The health committee is meeting in Westminster today, taking evidence from professionals dealing with the breakdown in the NHS. A part of one piece of evidence given was as follows. "Our members are tired of going to work every day and in some cases spending the whole of their shift sat on an ambulance outside an A&E department with the same patient. We’ve had examples where our members have clocked off at the end of one shift to return the following day to the same patient being on that ambulance with the crew they’d left them the night before." This is one end of a chain starting with A&E departments, going all the way through to care homes closing because many of their staff refuse to come to England any more. It seems to me to be daft that foreign staff, who made a significant contribution in numbers, are now expected to pay several hundred pounds for a visa. Dropping that would help to plug the hole at the bottom of the chain.
Not the most encouraging way to greet a New Year - the possibility of another pandemic. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1609227049901723649.html
not good............... I have several friends with really bad 'flu' currently... one ended up at hospital... with severe respiratory pain
An interesting collaboration between Tortoise Media and Sky News - a database that reveals 'donations' declared by MPs. For reasons not entirely clear, it seems that the Qatar Foreign Ministry donated around £250K to various MPs last year, without a hint of scandal being reported in the press - yet the likes of the Sun & Express had multiple orgasms last month when reporting that members of the European parliament were forced out after accepting similar bribes from the same source. https://www.tortoisemedia.com/westminster-accounts-explore/
In the realms of 'you couldn't make this up'. Former deputy PM Damian Green, the porn king who was sacked in 2017 after pornography was found on his parliamentary computer, has been appointed acting chairman of the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee - with one of his remits being to oversee online safety. He takes over the position after the incumbent, Julian Knight, recused himself from Parliament while the police investigate allegations of serious sexual assault against him. Does the party not have any normal, decent human beings? https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/p...gations-to-oversee-online-safety-bill-341730/
I may be old, but I don't think my mind has gone totally yet, and I cannot for the life of me make sense of this. A friend has a severely disabled grandson in England. He is as bright as a button mentally, but physically needs 24 hour help. The government wanted him in work, and found a job in the DWP looking at fraud. After three months, he had paid for his wages threefold, To get to the job his carer had to go with him, and stay with him throughout the day. It was then decided to stop the carer's wages, so the lad lost him and could no longer get to or do the job. Now either the government want people in work, and it will cost something sometimes, or they don't. In this case it wasn't costing the taxpayer, just helping to get money back that had been wrongly paid out. Do we want to help people to make the most of what they can do, or don't we? This is a question about how we treat those who are less able than most of us. I suppose it could be a question about what sort of society we want.
A new parliamentary report shows that the amount of tax owed, but that went unpaid last year, was £42 BILLION. A pay rise in line with inflation for all public sector workers would cost about £12bn.
Yes....and the ideology of the Tory party ( my apols it is my opinion) perpetuates this issue....all across the board..... .all public services have been cut and cut.... There was a damning main news item on the BBC last night about the NHS....... Society needs to wake up and not tolerate this ongoing situation
While workers are forced to strike in an attempt to get a decent wage, a Tory MP agrees to pay £3.7 million in unpaid taxes - taxes he had spent years denying that he owed whilst knowing that he did. Surely a sacking offence?
Has the main stream news mentioned this? A spot of satire never goes amiss if the TV channels are operating a blackout. https://abnormalisland.blogspot.com/2023/01/first-of-all-its-snowing-today-and-uk.html
