FlyTheNest

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Michael Dugher ‏@MichaelDugherMP 53m53 minutes ago
I only wrap 1 present. I ran out of paper, left a big gap & taped my thumb. My eldest said "that's a 2 out of 10 - and I'm being generous"

Who says we don't have any ordinary people as MPs?

ohsocynical wrote:https://www.facebook.com/14406246245222 ... 712/?type=1

Posted on Facebook by an American. But will Tory voters take notice of stuff like this?

You're confusing Govt Regulation with Govt Subsidy.

That isn't subsidy.

Other countries like the UK that have national healthcare collectively bargain with pharmaceutical companies and medical companies for their products. So when deciding which drugs the national health service is going to prescribe for example, the government sends notice to all the pharmaceutical companies, and whoever can produce the most effective drug for the cheapest price gets the contract. This not only keeps drug prices down but also makes the companies extremely wealthy, because their contract serves the entire country and whoever uses the NHS.

That's not a subsidy, that's regulatory practices.

Cyclists lying injured for two hours 'is not good enough', says London NHS chief
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/c ... 41976.html

Dr Anne Rainsberry admitted the London Ambulance Service was “struggling” due to a national shortage of paramedics, leaving it unable to respond within target times to non life-threatening emergencies...

The LAS, which is recruiting paramedics from Australia and New Zealand to fill more than 400 vacancies, has delivered the slowest response times in the country since September.

Of the “category A” calls in November, it got to 64.2 per cent of the most time-critical “red 1” calls — to patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse — within eight minutes. Just 54.8  per cent of “red 2” calls — where the patient is having a stroke or fit —were reached within the target. The NHS target for both is 75 per cent.

Dr Rainsberry said: “It’s struggling. I think everybody can see that. They have got very significant vacancies. There are medium-term plans to manage that, but there is no getting away from the fact that they have seen a significant number of staff leave.

“They have the highest attrition rates of any ambulance service in the country. They are doing international recruitment and in January they will have a significant influx of staff. I think that will make a big, big difference.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Michael Dugher ‏@MichaelDugherMP 53m53 minutes ago
I only wrap 1 present. I ran out of paper, left a big gap & taped my thumb. My eldest said "that's a 2 out of 10 - and I'm being generous"

Who says we don't have any ordinary people as MPs?

Plus it is about consistent with Dugher's level of competence.

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:This is amazing from the ONS

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:This is amazing from the ONS

citizenJA wrote:

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:This is amazing from the ONS

Yep. What'd I tell you? That ONS, it's got the data if you've got the time.

Science A level practicals face axe despite barage of criticism, says MP
Opposition from Royal Society and others should force a government rethink, says chair of Commons science and technology committee Andrew Miller
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014 ... rew-miller

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Science A level practicals face axe despite barage of criticism, says MP
Opposition from Royal Society and others should force a government rethink, says chair of Commons science and technology committee Andrew Miller
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014 ... rew-miller

Tubby Isaacs wrote:I don't know. Tower Hamlets, I notice, has some keyworker housing for paramedics. Don't know how much else there is.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Science A level practicals face axe despite barage of criticism, says MP
Opposition from Royal Society and others should force a government rethink, says chair of Commons science and technology committee Andrew Miller
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014 ... rew-miller

Gove knew best.

Totally avoidable mistake. Pure prejudice.

Jonathan Ashworth MP ‏@JonAshworth 12m12 minutes ago
Hello @grantshapps is this character really your prospective MP for Wirral South or is it a parody account ? " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:

citizenJA wrote:

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:This is amazing from the ONS

Yep. What'd I tell you? That ONS, it's got the data if you've got the time.

Well thanks be to the Indy who still have journalists who share it with the population.

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/w ... xJTAYLfhYl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rather than the Guardian and the rest who prefer their Westminster tittle tattle.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Cyclists lying injured for two hours 'is not good enough', says London NHS chief
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/c ... 41976.html

Dr Anne Rainsberry admitted the London Ambulance Service was “struggling” due to a national shortage of paramedics, leaving it unable to respond within target times to non life-threatening emergencies...

The LAS, which is recruiting paramedics from Australia and New Zealand to fill more than 400 vacancies, has delivered the slowest response times in the country since September.

Of the “category A” calls in November, it got to 64.2 per cent of the most time-critical “red 1” calls — to patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse — within eight minutes. Just 54.8  per cent of “red 2” calls — where the patient is having a stroke or fit —were reached within the target. The NHS target for both is 75 per cent.

Dr Rainsberry said: “It’s struggling. I think everybody can see that. They have got very significant vacancies. There are medium-term plans to manage that, but there is no getting away from the fact that they have seen a significant number of staff leave.

“They have the highest attrition rates of any ambulance service in the country. They are doing international recruitment and in January they will have a significant influx of staff. I think that will make a big, big difference.

Can someone who knows more than I - and I'm not in London anymore - explain what the main reasons are for this shortage of paramedics? Is it lack of workforce planning and training opportunities? Why are so many paramedics leaving - is it cost of living in London, poor wages, poor working conditions, endless pressure and not enough staff / support?

But again this seems crazy when we have so many people looking for jobs that we need to go abroad and take their already trained people. Surely this becomes self defeating - if we can always get people from abroad we won't bother training here ....

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Can someone who knows more than I - and I'm not in London anymore - explain what the main reasons are for this shortage of paramedics? Is it lack of workforce planning and training opportunities? Why are so many paramedics leaving - is it cost of living in London, poor wages, poor working conditions, endless pressure and not enough staff / support?

But again this seems crazy when we have so many people looking for jobs that we need to go abroad and take their already trained people. Surely this becomes self defeating - if we can always get people from abroad we won't bother training here ....

“They have the highest attrition rates of any ambulance service in the country. They are doing international recruitment and in January they will have a significant influx of staff. I think that will make a big, big difference.

PorFavor wrote:Goodnight, everyone.

citizenJA wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Cyclists lying injured for two hours 'is not good enough', says London NHS chief
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/c ... 41976.html

Dr Anne Rainsberry admitted the London Ambulance Service was “struggling” due to a national shortage of paramedics, leaving it unable to respond within target times to non life-threatening emergencies...

The LAS, which is recruiting paramedics from Australia and New Zealand to fill more than 400 vacancies, has delivered the slowest response times in the country since September.

Of the “category A” calls in November, it got to 64.2 per cent of the most time-critical “red 1” calls — to patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse — within eight minutes. Just 54.8  per cent of “red 2” calls — where the patient is having a stroke or fit —were reached within the target. The NHS target for both is 75 per cent.

Dr Rainsberry said: “It’s struggling. I think everybody can see that. They have got very significant vacancies. There are medium-term plans to manage that, but there is no getting away from the fact that they have seen a significant number of staff leave.

“They have the highest attrition rates of any ambulance service in the country. They are doing international recruitment and in January they will have a significant influx of staff. I think that will make a big, big difference.

Can someone who knows more than I - and I'm not in London anymore - explain what the main reasons are for this shortage of paramedics? Is it lack of workforce planning and training opportunities? Why are so many paramedics leaving - is it cost of living in London, poor wages, poor working conditions, endless pressure and not enough staff / support?

But again this seems crazy when we have so many people looking for jobs that we need to go abroad and take their already trained people. Surely this becomes self defeating - if we can always get people from abroad we won't bother training here ....

Private companies own & 'employ' the ambulance service workers. The thing about private companies I've noticed is that they don't like to pay people to do the work the company has agreed to do. It reduces the amount of money the companies' owners may keep to themselves. Not all private companies do this. But some do. I think we've got a dangerous combination of too few workers, those still working aren't paid enough for the level of responsibility they're vested with, poor employment conditions, poor morale.

citizenJA wrote:

TechnicalEphemera wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote: Who says we don't have any ordinary people as MPs?

Plus it is about consistent with Dugher's level of competence.

I've a liking for this MP, I do hope you'll acknowledge he's capable in other spheres & an asset to the Labour party. He's such an earnest fellow. I can just imagine his present wrapping mishap described above. I like his eldest's comment - it rings true, more or less. It's sweet. Not at all disturbing. I like representatives who don't disturb me.

The PM, now, Dave - his judgement. It's not sound. That's disturbing.

citizenJA wrote:

Tubby Isaacs wrote:I don't know. Tower Hamlets, I notice, has some keyworker housing for paramedics. Don't know how much else there is.

Keyworker paramedics housing is a wonderful thing - I'm not surprised Tower Hamlets is home to keyworkers. I've read some positive things leadership has done for regular people inhabiting that region. I'll tell you plainly I don't understand the negativity meted out to local leadership. I apologise if I'm ignorant of serious problems, I very well may be. I can't make anything out of news reports I've seen.

Any region taken over by Eric Pickles Squad of Enforcers or whatever the hell he calls them, I'm concerned for.

Pickles has behaved high-handed at his best & wholly unprofessional during last years floods. He was rude to workers in the Environment Agency at that time.

It's unprecedented, isn't it, Pickles deposing the democratically elected leadership in Tower Hamlets?

If Tower Hamlets is home to key workers can we justifiably demand more (above safe, competent, not horrid) from Tower Hamlets?

ephemerid wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Can someone who knows more than I - and I'm not in London anymore - explain what the main reasons are for this shortage of paramedics? Is it lack of workforce planning and training opportunities? Why are so many paramedics leaving - is it cost of living in London, poor wages, poor working conditions, endless pressure and not enough staff / support?

But again this seems crazy when we have so many people looking for jobs that we need to go abroad and take their already trained people. Surely this becomes self defeating - if we can always get people from abroad we won't bother training here ....

LAS paramedics take 5 years to train - they are trained to foundation degree level now, along with all the driving/emergency stuff.
First year (the academic year) starts at about £16K and as they do more shift work it goes up to about £20K plus weightings.

A fully qualified experienced paramedic can earn up to £30K to £39K but that includes shift premiums and weightings. They can work alone as first responders on motorbikes or whatever. It's not good pay for what they're expected to do.

Call handlers (who need training too) start at about £18K and after time can go to £25K.

They don't get extra for shifts as they do them; they get an annual allowance for unsocial hours. If someone gets a lot of nights or weekends, it's not really fair. They also take a lot of abuse and are often in quite dangerous situations.

Anything under £25K is not easy to live on in London these days.

I'm inclined to think that they are not treated all that well (it was the same back in my day) and they are chronically underpaid.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Jonathan Ashworth MP ‏@JonAshworth 12m12 minutes ago
Hello @grantshapps is this character really your prospective MP for Wirral South or is it a parody account ? " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

ohsocynical wrote:Well I've wrapped the last present. Made bread rolls and froze some down. Made two gateaus [one gluten free for our son] the other for us instead of Christmas pudding. Baked 4 dozen gluten free and regular mince pies and countless sausage rolls, some of which I shall take to my nieces tomorrow afternoon when we meet up with all the family.
Made two quiches [one for son] which have already been eaten and the lovely lump of gammon I bought in Aldi is finishing off in its foil wrapper full of cider and will be a delicious ham.
Mr Ohso was awake with indigestion last night after polishing off most of the quiche, and today did his last turn as Santa, came home and immediately shaved his long white beard off. I'd forgotten what he looked like without it.
My mother will be turning in her grave because I haven't given the house a thorough cleaning, but this year it's too much for me to do that and all the baking.

It's my 52nd married Christmas. Where does the time go?

Budget cuts of £148 million will result in Northamptonshire County Council ‘outsourcing’ 95 per cent of staff

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Cheers.

I don't say there's no problem with favouritism, or that Rahman doesn't have support from some unpleasant people, or that there might not be connected party stuff going on. But the amounts talked about so far don't justify take over. Couple of compliance officers would reassure everybody.

Things do basically work here. Go into the One Stop Shop and there's enough staff, and they know what they're talking about. The (private) rubbish collectors are efficient. And schools are doing very well indeed.

Private Eye's role has been very disappointing.

Eric Pickles has called time on the wasteful and unnecessary restructuring of councils in Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon.

This government made it clear in its Coalition Agreement that reducing unnecessary spending would be part of how we cut the deficit. Today I am pulling the plug on this expensive distraction and saving the taxpayer £40 million of restructuring costs.

refitman wrote:

citizenJA wrote:

TechnicalEphemera wrote: Plus it is about consistent with Dugher's level of competence.

I've a liking for this MP, I do hope you'll acknowledge he's capable in other spheres & an asset to the Labour party. He's such an earnest fellow. I can just imagine his present wrapping mishap described above. I like his eldest's comment - it rings true, more or less. It's sweet. Not at all disturbing. I like representatives who don't disturb me.

The PM, now, Dave - his judgement. It's not sound. That's disturbing.

Dugher is my MP. I follow him on Twitter and a lot of his posts, when not about Labour stuff (meetings, campaigning and what-have-you) is about his family life. Playing with his kids, cooking currys and the like. I quite like it, it shows that he is 'human'.

AngryAsWell wrote:Reject the proposal contained in the draft of the 'EU Animal Health Law' that defines stray domestic animals as "wild animals

https://www.change.org/p/martin-schulz- ... igned=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both Danczuk and his wife, Karen, a local Labour councillor in Rochdale, have been criticised for seeking the limelight - she was criticised by Janet Street Porter on ITV show Loose Women for continually Tweeting “cleavage selfies”. After appearing in the tabloids, Karen changed her Twitter profile to read: “The Uk’s only councillor to make European and International headlines.”

Yet Danczuk insists Karen is simply “doing what a lot of young women do” in her revealing Tweets: on Sunday night she posted a picture of herself, wet and apparently naked, subtitled: “A very long overdue & well deserved bath!! KD #heaven #candles #fizz #happysunday.”

Danczuk says he lets her do what she wants - “this isn’t the 1950s”. But he said: “She’s had a working class upbringing. Twenty-odd-year-old women, 30-year-old women, if they do Twitter, they take selfies of themselves before they go out on a Friday night.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Ooh, take that Hampstead Liberals! Or rather, Janet Street Porter.

Both Danczuk and his wife, Karen, a local Labour councillor in Rochdale, have been criticised for seeking the limelight - she was criticised by Janet Street Porter on ITV show Loose Women for continually Tweeting “cleavage selfies”. After appearing in the tabloids, Karen changed her Twitter profile to read: “The Uk’s only councillor to make European and International headlines.”

Yet Danczuk insists Karen is simply “doing what a lot of young women do” in her revealing Tweets: on Sunday night she posted a picture of herself, wet and apparently naked, subtitled: “A very long overdue & well deserved bath!! KD #heaven #candles #fizz #happysunday.”

Danczuk says he lets her do what she wants - “this isn’t the 1950s”. But he said: “She’s had a working class upbringing. Twenty-odd-year-old women, 30-year-old women, if they do Twitter, they take selfies of themselves before they go out on a Friday night.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:This is presumably OK with Pickles too.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/ ... -1-6463894" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Budget cuts of £148 million will result in Northamptonshire County Council ‘outsourcing’ 95 per cent of staff

Man sent back to prison for getting job that started too early in the morning
Parole officer told Ashley Stansfield he could take job but firm supervising his licence then told him he had breached licence
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014 ... ly-morning

AngryAsWell wrote:Two UKIP parliamentary candidates have put their names to a motion of no confidence in Winston McKenzie standing for the party at the General Election in May.
Gosh party of publicity getting a bit touchy....

"The email from Oakley, seen by Inside Croydon, said: “No member is to approach any press or media outlet about the branch suspension and if contacted is to refuse to comment.
“Posting on social media about this matter is similarly unacceptable. Failure to comply with this will be considered a disciplinary offence.”

http://insidecroydon.com/2014/12/22/two ... ce-motion/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;