David Cameron

Cameron tries to be scary and Fascist like blind old Fascist cnut Blunkett

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Cameron today lied about losing count of terrorist plots foiled by UK intelligence agencies spying on us and that Snowden and the Guardian had put so many lives in danger and made it so much harder to prevent terrrorists blowing up our familes. What bullshit, eh?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/25/david-cameron-angela-merkel_n_4162948.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics&ir=UK+Politics

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Friday afternoon, the prime minister said the information leaked by Edward Snowden and published by The Guardian and other newspapers had damaged national security and endangered the lives of the public.

He said the leaks had made it “a lot more difficult to keep our countries and our people safe” from terrorists who “want to blow up our families”.

Cameron said as prime minister he could not afford to have a “la-di-da, airy-fairy” view of the work of the intelligence agencies and had “lost count of the plots” that MI5, MI6 and GCHQ had foiled.

However the prime minister repeatedly dodged questions about what Britain did or did not know about the intelligence activities of the United States, including accusations that the Americans had tapped German chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.

The airy-fairy is a reference to blind old Fascist cnut Blunkett’s shortsighted Fascist ranting here when he wanted to lock people up indefinitely without that little formality of an airy-fairy trial.

As far as I can tell the “la-di-da” is original Cameron. He may have been inspired by television for infants. La-la Da-da.

I’ll have to see if I can dig something out about the UK government spying on anti-war protesters [later correction: protesters should read activists] and inciting their murder, etc. I’ve been meaning to look for it for a while.

La-la Cameron. La-la

Continue ReadingCameron tries to be scary and Fascist like blind old Fascist cnut Blunkett

East Coast Line: Ministers launch search for buyer

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24668852

trainReturning the East Coast Main line to the private sector will “revitalise” it, ministers have said as they kick-started the franchising process.

The line has been publicly run since 2009 when National Express handed back the franchise amid financial problems.

Ministers say the line has since been “stabilised” but they now want to “rekindle the spirit of competition”.

Labour and the unions say the move is “ideological” and the line should remain in public ownership.

They say the failure of two successive operators to make the line – which runs from London to Edinburgh, with connected services to Inverness and Aberdeen – commercially viable and its improved performance in recent years show it can succeed under public ownership.

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Continue ReadingEast Coast Line: Ministers launch search for buyer

Medical tourism generates millions for NHS and wider economy, finds study

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http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/24/medical-tourism-generates-millions-nhs-health

‘Foreigners abusing system’ claim contradicted by research that also shows more people go overseas for treatment than arrive

Medical tourism is a lucrative source of income for the NHS, according to a major new study that contradicts many of the assumptions behind the government’s announcement that it will clamp down on foreigners abusing the health service.

Eighteen hospitals – those deemed most likely to be making money from overseas patients – earned £42m in 2010, according to researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and York University. Medical tourists spent an estimated £219m on hotels, restaurants, shopping and transport in the UK.

The researchers also found that more people leave the UK seeking medical treatment abroad than arrive in this country for care: about 63,000 people from the country travelled to hospitals and clinics abroad in 2010, while considerably fewer, about 52,000 people, came here.

The research flies in the face of assertions by Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, that the tourists cost the health service money.

He said on Tuesday: “It’s time for action to ensure the NHS is a national health service – not an international one. With the NHS already under pressure from an ageing population, it cannot be right that large amounts of taxpayers’ money is being lost through treating people who should be paying from foreign countries.”

But the lead author of the new study, Johanna Hanefeld, from the faculty of public health and policy at the LSHTM, said the government-commissioned research published on Tuesday was “much more across the government immigration agenda than anything to do with health”.

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Continue ReadingMedical tourism generates millions for NHS and wider economy, finds study

The Eurobond tax scandal: Channel Tunnel accused of ‘outrageous’ tax avoidance

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-eurobond-tax-scandal-channel-tunnel-accused-of–outrageous-tax-avoidance-8902452.html

pg-10-channel-tunnel-gettyThe costly Channel Tunnel rail link, Gatwick Airport and the disastrous M6 toll road are amongst the transport companies using a legal tax avoidance scheme which allows them to avoid millions in tax.

The revelations are the fifth part of a joint investigation by Corporate Watch and The Independent into the misuse of the quoted Eurobond exemption. Companies cut their UK taxable income by racking up interest on debt from their owners via the Channel Island Stock Exchange, then send the interest out of the UK tax-free. Without the exemption, 20 per cent of the payments could be deducted by HMRC, minimising the overall tax saving.

The transport companies using the scheme are: Midland Expressway, which runs the M6 Toll road, Gatwick Airport, Bristol Airport, Associated British Ports, which runs 21 ports across the UK, Peel Ports, which runs the Manchester Ship Canal and the Port of Liverpool, Forth Ports and High Speed 1.

The news that the expensive Channel Tunnel rail link – also known as HS1 – is among those avoiding tax comes after the Public Accounts Committee found it was already poor value for money. Their inquiry last year concluded its construction had generated billions of pounds in public debt, was “based on dodgy assumptions and bad planning” and had yet to prove it was value for money.

Committee chair Margaret Hodge MP said: “The taxpayer has been saddled with a bill of more than £10bn for HS1, a project which was originally supposed to pay for itself but has been riddled with costly mistakes. If a company that is benefiting from this level of taxpayer support is avoiding paying its own fair share of tax, that is simply outrageous.

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27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

 

Continue ReadingThe Eurobond tax scandal: Channel Tunnel accused of ‘outrageous’ tax avoidance

Ex-Blair adviser linked to US healthcare giant is new NHS boss

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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/exblair-adviser-linked-to-us-healthcare-giant-is-new-nhs-boss-8899875.html

A former adviser to Tony Blair who has spent a decade at the top of an American private healthcare giant has been appointed to run the NHS in England.

Simon Stevens, the architect of Labour’s health reforms who left the UK in 2004 to take up a lucrative post at the American company UnitedHealth, was welcomed by the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, as a “reformer and an innovator”.

But his selection as chief executive of NHS England will raise concerns among critics who claim the NHS is being “softened up for privatisation”.

… one senior doctor told The Independent that the medical profession may view Mr Stevens with suspicion. “Clinicians will remember him as an architect of New Labour’s marketisation of the health service,” he said. “He was very pro the idea of opening up provision to multiple providers. He was keen on having competition as a lever in the NHS… Nicholson was seen as a centralist, very into the state. Stevens will be seen as the opposite. A lot of the profession, especially those committed to traditional NHS values will see this as a very different slant.”

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27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

dizzy

Continue ReadingEx-Blair adviser linked to US healthcare giant is new NHS boss