Not grumpy today. New pacemaker last Friday, new Grand daughter this Friday (1st grand child). ... Wee, can't believe my boy was that wee 35yrs ago.
GOGS...Grumpy Old Gits Society..
after all the years of suffering being called a miserable old bar-steward by mrs zz , I am finally rejoicing that she has come round to my way of thinking. the source of this wonderment?... a newly found joint loathing of the foul phenomenon of otherwise seemingly intelligent individuals starting a sentence with the word "so"!!!! if you have been asked , "how do you propose to re-attach that button"? , or , "what method would you use to distribute seed in your garden" , fair enough but otherwise , nooooooooooo! other current hot favourites are "yoofs" with their kecks hanging out the top of their trousers and newly qualified drivers with a green p plate (clearly designating pillock) who refuse to commit to crossing a roundabout without having received a written invitation at least a fortnight in advance! what gets your hackles up?
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good on ya mate...even world class grumps are allowed a day off occasionally!!
It's a fundamentally flawed comparison. The USA spends more than double what the UK spends on healthcare per capita, but still manages to fail a large part of the population, particularly the poor.And this is one of the systems that is routinely held up as a model that we (USA) should emulate. FWIW, I grew up in a physician's family, spent my entire career in health care (teaching in med school, anti-viral research, diagnostics R&D and, in my last role before retirement, assessing opportunities in health care world-wide). Standards and practices vary widely - and I am speaking only of the "developed" world. Looking at the science and availability, if I were destined to be ill and could choose where, my first choice would be the USA - my second? - Australia
EM
The UK is 17th on the list of healthcare spending, and the National Health Service is being starved of funding. For the 6th wealthiest country in the world, it's a disgrace.
But it's not the system which is at fault in the UK, it's the lack of money, and that's a political choice.
Running one of our national assets into the ground is definitely enough to make me very, very grumpy indeed.
Well you missed good one?I..f I were destined to be ill and could choose where, my first choice would be the USA - my second? - Australia
EM
As a second or first choice? Go on holiday to NZ. Accidental injuries there are free for tourists.
As an aside my parents are 92 and 86 receptively. I've never heard them complain about the service from the NHS. My father was on a six month replacement hip list but decided he may not live another six months so he got the same surgeon to do it privately. That was a few years ago,
NZ is one of the places that I (regrettably) did not visit.Well you missed good one?
As a second or first choice? Go on holiday to NZ. Accidental injuries there are free for tourists.
As an aside my parents are 92 and 86 receptively. I've never heard them complain about the service from the NHS. My father was on a six month replacement hip list but decided he may not live another six months so he got the same surgeon to do it privately. That was a few years ago,
EM
Today has been another when I have had multiple grumps. I think the biggest one (so far....) has been local radio stations. The lads at work insist on having the radio on. Personally I don't advocate enforcing my musical (or any other) taste on other people, but I'm in a minority of one on this particular issue. Anyway, a few weeks ago, the station of choice started playing the latest Katy Perry song. Katy Perry is never my "go to" artist, but this song is quite catchy and started to grow on me. Today they have played it at least every hour and now I'm sick of it.
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This happens quite a lot, TBH.
It wouldn't be so bad if all the other stations we can get didn't do the same with one artist or another. I swear one of our locals picks 10 songs on a Monday morning and puts them on repeat for the rest of the week. The one I singled-out above used to have a "no repeat" policy and that was sensible - you could sometimes go several days and not hear the same song, but not anymore.
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And while I'm on the subject of local radio, here's another grump. Phone-ins. If radio stations insist on getting people to phone-in, why can't someone come-up with a technology whereby the listeners can actually understand what the person doing the phoning-in is saying?
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It wouldn't be so bad if all the other stations we can get didn't do the same with one artist or another. I swear one of our locals picks 10 songs on a Monday morning and puts them on repeat for the rest of the week. The one I singled-out above used to have a "no repeat" policy and that was sensible - you could sometimes go several days and not hear the same song, but not anymore.
And while I'm on the subject of local radio, here's another grump. Phone-ins. If radio stations insist on getting people to phone-in, why can't someone come-up with a technology whereby the listeners can actually understand what the person doing the phoning-in is saying?
3
As someone who has spent a combined total of almost 3 years out of the last 16 as an inpatient in hospital, with little to do but observe and experience the system, and many, many more days as an outpatient, I can tell you that money, or the lack of it, is not the primary problem for the NHS. Bureaucracy and part-time workers are a greater problem.But it's not the system which is at fault in the UK, it's the lack of money, and that's a political choice.
Bureaucracy as a problem is self-explanatory. Part-time working to a significant degree suits the individual who's working part-time, but rarely suits the patients, wards or services that require continuity of care and expertise.
Claiming that money will solve the problem is foolish. Money might help a little, but most of it will simply fund the inefficiencies in a more lavish style.
Never were truer words typed! My wife has been a nurse with the NHS for over 40 years. These days not a shift goes by when she doesn't bemoan the bureaucracy culture and the simple fact that nurses can't do their jobs properly because of it. She's retiring next year (at 60) - she just wants out. If she could do the job she should be doing, she would have been more than happy to stay-on until her state pension age of 67.As someone who has spent a combined total of almost 3 years out of the last 16 as an inpatient in hospital, with little to do but observe and experience the system, and many, many more days as an outpatient, I can tell you that money, or the lack of it, is not the primary problem for the NHS. Bureaucracy and part-time workers are a greater problem.
Bureaucracy as a problem is self-explanatory. Part-time working to a significant degree suits the individual who's working part-time, but rarely suits the patients, wards or services that require continuity of care and expertise.
Claiming that money will solve the problem is foolish. Money might help a little, but most of it will simply fund the inefficiencies in a more lavish style.
I didn't claim that money would solve all the problems.As someone who has spent a combined total of almost 3 years out of the last 16 as an inpatient in hospital, with little to do but observe and experience the system, and many, many more days as an outpatient, I can tell you that money, or the lack of it, is not the primary problem for the NHS. Bureaucracy and part-time workers are a greater problem.
Bureaucracy as a problem is self-explanatory. Part-time working to a significant degree suits the individual who's working part-time, but rarely suits the patients, wards or services that require continuity of care and expertise.
Claiming that money will solve the problem is foolish. Money might help a little, but most of it will simply fund the inefficiencies in a more lavish style.
But it's daft to compare a system that is being seriously undermined, and underfunded, with a system that costs twice as much. Especially when the American system seems to exclude 24 million people.
Bureaucracy is obviously a massive problem, I think we can all accept that.
I don't pretend to know , or understand the intricacies of the nhs but it seems to me that a degree of joined up thinking wouldn't go amiss.
at the tail end of last year my mum had a tumour removed and last week completed a course of radio therapy , she see's her consultant in 6 weeks and another 6 weeks after that has a scan. now call me simple (most do) but surely the consultant would be better informed once he had a follow up scan in his hand??? she also received a call reference another procedure that she needs to have which has to be done under general anaesthetic , the booking clerk was most insistent that she could have the procedure even though it was on a day in the middle of her course of radio therapy , so much so to be at exactly the same time of day! clearly the office brain cell was being used by someone else that day!!! her actual treatment has been pretty good but there have been some pretty basic balls-ups along the way....it is worrying,
at the tail end of last year my mum had a tumour removed and last week completed a course of radio therapy , she see's her consultant in 6 weeks and another 6 weeks after that has a scan. now call me simple (most do) but surely the consultant would be better informed once he had a follow up scan in his hand??? she also received a call reference another procedure that she needs to have which has to be done under general anaesthetic , the booking clerk was most insistent that she could have the procedure even though it was on a day in the middle of her course of radio therapy , so much so to be at exactly the same time of day! clearly the office brain cell was being used by someone else that day!!! her actual treatment has been pretty good but there have been some pretty basic balls-ups along the way....it is worrying,
Raw numbers can be misleading. There may be 24 mm without health insurance but this does not mean they are without health care. A very large number use the hospital emergency room as a primary health care provider - inefficient, absurdly expensive but they are looked after, in many cases, in some of the best facilities in the world. We also have demographic and cultural issues - seeing to a bullet riddled drug gang member in intensive care is very expensive! Add to that a layer of PC driven foolishness (sex change surgery for prison inmates) and an out-of-control legal system that fills late night television ads for ambulance chasing lawyers. We have a very large population of illegal aliens. What is my responsibility to them?But it's daft to compare a system that is being seriously undermined, and underfunded, with a system that costs twice as much. Especially when the American system seems to exclude 24 million people.
EM
I'm not going to claim to be an expert on the American healthcare system, nor your political problems, though I would say some of them sound quite familiar.Raw numbers can be misleading. There may be 24 mm without health insurance but this does not mean they are without health care. A very large number use the hospital emergency room as a primary health care provider - inefficient, absurdly expensive but they are looked after, in many cases, in some of the best facilities in the world. We also have demographic and cultural issues - seeing to a bullet riddled drug gang member in intensive care is very expensive! Add to that a layer of PC driven foolishness (sex change surgery for prison inmates) and an out-of-control legal system that fills late night television ads for ambulance chasing lawyers. We have a very large population of illegal aliens. What is my responsibility to them?
EM
I'm also not going to claim that the UK's National Health Service is perfect, because it obviously isn't.
But the NHS is clearly being starved of funds, and that obviously has consequences.
The USA spends twice as much per capita on healthcare as the UK. That's got to have an effect on the services that can be provided.
Money isn't everything, but it makes a hell of a difference.
I like our system of having a national health service, paid for by general taxation, and free at the point of delivery. I don't like the increasing bureaucracy, and I don't like it being starved of funds.
I guess a lot depends on whether you want to see your country as one nation, pulling together for the common good, or whether you just prefer to do good for yourself and your family. There is surely a balance to be found between the two.
Apologies if I'm straying into political territory here, but the wicked witch, and even more so the eton mess before her make me very grumpy.
Give the NHS a bit more money, cut down on the bureaucracy and paperwork, that's all.
Here in Germany I am very very happy with the care we get.
The only exception is when someone has mental health issues as it seems there is a huge gap in what can be offered when but for physical ailments me and my family have been extremely well cared for.
The when I was working at a Uni in Germany a fellow prof made a comment the UK system was the worst in Europe... no clue how he could back that up though... When I asked about the US system he laughed and said it subsidized the rest of the world because the pay 5 to 10 times more than the rest and the people are stupid enough to go along with it. This was 1995 and his words not mine!
The only exception is when someone has mental health issues as it seems there is a huge gap in what can be offered when but for physical ailments me and my family have been extremely well cared for.
The when I was working at a Uni in Germany a fellow prof made a comment the UK system was the worst in Europe... no clue how he could back that up though... When I asked about the US system he laughed and said it subsidized the rest of the world because the pay 5 to 10 times more than the rest and the people are stupid enough to go along with it. This was 1995 and his words not mine!
The only thing that has made me grumpy today was the realisation that starting Monday I'm on nightshift for 2 weeks, finishing at 07hr00 on Good Friday. The only bonus is that after that I'm on holiday for 9 days.
today , other than the weather turning to crud again , I am mostly very happy at the news that sgt al blackman is to be released from prison. I know its a contentious issue but if had he euthanized a rabid rat I would have cared more than the end result of the action of his trigger finger. seemingly the fact he breeched the geneva convention was the major issue , now correct me if i'm over-simplifying things here but how many terrorists conform to the geneva convention , so why on earth should they be afforded the protection of it?!! yes ,the guy let himself down on the battlefield but he should never have been prosecuted let alone sentenced and jailed. sanity has prevailed at last!
I feel a great respect and sympathy for anybody serving in the armed forces, especially in areas of conflict.
But the bottom line is that we've signed up to the Geneva Convention, so of course we should stick to it. What the Taliban do is up to them, but the British Army should not be sinking to their level, it should be better than that. Actually, it is better that that. The British Army has a decent reputation, and that should be valued and upheld.
I'm happy for Mr Blackman and his family, but it's a very complex issue, especially when our army is in someone else's country, and when a soldier has a mental health problem.
But the bottom line is that we've signed up to the Geneva Convention, so of course we should stick to it. What the Taliban do is up to them, but the British Army should not be sinking to their level, it should be better than that. Actually, it is better that that. The British Army has a decent reputation, and that should be valued and upheld.
I'm happy for Mr Blackman and his family, but it's a very complex issue, especially when our army is in someone else's country, and when a soldier has a mental health problem.
I just "bought" my daughter and her friend a couple of round trip tickets to Heathrow for a summer holiday. I used some accumulated frequent flyer miles (there were some very cheap RT tickets available also) It was all very smooth until the final totting up. The UK departure tax is about half the cost of a purchased ticket!
Terminal 5 is very nice and all that but really?
EM
Terminal 5 is very nice and all that but really?
EM
Today I'm back on misleading advertising.
I heard on the radio today "You can swap your old car for a brand new one!". Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a "swap" an exchange with no cash involved? So If I take my rusty banger to this dealership, are they really going to take it off my hands and let me drive away in a shiny new 17-plater at no cost to me? I very much doubt it!
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I heard on the radio today "You can swap your old car for a brand new one!". Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a "swap" an exchange with no cash involved? So If I take my rusty banger to this dealership, are they really going to take it off my hands and let me drive away in a shiny new 17-plater at no cost to me? I very much doubt it!
I'd have a good go...start off with "I've spoken to trading standards"...!!
I'm going to get a reputation.....another non grump from me today! donald tusk's face yesterday when the realisation really set in that the wheels really are starting to fall off the knackered eu juggernaut.....he looked like a slapped testicle!
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