[Archived] Rant (4?)

[Baz]

The Red Cross has helped out the NHS in the winter for at least the last 40 years

The head of the British Red Cross stands by his description of a humanitarian crisis, and says there has been a significant change in demand in recent months for its help.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nhs-british-red-cross-chief-executive-mike-adamson-defends-humanitarian-crisis-remarks-a7516751.html

[yoda]

The head of the British Red Cross stands by his description of a humanitarian crisis, and says there has been a significant change in demand in recent months for its help.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nhs-british-red-cross-chief-executive-mike-adamson-defends-humanitarian-crisis-remarks-a7516751.html

Well he was getting a slating on the Jeremy Vine radio show, some one pointed out that the crisis in Syria was actually a humanitarian crisis.

Some other Red Cross people also questioned the humanitarian label as well as a paramedic with 25 years service

[Husky]

I wonder how many other similar NHS jobs there are.

https://jobs.theguardian.com/job/6446225/assistant-director-of-equality-and-diversity/

Any takers? The pay seems a bit of alright too.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

I wonder how many other similar NHS jobs there are.

https://jobs.theguardian.com/job/6446225/assistant-director-of-equality-and-diversity/

Any takers? The pay seems a bit of alright too.

I'd go for it but no doubt I'd end up spending even more time on here

[Mike E]

Well he was getting a slating on the Jeremy Vine radio show, some one pointed out that the crisis in Syria was actually a humanitarian crisis.

Some other Red Cross people also questioned the humanitarian label as well as a paramedic with 25 years service

With a supposed rise in the deaths of disabled people in the last year/18months (in a developed country, no less), it sounds like a humanitarian crisis to me.

Yesterday, watched the medical director of Royal Blackburn Hospital being interviewed on ITV news. He denied that there is a capacity crisis and maintained that patients are assessed and treated rapidly on admission.

As he spoke from the hospital grounds, it looked a peaceful and calm setting. If only the cameras were to go inside up and down the corridors lined with patients on trolleys who have been lying there for almost 48hours, our fantastic doctors and nurses literally running around rushed off their feet, paramedics standing around wishing they could get out to other emergencies... what I unfortunately see on a regular basis as I attend audiology and ENT appointments.

In public service everyone puts on that brave face and try their best to keep the wheels on but surely the time has come for the NHS to accept and make it known that they have most definitely come off?

Jeremy Hunt? Jeremy @#/?, more like!

[ABBEY]

I had the misfortune of taking the wife there on Christmas eve and last week.

Christmas eve she went by ambulance at 9 and we got seen pretty quick and treated and home for 3am ,however last week we arrived at 2230 and got home 5am . Cutbacks are finishing the nhs ,the staff work hard while hunt laughs at us.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

With a supposed rise in the deaths of disabled people in the last year/18months (in a developed country, no less), it sounds like a humanitarian crisis to me.

Yesterday, watched the medical director of Royal Blackburn Hospital being interviewed on ITV news. He denied that there is a capacity crisis and maintained that patients are assessed and treated rapidly on admission.

As he spoke from the hospital grounds, it looked a peaceful and calm setting. If only the cameras were to go inside up and down the corridors lined with patients on trolleys who have been lying there for almost 48hours, our fantastic doctors and nurses literally running around rushed off their feet, paramedics standing around wishing they could get out to other emergencies... what I unfortunately see on a regular basis as I attend audiology and ENT appointments.

In public service everyone puts on that brave face and try their best to keep the wheels on but surely the time has come for the NHS to accept and make it known that they have most definitely come off?

Jeremy Hunt? Jeremy @#/?, more like!

Its the same old problem though, we have a huge national debt, the interest alone of which eats up 5% of the budget, and a constant budget deficit. Successive governments have always spent far more than they can afford on the public sector.

So if we're going to tackle the debt and sufficiently finance the public sector then there needs to be a huge increase in tax revenue. The argument is then always increase taxes on the rich. Which is exactly the idea Sturgeon had about 6 months ago before she did a complete U-turn upon being told such a move would actually decrease overall revenue (presumably due to the rich moving abroad or making more effort to pursue tax avoidance).

[Baz]

Its the same old problem though, we have a huge national debt, the interest alone of which eats up 5% of the budget, and a constant budget deficit. Successive governments have always spent far more than they can afford on the public sector.

So if we're going to tackle the debt and sufficiently finance the public sector then there needs to be a huge increase in tax revenue. The argument is then always increase taxes on the rich. Which is exactly the idea Sturgeon had about 6 months ago before she did a complete U-turn upon being told such a move would actually decrease overall revenue (presumably due to the rich moving abroad or making more effort to pursue tax avoidance).

Seems to me that the NHS is too much a political football. Time for a cross party coalition to take on the task, drop the unaffordable things like a 7 day non-emergency service, have combined local NHS and social care budgets from the same budget, look to regionalise those budgets, so 8 different councils in greater manchester all dont need the same departments etc, decide the limits of what is the NHS and where and if private competition can be favourably brought into the mix, look at longer term things like education bursaries so you need less foreign born staff and have less service covered on overtime rates Etc, look at the potential in-built saving the NHS should be making, but don't. Etc...

Sarah Wollaston, the ex GP, and Tory select committee member spoke very well on question time about this a few months ago, and looks like she sensible enough to be able to work with others.

As for the tories, I'm pretty fed up of them re-announcing the extra funds they promised the NHS in their last manifesto, that's well gone, the NHS needs more money, and they took a lot of money away from local councils who provide ongoing care for people- hence we are back to bed-blocking.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Sounds like some good ideas in that first paragraph. The bit in the last sentence though that the extra money has gone and extra, extra money is needed is what worries me regarding the NHS and the public sector generally. It appears to be something of a black hole at times, endlessly underfunded and endlessly requiring more money. The attitude often seems to be that the money is there, give it to us now, and you're a Tory a-hole if you don't. The way the finance secretary and health secretary are vilified without fail, no matter who's doing the job, reminds me of the way Rovers defensive midfielders are always blamed for everything.

I'm not against properly funding the NHS etc in principle. But the money isn't just there, its never been there and in fact has been the opposite. Its been borrowed left, right and centre by governments for decades just to maintain the level of funding that people kick off about. Its about getting a balance I suppose, governments committing the finance they can, and NHS workers, unions etc recognising that extra funding is extremely hard to come by for a country running a £1.639 trillion debt.

[jim mk2]

As for the tories, I'm pretty fed up of them re-announcing the extra funds they promised the NHS in their last manifesto, that's well gone, the NHS needs more money, and they took a lot of money away from local councils who provide ongoing care for people- hence we are back to bed-blocking.

The Tory strategy is simple - starve the NHS of funds to make it so poor people will be clamouring for change (ie, privatisation). It's a myth that the country can't afford it - we're building 2 multi-billion aircraft carriers for heaven's sake - and is just a right wing ruse to run down an institution admired all over the world but which they hate. After all, the NHS is socialism par excellence.

[Baz]

Sounds like some good ideas in that first paragraph. The bit in the last sentence though that the extra money has gone and extra, extra money is needed is what worries me regarding the NHS and the public sector generally. It appears to be something of a black hole at times, endlessly underfunded and endlessly requiring more money. The attitude often seems to be that the money is there, give it to us now, and you're a Tory a-hole if you don't. The way the finance secretary and health secretary are vilified without fail, no matter who's doing the job, reminds me of the way Rovers defensive midfielders are always blamed for everything.

I'm not against properly funding the NHS etc in principle. But the money isn't just there, its never been there and in fact has been the opposite. Its been borrowed left, right and centre by governments for decades just to maintain the level of funding that people kick off about. Its about getting a balance I suppose, governments committing the finance they can, and NHS workers, unions etc recognising that extra funding is extremely hard to come by for a country running a £1.639 trillion debt.

I understand your point regarding a bottomless pit, but the 'extra' money the tories put in, was announced 2 years ago, and if you take care as a package between the NHS and social care, then it's a cut. It's about as realistic as calling any of our midfielders 'defensive', because they have no creativity too

There are any number of cuts that could be made, that would have no impact on front line health, but some may take a few years to see the benefits of - take the example of regional nhs and social care budgets - there are massive savings to be made from not having the same departments, with all layers of management, and having just one. That takes time to integrate, plan and implement, and short-term there's a big redundancy cost. It's also very difficult for different areas to change the way they work, the equipment they want to use etc.

At present hospitals are having beds blocked at several hundreds of pounds a day, because the local care homes are shutting as their funding drop is killing them. If the NHS passed down some of the cost to social care, then the overall cost is lower.

[adopted scouser]

Why can a minute's silence be just that ? Not keen on the applause

[Claytons Left Boot]

Why does Simon Cowell start every sentence with the words, 'do you know what?' ?

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Fake grief in general.

Mostly I only consider grief genuine when someone had a fairly significant personal connection with the person who's died at some point in their lives. If not, which is the case 99.9999% of the time when we're talking about celebrities, ex-footballers etc, then its not grief and I don't see why such a song and dance is made. Fair enough the masses might have appreciated their work, but in almost every case that's been gone a while anyway, its not often an artist or sportsperson is still working with any kind of quality right up to death's door.

People die, its just a fact of life. And as media has become more and more all encompassing, more and more people are known about and considered famous. Meaning there'll be more, and more, and more people that we're all supposed to grieve in the future. People going on about 2016 behind the year of the grim reaper or whatever, what nonsense. Its just in say 1926 there weren't hundreds of thousands of public figures about.

Its exactly like the "refugees welcome" brigade. Pick something that nobody can object to, loudly advertise how important that thing is to you and how deeply you care about it, bask in the compliments people give you and how great a person that makes you. And the media lap it up every time of course, because they want the same compliments for their virtuous attitude.

Honestly I've got to the point of wanting to press the mute button now when every time you watch a football match the crowd start applauding a certain minute, the camera picks out a banner somewhere, and the commentator slides into this drippy, sad voice about someone pretty much insignificant to anyone other than the club in question. Let the people who it genuinely matters to grieve and everyone else give it a rest.

[jim mk2]

There are any number of cuts that could be made, that would have no impact on front line health,

The truth is the NHS has been chronically starved of money by a dogmatic, cruel government hell bent on privatisation.

Theresa May claims that health service funding has been rising in real, or inflation-adjusted terms. But the budget is shrinking as a share of national income at a time when a growing and ageing population, increased longevity, an epidemic of chronic diseases such as diabetes and higher public expectations for healthcare are generating ever-rising demand.

Under Labour, the NHS’s share of national income rose from 5 per cent in 2000 to nearly 8 per cent by 2009, almost matching Germany, France and the Netherlands. Since then it has fallen to 7 per cent and, by the estimate of the King’s Fund, is heading towards 6 per cent. What this means is that Britain spends about 30 per cent less per person than Germany.

So much for the NHS as the fabled “bottomless pit”.

And Jeremy Hunt should be sacked. Five years in office and he has turned our health service into a shambles.

[Baz]

The truth is the NHS has been chronically starved of money by a dogmatic, cruel government hell bent on privatisation.

Theresa May claims that health service funding has been rising in real, or inflation-adjusted terms. But the budget is shrinking as a share of national income at a time when a growing and ageing population, increased longevity, an epidemic of chronic diseases such as diabetes and higher public expectations for healthcare are generating ever-rising demand.

Under Labour, the NHS’s share of national income rose from 5 per cent in 2000 to nearly 8 per cent by 2009, almost matching Germany, France and the Netherlands. Since then it has fallen to 7 per cent and, by the estimate of the King’s Fund, is heading towards 6 per cent. What this means is that Britain spends about 30 per cent less per person than Germany.

So much for the NHS as the fabled “bottomless pit”.

And Jeremy Hunt should be sacked. Five years in office and he has turned our health service into a shambles.

I work in the health care market Jim, and can assure you that saving money in the nhs wouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't want that money taking out of the NHS/ social care budget, but actually investing in the right places.

As for Jeremy Hunt, couldn't agree more. I've no idea why he's still there. Give the job to Sarah Wollaston, who at the very least understands the problems, and would have a bit more respect from the NHS doctors, nurses etc.

Look a Tory MP making sensible comments shocker:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/15/nhs-funding-row-sarah-wollaston-defends-simon-stevens-theresa-may

[jim mk2]

More evidence that the BBC is becoming an increasingly biased in its political coverage with a report that the BBC Trust has admitted that political editor Laura Kuenssberg invented fake news to attack Jeremy Corbyn. Kuenssberg is well known for her anti-Corbyn stance and it's time the BBC Trust clamped down on both her and the Beeb's increasingly right wing news reporting

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

You think attacking Jeremy Corbyn is evidence of a right-wing bias? The political right want Corbyn in charge of Labour for the next 20 years. Maybe not all of them, the complete destruction of Labour would make things more boring, like being a Rovers fan with no Burnley around. The people attacking Corbyn are the ones who want to see Labour in power at some point.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38655790
That's the voice of right-wing media is it?

Or how about these articles on Brexit in the last 24 hours?

"Devolved administrations hold 'difficult' Brexit talks" - negative
"Brexit: SF accuse government of treating council as 'talking shop'" - negative
"London Mayor Sadiq Khan says hard Brexit 'lose-lose' - negative"
"May's post-Brexit customs deal plan 'unworkable', Bruton says" - negative
"Brexit will damage UK and EU, says Pierre Moscovici" - negative
"City banks warn of Brexit job moves" - negative

The features section is very unusually not entirely female-orientated today but 9 times out of 10 it is, BBC's favourite group, young women, the Corbyn voter demographic.

[jim mk2]

Kuenssberg's got form with Corbyn - Labour's made an official complaint about it, which they're enitled to do because the BBC is supposed to be journalistically impartial unlike the right wing press barons. She's taken it to a new level this time by using fake news to have a go at him - which the BBC Trust has recognised. To my mind, she should get a red card or at least a yellow from her bosses - but I doubt she will and she will continue in her role as the mouthpiece of the Tory party.

There's nowt wrong with the Trump piece because there's big demos going on in the US against him while the Brexit stuff is reporting reaction to May's speech - which is what a news organisation does. If you look in the right wing papers the positive reaction to her speech is mainly comment and analysis by their columnists

[adopted scouser]

I thought the mayoral car in Blackburn was registered CB1 ?

[yoda]

I thought the mayoral car in Blackburn was registered CB1 ?

Are you talking about the 7 series top of the range BMW that parks on yellow lines with impunity ?

[Mike E]

Or perhaps the stream of Toyota corollas that park on double yellows at Red lights outside Meena bakery?

[yoda]

Or perhaps the stream of Toyota corollas that park on double yellows at Red lights outside Meena bakery?

The untouchables

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Noticed they've had to put up some big ugly barrier on Copy Nook after they finished the roadworks and idiots started parking on the white lines in the middle of the road to get to that row of shops. There really is a serious a-hole road culture in blackburn.

[adopted scouser]

Are you talking about the 7 series top of the range BMW that parks on yellow lines with impunity ?

It was a big black Audi on Shear Bank Rd. The mayoral car was a jag ? Parking on Whalley Range is the worst though. All over the pavements, double yellows mean nothing, and even the zig zags on the pelican crossing will have an Audi or a Merc parked there without a warden or a policeman in sight.