Who Will You Vote For?

[Yorick]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

Fatties? Where?

[gremlin]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

Fatties? Where?

We're voting for them, dear. You know, the waddly ones.

Something about showing us their fanny-mesto. Not sure I want to see that, mind....

[Cousin Jack]

OFWAT seem totally toothless, so I'm not sure the NHS having a hissy fit could achieve much.

Ofwat are not just toothless, they are a major component of the problem, allowing non-profitable companies to borrow vast sums, not for investment in infrastructure but to pay dividends.

[mangocrazy]

OFWAT seem totally toothless

Too much sugar?

[Yorick]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

Fatties? Where?

We're voting for them, dear. You know, the waddly ones.

@taipan?

[Count Steer]

PS Guess what Victoria Atkin's hubby does for a living....

....he's Managing Director of British Sugar.

Ah yes, the sugar industry. If you want to know the origins of the "obesity epidemic" read this book: "Pure, White and Deadly" by John Yudkin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure,_White_and_Deadly

Count Steer wrote: (soz, I edited instead if replied)

Indeed. I had a copy back in the 70s. What happened to him after was a disgrace.

They're still feeding into us by stealth as in the now ubiquitous 'brioche' buns as we gaily follow the Americans down the 'support the sugar industry' path by adding it in lots of things that don't need it. Breakfast cereals and soft drinks were just the visible tip of the iceberg.

[irie]

Karol Sikora in the Telegraph today. Probably behind a paywall so quoted in full.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/0 ... el-farage/

Only Nigel Farage is telling the truth about the NHS

Embracing private healthcare while training British doctors is the sort of radical reform we need

KAROL SIKORA 18 June 2024 • 11:12am

When attempting to gather political support for my campaign to reopen our empty cancer centres, I emailed a great number of MPs from the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems and others. I was hopeful they would share the same sense of urgency as me. Getting these facilities reopened would have saved countless lives during the worst cancer backlog I have ever witnessed. I was wrong. The vast majority ignored me, a handful made a token effort but nothing more. One MP genuinely did his best, Sir Graham Brady, and I’m very grateful.

I sincerely asked for help and most couldn’t even be bothered to reply. The election comes round, and all of a sudden I have politicians knocking at my door. Where was that interest when it was needed?

I went into this election with a low opinion of Westminster politics. I was asked to examine the various plans from the main political parties on healthcare and the NHS. Did I expect much? No, not really. More of the same, zero admission of a crisis, general platitudes accounting for nothing and the usual worshipping of the holy shrine of our NHS. There were simply no innovative ideas.

Labour will always be held back by its fanatical devotion to Bevan’s original concept. At least Wes Streeting wants change and seems very capable. But he will be held back by the party’s leftist origin. Its manifesto is packed with the usual humdrum, with no genuine commitment to the radical change that’s required. After 76 years every system surely needs a major overhaul.

The Conservatives? Speaking honestly, I almost didn’t bother reading it. They’ve had fourteen years to sort out this mess, and have objectively failed on all counts. I don’t trust a word they say. There are a few murmurings in their plans which I can agree with. But why should we believe them now? If they thought their changes were so necessary, why haven’t they already been implemented?

I judge people on what they have delivered, not what they say they will deliver. Under their watch the bureaucracy of overpaid apparatchiks sitting in fancy offices well away from the frontline appears to have grown beyond all recognition.

From the Liberal Democrats, there are a few interesting ideas, particularly on a commitment to named doctors for the elderly and sick. But where would these doctors come from? That patient group requires a lot of time. Just try to get a GP appointment for yourself – it’s not so easy, and they are surely too scared of rocking the professional boat to make the big changes needed. On the whole their plan lacks ambition.

And then I read Reform’s plan. I could have written it myself. Sharp, concise, controversial and radical. We do need something different to get us out of the mess we’re in, and it’s certainly that.

Lifting frontline staff out of paying basic rate tax for three years – common sense. It will help to stop the brutal brain drain we’re experiencing and actually encourage more British youngsters into healthcare. Clever, too, as more senior staff will still pay tax as they are in a different bracket. Ending training caps for medical students and writing off student debt following ten years service. Good idea. Capable staff with ambition, skill and determination can ascend from the bottom to the top. Hospital porter to brain surgeon may at last really be possible. This is a long term plan which won’t see fruition for 5 years – but that’s just the attitude we need.

Tax relief of 20 per cent on all private healthcare and insurance. Fantastic. It will make healthcare a consumer good leading to far more innovation in its delivery. The usual suspects will moan about privatisation, but quite frankly if hardworking families want to spend more on private healthcare then it should be welcomed and encouraged. It will benefit everyone, freeing up space in the NHS for those who need it. Alongside it is the commitment to properly embrace private healthcare, which would surely help clear the backlog.

Patients within the NHS who can’t see a GP within three days will receive a voucher for private treatment – again, a good idea. Patients should be treated like valued customers, rather than a nuisance to be dealt with.

Finally, and perhaps the most important, cutting waste and unnecessary management. From someone with half a century experience of dealing with the NHS, let me tell you – it is rife with incompetent bureaucrats who contribute nothing to the smooth running of the system. They deliver nothing for patient care, and disrupt the activities of frontline staff doing the actual work.

Armies of PR spin agents, diversity officers and intrusive management many now working from home. Layers and layers of bureaucracy starting with the top in NHS England and the Integrated Care Boards need to be slashed away. That money needs to be redirected to the frontline.

Make no mistake, the NHS is in crisis. We need radical ideas for radical solutions. Reform offers something different. I applaud their efforts.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Sikora

Karol Sikora (born 17 June 1948)[1][2] is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer.

[mangocrazy]

Part privatisation by stealth, part fantasist wishlist.

Coming from your friendly far-right Torygraph (soon to be renamed Reformograph).

This shit is just so predictable.

[irie]

Part privatisation by stealth, part fantasist wishlist.

Coming from your friendly far-right Torygraph (soon to be renamed Reformograph).

This shit is just so predictable.

There's none so blind as those who will NOT see.

[mangocrazy]

Oh, I see you Nigel Farage - I see you all right. Trying, one step at a time, to turn the UK's crown jewels into the horrific mess that is the USA's insurance-bedevilled (lack of) health system.

[irie]

Oh, I see you Nigel Farage - I see you all right. Trying, one step at a time, to turn the UK's crown jewels into the horrific mess that is the USA's insurance-bedevilled (lack of) health system.

Have a word with Wes Streeting.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Karol Sikora (born 17 June 1948)[1][2] is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer.

I make no comment on the privatisation thing, but should we be listening to medical experts on what's wrong with the NHS organisation? Isn't that a bit like asking CEOs about brain surgery?

[Saga Lout]

Well...where do you think them oranges in Tescos are from?

Jaffa?

That's in Israel, isn't it?

[Taipan]

The trouble is the NHS isn't working. We have people living on pain management because they're waiting for operations. I got an emergency referral to respiratory medical services at our local hospital; see you on the 24th of September then. No one wants the NHS to fail, but it is and something needs to change. I don't know what the answer is, but like many others I know the question alright.

[irie]

Karol Sikora (born 17 June 1948)[1][2] is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer.

I make no comment on the privatisation thing, but should we be listening to medical experts on what's wrong with the NHS organisation? Isn't that a bit like asking CEOs about brain surgery?

If not "medical experts" who do you think should be asked "what's wrong with the NHS organisation"?

[MrLongbeard]

Well...where do you think them oranges in Tescos are from?

Jaffa?

That's in Israel, isn't it?

No, some are from Chulak

[irie]

The trouble is the NHS isn't working. We have people living on pain management because they're waiting for operations. I got an emergency referral to respiratory medical services at our local hospital; see you on the 24th of September then. No one wants the NHS to fail, but it is and something needs to change. I don't know what the answer is, but like many others I know the question alright.

No, it's not. And one of the biggest failures is cancer care which is an issue close to Karol Sikora's heart. This is from a media organ not widely reputed to be a "Reformograph" (c) Mangocrazy.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... rld-report

UK has some of worst cancer survival rates in developed world, report says

Rates for lung, liver, brain, oesophageal, pancreatic and stomach cancers worse than in most comparable nations.
...
Out of 33 countries of comparable wealth and income levels, the UK ranks as low as 28th for five-year survival of both stomach and lung cancer, 26th for pancreatic cancer, 25th for brain cancer and 21st and 16th for liver and oesophageal cancers respectively.

The six cancers account for nearly half of all common cancer deaths in the UK and more than 90,000 people are diagnosed with one of them in Britain every year.

[Yambo]

Karol Sikora (born 17 June 1948)[1][2] is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer.

I make no comment on the privatisation thing, but should we be listening to medical experts on what's wrong with the NHS organisation? Isn't that a bit like asking CEOs about brain surgery?

My mother (died 1967) never learned to drive a motor vehicle but she knew a shit bus driver from a good one.

[Tricky]

I still really don't have a clue who to vote for- I've been a life-ling conservative voter, but I definitely won't be voting that way this time.
There are show-stoppers with both Labour and LibDem manifestos for me, and I must admit, I didn't realise that the SDP were still in existence until I saw this. Current thinking is I'll spoil my paper.


These are four bits of tat that came in the post yesterday, the two on the right are both from the Conservatives, one of them personalized for every voter, first time I've ever seen that....

(Pic removed by Moderator as home address visible).

[cheb]

The bottom right one looks to have an address on it