Thread 20 Sunak and the Winter of Discontent

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4672210-thread-19-from-trussterfuck-to-sunakered

Happy New Year everyone.

Sorry to start the new year so gloomy but Shaun Lintern's articles (The Times) and Twitter threads about the NHS make for frightening reading.

Exclusive: Hospitals across the country are reporting shortages of portable oxygen cylinders as the sheer number of patients in "grossly overcrowded" A&Es has soared:

twitter.com/shaunlintern/status/1609478348123656193?s=46&t=zNiIWZGfT9wW2xSO_gvb7g

Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully this is the Year we can finally say fuck off to the fuckwits screwing the country over.

Happy New Year.
Coming up to 70 and will never ever vote Conservative (I’m pretty much bang in the centre but so many of them disgust me).

Happy New Year everyone!

I looked after my friend last night whilst her DH was in hospital. She is Tory through and through (I/we try to avoid ever talking politics) but she did say she knows without doubt Labour will get in next time. Encouraging.
(However, she doesn't accept Tories have done much wrong, not sure how that works! I kept saying they've been in 12 years so Labour cannot be blamed for one thing!)

I think there will be a GE this year. They want to hand over all their shit to Labour.

Next PMQ's is Wednesday week 11th Jan.

I do hope you’re right @Roussette. The prospect of the end of this government being in sight cheers me up no end.

Happy new year all of you.

I stick with my prediction of a ge in the spring

Graph from the DM (sorry).

It looks like something happened to the NHS around 2021/22. What could it possibly have been? /s

It's solidly downhill from 2010.
Each year I think we become more immune to the headlines and reporting.

Covid merely exacerbated existing trends

I don’t think this is covid tbh although a portion of it will undoubtedly be.

This is chronic underfunding and the loss of workers from the EU in health care and social care. Vacancies 133k in the NHS, 165k in social care meaning positions already budgeted for.

The dramatic rise in wait times isn’t matched by a dramatic rise in attendances and demand. There is absolutely a rise but nothing that matches it closely like you’d expect to see.

Sorry - forgot to include a link

www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/a-e-waiting-times#about-this-data

That graph is interesting in that during the height of the pandemic actual waiting times were lower and less people were waiting.

Despite the very obvious side effects of this (mass migration to care homes and covid deaths there) and I suspect people not accessing hospital who needed it for fear - the actual figure show that with an integrated social and health care model and the correct funding the nhs could be managed better and become more fit for purpose.

@Cornettoninja I completely agree. The data for a number of measures clearly shows a marked deterioration throughout the Tory government. Covid just added an extra strain and accelerated what was happening already but the long term trend in downward. And there were a number of measures that improved under Labour. So if the Government claim that funding has improved is true it just shows they are shit at management.

Watching CTM.

They've just played Enoch Powells statement.

We've really not travelled anywhere have we really as a country? This Tory government has people making very similar statements and assertions. And some of those benefitted from freedom of movement themselves.

Makes me so angry.

This is worth a read

bylinetimes.com/2022/12/20/held-ransom-by-the-blue-eyed-babies-of-sovereignty-and-elective-dictatorship-whats-our-escape/

I didn’t know what CTM was until MIL just started watching one of her shows.
Enoch Powell, Nigel Farage, all the same

What is CTM??

CTM = Call The Midwife. A TV series set in 1960s London that is currently a bit topical due to racial tensions and political stirring.

Oh, Call The Midwife. Got you!

Yeah sorry. I'd been on the call the midwife thread and just typed the abbreviation automatically.

Happy New Year everyone! Spring GE is a cheering thought.

The NHS meltdown reports out today are terrible.
I can never understand why people’s voting tends to become more likely to be right wing as they age. Which in midlife is the start of the same age range when in the UK they are much more likely to need the services of state funded healthcare from the NHS. Why not vote even if just in your own interests, for a party less likely to starve the NHS of funds and people resources?

Shocked at the estimate of execess deaths that are being reported today by the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. 300 - 500 deaths a week - horrendous.
How can the Government keep hiding from this???

My friends dad - who waited hours for sn ambulance - is now in ICU :(

Happy New Year all! I still follow this thread but have not posted much. Agree that a GE in the spring could very well be on the cards:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/01/welsh-labour-general-election-mark-drakeford-interview

All 17 bars & restaurants on the Commons estate - where a 3 course meal is just over £10 - made a loss in the 3 years to 2020/21 and were subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of £17m. Taxpayers also spent £8m subsidizing the Lords' eateries during the same period

twitter.com/withorpe/status/1609139073729404935?s=46&t=Ui4hGapKLar_1S65pdprtQ

What cost of living crisis?