Off Topic Politics Thread

Absolutely. And yes just sorting out social care itself would make a huge difference as there's thousands of people spend huge amounts of their lives in hospital without a medical need simply because they have nowhere else to go.

As I said yesterday though it needs a change in mindset from the public as nobody wants to pay for it.

 

The entire Trust would collapse overnight of you removed migrant workers from it.

 

Not really a huge surprise but good that it's being called out. Normally only the 'losers' of war are punished for their war crimes while the 'winners' get off scot free.

Not sure you could make any actions in war criminal. If your land is invaded do you stand around waiting for the UN to turn up rather than fight back? Non starter imo.

 

One change I'd like to see that requires no reorganisations:

I think it was Francis Wheen who said that the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the British public was that you can have good public services and low taxes.

University friend of mine lives in Norway. He pays (or paid, this was several years ago) the thick end of 70% tax on his top earnings and said he didn't begrudge a penny of it because everything works.

Vin

 

Yep I’d likely be ok with going along with that, if stuff works. Trouble is, what price to fix it all in the first place.

 

Well, that lasted long.

Wagner boss Prigozhin is in Russia, Belarus ruler Lukashenko says - BBC News

 

Yep agree 100%. I'd much rather pay more in tax and have proper services which can be relied upon, than pay what I do now but have to wait over 8 months to see a mental health specialist.

 

He might want to avoid tall buildings with windows if he is. And tea.

Vin

 

And umbrellas. And door handles.

 

Well, at least we can all agree on this topic. It’s really bad guys.

Chronic staffing shortages combined with overcrowding & aging population. As I’ve said - I personally don’t think the NHS can survive much longer.

The worst part is that the politicians are basically ignoring what’s happening. It’s a ****ing disgrace.

I don’t really care how it gets resolved but something massive needs to happen.

 

There we have it
Pay more taxes to enable govt to fund better public services

… and use your vote to support for a govt that delivers improvements or against one that doesn’t

Still many challenges but it’s a dream

 

Billy's got some good ideas.

 

There isn't a conflict that hasn't featured war crimes on all sides, but it's important for it to be punished, not just to maintain some semblance of humanity, but because ultimately nothing prolongs conflicts (and makes the next conflict much more likely) like the commission of war crimes against the civilian population and prisoners of war. Soldiers that expect to receive no quarter or for civilians to be brutalized if they lose will necessarily fight harder, and nothing turns civilians into combatants quite like war crimes.

Countries that sweep their own actions under the rug aren't merely aiding and abetting that barbarity, they are galvanizing their opposition and undermining their own forces. Because the Afghani and Iraqi population knows damned well that these war crimes were committed, whether the UK (and the US, and Australia, and very likely Canada as well) admit to them or not.

 

Didn’t try terribly hard, did they..

 

Let's be clear though, in the US millions of people have little or no health care provision, 27m in 2021
Familes often lose their healthcare when breadwinners lose their jobs
Per capita, healthcare costs the US twice as much as the UK

In its current parlous state the NHS is still better than that

 

Excellent, we're all in agreement

 

Reminds me of this scene…

 

Yup. The US suffers because:

Doctor takes a cut of drugs prescribed
Hospital makes a profit
Insurer makes a profit
Ambulance companies make a profit
Claims assessors make a profit
Everyone involved makes a profit

Also means that if you're sent to a different company (for that is what they are, companies) from your last appointment they don't have your records so you spend time (for which they charge) explaining your history and having repeat tests (for which they charge) before they can deal with you.

Chap I know in the USA works in a Fortune 500 company and has what he describes as superb health insurance. His wife has been ill so he still paid $7,200 in copay (excess) last year..

And with all that they pay 15% instead of 7% of GDP on healthcare.

**** privatisation

Vin

 

My parents' rural community organized a town hall with the police and their local Member of the Legislative Assembly a couple weeks back. There's a theft ring in the area that has been performing break-and-enters to steal stuff for months now. Everyone knows who it is, including the police (who once escorted someone to the property to take something back that they'd left on their lawn, and did nothing else).

The police were downright dismissive of the whole thing...just as with your (unquestionably copy-and-pasted) response there, their attitude was that if the community provided incontrovertible evidence, they might take a look, but no promises. In the meantime, just live with the pack (seriously, there's more than a dozen of them on a small property) of meth-heads repeatedly skulking around people's houses and stealing stuff.

But they can sling traffic tickets like no one's business. Outside chance they'll get involved if and when someone gets hurt, but given that they've proven less than interested in investigating outright murders, I wouldn't count on it.

 

I now have video footage that they couldn’t be arsed to find.