Dec 2019
11:59am, 18 Dec 2019
3,979 posts
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Raemond
I'm actually quite a fan of Diane Abbott, but I also absolutely understand why she wouldn't want to run for leader and expose herself to even more of the awful abuse she already receives.
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Dec 2019
12:01pm, 18 Dec 2019
137 posts
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Stander Claus
She has said many stupid things, repeatedly (as have many other MP's). But because she is black, if anyone calls her stupid, we are being racist? Nice attitude. I hate when people play the racism card like this. It completely undermines those times when racism actually does need challenging. I don't give a crap what colour, sex, nationality or sexual orientation you are, if you say stupid shit, I'll take the piss. |
Dec 2019
12:02pm, 18 Dec 2019
68,263 posts
|
Gobi
Academic brilliance and being intellectual seem to be different things People also seem to be bypassed at the school of common sense sometimes |
Dec 2019
12:03pm, 18 Dec 2019
9,816 posts
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larkim
I think to a degree Abbott is the Johnson of the Labour party. Her public image is I suspect very very different from the reality of her as an individual in terms of actual intelligence, insight, etc. But she is easily charicatured by those on the other side. That said, I wouldn't countenance her as leader because she would definitely be an electoral hindrance. |
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Dec 2019
12:03pm, 18 Dec 2019
138 posts
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Stander Claus
Amen to the school of common sense. I sometimes wonder if ANY politician ever went to that school. |
Dec 2019
12:06pm, 18 Dec 2019
59,489 posts
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swittle
If you watched the Pilger investigation of the NHS on ITV last night, what did you think? Clearly, much simpler to rail about what's already happened but the creeping dispersal and disintegration of the service should be a major concern.
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Dec 2019
12:38pm, 18 Dec 2019
23,003 posts
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Johnny Blaze
I'm about halfway through. The sections on American film-flam "health organisations" were particularly depressing and reminded me of the chancers and scumbags who regularly used to parachute into Blighty from the US back when I worked for a US company. "Confidence" and "boosterism" does not automatically equate to competence and integrity. As we will find out with Johnson. |
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Dec 2019
1:17pm, 18 Dec 2019
9,818 posts
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larkim
I suppose it all depends on whether you value the "service" or the "principle". I am happy as a taxpayer to ensure that all fellow health-care users in the UK are provided with necessary care free at the point of use. If that means a monolithic NHS needs to fragment to keep the costs affordable, and if that means private providers being commissioned by the state to provide the services, I'm ambivalent. I don't think it should be as simple as "public provision = good, private provision = bad". |
Dec 2019
1:56pm, 18 Dec 2019
3,674 posts
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run free
As for deals looks like China is wanting to do a deal with the UK. However UK won't be able to sort out an FTA with China until the US has done their deal and then if the UK wants a deal with China, it will have to be under the US terms. china-briefing.com
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Dec 2019
2:37pm, 18 Dec 2019
2,473 posts
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J2R
While on the face of it there shouldn't be any significant difference between a monolithic NHS providing services, and those services being provided by private companies, in reality there is a human factor which is very important and has major economic consequences. My partner is a doctor and many of our friends are medics and so I'm pretty familiar with the thinking in this area. So many medics in the NHS provide a level of service way beyond what they are paid for, out of good will, because they want to do good for people. They have a kind of proprietorial attitude towards 'our NHS', a not-for-profit national institution working for the common good, which they are keen to succeed. But if their loyalties were expected instead to be towards the shareholders of private companies, that good will would be much less forthcoming. And the economic benefit of this good will is colossal. It is an economic failure of monumental proportions by governments over the last few years to have been so steadily underfunding the NHS and messing it about with changes which severely sap the morale of those working there, in order to save money. Because it does the complete opposite. People with decades of experience, an absolutely invaluable resource, who really, really want to make things work, are leaving the NHS in their droves, taking early retirement, leaving the profession long before they were intending to. The cost (and indeed difficulty in terms of timescale) of replacing these people is enormous. So anything which further undermines this good will resource is likely to make the cost for a given level of health increase markedly, something which needs to be taken into account. |
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