UKC

With work being a bit busy at the moment and not being able to climb for well over a year I've lost my enthusiasm and motivation for anything creative or relaxing.

Thank goodness for Freedom Monday, It just could not come quicker for me, I can tell you.

Here's a little light reading to cheer you up.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/nhs-summer-crisis-deepens-covid-201426713.html

Good to hear from you and be good to see some of your creations. Especially the starlings (be a while yet though).  

Yep, this was basically the morning briefing at work (NHS). The publics excitement at the freedoms... Whilst the NHS try to muster the motivation to start ramping up to this next wave. The government have not really shown gratitude to the NHS staff for whom furlough was not a benefit. A below-inflation payrise is all that could be found. And a year of weekly clapping... That won't help when you want a health appointment. 

Good to see you posting again. Sorry to hear you are lacking motivation. It'll return! 

In reply to Nicola:

My other half is a Civil Servant and she was recently put onto an emergency helpline when the rules changed for women's pensions.

She just got a £30 gift voucher for her efforts during that emergence. Its a small amount and and 100% more than I ever received when I was a Civil Servant.

But NHS staff working on the front have received fek all from this government. We now have the privilege of soon not having to isolate when the forth wave, or is it fifth I can't remember, comes because the virus has been allowed to get out of hand by design and government Political Strategy to prioritise money.

It's good to have you back

I can't even begin to imagine how hard this is for those in the health service, and also for those waiting for more routine health care.

My dad's been waiting for a hernia op since before the start of the pandemic. That's a long time to be in avoidable pain, and as he's approaching 80 there's no way he's going to get back to the mobility he had before a year and a half (and counting) of not being able to exercise.

How many people up and down the country are in the same position, while we open up and ensure they won't get treated any time soon?

Good to see you back.

Did you not even get a commemorative badge for all your stirling efforts. Tsk, tsk, shame on them.

The nation has shown their appreciation, and I am truly grateful for that, because it helps every single one of us, in the NHS, get out of bed, put on our Big Boy pants and plod on.

The government however uses this dedication and empathy as a weapon against us. We complain and moan, and instantly the nation turns against us for putting self interest above people's health.

We keep out gobs shut and the government then sees that as a green light to pay us less and shovel as much shit down our throats as it can till we resign or break through ill health, physical disability, mental health or even worse.

This nation voted for a government that:

* Habitually lies to its own citizens and the world at large

* Promotes bullies within The Cabinet

* Squanders billions of tax money on frivolous contracts or worthless PPE for its employees.

* Actively allowed the elderly to die in Nursing and Care Homes

* An MP who is happy for the >80s to die if it helps him

I could go on.

When it comes time to vote, remember all this.

Nice to see you back Lemming. Chin up, this will pass.

jk

We're not all wankers, the nation voted against the government our broken electoral system delivered. There is hope, that can be fixed

Better, never forget it.

jk

Good to see you back mate. How're you enjoying peak Winter pressure in the middle of July?

A friend posted this on Facebook:

The goal of the Conservatives is to exhaust the NHS until it collapses so that the public becomes desperate for alternative healthcare systems. And the only alternatives they will present are the private corporations owned by their friends and donors. That is the only ambition.

A couple of years ago I'd have dismissed this out of hand. I now think it's spot on.

My own Father is 81 and has been waiting 4 years for a hip replacement. The pain caused him to quit his part time job at 78 and has rendered a fit and active man, who could've passed as 15 years younger, into a shambling wreck, fogged with a huge variety of pain meds. This is a bloke who spent 3 days kneeling on a patio replacing flags just 5 weeks after a double knee replacement. It's heartbreaking.

The last 12 months I've been urging him to go private, despite mine and his principles, but he's very stubborn (and also tight, but mostly stubborn).

I've heard this a lot, but I'm genuinely not sure they are competent enough to wilfully achieve that - rather it's just gross incompetence on a massive scale.

This government is not incompetent.

They know exactly what they are doing. Everything is for self interest until they are removed from office.

No political party will get elected that has tax rises in their manifesto.

If the nation want an NHS then it has to be funded.

If a nation wants a private health system then that has to be funded by the individual. But importantly taxes won't have to rise.

Let's roll back time and remember why the NHS was created. It was created when government and the military of the day realized that the nation's heath was so poor that it could not provide enough health people of fighting age to fight a war.

The UK military has shrunk, we are not threatened by war, so no need for a system to keep people of fighting age healthy.

Can anybody see a flaw in the plan of letting a nation go back one hundred years by making good health outpriced for people living on a modest wage?

Here are a couple of random facts.

Two weeks ago zero patients at my local hospital. Tonight just under 40 patients are guests of my local hospital.

And the proportion of those who are Covid sufferers, are we saying 100%

From my perspective, if routine operations cannot be conducted, hospital admissions are doubling every week, and NHS staff are being redeployed from their usual roles to covid wards then there is a problem to address. Numbers can be presented to evidence whatever story is desired. The reality of what front line staff are seeing is what I choose to hear. 

Technology...

We've drifted over the last 20 years or so into a shitty world of 'I want it (invariably a piece of crap which will end up in landfill a few weeks later) and I want it now' (Amazon same day delivery, as an example), social media where any piss poor no mark can publish their worthless opinion to the world (yes, I've got a mirror!), I could go on .....

A world where offering a penny off your tax bill will enable us plebs to fulfil the above will get you voted into power despite how corrupt and morally vacuous they may be. Fcuk the future.

Humans are probably the ultimate in evolution, selfish self centred arseholes looking out for number 1

Oh, and Lemming, don't start me on pay rises, try being a carer on the vast sum of £67 a week, can't get free dental care like I wouldon the dole... I dispise this world, off back to stick my fingers in my ears and go 'Lalalalala'

we have a government, I conclude after the experience of the last 5 years, which is the enemy of the country and of reasonable people, run for its own self interest by a man whose headmaster wrote of him even before he left school that he seemed to feel entitled to position without earning it through merit and who did not feel he should be obliged by the responsibilities and obligations that attach to other people.

What more can I say.   Remove him and his clan.  Thank you Tory voters, Farage and Brexiteers for visiting this "phenomenon" of a child the size of a man on us all.

Phwar! Phwarr!

You are correct.

I was a bit tired last night and missed an important word from my reply.

Two weeks ago zero Covid patients. Last night almost 40 positive Covid patients.

That number had risen by the time I went home because I brought another Positive Covid in.

Are you saying the £500 million a week we save from the EU is not enough to do it?  That would mean we've been lied to. By conservative politicians! What's the nation coming to, when you cant trust a tory.

(Good to see you back here, btw)

That's what I suspected, just wanted to check that it was directly Covid, rather than knock on effects from Covid; although I'm not sure what difference that would make.

The NHS is basically being used (as in abused) to "allow" us all to have our normal life back - although if anyone really thinks that it's going to be normal as we used to know it, then they ought to remove their blinkers.

Hey guys, it's OK, we got a George Cross!! (forget the pay rise, or the fact we're operating at 40% above capacity meaning patients are waiting 12hrs for an ambulance). Down with the naysayers, we got a medal!! (where's mine????!)

I used to look at your sunset video from time to time but I've lost the link.

Ten minutes of doing nothing and watching birdies. Brilliant.

Any chance of a repost?

This may not be a popular suggestion, but just post a positive test or whatever and have a few days off. You deserve it.

Enjoy 😀

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzozqJXQFVeGhC6JurfoBNYrbNluxVyTj

Good to have our Lemming back.

Agreed!

Although I've seen starling murmurations, they've only been small/medium sized rather than massive. Please inform the UKC massive when they start up again this winter in Blackpool - I'll be over at least once on a pleasant evening to walk around and get a good view. I'll even bring the Mrs - Blackpool front's flat, she no longer likes the "up" word.

The Starlings like to play between October and March.

I'm quite pleased with this clip.

youtube.com/watch?v=GQYb9sUpTd8&

And just before I go to bed after another night on the town, I would like to give a big Thank You, to the contributors that have just wished me well after a short spell kicking my heels away from the forums.

Its much appreciated.