Brexit, for once some facts.

[50Hertz]

Making valued doctors, nurses, health assistants and domestic staff from the UK feel unwelcome thus reducing staff numbers hasn't cost much so far to implement but it is impacting on hospital staffing levels (apart from the ongoing costs of Brexit preparations).

One completely incompetent NHS bureacratic dept that is surpassing targets is the NHS Business Services Authority, goodness know how much this dept costs to run, with buildings, managers, staff, pensions and puters - and I'm deaing with them now and after 15 emails back & forth I can only conclude that they should be obliterated off the face of the planet and staff from top to bottom reassigned to cleaning out bed pans as penance.

So far despite giving them the valid prescription prepayment certificate, my name, my dob and address they won't believe I am who I am and refuse to drop a £136 fine which came out the blue, and will likely end up in court if they can't get their act together.

Welcome to the future!

Would take it up with my local MP but he's a bit distracted bum licking Boris and prospective voters at the moment [/rant_over]

NHS fines for 1.7 million people overturned, watchdog ... - BBC

MPs 'staggered' by NHS fines 'complacency' - BBC News

MPs demand action over wrongly-issued NHS fines - BBC News

'Presumption of guilt’

Ms Hillier called on the Department of Health to change an "utterly confusing" fining regime, which at the moment operates on a "presumption of guilt”.

She said the NHS fining system had become a "dog's breakfast".'

'Vortex of bureaucracy’

Ms Hillier said that people wrongly accused of fraud faced "humiliation" and when they tried to overturn a fine they could find themselves caught up in a "vortex of bureaucracy”.

Extra checks

The Department for Health has promised to introduce an extra layer of checks - contacting people before they are fined to give them a chance to show they are exempt from paying for treatment. This is intended to filter out some of the wrongful fines.

That's another problem. People who are so useless that they can't hold down a job in the private sector tend to wash-up in administration / management roles in our public services. In these roles they can spend their days hiding in meetings, holding clip-boards and trying to outrun the carnage they create by hoping from one internal job to another. It's a shame, but true.

 

[50Hertz]

All well and good, so what can you say in favour of Boris that doesn't require being kicked in the head to fall for?
Do you imagine his shower are going to do a better job?
And what can you offer as evidence that this isn't some mad attack of wishful thinking?
Indeed evidence that what they are proposing won't lead to civil unrest?
Remember you have to assume that regardless of how this election pans out, if he fouls up Brexit there will be hell to pay for all of us, as no matter what people vote for on Thursday it won't reflect the disappointment on both side of the fence between Remainers and Leavers when things turn out anything other than fine and dandy.

No change won't do, that is what fuelled Brexit in the first place, not the EU, that was an excuse.
And if it turns out badly doesn't bear thinking about.

I really don't want to see my predictions come true....but they are. precisely as anyone can see if they care to look and think.
Voting for the Conservatives makes you an accomplice in what follows, not a victim.

In all honesty, I don't know who can sort this out, maybe no one.

Johnson: A compulsive liar with an abysmal track record in office. Guaranteed to let everyone down. He talks about the general election as though the Conservatives have been in opposition for the last decade. How can anyone trust him.

Corbyn: Will increase the rate of debt, no doubts. We will end up spending a massive portion of the treasury's revenue servicing the debt he is going to rack up. He is going to attack me financially and that's unfair. I haven't done anything except earn, pay taxes, made investments and paid taxes on the returns. I've lived within my means and no one has given me anything for free.

Swindon: I have a more interesting and inspirational wardrobe.

I think I'm going to go to the polling station and spoil my voting paper on Thursday. It has come to this. Johnson will win and he will do damage which can’t be undone. I just feel an emptiness with all of them.

 

[Woosh]

Swindon: I have a more interesting and inspirational wardrobe.

is the most coherent of the three, unfortunate because of Nick Clegg's legacy.

 

[50Hertz]

is the most coherent of the three, unfortunate because of Nick Clegg's legacy.

I thought Tim Farron was adequate. Streets ahead of the current lineup.

 

[oldgroaner]

The point to remember is that brexit is the enemy not individual politicians that are a temporary nuisance. Only labour can give us the sporting chance of escape by a further referendum.
The rest is just noise

 

[50Hertz]

The point to remember is that brexit is the enemy not individual politicians that are a temporary nuisance. Only labour can give us the sporting chance of escape be a further referendum.
The rest of just noise

But can Labour? Corbyn doesn’t seem to know where he is. There are a significant number within Labour that support Brexit.

There is only The LibDems who are clear about Brexit. Sadly they have chosen a deadbeat as the frontman.

 

[flecc]

But can Labour? Corbyn doesn’t seem to know where he is.

Corbyn is clear, he's leaving it to the public to decide whether to take the deal he presents or remain in the EU.

That makes him the honest one of the main two parties. Boris Johnson won't give the public that choice between his deal and remaining, he just wants to force Leaving, with or without a deal, regardless of the damage it might do.
.

 

[50Hertz]

Corbyn is clear, he's leaving it to the public to decide whether to take the deal he presents or remain in the EU.

That makes him the honest one of the main two parties. Boris Johnson won't give the public that choice between his deal and remaining, he just wants to force Leaving, with or without a deal, regardless of the damage it might do.
.

I agree with most of that, but Corbyn should nail his colours to the mast. A good leader would do that, lay it bare as to who they are, what they represent, and why. Trying to be all things to all men makes him look shifty and untrustworthy. You wonder what else he has on the agenda, but not declared.

 

[Wicky]

More waffly ****** from BJ when confronted by reality...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1204018593656180736

Boris Johnson criticised over reaction to sick boy image

Boris Johnson has been criticised after initially refusing to look at a picture of a sick four-year-old boy who had to sleep on the floor of a Leeds hospital.

The picture in the Daily Mirror of Jack Willment-Barr, who had suspected pneumonia, spurred complaints about NHS cuts.

An ITV reporter tried to show Mr Johnson the picture on his phone, but he refused to look, before taking the device and putting it in his pocket.

 

[oldgroaner]

I agree with most of that, but Corbyn should nail his colours to the mast. A good leader would do that, lay it bare as to who they are, what they represent, and why. Trying to be all things to all men makes him look shifty and untrustworthy. You wonder what else he has on the agenda, but not declared.

Corbyn quite clearly has always opposed EU membership and still does, what he hopes to achieve is Common Market Mk2 where we have access to both the Market and Customs union.
He is assuming he can carry this off to finance his extensive remodelling of the economy.

Contrast that with Boris: he too has made expensive promises , and yet in this case has no visible income to back any of it up, and is years away from negotiating any trade deal with anyone that can support us.
In the meantime we become a dumping ground for China and America, and living standards fall to the point of unrest in the streets.

On the one hand you have a guy with a slight chance (Corbyn) of making Brexit work, or at least giving the country a choice to try his plan willingly by a referendum mandate.
Or best result of all to remain in the EU

On the other hand you have a snake oil salesman(Johnson) who is untrustworthy, incompetent and whose party can be bought by Russian money (Alternatively American Express will do nicely sir) and will ask how high and how far when their paymasters say jump

I really can't see why anyone struggles to make such an obviously easy choice.

 

[Wicky]

Trying to be all things to all men makes him look shifty and untrustworthy.

If that makes Corbyn 'shifty and untrustworthy' to you you then then what heck does BJ's flip flopping and making it up as he goes along and depending who he's speaking to, outright lies, at best deception, and becoming PM only because he hitched a ride on the back of being the best pro-Brexit bullshitter to hand.

2015 > Quitting the EU won't solve our problems, says Boris Johnson

2016 > Boris Johnson said Britain remaining in the European Union would be a "boon for the world and for Europe"

 

[Danidl]

I agree with most of that, but Corbyn should nail his colours to the mast. A good leader would do that, lay it bare as to who they are, what they represent, and why. Trying to be all things to all men makes him look shifty and untrustworthy. You wonder what else he has on the agenda, but not declared.

I do not think that is in question. You , like most people are very clear where he stands of general financial and social issues. The only point in contention is his personal position on Brexit...and in fairness he has made it very clear. He has no position.He has preferences, but no position. He wants the people to decide by means of a confirmation referendum.
Now I would have wished he had come out more strongly , on an anti Brexit ticket, but he has decided otherwise.
In any of the exchanges he has had with the current PM, shifty is not the adjective I would have used. Cool and detached and dispassionate ,like a maths teacher showing for the 400 th time transposition to rowdy 14 year olds.

 

[flecc]

I agree with most of that, but Corbyn should nail his colours to the mast.

He has done. Recognising this issue was for the public to decide and not him personally, he's offering the means to do that if elected.

His own view on EU membership is irrelevant, since in a public vote it's not for him to decide, so there are no colours to nail to the mast.
.

 

[wheeler]

Ok everyone, let’s get Brexit over the line on Thursday. There’s an oven ready deal ready to go. A deal which will deliver tremendous new trade opportunities for the whole of the U.K.

Let’s get Brexit done in January, let’s get this thing over the line and then set about improving our health service with 40 new hospitals, thousands of doctors and even more nurses.

I have a question regarding the hospitals. My local hospital was built in 1990. It had 80 beds. Labour cut it to 20 in the Blair years, Conservatives have cut it to 14 since 2010, and they are currently planning to cut back to 10 beds. If they are going to build 40 new hospitals, why are they simultaneously cutting back at a fairly new hospital with with 70 beds mothballed?

If I was a cynical person, I’d be thinking that they have no intentions of investing in the NHS. However, Boris is a likeable, cuddly absent minded character, who appears to be a bit of a buffoon. I’m sure he won’t double cross those who vote for him.

Aye, right.

 

[Wicky]

Sign of the times - New 'festive' banksy



God bless Jacob Rees-Mogg.

In the 20 minutes we filmed Jacob on this bench passers-by gave him a hot drink, two chocolate bars and a lighter - without him ever asking for anything.

 

[Woosh]

Corbyn is clear, he's leaving it to the public to decide whether to take the deal he presents or remain in the EU.

JC offers a choice between his non-existent brexit and remain. That does not make sense to me although I'd like a soft brexit myself.
He'd do better to add to the mix May's brexit, Bojo's brexit and WTO brexit. They all have some degree of support.

 

[oldgroaner]

JC offers a choice between his non-existent brexit and remain. That does not make sense to me although I'd like a soft brexit myself.
He'd do better to add to the mix May's brexit, Bojo's brexit and WTO brexit. They all have some degree of support.

Corbyn will have no difficulty obtaining an agreement where we continue to have access to both the market and Customs union, since that is precisely what the EU wants
Unfettered trade with us and no chance for us to hinder their decisions, that is in effect a soft Brexit, rather like having your incontinent but valuable scrapyard guardian dog house trained so it messes elsewhere.

 

[oldgroaner]

This Richard Tice fella is awfully generous
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/new-documents-shed-light-on-brexit-party-chairmans-offshore-connections/
"
New documents shed light on Brexit Party chairman’s offshore connections
Richard Tice denies any links to two tax-haven based businesses. So why did he sell one of them a valuable property in Florida for only $10?

Largesse I hear you say?

 

[oldgroaner]

This Liz Truss woman is a star in her own right, she admitted the Conservatives don't have any plans for social care and will ask other parties for ideas.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1203978223559872512

Probably the first truth from a Tory this election!

 

[flecc]

JC offers a choice between his non-existent brexit and remain. That does not make sense to me although

Makes good sense to me. Both May's and Johnson's deals haven't been well received, but Corbyn's offer has the advantage of opting to Remain if his deal is also not well received.
.