Friday 13th November 2015

[refitman]

Morning all.

[StephenDolan]

Morning all.

Between the junior doctors potential strike action and homeopathy, Hunt isn't having the best of times. Diddums.


Homeopathy 'could be blacklisted' - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34744858" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TobyLatimer]

Cameron preparing a statement to be given later on the drone strike on Mohammed Emwazi. I hate the tabloid glamourising by giving him a pet name so i won't use it.

[TobyLatimer]

Pet name for the jihadist that is, not Hameron.

[TobyLatimer]

Now the Graun have opened a live blog on the same (along with tabloid stupid nickname)

[rebeccariots2]

New research suggests why general election polls were so inaccurate
Study conducted immediately after vote indicates that sampling in earlier polls may not have been random enough
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... inaccurate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I haven't read it beyond the headline yet. But isn't that pretty damning ... sort of number one requirement failed?

Oh and morning.

[yahyah]

Morning.
More news that reflects the reality of Tory rule.

More than 46,000 older people seen their "meals on wheels" axed in the last three years, according to an analysis of official data.

''The study by the Malnutrition Task Force found that the number of people receiving the meals in England has fallen from 75,885 in 2010/2011 to 29,605 in 2013/14 - a 61% decrease.

Spending on meals on wheels for people aged 65 and over has fallen 47%, from £42.1 million in 2010/11 to £22.3 million in 2013/14.

The falls have all come amid shrinking social services budgets.''
http://www.itv.com/news/2015-11-13/meal ... n-warning/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Mail headline on the same is hard hitting:
''Meals on wheels axed for 46,000 pensioners as hospital admissions for malnutrition increase by more than a third
Spending on meals on wheels has been slashed by almost 50 per cent
The numbers receiving meals on wheels has fallen by around 80 per cent
Some 1.3 million elderly people are believed to be suffering malnutrition
Age UK estimates there are 300,000 elderly Britons who require help eating''

I don't suppose the Cifers who snarl about pensioners being treated too well, and all voting Tory, will notice that.

[rebeccariots2]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

[rebeccariots2]

Cameron preparing a statement to be given later on the drone strike on Mohammed Emwazi. I hate the tabloid glamourising by giving him a pet name so i won't use it.

Yes - agree with that last sentence. Who wants a pet jihadi?

[yahyah]

Peter Jukes has been tackling some of Abell's, & News Corp hypocrisy.
https://twitter.com/peterjukes?ref_src= ... r%5Eauthor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ephemerid]

Morning, Refitman, and all.

Today, I am mostly incensed at Jeremy Hunt's condemnation of what he calls "extreme" action should junior doctors agree to go on strike.
Personally, I think it's "extreme" to offer a pay rise of 11% knowing it is actually a pay cut of 26% and lying about it.

Two countries with devolved NHS spending powers, Scotland and Wales, have decided not to impose the Hunt junior doctor contract; we await the decision of the government in Northern Ireland - I hope they do the same thing and protect the existing contract.

The BMA in the devolved countries of the UK have negotiated with politicians and their arguments have clearly convinced; the same is not happening in England, and that is down to the intransigence of Hunt, who claims that the BMA has refused to talk to government.
This is manifestly untrue - the BMA were in talks about this last year, and were willing to come back to them until Hunt decided that there would be pre-conditions for any further talks including the imposition of this contract.
What would be the point of new talks on the contract if the talks couldn't happen until that contract was accepted?

The head of the BMA in England, Dr.Mark Porter, says this - "The government's refusal to work with us through genuine negotiations, and its' continued threat to impose an unsafe and unfair contract, leaves us with no alternative".
In 2012, Dr.Porter told Denis Campbell during an interview with the Guardian that "There's no evidence that a part-privatised NHS runs better" - see http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012 ... vatisation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hunt, apparently, is convinced that he has OGRPPFG on his side, and I suspect he's hoping that people in England will be so incensed about their ops being cancelled that they'll condemn the doctors too......of course, his department has denied that waiting times have increased, key targets have been missed, and 25,000 elective ops have been cancelled at short notice already this year.

It'll be interesting to see how the media deals with this; we know what the government's stance is. The public are easily swayed by what they see on the telly and what they read in their papers - if the media buys in to Hunt's lies, then the docs won't get much public support.

It really is high time the MSM engaged in some proper journalism.

[refitman]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I heard from somewhere else that Paris Lees was quite good.

[rebeccariots2]

Paul Flynn ‏@PaulFlynnMP 2h2 hours ago Newport, Wales
Dimbleby vainly tries to protect SUN's Stig from fierce skewering by man in a hat armed with common sense http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11 ... 49018.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

adding:

BBC Question Time Audience Member Lambasts 'The Sun' For Hypocrisy Over Corbyn Coverage
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11 ... _hp_ref=uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rebeccariots2]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I heard from somewhere else that Paris Lees was quite good.

She was - and I think she'll get better - by that I mean a little more formed / thought through in her responses as she gets more experience of such things.

[yahyah]

Interesting to hear your views on this:

Jeremy Corbyn plans change to Labour Party rules to head off plot to oust him by next election
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 32486.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My quick response is that it means the MPs wouldn't be able to run roughshod over the views of party members. It seems democratic.

[yahyah]

Warning ....the Indy link has a pic of a Danzcuk looking all sulky as usual.

[yahyah]

Any Questions tonight is from Basingstoke.
On the panel; businessman and UKIP donor Arron Banks, Shadow Chancellor and Justice Secretary Lord Falconer, SNP MP John Nicolson, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change Amber Rudd MP.

[ephemerid]

Re, Meals On Wheels.....even where the service still exists, it costs the person who gets the meals.
In Gloucestershire, for example, it is £3.50 per meal; the council says they subsidise "Community Meals" at 40%.

The alternatives are buying meals for companies like Wiltshire Farm Foods - for a main course and pudding, you're likely to spend at least £5.
Special diets aren't much more expensive - but it's a fair old chunk out of a pension or limited income.

According to NHS Choices, there are as many as 3 Million malnourished people in the UK - see http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Malnutrition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It says that one in three people admitted to a hospital or care home is malnourished or at risk of malnourishment.

Since 2010, cases of malnutrition seen in hospital patients has doubled - the BMA reported last year that 5,000 elective procedures had to be delayed or cancelled, as the patients were at risk of complications or a compromised recovery.

This is a shocking situation in the sixth richest economy in the world.

[nickyinnorfolk]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I heard from somewhere else that Paris Lees was quite good.

She was - and I think she'll get better - by that I mean a little more formed / thought through in her responses as she gets more experience of such things.

Poor Paris, stuck between UKIP's Paul Nutjob, I mean Nuttall, and the obnoxious former Deutsche Bank employee turned Tory MP Sajid Javid. She's got a good technique though for making them go quiet when they're talking over her, namely putting her hand on their arm. It was surprisingly effective.

[StephenDolan]

Any Questions tonight is from Basingstoke.
On the panel; businessman and UKIP donor Arron Banks, Shadow Chancellor and Justice Secretary Lord Falconer, SNP MP John Nicolson, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change Amber Rudd MP.

I might try catching up with this and any answers during the weekend painting exploits. Rudd on renewables could be interesting.

[nickyinnorfolk]

I also liked what Paris said about Corbyn being like a teacher whom you dislike on first encountering at the beginning of term, but grow to love over the following year. And that's despite the fact that she (by her own admission) tends toward the New Labour version of Labour.

[TobyLatimer]

I won't skirt around the issue.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... skirt.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ScreenShot00979.jpg (64.21 KiB) Viewed 9720 times

ScreenShot00980.jpg (61.13 KiB) Viewed 9720 times

[nickyinnorfolk]

Any Questions tonight is from Basingstoke.
On the panel; businessman and UKIP donor Arron Banks, Shadow Chancellor and Justice Secretary Lord Falconer, SNP MP John Nicolson, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change Amber Rudd MP.

I might try catching up with this and any answers during the weekend painting exploits. Rudd on renewables could be interesting.

Rudd's awful. And what makes her even more so is the fact that she's more intelligent than most of her colleagues and should know better, but instead she doggedly and dogmatically sticks to the party line.

So much for vote blue, go green.

[StephenDolan]

Any Questions tonight is from Basingstoke.
On the panel; businessman and UKIP donor Arron Banks, Shadow Chancellor and Justice Secretary Lord Falconer, SNP MP John Nicolson, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change Amber Rudd MP.

I might try catching up with this and any answers during the weekend painting exploits. Rudd on renewables could be interesting.

Rudd's awful. And what makes her even more so is the fact that she's more intelligent than most of her colleagues and should know better, but instead she doggedly and dogmatically sticks to the party line.

So much for vote blue, go green.

The dogmatic sticking to the line is painful when pointed out with decent interviewing. JoJo and PriPa for example.

[nickyinnorfolk]

I won't skirt around the issue.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... skirt.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ScreenShot00979.jpg

ScreenShot00980.jpg

I wish Cameron had gone the whole hog and dropped out, ending up living on Ibiza or Thailand as a pot smoking Trustafarian. He might have been a waste of space and outraged his parents, but paradoxically his life would have been more worthwhile - certainly less destructive.

Notice he's already got that weird habit of sucking his lips in as if he's got no teeth.

[nickyinnorfolk]

I might try catching up with this and any answers during the weekend painting exploits. Rudd on renewables could be interesting.

Rudd's awful. And what makes her even more so is the fact that she's more intelligent than most of her colleagues and should know better, but instead she doggedly and dogmatically sticks to the party line.

So much for vote blue, go green.

The dogmatic sticking to the line is painful when pointed out with decent interviewing. JoJo and PriPa for example.

... And NiMo! ... although that's usually some child stumping her with a times table question.

[StephenDolan]

Glad to see that the narrative of "well if we hadn't have provided the money, children would've suffered, is that what you wanted, suffering children?"

Kids Company's 'special treatment meant other children lost out'

http://gu.com/p/4e7xq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[frightful_oik]

I heard QT on Radio5 last night. Very biased panel and, given there was a kipper on it, questions were designed to be suitable for him to answer; so two on immigration and he managed to turn every other question onto immigration. I'd never heard of Paris Lees before and, (sorry if not everyone agrees), found her completely ineffectual, just mouthing glib platitudes. Lucy Powell did well despite being outnumbered and continually heckled by the four men.
Every week they seem to feel the need to have a question along the lines of 'Is this yet another reason why JC is crap?' Heartily sick of it.

[refitman]

I heard QT on Radio5 last night. Very biased panel and, given there was a kipper on it, questions were designed to be suitable for him to answer; so two on immigration and he managed to turn every other question onto immigration. I'd never heard of Paris Lees before and, (sorry if not everyone agrees), found her completely ineffectual, just mouthing glib platitudes. Lucy Powell did well despite being outnumbered and continually heckled by the four men.
Every week they seem to feel the need to have a question along the lines of 'Is this yet another reason why JC is crap?' Heartily sick of it.

Lees is an LGBT campaigner (has had a few columns in the Graun), so I would class her as the 'amateur' on the panel.

[gilsey]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I didn't see that bit.

I watched 10 mins of it when they were discussing the NHS. Too much applause for Nuttall for my liking, strange audience.

Paris Lees seemed to be making Nuttall and Javid feel rather uncomfortable.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I didn't see that bit.

I watched 10 mins of it when they were discussing the NHS. Too much applause for Nuttall for my liking, strange audience.

Paris Lees seemed to be making Nuttall and Javid feel rather uncomfortable.

Stoke is a bit of a UKIP hotspot (and before that, of course, the BNP) so not a huge surprise tbh.

[refitman]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I didn't see that bit.

I watched 10 mins of it when they were discussing the NHS. Too much applause for Nuttall for my liking, strange audience.

Paris Lees seemed to be making Nuttall and Javid feel rather uncomfortable.

I think that might be some prejudices seeping through...

[StephenDolan]

' An option BBC News revealed in the summer - a four-year residency test for all benefit claimants - has now been fully costed and is being considered by Treasury officials.
It would mean Britons, even if they had lived in the UK all their lives, would be ineligible for in-work benefits for four years from their 18th birthday.
If implemented, some unemployed British families who failed the test could be thousands of pounds worse off if one of them found a job.
"They would be much better off staying on out-of-work benefits," said a Whitehall official familiar with the proposals.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34805113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon.

I'm uncomfortable with the photo' montage thing showing a terrorist as a child. I feel that it's a subliminal way of telling us that killing foreign children isn't such a terrible thing, "Because, after all, you never know what they'll develop into, do you? Take this one, for instance . . . ".

[ephemerid]

Good morfternoon.

I'm uncomfortable with the photo' montage thing showing a terrorist as a child. I feel that it's a subliminal way of telling us that killing foreign children isn't such a terrible thing, "Because, after all, you never know what they'll develop into, do you? Take this one, for instance . . . ".

Yes, this.

Imagine! All those little brown kids from Syria that the Communistas want to let in! Jihadis in the making, they are.....

It's very poor.

[seeingclearly]

Morning all. Glorious sunshine here but pretty blowy.

Housing Benefit backdating changes. Backdating period changed from six months to one month from April 2016.

http://www.homeless.org.uk/connect/blog ... ng-benefit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ephemerid]

Sanctions imposed on people claiming ESA who have mental health problems up by 668% in the past 4 years - Independent.

That's 19,259 in 2014/15 - that is 17,000 more PA than in 2011/12 when the tougher regime was brought in.

370 people with mental health problems are being sanctioned every week. The minimum disallowance is 4 weeks.

The figures were obtained via FOI requests - DWPs response is that the numbers being sanctioned across all benefits is down by 20%.
That may be true - as the JSA claimant count falls, so will the overall sanction rate - but DWP continues to impose impossible conditions on people it has judged incapable of work and punishes them for failing to do what it has been agreed they can't do.

Seriously, I am expecting more suicides. We cannot go on like this.

[TobyLatimer]

... But Smiffy says it sets you freeeeeeee

ScreenShot00981.jpg (107.24 KiB) Viewed 9563 times

[nickyinnorfolk]

Good morfternoon.

I'm uncomfortable with the photo' montage thing showing a terrorist as a child. I feel that it's a subliminal way of telling us that killing foreign children isn't such a terrible thing, "Because, after all, you never know what they'll develop into, do you? Take this one, for instance . . . ".

Yes, this.

Imagine! All those little brown kids from Syria that the Communistas want to let in! Jihadis in the making, they are.....

It's very poor.

I'm glad the murdering bastard (if it really was Emwazi) is no more. Cameron however is using this as a Falklands moment, grandstanding about it for all he's worth. He's probably hoping Corbyn is going to say something which the tabloids can twist.

[seeingclearly]

Alan Moore intervenes.

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2015/11/12/ala ... PU.twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[seeingclearly]

Tory cure all doesnt work, according to research.

Computer aided CBT offers little or no aid for depression.

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/ ... epression/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

Tory cure all doesnt work, according to research.

Computer aided CBT offers little or no aid for depression.

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/ ... epression/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am genuinely shocked.

No, not really.

[PorFavor]

Tory cure all doesnt work, according to research.

Computer aided CBT offers little or no aid for depression.

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/ ... epression/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am genuinely shocked.

No, not really.

You had me going there for a minute.

No, not really.

[seeingclearly]

Former military commander backs Corbyns opposition to Trident.

http://www.thecanary.co/2015/11/12/form ... n-trident/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

Good morfternoon.

I'm uncomfortable with the photo' montage thing showing a terrorist as a child. I feel that it's a subliminal way of telling us that killing foreign children isn't such a terrible thing, "Because, after all, you never know what they'll develop into, do you? Take this one, for instance . . . ".

Yes, this.

Imagine! All those little brown kids from Syria that the Communistas want to let in! Jihadis in the making, they are.....

It's very poor.

I'm glad the murdering bastard (if it really was Emwazi) is no more. Cameron however is using this as a Falklands moment, grandstanding about it for all he's worth. He's probably hoping Corbyn is going to say something which the tabloids can twist.

Its pretty thin gruel compared to the Falklands, though.

Of course by now Dave had hoped to unleash "our boys" on Syria, allowing him to pose as war leader to the max. Shame our MPs won't let him

[citizenJA]

Question Time last night was livelier than usual. The government not getting an easy ride. Jeremy Hunt and the Tory management of the NHS getting a particularly rough and straight talking ride from the audience.

My favourite moment - during a discussion about whether Corbyn was being bullied re the not bowing low enough crap - was the bloke in the back row telling Stig Abell of the Sun 'I'm talking pal so shut up'. Big applause.

I didn't see that bit.

I watched 10 mins of it when they were discussing the NHS. Too much applause for Nuttall for my liking, strange audience.

Paris Lees seemed to be making Nuttall and Javid feel rather uncomfortable.

Stoke is a bit of a UKIP hotspot (and before that, of course, the BNP) so not a huge surprise tbh.

Yes, it is but Nuttall is Bury North's Tory MP, not Stoke's. [Only 378 votes more than Labour's James Frith, that's an aside]
Stoke's UKIP candidate was second to Labour in Stoke Central - over 7,000 votes to Labour's candidate receiving over 12,200.

Good-afternoon, everyone.

[citizenJA]

' An option BBC News revealed in the summer - a four-year residency test for all benefit claimants - has now been fully costed and is being considered by Treasury officials.
It would mean Britons, even if they had lived in the UK all their lives, would be ineligible for in-work benefits for four years from their 18th birthday.
If implemented, some unemployed British families who failed the test could be thousands of pounds worse off if one of them found a job.
"They would be much better off staying on out-of-work benefits," said a Whitehall official familiar with the proposals.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34805113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why not just pack the whole thing in and stop it all to anyone, Tories, what the hell.
'fully costed'? Tories don't know how.

[Tubby Isaacs]

There's no money left!

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/the-academy-tr ... never-did/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least 17 academy trusts handed a slice of £7.2 million to take over struggling schools have yet to do so — more than a year later.

A freedom of information request by Schools Week has revealed the government handed out one-off payments of up to £100,000 to 144 organisations in the 2013-14 financial year to help prepare for the takeover of new schools.

However, an analysis of the trusts shows several are yet to take over a single school, although they have been given cash totalling at least £850,000.

I liked this bit.

A DfE source said all of the organisations were assessed and found to have the potential to be great sponsors, but some had not found the right school to make a match.

Couldn't find easy pickings.

If LAs only had to "control" schools which they liked, they'd have pretty spectacular results.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Former military commander backs Corbyns opposition to Trident.

http://www.thecanary.co/2015/11/12/form ... n-trident/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think there might be a few who agree.

Trouble is that Corbyn's seen as a "peacenik". Somebody up there without that baggage is what's needed.

[citizenJA]

Good morfternoon.

I'm uncomfortable with the photo' montage thing showing a terrorist as a child. I feel that it's a subliminal way of telling us that killing foreign children isn't such a terrible thing, "Because, after all, you never know what they'll develop into, do you? Take this one, for instance . . . ".

I've just seen it and agree. Get the picture of the kid off the news immediately - we don't need to see that, what the hell is it doing there. In a biography, a research publication, fine, not now.