The Royal Society of Medicine have announced plans to webcast the whole of their Chronic Fatigue Syndrome conference which was held in central London on 28 April.

This is a summary of key issues that were discussed at a meeting of The ME Association Board of Trustees.  The full day meeting was held in Buckingham on Tuesday 24 June 2008.  Informal discussions on some of these issues also took place on the evening before.

At the foot of this story is a link to an mp3 download of items broadcast this week on BBC Radio Norfolk.

From the Eastern Daily Press, 19 June 2008.

An ME sufferer from Norfolk has won a significant legal victory after a leading judge declared it “in the public interest” for the High Court to rule on claims that treatments being offered on the NHS are “potentially fatal”.

Dr Suzanne Hagan and Professor John Gow at Glasgow Caledonian University wish to thank everybody who responded to their request for blood samples for their study on 'Biomarkers in ME/CFS'.

  Photo by Alan Mackay

With a clear blue sky above and the Fife landscape rolled out beneath, Rhona Penman celebrates her gradual return to health with a life-affirming tandem parachute jump for The ME Association at Skydive St Andrews.

Vince Cable MP, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, tabled a question about biomedical research into ME and funding of clinical co-ordinating centres in the House of Commons. A written answer was provided yesterday by Ian Pearson MP, minister of state for science and innovation at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The extract from Hansard appears below.

A short video about the PRIME research project – which integrates patient experience into social science research on ME/CFS – has been placed on the Warwick University website.

Arrangements have been finalised for the Sussex and Kent ME/CFS Society's medical conference at Hove Town Hall on Friday, September 26.

Over a million and a half pages on the website had been read by early morning today – helping to maintain this site's Google ranking as the most visited  site on the web for information about ME

One of our members is having problems with blurred vision over medium to long distances.

With the weather turning out to be a scorcher, the Tyne Bridge – the iconic landmark joining Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Gateshead – was the scene of a mass abseil in aid of charity on Sunday 8 June.

Letters page, The Argus, Brighton, 7 June 2008

There has been much coverage in the media recently about the Department for Work and Pensions wanting to get people off invalidity benefit and into work. 

The next meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on ME will take place on Wednesday, July 2 – when there will be a presentation on child protection issues affecting families where there is a young person with ME. 

Minutes of the meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on M.E. held at 4pm on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, in Committee Room 17, House of Commons.

Although the role of melatonin in the management of sleep disturbance in ME/CFS remains uncertain, some people do use this product and claim that it is of benefit.  But, with the Department of Health expressing concerns over safety, most doctors have been unwilling to prescribe melatonin and instead leave patients to search out their own source of supply.

From 'The Sun', 3 June 2008; story by Dulcie Pearce

BRAVE Vikki George has been bed-bound with ME for the past six years. But instead of wallowing in self-pity, the pretty 23-year-old has devoted her life to writing to other sick youngsters to offer them hope and support.

Jacqui Watson, who has just restored a 1962 Triumph Tiger Cub motorcycle which has been off-road for 30 years, is spending the summer riding it round the 33 counties of Scotland to raise funds for The ME Association and the National Association for Bikers with Disabilities.