Tuesday 12 th January 2016

[HindleA]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tories reject move to ensure rented homes fit for human habitation

[danesclose]

Not that Fine Gael are all sweetness and light, but it's great that Fianna Fail are below 20%.

Sinn Fein are beating FF, despite being poisonous to lots of people.

Tubby, despite the hard earned legacy of corruption and general incompetence all done under the masquerade of "Republicanism" I can't understand what you have against Fianna Fail - certainly FF are slightly to the left of FG, although as someone of recent Irish descent & a part time resident over there, I think John O'Farrell summed up the difference between the 2 as being the difference between shit & shite.
I had some time for Eamon Gilmore, the former leader of the Labour party, but like the LDs over here they have been disproportionately blamed for the sins of the coalition government.
Sinn Fein are more than poisonous to a lot of people. Their main support is in Dublin & the border regions, though they do have some representatives in Cork & Kerry. Perhaps surprisingly they don't have much representation in the Gaeltacht areas such as Galway. A couple of years ago, close to where I live in Wexford, there were big protests against Sinn Fein planning to hold their Ard Fheis there due to the IRA murdering local members of the Gardai

I once had the difference between FF and FG explained to me in that FG might have held back a bit when the EU raised its concerns about Ireland poaching corporate headquarters.

FF certainly didn't. It might have been a factor in the very punitive bailout Ireland got?

That's possible though by no means certain. I was turned against FF when I read a biography of De Valera and discovered what a devious self-serving bastard he was (Easter rising, stitching up Michael Collins, "special position" of Catholicism, etc). Charlie Haughey was even worse!

[utopiandreams]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... are_btn_tw

G4S staff fired after claims of mistreatment at young offender unit
Security firm acts following undercover investigation by BBC Panorama at Medway secure training centre in Rochester, Kent

I think it would be hard to find anyone who supported these places being privately run. Obviously contracts are a complication, but I'd like to see Labour (Andy Slaughter?) put forward a plan of renationalizing. Relatively small amounts of money involved. Big problem before the election was that Labour got obsessive over small spending commitments.

I haven't and shall not do the sums, Tubby, but can't help but feel that total costs compared to public provision once in work benefits of staff are added would be greater. If the additional cost of outsourcing management, tenders, supervision, etc, etc. are included then I have no doubt whatsoever. Such figures can and should be presented to support their arguments.

[Vordy]

The New York Times Admits That Virtually Every Major News Organization Allows The News To Be Censored By Government Officials

Source:

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... -officials" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rebeccariots2]

John Healey MP ‏@JohnHealey_MP 16m16 minutes ago
Housing bill now through the Commons; normally you hope to see legislation get better...this started as a bad bill, it's now a very bad bill

[rebeccariots2]

William Bain Retweeted
Bloomberg Business ‏@business 26m26 minutes ago
WTI oil touches $29.93 a barrel, lowest since December 2003 http://bloom.bg/1RkgzmF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RogerOThornhill]

I know I really shouldn't but he has digs at people here. This exchange is quite amusing...and note the loss of interest in continuing the discussion.

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

[utopiandreams]

... I heard it on the radio and went - 'huh?' It's gobbledygook Huntspeak. Seems to me he's saying the problem is lack of consultants - stupid man.

Indeed, rr2. It was earlier today that I heard someone being interviewed (on a picket line?) suggesting that it was a lack of personnel on scanning machines plus consultants at the weekend, not a shortage of junior doctors. In my experience the former was certainly the case on both occasions that my late wife suffered from a stroke or brain haemorrhage. Both times were late Friday afternoon and it wasn't until the Monday morning that she was scanned.

Even further back, and I am speaking pre-history, so probably irrelevant but I once went to A&E with a broken wrist on a Saturday morning (Friday night shenanigans showing off my leaping over barriers from a standing start) and was asked to return on the Monday morning for an X-ray but was then asked to hang on because they were getting a radiographer in for a much more serious case. Just saying.

[Tubby Isaacs]

William Bain Retweeted
Bloomberg Business ‏@business 26m26 minutes ago
WTI oil touches $29.93 a barrel, lowest since December 2003 http://bloom.bg/1RkgzmF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2003?

You mean it's not that unusual for oil prices tumble catastrophically?

[RogerOThornhill]

William Bain Retweeted
Bloomberg Business ‏@business 26m26 minutes ago
WTI oil touches $29.93 a barrel, lowest since December 2003 http://bloom.bg/1RkgzmF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2003?

You mean it's not that unusual for oil prices tumble catastrophically?

At some point someone should point out to the Chancellor that he could easily stick 5p on fuel duty and increase his revenues. That is, of course, if the deficit is still important...

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/toryd ... borne.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tubby Isaacs]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... oil-prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BP to axe 1 in 5 North Sea jobs as oil giant cuts 4,000 staff worldwide

FFA now!

[ephemerid]

I know I really shouldn't but he has digs at people here. This exchange is quite amusing...and note the loss of interest in continuing the discussion.

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

Dr.Mackenzie skewered him good and proper.

"State of the art" private hospitals invariably send their disasters to the nearest NHS hospital to be sorted out.

That's how it has always been in London.

[ephemerid]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... are_btn_tw

Tories reject move to ensure rented homes fit for human habitation

As expected, A.

So now all those people who get chucked out of perfectly good homes where they have lived for decades because of the bloody sodding bedroom tax, or OGRPPFGTCC's razing of perfectly manageable council housing estates, get to move to private rented places that not only cost a great deal more in HB/LHA but come with hot and cold running cockroaches with their carers but without their disability adaptations to wait for months in an insecure tenancy for the new adaptations that won't be installed because they cost too much.

Terrific.

[Tubby Isaacs]

2003?

You mean it's not that unusual for oil prices tumble catastrophically?

At some point someone should point out to the Chancellor that he could easily stick 5p on fuel duty and increase his revenues. That is, of course, if the deficit is still important...

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/toryd ... borne.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Look which other progressives wanted the duty cut when prices were high!

http://104.46.54.198/media-centre/news/ ... uel-prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The SNP's regulator mechanism is designed to guarantee a double protection for motorists and the road haulage industry. Firstly, higher oil prices would trigger an automatic freeze in fuel duty rates. Second, any extra cash raised from VAT on petrol or diesel as a result of the higher pump prices would go back into an equivalent cut in fuel duty.

Look at this tripe too.

“Traditional metropolitan politicians simply do not understand the impact rising fuel prices are having on families and businesses across Scotland. That’s why at this election, if the people of Scotland want to drive down fuel prices, instead of electing a traditional politican they must elect a local champion."

Metropolitan politicians like the then PM and Chancellor who represented seats in Scotland, perhaps. Us bastard metropolitans, with our use of public transport.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Good points.

Going to be interesting to see the Tories try and explain why these nice small local hospitals need closing, having played the old Lib Dem game with opposing everything like that before.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It was Nigel Farage who won tonight's heated EU referendum debate against Carwyn Jones

So says Walesonline.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/polit ... s-10718381" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While admitting "it isn't about facts" and that Kippers in the crowd shouted over Jones.

[rebeccariots2]

John McTernan ‏@johnmcternan 28m28 minutes ago
Biggest response at @TottenhamLabour so far was gales of laughter when I suggested they Britain was a force for good in the world. Unusual.

I'm just going to let that sit there for a mo ...

[RogerOThornhill]

On fuel prices the last time the weekly average was above 130ppl was Jan 2014.

Maximum for 2015 was 116.8 in July and lowest was 102.1 in Dec.

Could have easily stuck 5-10ppl on fuel duty and the consumer would still have made a large gain. Not going anywhere near it was in 2014 for a while surely?

[rebeccariots2]

It was Nigel Farage who won tonight's heated EU referendum debate against Carwyn Jones

So says Walesonline.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/polit ... s-10718381" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While admitting "it isn't about facts" and that Kippers in the crowd shouted over Jones.

I don't think it's worth giving Farage the oxygen of publicity myself - not sure why Carwyn Jones thought this was necessary. Have a debate about it sure - but not with Farage.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's the "blue collar Conservatism". Tax on fuel is "green crap".

Blue collar people will have to pay other taxes instead.

[danesclose]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... are_btn_tw

Tories reject move to ensure rented homes fit for human habitation

Welcome back Mr Rachman

[Tubby Isaacs]

It was Nigel Farage who won tonight's heated EU referendum debate against Carwyn Jones

So says Walesonline.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/polit ... s-10718381" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

While admitting "it isn't about facts" and that Kippers in the crowd shouted over Jones.

I don't think it's worth giving Farage the oxygen of publicity myself - not sure why Carwyn Jones thought this was necessary. Have a debate about it sure - but not with Farage.

He's worried about UKIP taking working class support.

It's not worth arguing with liars though. If need be, they'll make stuff up on the spot and there's no way you can respond to it.

[ohsocynical]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... are_btn_tw

Tories reject move to ensure rented homes fit for human habitation

Welcome back Mr Rachman

I can remember reading about it when the Rachman scandal broke in the papers. And some of the photos.
The difference then was papers were prepared to expose him and the housing racket.

Can't see it happening now though.

[RogerOThornhill]

Right.

I get accused of stalking someone when they notice that something has been posted on here about him almost immediately. How does that work?

OK, look, how about this Rusty.

I promise not to mention your Twitter account if you promise not to take anything that is said on here and sneer about it to your small number of chums on Twitter and refer to us as "Labour drones" - really not pleasant.

Deal?

Tweet once for yes and then we'll go our separate ways.

Oh, and "feckless layabout"?

Classy...you know fuck all about me.

[RogerOThornhill]

[TR'sGhost]

It's difficult as the Opposition though- you get "take or leave it" from our gameplaying liar leader. I wouldn't have voted with Cameron because I think he'll be intervening incompetently all the time. But I don't dislike people who voted with him, necessarily.

And there was I thinking that the "problem with Corbyn" is supposed to be that he isn't a lying, "power for me and my mates at any cost" gameplayer.

Unlike an organised minority faction of PLP members who will do anything in their power and leave no stone unturned, dirty trick unused or lie untold to drag down a leader they disgree with until they get their way and put in place a leader who won't abstain on welfare (horrible word) cuts but will actively support them. Who won't question why the UK should get involved in overseas conflicts, take a long-term view and regard each on its merits, but leap in gung-ho to "prove they're fit to govern".

A faction who will tackle UKIP - whose support is declining anyway - not by opposing them and winning the arguments against them but by pandering to xenophobia and racism in the hope of getting a few more kippers to vote Labour than the voters they lose by going down the racist/nationalist road. All the while not bothering that making concessions to Farage/Britain First etc. gives the far right credence, drags our society further rightwards, makes the UK an ever nastier place and can only be massively damaging in the long run.

A faction who offer up wealthy, or hoping to get wealthy, "heirs to Blair" who are intensely relaxed about tax cuts for billionaires and think their job is to shovel money at the rich, oppose industrial action everywhere and every time and unquestioningly back US foreign policy to prove they are "fit to govern".

Corbyn, like it seems a majority of the population, supports the junior doctor's strike. I can't recall another Labour leader since 1979 ever saying they agree with a strike by anyone for any reason at all. Least of all if that strike can be said to have "political" motives - and one way or another all strikes have a political side to them.

I am utterly furious and disgusted with the faction in the PLP that thinks the PLP should be a party in its own right, that does what it likes in complete isolation from the Labour party and labour/trades union movement. An elite which regards the members and supporters as disposable tools, existing only to propel their faction into positions of power and wealth, and who they rush to publicly slap down if we're rude enough to ask for anything in return for getting them elected.

[RogerOThornhill]

Oh well I tried...

"feckless layabout" isn't the worst I've been called - his chum said I was a "complete and utter tosspot" the other day.

Charming people...

[NonOxCol]

"The government is, quite rightly, trying to ensure that people don't leave hospital in a wooden box if they're admitted at weekends."

Roger Goss of "Patient Concern", Radio 5Live news, 8:40pm. Put that name and organisation into Google or Twitter and ask yourself if that's a credible source for publicly-funded news.

Angela Rippon given a platform to present a completely one-sided view of the strike on "The One Show" this evening, without any opposing view. Think Humphries on welfare. Rippon is apparently VP of the "Patients Association", which, since I first heard of it, all my antennae have told me is a doppelganger for the TPA, with the same agenda. Put it into Twitter and, yes, various people suggest it is funded by private healthcare.

There are still otherwise intelligent people who trot out that glib soundbite about both left and right believing the BBC to be biased. They are either not paying attention or, as previously suggested, they're thick as mince. The BBC is so far gone it disgusts me. I know I harp on about this, but it is because it's so very shocking to see and hear, day in day out, and its wider implications are pretty terrifying.

[ChrisDean]

@ RogerO'Thornhill

Very, very sad character.... perhaps best just let him (?) be.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's difficult as the Opposition though- you get "take or leave it" from our gameplaying liar leader. I wouldn't have voted with Cameron because I think he'll be intervening incompetently all the time. But I don't dislike people who voted with him, necessarily.

And there was I thinking that the "problem with Corbyn" is supposed to be that he isn't a lying, "power for me and my mates at any cost" gameplayer.

Unlike an organised minority faction of PLP members who will do anything in their power and leave no stone unturned, dirty trick unused or lie untold to drag down a leader they disgree with until they get their way and put in place a leader who won't abstain on welfare (horrible word) cuts but will actively support them. Who won't question why the UK should get involved in overseas conflicts, take a long-term view and regard each on its merits, but leap in gung-ho to "prove they're fit to govern".

A faction who will tackle UKIP - whose support is declining anyway - not by opposing them and winning the arguments against them but by pandering to xenophobia and racism in the hope of getting a few more kippers to vote Labour than the voters they lose by going down the racist/nationalist road. All the while not bothering that making concessions to Farage/Britain First etc. gives the far right credence, drags our society further rightwards, makes the UK an ever nastier place and can only be massively damaging in the long run.

A faction who offer up wealthy, or hoping to get wealthy, "heirs to Blair" who are intensely relaxed about tax cuts for billionaires and think their job is to shovel money at the rich, oppose industrial action everywhere and every time and unquestioningly back US foreign policy to prove they are "fit to govern".

Corbyn, like it seems a majority of the population, supports the junior doctor's strike. I can't recall another Labour leader since 1979 ever saying they agree with a strike by anyone for any reason at all. Least of all if that strike can be said to have "political" motives - and one way or another all strikes have a political side to them.

I am utterly furious and disgusted with the faction in the PLP that thinks the PLP should be a party in its own right, that does what it likes in complete isolation from the Labour party and labour/trades union movement. An elite which regards the members and supporters as disposable tools, existing only to propel their faction into positions of power and wealth, and who they rush to publicly slap down if we're rude enough to ask for anything in return for getting them elected.

Given that you don't ever say who you're talking about, it's hard to respond to that.

I haven't seen anybody opposing the doctors strike. It was France who were being backed this time, not the US. When the US asked to be backed in 2013, not a single Labour MP did.

They virtually all supported the Mansion Tax and the 50p tax rate too, and this, as achieved by Gordo.



Good luck with telling core working class voters they're racists and xenophobes too.

[Tubby Isaacs]

"The government is, quite rightly, trying to ensure that people don't leave hospital in a wooden box if they're admitted at weekends."

Roger Goss of "Patient Concern", Radio 5Live news, 8:40pm. Put that name and organisation into Google or Twitter and ask yourself if that's a credible source for publicly-funded news.

Angela Rippon given a platform to present a completely one-sided view of the strike on "The One Show" this evening, without any opposing view. Think Humphries on welfare. Rippon is apparently VP of the "Patients Association", which, since I first heard of it, all my antennae have told me is a doppelganger for the TPA, with the same agenda. Put it into Twitter and, yes, various people suggest it is funded by private healthcare.

There are still otherwise intelligent people who trot out that glib soundbite about both left and right believing the BBC to be biased. They are either not paying attention or, as previously suggested, they're thick as mince. The BBC is so far gone it disgusts me. I know I harp on about this, but it is because it's so very shocking to see and hear, day in day out, and its wider implications are pretty terrifying.

Agree with this entirely. Noticed these groups before when Richard Blogger flagged them up.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Jeez, this is poor, from a good journalist.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/it- ... 06521.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, states the obvious rather than the contentious. Patients do not choose to fall ill on the basis of a five-day week. There is currently a meaningless row about how vulnerable a patient is who falls ill on a Friday night, but anyone who knows someone in such a position is aware that in most cases they must lie there with fingers crossed until the following Monday.

Hunt is speaking for all of us in seeking to establish reliable provision seven days a week. In regarding Saturday as a working day he is not a freak, but aware of the changing patterns of work. He could have had an easier time doing what a series of Labour Health Secretaries did and accepting the doctors’ terms without posing too many questions. Instead he carries around with him a book by Eric Topol, The Patient Will See You Now, highlighting his determination to empower the patient.

[Tubby Isaacs]

That's not meant kindly about Scargill there.

Say what you like about him he was right about the core issue in the strike.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Christ almighty. This isn't even wrong from Richards.

The proposals for a seven-day NHS should be part of a debate about resources and structure. Even without that debate Hunt must prevail, breaking a barrier about working that is already broken elsewhere in the fast-changing world of work.

[RogerOThornhill]

Do we actually know how much of the NHS is 24/7 already - proportions applied to hospital departments etc?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Hadn't seen this, re "doctors killing patients by not working weekends"

https://fullfact.org/blog/2015/dec/heal ... aths-50279" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the UK Statistics Authority has responded to an anonymous complaint about the same claim. They say, “We are speaking with Department of Health officials to ask that future references to this article are clear about the difference between implying a causality that the article does not demonstrate, and describing conclusions reached by authors.”

Didn't the DoH take that one on?

They don't even do so in their response to Full Fact there.

[NonOxCol]

10 o'clock news just as bad, according to Twitter. Even people who don't normally point out bias are quite concerned.

[RogerOThornhill]

Re that, I notice from Andrew Sparrow's No 10 briefing earlier...

Downing Street defended the NHS reform plans that have triggered today’s junior doctors’ strike. “We want to ensure that there’s a fair deal for doctors while making sure that we can deliver our commitment to a high-quality, 24-hour, seven-day NHS,” the prime minister’s spokeswoman said. She said that the death rate for stroke victims was 20% higher at weekends, and that newborn deaths were 7% more likely at weekend. But, when pressed, she did not claim these figures were a direct result of staffing levels at weekend.

[gilsey]

Do we actually know how much of the NHS is 24/7 already - proportions applied to hospital departments etc?

All I know is when my sister went into James Cook with a brain bleed, she was told the department had 5 complete teams, from consultant down, to ensure 24/7 cover.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Re that, I notice from Andrew Sparrow's No 10 briefing earlier...

Downing Street defended the NHS reform plans that have triggered today’s junior doctors’ strike. “We want to ensure that there’s a fair deal for doctors while making sure that we can deliver our commitment to a high-quality, 24-hour, seven-day NHS,” the prime minister’s spokeswoman said. She said that the death rate for stroke victims was 20% higher at weekends, and that newborn deaths were 7% more likely at weekend. But, when pressed, she did not claim these figures were a direct result of staffing levels at weekend.

Even if you think Kunssberg's job is just listen to what politicos say, there's surely a significant story there?

[rebeccariots2]

Jeez, this is poor, from a good journalist.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/it- ... 06521.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, states the obvious rather than the contentious. Patients do not choose to fall ill on the basis of a five-day week. There is currently a meaningless row about how vulnerable a patient is who falls ill on a Friday night, but anyone who knows someone in such a position is aware that in most cases they must lie there with fingers crossed until the following Monday.

Hunt is speaking for all of us in seeking to establish reliable provision seven days a week. In regarding Saturday as a working day he is not a freak, but aware of the changing patterns of work. He could have had an easier time doing what a series of Labour Health Secretaries did and accepting the doctors’ terms without posing too many questions. Instead he carries around with him a book by Eric Topol, The Patient Will See You Now, highlighting his determination to empower the patient.

Yes I was surprised when I read it earlier ... wouldn't have thought he would have taken such a stance.

Also peed off with the BBC news item I've just seen which had a bloke declaring he would explain 'both sides' and then put what were figures and statements from the DoH across first followed by a film talking about Aneurin Bevan having said the only way to deal with doctors was to stuff their faces full of gold (or similar) and no proper attempt to explain their figures and argument. Bloody awful. Oh and that followed a film with patients complaining about the strike - and not a single patient voice saying they supported the doctors although we know that there is a good deal of support for them out there.

[rebeccariots2]

10 o'clock news just as bad, according to Twitter. Even people who don't normally point out bias are quite concerned.

That must have been what I've just seen.

Bloody awful as I just said.

[HindleA]

Unneccessary long-winded response to Mr.Richards article replaced by :not my experience.

[ohsocynical]

10 o'clock news just as bad, according to Twitter. Even people who don't normally point out bias are quite concerned.

It feels like we're on the brink of war with the media ...

[rebeccariots2]

Oh and this was said too ....

Tom Moseley ‏@moseleytom 1h1 hour ago
"We all know they are going to lose," a government source tells @bbclaurak over the #doctorsstrike http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35298370" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Bloody awful. Have I already said that?

[gilsey]

We do know they're going to lose though. Anyone here think *unt is going to back down?

[ohsocynical]

We do know they're going to lose though. Anyone here think *unt is going to back down?

Nope. The ultimate goal is the break up of the NHS. It'll all be part of the plan.

[Willow904]

No one's even asked anyone if they want 24/7 healthcare have they? My brother-in-law got an appointment for a scan in the evening. He had to spend a fortune on taxis because there weren't any buses at that time of day. He wasn't very happy. More staff and equipment to fit everyone in during normal hours would be much more popular with non-urgent patients, I would have thought. It strikes me that Hunt's plan is pretty penny-pinching, running the NHS like a factory where an idle machine means it's not earning its keep. They'll soon be doing routine scans all night so they can get by with one scanner instead of two.....

[ohsocynical]

I've been alarmed at the News coverage on the BBC for a long time. At first it wasn't the obvious bias that we have now, but they were guilty of the sin of omission and have been for a long time.

When we used to visit my uncle who was in his eighties, if you mentioned NHS cuts [when Lansley starting messing around with it] he'd look blank. He watched BBC News every day, and at that time was a sharp as a knife, but he'd say he hadn't seen or heard anything about it.
I realised rather than have to air a criticism of the government, they wouldn't report on it at all.

It's the same with the big protest marches. They put a short clip onto their regional pages. People watching the National news don't have a clue on the size of the protests.

By doing it that way, if you complain, they say they covered it.

[rebeccariots2]

No one's even asked anyone if they want 24/7 healthcare have they? My brother-in-law got an appointment for a scan in the evening. He had to spend a fortune on taxis because there weren't any buses at that time of day. He wasn't very happy. More staff and equipment to fit everyone in during normal hours would be much more popular with non-urgent patients, I would have thought. It strikes me that Hunt's plan is pretty penny-pinching, running the NHS like a factory where an idle machine means it's not earning its keep. They'll soon be doing routine scans all night so they can get by with one scanner instead of two.....

My sister has just finished a course of radiotherapy treatment. The machines are being worked from before 8am till at least that time in the evening. When one of the machines has a fault (and there was usually at least one of them needing some attention) it meant major reshuffling of patients across the other machines and even longer days .... Some of the machines were pretty old - my sister just said no when she saw one of them (she was transferred to it on a major reshuffle day) - she was literally frightened that it wasn't up to the job. She found out she wasn't the only patient doing so.

My point is - the demand is huge - machines need down time as do the people working them. The staff in the hospital concerned were fantastic - doing the best they could in often difficult circumstances and often working way beyond the time they would have been rostered to leave. Hunt is an ass. You can't run a truly 24/7 NHS without significant additional resource and a lot more staff.