… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Tag: David Cameron

  • NHS news review

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    Conservative election poster 2010

    A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat(Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

     

    How the Orange Bookers took over the Lib Dems

    …
    What Britain now has is a blue-orange coalition, with the little-knownOrange Book forming the core of current Lib Dem political thinking. To understand how this disreputable arrangement has come about, we need to examine the philosophy laid out in The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism, edited by David Laws (now the Chief Secretary to the Treasury) and Paul Marshall. Particularly interesting are the contributions of the Lib Dems’ present leadership.

    Published in 2004, the Orange Book marked the start of the slow decline of progressive values in the Lib Dems and the gradual abandonment of social market values. It also provided the ideological standpoint around which the party’s right wing was able to coalesce and begin their march to power in the Lib Dems. What is remarkable is the failure of former SDP and Labour elements to sound warning bells about the direction the party was taking. Former Labour ministers such as Shirley Williams and Tom McNally should be ashamed of their inaction.

    Clegg and his Lib Dem supporters have much in common with David Cameron and his allies in their philosophical approach and with their social liberal solutions to society’s perceived ills. The Orange Book is predicated on an abiding belief in the free market’s ability to address issues such as public healthcare, pensions, environment, globalisation, social and agricultural policy, local government and prisons.

    The Lib Dem leadership seems to sit very easily in the Tory-led coalition. This is an arranged marriage between partners of a similar background and belief. Even the Tory-Whig coalition of early 1780s, although its members were from the same class, at least had fundamental political differences. Now we see a Government made up of a single elite that has previously manifested itself as two separate political parties and which is divided more by subtle shades of opinion than any profound ideological difference.
    …
    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

  • UK politics news review

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  • UK political news review

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    • UK Liberal-Democrat Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg suggests taxing the super-rich. The suggestion has unsurprisingly raised opposition from the Conservatives who are not afraid to call themselves Conservatives. This suggestion and Clegg’s opposition to a third runway at Heathrow should be considered in the context of Clegg’s recent and belated realization that he and the Liberal-Democrat Conservative party are hugely unpopular. A strange (and fawning) article that – suggesting that Clegg is after Bliar’s middle-class following. He’s even doing the right thing and employing driving analogies (although I have it on bad authority that he – similarly – can’t drive).
    • UK Liberal-Democrat Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and UK Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron  oppose a third runway at Heathrow consistent with their election manifesto pledges. Some Tory is pushing for a third runway and suggesting that Cameron should demonstrate if he is “a man or a mouse”. (eh?) Those of us that pay attention to UK politics no doubt suspect the influence of lobbying and money trousering.
    • It is claimed that Larry, the number 10 mouser has caught a mouse. The mouse was not UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Watch out for rats in number 10 Larry.

  • NHS news review

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    Austerity NHS told to sell soul abroad

    The government pressed on with privatisation of the NHS yesterday with a new plan that will see it become a US-style profit-making machine abroad while ramming through crippling cuts at home.

    From the autumn, the Department of Health and UK Trade and Investment will invite British hospitals to exploit international patients at new foreign branches to fill the funding gaps caused by the coalition’s cuts.
    The scheme was reportedly inspired by US hospitals such as Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins which have set up similar international branches.

    Allegedly upfront investment could only be drawn from income received from private patients and any profits made abroad would be channelled back into British hospitals.
    But campaigners say it will create an NHS where privatisation is the norm.

    Patients Association chief executive Katherine Murphy said: “The guiding principle of the NHS must be to ensure that outcomes and care for patients comes before profits.
    “At a time of huge upheaval in the health service, when waiting times are rising and trusts are being asked to make £20 billion of efficiency savings, this is another concerning distraction.
    “The priority of the government, hospital trusts and clinicians should be NHS patients.”
    Royal College of Nursing general secretary Dr Peter Carter also warned the move would be a distraction with organisations looking abroad “when they should be concentrating on fixing what’s under their own nose first.”

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    Bolton hospital job cuts will hit patient care: Unison

     

    A union has warned that anticipated job losses at a Greater Manchester hospital will impact on patient care.

    It follows the news that about 200 posts are expected to go across Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, due to a savings plan to fill financial gaps.

    A Unison representative said the cuts would affect front-line services being provided at Royal Bolton Hospital.

    David Wakefield, the newly appointed trust chairman, said patient services were safe.

    The trust requires savings of up to £20m to become financially stable.

    ‘No-one else’

    Harry Hanley, Unison branch secretary, said he expected the job losses to be greater than predicted.

    He said: “They’re saying it won’t affect front-line services, but it is going to because we are a team.

    “For example if you take away medical records staff from the team, who is going to do the work?

    “It will all fall down on front-line staff as there’s no-one else there to do it.”

    …

  • News review: Julian Assange, Craig Murray

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    Julian Assange speaks at London's Ecuadorian Embassy
    Julian Assange speaks at London’s Ecuadorian Embassy

    http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/