Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Burstow, who is the Liberal Democrat chief whip in the Commons, put down a written question for the Health Secretary about research outcomes of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Guidance clinical practice guides for ME/CFS, which were published in the Autumn of last year. He received a written reply yesterday (29 April) from Dawn Primarolo, the Minster of State for Public Health. Text below:

Ed Stafford and Luke Collyer – who are walking the Amazon for the ME Association's tissue bank project and five other charities – have found the source of the Amazon.

Read their blog. 

The search is on for volunteers to supply blood samples to the ME/CFS genes expression study being conducted at Glasgow Caledonian University by Professor John Gow and his research assistant Dr Suzanne Hagan.

The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills – which oversees the work of the UK's Medical Research Council – has confirmed plans by The MRC for a panel of experts to review the subtypes and causes of ME/CS.

This is a summary of key issues that were discussed at three meetings of The ME Association.

The Open University in conjunction with the BBC have launched an online survey into the state of the nation's healthcare. People taking part will be asked to say what they think of services they receive from both conventional healthcare (GPs and dentists, for example) AND from the complementary and alternative practitioners.

A woman suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome experienced a turnaround in fortune after she lost her job but then reached the final round of TV's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? the next day.

BBC Radio Scotland's 'Good Morning Scotland' programme will contain an item about Mickel Therapy and its use with people with ME on Wednesday, 23 April, at about 6.40am.

From "The Big Issue in the North', 14-20 April 2008  (writer: Martin Guttridge-Hewitt)

(NB: "Royal Medical School" should read "Royal Society of Medicine")

The use of cognitive behavioural in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome has come under renewed fire ahead of a Royal Medical School conference at the end of this month.

The next meeting of the Cross Party Group on ME in the Scottish Parliament will take place on Wednesday this week (23 April) in Committee Room 3 at 1pm. Anyone wishing to attend and who requires a pass should in the first instance contact Patricia Chambers, tel: 01355 806223 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

From The Mail on Sunday  (by Becky Barrow)

Doctors are being pressured into signing off more than 70,000 workers a year who are well enough to work, a tribunal heard.

From the Birmingham Post, 9 April 2008 (by Neil Connor, chief reporter)

The Midland headquarters of a firm which processes applications for incapacity benefit awarded "erroneous" claims to meet Government targets, it was claimed yesterday.

A City worker with CFS has won her claim for unfair dismissal, victimisation and disability discrimination. Julie Pine was made redundant from her job as a database administrator by buyout investment company Cinven.

From the London Evening Standard, 8 April 2008.

A City worker with ME is suing a private equity fund for more than £100,000 after she was fired for being disabled, an industrial tribunal heard.

This letter from Dr Charles Shepherd, medical adviser to The ME Association, appeared on the FT letters pages today.

Sir, Imagine developing a severe disabling neurological illness that may be dismissed by your doctor as being “all in the mind” or even non-existent (“If it’s in the mind, it’s still the real thing”, Life & Arts, March 22/23); then discovering that no government research funding is being directed at finding the underlying physical cause of this illness. 

We have today sent the following letter to the Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners about their inaccurate classification of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 

by Lois Rogers. This article appeared on 31 March 2008.

ME, the crippling disease you can catch just by going for a walk