I don't like living in England....

[pwa]

At the risk of being controversial, I like where I live, I like most of the people in my village, and I like most of the people I meet. I love walking in the countryside around us, I love cycling through it, I feel reasonably safe and secure and on most days I am able to generate some positive thoughts. This is the core of my world.

At the periphery of my life there is the stuff in the news, which I let in but can shut out to some extent if it gets me down. I don't allow the flavour of government in power to affect how I feel about my community or my life. I have friends who vote one way and I have fiends who vote another way. When I think about them I think about all sorts of qualities they have, and only rarely do I think about their political leanings. I am drawn to people who are kind, generous and concerned about people other than themselves. My friends all fit that description. As long as I feel content with my community I am okay.

I feel a lot of present day discontent comes from this here internet and all the squabbling and daft notions it generates. I'm not immune to that (some may have noticed) but there are times when leaving it behind and going out to work on the garden or to take a walk by the coast is a better idea than bickering through a keyboard.

[al_yrpal]

Yes, its as I thought, instead of a group of GPs running a health centre, a company can run it employing suitable staff and observing good practices laid down. What isnt clear is do the original partnership of GPs profit from the takeover? The original group running the practice were not NHS employees anyway, so nothing really changes. These practices were never actually part of the NHS. Now some are in the hands of US owners.

And, the Health service is still 'free' at the point of delivery which is its most important characteristic as far as the public is concerned.

Al

[Jdsk]

These practices were never actually part of the NHS.

You think that GPs aren't "part of the NHS" because most aren't employees? GP consultations are the most common encounter in the NHS.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

If GPs are selling off their practices they had better be stopped.

Yes, its as I thought, instead of a group of GPs running a health centre, a company can run it employing suitable staff and observing good practices laid down. What isnt clear is do the original partnership of GPs profit from the takeover? The original group running the practice were not NHS employees anyway, so nothing really changes.

Which is it... "they had better be stopped" or "nothing really changes"?

Jonathan

[al_yrpal]

I mentioned my wifes scan because I believed the only reason she wasnt scanned could only be money. After the first pain, three months later she injured her back again, and again 3 months after that. She wasn't alerted to the fact that she had severe osteoporosis. She could have been alerted and avoided the later injuries, she could have been given treatment, instead she suffered for 3 years and died in excruciating pain. Penny pinching GPs ensured that despite our pleading. A £450 private scan revealed the problem but by then it was too late. I suspected they were just trying to save money.

Is that ludicrous? I don't know how the NHS works but she had a good idea, she worked for it all her working life!

Al

[Jdsk]

What was ludicrous was asking us to say what had happened in her case.

Do you now accept that your wife wasn't denied healthcare to protect GPs "salaries"? And that GPs don't keep the money by not requesting investigations?

Jonathan

[al_yrpal]

She was obviously denied healthcare through incompetence and penny pinching, what else explains it. The first GP she saw was taken aback because she didnt have a health record, obviously not a person who presents for no reason

Al

[Jdsk]

It seems to be very difficult to get straight answers to simple questions that are directly connected to what that you have asked and alleged. For example:

Which is it... "they had better be stopped" or "nothing really changes"?

Do you now accept that your wife wasn't denied healthcare to protect GPs "salaries"? And that GPs don't keep the money by not requesting investigations?

Jonathan

[Oldjohnw]

At the risk of being controversial, I like where I live, I like most of the people in my village, and I like most of the people I meet. I love walking in the countryside around us, I love cycling through it, I feel reasonably safe and secure and on most days I am able to generate some positive thoughts. This is the core of my world.

At the periphery of my life there is the stuff in the news, which I let in but can shut out to some extent if it gets me down. I don't allow the flavour of government in power to affect how I feel about my community or my life. I have friends who vote one way and I have fiends who vote another way. When I think about them I think about all sorts of qualities they have, and only rarely do I think about their political leanings. I am drawn to people who are kind, generous and concerned about people other than themselves. My friends all fit that description. As long as I feel content with my community I am okay.

I feel a lot of present day discontent comes from this here internet and all the squabbling and daft notions it generates. I'm not immune to that (some may have noticed) but there are times when leaving it behind and going out to work on the garden or to take a walk by the coast is a better idea than bickering through a keyboard.

My difficulties are nothing to do with the news or the internet. I come across first hand most days the consequences of policies. If I never saw any news or had the internet disconnected I would still see these appalling consequences. Some people can happily live their lives unaware of these things or disinterested in them. Others cannot ignore them.

[Pebble]

I'm very proud to be British and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, I think we must be one of the most generous kindest tolerant safest countries anywhere. Yes we could certainly do better but for the vast majority life in the UK is about as good as it gets, I don't see anything stopping anybody getting on. Where is better? we must be in the top ten of even the most anti british opinion.

[francovendee]

I have lived out of the UK for 18 years and ,when it was possible, I returned to England several times each year.

I greatly look forward to these trips, seeing friends and family and doing a few touristy thing.

In these 18 years the country has changed in ways that may be called progress but I see as making everyone's lives poorer.
I think the main thing I notice is green spaces have been built on, people all seem in a hurry and a general rudeness, especially on the roads.

I think my idea of going back it better than the reality.

As soon as it's possible I shall be making another trip.
Please don't label me a UK hater, I'm not and will always be a Brit.

[pwa]

At the risk of being controversial, I like where I live, I like most of the people in my village, and I like most of the people I meet. I love walking in the countryside around us, I love cycling through it, I feel reasonably safe and secure and on most days I am able to generate some positive thoughts. This is the core of my world.

At the periphery of my life there is the stuff in the news, which I let in but can shut out to some extent if it gets me down. I don't allow the flavour of government in power to affect how I feel about my community or my life. I have friends who vote one way and I have fiends who vote another way. When I think about them I think about all sorts of qualities they have, and only rarely do I think about their political leanings. I am drawn to people who are kind, generous and concerned about people other than themselves. My friends all fit that description. As long as I feel content with my community I am okay.

I feel a lot of present day discontent comes from this here internet and all the squabbling and daft notions it generates. I'm not immune to that (some may have noticed) but there are times when leaving it behind and going out to work on the garden or to take a walk by the coast is a better idea than bickering through a keyboard.

My difficulties are nothing to do with the news or the internet. I come across first hand most days the consequences of policies. If I never saw any news or had the internet disconnected I would still see these appalling consequences. Some people can happily live their lives unaware of these things or disinterested in them. Others cannot ignore them.

I don't think poverty is worse now than it was in the 1980s, it is just contrasted with more affluence in others. In bread and butter terms, things have been worse in the past. Of course we should seek improvement, but you make it sound like 2021 is worse than 1980 and it isn't. I have known worse times and so have you.

There probably are places that don't have the depth of problems that exist in England, but the likely contenders I can think of don't have the burden of de-industrialisation in their recent past. Other de-industrialised nations tend to have similar problems to England. Looking beyond England, most of the people I know here in Wales seem to me to be content to be living here, even if things are never perfect. We still have a general sense of community and the people you meet in the street are likely to say Hello to you. I once went to Germany and tried saying Hello (in German) to other walkers in the countryside and they looked at me with hostility as if I had broken a rule.

[Oldjohnw]

At the risk of being controversial, I like where I live, I like most of the people in my village, and I like most of the people I meet. I love walking in the countryside around us, I love cycling through it, I feel reasonably safe and secure and on most days I am able to generate some positive thoughts. This is the core of my world.

At the periphery of my life there is the stuff in the news, which I let in but can shut out to some extent if it gets me down. I don't allow the flavour of government in power to affect how I feel about my community or my life. I have friends who vote one way and I have fiends who vote another way. When I think about them I think about all sorts of qualities they have, and only rarely do I think about their political leanings. I am drawn to people who are kind, generous and concerned about people other than themselves. My friends all fit that description. As long as I feel content with my community I am okay.

I feel a lot of present day discontent comes from this here internet and all the squabbling and daft notions it generates. I'm not immune to that (some may have noticed) but there are times when leaving it behind and going out to work on the garden or to take a walk by the coast is a better idea than bickering through a keyboard.

My difficulties are nothing to do with the news or the internet. I come across first hand most days the consequences of policies. If I never saw any news or had the internet disconnected I would still see these appalling consequences. Some people can happily live their lives unaware of these things or disinterested in them. Others cannot ignore them.

I don't think poverty is worse now than it was in the 1980s, it is just contrasted with more affluence in others. In bread and butter terms, things have been worse in the past. Of course we should seek improvement, but you make it sound like 2021 is worse than 1980 and it isn't. I have known worse times and so have you.

Poverty is worse than 10 years ago. I never mentioned 1980. The wealth gap is the greatest ever and widening. For many - and there is much academic evidence - poverty is as bad as the 1950s.

[pwa]

My difficulties are nothing to do with the news or the internet. I come across first hand most days the consequences of policies. If I never saw any news or had the internet disconnected I would still see these appalling consequences. Some people can happily live their lives unaware of these things or disinterested in them. Others cannot ignore them.

I don't think poverty is worse now than it was in the 1980s, it is just contrasted with more affluence in others. In bread and butter terms, things have been worse in the past. Of course we should seek improvement, but you make it sound like 2021 is worse than 1980 and it isn't. I have known worse times and so have you.

Poverty is worse than 10 years ago. I never mentioned 1980. The wealth gap is the greatest ever and widening. For many - and there is much academic evidence - poverty is as bad as the 1950s.

How do you compare today's poverty with the 1950s? Did poor people have TVs then? Did they have access to cancer screening when they felt ill? There are aspects of modern life that benefit even the poor. I agree things went downhill after the Financial Crisis.

(I tacked an afterthought on my previous post)

[Oldjohnw]

Calculations are usually based around certain things.

Percentage of average wages - relative.

And abilityto buy a specified minimum range of products. These are revised from time to time. For example, the basket now includes mobile communications. You might consider that a luxury but without it people cannot easily - or even at all - claim benefits. And as we have seen in recent times, children can be excluded from education without it.

The basket used to contain B and W Tv. Colour was a luxury. Now no longer as you can’t get B and W.

And we all know that following year on year increases in home ownership from the 1960s to the 1990s, it is now falling year on year as it becomes less and less affordable.