With all of us deeply concerned about the state of the NHS , I was hoping to hear some words of assurance from the Chancellor in his Budget speech this week. He spoke for the best part of an hour, and made some pretty outrageous claims about the performance of the economy and I was hoping that with all the money he managed to find to bribe the electorate he might announce some much needed spending boost to help out our seriously stretched hospitals and care services. NOT ONE WORD.
All that came out of his mouth was lies. He claims to have reduced the national debt due to financial prudence. In fact he inherited a national debt of approx. £980bn and it has increased subsequently in every year to stand at £1.4 trillion in 2014. This represents a debt per person of £22,000, which just happens to be the per capita debt as for the basket case economy which is Greece. Yes we have had 5 years of austerity and we're still borrowing more than we are earning.
The pain has only just begun it seems.
Written by
warwickstag
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Great summing up WS, thanks. No-one is listening, the media least of all. Its all distractions around benefits etc when there's more than enough £££ to go round if we could reel in the tax evaders and like you say stop trying to bribe/ameliorate the electorate.
Rita was in the Question Time audience when it came to Canterbury before xmas. Russell Brand was on (i find him interesting except when he tells people not to vote) and Nigel Farage. She made an intervention during the inevitable question about immigration.
Russell posted Rita's question on Facebook and it had 2 1/2 million views. I know you don't do FB Warwick Stag, and many others won't either, so i'll try tomorrow to transcript it, its not very long at all, insufficient energy now. The really interesting bit is what Dimbleby says at the end after thunderous applause.
As Russell B said: "this comment was oddly ignored last night - strange that!"
A further £12 billion of welfare cuts with only £2 billion accounted for.
If not the pensioners, sick and disabled or the children who will see drastic cuts in support.
Will share prices rise again for American health care companies grabbing a slice of a privatized NHS watch the Wall Street Journal for a guide on that.
More austerity for a member of the G8 that has poverty spreading faster than the waiting list in accident and emergency.
Just seen this, thank you for posting it. I 100% agree with what Rita said and there should have been much more discussion about it. It seems the programme has it's own agenda but the applause she got was amazing. Good on her. x
How could they ignore such a rousing response from Rita's question and then so glibly pass over it! Dimbleby had obviously been told to move on or he was afraid of opening the proverbial can.
Definitely not what we wanted to hear Warwick stag,but no surprises in the speech really, not only are we to loose the services in a week or so but many loyal staff will be joining the unemployed queue and being blamed for not working, when in fact those running the countries budget retain their jobs, high wages and perks. Sorry now that sounds a bit biased , but although they have a hard job balancing the books they do get highly paid for their time & skill. While poverty continues to increase in the lower income areas of this country, and services decrease for the needy. Before long we will be like a third world country with large gaps between rich and poor.
Good post BUT! You failed to mention the increase in living wage ( does not apply ) to disabled or pensioners, tax cuts will only benefit the few the rich will gain far more.
The NHS... their deceit in the long term future of NHS... privatisation the back door tax, AND I don`t know if you have noticed he scrapped the 1p increase on fuel duty but fuel has risen in price ( quite a lot )
I do not trust them with what`s left of my future OR with my Grandkids.
They are all in favour of volunteers working and when it comes right down to it it is the rich for the rich budget.
All the posts I have read so far here, are spot on the money ( or not money ) button!!
So we know what we have to do to show them we are not America`s lap dogs, and we are sick of privatisation and profits going to share holders and NOT reinvested in our country..
I`m going to shut up now, I am getting quite angry thinking about it all . ARGHHHHHHH.
In full agreement with you all. Let's begin the fight. Suzy
True, there are problems with our NHS....I think
most of it caused by putting business managers in to run the hospitals at huge wage packets.
Treating humans like inanimate objects will never work.
Training of the health workers has changed over the last 30 years...and not always for the good.
Then there's the regime of familiarity throughout.
Who is who amongst the staff. ?
You can't tell a ward sister from a domestic.........
There far too much of this PC. You cant complain... if you do , as I did last November I was asked if my complaint was related to the colour of someone's skin. Then I become the one in error.
However my last thoughts......are of the massive invasion of foreigners, & what successive governments have done to this country over the past 25 years
....and to check out the state of the labour run Welsh NHS.
About time someone hit the nail on the head budgiesmum! if we stopped giving free treatment to all and sundry who have not contributed one penny to out NHS, there would be more in the pot for those that have! And if we stopped giving £M's to overseas countries that can still afford to send rockets into space, we'd all be better off! Charity begins at home - but not in Britain! Everywhere you go (and on tv) there are people asking for money for this and that charity -WHY? If this is such a rich country, we shouldn't need to beg........but we do because everyone else gets it and not us.
Very true...another thought how about a few good housewives to run the country, might not come amiss...! ......Only those born in England should run England no matter their family origins.
Hahaha Well Hello Friend.. I too have been called many things in my life, BUT, I am too much of a gentleman to repeat them... apart from which, I would get banned...
Sorry budgies mum, but I must stick up for the Welsh NHS....my mother, father and I ( as a visitor taken by ambulance into A and E), were treated with excellent care. The sight of a nurse sitting by an elderly patients bed and just holding her hand will stay with me for ever.
Hi ...am pleased to hear your good reports, my critisism was never aimed at care.
In recent weeks we have seen various newspapers with reports of lack of funds for important lifesaving drugs , and of families moving to England to get treatment, .....Also because money has been reduced so much GP 's in Wales are advising patients to buy various medicines over the counter rather than be given prescriptions.
The NHS may have gone down hill, but we are not that bad yet.
We are having big problems with our hospital budgiesmom we had a PCT and on the board was a councillor and he bent over backwards to join us with the trust 20 miles up the road no one from our hospital wanted this. We took on the £17 million debt from that hospital and we have less services now than we had before they have been sent to the other hospital and because of ill management of finances we stand a chance of loosing our A&E.
We had a long consultation we collected signatures and we found out the Welsh assembly had not paid for services to our trust, they were using A&E kidney dialysis's to name a few when I put this to the trust at one public meeting and they had to admit it but today some years later is still going on but it will be our hospital that will be privatised makes me sick.
When we had the consultation on services our local council was run by the Tories and I have to say they did more to save our services than the labour party this and all the above is a fact
Some really good posts here - warwickstag, O2, Ian, Katie, tomc - thanks to all - let's keep signing all those petitions etc and showing our feelings at the polls, and wherever else we can
A none of the above box on a ballot paper as one way of bringing back those that do not vote. When you would not buy a second hand car from any of the candidates, none of the above would force real alternatives, rather than a government directed by 9% of the population.
Looking at the banks that fuelled the financial crisis making a fortune from PFI
(private finance initiative) that are bankrupting many NHS Trusts with unsustainable repayments.
What a truly preposterous statement. Where did you get your information? The back of a cornflakes packet or the Daily Mail? You don't look at facts, you make them up., unlike my information which is taken from the Office for National statistics and the Office for Budgetary responsibility. When Thatcher left office not only was there no surplus, but the National Debt stood at £187.4bn, virtually double the debt of £96.8bn she inherited. At no time was the National Debt in surplus. If you choose to question the validity of statistical data, please ensure you use a reliable source in future.
I apologise for the over sarcastic nature of my reply to you, it was unnecessary. I would not wish to dissuade you from offering an opinion, but ask that if you present something as fact, then indeed you know it to be true. This was clearly not the case with your post, but it does not excuse my impolite response. please accept my apologies.
I have just read your comments budgiesmom and it is obvious to me that it is you that is one I quote ie someone who cannot take the truth warwickstag is right and he should not apoligies to you if you think the N.H.S is save in the hands of the tories or the liberals or any other party, other than labour then I feel sorry for you.
If you look at their history you will find the did the same as Thatcher reduce money on hospitals, police,councils,but still keep their taxfree drinks at work If we drink at work we would be sacked. if we apply for a job and it turns out we can't do what we said we woul be sacked, so how come MP and I mean all parties say they will do xyz if we vote them in and don't yet still keep THEIR jobs. I think a law should be devised where Parties who promise things to get in power should be sacked and pay back their wages.
We do need a party who will spend money on health,police, bring back our industries. STOP giving money to countries who don't need it and the money they do give should be SPENT on what it was given for and PROOF it was all spent on what we gave it for.
Just 1 year of the moneys given away would clear our debts or at least almost.
Their policies were not acceptable first time round.
Let's hope it would be legal.
A change could perhaps cause chaos ,how can policies be altered part way through, new ones started .......then all change again. How often would the changes be ?
Every month. Every year ?. Every 4 years ?
What would we call this process ? .........A general election
great posting warwickstag - thank you - strange we seldom hear the truth in the main stream media - maybe because most of it is owned by mega rich individuals or corporations which have a vested interest in keeping the status quo - and well done to the lady Rita for her question - and how telling it was totally ignored. Sorry to hear some people on here still believe in the propaganda regarding everything being the fault of those 'bad' immigrants - it is an old Tory ruse to divide and rule - so that the 'enemy' becomes the immigrant, or those on benefits, or at one time single Mothers etc. anyone but them and their policies. Take care all xx
This is so sad I spent all of my working life in the NHS I saw lots of changes but the worst was the sanctions put on by Mr Brown and if you watch the video on you tube you will see it was a long term plan to privatise the NHS.
The NHS is also in big trouble due to the influx of foreigners coming in to our country take our hospital for example average size and when built 20 years ago was able to cope with the catchment area it severed since it was build we have more than doubled in size and the hospital and A&E is bursting at the seams and finding a bed is as rare as rocking horse s@@t this is just one problem I can name many more and I think the only way forward is to build more hospitals which will need more money.
I totally agree, and having now seen the excerpt from Question Time feel even more angry at the stance of those in power and if you will pardon the language ,this comment on another site " The rich and powerful piss on us and the media tells us it's raining " just about sums it up for me .BUT we have an election on the horizon so make your vote count and get your friends and family to vote too .
warwickstag, I don't believe any pre-election speech in principle. I don't want to vote for extreme parties that wouldn't deliver. But I shall vote something else. I don't want to lose my rag thinking about the demeanour of all these in Parliament. They are justifying everything to golden the pill. I shall vote to make my discontent known, that;s all.
As indeed you should, and so will I. Just very disappointed that we can't find a bit more support for, and long term commitment to the NHS. The creation of the NHS represented perhaps the greatest ever political achievement by a UK government. A pledge to supply, free at the point of delivery, healthcare to the citizens of the UK irrespective of their ability to pay. We should be proud of this when the pursuit of Mammon distorts all it touches. Despite appearances to the contrary, we are not a poor country, just one with a highly skewed distribution of wealth, which punishes the weak and needy whilst richly rewarding a chosen few. All we need to do is get everyone to pay the taxes which are due and we could have a marvellous NHS. If you and I defraud the taxman, we get a criminal record,; if the rich employ their fancy accountants to avoid their taxes, they're feted and honoured. That can't be right.
Perhaps, we ought to remind the people in Parliament how great Britain was when it's government decided to create the NHS! Back to basic honourable ideas!
What the hell does it matter who we vote for? They NEVER keep their promises anyway. I think the top 3 main parties should be scrapped and give one of the smaller ones a chance. They may make a mess of it - so what, that's what all the elected ones do anyway!
it was reported i think in the daily telegraph some months ago that the war in afganistan cost in monetary terms £35 billion pounds, since in started, we as a nation seem to be able to find the money for such things, yet we at home face a daily struggle to cope with all the cut backs this & other goverments impose upon us, but its often said the utter waste thats found in the n.h.s, again outside the main entrance to u.c.h on euston road in central london theres a massive polished stone which reportedly cost £75.000 went it opened some years ago,a complete waste of money whatever ones politics , i dread what is to come after the general election, as many of us know we struggle on a daily basic with our various ailments, which are hard enough to cope with, then face the totally unescassary hurdles of seeking support be it money or phsyical help, all in all a worring time for all of us.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
When the drugs don’t work
There's a moose loose about the hoose
My 4 year old awaiting sleep study for suspected OSA diagnosis
The morning sunshine Saturday 07.05.22 
Permanent Lung Scarring from Pneumonia
