NHS 75

It was the 75th birthday of the NHS.  Lots of those on the right have used the day to state that the NHS model is not working and reform is needed.

I agree, a reform of funding is needed.  During the years that Labour was in charge of the NHS, it improved with falling waiting lists, and that corresponded with increasing funding levels which have been, on average, greater than what the Conservative government have given the NHS.  During the time that the Conservatives were in charge, waiting lists rose.  

Remember that despite promising not to reform the NHS, David Cameron did once elected.  So when people on the right call for reform, it was reformed by the Conservatives and performance has fallen since.

"Social insurance would be better than the NHS"
"Why"
"Germany has more beds/doctors/nurses/capacity and they have social insurance"
"Why"
"Well their insurance system spends more"
"Have you considered it's literally just *more money* that's the solution then?" pic.twitter.com/FJ3Xx9PVVH

— Techpriest (@techpriest) December 31, 2022

Parliament yesterday

My daughter went to Parliament yesterday, taken by our MP Will Quince. She met the MP's for Harwich and Clacton as well, but did not get to meet Priti Patel.  If you watch this link, you will be able to see her depending on there the camera is as it focuses on the MP.  

While I am very jealous that she has been there, if I had to pick with a trip round CERN like my son had last year, or a trip to Parliament, I would have picked CERN. 

 

Should the choice to boycott be banned?

I do not buy Israeli produce.  I do not boycott films with Gal Gadot in them and if things improve in Israel and the Palestinian territories, I will go back to buying produce from Israel, so long as they are not from the West Bank.  I had typed consume earlier, but my wife buys most our shopping, and a lot of it is on-line, so I may be inadvertently consuming Israeli produce as this boycott is a personal one.

My family know that I also will not knowingly consume anything made by Nestlé, something the children do take advantage of because the know that any chocolate or ice-cream at home made by Nestlé is safe from me.  Likewise, I will not knowingly buy anything made in Burma, or Myanmar as it is now called. I have to say knowingly as I did have an amazing winter coat bought for me from there, but when it came to replacing it, I refused to get the same which was still available.  

When younger I also took part in the boycott of South Africa, my contribution to this being not using Barclays Bank as a student, but around this time, things were improving in South Africa with Nelson Mandela being freed.  I also took part in the protests at the South African Embassy before I went to university, but stopped doing so once the path to peace became more apparent. 

But back to Israel. Settlement expansion in the West Bank is continuing. Right now, violence is taking place with innocents on both sides being killed.  Extremists on both sides seem to want war over peace, a blind eye being turned towards attacks by extremists by Israel by the state itself.  Considering the history of murder that Jews have faced because of hatred towards them, I understand the desire for a nation state.  Watching A Small Light made my cry, and talking about it on the weekend, I felt teary again.  Put simply, I understand some of the fear that anyone Jewish must feel when they see hatred being directed towards them considering the millions that were murdered during the time of the Nazi's let alone what has happened before, including in the UK. 

But I should still have the right to boycott the goods of the state of Israel when it is allowing such unjust oppression of the Palestinian people.  If I had the option, I would also boycott goods made in Gaza over the human rights issues there, as well as goods made in the Palestinian parts of The West Bank due to the lack of democracy there.  I hope Parliament does not ban the boycott.     

Wimbledon is the cure for any heatwave

Wimbledon has started, and our heatwave has ended.  

And sadly, the children are still not talking to each other.  They had better be doing so by this weekend or I will have to be creative and they tend not to like that. 

Should the law be optional for those on the right of politics?

What is it with those on the right and breaking the law. Not just that, but the outrage when they are challenged on this.

In 2020, two Prime Ministers ago, the government wanted to break international law in a limited way. Can you imagine the police letting anyone else doing so?

Later that year, on the 13th of November, there was a party held at Downing Street which broke the law. Apparently the defence was that the Prime Minister thought that it was a work event which is why he said that there were no parties. I doubt that I would avoid a speeding ticket if I was genuinely not aware that I was breaking the speeding limit, though in this case, Boris Johnson knew what has happened and he lied to Parliament about this.

While there are other examples, the Rwanda case is another example. It may be found to be legal when the case is appealed, but the fault of this lies not with the government, but lefty lawyers. Not sure that this would apply to the general public as well!

The law of the land can be changed through the Houses of Parliament. Despite this, the right just keep wanting to Break the Law.  No wonder they defunded the police! 

An old friend

Today has been tiring. We went to visit my parents-in-law for my wife to fill in some forms. It took more time than we expected. I did visit my wife, but instead of this being on our journey to see my old friend Martyn, we returned to collect my wife,

The journey to see him took time, the North Circular Road being quite busy. The last time I saw him, he was married to his first wife, this being at my daughters first birthday party.

He is much happier now. While he is with his second wife, in religious terms, this is his first as that marriage was annulled. It was a very ‘interesting’ marriage and what his first wife was like is hard to believe, unless you meet her. He is so much happier now and it is truly great to see. We had parted ways when he had asked me why I did not like his first wife and knowing me well, there was no point in lying so I told him the truth. It put him in a position where he has to chose between a friend and his wife and he did the decent and honourable thing and broke contact with me.

But he is free of her now, sadly finding out the hard way the truth of what I said. I am so glad that his new wife has made him so happy and I hope they spend the rest of their lives together in marital harmony. 

STOP THE BOATS

I am both in favour and against the decision of the Court of Appeal to deport those who cross The English Channel in small boats to Rwanda. 

As posted before, I think that those who do cross in small boats should have deportation.  But I also think that there should be a system in place so that asylum seekers can have applications processed abroad in third countries, just like we did with refugees fleeing Putins War in Ukraine. The system should be able to cope with the numbers quickly and fairly, just as it did with Ukrainian refugees.

It is insane that an Afghan Pilot has had to get here by a small boat because we have no decent safe and legal route for him to come here.  Many more who have helped the UK in Afghanistan are still trapped abroad and it is a crime to process them slowly with wilful inertia.