BMA AND RCN GREED IS SHOCKING.

The appalling greed and selfishness of some is almost unbelievable.

At a time when hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs, many thousands more may yet do so and more than 120,000 have lost their lives, health service unions have decided to whinge about their pay. Notwithstanding that there will be no pay rise this year for the police, fire service, local council workers and many others, the representatives of some of the highest paid in our society are demanding yet more. 

The doctors' union, the British Medical Association, none of whose members can be considered poor while many are simply very wealthy, wants more. The Royal College of Nursing, another trade union despite its fancy name, wants more and yet its members already have average pay in the region of £34,000, well in excess of the national average for all employees. If anyone has a genuine gripe it may be the members of Unison, the union which represents the lower paid echelons of NHS staff, though even here can they really demand money with menaces in the face of the death and mayhem wrought by the COVID-19 epidemic ?

Doctors, nurses and the rest have chosen their careers for an assortment of reasons, pay no doubt being one of them though very unlikely to have been the driving force. That workers in these professions have been put under pressure by recent events is undeniable, but so has the rest of society. When those who work in the health care sector sign on, do they expect to have it easy ? Do they expect it to be a simple 9 to 5 job with no problems ? If they do, they are deluded.

People who need hospital care are sick or injured; some will be very sick or very badly injured, some will need very intensive care and many will die. While COVID-19 has brought about a high level of illness in a short period of time, hospitals have actually had many fewer other patients to deal with due to the various protective measures put in place. Overall, the volume of patients being cared for, and the pressure on staff, has surely been no greater, and maybe even less, than is usual.

Doctors nurses and the other health sector workers chose their careers and are rewarded for their work, some very greatly so.  They are not some special breed, indeed most are average contributors while some are very good and an equal number are pretty poor. It is time that the national obsession with the NHS was ended and for people to realise that those who work in it are simply doing jobs that they chose to do for whatever reasons they may have had at the time of joining. They are not Gods, they are workers like the rest of us. 

It is also time for the unions that represent these workers to wind their necks in at a time of national crisis, not to be threatening strike action over unsustainable demands for yet more money from an already grossly over-stretched public purse. After all, who will ultimately be picking up the bill but the rest of us who have no pay rise, no job and yet are faced with higher and higher taxes at every turn.

COVID-19 NUMBERS ARE UTTERLY UNRELIABLE.

Does anyone really know the extent of the COVID-19 epidemic in this country ?

Yesterday, it was announced that due to "technical issues", a significant number of positive tests had not been included in recently published figures. Inevitably, some have blamed this omission on the government, but surely the blame lies with those directly responsible for compiling the numbers. A simple review of the figures released on a daily basis confirms this.

Day to day, the numbers change. not by much but by enough to make one wonder what is going on. I don't mean the total numbers, but going back to the early days of the epidemic, the numbers of cases and deaths recorded on a daily basis change almost every day; not for every day though some days seem to change more often than others. This latest announcement of thousands of cases being 'missed' over recent days simply convinces me that the bodies responsible, mostly Public Health England, are utterly incompetent. I have lost count of the number of times they have told us that the numbers have been adjusted due to some error or other and one can only wonder how reliable any of the figures really are.

Thankfully I have not contracted the virus and have even had a negative test a couple of weeks ago, so I know the epidemic has not reached me yet. That said, the uncertainty surrounding the published numbers leaves me wholly unsure that I'm not the only uninfected person left in the country.

Public Health England is a useless organisation and it can only be a good thing that it's to be abolished. The worry is that it'll simply be replaced by yet another pointless and useless QUANGO, run by a gaggle of faceless bureaucrats, many of them the same as are in post now. Surely it is now time for a genuine re-organisation of the NHS and associated bodies that will allow for the creation of something that is properly competent, is responsive to patients, is not driven by diktat from 'on high' and not drowned in demands for statistics demonstrating how wonderful it is.

The truth is that it's not bad for those who get into the system but it's bloody awful for those on the waiting list. It almost never admits its mistakes, frequently lies in its published statistics and is horrendously bureaucratic in outlook. Envy of the world ? Don't make me laugh !

ps As an afterthought, it occurs to me that "technical issues" was a possible excuse suggested by Sir Humphrey Appleby when looking for a way to explain a government 'cock up' in an episode of the wonderful 'Yes, Minister' / 'Yes, Prime Minister' series. More than 30 years on - how little has changed.

A-LEVEL RESULTS HIGHLIGHT GOVERNMENTAL SHAMBLES.

The COVID-19 epidemic has revealed much about our country, its government and its people, little of it good.

While there have been stories about phenomenal fund raising and the dedication of health car workers, the real stories involve the utter shambles at the heart of the nation's administration and the appalling "couldn't care less" attitude of far too many of our people, especially some of the younger ones.  While the government has issued guidance which has often been less than crystal clear, many younger people have carried on as if the epidemic simply did not exist, gathering in huge parties, on the beach and, more recently, in public houses and showing utter contempt for the rules and the rest of us.

Things were not helped by Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself catching the virus and spending time on the seriously ill list, but that is now history. What is now most worrying is that there appears to be little central control of the government's approach to managing the epidemic; diktats are issued at little or no notice and withdrawn in the same manner. The latest unbelievable mess over 'A-Level' results must surely mark a new low in this catastrophic saga, and yet ............. .

Over the last few months, our National Health Service, heralded by every government since 1948 as the "envy of the world", has been virtually closed for all but COVID victims and the most seriously ill; it has been shown to be very good at dealing with one problem at a time, but has failed spectacularly in its principal job of providing healthcare to all whenever needed. Its sister organisation, the named Public Health England, has proved itself to be utterly incompetent on almost every level, from sourcing protective equipment to producing statistics. Indeed, the numbers that have been spewed out by PHE and the Office for National Statistics, yet another pompously named and utterly incompetent body, have been withdrawn, revised, rebased and reissued with such obtuse associated guidance and little or no audit trail as to make them almost meaningless. 

Now we have the farce of the 'A-Level' results. State school pupils in their hundreds of thousands have seen their predicted results downgraded, often quite dramatically, while public (=private) school pupils have seen the predictions of their grades virtually untouched. The government has, with crass stupidity, announced that the process for the determination of grades was robust and correct, followed by rapid backtracking from the Department of Education and the officiating body, yet another QUANGO which glories in the name of the 'Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation', or OFQUAL for short. This last named joke of an organisation has, for years, presided over steadily rising pass rates and awards of the highest grades, with no apparent regard for the ultimate unsustainability of its position, but has now come horribly unstuck when confronted by a genuine need for its services. 

Pupils have had their grades determined not on the basis of their own performance but by reference to the past performance of their schools and groups of fellow pupils. Thus, pupils from a top-performing school may well have seen their predicted results stand while those from schools with a history of poor performance will most probably have seen their predicted results downgraded, regardless of the actual merits of individual cases. For OFQUAL to say that those who are unhappy can appeal is nothing but a 'cop-out' while their issuing of various guidance which has been withdrawn for further consideration within a matter of hours would be laughable if it wasn't so shocking.

This 'moderation' process has been a disaster and will undoubtedly lead to the sacking of the Secretary of State, Gavin Williamson, and quite possibly of its own heads, chairman Roger Taylor, and Chief Regulator Sally Collier, neither of whom will ever have been heard of before. If it was up to me, I'd abolish OFQUAL and the Department for Education altogether, issue some basic guidance on educational standards and leave it to the universities to sort things out by reference to international standards.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything beyond its immediate effects, its that our government and its hundreds of QUANGOS are inept and incompetent. The NHS is nowhere near being the "envy of the world", PHE is a joke, our education system is a mess and the ONS is a farce. Sadly, we also now know that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is no Churchill, in fact, I'm not even sure he's up to the job at all. What we need is a revolution in the way that our country is run. We have taken one tentative step away from centrally managed services by leaving the European Union, now we need to dismantle the elephantine and labyrinthine echelons of our own central government, letting some light and new thinking into the unbelievably musty corridors of Whitehall.

COVID-19 has given us the opportunity to do this and it's up to the current mob in government to grasp the nettle with both hands and give it one hell of a shaking.

EU REFERENDUM : THE SKY WILL FALL IN, SAYS CHICKEN LICKEN.

Yawn !

Thank heaven the referendum is not far away now. Yesterday, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, teamed up with one of his Labour predecessors, Alistair Darling, to tell us more horror stories about what might happen in the event of the British people voting to leave the European Union. As usual from the 'Remain' campaign, it's a long list of frighteners.

According to these 2 economic giants, a 'Brexit' vote would mean an emergency Budget with the most terrible effects on us all. We'd have massive tax rises, huge cuts in public services, particularly the highly sensitive NHS, but also education and the police, and all be much worse off as our economy crumbles. These pseudo-predictions are, of course, based on the same negative assumptions as the forecasts issued by other Government directed bodies, pro-EU politicians and establishment organisations, and are every bit as debateable.

Former Chancellors of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and Norman Lamont, plus former Conservative Party leaders Ian Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, have all condemned this invented picture of the future saying that it displayed "startling dishonesty" and was "born of desperation". Quite clearly, it is designed to frighten voters into doing what they're being told by those who have a vested interest in keeping the status quo, from which they benefit massively.

George Osborne and David Cameron have nailed their colours to the mast and know that their political futures are in the balance. Cameron has already said that he will not lead his party into another General Election, so his political future is already limited unless, of course, he expects to follow Tony Blair's example and become some sort of international political guru, paid insane amounts of money by organisations such as the European Union for doing very little. A vote for 'Brexit' would certainly upset this particular apple cart.

In Osborne's case, 12 months ago he had solid expectations of becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister; today, this ambition has been blown apart and his only chance of any sort of future position in British politics is for there to be a vote to stay in the EU. Even then, he has so damaged his reputation within his party that there will be huge opposition to him and it could well be that, whichever way the vote goes, his position will, very quickly,prove to be untenable. Osborne's career in politics is surely over.

Amidst the lies and hypocrisy, one question remains supreme. Do we want to govern ourselves and make our own decisions, laws and rules, or do we want to let a load of faceless and largely anonymous people from across Europe do it for us ?

VOTE LEAVE !!

EU REFERENDUM : CORBYN & CO. TROT OUT THE SAME OLD TRIPE.

Today, the hierarchy of the Labour Party has come out in force and told its supporters that all hell will break loose if they don't vote to stay in the European Union. Apparently, a vote to leave the organisation will lead to workers being horribly mistreated as their 'rights' will all disappear, their jobs will be at risk, their wages will be cut and so on. Additionally, the NHS will find itself deprived of at least £10 billion and, quite probably, the sky will fall in. Evidence for all of this was, however, sadly lacking.

Following these pronouncements, Tom Watson, the Party's deputy leader, said that EU immigration rules would have to be reconsidered to make the case for revising the current free movement for workers. Why he thinks that the EU would do such a thing is a real conundrum; given that the ultimate aim of the EU is to create a 'United States of Europe', freedom of movement for all of its citizens is an immutable cornerstone of the project and there can be virtually no chance of it being changed in any meaningful way. This was clearly a sop to Labour 'Brexiteers', designed to try to convince them that the Party understood their concerns and would make changes when it next gains power, which may anyway be a long time in the future. With any luck, the targets of this con-trick will see right through it and ignore it.

As previously, these proponents of the 'Remain' campaign have nothing positive to say about the EU and tell us nothing of any potential future benefits of membership. All they do is tell us the same tired and manufactured stories about the frightening things that might happen should we actually dare to take our future in our own hands, and ignore those who are forever telling us that they 'know best'.

Take no notice of the scare stories. We are not children who are frightened of the dark, we are intelligent adults with minds of our own; we do not frighten as easily as some would like. Ignore them and VOTE LEAVE.

EU REFERENDUM : PENSIONS UNDER THREAT ?

Oh dear, oh dear. Cameron, Osborne and company really are getting desperate.

Today it's reported that David Cameron and his chum from Number 11, George Osborne, have said that they 'might' not be able to protect spending on pensions, the NHS and defence n the long term if the UK votes to leave the European Union. They claim that the strain on public finances caused by 'Brexit' would threaten the so-called 'triple lock' which guarantees rises in the state pension, and Cameron has added that "It wouldn't actually be affordable".

A few months ago, Cameron was telling us that if he was unable to reach a satisfactory outcome in his renegotiation with other EU members, he would recommend that the UK left the organisation, making no reference to the frightening scenario of which he's now trying to convince us; in fact, he said that the UK would survive and prosper.

The truth is that Cameron and Osborne have as little idea of the future outside the EU as anyone else; in reality, there is no evidence that leaving would have any seriously adverse effect on the UK's finances beyond some initial uncertainty in the financial markets. The scaremongering claims are just thoughts plucked out of the air to frighten voters; today it seems that their targets are mainly older people and pensioners. It is cynical and disingenuous, and calls for a very large dollop of scepticism. Indeed, it calls for total rejection of these lying hounds.

VOTE LEAVE !

EU REFERENDUM : WOLLASTON'S MUDDLED THINKING.

Sarah Wollaston, Conservative Member of Parliament for Totnes in Devon, is a fairly independent minded representative. As such, she has a history of rebelling against her party's leaders on occasion and joined the campaign to leave the European Union from its outset. However, she has now changed her mind and decided that the UK should remain within the Union.

Frankly, her reasoning is pretty odd. It seems that her only real concern is the NHS and the claims being made about future funding possibilities by the 'Leave' campaign. She objects to suggestion that chunks of money which currently find their way to the coffers of Brussels could, instead, be directed to the NHS; she says that such claims are dishonest and that she could not "set foot on a battle bus that has at the heart of its campaign a figure that I know to be untrue". She also now says that there would be a 'Brexit penalty' on the NHS because leaving the EU would hit Britain's economy, something which one has to presume that she didn't previously believe.

Wollaston is a doctor and obviously has a continuation of the NHS in its current decrepit form as a priority in her life. However, one has to wonder why she ever joined the 'Leave' campaign if this single issue is so important to her that it over-rides all else, and why she has suddenly 'discovered' the supposed damage which Brexit might cause to our economy. As an MP, shouldn't she have made sure that she knew enough about a broad range of issues before deciding which side to back ? There is far more to this issue than whether or not the NHS would receive extra funding.

To me, this sudden defection smacks of something more. Has Wollaston been 'got at' by her political bosses ? Has she been promised some form of reward for changing sides, particularly for making such a hot topic as the NHS her rationale ? Maybe she has and maybe she hasn't; either way, her words and action show that her thinking on this vital issue has been muddled and blinkered and certainly doesn't change my mind. VOTE LEAVE !