A point that stood out for me was that despite the lack of investment and trade unions being difficult at times, more trains ran on time, the cost of ticket was not too bad and so the nationalised service was more efficient and better value for money than now. Now lots of trains are routinely cancelled and tickets cost a fortune. Poor value etc. Sounds very similar to what has happened to nationalised Water. Thatchers decisions continue to haunt us. It is apparent that in the last 13 years the NHS has (as is obvious to most people) suffered from lack of investment, staff and buildings. Retention and recruitment of staff is very difficult It is also apparent that state education is suffering from lack of investment, ie lack of new and refurbishment of buildings. Also retention and recruitment of staff is problematic. SEND children are a group that have borne the brunt of these cuts, the least able to do so. This callousness is awful.
We know all about the Tories - one more voice screeching about their every mistake makes no difference. I'm looking at what's coming round the bend at us. I vote for whoever is most likely to unseat the SNP MP. Which has led me to vote Labour and Lib Dem in the last few GEs.
Hancock in the dock next ... ... let's see if he can grin his way through this like he does everything else.
Interesting stuff from Mancock so far. It feels like what a Minister's job should be - oversight of those with the expertise and responsibility to advise upwards and instruct downwards. Who was assuring him that the UK Pandemic planning was the best in the world? Let's get them in for a little chat. Did they really believe that? Why? Or was it a case of 'tell this bloke whatever you need to to get him out of my face'?
I'm not a teacher myself, but teaching has always been a big part of my life. My parents were both teachers and my wife is a teacher. Teachers have been complaining about underfunding for as long as I can remember. Recruiting, but especially retaining, teachers is difficult because it is a highly pressurised job. Unless you've done it yourself, or lived with someone who does it, it's easy to misunderstand the pressures that teachers are constantly under. Some of this pressure comes from a lack of resources. A huge amount comes from the fact that teachers are expected to also act as social workers and have huge safeguarding responsibilities put on their shoulders. OFSTED inspections are also hugely detrimental to the well-being of teachers and schools, and teachers, can be accused of being failures due to things that are out of their control, such as a lack of resources. Maybe those are things for government to deal with. Another huge part of the pressure, however, is the attitude of the public. Teachers aren't treated with respect, the public treat them like service providers like waiters or waitresses. A lot of people seem to think that teachers are only there to keep an eye on their kids while they go to work. Teachers are being expected to teach kids things that should come from the home, like using the toilet and table manners. And these attitudes only seem to be getting worse. This government haven't done a lot to help teachers but there is nothing this government, or the next one, can do about the attitude of the public. Solely blaming the problems teachers face on the current government is inaccurate and diminishes how hard the job is.
Didn't catch Ben Elton on Laura either... "Turns out [Sunak] is as much of a mendacious narcissistic sociopath as his previous boss" Comedian Ben Elton describes #BBCLauraK's interview with PM Rishi Sunak as "an extraordinary, Orwellian, meaningless, evasive word salad"
Hancock seems to be implying that all the pandemic planning was based on reactive rather than proactive thinking. Which falls to bits in every scenario unless you're first to react. In my previous jobs I did a bit of business continuity and disaster management. We had plans for all sorts and brief frameworks of ideas for stuff a little more unusual. Reviewed every year and signed off at all levels of responsibility. Was anyone doing that, or was it just gashed off and presented to a non expert minister to sign on the assurance that it would be fine? It feels very much like a basic failure of organisation and a lack of clear responsibilities here allowing people to half arse work without any fear of getting into trouble for doing so.
Have an old friend who is very into "eat the rich", he sees Nazis and bigots at every turn, showed him the ethnic breakdown data of UK Billionaires and realised he would be the racist antisemite if he ate the rich.
Laura Kuenssberg, "People are worried about paying their mortgages Prime Minister, can I ask how you'll be trying to help them?" Sunak, "Of course Laura, my five pledges are stopping the boats, halving inflation, ......" Kuenssberg 'thinks', "Is this c*nt for real."
A bit of discrimination is healthy, after all when you select your apples in Tesco, you don't pick the bruised ones.
Personally I see the political spectrum like a clock face with the centre ground at 12 o’clock, the left at 9 o’clock, the right at 3 o’clock and extreme left and right meeting at 6 o’clock The extremes may travel a different road but arrive at the same place eventually.
See my long post from the Daily Telegraph exercise Cygnus? 6 main points two of which were, stockpile PPE and ring fence Care Homes. Stocks were run down by Hunt to save money, and patients were sent by hospitals under instructions from government to Care Homes. Another point was never run hospitals at 90% plus, have spare capacity ie beds and staff not overwhelmed all the time. To save money the aim by Hunt was to increase bed occupancy.
Horseshoe theory? It's true that radicals value cohesion and authority, like a Roman Emperor organising a phalanx. The difference between the two is more to do with the outcome they desire, chaos or order? I think the modern world aka neo liberalism has exposed the problems associated with too much freedom, humans need some order and discipline otherwise we arrive at all the worst excess we now see in society.
Not quite, because the horseshoe theory differentiates between the extremes, I believe there is no difference and neither are acceptable and equally disruptive. Just my opinion of course.
Out of interest is that because of nationalism or other policy? It’s not dissimilar to me by the way though it’s Tories I want out obviously
