Healthy Me...?

I reported as ordered to the nurse for the 'Old man's health check.'  
Reporting in dead on time the receptionist stopped cleaning her knuckledusters long enough to inform me I had to 'Log in' at the screen 'over there.'  I went 'over there' and confronted the blue screen (of death?' I thought) and began to answer the inquisition presented before me.  It is a good job I could remember my date of birth!  At last it recognised me, ordered me upstairs, and switched off.
Clumping upstairs, ideal I though for my knees, and more so for the older man with bad knees and walking stick awaiting his turn to fall down them, I found the waiting area and entered.  All things are down on screen these days.  Ahead of me a largish screen ordered return of unused medicines, demanded measles were vaccinated against and with a loud 'Ping'  ordered Mr Patient to Reception room 'A.'  As he was downstairs I cannot tell if he obeyed but I suspect he will.
I waited.
Refusing to sit as I expected to be called any minute I stared out the window at the new view, last time in here I met the witch doctor who disposed of me to quickly to allow me a glance out the window.  A jumble of buildings erected after the war, nearby some had been destroyed by bombing, the square practical but dated buildings looked so modern beside those aged hulks confronting the main street erected in the 19th century, some before that time.  Why do aged buildings look better than modern ones?  I read of Charles Dickens grumbling about the new Public houses that were springing up, either through new building or by renovation.  These he thought ghastly and criticised them all.  Now we are up in arms with anyone who wishes to destroy them!  Cheap labour helped obtain better looking buildings in the past, but often today we appear to build only monstrous edifices.  
I also noticed how the surgery had taken over several off the offices in the square build opposite, just above the pharmacy.  This small square surgery hopes to move to a monstrous needless new build in the town centre the council is spending £11 million of its own money on.  A Hotel we do not require, housing, restaurants and a doctors surgery will be built in spite of nobody wanting this and with money better spent where it is required.  The Tory council however will build whatever we say.
Last time I had a problem I saw the Nurse Practitioner, a kind of lesser doctor, who was excellent but having to make use of a large cupboard to see patients.  Some remedial work has been done but the space is too small.  That said if they move and make me walk 5 minutes to them rather than one minute I will not object.  However as this building will remove one car park and the taxi rank replacing them with nothing whatsoever I doubt those who have to travel by car will be pleased, the parking here is bad enough.
The 'Ping' came and at last my name appeared.
I crossed the floor into Room 5 where I met an attractive personable young lady who, like all nurse, can kill at 30 paces.  I followed instructions, I heeded comments, I accepted the Blood Pressure thing strangling my arm all without complaint.  The needle in the fingertip "You might feel a jab," said she, and she was right.  Wiping the blood of the ceiling we continued.
These days all measurements are made by these little computers.  Surprisingly they informed my my Cholesterol was 4.3 which is considerably down from 5 years ago!  'Benecol' margarine has helped, she said that lowers cholesterol by 7%, and that is helped by eating other things like porridge.  She knew about porridge having a Glasgow mother she had seen a lot of that!  Sugar was 5.3, and as my blood pressure was normal, only the need to lose a stone and exercise more was required.  
I was amazed!
Before I entered in trepidation I expected a list of horrid foods to eat to alter my diet,  a telling off for being a 'Fat slob' as last time, this lass was, er..plump herself, so maybe that is why she kept quiet, and here I was being informed that in spite of it all I was healthy!
Right, pasta tonight, veg tomorrow, then chocolate....

My treatment was FREE as it was the NHS.  

   

This however is what an American paid, in the 'Land of the Free,'

 for treatment on a knee infection.

Wednesday Baby

Me, myself and I considered the 'Daily Star,' a very much down market tabloid which I never look at to have won the headline of the day competition yesterday.  With the rest of the press offering page after page of old stories with accompanying photos the Star just had a simple headline stating the obvious.    
Today the papers are till engulfed in using the brat to avoid talk of Brexit.  Search the pages carefully as other important news will be slipped out by the government while this nonsense continues.  Today the fuss concerns the name of the child, I have sent the name 'Parasite' to Harry as an idea, he may however consider this to cover most of the royals, and 'benefit Scrounger' was another that crossed y mind.  I suggested also he takes the bairn down to the local 'Food Bank' and let him know how the rest of the population live under this government.  I suspect Harry, he with the gift of his mothers brain and his fathers hair (how come father never paid for him?), I suspect Harry knows little of life outside the nightclubs where the rich gathered to while away the hours.  Still he knows Africa is towards the South and quite warm.
What?  Me cynical?

  
I see that nice Mr Hunt has once again been taking his smile around the world.  Not that I would consider a foreign secretary doing this a bad thing indeed it is part of the job, however a cynic would say that maybe this is his ploy to get the top job?  Now in no way could I ever be called a cynic but again today he is meeting people, this time greeting the US representative to chat about Donald coming over and at no time will he mention the sale of the NHS to the yankees in any way or form if he became PM.  No, no, no, to think that a possibility would be outrageous, though he did write a wee book suggesting such a ploy some time back and a quarter of the NHS has been privatised much of it to American health peoples.  
Just saying like.

Butchering

Amazon

I've finished a book!  This to me is a great surprise as I had six given to me at Christmas, and a large book token, and so far I had only read three small ones and one paperback.  I have been so lazy busy doing other things I did not get time to read properly.
I was a bit taken aback by this one.  While I have worked in hospitals I avoided things like blood and gore as much as I could leaving that to the professionals to clean up.  This book takes us into the macabre surgical world of the 19th century and tells of the wonderful discovery of ether, later chloroform, to knock people out while operations took place and then on into the efforts of one Joseph Lister to clean things up.
Operations, whether with or without ether, took place on filthy tables in filthy hospitals where the speed of the surgeon cutting a leg off was more important than anything else.  No one comprehended germs and hygiene was considered needless.  The operation was watched by medical students, several assistants participated and cleaning was limited to removing blood quickly rather than keeping patients healthy.  Many died. Many of the surgeons and students also died having picked up diseases from the patients who in many cases were of the poorest calibre and not very clean either.  The richer classes could be treated at home on the kitchen table as this was considered better.  Hospitals were for the poor.  
Lister learned much in London but moved to Edinburgh which was much better surely?  He learned much from the famous Professor James Syme who not only took him on as assistant recognising his qualities as a surgeon but allowed him to marry his daughter.  Later however Lister moved to the filthy Glasgow Infirmary leaving behind the filthy Edinburgh Infirmary which he had somewhat improved.  Glasgow was not keen on his ideas as numbers of patients treated meant cash and cleaning the hospital was not seen as important to the management.  
All this time Lister had been seeking to improve surgical results and his use of the microscope, much derided by many, and his later knowledge of the work of Louis Pasteur led him to understand germs existed, few wished to believe him.  He discovered, after many failures, that Carbolic Acid could be used to heal patients.  His experiments produced results but the medical world did not run after his findings.  How often science is proved to be true but scientists will not accept the results because they do not wish to hear the results?  It took years before people accepted his work and in the end all hospitals improved their cleanliness, surgeons and others accepted the existence of 'germs' and hygiene was improved in all hospitals.   Patients no longer entered hospitals expecting to die most now lived and hygiene and Listers use of carbolic acid on dressings that was responsible.  Clearly I have condensed a lifetimes work which took much long study, many experiments on patients, including his sister and later in life Queen Victoria, and long years of struggle against the perceived wisdom of the medical world.  Nothing is easy in this life even for a genius.
From his research others developed items such a carbolic soap and even 'Listerene,'  this was developed from several other uses that failed but has since become popular, and the Johnson brothers began to develop re-packaged dressings and became famous as 'Johnson & Johnson.  We owe much to the man who discovered ether for taking away the pain and we owe much to Joseph Lister, a humble man who treated rich and poor alike, for developing such surgical skill and after care that healed instead of killed.

Dying Uncared For.

We heard quite a bit this week re Boris Johnson demanding £100 million for the NHS.  This from the man who lied about leaving the EU enabling us to spend £350 million on the NHS from the cash we send Europe.  Of course that was a lie, we get most of that back, and he is one who wishes to introduce a US style health service so he and his kind can benefit from owning the shares of these private health companies.  This lie is another of many regarding the NHS that flies about these days and while it does so people are suffering in hospitals throughout the land because of financial cuts and mismanagement.  So much so that even the bureaucrats responsible are shouting about shortage of cash and not just to line their own pockets this time.  Note that people are suffering, many indeed are dying.  Lack of staff, not helped by attitudes that arose since the EU referendum which have seen many European nurses return to the continent, people not being seen in hospital for hours due to lack of beds, doctors, nurses, sometimes they wait days, and ambulances held up at hospitals failing to attend casualties because of being unable to offload patients into the A & E.  This alongside financial cut backs that lessen the number of ambulances and staff which leads to people dying while they wait.
That is my point.  People die because of mismanagement and cutbacks, people die in hospital and in the streets, people fail to see doctors when they require one and death follows and no-one appears to care.  Life is worth little.  
This however is seen also regarding road accidents.  Compare the result when a man takes a knife and kills his neighbour, he might get a life sentence and serve 15 or so years in prison.  However a drunk/drugged or careless driver who kills someone might only get 24 months, not years.  Some indeed do not go to prison at all because the law does not allow this and no-one appears willing to change this!  
No-one is ever responsible if a patient dies, this used to be different in Scotland maybe it still is.  No-one loses their job, no-one ends up before a judge.

We have aborted nine million children since 1967 in the UK alone and while many oppose this no government is willing to change, using the feeble reason of 'a woman's choice.'  No woman has the right to kill a child and the child is not the woman, it is in her body, and this responsibility is not hers alone but also the fathers.  No decent society ought to allow such murder but we do and find excuses to continue this.  Life is cheap.  
Life is cheap and we are demeaned by these attitudes.  We care less for one another and love unimportant things more as we do so.  Individuality becomes prominent, another way of saying selfishness.  The 'rights' of one becomes more important than decent behaviour or the 'rights' of others.  We care less about our neighbours, less about whatever the 'right thing' might be, although we all know what the 'right thing' in any event actually is but fail to allow this to propel us to act, and put ourselves first.  I find I do it, don't you?  Society in general in the UK daily to do the 'right thing' in so many situations encouraged by the gutter press though there is no other kind and  dumbed down TV shows that reach for the lowest common denominator and the worship of celebrity, and you don't wish to know my opinion of most celebrities!
We need to change urgently.

Snow Still

The fearsome snow that caused panic in all media and led to vocal attacks on gritter lorry men might be coming to an end.  As always the terror lasted a day or two and by tomorrow most snow will have evaporated, all will be forgotten by Friday.
Certainly it snowed again today, again this caused closed schools and shopping centres.  I informed the facebook lot that the local Freeport was open and when I got there desperate to see one specific shop found that today's snowfall, which had ceased by the time I arrived, had led to the closure of Freeport!  I was miffed!  This meant a trudge around the shops I trudged around on Saturday and there was nothing I wished for there.  This town has all the basics but nothing fancy apart from what the museum sells, and as I was buying for someone at the museum I could not use that.  Knackered and disappointed am I.
Tomorrow we will freeze, it will be minus 2 tonight, much colder up north, and I must trudge through sludge again tomorrow for the museum.  If the boiler fails we will be in big trouble.

It is becomng common these days for people, mostly women, to fill the media with pictures of themselves, 'selfies,' showing off their scars and boasting how this will not affect their 'confidence.' (Why are women and footballers the only ones with problems of 'confidence?')  Why are these women shoving their sickness down our throats?  Why are these self publicists allowed house room? Local and national papers appear full of people suffering a sickness, leg break, scar or whatever and demanding we pay them attention, why?
I sent many years in the NHS and have been treated several times as a patient and found no-one then interested in running to the media nor did I wish to do so myself.  Why then are these folks so often filling the pages?  Are their medical problems news?  Give it  a rest folks.

   

Duty Done

Having done my duty today, raking in the cash by use of my skilled sales patter and free chocolates, having packed up the residue of the now removed latest exhibition, having done my all and chatted up the girls I made my weary way home.  As the afternoon descended into December gloom I wandered round the corner to the nurse for my second visit having exhausted the pills as ordered.  There she examined my now no longer swollen foot, ran her hand over my calf (that reminded me of something but I canny mind what) and allowed me to go my way almost back to normal.
This pleased me as taking tablets that must be taken on an empty stomach is not easy.  The plan is to leave gaps between eating long enough to please the makers but short enough to ensure you get fed properly.  This is not easy as i found when I discovered my head was not working.  I had got confused and forgot to eat again.  This was a small thing in the medical world just imagine what those taking three or more differing tablets each day must go through.  How glad I am also we still have a NHS in spite of the Tories attempts to ruin it!  This would have cost me a small fortune for two visits and a couple of prescriptions, only the conservative Party could consider the US system worth trying!  Just imagine being seriously ill, just ask Jerry!
On the way back I attempted to take one or two pics with the wee camera of the brighter Xmas lights.  Nothing special in the town but I was happy with this one of the buildings across the park.  The world is a different place at night, once the traffic noise dies down and people run for home.  Of course you do get some funny looks from those that do walk the streets at night but I am used to that in the daytime anyway.  

 

Horrid, Disgusting Stuff!

This was the view that greeted my weary eyes this morning, snow!  Horrid, disgusting snow!  Great lumps of it falling from the gray clouds above and hanging around everywhere.  It's a disgrace, we ought not to have this sort of thing around here, this is a nice part of the world, sometimes.
Clearly the government ought to do something about this, snow belongs up north, where the lower orders reside, not down here where the money brains of the nation are to be found.
There is nothing else for it but to close the grubby curtains once again and stay indoors doing the ironing to keep the place warm.  I might have to iron every shirt twice in that case!  Bah!

A couple came into the museum yesterday, she in a wheelchair, he pushing, and made their way around the building.  It was clear she had little response, no more than a baby seeing the world for the first time.  I considered her to be less than forty years old and her understanding of what was around her probably was little more than a childs.  What care would this lass receive if there was no national Health Service?  Would she be aborted at birth perhaps?  If this is the result of an illness would they encourage her to die? Human life is worth so little in these Darwinian days.    

With the election in the offing the papers are so willing to indicate faults with those they dislike and therefore many have highlighted the UKIP leader Nigel Farage's desire to bring in a US style health service.  This has been roundly condemned by the UKIP Party membership who strongly favour keeping the NHS as it is and improving it.  Indeed while most UKIP members are really Conservative members (mostly afraid of immigrants) at heart they understand just how important the NHS has been to the UK. Following the US pattern would be a disaster for all but the richest.  

The lass in the wheelchair requires 24 hour care, which but the rich could afford that?  When at Maida Vale thirty years ago an emergency brain operation and aftercare would run into many thousands of pounds, how much now?  Even turning up and a dentist or doctor could cost a fortune and no insurance coverage would ever enable an NHS as successful as the one we have now.  We must fight to keep and develop the NHS not sell it off.

The recent policy of running down the NHS and then demanding privatisation as the only answer comes from politicians who not only have an ideological as opposed to practical understanding of the NHS and the public's needs but also own many shares in American private health organisations! Now who would have thought that?  The elite care for their public so much that they will ensure their personal profit comes before public requirements!  Vote them all out!  We need a strong and safe NHS, we are in danger of losing it and the majority, not the few, will suffer.

As I mentioned before the repression of Christianity in the UK continues apace. The latest school to suffer this attack via Ofsted is Grindon Hall in the north east.  This school is a Christian Free School with the highest educational reputation but has been called 'troubled' and now put into special measures by Ofsted simply because it does not encourage gay sex or celebrate non Christian festivals.  Individuals are sacked, in spite of their work record, for sharing such views as those biblical ones found at this school.  Teachers, nurses, doctors, workers in all sorts of businesses are hounded out because of Christian beliefs. This because they are considered 'intolerant!'  I suppose a police officer is intolerant if he arrests someone?  A judge intolerant for sentencing a prisoner? It appears 'British values' as espoused by the nation today does not include 'tolerance' of those who indicate something is wrong. Similar intolerance was shown to those who opposed slavery yet they were proved right in the end. What a confused world political correctness has produced. 

This is just the beginning.

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Good Health

As I proceeded in a westerly direction on leaving the museum this afternoon I was hindered in my perambulation by a man with a van.  It transpired and came about that he was offering a 'FREE' 'Health Check.'  Now normally in such circumstances I would call a constable however I quickly realised that this was an authorised NHS service.  The idea is of course prevention rather than cure, a worthy plan and one most people agree with, and then ignore!  I had considered visiting the doc to get such basic tests to ensure long life and happiness but they are too busy these days, in fact my doc has closed the door or newcomers and will only deal with those suffering a disease of some sort, idiocy doesn't count.  So I took advantage of this free check up which was all conducted by digital machinery!  
Everything was done by use of a wee hand held computer.  This calculated all the measurements he obtained including cholesterol, obtained by a pinprick on the finger, then the trained, but not professional nursing, staff were efficient.  A male dealt with me, a female for the other lot. Nothing you wished to keep secret was exposed or discussed, that is for the GP, no stethoscopes were hurt in the making of this diagnosis.   
My weight, height, waist, cholesterol, Blood Pressure like were tested and he pronounced me to be alive, much to my shock, in fact the results were much better than I thought.  By referring to a series of colour coded charts he pronounced me FAT SLOB!  This led to advice I already know on eating, exercise and not eating cheese.  This last I objected to because I must eat cheese or I die I told him.  It appears many men make the same objection but that is one thing that must decrease.  Bah!  'Porage' rules now.
I was impressed by this mobile health check idea, it reminded me of the mobile X-Ray vans that toured factories in the 50's and 60's.  A very good way to encourage good health.  Naturally a lot of people would not take advantage of this as they are afraid they will discover some illness, or indeed that they require urgent weight control.  The refusal appears somewhat sad to me but I was the ninth today to undergo this quick procedure.  Many things in the NHS require change, and NOT by privatisation through the back door Mr Cameron! The idea of a wee van stopping folks in the street and offering a free check for simple procedures can only be good.  


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A Boring Picture...

That, says you, is a boring picture.  Aye, agrees me, but I like it.  I like it because the sky in the background looked good, the autumnal trees show their colours and it shows that I was once again wandering across the park.  It has been almost three weeks since I done this.  Three weeks since what some women call a 'wee chill,' and all men agree is a serious bout of 'Man-Flu,'  laid me low and ruined my life.  It's ridiculous that something that used to come and go in three days takes almost three weeks now.  Can it be the virus is changing, or is it my health failing?  The muck that fills the skies unseen cannot be doing us any good, it also may well be changing the way virii adapt.  What a great difference a day makes.  Yesterday I attended the museum but was far from awake.  I sat there staring into space rather than doing anything, disturbed only when a few stragglers entered.   I was glad it was quiet, but the museum needs visitors.  Today however I was almost alive and raced out slowly to peruse the market and keep my cash in my pocket.  I did however notice a lass drop a bit paper.  As I arrived on the spot it turned into a £5 note, this meant running at least seven steps to catch up with her. I still have not recovered!  

In an attempt to find a prettier picture I ventured out this afternoon, eyes peeled for enticing sights.  Sadly few appeared under this ever darkening gray sky.  However the falling leaves can produce interesting pictures, however whether this is one is debatable.  

As luck would have it the foto opportunities enlarged as a poor soul required aid from the first response unit.  This has parked in the bay as he ought but the following ambulance just stopped in the centre of the road.  Probably a woman driver I would conclude myself.  The traffic behind may grumble as it is impossible to pass, but most will accept this.  Hopefully the patient will survive, the trip to the nearest hospital is fifteen miles away!  However in spite of the Tories desperate attempts to sell the NHS to their friends it exists still and the cut down ambulance service still manages to save lives in spite of them. Sometimes we forget just how lucky we are to have an ambulance at the other end of a phone.  We take such benefits for granted, benefits not always available, nor so efficient, elsewhere. 

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News Today

On this April Fools Day the news offered to us via screaming headlines and chattering voices informs us, to some extent, that the Conservative Party's vain attempt to amend the 'Welfare State' is once again under way.  Having spent the past few years informing 'Middle England' that all on benefit were scroungers, that the vast majority of those on sickness benefit were fit for work and that those on housing benefit had plenty more cash than those working, a state of divisive hate has arisen between those poorly paid ion work and those on benefit.

A note on language here.  We used to refer to 'Social Security,' a system that secured the individual from poverty, starvation and homelessness, whether through unemployment, sickness or other outside situation.  Now we used the word 'Welfare,' an American term that implies all such are lazy scroungers.  A small but important use of language encouraged by the Tory press.

There are, and have always been, people deliberately refusing to work while claiming as much as they could get for nothing.  Liverpool and Glasgow know much of this.  However the fact remains that the near three million unemployed would take suitable work tomorrow if it was on offer!  Where I ask are such jobs?  The Tory's claim a million have found work, but the vast majority are part time, and then on minimum wage.  Refusal to accept such work, even if highly qualified elsewhere, is not an option given by this government of millionaires who would never dirty their hands by working.  Ian Duncan Smith never stacked shelves when he was twice unemployed!

The amendments to the Social Security budget is merely an attempt to cut the bill, understandably, and get the 'Daily Mail' reader to vote Conservative by encouraging a hatred of benefit seekers and a false promise of tax cuts.   Sadly as so many middle classes now find themselves claiming dole money I fear this will not be successful,  especially as both Dave and George have missed many opportunities to improve the nation and instead turned it into a liberal ghetto, losing their core voters while doing so.  

The Labour Party?  Ed Milliband will follow a similar course.  After all Labour began the use of the ATOS company to weed out those fit for work from those genuinely unfit.  The money made by declaring an individual fit ensured many, whether missing limbs or mentally sick, were declared fit, in spite of the vast majority winning appeals backed up by medical records.  The sick in Afghanistan get better care.  Labour offer nothing, and it is Ed's fault.

'The welfare reforms' have been badly thought out, rushed through, and incompetently handled.  IDS will still insist they work however. and work is something he has never managed successfully before.

Not only, but also the Tory plan for selling off the NHS has taken another step forward today.Since the days of the vile Thatcher women destroying the nation the NHS has been under threat.  To save the taxpayer a penny, and earn votes for herself, she began to sell the NHS, that failed, but only just.  All governments since have puzzled how to maintain a free health system while cutting the ever increasing costs, all have failed.  On the same day that a failed reorganisation of the Social Security is introduced the government introduce a revamped NHS.  In theory doctors will control the spending, in practice it will do nothing for patient care, and fail to stop the overspending.  Hamfisted and ideologically led the overhaul will be amended by the next Labour government, quite how we await with anticipation.   Not exactly eager anticipation I must say. The Labour Party has nothing to offer but Tory failings, and that is not enough.

The biggest news however, according to the number of times it has been mentioned on the news, is David Milliaband's resignation as a director of Sunderland Football Club because they have chosen to sign Paulo Di Canio as manager.  Di Canio, an unstable character, was recently fired from lower division Swindon Town, but is seen as the man to fire up Sunderland as they fight the danger of relegation and all that means.

Now Milliband's problem is not a football one. No sensible Premier club would appoint this man Di Canio.  Let me give an example of his character.  While playing for Celtic some years back he won a penalty kick, probably rightly.  He took the penalty, he scored the penalty, then he, not they, he began to argue with the Heart of Midlothian defenders.  He got sent off!  Rarely do Celtic players get sent off, rarely does any player get sent off for winning and scoring a penalty kick!

David Milliband objects however not to the nature of the man but to his politics.  Italian football is very politically motivated.  Silvio Berlusconi, when not running his TV stations, bouncing around on young women, or even in one of his court appearances owns A.C.Milan, one of Europe's premier football teams.   In Rome Lazio, who Di Canio played for, represent the right wing in Italian politics.  All other teams have leanings one way or another, something which makes overall control of football in Italy very difficult for any government, and Italy has had lots of them  since the war.

Di Canio famously used the Fascist right arm salute during one game, for reasons I know not, and gained much opprobrium for doing so.  Whatever his reasons, I forget those now, it matters not.  This, especially in the left leaning press, was a great evil and a wonderful way to fill space.  He has never been allowed to forget this.  David Milliband has resigned he says, because of this man's political beliefs.  Is he right to do so?  Is he telling the truth?

I cannot stop dealing with people because of their political beliefs, to do so would be 'undemocratic.'  For Milliband to resign because the manager appears to support Mussolini is likewise 'undemocratic,' and somewhat over the top.  However let us remember that David has also resigned from the Labour Party and taken a job in the USA leading an 'International Charity,' for which incidentally he will be paid some £200,00 a year.  During the past year he has already, it has been claimed, received almost a million in payments for his 'other projects.'  Not bad for a man who failed to become the popular leader of the Labour Party because of the Unions choosing his more amenable brother.   

David has made a splash here.  This news has gone worldwide.  His stand against fascism and Nazism is clear.  What is also clear is that when Ed, his brother and present leader of the Labour Party fails to ensure a decisive defeat of this shoddy government then David will return as the great white hope, ascending from the Americas to the delight of the desperate Labour accolites and then lead them into a brave new world.

Aye, he cares about fascism right enough.

It is an interesting aside that while the dangers and horrors of Fascism, as seen during the 20th century, are real enough the dangers and horrors of the left as noted under Communism are less dangerous in some eyes.  The chattering classes in the UK, that is the middle class socialists, not those that have to work and get their hands dirty socialists, lean to the left while paying lip service to the wrongs of Stalin or Mao, Pol Pot or Castro.  Dictatorship is OK if we do it apparently.  I must add that the first to object to living  under such a system as run by those men would be the chattering classes.  Their left wing approach is to let them dictate to others, while keeping their wealth, and demand their rights to progress while pretending to themselves that they do this for everyone.  The Blairite Milliband flying to his wealthy abode in new York has laid his plans to possess the vote of such as they.  While pandering to middle England he will soon be pandering, from afar, to the Guardian reader.  Both share a delight in their money, both vote accordingly.

The people?  They know their place, and the news agenda is fixed by their betters to ensure they keep it. 

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NHS Death Announced

Daily Mail

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, a man who's name was famously mispronounced by James Naughtie on the 'Today' programme a while back, has announced the death of the NHS.  Speaking in an interview with the 'Spectator' he has made it clear that while the NHS budget is 'ringfenced' up to 1915 after that the budget may have to be slashed!

This comes as no surprise to me, or indeed the majority of the nation.  The Conservative Party have never liked the NHS.  The Conservative Party do not like anything they think costs them money.  The Conservative Party and their friends the 'Tea Party,' together comprise the greediest, selfish people known to mankind.  The idea of paying tax towards the greatest health service known to man is beyond their capabilities, until of course they require its help.  Then the GP is demanded to be on call when they wish him to be there, even if their problem is minor.  The thought of waiting in line is beneath such people, self importance comes first.  The idea of sharing the cost between the nation, enabling all to have a first class service at all times, even though there may be a wait, is beyond them.  The idea that someone somewhere is getting medical care from their taxes, tax they could spend on themselves, hurts them deeply.  Therefore Hunt can make such statements happily knowing that a vast number of (well off) people will vote Conservative at the next election, even if they think Cameron and Hunt are not up to the job.  Money in the hand gets their vote every time!

The NHS is expensive.  Well over a hundred billion a year.  Put that against the lives saved, pains eased, disease and disabilities overcome as much as possible, teeth and eyes attended to, and then fuss about a few pence a week tax.  The Conservative Party wish us to introduce the American insurance style system, Thatcher the milk snatcher was all for this during the days she threw the mentally ill out of the hospitals and onto the streets.  That saved cash by placing them 'in the community,' a community that saw them die in cardboard boxes!  Still, it saved cash.  Hunt is here offering the Tory view, a view that is growing amongst many such, that cutting cash to the NHS is good for the taxpayer and will not affect the service.  This week it must be added saw around 20 accident and emergency clinics close down or are planned to close.  Be happy about travelling 15 -50 miles for emergency treatment, if an ambulance can find you in the first place, and hopefully don't die on the way.  This would of course save the NHS money if you did however.   

So Hunt lives up to his scrambled name as the Tories begin the long. long haul to the next election.  The clarity is good however, we now know that the far right will make an effort to take control, and we know what that did for them last time don't we!  Goodbye Jeremy, I hope your new job will be more successful than any you have had recently.

Hospitals on TV

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Now, as you know, I am not one to complain, however this is the time of the year known as the 'silly season,' when the media, determined to fill every minute of their overlong news programmes, visit places normally left aside from the daily rush. Cats up trees are often found in such programmes, however at this time of the year such revelations are not considered to carry sufficient depth for the glorious people in TV Land. So one of the most useful time fillers is the NHS! Every local news programme the TV can provide appears to have a camera wandering about a hospital, doctors surgery or pharmacist, daily! Now local news is of course filled with rape, murder, fire and reports of UFOs over the post office, but at this time of the year, when government, local and national, has slowed down for the main part, (not counting when big changes are sneaked out when no-one is looking) when the schools are out, and the brats shoplifting, with the routine broken, crime slipping away as so many criminals are stealing from one another while getting drunk in Spanish seaside resorts (all equiped with the 'Daily Mirror,' 'fish & Chips,' and hordes of teenage thugs chasing scantily clad stupid girls (and where were they when I called?) ) so the TV people rush to the hospitals!
Tonight they spend overlong discussing the cutbacks and staff losses, (Not the 'front line staff' lies a well paid suit, she might well add 'Not me either,' but won't). Tomorrow the waiting list in the outpatients, yesterday, a new discovery blaming our 'genes' for the laziness that afflicts us, on Monday it will be the bugs that can kill (big headline, no story) and so on. Each story has a union man fearing staff loss, a suit lying in his teeth, a fervent doctor reassuring all and sundry that the disease that is ravishing the district is nothing to be concerned over, and an earnest reporter that does not care a bit about his story. He is just annoyed that he has been turned down again by SKY or ITV and misses the big money.
Why not just cut these local news broadcasts to five minutes? The murder, disappearance, factory closure, can be dealt with easily then, the sport, a muttering from a football manager about 'Giving 110%,' or a cricket captain explaining how his side lost 500 runs to a woman's team, can be as informative in one minute as it is in the several usually wasted on local TV. Must we visit hospitals? It is not news, rarely important, only brainless types who indulge themselves on daytime TV watch it and it goes in one ear ad out the other straight away. Do we need local news that much? Radio covers it better, rarely is there a major story, and while it has some interest explaining why the streets were closed off and police helicopters were hovering overhead, in the end it really doesn't matter, does it?


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'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness!'

Those of us in the free world look at the people of the United States with wonder during these days. Here we have the richest nation in the world with one of the most inefficient health systems known to man, yet when an attempt is made to remedy this, and a minor amendment at that, they complain hysterically! What is the matter with them? It seems to me the 'myth' that lies deep within the American psyche, 'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' may be the cause. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

From the American Declaration of Independence

Americans like to believe in 'freedom.' Their politicians talk about it all the time, it is written there in their constitution, their people consider themselves 'free' and they freely push 'freedom' onto others whether it is asked for or not. However are they actually 'free?'  No of course not, nobody is ever 'free' in this world. Just try getting on a bus for nothing! Freedom is a wonderful concept but actually a satanic lie! Nobody is ever free, the whole concept is impossible. Americans freedom goes back to the early settlers from the 17th century. This varied bunch of zealots endured great trauma crossing the Atlantic so they could be free to worship and live as they wished. Naturally this freedom of theirs annoyed the resident Indians (oops, 'Native Americans') so the freedom seeking pilgrims shot them. This left the settlers free to worship, and grow tobacco! These early 'Christian' settlers appeared to misinterpret the bible to suit themselves. I am so glad this does not happen today! Those that did not die from disease, flying arrows, and bad winters soon settled down in their various townships freely throwing one another out for heresy, or burning them as witches. The good old days as they say!

You recognise the problem with living a free life, other people! These people are a nuisance! None of us can be free, nor have the liberty to do our own thing, as long as other people exist. Not only can you never escape them, family, work mates, folk in the shops,and you certainly cannot shoot them all, but at some time or another you will need them, in shops, in hospitals, or in defence. Even worse they will need you! Whether you respond is up to you of course, and if we walk away from another's trouble are we being 'free,' or are we a prisoner of our 'self?'

The idea of pursuing happiness also looks so good at first glance. We all wish to be happy, and all over the world folk look for happiness is a wide variety of ways. Some of those ways give temporary happiness, and often leave a terrible hangover, some however give a longer lasting joy, but in my mind the impression given by the US is that getting rich, and then richer, and then adding riches to the riches is the only way to be happy. There are an awful lot of people who have found out, usually the hard way, that this is not true. Look around the western world. Throughout the twentieth century the world became richer, in the west at least. Two world wars costing millions of lives and a worldwide depression so deep that thousands queued at soup kitchens everywhere did not stop the west become fabulously rich. The western world has seen in the years since 1945 riches unheard of at any time in the earth's existence, yet people are not happy! Suicides abound, strikers demand more even though the homes they dwell in are stuffed to the gunnel's with objects they neither need nor use. Obesity is a problem as the food they choose, often stuffed with substances that in abundance kills them, does not satisfy, so more of it is gorged to ease the pain. Smiling people can be found in India and Thailand, and many other parts of the third world, yet no street in the west contains smiles, unless they are using the smile to deceive! Our Member of Parliament will be smiling in the shopping centre each market day until the election. he will not be smiling if he loses and has to pay his £2000 a month rent on his own will he?  Happiness may be found in the west, but riches do not play the most prominent part in providing this.

The US has a health system in which the costs are met by insurance companies. While this does benefit many, as long as they pay so much up front themselves, it costs a huge sum just to visit a dentist or have a check up. Serious illness that leads to months in hospital costs thousands, and as some of us have seen, insurance companies will want you moved out even if the medical staff consider this may kill you! There are it is true similar stories in the UK NHS, but this is due not to money but 'targets.' The Tory papers will highlight every fault, but the dominating factor is the patients well being at all times. The insurance companies, and hospitals make huge profits. While drug companies need such profits for investment, how much is simply ripping off the sick?  In turn the patient are rushed through the hospital to increase the turnover and this cannot lead to efficient patient care. Blogs abound with nurses complaints about the misuse of the patient to clear the bed for another wage packet. Yet when reforms are introduced the Yanks squeal. Not only are many, usually the poorest left out of such cover those who need medical help are kept alive only by the ability to pay the debts, debts which may well last a lifetime. Surely this cannot be right in the 'land of the free?'  Redundancy, sickness, divorce can all combine to make it impossible to get cover, and while the poorest suffer the rich may end up poor also. 

During the nineteenth century civic pride in the UK was strong. Many towns and cities objected to central government imposing laws on their 'freedom' of operation. This meant that among the slum housing that rapidly grew during the century central government laws that required housing improvements and medical inspectors were ignored. Thousands, possibly millions died as a result of such attitudes. Today America, and the less stable part it appears, takes a similar approach to Obama. Not just upset that he is black (obviously there is no racism involved, I am just saying this for effect you understand. Racism is no longer found in US politics! Honest) the rednecks (sorry, Republicans) scream that he is imposing 'Socialism' (socialism, jings!) on them. By insisting that these folks pay tax for a health system he is being 'Communistic' and 'Unamerican!'  Incredible! Amongst those who cry in this fashion are many who consider themselves Christians! One wonders if they have actually read the good book?

Outside of the States most folk find themselves amused that several trillion dollars can be spent, alongside thousands of soldiers lives, in invading Iraq for oil, and Afghanistan for no good reason while a similar amount spent on an national health service would have cost less and served the people well! Those who complain about taxes actually pay much, much more to the insurance and drug companies than they would with an NHS! The UK spend 4% of its GDP on healthcare, the US spends 16% yet people are healthier and live longer in the UK! While the NHS has its problems, exaggerated for political reasons, no political party wishes to bring it to an end. Margaret Thatcher, the demented Mammon lover, did want to give us a US style insurance led NHS. This was not to improve healthcare but to avoid her kind paying taxes for it. This short sighted ludicrous idea would have meant fewer getting treatment and a return to the hospitals of the years before the war! The rich would be OK, her voters of course, and the rest would suffer! That discrepancy is something the British people wished to end in 1945 when they elected the Labour government of the day. Equality for all was the underlying intention, not 'socialism.' People were fed up with suffering injustice and this was amended during the five years the Labour Party were in power. The injustice in the US is similar, those who have the cash get treatment, those who do not do without. 

Christians, usually it appears Republicans, appear oblivious to the needs of their own citizens. They wish to keep guns in their houses (for protection?) ban abortion, (rightly) worship Jesus and lower taxes! Clearly they have not read the good book! Jesus commands us to 'Love our neighbour' not ask if he has insurance! If he does not have his needs met, and Paul was always conscious of the poor elsewhere, we are supposed to ensure he does have. Paul makes clear this does not mean living of others, unless it is inevitable. So many rush to 'Help Haiti' yet did nothing to 'Help Haiti' before the earthquake, why was this? The disaster required special help, but Haiti has required help for fifty years! In Washington DC there is a hospital offering free treatment to (mostly) black folk (sorry 'African Americans) a mile or two from the Capitol. How come? How can America not recognise the biblical command to help those in need, especially those next door?

The US has the money, the people need an NHS style health service, and for unbiblical false reasons such as the 'Life, Liberty and Happiness,' myth the majority have been made to oppose this. I suspect the major beneficiaries of the present healthcare money, Insurance and drug companies, hospitals and wealthy doctors, and encouraging the hysteria. No wonder the world stands back in amazement!

 

Start the Year the Way You Mean to Go On!

So early(ish) yesterday morning I got on the bike and raced slowly up the old railway line. I had hoped it would be empty, new year revellers still sleeping it off and all that, but I forgot the dog walkers. No matter how your head feels they need to go, so they went! The place was teaming with them and the dogs, and occasional kid, was better behaved than the sourpussed folks I passed yesterday. Now the phrase 'Happy New Year' uttered in Scotland to strangers in such circumstances would be greeted with an appropriate response, not stares and bewildered expressions as found here. The occasional human appeared but most were unresponsive mannequins wrapped in layers of warm, expensive, clobber.

However I was not put off as I intended to make this year better than any in recent times. No matter what I was feeling good and after a nourishing lunch at the soup kitchen I read the blogs and fell into a relaxed sleep of the righteous (sort off). Later I was so keen on the exercise I jumped on the bike, carefully, and spent another cold half hour enjoying my trip around the quiet streets. Ahead of me lay the new year, a year in which things will be better, life will take a new direction and all will be well! What could possibly go wrong?

About five O'clock I found myself feeling very strange. I thought I was fainting and after a minute or two go up and stood somewhat unsure for a moment. I picked up the phone and my arm fell away,it had no strength. Ooooer I thought, this should not be (I'm quick on the uptake you see). At that time of night, on that day, there is no doctor unless it is a real emergency. I was not sure about that and ten minutes later I called the NHS Direct Line service. Here I could chat to a nurse who asked all the right questions, relieving me of the fear something serious was occurring and at the same time avoiding the phrase 'You silly old woman you!' Today, I sought the doctor, miraculously an opening this morning appeared and I met an attractive young Nigerian (?) doctor who put me at ease, realising nothing was wrong told me to come back if this strange event happened again. 'Don't worry about wasting my valuable time' she avoided saying. But for a moment my whole life changed! I truly thought it may be a heart attack or a stroke. Instead it was a passing moment, probably caused by the way I was sitting rather than anything else. How grateful I am for the NHS! Small events like this can lead to much worry, but a quick chat with a suitable person ends needless fears. Had it been of a serious nature advice and help was on hand! Grateful? You bet!

Now I am getting back into my new, new year! The improved health regime (I am looking for health) and a desperate search for legitimate income (any), a better time for my football side, and a better time with my God. So far the eating has been rubbish! I start such regimes and discover the cupboard is bare! The plans I had, the new recipes and ideas! And I had forgotten there was nothing available with which to start! Idiot!

The N.H.S. is 60 Years Old Today

Celebrate! The National Health Service is sixty years old today. The much maligned service, without which thousands among us would be either crippled or dead, was the greatest innovation of the Labour government of 1945. Opposed by those who could afford to pay and coasting much more at the time than expected, surely this fantastic service has been the greatest boon to the nation since the war?

Over the years we have come to take it for granted. We expect to be healed, no matter what is wrong with us. We cannot understand when the NHS fails. We have come to expect too much and we carelessly abuse it too often. However, the health of the nation changed after the war. Free powdered milk for mothers, free prescriptions and the ability of many to obtain glasses and dentists that once were beyond them is a joy we cannot now relate to. However it was not unknown in the twenties and thirties for newly weds to be given a gift, of a trip to the dentist to have all their teeth out and false ones fitted. This was so they could avoid painful and expensive dentist trips in the future! Unthinkable today - even allowing for the lack of NHS dentists in some places. While prescription costs have risen, and attitudes change overall the free inoculations for kids and inexpensive ones for adults, have kept us healthy, apart of course from our disgustingly bad eating, smoking and drinking habits. Drug abuse comes under another category - stupidity!

In spite of the rising costs, in spite of what the Tory press call the 'Postcode Lottery,' in spite of Thatchers disgusting attempt to introduce an American style system that only the lower middle class could support, and in spite of many failures the National Health Service remains the envy of the world. Only the greed of the insurance companies and the medical world stop it being introduced into the USA, and in the early fifties there was an attempt to do just that. Somehow it could not progress although I cannot remember the president who attempted this. We should spend less time complaining about the NHS and more time being grateful to live at a time that such medical care is available for us today!

Clean Hospitals

Once again we here a fuss about clean hospitals. Everybody shouts and complains demanding spotless hospitals. Now I agree but there are one or two things to remember here. In the eighties the Thatcher government decided to stop spending on the NHS. Her mad idea was to copy the American way and use insurance to cover health needs. As always she was too busy worshipping Mammon to notice that this is a system that has failed America! Not that noticing the fact would have changed her mind of course. One of her ideas was to cut down the numbers working in the NHS, still the biggest single employer in the UK. To this end the domestic work was privatised and put out to tender. The NHS bosses were instructed to accept the lowest bid! There was to be little consideration of whether the work could be done or not. This led to poor cleaning and care of hospital buildings, and a rise in the number of illegal immigrants operating as cleaners on exceedingly poor wages. I came across many at that time in London. It took some time for this system to be changed. However hospital costs continue to rise, and all those involved are at fault. Politically it became a game. The Tories wanting to sell it off and Labour claiming to keep free health care for all. Both lied and distorted facts to get elected, both failed the NHS.
Today this nonsense continues and we have seen the introduction of 'Deep Cleaning' of all hospitals in an effort to kill of the 'Superbugs' that infest such places. Yeah, that will work! When I first started in the Royal Infirmary in 1974 I was told that I was more in danger of catching something here than anywhere else, why? Because it is a hospital and it is full of bugs! What else can you expect in a place full of sick folk? As I recall I realise our domestic lass did catch a kidney disease, possibly from the hospital, maybe not. At that time we realised this was just part of life and accepted this. Why is this not the case today?
Today's spoilt generation has been led to believe that it can have whatever it wants. It demands that a hospital should heal their sickness and not pass on MRSA bugs to them. Any failure in this leads to a demand for compensation and yet more money is lost to the NHS and placed in the hands of the grasping public. A society that is afraid to let the kids play outside because of 'bad men' or too much traffic, or even worse, rain, cannot be expected to accept the very real dangers of hospitals, dear me no!
It is of course important for the NHS to ensure that hospitals are clean, and every effort ought to be made to ensure this happens, but the daft idea of bringing back 'Matrons' in the vain hope this will succeed has me laughing. Many Matrons were inefficient, and they did not do any cleaning, oh dearie me no! But bringing in more staff to clean the place will help so we can ask why is this not done? Cost dear folks, is the answer. Wages cost money. Those that run the place today will ensure that bureaucrats can continue to 'empire build' in their ivory towers, but they will not place sufficient domestics on the wards to keep the dirt down. Reduce the number of girls sitting around gossiping and having long lunches in Health Authorities and put the money into the hospitals! That is the answer, there is no other. It will never happen mind.