Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

The cat sat on the mat, no hays head.

Ohhhhhhhh yes its come back now.

NHS related
it's a shame that there are certain factions here who insist on politicising this issue, as indeed do the morons in parliament

anyway, i had an interesting chat this morning with a young medic who is well en route to becoming a surgeon

in his opinion, and he is in the front line, there is no intrinsic shortage of doctors other than arguably of GPs who might not wish to work in a given area of the country
he said that at no time does he feel overworked
however, there is most assuredly a shortage of nurses

it was also interesting that he said that small medical centres - along the lines of cottage hospitals - were re-opening where non-urgent cases can be treated quickly and easily
in his own experience, he can see perhaps 100 patients in a day

inter alia, this should/would reduce pressure on A&E, which is swamped all too often by "unnecessary" cases

apparently, in france, all patients other than those of pensionable age or on benefits, pay about £10 up-front to see a doctor .... this of itself helps weed out frivolous cases as does the ability and willingness of pharmacists (in france) to treat minor injuries and similar - presumably without fear of being sued for no good reason

The last time I saw a GP in france, the fee was €22, of which, about 3/4 is recouped via the Carte Vitale system (if you are in it)

It's the same for tests and stuff, you cough up there and then, and get a refund via the CV system.

There is a mechanism for people who cant afford the fee's, but I have no idea how that works.

cynic
That is an interesting view, which matches another I heard recently.

I visited my doctor last week for a general MOT (got an appointment in three days). My doctor was complaining about the numbers who visit A&E for trivial things. His view is that hospitals are for people with serious conditions. He constantly has people being asked to be referred to hospital for conditions that he can treat them for. He sees them, explains what is wrong and suggests a treatment. They then ask if they could go to hospital for tests. I wonder if this is the result of all the programs on TV about medical issues.

It can also be a result of people who use the internet now for self diagnosis.

I only ask for a doctor's appointment if I think it's necessary and I have a choice of waiting for a specific doctor in the practice a few days later or going to the walk-in clinic on the same day and seeing whichever doctor is on duty.

Dave creeping out of No 10 after the election:

LOL.

Interesting for some.

1 in 3 Tories in key seats has links to banks


Tim Shipman, Zachary Spiro and George Arbuthnott Published: 4 January 2015
Comment (3) Print
The Tory minister Amber Rudd is a former investment bankerThe Tory minister Amber Rudd is a former investment banker (Paul Hackett)
ONE in three Tory candidates in the party’s battleground seats has strong links to the financial services industry.
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Research by the Labour party has shown that 44 Conservative candidates in the 130 seats that will decide the election have either worked for banks and other finance companies or accepted political donations from them.

Of the 44 candidates concerned, 30 are sitting MPs and the other 14 have a fighting chance of joining them in parliament in May.

Donors from the finance industry have provided the Tories with more than £28m since the 2010 election. This has increased substantially with £7.9m coming from financial services in 2014, significantly more than the £4.9m handed over in 2011, the first full year after the last election.




======-=-=-=-=-=

Am I wrong to think the likely hood of corruption is looms into sight?
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/article1503047.ece

And the Labour party will be largely funded by McDonalds and KFC!

I'm surprised the unions can still afford to fund the labour party...they're numbers are falling just like Noo Labours...mind, the tories aint doing too well either.


https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/313768/bis-14-p77-trade-union-membership-statistical-bulletin-2013.pdf

The membership of all political parties is falling across Europe.

ukip's numbers are not falling...as yet.

#54279 is spot on gf, why cant people see it?

There is a trend across Europe for parties like UKIP to grow at present. I think it is a reaction to difficult economic times. UKIP is similar to other very right wing parties in Europe, although they are having a go at pretending to be a bit left wing. Just remember how Hitler and his party gained popularity. It may be worth remembering that Farage got in trouble when at school by marching through parts of South London with friends singing Nazi songs.

In the late 1970s and early eighties the Ukip leader was a pupil at Dulwich College in south London, one of Britain's most prestigious schools. Channel 4 News has uncovered strong evidence that teachers at Dulwich thought Nigel Farage was "racist", and "fascist" or "neo-fascist".

We have a long letter (below) written in June 1981 by a young English teacher, Chloe Deakin, begging the master of the college (head teacher), David Emms, to reconsider his decision to appoint Farage as a prefect. Deakin did not know Farage personally but her letter includes an account of what was said by staff at their annual meeting, held a few days earlier, to discuss new prefects.

The letter says that when one teacher said Farage was "a fascist, but that was no reason why he would not make a good prefect," there was "considerable reaction" from colleagues.

The letter continues: "Another colleague, who teaches the boy, described his publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views; and he cited a particular incident in which Farage was so offensive to a boy in his set, that he had to be removed from the lesson. This master stated his view that this behaviour was precisely why the boy should not be made a prefect. Yet another colleague described how, at a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) camp organised by the college, Farage and others had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler-youth songs."

The trend across €urope is people waking up to the fact that €urope isn't working.

Look at the freaking unemployment stats!