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Author Topic: Let's Get Political!  (Read 1995365 times)
ronnie21

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« Reply #60 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 13:31:57 »

In my opinion the biggest single issue is the health service,unfortunately for the majority of people it's immigration which to me is pretty much bottom of the list.


The health service is a real problem and was not surprise to hear it had it's worst week this year in A&E.  I got woken a few weeks ago with a sharp pain in my chest, it went off and I went back to sleep.  In the morning I got one or two stabbing pains and rang my surgery - had to explain to the receptionist what my problem was and she told me there were no doc's appointments for three weeks!  Said she would get somebody to ring me but the nurses were busy, finally got a call at 12-15 from a nurse who told me I should have seen a doctor!!  When I asked if I could come round now she said they were shutting shortly as it was their half-day (a tuesday!).  Then I got told the classic, if I was really worried I should take myself to A&E or the walk-in centre.  Thankfully i had no re-occurrence so I did not go to A&E, but if surgeries up and down the country are under so much pressure it is no wonder the hospitals are full to bursting!  
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ronnie21

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« Reply #61 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 13:38:47 »

[quote author=Ardiles link=topic=55431.msg1302229#msg1302229 date=1419082106
Population is the elephant in the room.  If population is going to increase to 70 million in the next decade or two, then let's be honest about where all the new schools, houses, railway lines, motorways and supermarkets are going to be built.  Or do we just look the other way and leave the next generation to work it out for themselves?  It's disingenuous and dishonest.
[/quote]unfortunately this is just what is happening and Swindon Borough Council is absolutely to the fore in that regard!!!  Councillor Dale "Grinner" Heenan has just announced that they will not proceed with the new road linking West Swindon with the rest of the town, instead they want to upgrade certain other roads that they say will solve the problem and mentioned Akers Way.  A residential street basically, that they allowed hundreds of new homes to be built on without the correct infrastructure, and now they plan to expand in the east on the A420, please explain where the traffic is going to go from that development?  Closer to my home is the plan to put 150 new houses on the playing fields at Headlands, with no plans to upgrade the roundabout onto Cricklade Road, already a dangerous junction if you are turning right as visibility is not good. 
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adje

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« Reply #62 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 13:44:13 »

not sa
At a time when public services, public utilities and public infrastructure (transport, in particular) are as stretched as they are, surely having a population policy is absolutely vital?  And by extension, having a workable net migration policy is, therefore, also vital?  For far too long, the political class in this country has sought to close down discussion/debate with accusations of racism towards those who raise the subject.

A few of the political parties are only just starting to wake up to this.  But instead of setting the agenda/debate, they have been dragged kicking & screaming to it by an electorate that's way ahead of them.

Population is the elephant in the room.  If population is going to increase to 70 million in the next decade or two, then let's be honest about where all the new schools, houses, railway lines, motorways and supermarkets are going to be built.  Or do we just look the other way and leave the next generation to work it out for themselves?  It's disingenuous and dishonest.

Of course immigration will continue, and so it should.  Isolating ourselves from the outside world would be pointless and futile.  I just think it's becoming increasingly obvious that net migration needs to be controlled and not left to chance and market forces.

not saying that,just that its importance is over stated in the grand scheme of things.Contrary to popular opinion,I dont think its out of control.Most people say we are a "soft touch".Why,then, are people dying while clinging on to the bottom of lorries?
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Ardiles

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« Reply #63 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 13:52:43 »

I am starting to doubt whether the 'free at the point of service' model for the NHS can have a lot longer to go.  Even most other socially progressive western European countries have adopted a health insurance model (where you pay up front and claim most or all of the cost of treatment/consultancy from an insurer).
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adje

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« Reply #64 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 14:14:41 »

It may not Ardiles,but every government should strive to make it so.
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Peter Venkman
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« Reply #65 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 14:16:13 »

It may not Ardiles,but every government should strive to make it so.
I agree totally.
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STFC_Chris
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« Reply #66 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 20:58:39 »

The amount of wastage in the NHS is incredible. I work in pharmacy, and everyday patients bring back carrier bags or bin bags FULL of medicines. Often completely unopened, unused, within the expiry. That stock all goes to be incinerated. Two Seretide inhalers? £120. People just don't realise the cost of the drugs they're using.

Then there's the people who get doctors appointments for colds, headaches, and other minor ailments to get a prescription for Paracetamol, because they're 'entitled' to it. Yes, maybe, but the appointment you've just had has cost the NHS vastly more than the 40p you could have bought a box for.

Unpopular as it would be, I believe there should either be a small charge to visit the doctor or prescription charges should be applicable to everybody. £5 to visit your doctor, still great value, but makes you think twice if you've only got a sniffle. £2 per prescription for your first 20 items a year, then free after that?

You only have to have a quick look at ebay for things like Nicorette products being sold on. How many of those were on prescription, which the patient probably paid nothing for, then decided they'd rather carry on smoking?
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Not that Nice If I'm Honest

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« Reply #67 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 21:32:15 »

I was born in a shitty estate (Blackbird Leys), and spent my first 7 years there.
I still have relatives there.

The older ones won't even go out during the dark, and so are virtual prisoners in their houses for most of the winter.

Virtually all of the working class residents want the police to sort the place out, and get rid of the scum bags, but all the Labour councilors do is stick up for the rights of the crack heads and thieves.

The labour party has totally lost touch with what it is like to live in these places, because it has become the party of the fucking champagne socialists, who refer to their old core support as "Chavs"

They haven't represented the white working class for about twenty years.

I won't be voting UKIP, because I don't need to, but I can fully understand why the abandoned working class will vote for them in huge numbers

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jonny72

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« Reply #68 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 21:58:37 »

At a time when public services, public utilities and public infrastructure (transport, in particular) are as stretched as they are, surely having a population policy is absolutely vital?  And by extension, having a workable net migration policy is, therefore, also vital?  For far too long, the political class in this country has sought to close down discussion/debate with accusations of racism towards those who raise the subject.

UKIP appear to have changed tack, now claiming public services and infrastructure are over run due to migrant workers and for that reason we need to leave the EU so we can limit migration. I'm guessing they've given up on claiming they're taking all the jobs, with unemployment falling sharply now it's not a valid argument.

It's simple to blame the problems on migrants but you need to look deeper to see what the real problem is, or you risk taking a sledge hammer to crack a nut. For me the problem is primarily the inefficient spending of public money and to a lesser degree there not being enough money due to everyone wanting lower taxes and the rich/large companies not paying their share.

Far too many people seem to fall for the tabloid grabbing headlines that are spouted by UKIP and the SNP, ending up voting for what isn't much more than a pack of lies. Didn't the SNP base their future independent Scotland spending on oil being $100 a barrel? Imagine if they were now independent and in a currency union with the remainder of the UK, we'd all now be royally fucked as we'd have to bail them out.
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jonny72

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« Reply #69 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 22:03:43 »

Unpopular as it would be, I believe there should either be a small charge to visit the doctor or prescription charges should be applicable to everybody. £5 to visit your doctor, still great value, but makes you think twice if you've only got a sniffle. £2 per prescription for your first 20 items a year, then free after that?

What if you haven't got £5?

There are far better and simpler solutions to the issues with the NHS.

It was only recently I found out you can make appointments with nurses for minor complaints and that a doctors appointment isn't necessary. If more and better use was made of nurses it would reduce the strain on the doctors and provide a better service.
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TheDukeOfBanbury

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« Reply #70 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 22:04:52 »

You are on your own. Have been for a while.
The politicians are only in it for themselves and do not represent those who elect them.

Put a box at the bottom of the ballot paper with " none of them and detest  them all" and you would get a landslide victory and the biggest turn out in recent times.

Fucking hate all of them. Sad but true.
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Not that Nice If I'm Honest

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« Reply #71 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 22:08:12 »



Far too many people seem to fall for the tabloid grabbing headlines that are spouted by UKIP and the SNP, ending up voting for what isn't much more than a pack of lies. Didn't the SNP base their future independent Scotland spending on oil being $100 a barrel? Imagine if they were now independent and in a currency union with the remainder of the UK, we'd all now be royally fucked as we'd have to bail them out.

I was working up in Edinburgh this week, and I was chatting to one of my mates up there (he was a massive supporter of a Yes vote, as was I, from a "England's better off with out them" POV).
I was amazed that nobody in the media up there had challenged the SNP on how they would have funded their socialist utopia on oil at $60 a barrel when it costs $90+ to get it out of the ground.

I so wish they had had the bottle to vote with their hearts and not their heads
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Arriba

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« Reply #72 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 22:43:16 »

You are on your own. Have been for a while.
The politicians are only in it for themselves and do not represent those who elect them.

Put a box at the bottom of the ballot paper with " none of them and detest  them all" and you would get a landslide victory and the biggest turn out in recent times.

Fucking hate all of them. Sad but true.

There are some genuine, Labour back benchers who care. They keep my hopes alive that their party will come good again after the new Labour bullshit
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TheDukeOfBanbury

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« Reply #73 on: Saturday, December 20, 2014, 23:45:18 »

Are you serious ?
Get the Country back in debt with their wasteful spending plans.
Please no..... Every time that shower get in they leave the Country in a bigger mess than when they takeover.
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Red Frog
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« Reply #74 on: Sunday, December 21, 2014, 00:19:43 »

I am starting to doubt whether the 'free at the point of service' model for the NHS can have a lot longer to go.  Even most other socially progressive western European countries have adopted a health insurance model (where you pay up front and claim most or all of the cost of treatment/consultancy from an insurer).

Keep saying it, and say it louder. It's become such an article of faith in Britain, soaking up a huge and largely unquestioned budget that could be used so much more productively. The NHS really isn't as good as people like to pretend, and the waste it generates is truly shocking.
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