What if the Assembly was suspended or closed down for good?
Would anyone out there notice?I don’t think most people would , even though our politicians would begin to kick up an unholy stink to eventually remind us .Sinn Fein have been playing hardball politics with their take on Welfare Reform, much to the displeasure of the DUP. It’s no secret that the Conservatives have been trying to dismantle the original National Health Service for years. The Health Service is something that goes right against the Tory grain.It was probably the most important thing to have have happened in UK society and was something that saved women and families from death, ill-health ,penury and total dependence on their sometimes errant menfolk. It was a social revolution.The social principles of the Health Service were very clear and they didn’t arise from nowhere which is very obvious if anyone has read any of the writings of George Orwell. The health service was to be available to all and financed entirely from taxation, which meant that people’s input was to be in accordance with their means. We could probably all agree that the version of what we’d call “poverty” now and what “poverty” was seventy years ago are two entirely different animals. Back then, poverty meant things like stinking slums, TB and rickets.Now it means not being able to afford a proper carryout or a new cellphone.Maybe that’s a little cruel as an observation but you’ll get my drift .We live in differing times.
For all of that , the Health Service is a wonderful creation and well-worth preserving . Human beings will always find ways to abuse any system, of course ,and there is no doubt that the Health Service has suffered abuse.Left to their own devices I’d imagine the Conservatives would rather not have it at all.Their ethos is that the rich get rich on the backs of everyone else.
As for our own Assembly , split down the middle as it is like some awesome Pushmepullyou beast… how long can it exist, as it faces two ways at the same time and agrees on precious little? No one seems to care very much .The latest scare about its imminent demise is not even front page news in the papers, even though the big guns{SIC} of Sinn Fein met with the British Prime Minister yesterday.The fact is that one of the major news items on yesterday’s local television news was an article about seagulls and the possible need to cull them in Belfast and other cities.
Popular consensus seems to be that a similar cull of our politicians might not be such a bad idea. The feeling is that they spend so much time waffling and talking and are vastly overpaid. It’s irrelevant how many hours they put in if the results are terrible .Exam results at the end of term are all. If the Assembly was suspended for a few years , all the awkward stuff that they can’t and will not agree on ,could be sorted out from Westminster …things like introducing gay marriage in Norneverland as a right, pushing through proper hate laws and banning wooden pallets .There’s bound to be something I’ve missed but that might be a start.
Culling seagulls….?I’ve just built a little bird table and I’m off to feed all those little feathered beggars.
If the DUP are so displeasured at the Sinn Fein stance on welfare reform why did they and the UUp vote against it in Westminster this week?
One thing that puzzles me about the 75% increase in waiting times for orthopaedic surgery in NI is what factors could be causing it.
Consultants recently lost their nice little nest egg when national health work was no longer being diverted to the private sector, so I wonder whether the same number of procedures are currently being done or has the work rate inexplicably slowed down, with the idea of pressurising Stormont to revert to re-engaging the private sector.
But then maybe I’m just an old cynic!
Brilliant, hit the pause button and let the adults sort out the mess. Sweet.
What goes round, comes round. It should come as no surprise that the issues and challenges confronted by Aneurin Bevan, champion of the National Health Service, are once again centre stage. How much private work is carried out during time paid for by the public purse with implications for waiting lists? As the debate rages about public health care and private health care, our elected representatives get a salary increase. Mr ‘conscience clause’ advocates the reintroduction of prescription charges as waiting lists grow longer and many spend each day in pain and discomfort.
In spite of all the difficulties, the Health Service is populated with dedicated and hard- working staff. Pay and salary increases are being awarded to the wrong people. The sight of seagulls dining daily on convenience food in our thoroughfares is a reflection of a major problem with obesity in society and the birds are just coming home to roost. There are lots of fat cats around also.
talking about fat cats – enjoy this little film!!
https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/of-mice-and-men-mouseland-and-fat-cats/
Loved it, b m. I used to vote NDP when I lived in Canada…
Beautiful , ben ..Something i didn’t know about Mr Sutherland, but not surprising come to think of it .. It’s all so familiar to us who can’t get Woody Guthrie’s words out of their minds
Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen….