Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th December 2014

[refitman]

Morning all.

Xmas do last night...ooh me head

[Rebecca]

Morning all.

Xmas do last night...ooh me head

Hope you had a good time,now go back to your nice warm bed.

[RogerOThornhill]

Morning all.

Xmas do last night...ooh me head

Hope you had a good time,now go back to your nice warm bed.

...and prepare for government!

Morning all - frosty morning here. Car will need a scrape before I can go shopping. Brrr!

[Spacedone]

Chief constable warns against ‘drift towards police state’
Greater Manchester’s Sir Peter Fahy says it is not the police’s job to define what counts as extremism

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... te-warning" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fahy said government, academics and civil society needed to decide where the line fell between free speech and extremism. Otherwise, he warned, it would be decided by the security establishment, so-called “securocrats”, including the security services, government and senior police chiefs like Fahy.

I'd say he's a couple of years too late at least.

[yahyah]

Morning.

Welsh Labour are hitting out at UKIP who have their first ever Welsh conference this weekend.
The Western Mail calls it 'a full scale assault' & a 'fierce campaign'.

Welsh Labour have an advertising van with a large large pic of Farage fondling a Margaret Thatcher mug, and his quote saying: “I am a Thatcherite”.

Labour’s Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith said:
“Ukip have shown themselves to be a party more Tory than the Tories.
They are reliant on Tory money, Tory people and Tory policies.

If they were to win next year UKIP would raise taxes for working families, allow bankers to take bigger bonuses, make deeper cuts to public services and charge you to see your GP, get rid of workers’ rights including parental leave, maternity pay, holiday pay, sick pay, and even redundancy pay.

“Nigel Farage proudly proclaims that Ukip are the only party keeping the flame of Thatcherism alive but I remember the devastating impact Thatcher had on Wales, and in particular the valleys of south Wales.

“That’s why we will never shy away from exposing them for what they are wherever they go in Wales.

“And why when May comes, I believe people across Wales will support the only party to stand up for working people – Labour.”

[Spacedone]

The privatisation of the NHS continues...


More hospitals could be privately operated in NHS shakeup, says review
Review headed by Sir David Dalton suggests companies could be contracted to manage publicly-funded hospitals, pointing to Spain as example

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... iew-dalton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At present only one of the 242 hospital providers is run by a profit-making firm, Circle, which won a 10-year contract to operate Hinchinbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire. The review, headed by Sir David Dalton, chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation trust, also suggests that a single private or public organisation could own and operate chains of hospitals across wide geographical areas, standardising clinical pathways and cutting back-office and procurement costs.

The options are the most eyecatching from a menu of choices Dalton and a panel of other chief executives have provided for the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, as a recipe to lift standards of healthcare across the NHS despite its continuing financial crises. They include Circle boss Steve Melton, previously Argos supply chain director.

So the boss of a private company making money out of the NHS also gets to recommend that we give them more hospitals to make money out of. These aren't recommendations, they're a fait accompli.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

The privatisation of the NHS continues...


More hospitals could be privately operated in NHS shakeup, says review
Review headed by Sir David Dalton suggests companies could be contracted to manage publicly-funded hospitals, pointing to Spain as example

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... iew-dalton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At present only one of the 242 hospital providers is run by a profit-making firm, Circle, which won a 10-year contract to operate Hinchinbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire. The review, headed by Sir David Dalton, chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation trust, also suggests that a single private or public organisation could own and operate chains of hospitals across wide geographical areas, standardising clinical pathways and cutting back-office and procurement costs.

The options are the most eyecatching from a menu of choices Dalton and a panel of other chief executives have provided for the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, as a recipe to lift standards of healthcare across the NHS despite its continuing financial crises. They include Circle boss Steve Melton, previously Argos supply chain director.

So the boss of a private company making money out of the NHS also gets to recommend that we give them more hospitals to make money out of. These aren't recommendations, they're a fait accompli.

And a scary one, when you consider the less than stellar performance of Circle at Hinchingbrooke; poor hygiene standards, poor patient care, staffing issues (unsurprisingly staff morale is very low), the stroke unit closed and the threat that either the Mat Unit or A & E (or both) may also have to close (and A & E has been closed a couple of times due to staff issues). If that is the future it is a very bleak & scary one.

Morning all.

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.bsa-31.natcen.ac.uk/media/38 ... report.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; British Social Attitudes survey 2014 edition

selfrighteous brits.jpg (42.71 KiB) Viewed 13943 times

Big problem with attitudes to unemployment. People live in fear of redundancy yet still blame the unemployed. Any good sources on voluntary and involuntary unemployment? This seems to be an important nut to crack.

[daydreamer]

Morning all.

Xmas do last night...ooh me head

Hope you had a good time. But what are you doing up this early? get back to bed

[daydreamer]

Chief constable warns against ‘drift towards police state’
Greater Manchester’s Sir Peter Fahy says it is not the police’s job to define what counts as extremism

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... te-warning" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fahy said government, academics and civil society needed to decide where the line fell between free speech and extremism. Otherwise, he warned, it would be decided by the security establishment, so-called “securocrats”, including the security services, government and senior police chiefs like Fahy.

I'd say he's a couple of years too late at least.

Morning Spacedone,

Yes, far too late. We're already well down this particular road, sadly.

[daydreamer]

The privatisation of the NHS continues...


More hospitals could be privately operated in NHS shakeup, says review
Review headed by Sir David Dalton suggests companies could be contracted to manage publicly-funded hospitals, pointing to Spain as example

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... iew-dalton" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At present only one of the 242 hospital providers is run by a profit-making firm, Circle, which won a 10-year contract to operate Hinchinbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire. The review, headed by Sir David Dalton, chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation trust, also suggests that a single private or public organisation could own and operate chains of hospitals across wide geographical areas, standardising clinical pathways and cutting back-office and procurement costs.

The options are the most eyecatching from a menu of choices Dalton and a panel of other chief executives have provided for the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, as a recipe to lift standards of healthcare across the NHS despite its continuing financial crises. They include Circle boss Steve Melton, previously Argos supply chain director.

So the boss of a private company making money out of the NHS also gets to recommend that we give them more hospitals to make money out of. These aren't recommendations, they're a fait accompli.

And a scary one, when you consider the less than stellar performance of Circle at Hinchingbrooke; poor hygiene standards, poor patient care, staffing issues (unsurprisingly staff morale is very low), the stroke unit closed and the threat that either the Mat Unit or A & E (or both) may also have to close (and A & E has been closed a couple of times due to staff issues). If that is the future it is a very bleak & scary one.

Morning all.

We aren't going to be able to stop this now it's started are we? The Genie is out of the bottle. FFS nothing's sacred from the obsession with profit.

[daydreamer]

Meanwhile in Barnsley the cuts mean people now have to repair their own roads.

http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/new ... le-request

[tinyclanger2]

From the same report above:

selfrighteous brits2.jpg (55.42 KiB) Viewed 13928 times

http://www.bsa-31.natcen.ac.uk/media/38 ... report.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[daydreamer]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/new-sheff ... -1-6985651

There are now 16 food banks in Sheffield and use of them has increased by 170 per cent since April 2013, when benefit changes were introduced.

[daydreamer]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/on-the-vo ... -1-6983651

One non-student, a woman living on Eyam Road, voted for the Liberal Democrats last time but is now discenchanted.

She adds: “I bet the other candidates will have a good chance.

“To be honest I think my cat would beat Nick Clegg at the moment.”

[tinyclanger2]

Assuming the worst - that 55% of 47% of us think that the main reason migrants come here is to claim benefits - then that's quarter of the population seriously ill-informed.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/20 ... stics.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

selfrighteous brits4.jpg (21.88 KiB) Viewed 13913 times

[daydreamer]

One that Roger & Tubby may find interesting (or not).

http://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/news/ ... -1-6977701

I was always taught that copying other people's work was wrong, though I think she's talking more writing style than content, to be fair.

[daydreamer]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/yorkshire ... -1-6988347

The service is being penalised for failing to hit tough Government targets to get to 75 per cent of patients thought to be in a life-threatening condition within eight minutes.

The trust, which is in the process of making £10m cuts this year, is forecasting it will face a financial penalty in the region of £3.8m by the end of the current financial year.

If imposed, it will mean the ambulance service will go over-budget by almost £1m in the current year.

[giselle97]

On the Breaking News

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/d ... -executive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She is wife of Robert Chote Office of Budget Responsibility.

PS Morning and sorry can't do links

[daydreamer]

We aren't going to be able to stop this now it's started are we? The Genie is out of the bottle. FFS nothing's sacred from the obsession with profit.

The one tiny hope is a Labour government in 2015. Another five years of Tories will see the job done. As of now it's just about saveable - I don't think even the Tories could get the changes through in the time before the 2015 GE, and unless I have seriously misjudged Ed and Andy Burnham, they are committed to a substantially publicly owned and run NHS. If Labour lose, that's it for the NHS. We only get one vote. We can use it to try and punish Labour for not being strong enough on social security, or we can save the NHS.

Thanks Robert. Finger's crossed Labour can get a workable majority (though nervous about their ability to do so, what with their collapse in Scotland, SNP and the many previously Labour sympathetic people who now seem very anti - though I realise this last group are on CIF so may not be representative). Any other possibility doesn't bare thinking about.

[giselle97]

On yesterday's posts on Unpaid Carers, I was also shocked some time ago to find that there was no monetary funds for "pensioners" who were also carers - @hindleA @citizenJA @JustMom.

My friend Maggie died earlier this year (cancer) and she was a full time carer (and pensioner) for her wheelchair bound husband. He went everywhere with oxygen on board. They didn't go far and John was constantly being hospitalised for one thing or another - which was really the only time Maggie got a breather. She never got any help except from friends. Her husband now has paid carers in several times a day. I know I can't look at it this way, but I often wonder if extra finance had been available to Maggie she ..................

[RogerOThornhill]

On the Breaking News

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/d ... -executive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

She is wife of Robert Chote Office of Budget Responsibility.

PS Morning and sorry can't do links

She returned to the Treasury in 2011 and was promoted to second permanent secretary in October last year.

So after Chote became head of OBR?

Why do I get the "Be nice Robert, and your missus gets to climb the ladder" feel from this? I often wonder what Chote thinks about some of the extraordinary guff he's asked to put into the forecasts.

[ohsocynical]

Morning.

Welsh Labour are hitting out at UKIP who have their first ever Welsh conference this weekend.
The Western Mail calls it 'a full scale assault' & a 'fierce campaign'.

Welsh Labour have an advertising van with a large large pic of Farage fondling a Margaret Thatcher mug, and his quote saying: “I am a Thatcherite”.

Labour’s Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith said:
“Ukip have shown themselves to be a party more Tory than the Tories.
They are reliant on Tory money, Tory people and Tory policies.

If they were to win next year UKIP would raise taxes for working families, allow bankers to take bigger bonuses, make deeper cuts to public services and charge you to see your GP, get rid of workers’ rights including parental leave, maternity pay, holiday pay, sick pay, and even redundancy pay.

“Nigel Farage proudly proclaims that Ukip are the only party keeping the flame of Thatcherism alive but I remember the devastating impact Thatcher had on Wales, and in particular the valleys of south Wales.

“That’s why we will never shy away from exposing them for what they are wherever they go in Wales.

“And why when May comes, I believe people across Wales will support the only party to stand up for working people – Labour.”

The bare unadulterated truth. I hope people will take heed.

[tinyclanger2]

Robert Chote - Cambridge.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

We aren't going to be able to stop this now it's started are we? The Genie is out of the bottle. FFS nothing's sacred from the obsession with profit.

The one tiny hope is a Labour government in 2015. Another five years of Tories will see the job done. As of now it's just about saveable - I don't think even the Tories could get the changes through in the time before the 2015 GE, and unless I have seriously misjudged Ed and Andy Burnham, they are committed to a substantially publicly owned and run NHS. If Labour lose, that's it for the NHS. We only get one vote. We can use it to try and punish Labour for not being strong enough on social security, or we can save the NHS.

Usual BTL response at this point (usually from Rusty or Notso) would be something along the lines of "But, of course, it was Andy Burnham who made the Circle deal, why do you think he will be any different?"; and the obvious answer to that is, unlike dim Tories, he (and Ed) have learned from their mistakes and will get it right this time - Burnham has said time & time again that he is committed to a public NHS, and I see no reason to disbelieve him.

[Spacedone]

We aren't going to be able to stop this now it's started are we? The Genie is out of the bottle. FFS nothing's sacred from the obsession with profit.

The one tiny hope is a Labour government in 2015. Another five years of Tories will see the job done. As of now it's just about saveable - I don't think even the Tories could get the changes through in the time before the 2015 GE, and unless I have seriously misjudged Ed and Andy Burnham, they are committed to a substantially publicly owned and run NHS. If Labour lose, that's it for the NHS. We only get one vote. We can use it to try and punish Labour for not being strong enough on social security, or we can save the NHS.

Thanks Robert. Finger's crossed Labour can get a workable majority (though nervous about their ability to do so, what with their collapse in Scotland, SNP and the many previously Labour sympathetic people who now seem very anti - though I realise this last group are on CIF so may not be representative). Any other possibility doesn't bare thinking about.

I do wonder about Scotland. A load of people wanted to leave the UK simply because they hate the Tories (I sympathise with the sentiment) but more people in Scotland didn't want to leave so now, even with the increased powers, they're looking at either another 5 years of Tory rule with all the terrible consequences of that such as the prospect of walking away from the EU or they're looking at a Labour government who are actually a lot closer to what most Scottish people say they want.

But we're being told that everyone's going to vote SNP instead of Labour, an action that could lead to another Tory government? That doesn't smell right to me.

[ohsocynical]

Ivan White ‏@ivanwhite48 12m12 minutes ago
The Lib Dems deserve credit for trying to reduce the national debt. They've contributed £5,500 in by-election lost deposits since 2010.

I thought YahYah might like this

[tinyclanger2]

I do wonder about Scotland. A load of people wanted to leave the UK simply because they hate the Tories (I sympathise with the sentiment) but more people in Scotland didn't want to leave so now, even with the increased powers, they're looking at either another 5 years of Tory rule with all the terrible consequences of that such as the prospect of walking away from the EU or they're looking at a Labour government who are actually a lot closer to what most Scottish people say they want.

But we're being told that everyone's going to vote SNP instead of Labour, an action that could lead to another Tory government? That doesn't smell right to me.

If I understand correctly it's because the anti-Labour contingent blame "the English" for the Tories and "Scottish Labour" for the Tories and therefore they would rather (by default) vote in the Tories than give the people "responsible for them" a break. It's simple. If you're mad.

[HindleA]

@tinyclanger2 thanks for info.Just goes to show that peoples' views are far more nuanced than that portrayed

[Spacedone]

I do wonder about Scotland. A load of people wanted to leave the UK simply because they hate the Tories (I sympathise with the sentiment) but more people in Scotland didn't want to leave so now, even with the increased powers, they're looking at either another 5 years of Tory rule with all the terrible consequences of that such as the prospect of walking away from the EU or they're looking at a Labour government who are actually a lot closer to what most Scottish people say they want.

But we're being told that everyone's going to vote SNP instead of Labour, an action that could lead to another Tory government? That doesn't smell right to me.

If I understand correctly it's because the anti-Labour contingent blame "the English" for the Tories and "Scottish Labour" for the Tories and therefore they would rather vote in the Tories than give the people "responsible for them" a break. It's simple. If you're mad.

I'm sure there will be some who are that dogmatic but I don't think there are quite as many as the polls would have us believe.

[tinyclanger2]

@spacedone - let's hope so - I'll be very happy if you're right!

[daydreamer]

We aren't going to be able to stop this now it's started are we? The Genie is out of the bottle. FFS nothing's sacred from the obsession with profit.

The one tiny hope is a Labour government in 2015. Another five years of Tories will see the job done. As of now it's just about saveable - I don't think even the Tories could get the changes through in the time before the 2015 GE, and unless I have seriously misjudged Ed and Andy Burnham, they are committed to a substantially publicly owned and run NHS. If Labour lose, that's it for the NHS. We only get one vote. We can use it to try and punish Labour for not being strong enough on social security, or we can save the NHS.

Usual BTL response at this point (usually from Rusty or Notso) would be something along the lines of "But, of course, it was Andy Burnham who made the Circle deal, why do you think he will be any different?"; and the obvious answer to that is, unlike dim Tories, he (and Ed) have learned from their mistakes and will get it right this time - Burnham has said time & time again that he is committed to a public NHS, and I see no reason to disbelieve him.

Burnham = Circle deal But fingers crossed you're correct about them learning from their mistakes. Living in Hope (no, not really, much further north) I'll lean towards your judgement on Burnham (after all you're foreign secretary and I'm a lowly backbencher )

[Willow904]

We aren't going to be able to stop this now it's started are we? The Genie is out of the bottle. FFS nothing's sacred from the obsession with profit.

The one tiny hope is a Labour government in 2015. Another five years of Tories will see the job done. As of now it's just about saveable - I don't think even the Tories could get the changes through in the time before the 2015 GE, and unless I have seriously misjudged Ed and Andy Burnham, they are committed to a substantially publicly owned and run NHS. If Labour lose, that's it for the NHS. We only get one vote. We can use it to try and punish Labour for not being strong enough on social security, or we can save the NHS.

Usual BTL response at this point (usually from Rusty or Notso) would be something along the lines of "But, of course, it was Andy Burnham who made the Circle deal, why do you think he will be any different?"; and the obvious answer to that is, unlike dim Tories, he (and Ed) have learned from their mistakes and will get it right this time - Burnham has said time & time again that he is committed to a public NHS, and I see no reason to disbelieve him.

I come here to get away from the "they're all the same" crowd, thank you very much, so enough of that! There is a simple rebuttal to such claims, however. Despite many Labour MPs and peers having interests in private healthcare companies, they voted against the Health and Social Care Act that was designed to open the NHS up to predatory private competition of the worst cherry-picking kind. I therefore assume they are against privatisation of the NHS and those who voted for the Act, such as the Libdems and Tories, are for it. Labour had 13 years of majority rule to privatise the NHS completely if they wished but they didn't, so I have to presume they never intended to privatise more than the small amount that they did. At the end of the day, if the parties are the same, why have so many huge changes, such as local GP practices being taken over by private companies and private ambulances trundling our roads, only happened since the Coalition came into power? If Labour wanted such changes, they really dragged their heels not doing in 13 years what the Coalition have achieved in just 4! As RobertSnozers says, whatever you may feel about Labour and Welfare, I see no reason to doubt their commitment to the NHS.

[daydreamer]

I come here to get away from the "they're all the same" crowd, thank you very much, so enough of that! There is a simple rebuttal to such claims, however. Despite many Labour MPs and peers having interests in private healthcare companies, they voted against the Health and Social Care Act that was designed to open the NHS up to predatory private competition of the worst cherry-picking kind. I therefore assume they are against privatisation of the NHS and those who voted for the Act, such as the Libdems and Tories, are for it. Labour had 13 years of majority rule to privatise the NHS completely if they wished but they didn't, so I have to presume they never intended to privatise more than the small amount that they did. At the end of the day, if the parties are the same, why have so many huge changes, such as local GP practices being taken over by private companies and private ambulances trundling our roads, only happened since the Coalition came into power? If Labour wanted such changes, they really dragged their heels not doing in 13 years what the Coalition have achieved in just 4! As RobertSnozers says, whatever you may feel about Labour and Welfare, I see no reason to doubt their commitment to the NHS.

Hope you're right. Not sure how this works though:

Despite many Labour MPs and peers having interests in private healthcare companies, they voted against the Health and Social Care Act

But I think the last 34 years of politics in this country has made me extremely cynical.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

I do wonder about Scotland. A load of people wanted to leave the UK simply because they hate the Tories (I sympathise with the sentiment) but more people in Scotland didn't want to leave so now, even with the increased powers, they're looking at either another 5 years of Tory rule with all the terrible consequences of that such as the prospect of walking away from the EU or they're looking at a Labour government who are actually a lot closer to what most Scottish people say they want.

But we're being told that everyone's going to vote SNP instead of Labour, an action that could lead to another Tory government? That doesn't smell right to me.

If I understand correctly it's because the anti-Labour contingent blame "the English" for the Tories and "Scottish Labour" for the Tories and therefore they would rather vote in the Tories than give the people "responsible for them" a break. It's simple. If you're mad.

I'm sure there will be some who are that dogmatic but I don't think there are quite as many as the polls would have us believe.

I fervently hope not, but I am getting sick of the 45ers trotting out their variations on "we can't take responsibility for you English any more, you are on your own" usually throwing in the Red Tories jibe for good measure; "nose", "face" and "spite" are the words that come to mind.

@Willow904, totally with you, I think you all know me well enough to realise I don't subscribe to the "they are all the same" bilge.

[daydreamer]

Hmm, written by a Countryside Alliance bod, but she makes a good point about the USO and rural deliveries now the Royal Mail has been flogged off.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/deb ... -1-6990875

[tinyclanger2]

Am feeling the strain of maintaining message-board "good behaviour", as this is not my default setting. May have to venture to pub tonight to deliver pure and unadulterated "cheek" in the flesh. (But not actual flesh of course).

[Spacedone]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

[daydreamer]

Usual BTL response at this point (usually from Rusty or Notso) would be something along the lines of "But, of course, it was Andy Burnham who made the Circle deal, why do you think he will be any different?"; and the obvious answer to that is, unlike dim Tories, he (and Ed) have learned from their mistakes and will get it right this time - Burnham has said time & time again that he is committed to a public NHS, and I see no reason to disbelieve him.

Burnham = Circle deal But fingers crossed you're correct about them learning from their mistakes. Living in Hope (no, not really, much further north) I'll lean towards your judgement on Burnham (after all you're foreign secretary and I'm a lowly backbencher )

Burnham did NOT sign off the Circle deal. The franchise was only awarded in November 2010. Burnham might have signed off on the process to allow another organisation to take over the running of it, but that has happened in a number of other instances where other NHS trusts have been the body doing the taking over.

For all the 'Labour's forced closures' nonsense the Tories like to rattle out, Labour actually decentralised the NHS to a considerable degree, and Burnham would not in any case have had a hands on role in this. I had heard that the NHS East of England special projects team that awarded Circle the contract had gone a bit rogue and free market happy. Unfortunately none of the documentation is available any more because of the reorganisation, so it's hard to tell. It's clear that Circle has failed to turn Hinchingbrooke around, which is not surprising - the problem was that it was too small to be financially viable, not that it was fundamentally badly run.

But in any case, Labour hs learned from its mistakes where this is concerned, and with the likes of Milburn well out of the way, won't be giving anything to the private sector for the sake of it.

Thanks for the clarification/correction Robert. There's just too much misinformation flying around, which is why I usually come here first to find out what's happening.

[AnatolyKasparov]

It is far too soon to assume the current Scottish polls are "right" - Labour don't elect a new leader until next weekend, for one thing. And there have been a few actual council by-elections in Scotland since the referendum - none back up the absolutely mountainous leads for the SNP some surveys are claiming.

[daydreamer]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

You do if you're a tosser. Has he swapped fish for cheese?

Edited to add the word 'tosser'

[RogerOThornhill]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

"Have you not got any fish? I need some fish to point at!"

[tinyclanger2]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

Yes. But not without the Chelsea Pensioners! Where the hell are they?

[Spacedone]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

"I'm looking for something that's extremely soft and runny? Have you seen Nick Clegg lately?"

[daydreamer]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

Yes. But not without the Chelsea Pensioners! Where the hell are they?

In the car park, waiting to carry his shopping home for him (that's what plebs are for, isn't it?).

[Willow904]

Hope you're right. Not sure how this works though:

Despite many Labour MPs and peers having interests in private healthcare companies, they voted against the Health and Social Care Act

But I think the last 34 years of politics in this country has made me extremely cynical.

Ed Miliband has described the upcoming election as a "big change" election on a par with 1979. If nothing else it reveals the scale of his ambition. Does he mean it, can he do it? Who knows? But he's been saying a lot of the right things - predatory versus productive capitalism, 'one nation' (we can't build a fairer society without the acquiescence of the 'haves') and standing up to vested interests. I haven't been as impressed by a Labour leader since I heard John Smith give a speech about closing tax loopholes in the early 90s or as hopeful for real change. Given I was an impressionable twenty-something in John Smith's time and I'm a jaded forty-something now, I would say that's quite an achievement. I like to think it's possible to be cynical yet optimistic at the same time. Sometimes social changes come very unexpectedly and in unusual ways.

[AngryAsWell]

Protect the NHS from privatisation vows @KeeleyMP

Barbara spoke in a Westminster debate in support of a Private Members Bill which aims to protect the NHS from privatisation. The Bill had been introduced by the Labour MP Clive Efford.

The NHS (Amended Duties and Powers) Bill was given a Second Reading, with MPs voting 241 to 18 in support of the Bill. It should now be considered further in a Commons Committee but this stage requires the Government to move a motion to allow this. Among measures in the Bill is one to make the Health Secretary fully responsible again for the provision of NHS services. It would also put measures in place to prevent the NHS being forced to contract out services due to the Conservative-led Government’s Health and Social Care Act.

http://www.labourleft.co.uk/protect-the ... -keeleymp/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just floated across my twitter feed and seemed appropriate for todays conversation
Afternoon all

[AngryAsWell]

Ivan White ‏@ivanwhite48 · 16 hrs16 hours ago
Leader of a far-right party which won 3.1% of votes in 2010 and only has two recycled MPs will make his 27th appearance on #bbcqt next week.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Everyone takes a camera crew when they go shopping don't they?

"Have you not got any fish? I need some fish to point at!"

Sam has nailed his hand to the basket to stop the pointing. Even she is fed up with it.

[refitman]

Morning all.

Xmas do last night...ooh me head

Hope you had a good time,now go back to your nice warm bed.

Very good advice. Another 5 hrs and I now feel much more human