Can anyone tell that I’ve gone a bit manic? I feel giggly,
girly, excited and funny. If normal Matt was here, I’d be irritating the fuck
out of him. LOL I guess I have been pretty happy all week too! YAY
Anyway thank you for coming to my blog. Did you read about my adventures in Hemel Hempstead (over 60 views!! Thanks!)
or see the Lib Dem’s response to my mental health plea (in association
with MIND, the mental health charity)? Click the hyperlinks and have browse.
Your feedback and comments are always welcome. Xxxxxx
So I had planned to write about fluid genders and we as humans
like to label things to help us understand them and identify them. It’s due to
our natural programming of recognising patterns such as stars in the sky or
babies recognising the pattern or layout of a smiling face. But I can’t stop my
leg twitching and I have I Feel Fantasticon a perpetual loop in my head. Loopy loop. Loooop. Anyone wanna hug?
I’m looking to buy a folding bike. Anyone got one? I’m
looking at this one here from Argos. It’s cheap so probably cheerful. I really
wanna go cycling. But I shouldn’t. I can’t afford it. But I want to.
I saw the latest Avengers film – really good. It just felt
like it was lacking the tension that other Marvel films have. They went into
the final battle without a clear plan which made it feel a bit ad hoc but maybe
I’m being annoying. Looking forward to the weekend: either going to Brighton
with my best buddies or if it is wet I’m trying to convince them to go to
Bletchley Park – the home of the code braking team with Alan Turing who founded
the world of computing we know today.
Right better go now before I type any more nonsense. I
really wanna go cycling or perhaps I could make some videos for our Off the
Radar Election Special – although part of me just wants to watch Channel 4 with
Jon Snow and David Mitchell. But before I do sod off have a look at this
bizarre twitter account. He keeps asking me to sit on the crown from this month’s
LootCrate. Yes, seriously.
Fellow BPD people: how do you cope being so hyper? This is
an incoherent mess and part of me is annoyed by it.
Hello and welcome to a bonus post
this week on my blog. See, I do spoil you!
Check out last week’s post
which was a mixture of comedy, curry and complaining by clicking here.
My normal blog post will appear here later this week.
Below is an email I
sent out to the major Political party leaders on 20th March as part
of a campaign by Mind, the mental health charity, which I am proud to be a
member of. To date, this is the only reply
I have had so far which is from the Liberal Democrats. Given how many people
will have taken part in Mind’s campaign I assumed the parties would have a
generic adjustable response they would reply to all with… Maybe that is too
organised!
I’ve posted a few new
YouTube videos recently too (to cheer you up!) they are beneath this post. Thank you once again for reading and sharing my blog. It means the world to me.
TTFN xx
Sent onMar 20, 2015
Mr Clegg
I need your help.
My Mother died when I was 13. 4 years before that, she forced my
Father out of the family home and her drinking became severe. Her drinking
resulted in a 9 year old boy learning to cook, clean and care ALONE for a
drunken 47 year old whilst taking himself to school. Somehow I survived that.
Somehow I got 12 GCSEs and 3 A-Levels.
BUT it left a scar. I am 25 and I have been under investigation
for almost 6 months with suspect bi-polar. I am on long term medication but
find it hard to afford the monthly prescription on-top of the issues I have
with work and confrontation. I still not have been assigned to a specialist for
my suspected Bi-polar. I have seen 1 specialist once. I have a blog detailing
my story at www.MattStreuli.uk
Mental health services are on their knees and people like me,
hard working and wanting to recover, are being failed by the NHS. Over the past
five years, Mental Health Trusts have seen funding cuts of 8.25% - around
£600m.
The Government’s recent announcement of extra funding for
children and young people’s mental health services is a step in the right
direction and a reflection of the scale of under resourcing. But the rest of
mental health services are suffering just as much and need significant
investment. The statistics speak for themselves:
• Referrals to community mental health teams have risen by 20%
• Clinical Commissioning Groups are ignoring guidance from NHS England which
instructs them to increase their mental health spending in 2015/16.
• The amount spent by NHS Wales on mental health fell by £24.3 million between
2011/12 and 2012/13.
• 2,100 mental health inpatient beds have closed since 2011, and the average
adult acute admission ward now has a bed occupancy rate of 101 per cent.
• Between 2012 and 2014, the number of people who have to travel long distances
– up to 300 miles - for emergency mental health services doubled from 1301 to
3024.
• Last year, over 6000 people were held in a police cell when having a mental
health crisis, instead of a more appropriate health setting. - Is a Police cell
cheaper than a hospital bed? So cheap we don't care?
• 75 per cent of people with anxiety and depression get no treatment at all in
the UK. - HELLO!!!! ME!!!
• 3,300 mental health nursing posts have been lost in four years.
It simply isn’t good enough, not in 2015. Mental health has
always been underfunded, and if we are ever going to achieve true parity of
esteem, the funding needs to be addressed.
With the election just around the corner, will you publicly
commit to increasing the NHS mental health budget by at least 10 per cent, in
real terms, over the course of the next Parliament?
Mental health should not be hidden away. Mental health should
have the same respect and importance as physical health. You can change my life.
Best Wishes,
Matthew Streuli
REPLY from Liberal Democrats Apr 29 2015
Dear Matthew,
Thank you for your email to Nick Clegg about mental health
services.
The Liberal Democrats believe that improving the treatment and
prevention of mental illnesses should be a national priority. In Government,
Liberal Democrats championed mental health and, in particular, Nick Clegg and
Norman Lamb, former Lib Dem Health Minister worked tirelessly towards creating
parity of esteem in the way we treat mental and physical illness.
Since 2011, the Coalition invested £400 million to increase
access to talking therapies across England. We invested an extra £120 million
to help implement the maximum waiting times for mental health from this year,
alongside an additional £150 million over five years to improve services for
children and young people suffering from eating disorders. Overall, the money
going into mental health increased by £302 million in 2014/15.
In last year’s Autumn Statement, the Government also committed a
further £2 billion to front-line NHS Services. NHS England wrote to every
Clinical Commissioning Group to ask them to increase their mental health
spending in real terms, in line with this extra funding.
Yet, there is still a long way to go if we are to reverse years
of underinvestment in mental health. As a result of our hard work in
Government, it was announced that mental health services in England will
receive a further £1.25bn in new funding. The money, spread over five years,
will help treat 110,000 more children with mental health issues, and also
provides rapid access to treatment for pregnant women and new mothers.
But we need to go even further. If in Government again, the
Liberal Democrats would propose topping up the Governments latest budget
announcements to invest a total of half a billion pounds per year to improve
mental health care and increase investment in mental health research. This
essential support will be vital in bringing mental health out of the shadows,
and getting people with mental health concerns the support they need now and in
years to come.
Our Party is committed to investing in the NHS and protecting
our health services, making sure that people with ill-health, whether mental or
physical health, get the treatment they need. If you support the Lib Dems in
our efforts to end the stigma surrounding mental health, please sign our petition and if you would like more information about the work the Party
is doing - or would like to join us and help us get the word out about
prioritising mental health care - please find out more about getting involved
via our website or look at our 2015 manifesto (http://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto).
Thank you again for contacting Nick Clegg.
Yours sincerely
Ian Stotesbury
Office of Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats
What do you think? Did this sway your vote? Does your party take Mental Health seriously? Let me know, in the comments below! Or tweet me!
This week I've had a curry and proverbally shat myself in Hemel Hemptstead, untagged myself from pictures on facebook, convinced people to vote although I still don't know how I will vote and slept for 8 hours every night waking up feeling good. Oh and scared myself with the idea of being alive for another 25 years...
Oh, and I've picked a fight with Virgin Media. I'm Matt Streuli and welcome to my comedy/mental health/ General Election blog thing.
We will start with the depressing stuff. In good news I finally have a referral appoint onto the next stage of "NHS Mental Health Services: The Game". I called up (which takes some courage building for me) as I had heard nothing for a month to be told a letter would be in the post so I would get an appointment in May. No rush... Surely it is cheaper for the NHS to pro-actively treat mental health rather than waiting for it to escalate into an emergency? Perhaps something to bear in mind when you go to the polling station.
I finally sat down and went through my Facebook; untagging or deleting videos and pictures which I don't want the world to see. Claire's advice at our last girly night was to cleanse the stuff with old girlfriends which I found quite hard to do. On one hand, it is sad that these memories will never happen again and I am not as happy as I was back then. On the other hand, it makes me think what evidence I will leave behind when I die.
If you follow me on twitter or instagram you will see that I take ALOT of pictures. Some of them because they look good or could be used as poster backgrounds or in my youtube videos. Other pictures and videos I take because I worry that when I die, there will be no evidence I ever existed. I really don't want to live forever, I barely want to face another five years, but will I just be forgotten about? I really upsets me to think that no one will notice. I take photos so people will remember the here and now and I hope they will get the best of me whilst I last.
So with the polls opening in less than 14 days, the parties
are having their final push to grab voters. However, it is almost universally
agreed that there will not be an outright winner. This does make your voting
choice slightly more interesting. Do you vote for the main party, who if they
have a big enough number of MPs will form the main slice of the government? Or
do you vote elsewhere to make sure a smaller voice is heard is louder? Do you
trust Labour or Conservatives to run government by themselves? Can you in fact
trust any polictican!?
The General Election is the biggest reality TV show in
history and given how vital it will be to your wages, your NHS and your country
over the next FIVE years it is important you weigh up your options. This is
something we regulary discuss on our Comedy/Current Events podcast Off The
Radar. On one recent show, each of us took an online test to see whose
policies matched our opinions. I generally called myself a conservative (I just
felt they were the least worse of the choices) but actually my views match
closer with the Liberal Democrats. Now I would like to keep my blog relatively
balanced but I am not the BBC, so I can say that I would rather than a
Conservative/Lb Dem coalition again. We know it works, and I trust them more
than I will ever trust Labour after the Blair:
The Illegal Wars years. The below poster accurately sums up my feeling; by
themselves I do not trust any party to rule but with a Lib Dem minority keeping
any plans moderate – it might just work. Imagine how bad the cuts and the
tution fees would have been if Clegg and co weren’t there and the Tories could
do as they want?!?
HOWEVER, I must also remember that your vote matters on a
local level. As a Slough resident, this is a safe Labour seat so my Lib Dem
vote won’t actually matter. In fact on a local level, perhaps I should vote
conservative as they have a better chance of beating the Labour MP? In nearby towns
of Iver and Iver Heath, they are part of the safe Conservative seat of
Beaconsfield. Recently, former Tory Prime Minister John Major told Scottish voters
to all vote Labour so they would stop the SNP!
So do you vote for what you agree with? Or do you vote where
your vote will have the most clout?
And finally.
End with a joke?
Aside from a scary ghost walk of a rather beautiful Hemel Hempstead which part of me enjoyed even though I spent most of the time hiding behind Falcon & Emily from the corpses; I picked a fight with Virgin Media. Even now, they are advertising a free Samsung tablet when you join their 'Big Bundles'. The Facebook advert is below. NO WHERE on the page does it say that the Big Daddy or Big Kahuna is part of the 'Hottest Ever Sale' but they are part of the Big Bundles.
In the terms on the webpage for the Free Tablet it does say QUOTE "Hottest Ever Sale: New Customers Only".
But as I have explained in my formal complaint and on their facebook advert that I am asking to upgrade to the Big Daddy deal which is part of the Big Bundles... Unless their advert & website is false and misleading they should upgrade me to the offer and send me a free tab? Right?
Apart from this I'm a major Virgin Media fan and would recommend their great Tivo service....
I'll let you know how it goes!
Finally a video to finish on of my little sister which I found in my Facebook cleanse. Thank you for all the feedback and comments on twitter - please keep them coming and keep sharing my blog.
A video posted by Matthew E Streuli (@matthewstreuli) on
Complaints,
Virgin Media,
PO Box 333
Matrix Court
Swansea, SA7 9ZJ
Account: 21XXXXXXXX
Dear Sir/Madam,
I
am writing with regards to the advert which appeared on my facebook offering a
free tablet when signing up Big Kahuna or Big Daddy.
There is nothing on the Facebook advert or the banner of the page that says
either of these are exclusive to new customers.
It does say in the terms at the bottom
of the page that the “Hottest Ever Sale” is for new customers but as per my
screenshot below it appears that the free tablet is with the Big Bundles. There
is nothing on the page about the “Hottest Ever Sale” except for the terms.
Please see my attached conversation with one of your staff earlier today.
I would like to upgrade to the Big
Kahuna and receive a free tablet please.
If you refuse to do so, then you website and facebook advert is therefore
misleading and inaccurate. I would then be forced to make formal complaints
with OFCOM, Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Agency and consider
moving my custom to a competitor who can proof read.
Free tablet with BIG BUNDLES? Where does it sale new customers? Where does it say Hottest Ever Sale?
I await your urgent response.
Matt Streuli:
Hi @virginmedia !
As an existing customer how do I upgrade to Big Kahuna and get a free tablet as
I saw on my Facebook??
I am sorry the offer you're looking for
is not available for the existing customers
17:14:29Matt Streuli:
It doesnt say that on the page.
17:15:00Matt Streuli:
so I want the offer please.
Otherwise the advertising is wrong - shouldn't it say free tablet for new
customers?
17:15:21Dnyanesh: If it is available for you, you can place the order online
17:15:24Dnyanesh:It
will take up to 48 hrs to process the order
17:16:04Matt Streuli: But when I log in, it doesnt give me
the big kahuna as an offer... let alone the free tablet/
So how do I get the offer?
17:16:05Dnyanesh:Alternatively,
please call our team for free on 150 (option 1) from any Virgin Media phone.
Alternatively, you can call us on 0345 454 1111 (option 1) from any other
phone. We're available Monday to Sunday from 8 am to Midnight and we'll be
happy to help
17:16:52Dnyanesh:I
am really sorry the Big Kahuna bundle with free Tablet offer is not available
for the existing customers
17:17:12Matt Streuli:Please can you show me where on the
website it says this?
17:19:36Dnyanesh:Matt,
please see the Legal stuff and select the option 'Offers'
17:19:39Matt Streuli:There is nothing on the free tablet
page that says it is for new customers only
17:19:57Dnyanesh:Please
see the Legal stuff and select the option 'Offers'
17:20:20Matt Streuli:It says the hottest ever sale is for
new customers only
17:20:26Matt Streuli:it does not mention the tablet
17:21:18Dnyanesh:That's
relates to the offers mentioned above
17:21:51Dnyanesh:Those
offers are not available for the existing customers
17:22:42Matt Streuli:But there is nothing on the Big Kahuna
page that says it is part of the "hottest ever sale"
and it does not say on the advert that the tablet is part of the "hottest
ever sale"
Therefore, I would like to upgrade to the Big Kahuna and get a free tablet
please.
17:23:40Dnyanesh:Matt,
to find out if you can get the offer which you're looking for, please call our
team on either of the numbers above
17:23:45Dnyanesh:I
am sorry I only deal with general queries about billing and payment
17:25:22Dnyanesh:Are
you there?
17:25:24Matt Streuli: Please can you provide the email
address where I can make a formal complaint please?
This complaint is about how the offer is advertised and that I am being
excluded against it. Your service has been brilliant and I know you are doing
what you can to help but I feel it is unfair to advertise the big kahuna on
facebook with a free tablet when it isn't clear that its not available to all
17:25:41Dnyanesh:Sure
17:25:47Dnyanesh:To
chat with our Complaints team, please visit http://www.virginmedia.com/contact,
and then select the option 'Make a Complaint'.
17:25:58Dnyanesh:What
else can I do for you today?
17:26:36Matt Streuli:That is everything. Thank you for your
help.
Please can you mention this to your line manager as I will be sending this chat
with my complaint?
