Oh Happy Day

[esprit350]

great news, oily little oik and his mate are going ...what joy

[Backmarker]

Agreed but what about the scrotes that'll be replacing 'em !!!!!!!

Graham.

[esprit350]

they will be fighting amongst themselves in no time...

[Fred Basset]

they will be fighting amongst themselves in no time...

Agreed, Gordon Brown will be the best thing the Tories have had in years. Can't wait for these self serving ingrates to implod.

Regards

Fred

[islandbloke]

Was amazingly appropriate that I switched channels from Blur almost tearfully saying goodbye and reminding us what a top chap he was, to an appeal by Great Ormond Street Hospital for donations to continue fixing sick children.

10 years of spin, obfuscation and profligate waste on pet policies.

And the real irony is that when I first bought Lottie in 1990 I was a Thatcherite Tory Boy - nowadays I've done a 180 and am more a socialist (not capitalised on purpose - pardon the pun). But I think this Government is responsible for destroying Britain.

Of course, this isn't really the place to discuss politics, so apologies in advance.

[Kimbers]

I think it's better the devil you know. Blairs a cock but Brown is REEEAAALLLLY dangerous. It's his policies that have given us 66 hidden taxes. He's totally dishonest and believes that the public are children that need to be told what to do. He's overbearing and a bully and rarely listens to advice.....This is all from his previous employees.

[Tentenths]

I'm with Kimbers on this one. Could have been worse still... at least Miliband has chucked his hat out of the ring.

[Kato]

I don't think anybody else could have done much better! People forget how hard it is to run the country!

[esprit350]

easy to lie and spin

[mdw]

Well im not sure who else there is to have a go as the Conservatives already proved they cant do it either.

[brucet]

Stop whining! We're still stuck with that idiot Bush over here, for two more years.

[Paul C]

Stop whining! We're still stuck with that idiot Bush over here, for two more years.

We whine, we queue, we take it on the chin

One thing that REALLY winds me up is the people who whine about how they are going to

leave the country, how it's going down the pan, and then start listing everything thats shit.

They whine about it year after year before either actually finally sodding off, or, doing nothing.

No-one wants to hear it, the place is not any better for your constant moaning about wanting

to be elsewhere and how crap everything is, please leave asap. You will be happier and we

won't have to listen to it, so we'll be happier.

It's like Scotland, a beautiful country, but sometimes it seems like the scots that love it the

most - all live down here! endlessly harping on about how they want to live back in scotland.

Again, please, please go. You will be happier and we won't have to listen to it. Its a good deal.

Someone or other in the pub tonight will be talking about blair, the state of the country, how

they are going to leave 'if they had the chance tomorrow' etc,etc. Probably the same guy thats

been saying that for the last ten years. It's a fine speech, but when you don't follow it up with

action then you become the worlds biggest, longest and most pityful serial whinger.

Whining about the state of things is epidemic here, see, i'm doing it too...

If it was an international sport then it would be the only one we invented that we could win.

[MKE40]

Agreed, Gordon Brown will be the best thing the Tories have had in years. Can't wait for these self serving ingrates to implod.

Regards

Fred

ONLY..........

after Gordon has bled the English white with additional taxation and then scuttled back to the safety of his constituency.........

The same taxation does not apply to Scotland in many cases. I consider it must be revenge for all the swashbuckling and derring do of the sixteenth century !

Mike .

[Fred Basset]

I agree Mike, still it will be hard for him to head a country which his own countrymen don't want to be part of.

Kato, not looking for a fight here but in my town there are streets I won't walk down now because its not safe, my dad ended up sleeping in a corridor for two days when he was in hospital. They would not put my daughter on the waiting list for an op she needed so I had to pay for it myself, as I do her schooling because our local schools are appalling bad (as confirmed by Ofsted) all whilst having more and more taxation levied on me.

I think a number of people could have done better, how many people know that there is a taxation rule that has been introduced which exempts one profession, barristers - anyone care to speculate why that might be?

Personally I think in 20 years time this government will be looked back on as one of the worst ever for the United Kingdom.

Also bearing in mind Tony's wish for us all to be green, was there really any need for a presidential motorcade from Downing Street to RAF Northolt, private jet to the north, another motorade so he could make his announcement, then all this again in reverse.

In 1997 I said that a monkey with a red rosette could be elected as a Labour MP, unfortunately many were and are now in the cabinet. That said I think the same will be true of the next election but this time it will be the ones with blue rosettes:-)

Regards

Fred

[Kimbers]

Here, Here. It's the difference between Blairs Britain and Maggies Britain. At least even her biggest enemies, politically, look back and say "At least she stuck to her guns and ideals and at least she never sold the country out. Will the same be said in 20 years time about Blair? I don't think so.

Also Paul, I vote. I always vote, I've voted since I was old enough to. When I voted Tory and wasn't happy I shut up cause it was partly my fault. I never voted for Blair so I have a right to moan. I agree, if you don't vote you can't moan.

As for Scotland. With the greatest respect to them. How come our new Prime minister is a Scot? Surely thats unfair as he's ruling a country he actually was never voted in by??? Scotland has devolved so he should be at Hollyrood surely? If not then surely those English MP's elected here should have a say in everything in Scotland and the Scotish Parliament dissolved?

I love politics me! Where does it say anything should make sense??

[USAndretti42]

Now that Wales and Northern Ireland have assemblies and Scotland its own parliament, how are things going with the push for England to have its separate parliament?

Blair's lasting legacy, I believe, will be the emasculation of Prime Minister's question time. It was a unique (I think) institution where any MP, with little preparation, could ask the PM any question about any subject without the PM having any pre-warning on what it could be. Made Tony ill, I read, so he changed it so he knew what was coming.

Now it's gone no PM will bring it back as it gave them too great an opportunity to screw up.

[Jonathan]

Cracks me up when they say "are you better off now than you were 10 years ago"....

Ummmm yes, but that's MY doing not the bleedin governments !!

However I don't measure my happiness by the amount my bank balance is in the black....idiots

I think the disaster of Iraq will always be a shadow of Blair over anything good he might have done....of which I have no clue.

Iraq simply made this country more of a target for these muppets thet blow themselves up so it's made the country MORE dangerous - good job.

What worries me is who steps in....I think the country needs to stop messing about with other countries and take a good look inwards, people are annoyed with Labour atm so they vote Conservative as a protest, which is why I didn't vote recently becuase there wasn't a box saying "none of the above". Politics is just a swing between the lesser of 2 tossers imo, Blues are not getting in because of their policies at all, it's because they're the only opposition of Labour.

I do think regional assembly's are going to happen (Prescotts little baby) and I think it might be a good thing to sort problems out on regional basis, until it goes full circle and goes centralised again.

The country is so diverse, different regions need different attention.

I'd like to see the dilution of the Nanny state as well, people and signs telling you what to all the flippin time.

[WayneB]

We whine

One thing that REALLY winds me up is the people who whine

If it was an international sport then it would be the only one we invented that we could win.

I agree

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

Britain is a nation of goldfish

You have the identical memory span

You've never had it so good

Worst bit is ...you don't even realise.

Everyone's bitching about inflation going up half a percent... at least it is THIS side of FOURTEEN percent. Cheers Nige...

The hospitals on the whole are working better than they ever have - the ones that are indeed having financial problems are transient and is the world's worst case of the "glass is half emty-ism" as SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT of all hospitals have managed themselves competently and are NOT reporting any problems whatsoever and are not laying anybody off to meet their financial obligations.

The lack of Doctors' training posts is most unfortunate for them (to say the least) yet masks the reality that there are more training posts than there have EVER been - there are also more new Doctors than there have ever been. Until next years new round of training posts, they ALL still have their jobs though.

90% of all patients report that they are 100% happy with their service and experience yet every last one of them comes out believing "they were the lucky one" due to the PERCEPTION that they're up the shitter when they're not. *cough* 1980's *cough*

We have had the longest period of stable growth FREE FROM ECONOMIC CATASTROPHES (Thanks for those Geoffrey, Nigel, John AND Norman)

The War is indeed a very contentious issue. I have simply come to the conclusion that Saddam killed 4.5 million of his own people (that doesn't include the people who died in the Iran Iraq war (in which our hands are far from clean) and the invasion of Kuwait... he also displaced an equal number) - that's as many people as Jews exterminated by Hitler, yet no sane person on Earth would have disputed ousting him.

Violent crime has indeed risen in some areas and that's very shite.... but overall crime has fallen very significantly and according to the British Crime Survey the majority of people feel safer now

We have the highest levels of Employment now that we DON'T have 4 million people on the dole and the long term unemployed committing suicide due to the realisation that they may well never work again, where communities were decimated and Long-Term Unemployment in the worst cases was running at well over 60% (Thanks for those years Maggie and Geoffrey - you were even warned that you were doing this in advance)

We have the highest levels of public investment yet the PERCEPTION is that everything is going to hell in a handcart when NONE of the evidence supports that. Yet they are still accused of media control

There, now both sides have had their chances to put their points across.

I am now locking this thread as it will do nothing from here but descend into a furious row. I will thank other moderators to respect that or we will row too

Now everyone go back to talking about fast cars!

[Bibs]

Spin!

We're more heavily taxed than we have been for a long time, first time buyers will soon have to be bailed out by public funds as housing is too expensive, council tax on top of income tax is decimating many people's spare income, personal borrowing and debt out of control, we're a nanny state where public freedom is limited by oppressive policing and public policies. The government gives with one hand and takes with the other, we have no choice in how much money they take out of our pockets on a whim. We can't drive the cars we want without financial penalties, immigration is barely policed and asylum seekers are everywhere getting rich off the state and causing crime to rise without reprimand. Terrorists are attacking us in public places and we're living in fear of the next attack. More people may feel safer now but no doubt they are the minority who haven't been a victim of crime. Those that have been will probably have an issue with the fact that little is done in the case of burgulary, car crime, street crime if it looks like the effort will outweight the reward for the cops.

If it wasn't for my children, I'd not live in this country. That's a valid reason not to leave for me and I'll stay here forever but I don't have to like it.

[arbell9]

Everyone's bitching about inflation going up half a percent... at least it is THIS side of FOURTEEN percent. Cheers Nige...

As far as I can tell, its the media thats whipping this one up, no-one in my sphere of friends/work colleagues is bitching about it

The hospitals on the whole are working better than they ever have - the ones that are indeed having financial problems are transient and is the world's worst case of the "glass is half emty-ism" as SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT of all hospitals have managed themselves competently and are NOT reporting any problems whatsoever and are not laying anybody off to meet their financial obligations.

I could write about my mothers recent and current experiences in the NHS in 2007 in three different hospitals, 3 consutlants, umpteen monkey level doctors, and a system that is incapable of transferring basic medical information between doctors and hosptials. But as my mum hasnt given me the ppermission I cant. All I can say is yes for acute emergency short term care or General practice the system probably well surpasses the 80:20 rule, but for complicated chronic diseases the system is shi*e (and thats being polite!). If you talk to my family the glass isnt even close to being half full! I also could review the nuts system we have to care for our elderley based on my Grans recent experience (she is 99 and still lives in a flat on her own). Being satisfied with a system has bugger all to do with layoffs and competant management. Its about your direct experiences with these services. I cant wait for the next general election to speak with the electoral candidates on my doorstep.

The lack of Doctors' training posts is most unfortunate for them (to say the least) yet masks the reality that there are more training posts than there have EVER been - there are also more new Doctors than there have ever been. Until next years new round of training posts, they ALL still have their jobs though.

90% of all patients report that they are 100% happy with their service and experience yet every last one of them comes out believing "they were the lucky one" due to the PERCEPTION that they're up the shitter when they're not. *cough* 1980's *cough*

My mum worked in the NHS from student nurse to a senior specialist nurse by the end of her career, from the lates seventies and through the 80s and upto 2002. It wasnt shite then, yes it had many problems like it does now, but dont say tory years bad... blair years good because that isnt the truth. Here is a simple example.

If a patient cant shuffle themselves up their bed eg post surgery because it damn hurts then Nurses will not lift a patient without using a huge mechanical lift. Even if it is only to move just an inch or two to relieve pressure and be comfortable. This is because of potential back injuries. My mum could have actually taught the nurses herslf how to lift patients correctly with very minimal risk of injury. So the pateint either goes through a twenty minute emabarsiing lifting proceedure on the ward or waits for family to do it during visiting times. This is an example of how the NHS is poor , basic care these days is minimal. Also nurses have minimal contact with patients to minimise infection risk. This is because histortical ward cleaning practices which worked for decades were abandoned in the 90's under both tory and labour governments.

We have had the longest period of stable growth FREE FROM ECONOMIC CATASTROPHES (Thanks for those Geoffrey, Nigel, John AND Norman)

The War is indeed a very contentious issue. I have simply come to the conclusion that Saddam killed 4.5 million of his own people (that doesn't include the people who died in the Iran Iraq war (in which our hands are far from clean) and the invasion of Kuwait... he also displaced an equal number) - that's as many people as Jews exterminated by Hitler, yet no sane person on Earth would have disputed ousting him.

Violent crime has indeed risen in some areas and that's very shite.... but overall crime has fallen very significantly and according to the British Crime Survey the majority of people feel safer now.

During the tory years no-one in our family was burgled. During the labours years we have had 3 burgleries. its an anecdote - doesnt prove anything just fact

We have the highest levels of Employment now that we DON'T have 4 million people on the dole and the long term unemployed committing suicide due to the realisation that they may well never work again, where communities were decimated and Long-Term Unemployment in the worst cases was running at well over 60% (Thanks for those years Maggie and Geoffrey - you were even warned that you were doing this in advance)

We have the highest levels of public investment yet the PERCEPTION is that everything is going to hell in a handcart when NONE of the evidence supports that. Yet they are still accused of media control

There, now both sides have had their chances to put their points across.

Its a bit like investing 50 grand in a car, thats a lot of investment and you expect the damn thing to be perfect in all situations. If we invest 5 grand in a little korean number our expectations will be different. We are taxed highly so we expect high standards of public service. Its not an unreasonable expectation. This labour adminstration does not meet these pubic expectation with their level of delivery.

Home office (inc law and order) - not fit for purpose as said by current Home office minister

NHS - see thread above

Education - we have poor quality graduates nowadays - dumbing down of the system becasue everyone has to get a degree now. A one size fits all has failed.

Economy - mainly propped up by people spending cash they dont have, public service spending by high taxation, no genius needed there to make that policy up, and bank of england (not the governemnt) trying to control inflation Personal debt at record levels. Bubble is gonna burst at somepoint. House prices at levels that are not sustainable for the low income individuals and familes

For 10 years their record is no better and no worse than the previous bunch. All we can say is the previous bunch had less spin.

Thanks for unlocking the thread

Alex

I am now locking this thread as it will do nothing from here but descend into a furious row. I will thank other moderators to respect that or we will row too

Now everyone go back to talking about fast cars!

[bigsi]

one of the worst things has to be the increasing amount of profitable companies that are now leaving the uk and have set up in an extremely low income low taxation countries, and have made redundant a uk workforce in favour of increased profit and sales for a even less outlay. thereby exploiting the labourforce of that region and country, increasing the redundant workforce in the uk, which increases the unemployed ratio significantly. the current unemployed reports bear no relation to absolute current figures, these reports are over a period of 3 years min prior to the publishing of the report and as such do not show the increase of this ratio.

companies that move to another country in this way should have a higher tax bracket to bring them back into line with what they would pay in the uk, that way even though they have show repeated profit growth every year in sucession they will be no better off with tax margins or costs, that or actually ban thier product from uk sale.

bt are the worst with indian workers sometimes being paid a fith of what a same uk based person would earn for the same job. yet the govenment sits by and lets companies do this and call it "foreign investment"

ghandi had a quote i like

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?

[Jonathan]

I want my Dentist back as well - NHS my arse

[Paul C]

There, now both sides have had their chances to put their points across.

I am now locking this thread as it will do nothing from here but descend into a furious row.

Sorry mate,

Thats the same as putting yer hands on yer ears and humming,

while every now and then shouting "i'm right, i'm right etc", these

threads that stray into politics/war etc always need nursing at the

end, but not nannying beforehand.

Telling someone they have had their chance to put their point accross

and then gagging them, is not moderate in any way, shape or form.

I'm sure there is some political term for telling everyone to shut up,

that you are right, and forbidding them from stating otherwise. But

i've no idea what it is?

Anyone?

[Kimbers]

The hospitals on the whole are working better than they ever have - the ones that are indeed having financial problems are transient and is the world's worst case of the "glass is half emty-ism" as SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT of all hospitals have managed themselves competently and are NOT reporting any problems whatsoever and are not laying anybody off to meet their financial obligations.

My wifes a 3rd year student nurse. Instead of sitting in a classroom she's getting paid ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and working 13 hour days doing jobs that a full time staff nurse should do. In her ward at present, there are 3 Students, 2 Auxiliaries and 2 full time nurse. between them they look after the same number of patients that 3 times that many staff would struggle with. She's currently drinking a bottle of wine in the lounge as 2 people died on her, 1 because of the MRSA the other from a heart attack that she couldn't cope with on her own. Oh yes, she also did a 13 hour shift, with no break and only managed one cuppa in the whole day!

40% of her mates have dropped out of the program and the hospitals run on free student labour and immigrant nurses. You want to get political, maybe you should talk to my next door neihbours, both of them doctors at the hospital, who have had to reapply for their (5 year old) jobs as part of cutbacks.

The only reason the hospitals are managing themselves competantly is for the above reasons.

Incidently, the ward I was in recently coped with 4 nurses for 30 patients, 1 was a student and 2 Auxiliaries.

Don't try and feed us labour Bulls**t Fishy as I see it day in and day out. They're more worried about PC and looking after immigrants (free house rental, car, phone and living expenses) than the NHS.

Incidently, saying they spend more on NHS etc isn't an arguement as most of it goes missing in administration.

Oh yes and our local hospital is breaking even...well done!! My food was served by an ADMINISTRATION MANAGER as they'd laid all the catering staff off!

My wife also can't come to Castle Coombe as she's doing a FREE, UNPAID shift at the hospital that day.

I'm going back to chat with my wife who's doing a degree but has to look after patients all day instead. Oh yeah, under the Tories, students didn't do a nurses job to hide the true figures.