pristine grass around the rows of graves.

Two young Burmese boys wander past. I wonder how much they know of their country's troubled history. Hopefully for them, the troubles are history.

12.26 | 0 komentar | Read More