THEGAYUK

Day: 15 July 2013

  • Update on cluster of Meningitis cases in gay men in Europe

    Public Health England have released advise on the clusters of meningococcal disease in MSM in USA and Europe

    An outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) (serogroup C) has been reported amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City, with 22 cases notified between August 2010 and February 2013. There have been seven deaths, five of which were among HIV-positive cases. New York City Health Department has been recommending vaccination for all men who had regular intimate contact with multiple male partners whom they met through a website, smartphone application, bar or party, in New York City since 1 September 2012. This recommendation was initially limited to known HIV-infected men but was later expanded to HIV-uninfected men with the same high risk behaviours.

    Lisa Power, Policy Director at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “Doctors have recently reported small clusters of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) (serotype C) among gay men in New York, Berlin and Paris. This is a type of meningitis. There have been a small number of deaths in those cities, particularly in men with HIV, and we are aware that news of this is spreading via social media and word of mouth.

    “IMD type C is very rare in the UK, with around 30 cases a year overall. The UK has a vaccination programme which means that most men aged 35 and under will already have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is available free on the NHS to anyone under 25. An outbreak in London, or anywhere else in the UK, is therefore considered much less likely, but gay men who are concerned about the news can download an app about symptoms from the Meningitis Trust. All HIV and sexual health clinicians have had a briefing from Public Health England giving the facts.

    “Realistically, if you’re out there partying this summer, you’re much more at risk of HIV, Hepatitis C, gonorrhoea or sunstroke. Take your suncream, condoms, and HIV treatment if you’re positive, and stay informed.”

    To find out the symptons of Meningitis visit: http://www.meningitis-trust.org

  • How I Lost A Stone In 4 Weeks

    It sounds like one of those annoying adverts you see whilst perusing the net. You know the one, the jelly belly one… But, jelly bellies aside I lost the easiest stone my life the four weeks after my trip to Allen Carr’s UK clinic in London.

    May 5th 2013,
    Weight: 13 Stone 9,
    Mood: Miserable.

    My diary, if I was a Bridget Jones type of a guy.

    Okay, I’ll admit, I’m not the gym bunny I once was. As the editor and chief of TheGayUK my schedule doesn’t allow for anything but swift runs down to the kitchen for coffee and a sandwich. I know that I should be all Anna Wintour and get up at 6 for half an hour of tennis, showered and in the office by 8, but it’s not going to happen.

    Changes that massive don’t just happen.

    Or do they?

    As I took my seat on the top floor of the Allen Carr centre, I thought it strange,. This isn’t the room where miracles look like they may happen. Where were the candles, the dry ice, and the evangelical preacher? There were however, mumblings and hushed excitable claims; claims of salvation from smoking and drinking and deliverance from the jaws of addictions.

    The woman next to me, positively brimming with excitement, said that she had done the course years ago, and was, for years after, ‘too thin – and loved it.’

    My fellow weighty-warrior’s excitement reached a palpable levels of rapture.

    Something amazing would happen here today, people were sure of it. I, jaded about weight-loss was not so sure.

    I’ve always felt I was over-weight, although looking back on old photos; I was just a whippet of a person. I’ve tried every diet from Cabbage to Californian, from Atkins to Abstinence. When I was 21, I was bulimic for two years, and from my twenties onwards my life has been dogged with weight-worries and yo-yo dieting which leave most people spinning from the absurdity of it all. No calorie was left uncounted, no gram of fat ignored.

    So you understand my dulled view on the enraptured clientele dotted around the weighty warrior’s room.

    Chris our mentor for the day, formally an Allen Carr veteran having lost a nearly an entire man’s worth of weight, is a calm, softly spoken and considerate person.

    He asked us why were here and what diets we had done in the past. One by one each person recited a litany of failed diets and crushing stories of unsuccessful ‘get-thin-quick’ schemes. After each Chris genuinely reaffirmed:

    “You did not fail the diet, the diet failed you.”

    A number of my fellow would-be weighty warriors also recounted miraculous stories of renouncing their smoking habits. People who had formally been a 40-a-day chain smoker had walked away from the clinic, throwing their cigs into the bin as they walked out free, never to return to the habit again.

    These, I thought, are clearly paid actors, or zealots – fanaticals that should be ignored at all costs.

    After all, I’m here to prove that no weight loss claim is true – I have tried every single one.

    His soft tones and talk of a healthier, brighter, leaner me was ticking all the right boxes. Yes I did want to be healthier, eat healthy, be healthy, yes I do want to stand in front of a mirror naked and be happy! His well-trodden homily was enough to send me into some kind of blissful outer body experience. A bit like when Mr. Tumnus plays his magic flute to Lucy in Narnia. Yes I would be fitter, healthier and leaner, yes I would learn to love lettuce and radishes.

    I don’t want to give too much away about the experience, because I want you to experience it for yourself, but something incredible happened when I left that day.

    For an entire month, I didn’t drink alcohol, I gave up my 7-to-10-a-day coffee habit, I gave up diary, bread and eggs – and I add, without pain or suffering, something truly miraculous had occurred.

    Within a week, I had lost 7lbs. Going from 13stone 9, to 13stone 2. I can’t remember when I was this light.

    Week two another 2lbs, week three another 3lbs. Within a month I had lost 1 Stone and 1 Lbs.

    Without trying.

    What’s more I had become an Allen Carr zealot – and with results like these why wouldn’t you. I relished the moment, when someone would say: ‘Have you lost weight?’ and I would proudly, say my scripted bit,

    ‘Yes I have! I went on Allen Carr’s Easyway,’ invariably the questioner would look at me with suspicion, and I would add,

    ‘Not Alan Carr – “Chatty Man” (always doing the voice), but Alleeeeen Carr, the guy who invented Easyway!’

    People began to think they were paying me – they aren’t.

    Even now I’m still loosing a pound a week – and I look set to be 12 stone by mid August – and I’m genuinely excited.

    Do I miss coffee, tea, bread, and eggs, cheese? No absolutely not. What I thought were my favourite foods were actually the ones making me most miserable.

    When I first contacted Allen Carr Easyway to book myself on the one day course, the head of marketing John, who presumed I was in the business of trying to sell advertising, very politely told me that Allen Carr never advertised, surviving on customer testimonials.

    Well Allen Carr has clinics in over 150 cities worldwide, they help tens of thousands of people every year and Allen Carr’s books have sold over 13 million copies.

    Clearly there are a lot of Allen Carr fans.

    Today, 15th July, marks the 30th anniversary, so to every Allen Carr Veteran, I applaud you and wish you a happy thinness.

    Buy the book from Amazon now

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Jack Steele & Family

    ★★★ | Jack Steele & Family

    A proud, Northern family man celebrates his 70th birthday surrounded by his family in the converted steel mill where he used to work, but as the night unfolds, so does the fabric of his family in this modern take on the kitchen sink dramas of the 1960’s.

    Jack Steele arrives at his old place of employment which evokes memories of friends, his pride and dedication in his work and his deceased wife. His son, Nick is a university lecturer who has a difficult and tempestuous relationship with his brother, Chris, a successful property developer who has left Sheffield and shows no affection for the city that made him. Nick is the straight-laced son who has always acted as the rock for the family, whereas Chris is more self-serving and much less reliable. The relationship between Nick and Chris is soured further by Nick’s wife, Louise, who made an irreversible decision when she was misdiagnosed with a terminal illness.

    The grandchildren also have problems and pressures of their own and the cracks in the family start to show as the evening unfolds and the prodigal son returns. Torn between the loyalty to his family members, trying to deny the fact that he favours one son over the other and struggling to find where he belongs both in his family and his community, Jack’s northern pride and confused emotions come to the surface in this bitter sweet story.

    The stage was beautifully constructed, with corrugated iron sheets and huge forged crane hooks hanging from the ceiling. The set, coupled with a very well lit stage, flooded with oranges and reds, provided an authentic and engaging atmosphere. The costumes were simple and functional and the static layout of the stage was suited to the production. The show was not technically dazzling, but it was never meant to be and the draw here is the drama unfolding on stage as opposed to it being a visual spectacle.

    Fine Time Fontaye turned in the best performance of the evening as the titular Jack Steele, showing an old man who becomes overwhelmed by his feelings, which overflow his stiff upper lip and Yorkshire dignity. Good support was provided by Robert Angell as Nick Steele, Susan Cookson as Louise Steele and Ian Reddington as Chris Steele. The remainder of the cast was made up of drama students from Sheffield Hallam University who deserve credit for their involvement. Some of them showed particular promise, especially Sam Parkinson, who looked very comfortable and natural on stage.

    This original play, which I was fortunate enough to see at its premiere, was enjoyable and the characters were not only well written, especially the male leads, but were easily recognisable from the viewer’s own family, friends and colleagues. The play was a joint venture between Sheffield Theatres and Sheffield Hallam University and was littered with local references and a story, which went to the heart of the city. That said, whilst some of the local references may be missed by those who are not familiar with the area, the story has enough universal themes to negate the need for an in-depth knowledge of the city.

    This was, in many ways, local theatre as it should be; namely written, produced and performed by talent from the city where the story is set and the show itself is performed in. But aside from the fact that, like Jack Steele, this reviewer has a deep-rooted love for his hometown, it is not just a show for Sheffield people.

    Jack Steele and Family is currently showing at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield until the 20th July 2013.