Saturday 6th & Sunday 7th February 2021

[refitman]

Morning all, happy 6 Nations day.

[tinyclanger2]

Hello

[AnatolyKasparov]

Good morefternoon, all.

[RogerOThornhill]

Good morning.

Oh dear, if this is true there will be some that won't like this at all...I can hear the screeching already.

Boris Johnson planning NHS England overhaul, leaked paper shows

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... aper-shows" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Boris Johnson is planning a radical overhaul of NHS England, as he reverses controversial privatisation policies introduced by David Cameron, a leaked document suggests.

According to the draft white paper, the government is planning to reduce the role of the private sector in NHS England and give the health secretary greater control.

NHS commissioners would not be required to put contracts out to tender, which can draw competition from competing health groups. Instead, a new policy would leave the NHS and local authorities to run services and encourage them to work together more effectively.

Excellent. Should put paid to the vultures like Branson.

[Willow904]

The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said that reducing the role of privatisation in the NHS was very important, but that the reforms must also improve patient outcomes and reduce waiting times for treatment.

“The Lansley changes were disastrous … and we pleaded with the government at the time not to do this, so it doesn’t surprise me that now they’ve now come along and said we recognise those changes were counterproductive,” he said.

He questioned, however, whether now was the right moment to restructure the NHS as it grappled with unprecedented pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.

If Brexit has taught us anything it's surely that undoing something is never the same as not doing it in the first place. We definitely shouldn't have passed the Health and Social Care Act but that doesn't mean a further huge structural reform will improve outcomes and I'd be very wary of the government's motivations for doing so. Branson might be crap at railways but Virgincare currently has responsibility for school vaccinations locally and they've actually done a pretty good job of keeping them on schedule despite disruptions with school closures etc. It's not the involvement of private companies in the provision of healthcare per se that is undesirable, it's a government that prioritises shareholder opportunities over effective public services that's the real problem. Ultimately, the German government provides an excellent universal healthcare system not because of or in spite of an insurance based privately provided system, but because they want one. Does Boris want one? Or is it just harder to sell off the entire NHS to American corporations when much of its operation is tendered out piecemeal via hundreds of smallscale contracts with effective performance clauses?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Who would ever have guessed the Lansley "reforms" would turn out sub-optimally??

(apart from most people who knew anything on the subject, but whatever)

[citizenJA]

Good afternoon, everyone.

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[AnatolyKasparov]

Night night, quiet day today despite your presence.

[PorFavor]

Fury at Gove as exports to EU slashed by 68% since Brexit

Hauliers say Cabinet Office minister ignored warnings, amid fears that worse is to come with introduction of import checks in July (Observer)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... nce-brexit

[tinyclanger2]

am enjoying the snowdrops when i go out walking.
primroses also starting to come through.
plus today saw a load of goldfinches.
then there was the unusually bold mallard who was waiting hopefully while I ate my doughnut. he eventually strutted off very unimpressed.

[tinyclanger2]

Seems there's a "strong link between" diversity and prosperity in UK towns....

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 98198.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tinyclanger2]

is everyone out making snowmen?

[tinyclanger2]

or do I now have to call them snowpersons?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Still waiting for this stuff they call snow here.....

[gilsey]

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday rejected calls to cancel debts run up by eurozone members to buttress their economies during the Covid-19 crisis.

“Cancelling that debt is unthinkable,” Lagarde told France’s Le Journal du Dimanche weekly

Least surprising 'news' of the day.

There'll be no political progress on Brexit here in the UK until commentators/pollsters etc drop talk of rejoining the EU.

Sensible people on the fringes/twitter talk about joining the SM & CU.
I'm starting to think that the MSM pointedly not talking about that possibility is just one more example of pro-tory bias.

[citizenJA]

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday rejected calls to cancel debts run up by eurozone members to buttress their economies during the Covid-19 crisis.

“Cancelling that debt is unthinkable,” Lagarde told France’s Le Journal du Dimanche weekly

Least surprising 'news' of the day.

There'll be no political progress on Brexit here in the UK until commentators/pollsters etc drop talk of rejoining the EU.

Sensible people on the fringes/twitter talk about joining the SM & CU.
I'm starting to think that the MSM pointedly not talking about that possibility is just one more example of pro-tory bias.

Yes, exactly, not even a hint of speculation
UK businesses threatened by Brexit and there's no headlines considering reasonable alternatives to government's course of action

[citizenJA]

Good afternoon, everyone.

[citizenJA]

Queen lobbied for change in law to hide her private wealth
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ate-wealth" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'She's not a sweet old lady, Tim.
She's a f***ing gangster'

[citizenJA]

How Queen’s consent raises questions over UK democracy
The monarch is not supposed to meddle in parliament. But that key principle is now in doubt
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -democracy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

---
There'll be no political progress on Brexit here in the UK until commentators/pollsters etc drop talk of rejoining the EU.

Sensible people on the fringes/twitter talk about joining the SM & CU.
I'm starting to think that the MSM pointedly not talking about that possibility is just one more example of pro-tory bias.

Yes, exactly, not even a hint of speculation
UK businesses threatened by Brexit and there's no headlines considering reasonable alternatives to government's course of action

(cJA edit)

With UK exporters shutting up shop and anger simmering, Boris Johnson’s reassurances to businesses ring increasingly hollow
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... hern-irish" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

I'd like the Ed Miliband chaos, please.

[AnatolyKasparov]

How Queen’s consent raises questions over UK democracy
The monarch is not supposed to meddle in parliament. But that key principle is now in doubt
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -democracy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Truth is, it has always been in doubt.

[citizenJA]

How Queen’s consent raises questions over UK democracy
The monarch is not supposed to meddle in parliament. But that key principle is now in doubt
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -democracy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Truth is, it has always been in doubt.

Yep

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Elton John: Brexit negotiators 'screwed up' deal for British musicians

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/ ... -musicians

I doubt they even gave musicians a second thought. And besides look at the fishing industry that they did purportedly care about, it's still been a disaster. These are the realities of being a third country and outside of a temporary touring visa (which the UK rejected and continues to reject) any further negotiation will just be fiddling around the edges.

A couple I know used to organise a small music festival and invite bands from all over the world. They would try to make sure at least half the bands were from the EU as getting bands from outside the EU was a logistical nightmare (Japan being the worst apparently), so it's not just musicians travelling out of this country that's now a problem, it's also getting them in. That might be fine if you're a large professional organiser with the staff and finances to absorb such added difficulties, but for amatuer organisers like my friends (retired teachers) it's going to be nigh on impossible. They don't have the money and neither do the bands.

So that's just another way Brexit is going to make this country just that little bit more shit.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Anyone had any snow? We had a light sprinkling when I went shopping earlier but nothing serious.

The Met forecasters did get their 'feels like' temperatures spot on. Sheltered from the wind it was completely fine but in the wind it was bloody freezing and went right through a fleece jacket, wooly jumper and thermal top.

Or maybe it was just me. I never really used to feel the cold unless it was extreme but ever since I hit my mid forties I've become a massive wuss.

[AnatolyKasparov]

You definitely feel the cold more as you get older.

[PorFavor]

The "feels like" temperature here is Siberian as I discovered when I decided to visit the wheeliebin outside the front door. That little project was hastily abandoned - or put on ice, if you prefer.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

You definitely feel the cold more as you get older.

I didn't own a coat for years but that might have had something to do with living in Newcastle at the time where coats were seen as either a sign of weakness or showing off your wealth.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Funnily enough, mentioning Newcastle there.

This is a Japanese band the people I mentioned organising a little festival invited over to play. The band used the opportunity to stage a mini UK tour but it came to a juddering halt when they got robbed of all their equipment when some scumbags stole their van in Newcastle a couple of days later.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

The "feels like" temperature here is Siberian as I discovered when I decided to visit the wheeliebin outside the front door. That little project was hastily abandoned - or put on ice, if you prefer.

My brother for some inexplicable reason took himself and his girfriend into Northern Finland a couple of Winters ago.

It was minus 23° C and the organisers took them out on snowmobiles to see the Aurora Borealis (which is rubbish that far North, you only see green) but had to turn back because people were crying and one woman vomited and it froze to her face.

Before he went he dragged me round a bunch of those 'Mountain Wharehouse' type shops and I pointed out to him this is what you buy to look like a middle aged bloke in a pub, not go out in seriously Arctic temperatures. I mean are a pair of gloves for a tenner really going to protect you from temperatures that could freeze you solid?

The answer was no. And he admitted the entire experience had been cold and smelly because they only had a couple of chemical toilets.

As far as I remember it cost him nearly 3 thousand pounds.

Dumbass.

[PorFavor]

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Shit. I just watched myself drool.

[PorFavor]

Watched yourself?

[PorFavor]

Night night.