Mountains of the Moon, legacy of a star, and fun and games with the BNP

23 October, 2009 | By Gabriel Fleming

The BNP, Jade Goody and a royal drama - it can only be Beyond the Bedpan time. The weekend starts here

At some point in their careers, most nurses have probably felt a little overqualified; stuck in a dead-end role while their slower, stupider and less reasonable superiors run the show. The solution is simple: there isn’t one, so stop moaning and get on with it. Unless, of course your name is Charles Wesley Mumbere, in which case you can simply return to the Mountains of the Moon to reclaim your royal crown.

No, nothing has been slipped into Beyond the Bedpan’s drink. Mr Mumbere is the head of the 300,000-strong Rwenzururu kingdom in western Uganda, exiled on inheriting the crown at the tender age of 13, and forced to flee to the US, where he took up a career as a nursing assistant. Forty years later and his royal highness is back where he belongs, with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni officially recognising the Rwenzururu region, also known as Mountains of the Moon, as Uganda’s seventh kingdom. So now you know.

The great and the Goody

Jade Goody. Where to begin? From kebab-flaunting, ‘East Angular’-spouting national sweetheart to a tragic and very public death, Jade Goody encapsulated the modern phenomena of instant celebrity and sensationalisation of the mundane. She was revered and ridiculed in equal measure, but even Ms Goody’s fiercest critics cannot deny her finest legacy - more women taking up cervical cancer screening.

Her campaign work and headline-hogging worked wonders for public awareness of the disease. Half a million more women have now been screened than in previous years, according to official figures. This means that hundreds who would have died will now be treated. That, and the fact that she milked the celebrity news mill for enough money to secure her children’s future, suggests she was not so thick after all.

Fun and games with the BNP

And finally, something a little more cheery to kickstart the weekend: the British National Party. Leader Nick Griffin has been all over the news this week, prompting fond memories of Nursing Times’ very own run-in with the fun-loving holocaust deniers, when our reporting of a UNISON motion to ban BNP members from nursing sparked a savage debate in the comments section, and a barrage of hate mail from far-right sympathisers to the Nursing Times editorial team. Happy days.

But Beyond the Bedpan has no place in politics, and could not possibly comment on the rights or wrongs of giving Mr Griffin a platform on BBC Question Time. The only thing for it is to present, without comment, this perfectly balanced coverage of the event from some random bloke on the internet. Enjoy!

Source: YouTube

Readers' comments (16)

Margery Mary Hawkins | 24-Oct-2009 10:26 am
Is milking a mill a similar operation to getting blood from a stone?
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Graham Dalton | 24-Oct-2009 12:42 pm
Hilarious, but sadly also similar to how many people hear what the BNP say second hand and so do not form their own opinions.

Nurses pride themselves in not being judgemental then form an opinion on hearsay. If we as individuals are to have an informed opinion then let the BNP have their say and then form that opinion first hand.

We want to be treated as a profession! It is about time we acted like one.
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graham roy | 24-Oct-2009 4:50 pm
What garbage. Griffin is a vile racist and fascist.Nurses like every other worker in Britain should not and cannot be "non-judgemental" in the face of this nazi and the disgusting politics his party of thugs represents.
If Griffin had his way, the multi- racial workforce of the NHS would be dismembered. Trade union representation would be removed and a non discriminatory health service would be destroyed. Are we supposed to be indifferent to that? Wake up.
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Anonymous | 24-Oct-2009 11:02 pm
Nick Griffin is saying what a growing number of people think and are becomming increasingly angry about with regard to the lack of management of immigration into this country. Thankfully, there are very senior politiciens on both the left and right of british politics who are not afraid to say that the situation is out of control and the british people have not been engaged in decisions which affect them. Notably, the concervative front bench spokesperson on Community Cohesion, herself a british asian muslem, was quite clear on the famous Question Time programme, saying that action needs to be taken to tackle this problem and the people of this country must have their voice heard. One of the most emminent and most respected politiciens in this country, Frank Field MP(labour), has gone further, urging the governement to cap the population at 65,000,000. He suggests caping immigration at the same level as emmigration, i.e. one out, one in. It's not rocket science. If these issues continue to be ignored, as this and previous governements are doing and have done for more than 30 years, Nick Griffin will have ever growing support . He will be seen as the peoples champion. After all, who else is there?
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Anonymous | 25-Oct-2009 11:11 am
get a reality check Graham Roy. Don't you realise you hold a minority opinion. 65% of the people of this country believe there are too many immigrants in this country. Are you saying you would not treat and care for Mr. Griffin if he presented in front of you having been assaulted, for example, in a demonstration, simply because you don't agree with his views. Seems like your views need to be challenged. Personnaly, I have dealt with some of the very worst offenders one would ever expect to see during my career, in a professional manner. For example, people who have commited murder, infanticide, patricide, matricide, rapists, kidnappers, arsenists organised crime bosses, you imagine it, I have probably dealt with it. I leave my views at the gate of where I work. I do not believe the health service would colapse if we did not have all the foreign workers. For sixty years we have been importing cheep labour, a policy that has clearly not worked. It needs a seedchange in policy by all sides to ensure that terms and conditions of employment are such that people would be happy to do almost any kind of work, and that those who are able to work, work, or at the very least do not get benefits if work is available. Yes, it would cost us more in taxes, but despite everything, taxes in this country are not as high as taxes in other europeen countries. The 'soft' option of importing ever more cheap labour is no longer an option. The government propose to build 2000 'council' houses. If immigration remains at it's current level, these houses will manage to house the equivalent of 2 weeks worth of immigrants!!!!!!
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graham roy | 26-Oct-2009 4:55 am
so speaks the annoymous voice of racism.yeah its all the immigrants fault what bullshit. build 2000 council houses? lets stop investing in imperialist wars and cancel trident and spend the billions on delivering for people a lot more than your pathetic answer.
the divide in our society is between rich and poor not black and white. No to fascism and no racism. Nazis out of the NHS.
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graham roy | 26-Oct-2009 4:55 am
so speaks the annoymous voice of racism.yeah its all the immigrants fault what bullshit. build 2000 council houses? lets stop investing in imperialist wars and cancel trident and spend the billions on delivering for people a lot more than your pathetic answer.
the divide in our society is between rich and poor not black and white. No to fascism and no racism. Nazis out of the NHS.
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graham roy | 26-Oct-2009 5:20 am
we think you'll find the majority of people want nothing to do with griffin and his fascist politics of scapegoating and despair.

Donna, Catherine, Graham, Rory, Morag and Jill from ward 11 surgical and oncology ninewells dundee.
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graham roy | 26-Oct-2009 5:20 am
we think you'll find the majority of people want nothing to do with griffin and his fascist politics of scapegoating and despair.

Donna, Catherine, Graham, Rory, Morag and Jill from ward 11 surgical and oncology ninewells dundee.
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Anonymous | 26-Oct-2009 10:32 pm
In reply to Graham Roy, Anonymous is reporting on facts that are a matter of public record, they are not a figment of ones imagination as is clearly the case with him. If the best you can do is resort to wildly inflammatory posturing, you may need to think about leaving the debate to those who have some insight into reality, and are equiped to have a responsible discussion on the issues.
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Glen Humphries | 27-Oct-2009 3:15 pm
Well said Graham Roy and what a load of utter nonsense from those attacking him. BNP member and sympathisers share one trait on these posts: they are all anonymous. Why? My suspicion is that it is one sad little racist coward who is not only too scared to have a name, but pathetic enough to post more anonymous comments pretending to support his/her original bile. Get a life!
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Anonymous | 27-Oct-2009 5:37 pm
Regardless of what you think of the BNP 1 in 5 would now seriously consider voting for them at the next election.

Their view are not minority views any longer. This labour govt (and it's shocking and now known pre-meditated mass immigration policy) is to blame for this rising BNP popularity.

Don't be so ptronising as to think all nurses wouldn't vote BNP cos i bet quite a few already do. They should be no more ashamed than those who voted for a govt that decided mass uncapped immigration would be the cornerstone of it's time in office.......
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Anonymous | 27-Oct-2009 5:39 pm
I'll tell you why all BNP sympathisers are anonymous is because the party is not regarded by employers as a legitimate political party (which it is)......not because we are cowards but because we know our spineless employers would have us sacked.
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Anonymous | 27-Oct-2009 5:44 pm
Nazi's out of the NHS!? I bet there aren't any nazi's in the NHS Mr Roy....that really is a ridiculous comment and typical of someone who doesn't really have an answer to personally insult others.
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Raymond Brazier | 30-Oct-2009 4:31 am
Graham Roy is entirely correct. The BNP are a Nazi organisation. Their leaders are liars who try to cover up their admiration for Hitler and the Nazis. Check out Searchlight and Unite Against Fascism websites to find out what the BNP really stand for.

Do we really want another Holocaust and the forced sterilisation of so called "undesirables" as defined by the BNP? The BNP support what the Nazis did and want to emulate then even though they try to hide the true nature of their revolting politics. Their leaders have condemned themselves out of their own mouths.

As a former NHS Mental Health worker who has returned to studying and is a member of Unison I would not like to work alongside any NHS staff who subscribe to Nazi ideology. How can we support and treat our clients and patients safely when one of our colleges considers them or us undesirable and disposable? As NHS workers we have a duty of care and nazi ideology is in direct conflict with this. If the BNP leaders lie about their true intentions how can we trust any of their members to carry out their duty of care?

The BNP use the immigration argument as a hook to pull voters towards their nazi politics. The reality of Nazi Germany was death camps and the importation of millions of slave labourers who worked until they died. In reality the BNP have no problem with immigration as long as they can use immigrants as expendable slave labour.

Some NHS staff may consider this information incredibly shocking or unbelievable but please read the information on Searchlight and Unite Against Fascism to discover what the BNP really stand for. I can assure you I can't convey in this post the true horror of their politics.

http://www.uaf.org.uk/

http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/
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Raymond Brazier | 30-Oct-2009 5:07 am
"Don't be so ptronising as to think all nurses wouldn't vote BNP cos i bet quite a few already do. They should be no more ashamed than those who voted for a govt that decided mass uncapped immigration would be the cornerstone of it's time in office......."

If, as you claim, the BNP are just like every other party and are now respectable then why didn't you post your name like those of us who are against the BNP? All these anonymous BNP sympathisers don't appear to have the courage of their convictions.

Let's be clear, regardless of the many problems with new Labour, Gordon Brown does not advocate the euthanasia of disabled people or the forced sterilisation of those with mental illness unlike the leaders of the BNP. Nor do any of the main parties support what Hitler and the Nazis did. The BNP have stated that they will get rid of the NHS if ever they came to power.

Instead of voting for nazis, those of us in the NHS who want to defend services and provide excellent health care should reject the horrors of BNP fascism and organise collectively to protect jobs and services and ensure that the NHS remains a safe place for our clients and patients to receive treatment and care. We can't do this if we're forced to work with BNP members who disguise their true intentions and who plan to destroy the NHS.

Leading health care organisations including doctors, nurses, midwives and the unions that represent us reject the BNP. This is because the BNP is a nazi organisation that wants to destroy our NHS.

Nazi BNP members have no place in the NHS.
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