Current Affairs

[screwy]

Totally agree OBF. Especially with Barnett.

[Onelife]

Maybe a bit of a hot potato this, but.........
The Sun newspaper is calling its readers to support a campaign to award NHS workers the George Cross.
I have the utmost praise for what those on the front line, fighting to save the lives of of covid sufferers have done, and some form of recognition from the country should be bestowed upon them. Maybe a special medal as such.
To award the Gorge Cross is a step to far. We have already seen the down grading of other gongs in the new year honors list.
The George Cross is awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger"
To me, this award should remain only for those that show extreme bravery in the immediate face of death.
To those in the NHS you have the praise of the nation to which we thank you.

Hi Ray... your views and those of OBF reflect my views on the subject you raised.

I’m not so sure frontline staff would want a medal that is associated with acts of heroisms and as OBF has said who would be undeserving of any such medal anyway?

I hope when all this is over NHS staff particularly nurses will get the recognition that has been lacking over many years….my wife still hasn’t forgotten how the Government reneged on what the Independent pay review body recommended for nurses pay.
My wife reached the top of her nursing profession but left early because of her disillusionment in not being able to provide quality care for her patients….mostly due to cut backs and targets.

If there is any good to come out of this it will be that the Government never turns it back again on the people who continually give their all for those in their care.

[Kendhni]

Boris came back and talked tough about lockdown - that was good, However the latest news coming from the government is that they are now manipulating the key criteria to make it look like they have been met so that they can release the lockdown. If that is true then I fear this government has learned little from its early mistakes.

[Onelife]

Boris came back and talked tough about lockdown - that was good, However the latest news coming from the government is that they are now manipulating the key criteria to make it look like they have been met so that they can release the lockdown. If that is true then I fear this government has learned little from its early mistakes.

Hi Ken,

From what we hear on the daily briefings the Government sound pretty steadfast in meeting the 5 principles before any relaxation of lockdowns…that being said my definition of transparencies probably differs from that of what the Government want us to know so the source of your information may well be right.

I’m sure we all just want to get through this one way or another the inquiry can come latter.

[johnds]

Well at least some happy news from No 10
Hope all goes well

[oldbluefox]

Hopefully when this is all over we get an appreciation of those who really matter to this country. It is not the sports stars, the footballers, pop idols, TV celebrities and wannabees, it's the teachers, nurses, doctors, care workers, shop staff, delivery drivers, bus drivers and dozens more who really matter. And maybe we should be asking why we pay so much to those who are cosmetic to our lives whilst paying so little to some of those who are essential.
I'm no socialist but hopefully this pandemic has brought a realisation to better reward, and treat better, those who really matter (and pay the rest of them less before they hive it off to their tax free havens! !!)

[oldbluefox]

Have just seen the news. Best wishes to Boris, Carrie and their baby Boris!!!

[Onelife]

Hopefully when this is all over we get an appreciation of those who really matter to this country. It is not the sports stars, the footballers, pop idols, TV celebrities and wannabees, it's the teachers, nurses, doctors, care workers, shop staff, delivery drivers, bus drivers and dozens more who really matter. And maybe we should be asking why we pay so much to those who are cosmetic to our lives whilst paying so little to some of those who are essential.
I'm no socialist but hopefully this pandemic has brought a realisation to better reward, and treat better, those who really matter (and pay the rest of them less before they hive it off to their tax free havens! !!)

[screwy]

It all comes down to taxation, NHS.Police, Prison,teachers etc are all paid from the public purse, so unless people are happy to have their tax increased it won’t happen,not forgetting civil service pensions.!

[david63]

It all comes down to taxation, NHS.Police, Prison,teachers etc are all paid from the public purse, so unless people are happy to have their tax increased it won’t happen,not forgetting civil service pensions.!

And that is where it is a bit of a paradox - you have to have the overpaid footballers paying tax (assuming that they do) to pay the public service employees and if they were paid less then public sector would have less income.

[screwy]

Indeed, it’s not so much as how much you tax the wealthiest,it’s getting them to pay tax.Tax them heavily and they will just clear off, tax them in accordance and the chancellor gets more to play with, close the loop holes.

[CaroleF]

When various members of the public are interviewed about the NHS and they say definitely more money should be put by the Government into the service I wonder how many of those people actually realise that the Government doesn't have any money - it's the Public's money that the Government uses so unless people are willing to pay more in taxes then it won't happen.

[david63]

it's the Public's money that the Government uses so unless people are willing to pay more in taxes then it won't happen.

Not necessarily - yes it is public money but the Government choose where to spend it so they can very easily pay, say, NHS workers more but that would mean spending less in some other area.

At the end of the day the Government is no different to any other household - they have £x income and decide in what way they are going to spend it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Re the ending/relaxation of lockdown and when/how I'm not sure how to interpret the nuance in language detected by Ken.

What I do see is the Welsh Assembly (Labour led), the Scottish Parliament (SNP led) and the Labour UK opposition all jostling for position to encourage news of an early relaxation.

Funny they criticise the government as being too slow to go into lockdown. Now they want to be too quick to get out of it.

I also see in the news of Germany, who have been held up as the paragon of how to do it right, teetering on the brink of re tightening lockdown as their case start to rise again.

For my money I'm quite happy to wait and let others experiment with ways of easing lockdown before we do anything.

Yes it is public money but the Government choose where to spend it so they can very easily pay, say, NHS workers more but that would mean spending less in some other area.

At the end of the day the Government is no different to any other household - they have £x income and decide in what way they are going to spend it.

True. So let's ask the people who want more spent on one service to see which they want to see cut to pay for it.

[Frank Manning]

Foxy, you've done it again. Absolutely everything Sue and I say about WAGS, Love Island, and all the other wannabes phoney celebrities and their ilk. I had a student about 12 years ago; lovely girl very clever. She is now a Vlogger! Glammed up to the eye balls, bloated lips, designer baby. I despair a waste of a good degree, because of these stupid role models. As for overpaid footballers, Sue has been saying for ages that the bubble will burst. To think in 1955, Bob Morton the Luton midfielder ( half back) used to travel to Kenilworth road on the bus.

[david63]

I also see in the news of Germany, who have been held up as the paragon of how to do it right, teetering on the brink of re tightening lockdown as their case start to rise again.

I always prefer to be a leader than a follower - but not in this scenario.

I like the comment from the Donald when he say that everyone is contacting him about how he is exiting the lockdown - yes they are in order to find out how not to do it!

[Mervyn and Trish]

As for overpaid footballers, Sue has been saying for ages that the bubble will burst. To think in 1955, Bob Morton the Luton midfielder ( half back) used to travel to Kenilworth road on the bus.

We were privileged to know Sir Stanley Matthews in his later life. There's a football star who never made millions, and a great gentleman.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I like the comment from the Donald when he say that everyone is contacting him about how he is exiting the lockdown - yes they are in order to find out how not to do it!

He's still baffled by the rise in disinfectant poisoning cases! Secretly worried too because presumably they're his supporters!

[towny44]

Hopefully when this is all over we get an appreciation of those who really matter to this country. It is not the sports stars, the footballers, pop idols, TV celebrities and wannabees, it's the teachers, nurses, doctors, care workers, shop staff, delivery drivers, bus drivers and dozens more who really matter. And maybe we should be asking why we pay so much to those who are cosmetic to our lives whilst paying so little to some of those who are essential.
I'm no socialist but hopefully this pandemic has brought a realisation to better reward, and treat better, those who really matter (and pay the rest of them less before they hive it off to their tax free havens! !!)

I think I am beginning to agree with you Foxy, I cant envisage ever voting for any party other than the Conservatives and I am hoping Boris is going to be a more socially aware Tory than recent ones have been. In fact the last budget did seem to be more focused on social issues, until CV threw a spanner in the works.
In the future I hope that there will be a complete re-think about the earnings of top businessmen as well as those in the music Industry and sports people, and a massive levelling down at the top end. In fact it may well be essential if the economy is to grow back to anything like pre pandemic levels, and high levels of unemployment are to be avoided.

[Stephen]

Have just seen the news. Best wishes to Boris, Carrie and their baby Boris!!!

Here here

[Onelife]

I honestly think most would pay more tax for our NHS if it was ring fenced for that purpose, however we don’t seem to have any Government which has been prepared to put it to the people for fear of losing votes at the election.

[Onelife]

Have just seen the news. Best wishes to Boris, Carrie and their baby Boris!!!

Here here

Absolutely but I would have thought they could have chosen a better name…just saying

[Manoverboard]

As for overpaid footballers, Sue has been saying for ages that the bubble will burst. To think in 1955, Bob Morton the Luton midfielder ( half back) used to travel to Kenilworth road on the bus.

We were privileged to know Sir Stanley Matthews in his later life. There's a football star who never made millions, and a great gentleman.

It should however be said that the so called overpaid footballers contribute a huge amount in tax and use their earnings to fund education and other worthwhile causes in their countries of origin. Only a few earn big bucks.

I know a household name Scottish International who played for his Country and several top flight clubs ... he earned so much money that he presently cleans our windows to get by.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I honestly think most would pay more tax for our NHS if it was ring fenced for that purpose, however we don’t seem to have any Government which has been prepared to put it to the people for fear of losing votes at the election.

I've thought for a long time that the NHS is too important top be a political football. It has been plagued by one reorganisation after another. The parties should get together and agree a 25 year plan that can only be altered by a cross party vote. And it should be funded, as some other countries are, by a levy separate from other taxes and ring fenced.

But the parties will never agree to it. It is too big a card to play at elections and too big a stick for one party to batter another when they have lost.

[Kendhni]

When various members of the public are interviewed about the NHS and they say definitely more money should be put by the Government into the service I wonder how many of those people actually realise that the Government doesn't have any money - it's the Public's money that the Government uses so unless people are willing to pay more in taxes then it won't happen.

Usually what people mean is that there should definitely be more money as long as it is someone else paying.
Various articles seem to suggest that once this is over the government will totally rethink several things. One of them being the NHS, how it operates, how it is funded and what services receive funding.

I have also believed, for many years, that at some point in the not too distant future it will go to a co-pay model out of necessity (one figure I saw bandied about is that by 2050 the cost of drugs being issued by the NHS will exceed the entire cost of the NHS in todays terms). There are several other influences that may drive this as well.