Brexit.

Arkady Arkright

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I have two different very NHS experiences to report.

I've been waiting over two years to see a consultant about my extremly painful back & legs .I had an very short telephone consultation with him in Sept 2020, other than which I've had nothing but a quarterly email 'tick the boxes' survey, and a letter asking if I'd gone private yet - while my back gets worse and worse, and the only treatment on offer is ever-stronger painkillers .

OTOH, In March 2021 I went to see my doctor about an odd gurgling noise when I lay down to sleep. In very short order he sent me to a heart specialist who diagnosed my condition, got me into hospital within 2 days and temporarily (with medication) rectified the issue. The aftercare I received was excellent, and after six months I had a follow-up operation which will, hopefully, have cured the problem for good.

Both cases were from the same group of doctors, hospitals and ancillary services. This tells me that the problem isn't within the NHS, who are having to prioritise keeping people alive. The problem is that the government-provided funding for the NHS isn't enough. Ever since Cameron and Osbourne got elected in 2010 the budgets for NHS, Social Security etc. have been reduced in the name of 'balancing the books'. The Tories have long wanted to get rid of the NHS and set-up an insurance based system like the USA, under-funding the NHS is an obvious step towards this ambition.

TLDR The problem isn't the NHS, which prioritises what it can, the problem is a governing party who wants their donors to benefit from health privatisation.

TLDR 2 This was written 3/4 way down an excellent bottle of wine ('La Vieille Ferme' if you can find it), so it may not be as comprehensible as it should.
 

Sid

Time for another coffee.
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Cirque Berserk is hiring clowns, but if they are willing to pay him 10 million is doubtful IMHO.
 

Beebo Brink

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This kid would make a pretty good politician himself. Or comedian.

In introducing his mom, Paul told a cheering crowd, "Right after Trump won in 2016, that was when my mom first told us that she was going to run for Congress. My brother Luke and I looked at each other and said, 'This hobby isn't going to last long.' We gave it a couple of months, tops. Now, six years, three elections and two terms later — oof, we really got that one wrong."
 

Free

sapiens gratis
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Looks like the percentage (28% total) fits more than the U.S. political landscape.
 

Innula Zenovka

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That's how UKIP were doing at the height of their fortunes, in the 2014 elections for the European Parliament, but they never achieved results anything like that in Westminster elections, other than in a few particular constituencies (especially those in which popular Conservative MPs defected to UKIP and then stood for re-election as the UKIP candidate).

I'm sure that 25% of the population might consider voting for a new party led by Farage, especially after they'd had a few drinks, (though 75% wouldn't dream of it) but in practice, at least in general elections, they'd never get anywhere near that level of support.
 
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Bartholomew Gallacher

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Well Switzerland is part of the EU's open market. This means that it abides in many areas to the EU's law, not all, but enough to make hardcore brexiteers go ballistic.

Realistically UK going back to it is a political necessity, because the Brexit dent on GDP development is quite visible, and so far the promised benefits of leaving the EU have not manifested yet nor can anybody tell what these should be and when we will start to see them.