You are about as useful as Ryan Giggs's wedding vows.

After Barcelona's demolishing of Manchester United in the Champion's League final at Wembley, festivities and partying went on until the early hours in the city centre, of Liverpool.

Evening all.  I have had a really nice day today with my wife, kids and my mother.  We collected my mother today and took them to the London Eye.  On getting my Mum, Dougal came out to say hi to my two kids, who promptly screamed!  And they got to meet my two brothers as well.  And then we went on the London Eye.  I did not think that they would want to go on it, thinking instead that they would want to go in the Aquarium, but my daughter cried when she thought that she was not going, and my son on seeing the Eye screamed about going on it.  So that decided the choice of destination.  And they really loved being up so high.  It was great for me, being born and brought up in London, I will always have a soft spot for the city especially considering the walking around it I used to do when I was younger.

And of course, they loved spending time with my mother, who loved being with them as well.

Anyway, time to go...

BBC News: Bad drivers to face £100 fines Seems a bit sexist.

Evening all.  Well, it has been an interesting time since my last post.

One of the things my son wanted was to sleep in a bed.  He broke my heart on Friday when he cried himself to sleep saying that he wanted to sleep in a bed.  Well, I was not able to make his cot into a bed on Saturday as I was working, but on Sunday I was able to.  My wife was amazing as she was able to work out bits when it came to help me.  However we were not able to make the bottom of the bed properly.  Well, my son did not care, he was overjoyed and come the night, he was very excited about sleeping.  A shame last night though when he fell out of bed.  Not that he admitted to doing so in the morning, saying instead that his rabbit (the cuddly toy that he was sleeping with) fell out of his bed.  And it would have worked on me, had my wife not got out of bed in the night to put him back to bed.

Today, on getting back from work, I got my update on my kids.  My daughter was a bit cheeky.  Well naughty really.  At dinner, she put some of her food on my sons plate.  My son complained, and thanks to my wife being very observant, she was found out.  Did not help though when my daughter tried to lie about it.  It is interesting to see how both develop.  We do try our best to praise the kids when they are nice to each other, and hopefully that will bear fruit later.  Most of the time they get on well together.  And on the subject of my daughter, I was reading with her on Sunday.  Last week, she went up a stage on reading, and I have to say, I can not tell the difference.  She was amazing.  At first, she was not too keen on reading, but when I pointed out I would write in her report book which her teacher reads, her attitude changed.  For someone so young, I am very impressed at how well she does with reading when she puts her mind to it.

Anyway, one other thing that my son is now doing is wearing pants.  Only today, he was to wear boxers.  But as far as he was concerned, and he told my wife this, jeans are not to be worn over shorts!

Anyway, I hope you like this... 

Dear IRA,

If there is ANY attempt made at the Queen's life during her historic visit to Ireland, i will personally see to it that you are all knighted.

Your's sincerely,

Charles xxx 

I noticed a lot of people queuing outside Waterstones today so I asked the security guard what was going on.

He said, "Jedward are doing a book signing."

I said, "Where's the punchline?"

He said, "There isn't one."

I said, "Brilliant, does that mean I get to go first?" 

Liverpool are 14/1 to be champions next season. For those of you that don't understand betting, that means if you bet £10, you lose £10

Evening all.
My son has decided that my wife should not pick up his sister from school.
My daughter is not aware of the fact that while she is at school, her brother is doing the best he can to have her abandoned.
Today, he got my wife to take him to Sainsburys. While there, a woman was handing out free samples of chocolate. Needless to say he kept managing to go past her. And she, like so many women before her, fell for his charm. Lots of chocolate later...

I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

Let me hope my wife does not see the picture above!  Anyway, quick post about the kids.  Both are doing well.  My son has started to wear pants.   He is very proud, and that means he is more like a grown up.  He is not too keen on having to wear his pull-ups at night and to be fair, he appears to be dry at night most of the time, so that may be something that we will be able to make progress on.

So yesterday, when my wife took him to school (to drop my daughter off) he went up to one of the girls he is friends with to show of his pants.  Fortunatley my wife stopped him exposing himself in the school playground.  Kids eh!

Anway, here is hoping that you like the music.




A man charges into a bank wearing a balaclava and wielding a handgun.

He shouts 'this is a raid – everyone get on the floor!!', and proceeds to empty the cash drawers.

As he runs towards the door with the loot, a brave customer yanks off his balaclava.
The robber immediately shoots the customer in the head and shouts.. 'Did anybody else here see my face?'.

The robber notices another customer peering from behind a counter and goes over and shoots him in the head also.

'Did anybody else see my face?' he shouts again, waving his gun around There is silence for a few seconds before a male voice is heard from a distant corner..



'I think my missus caught a glimpse....'

ManUre have won the league by having a lot of depth to their squad. They won today despite big names such as Howard Webb not performing for them.

Evening all.  Sorry about there being no post about the kids for a while.  I keep meaning to make a post, but for one reason or another, one thing will get in the way.  Mainly time.  

Anyway, on Thursday my wife had to go to London for a course.  Which meant that I was in charge of the kids.  I got back from work (late) to find my daughter, for the first time ever, reading her brother the bedtime story.  I still told them another one, but it did make me so proud that she was reading to her brother.  Friday, I got to take them to school and nursery, went to work, which was a paperwork day for me (I had to take time off to look after the kids) and after picking them up, took them down to stay at my wife's parents.  Spending time with them is precious, and they constantly find ways of making me laugh.  Having the time with them, even when I am ill, is precious, though I have to admit, that when I am not being 100%, I am a bit short with them.  Of course, I was not able to take them to see my own mother, as I had to go back up to Colchester on Friday evening as I was working on Saturday.

Anyway, my daughter has not been that well, and a urine test picked up a slight abnormality.  Which means that she needs a blood test this week, so fingers crossed...

A Manc buys a Scouser an album for his birthday. When the Scouser opened it, he punched the Manc in the face.

It was '19' by Adele.

Rumours that Osama Bin Laden has been hiding in Arsenal's Trophy Room were yesterday dismissed by Arsene Wenger who angrily told reporters "There is no such place"

Oh well, another weekend, and another loss.

After beating ManUre last weekend, we lose against Stoke.  Still, we are going to finish the season above the Scum.  

What I am hoping for is that we manage to nab Gareth Bale when the Scum fail to qualify for the European Cup.  I doubt that he will stay there, and he would be a great addition to the squad, and he is a player that can make us into a team that will win things.  Anyway, time for me to make a post about the kids...

Osama has Bin Laden to rest

I guess Osama Bin Laden was looking forward to his 47 virgins in paradise.

Let's hope they're all male.

Osama Bin Laden

World Hide & Seek Champion: 2001 - 2011

BBC Website:

US President Barack Obama - "Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children."

Former US President Bill Clinton - "This is a profoundly important moment not just for the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in al-Qaeda's other attacks but for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and co-operation for our children. "

Former US President George W Bush - "Who?"

Osama maybe considered a martyr by the radical islam, but it was the US that made him a holey man.

BBC News: US forces kill Osama Bin Laden.
Really?
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Bin Laden's dead, but I don't believe the US army has got anything to do with it. I can't help but think that his death coincides with the fact there's been 12 million nerds unable to play Call of Duty for two weeks, and one of them has finally lost it.

The NHS, the truth

As some of you know, I am active on Yahoo Answers.  I started to post there as I saw some outright lies, as well as half truths being told by members and supporters of the BNP.  Well one of the other things I noted, was the debate on healthcare in the USA.  I saw some terrible things being said about healthcare in the UK, and of course, working in the NHS, I could not let such things go without being challenged.

Well, now, there are a few posters who are regurgitating the same facts.  And to be fair, some are right, but loads are blatant distortions.  So this post is dedicated to pointing out the truth with these statements.




Question a doctor and lose your child - This article in the Times is one on child protection.  In the vast majority of cases, parents know better than doctors when it comes to their children.  I am a parent after all and we in the health professions respect that.  But there are cases there parents do not know.  And in cases, where a child is at risk of harm or abuse, then we as healthcare workers have to act in the best interests of the child.  The many cases where such actions help children is not reported in the news, but the very few stories where healthcare workers get it wrong, or where it makes good headlines do.

'Doctors told me it was against the rules to save my premature baby' - this article (in a paper known to have supported Hitler in the past) refers to a baby born at a gestation of 21 weeks and five days.  The youngest child to have survived was born at 21 weeks and six days, that being a very rare occurence.  Yes, there are guidelines by the UK that state that resuscitation should not be carried out on babies born before 22 weeks but the thing that makes it even more interesting, is that these posts made by Americans make no mention that in the USA, babies born before 23 weeks are considered non-viable!  

Daughter claims father wrongly placed on controversial NHS end of life scheme - This refers to a claim, not a fact and the Liverpool Care Pathway which it refers to is not controversial really.  Yes, like with all things, there are people who disagree with it, but then there are those who think that the earth is flat.  Is it controversial to say it is round, or that the sun is a ball of hydrogen within which nuclear fusion is taking place?  Some would say such statements are completely wrong!

NHS is paying millions to gag whistleblowers - I am not going to claim that some authorities do the best they can to hide things, but the NHS as a whole encourages people to speak up in order to help patient care.  Those from abroad forget that, or never bothered to listen when told otherwise.  Or never knew about it and did not find out more.

Patients forced to live in agony after NHS refuses to pay for painkilling injections - an interesting headline.  But if you look at the article, "A spokesman for NICE said its guidance did not recommend that injections were stopped for all patients, but only for those who had been in pain for less than a year, where the cause was not known."  Something that our American cousins seem to miss when they quote this on Yahoo! Answers.

People in the UK face longer waits for non-emergency surgery and struggle to see GPs out-of-hours compared with other western countries, a survey says -  again an interesting article, because in the comparisons, the US fails big time.  But the BBC link while it reports some of the findings in the Commonwealth Fund article, does not mention those that US posters fail to realise!  These of course refer to medical error rates and those who skip healthcare due to costs.  Click on the link above if you want more on that story!

Britain's healthcare system 'worse than Estonia's' is another headline article that has been quoted.  However, when it was posted, the person who used this to bash the NHS neglected to mention that this was when it came to patient satisfaction and neglects to mention that when it came to "access" and "efficiency" that the NHS scored much, much better.   

Others in the USA have posted how the NHS is to be reformed.  And yes it is.  But it is still to be a service that is funded through the government that is free at the point of delivery. The reforms are controversial, with not everyone being in favour of them.  And the reforms are only taking place in England, not in the other areas of the UK.

Now, the fire service in the USA can be run like the healthcare system has been run under the rule of the GOP.

And the video does show how that would work!

There is the statement dealing the the death rates for unhealthy teenage girls which is high in the UK.  But not as high as that in the USA.  The article quite rightly mentions that the UK has high death rates for boys and girls, the chance of them living till 60 being high, but not high enough.  But the people who quote it forget the rates for the USA!

Another article states "Die in Britain, survive in the US" using figures that date back to 1996!  The same article, written by someone who is plugging his book mentions the US healthcare system, as well as it's failures, but fails to mention the latest facts on the management of chronic conditions.  A fact ignored in this article which looks at UK cancer survival rates, again quoted against the NHS.  In them, the USA rates better than the UK in just one of the outcomes.  In all the others, the UK beats the USA.  So, yes, there are some areas where you do better if you live in the USA than if you live in the UK.  But there are so many other ways in which having access to the NHS gives you better outcomes.  And you do not have to become bankrupt to do so.


And of course, there are these facts...


FACT - Insurance companies in the USA admit to pushing up prices, buying politicians and not paying out claims when they should
FACT - PER PERSON the USA spends more on healthcare than any other nation on the planet
FACT - Obama debated his plans before the election for healthcare
FACT - the chance of a child under five of dying in the USA is greater than industrialised nations with universal healthcoverage
FACT - Obama was elected by the American people to bring in change
FACT - Obama wants to stop insurance companies from screwing the American people
FACT - The reforms Obama wants work in the Netherlands and in Switzerland

Sorry of this causes offence to some.  That is not the intent and I am always open to debate.  If you want to debate, feel free to e-mail me using Yahoo! Answers, or if you want, you can post comments here.  If you want to post abuse, or a negative comment, I am more than happy to publish those posts as well. 

But, remember, rationing occurs in all healthcare systems.  It is up to the people of a nation to decide if they want that based on health related factors, or on the ability to pay.