Tag Archives: ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis)

Paul Walter

The silent scandal of ME…and in praise of Tessa Munt

By Paul Walter | Tue 20th October 2026 - 1:30 pm

Embed from Getty Images

I wrote on the subject of ME back in February 2025. Sadly no progress seems to have been made, questions to the government receive “dead bat” pro-forma answers and still the silent scandal of 1.35 million people in the UK suffering from ME/CFS (or Long Covid with ME-like symptoms) continues. That’s about 2,000 on average per UK parliamentary constituency.

Some figures: The average lifetime costs per patient with ME are £4.7 million on average.

There are £20 billion per year costs to the economy due to ME – and this is rising. (This includes loss of productivity and the fact that many patients are cared for by their parents)

There is currently no UK ring-fenced funding for long term research into the illness. This compares badly with Germany who have dedicated 500 million Euros over 10 years for research labelled a “National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases” (photo above shows the sort of public protests which preceded the commitment of that money).

Recently there have been a few reasons for hope.

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments
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