I had some tests done at the hospital recently and the doctor phoned today with the results. I said to him, "So, is it good news or bad?" He replied, "Well put it this way, have you ever considered visiting Disneyland?"

This post is on the NHS, put simply, it needs more money.  The Conservatives promised not to cut funding to the NHS.  They seem to have lied about this, in real terms

At present, waits in Accident and Emergency are increasing, and the Government has placed the blame for this at the contract with general practitioners that was introduced by Labour in April 2004.  The argument of Jeremy Hunt is that since GP’s opted out of providing out of hours services, the numbers of patients attending A&E has increased and that the contract is responsible.  I doubt that is true that the contract is the reason for this. 

Lots of people in A&E have pointed out that large numbers of people who attend A&E state that they have not been able to see their GP which is why they present there, despite having a condition that is neither an Accident or an Emergency.  There are a few issues with this being blamed on GP’s.  One is that people attended Accident and Emergency before April 2004 stating that they could not get an appointment to see a GP at their surgery.  I know this is not accurate for a fact as I have worked in A&E and once, when there, a patient who was registered at a surgery with open access in the morning stated that they were not able to get an appointment.  In simple English, open access is where people attend their GP surgery in the morning and are seen, i.e. there are no issues about having to wait to see a GP in that if you need to see one, you take time off in the morning, wait and you will see one, i.e. the patient lied.  The other issue is that since 2004, out of hours care has changed.  Now if someone calls with chest pain, they are now, in many cases, sent an ambulance.  More recently this has also applied to strokes where time is now even more important considering the treatments that are available to reduce the disability caused by them.  These changes, which are medically indicated considering changes in technology and also in the understanding in the way that many medical conditions are now handled are reason that patients who in thepast would not be sent to A&E without an assessment by a doctor are nowbeing sent to the Emergency Department.

I am not saying that there are no patients who have problems making appointments to see a GP but this is not the only reason that there is an issue.

It has been argued that GP's need an increase in funding to help patients, and this is true as funding to general practice has been cut in real terms since 2010.  You can not expect GP surgeries to increase access without increasing funding to provide this.  It would be insane to go back to the 'old system' as thanks to the Quality Outcomes Framework that was put into place in 2004, patients have better care, and the government also has more information on the numbers of people with various conditions, which allows for better planning of the health of the nation.  Obtaining this information costs the NHS money to obtain, but getting this information and treating patients to the targets set saves lives.

What is important to note as well, is that there is an exodus of doctors from the country.  Those who work in A&E are leaving and the same is seen with GP's.  Unless things are made better with the work life balance of doctors, more doctors will leave the NHS which will mean that the NHS will be worse off.  That is not counting the increasing costs of advances in medical technology which in general are over and above the general inflation rate.

As I said, the NHS needs more money.  That is if we really want it to work.

"It's a boy!" I shouted, as I ran from the Thai brothel.

Catarina Migliorini, one of the many reasons why I think that prostitution and other forms of sex work between consenting adults should be legal. By legal, let me say that I also mean regulated. Working in the sex industry, for many, most even is a horrible job, one which rots the soul. In the process of my work, I have encountered sex workers, most of which have had issues with addiction. Some have managed to do quite well, but I have yet to meet one without scars. But the thing I have noted that with many (but not all) of those I have encountered, they have had issues with addiction. Regulate the industry and you can offer those people help. But then I also think that many of the drugs that people use should be made legal, and again regulated.
Some people I have met have admitted to using sex workers, one being a lady my wife and I met when we were on holiday!  Some were people who would be very unlikely to have a meaningful relationship, others were in a relationship but needed for one reason or another to have sex elsewhere.  Just looking at men who use sex workers, there are many reasons for doing so.  Some men are going to find it hard to have sex due to physical disabilities, mental health issues or just due to issues with their personality.  Other men who are in relationships are going to seek sex outside the relationship due to mismatched sex drives, sometimes due to problems with the health of their partner, at times as well due to their partner not being able to meet some sexual need that they have.  Some of the reasons for a person to use a prostitute are going to be more acceptable than others, but this is the oldest profession in the world, and it is so for a reason.
Criminalising this act also makes it easier for people to be exploited.  Far too many people are trapped into remaining in prostitution due to drug addition, but also there are others who have been forced into it and others who are subject to human trafficking.  Through regulation sex workers can be helped to leave the job is they so wish.  Without this, there will be a market, one which will be exploited and people will suffer.  Lots of sex workers face violence at the hands of customers, those they work with, or more often for as well as physical and mental health problems.  In addition to this, it encourages people to travel abroad where there are even less restrictions, more exploitation and more harm to workers and customers.

There are those who have worked as a sex worker as a 'positive' choice and have left that, but too many do not have that choice. In addition, there is a line between a formal exchange of money for sex, and an informal one.  Why ban one and not the other?
What is important to do, if sex working is to be legalised and regulated is to learn from what has happened abroad, to prevent people being forced into the industry, to try to reduce demand, but most of all, to help those who work in it, leave it.

If you're ever disappointed with what you receive this Christmas just remember somewhere, someone is unwrapping a Tottenham shirt.

Well, it has been a good day today.  Needless to say, my daughter woke early.  My son, who was too excited to sleep properly woke up later.  I am not sure if my daughter was speaking loudly when she came into our bed so that he would wake up or not...

Anyway, we did allow them to see if Father Christmas brought them a present, which he did, using the bags he had used last year, as well as bringing a present for the adults in the house.  My son had warned me earlier in the week that I might not get a present as I had been too naughty but he did not seem to mind that I had been given one.  I do tell children that I did not get presents when I was young as I was too naughty, which to be fair, I was.  My brothers can confirm that and have done so on many an occasion!

Since being with my wife, Christmas has been more about giving, but this is even more so now we have the kids.  We made them wait till noon to open the presents, and they were very good to wait so long (something I used to hate when I was a child) and loved what they got.  And now, knackered, they are in bed allowing the two of us time to snuggle on the sofa, watch Alan Carr and type this entry!

It's really nice too see the teams who are struggling in the Premiership do well in the League Cup. West Ham, Sunderland, Man Utd...

The end of the weekend, and for me an okay one but I am still ill!  It has been good being able to spend time with the kids, and my Mum had come up to baby sit which allowed my wife and I to go to a great birthday party at Trotters.  I started to feel unwell on Wednesday and while I was able to still go to work, I have not been on my best form.  Here is hoping I will be well for Christmas.  The carol service of my daughter went well, it was great to see her there and she liked taking part.  It is sweet watching them like this, especially as I know that they will grow and I will enjoy many things in the future, I need to treasure these memories from now.  Right now, we are resting from dropping my mother back in London, the kids watching the Muppets. Tomorrow I am back at work and hopefully feeling better.  Of course, there is a big game for Arsenal tomorrow, the game against Chelski.  I am hoping for an Arsenal win, but considering our record against José Mourinho I suspect a draw would be the best that we can hope for!  And in case you are wondering about the picture, it was of a fan who managed to get Suarez to sign a contract before he actually signed a proper extension later on!   

The Bank of England is to introduce plastic banknotes that can survive a spin in a washing machine by 2016. Surely that will just encourage money laundering ?

We are getting ready to watch the carol service that my daughter will take part in.  Last night, we watched my son in his nativity play.  He got to play Joseph and remembered all his lines, though there seemed to be one moment when he almost did not.  He loved being the centre of attention for the evening (though this was only for a few moments as all the kids in his year had one part or another to play) and coped with the 'pressure' quite well.

Anyway, have to go in a moment.  I hope you like the picture, I saw it when looking at pictures taken in the year on Yahoo! and it reminded me of the pictures that I had wanted to take on a dolphin spotting trip in Bali.  Due to the delay in taking photo's in the day's before digital camera's, we did not realise that I had only taken splashes until we developed the film.  And I had got carried away and had taken loads of shots!

After 16 pints of Coke, 9 bags of Minstrels and 5 large popcorns, The Hobbit was finally over.

Well, I loved the film, thought it was amazing.  And it was worth watching it on a big screen and in 3D.  Just in case you did not know, it had a dragon.  And watching a big dragon in a cinema in 3D is amazing.  As it does not follow the plot of the book exactly, I suspect that my wife will not fully approve when she or if she gets round to watching it.  But I loved it, just in case you missed it the first time!  The down side was that I did not get to watch Strictly Come Dancing, yet.

I have spent the morning with the kids so far, my son who would normally be getting ready to play rugby having a cough that is bad enough that means that he is going to have to miss it.  But he had a early present from Father Christmas which meant that he has a rugby ball that he has been throwing about.  So far, nothing broken, yet.

While they were playing on the laptop I was able to watch the highlights of the Arsenal game that I listened to yesterday.  We did make quite a few mistakes in the game which 5hitty made the most use of and while many papers are saying that this is a sign of how Arsenal can not win the title, they forget that Arsenal were going to be tired considering the lack of time they had to prepare for the game. Arsène Wenger stated that he does not envy the riches that 5hitty have, but considering that they have some of our ex-players it is a bit hard to really to fully trust him on that.  Besides which, in addition to an extra day's rest, they were able to almost play a different team midweek while we could not.  And there were a few close decisions that went against us as well.  So in summary I do not think it was possible to say that City were really playing against an Arsenal team that was playing as well as we can.  Journalists should really be smart enough to be aware of that! 

Mesut Ozil has claimed Arsenal can win the title. That's not as unbelievable as it sounds, the women's team's pretty good.

Well, I knew we were going to lose.  My wife could not work out why, if I knew that, I was swearing lots everytime 5hitty scored.  I have not had a chance to watch the game and will be doing so tonight.  The kids were very kind and tried to feign an interest in the game probably to put me in a better mood.  But my daughter hates football as she considers it to be a boys game and my son loves rugby.  But tonight, I get to watch the Hobbit!  Needless to say, I loved the last film and am looking forwards to watching this one.  My wife did not enjoy it as I did and was annoyed that it did not follow the book, but it had to be different to bring in the money that the Lord of the Rings trilogy brought in. Anyway, I have to go as I am going to be leaving soon.