Victory over the parking cowboys: Hospitals ordered to ban bullies and give the seriously ill free parking. Daily Mail

  Jeremy Hunt to set out new strict rules blocking huge fines in car parks

  Cancer sufferers and patients whose treatment overran were ripped off

  Health trusts now responsible for private firms that run 3/4 of the car parks 

Hospitals must offer free or cut-price parking to the seriously ill, the Health Secretary will announce today.

Setting out strict new rules, Jeremy Hunt will say cowboy parking operators can no longer be allowed to impose huge fines for trivial infringements.

His intervention is a major victory for the Daily Mail’s campaign to protect vulnerable patients. 

The outrageous behaviour of some parking bullies has sparked a mass of complaints. 

Cancer sufferers and patients whose treatment has over-run are among those who have been ripped off.

‘Patients and families shouldn’t have to deal with the added stress of unfair parking charges,’ Mr Hunt will say.

‘These clear ground rules set out our expectations, and will help the public hold the NHS to account for unfair charges or practices.’

The guidance to health trusts makes clear they will be responsible for the actions of the private firms that run more than three quarters of hospital car parks.

They will have to act against rogue contractors and not sign contracts ‘on any basis that incentivises fines’.

Read more here:

The Mavericks: Gentle On My Mind

The Mavericks - Back In Your Arms Again

The Mavericks - Dance The Night Away

How Much of Christ Is in Your Christianity?

How Much of Christ Is in Your Christianity?

That's quite a compelling question, isn't it? It's kind of like asking how much of Christ is in Christmas. I think many of us would agree that Christmas has become so commercialized that among the general populace Christ is hardly noticed, much less celebrated and revered. Easter would be in the same category. How in the world a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ could have ever evolved into an affinity with Easter bunnies and Easter eggs I'll never know. Such is the tenuous nature of idolatry.

Is it possible for Jesus Christ to be lost in Christianity, the very religion whose Name it bears? We know that without a relationship with Christ, just another religion is all that remains. We also know from Scripture that someone can profess to know Christ but in works actually deny Him (Titus 1:16). But isn't it also true that in works many may profess to know Him, but in authentic heart knowledge they do not?

Alex Salmond's former policy chief launches blistering attack on the SNP's plan to keep the pound. Daily Mail

  Alex Bell said the Mr Salmond's currency plan is 'arguably not independence'

  He also claimed Trident nuclear weapons will remain in a separate Scotland 

  Weapons will be allowed to stay for a 'ticket into international community'

  Scotland will also have to implement deep spending cuts, Mr Bell said

Alex Salmond’s former policy chief has launched a blistering attack on the SNP’s currency plans as he lifts the lid on the confusion and deceit at the heart of the independence campaign.

In an explosive political diary, Alex Bell said the Nationalists’ currency proposal is ‘arguably not independence’ and has hinted at a power struggle at the top of the party.

The top adviser, who stood down from government last summer, also claims:

* Trident nuclear weapons will remain in a separate Scotland in return for a ‘priority ticket into the international community’ and a favourable deal with the rest of the UK.

* A Yes vote does not mean Scotland can avoid deep spending cuts and the state ‘cannot afford’ to keep paying pensions.

Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has championed a ‘re-design’ of the state, but others in the party favour a ‘mini-UK’ form of independence outlined in Mr Salmond’s White Paper manifesto.

Mr Bell was invited into government in 2010 and was in control of the process that led to the ‘Edinburgh Agreement’ – the historic deal signed by Mr Salmond and David Cameron that enabled a referendum to be staged.

But as work got underway on the SNP’s White Paper, the head of policy left his post because the document lacked a ‘big offer’.

In his new book, The People We Could Be, Mr Bell reveals: ‘SNP strategists think the mix of aspiration without perspiration allows room for everyone to join the Yes campaign.

‘As the referendum approaches, people are filling in the gaps to their own liking. In that sense, the Yes vote has escaped the control of either the

SNP, the Scottish Government or the official campaign.’

Read more here:

Alan Jackson - Are You Washed In The Blood / I'll Fly Away