FlyTheNest

UK told to pay £1.7bn extra to EU
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29751124

refitman wrote:Morning. Labour and Tories tied in latest Yougov:

Latest YouGov / The Sun results 23nd Oct -

Con 34%, (+3)
Lab 34%, (+1)
LD 6%, (-1)
UKIP 15%; (-2)

APP -21 (+4)

rebeccariots2 wrote:Pleased to see the good people of Liverpool tell it like it is to Mark Harper on QT last night.

Special thanks to the young hospital doctor who asked the NHS question - lousy answers from Louise de Bours (get rid of CQC - is she mad? no need to answer) and Mark Harper - who insists there are fewer managers since the coalition's wonderful reforms of the NHS ... oh yeah. Caroline Flint and Len McCluskey both on them like a rash ... various figures cited as being lost by the work involved in running the CCGs model - 2, 3 or 4 billion depending who you believe.

And the wonderful woman who works in a food bank who told Harper he must be living in la la land if he thinks there has been any economic recovery outside of London. Her description of what she sees and experiences on a daily basis was searing. She got a big round of applause. Audience clearly recognising a reality.

RobertSnozers wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:Pleased to see the good people of Liverpool tell it like it is to Mark Harper on QT last night.

Special thanks to the young hospital doctor who asked the NHS question - lousy answers from Louise de Bours (get rid of CQC - is she mad? no need to answer) and Mark Harper - who insists there are fewer managers since the coalition's wonderful reforms of the NHS ... oh yeah. Caroline Flint and Len McCluskey both on them like a rash ... various figures cited as being lost by the work involved in running the CCGs model - 2, 3 or 4 billion depending who you believe.

And the wonderful woman who works in a food bank who told Harper he must be living in la la land if he thinks there has been any economic recovery outside of London. Her description of what she sees and experiences on a daily basis was searing. She got a big round of applause. Audience clearly recognising a reality.

It's only fair to acknowledge it when Ukip come up with a decent policy, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Hate to say it, (actually I don't) but getting rid of the CQC is A Very Good Idea. Anyone who has read Roy Lilley knows it's a waste of space and money, and I have personal experience of the unfitness for purpose of the so-called inspectorate.

The job of monitoring services and intervening when they fall below the standards expected is done perfectly well by the process known as assurance, currently done by NHS England's area teams (strategic health authorities in all but name). They don't need the CQC to tell them when something isn't working because they have the local relationships and probably know when a service needs help long before the CQC does. Moreover, they are authorised and have the skills to actually go in and help improve the service, which the CQC does not. Nine times out of ten, the CQC makes things worse because they make a lot of noise about how something's wrong, make absolutely no suggestions or recommendations on how to improve matters, then sod off to trash the next organisation after having busted morale and made recruitment ten times harder.

Moreover, they don't have the skills to do even that job properly, as a service might find itself inspected by someone with no direct experience of that part of the health service, which means their impressions are sometimes wrong (e.g. Complaining that a young person's mental health service is a bit raucous - actually you want to worry when things are quiet because it means everyone's just doped up to the eyeballs and not actually receiving proper help).

It might need a few changes - i.e. Publishing assurance reports, if they aren't already, but the CQC really is a case of an empty vessel making the most noise.

RobertSnozers wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:Pleased to see the good people of Liverpool tell it like it is to Mark Harper on QT last night.

Special thanks to the young hospital doctor who asked the NHS question - lousy answers from Louise de Bours (get rid of CQC - is she mad? no need to answer) and Mark Harper - who insists there are fewer managers since the coalition's wonderful reforms of the NHS ... oh yeah. Caroline Flint and Len McCluskey both on them like a rash ... various figures cited as being lost by the work involved in running the CCGs model - 2, 3 or 4 billion depending who you believe.

And the wonderful woman who works in a food bank who told Harper he must be living in la la land if he thinks there has been any economic recovery outside of London. Her description of what she sees and experiences on a daily basis was searing. She got a big round of applause. Audience clearly recognising a reality.

It's only fair to acknowledge it when Ukip come up with a decent policy, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Hate to say it, (actually I don't) but getting rid of the CQC is A Very Good Idea. Anyone who has read Roy Lilley knows it's a waste of space and money, and I have personal experience of the unfitness for purpose of the so-called inspectorate.

The job of monitoring services and intervening when they fall below the standards expected is done perfectly well by the process known as assurance, currently done by NHS England's area teams (strategic health authorities in all but name). They don't need the CQC to tell them when something isn't working because they have the local relationships and probably know when a service needs help long before the CQC does. Moreover, they are authorised and have the skills to actually go in and help improve the service, which the CQC does not. Nine times out of ten, the CQC makes things worse because they make a lot of noise about how something's wrong, make absolutely no suggestions or recommendations on how to improve matters, then sod off to trash the next organisation after having busted morale and made recruitment ten times harder.

Moreover, they don't have the skills to do even that job properly, as a service might find itself inspected by someone with no direct experience of that part of the health service, which means their impressions are sometimes wrong (e.g. Complaining that a young person's mental health service is a bit raucous - actually you want to worry when things are quiet because it means everyone's just doped up to the eyeballs and not actually receiving proper help).

It might need a few changes - i.e. Publishing assurance reports, if they aren't already, but the CQC really is a case of an empty vessel making the most noise.

Phew! Lucky this large new oil find off the Scottish coast was made after the referendum
http://tompride.wordpress.com/

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Phew! Lucky this large new oil find off the Scottish coast was made after the referendum
http://tompride.wordpress.com/

yahyah wrote:Growth slowing.

Breaking: The UK economy grew by 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014, according to figures just released by the Office for National Statistics.

That follows growth of 0.9% in the second quarter of the year.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Phew! Lucky this large new oil find off the Scottish coast was made after the referendum
http://tompride.wordpress.com/

YouGov @YouGov · 18h 18 hours ago
Slump in consumer confidence as employees start to fear for the future - http://y-g.co/1sTwN7W" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Consumer confidence down 2.9 points on last month
Largest month-on-month fall in consumer confidence since October 2010
Employees increasingly worried about work as they anticipate declines in workplace activity and job security
Increased number of employees fear the sack in next 12 months
Cebr projects 0.7% increase in Q3 GDP and growth to slow further in 2015 ...

Stephen Harmston, Head of YouGov Reports: “Although GDP is expected to have increased at a decent pace in Q3, the consumer confidence figures show that a lot of people are unconvinced by the recovery. While employment levels are up many jobs are low paid and unsecure, and it is these workers that are looking ahead to the coming year with some trepidation. Once again consumers are worried about work and this will create a sense of uncertainty that will have a real impact on the economy over the coming year.”,...

RobertSnozers wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote: Thanks for that very interesting and knowledgeable response. Why isn't someone sensible - in a party other than UKIP - talking about this and proposing similar? Are they all heavily invested in the CQC - even the NHA? Or do you think it's because they think the public won't believe any group that's internal to the NHS can be trusted to properly inspect and improve - after all the Tories and the media have done a mercilessly effective job of scaring the pants off the public about the NHS?

You're welcome. I don't know what the NHAP's position on it is, but from their angle on things like commissioning, I doubt they are especially keen on it. Labour obviously set up the CQC, though the politicisation of it stepped up under the Tories. I suspect there's little appetite in Labour to scrap it, added to the fact that if they proposed it, the Tories/Mail etc would have another line of attack - Labour wants to cover up next Mid Staffs etc etc. There is the perceived lack of independence too, I suppose, but in most respects the NHS does perfectly well in marking its own homework.

Monitor/TDA are a waste of space too.

Captain's log, supplemental: I doubt Ukip wants to scrap the CQC for any sensible reason, I imagine it's "bureaucrats! Pen pushers! Burn them!"

rebeccariots2 wrote:

YouGov @YouGov · 18h 18 hours ago
Slump in consumer confidence as employees start to fear for the future - http://y-g.co/1sTwN7W" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Consumer confidence down 2.9 points on last month
Largest month-on-month fall in consumer confidence since October 2010
Employees increasingly worried about work as they anticipate declines in workplace activity and job security
Increased number of employees fear the sack in next 12 months
Cebr projects 0.7% increase in Q3 GDP and growth to slow further in 2015 ...

Stephen Harmston, Head of YouGov Reports: “Although GDP is expected to have increased at a decent pace in Q3, the consumer confidence figures show that a lot of people are unconvinced by the recovery. While employment levels are up many jobs are low paid and unsecure, and it is these workers that are looking ahead to the coming year with some trepidation. Once again consumers are worried about work and this will create a sense of uncertainty that will have a real impact on the economy over the coming year.”,...

JackPranker wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Phew! Lucky this large new oil find off the Scottish coast was made after the referendum
http://tompride.wordpress.com/

Well I never. Fancy that? How strange.

Odd, even.

StephenDolan wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... scale.html


Headline says it all, the cheeky c@*t.

Jonathan Portes @jdportes · 12h 12 hours ago
Inside welfare reform: my @BBC_Analysis programme feat. @colinrtalbot @suey2y @FraserNelson Monday 8.30pm Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mc1hv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 29m 29 minutes ago
GREEN drops to 3% in latest Populus online poll
Lab 35 (-1), Con 33 (-1), LD 9 (=), UKIP 15 (+2), GRN 3(-2)

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 26m 26 minutes ago
CON moves to 3 seat GE15 lead in latest from Oxford's @StephenDFisher

Scott Baker, Lord Bew,Professor Jeremy Black, Professor Arthur Burns, Jamie Byrom, Daisy Christoudolou, Christine Counsell, Jackie Eales, Rebecca Fraser, Dr. David Green, Elizabeth Hutchinson, Matthew Inniss, Dr Seán Lang, Jennifer Livesey, Chris McGovern, Dr Michael Maddison, Andrew Payne, Robert Peal, Katherine Rowley Conwy, Rebecca Sullivan, Professor Robert Tombs, Jonny Walker,Dr Nick Winterbotham

The point I want to hammer home, however, is that those people who believe that the 2007 history curriculum is ‘knowledge-lite’ and who believe that the proposed 2014 curriculum is ‘knowledge-rich’ have misunderstood the former and exaggerated the changes the latter brings. There is not more knowledge in the proposed 2014 curriculum; it is simply more specific about what knowledge should be taught. I should reiterate that Daisy’s generic views on education support what many of us in the history community have been arguing for years, and it is for this reason that I reviewed her book favourably. I am assuming that the masses who have since done likewise are primarily supporting her general assertions. Assertions, however, are all her points will ever be, unless they are underpinned by a sufficiently rigorous evidence base and, from my reading of her handling of the history curriculum, this is currently not the case.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 29m 29 minutes ago
GREEN drops to 3% in latest Populus online poll
Lab 35 (-1), Con 33 (-1), LD 9 (=), UKIP 15 (+2), GRN 3(-2)

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 26m 26 minutes ago
CON moves to 3 seat GE15 lead in latest from Oxford's @StephenDFisher

It's all getting a bit tite* today. I want it to go away.

(*To be heard in very very clipped Margot tones).

Smithsons next tweet is a bit reassuring as he reminds someone that ICM is considered the gold standard (in response to a query about the slip back for the Greens).

seeingclearly wrote:Why the ILF is so important. A brilliant little film.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 29m 29 minutes ago
GREEN drops to 3% in latest Populus online poll
Lab 35 (-1), Con 33 (-1), LD 9 (=), UKIP 15 (+2), GRN 3(-2)

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 26m 26 minutes ago
CON moves to 3 seat GE15 lead in latest from Oxford's @StephenDFisher

It's all getting a bit tite* today. I want it to go away.

(*To be heard in very very clipped Margot tones).

Smithsons next tweet is a bit reassuring as he reminds someone that ICM is considered the gold standard (in response to a query about the slip back for the Greens).

Lonewolfie wrote:I'm not necessarily a supporter of the religious, but in this case, it's nice to see that something that happened nearly 20 years ago can still end in ignominy for my favourite Australian-American-Scotsman

RogerOThornhill wrote:Given that the money due to the EU is based on the economy since 1995 I'm surprised they haven't spun this as being Labour's fault.

PorFavor wrote:Good morning.

For any of you who saw Question Time last night:

What was the Len McCluskey input like, please?

RobertSnozers wrote:This image tells you all you need to know about the three main parties' conference announcements and where the burden of deficit reduction/tax rises/cuts will fall

RobertSnozers wrote:Funny how the government was happy enough to take the political benefits of revisions to the way the economy was measured but don't want to pay the financial price.

DonutHingeParty wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but after the Rochester and Strood By election, won't the whole shooting match have to be rerun again in 6 months, for much of which parliament won't be sitting; in which case isn't this all a huge waste of money?

PaulfromYorkshire wrote:One for the dog lovers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... -2014.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The-Westminster-Dog-of-the-Year-show-2014.html