Current Affairs 2023

[oldbluefox]

I'm afraid I do not share the optimism which a new government may bring to the table. Over the years I have seen governments come and go all with the same promise of a better life but ultimately only to discover that once in power they invest only in their pet projects but for the majority nothing changes, just a load of empty and broken promises.
Much was made in the Tory manifesto of 'levelling up' which helped them into power via the northern vote. I regret to say nothing around here has changed and there is little to say it will change.
When Blair entered No10 he was full of ideas which would revolutionise the UK. He was fresh-faced and energetic. Unfortunately he wasted loads of money on short term projects which could not realistically be maintained - all icing and no cake. He certainly did nothing for the working man whom he courted and when everything was going awry he handed the poisoned chalice over to the hapless Gordon Brown.
I look now at the Shadow benches and see the likes of Cooper, Rayner, Lammy, Ashworth, Milliband and think Lord preserve us but basically what they all come out with are empty words, a strategy which the Tories employ so no change there. Time to ditch the tainted old guard to bring to the fore the fresh faces.
So do I feel optimistic for the future progress of our country? I wish I could say I did. It would be different under Starmer (whom I do not trust anyway) but I doubt life will be any better.

Thankfully we have a monarchy so at least we will be spared President Starmer on the balcony of Buckingham Palace or President Boris, Jeremy or any other incumbent. Whether you like Charles or not, at least we have continuity.

[barney]

Can’t disagree with much of that Foxy.
I’m often said to Mrs B that it makes absolutely no difference to us personally whichever party is in power.
It’s the two extremes where it matters, but mainly to the working poor.
Unfortunately, many people are caught in a poverty loop that they can’t get out of.
Sometimes by bad decisions, sometimes by circumstances.
Then there’s many who just about get by each month.
Then there’s us, who are okay off by means of hard work, a bit of good luck and most importantly, good decision making.
Then there’s the rich folk. No matter what happens, they remain rich. Maybe not quite as rich, but when you have millions, it’s not really relevant because you would never spend what you have.

A Labour government should hopefully look after the people at the bottom of the pile a bit more.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Let's just hope they don't plunge into another illegal war.

[paultheagle]

Problem is when labour get back into government they will spend all their time righting the wrongs of the Tories. It's going to take ages for them to sort out the under funded NHS (don't forget dentists) and teachers and schools and public transport. Once they've done all that there's no time left before another useless government takes office.

[Ray B]

Someone does indeed need to sort the NHS. Dentists should be given a contract worthy of their time for NHS patient, and more encouragement and incentives to take up of dentistry.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Let's hope they don't screw up the GP contract like they did last time. Or close more hospital beds like they did last time. Or appoint more penpushers to plough through new paperwork, like they did last time.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I should add of course that it was Labour who screwed up NHS dentistry with their contract changes in 2006. Their record isn't great but of course they assume the electorate will have forgotten. I haven't.

[paultheagle]

The tories have had 13 year to sit that lot out but as usual, when it comes to the NHS they have done nothing.

[Onelife]

I’m sure I could find something in Foxy’s post to disagree with but for the most I agree…that being said, when are we going to take this topic forward and stop settling for the same old, same old, merry-go-round of Oop’s, we did it again, non-productive style of politics?

Well, my guess is that we will continue until such time that there is a revolution, one where we turn our backs on a system which conducts itself in a manner that continues to fail its purpose.

[barney]

Sudan had a revolution
Just saying

[Stephen]

Power to the people

[oldbluefox]

Waste of time putting my tin hat on if you're all going to agree.
Of course it was Blair who said everybody should be able to go to university and left thousands with a huge debt. And it was indeed Blair who screwed up the NHS and then left hospitals with a huge PFI debt which took 30 years to pay off.
The public sector is a mess after years of pay freezes and pay restraint. My great niece who is about to complete her two probationary years as a doctor is already disillusioned and it is looking like she will be following her two house mates, also doctors, and going to Australia or New Zealand where they can earn double what they currently get, working in well equipped hospitals. How sad.

[paultheagle]

I thought it was the Lib/DemTory coalition that bought in tuition fees after Clegg said there was no plans to. Tony made it possible for thousands of working class kids to go to university. Something the Tories opposed.

[Mervyn and Trish]

And then flip burgers because there are more graduates with huge debt than there are graduate level jobs.

Tuition fees for international students were introduced by Margaret Thatcher. They were introduced across the UK in 1998 by guess who. Who also abolished student grants and introduced loans in 1999. So not the Tories then.

[paultheagle]

My apologies you and ObF are right. It was the Labour government under Blair that introduced tuition fees. They were capped though, not like they are now.

[oldbluefox]

There was never a bar to working class kids going to university. Tuition was paid for and grants were available. The only bar to anybody going was the ability to qualify for a place and these were hotly contested.
It's a pity they did away with the system. Many go to university who cannot cope and their time would be better spent on an apprenticeship at a technical college. Academia is not for everyone. It's a pity Blair didn't realise that.

[Mervyn and Trish]

My apologies you and ObF are right. It was the Labour government under Blair that introduced tuition fees. They were capped though, not like they are now.

They are still capped.

[paultheagle]

Sir Keir is committed to abolishing them. But of a joke? We will see.

[david63]

The big problem with NHS, public sector et. al is that we, as a nation, have to accept that to pay what they think they deserve, or at least a better level of pay, we will have to pay for it and that basically comes down to taxation. We can have the best NHS in the world, We can have the best schools, roads, armed forces etc. but we will have to pay twice as much in taxation to achieve this.

Some would say that if the "rich" paid more tax this would cover it - but that would only be a drop in the ocean for what is needed. Companies could pay more tax - of course they could but that would result in prices going up.

One way or another Joe public will have to pay more to provide these services and that then results in excessive pay rises and so the merry-go-round goes round.

And no I don't have the answer.

[towny44]

Problem is when labour get back into government they will spend all their time righting the wrongs of the Tories. It's going to take ages for them to sort out the under funded NHS (don't forget dentists) and teachers and schools and public transport. Once they've done all that there's no time left before another useless government takes office.

I do hope that your expectation of a magic money tree, to help Labour pay for all these underfunded public sector services, comes to fruition. Unfortunately I no longer believe in Father Xmas or the tooth fairy, so I don't expect that Labour will be able to perform the miracles you desire.

[towny44]

I thought it was the Lib/DemTory coalition that bought in tuition fees after Clegg said there was no plans to. Tony made it possible for thousands of working class kids to go to university. Something the Tories opposed.

And thousands of them are working for McDonalds because their 3rd class degrees are worthless. The country does not have enough degree level jobs for all the current graduates, all Blair did was raise expectations, without having developed the jobs to meet those expectations.

Sorry Merv, as usual you got there before me.

[CaroleF]

Until there's a cross party group who can come up with a new system of NHS nothing will change. No political party is going to suggest if we want a good system then we are going to have to pay more. It'll go on like this until a will to change things. The NHS when it was introduced was never designed to provide all the expensive drugs, operations etc. that its expected to to today. I believe the NHS was operating better in the 1960s when I was nursing and when it was the Medical Superintendent, a doctor who ran the medical side and a Matron, a proper Matron, who ran the nursing side. Not lots of so-called Matrons scattered all over the hospital. Get rid of many of the managers who know very little about the medical and nursing needs. That's my pennyworth anyway.

[Onelife]

One of the things that could be considered is make it a requirement that sports which are prone to injuries will need insurance…. whether that be club injury insurance or individual insurance.

I would also introduce a penalty payment for those who get injured through alcohol intoxication.

[david63]

going to Australia or New Zealand where they can earn double what they currently get, working in well equipped hospitals.

But you have to remember that certainly in New Zealand, and probably Australia, that medical care is not free - you have to pay for it. Likewise with schools in New Zealand you have pay fees every term (last I knew about them it was around £100/£150 per child per term). You even have to contribute to refuse collection in New Zealand and there are no (or very few) council run sports centres - they are all private and require membership to use.

The point is that if we want to match the services that other countries have then we have to put our hands in our pockets and pay for them.

[oldbluefox]

For many years I worked in Germany which has an excellent health system so I agree David, you are correct in what you say. I'm afraid the idea of 'free at the point of delivery ' is no longer sustainable considering the range of treatments the NHS provides and the related costs.

The problem is that everyone wants a top class service but nobody wants to pay for them. UK and Joe Public needs to wake up to the fact current levels of taxation are insufficient to achieve what we want.
We should also free ourselves of the freeloaders who waste NHS time and resources to enable those who are genuinely in need to get the treatment they should be getting.

A similar case can be made for other areas of public service.