BORIS TESTS POSITIVE

[startalovetrain]

So BoJo has COVID-19!

There’s something immensely crass about such a self-centred view of society when someone begrudges the tac they pay because they haven’t had an equal amount of return.

There’s something immensely crass about such a self-centred view of society when someone begrudges the tac they pay because they haven’t had an equal amount of return

It's like they can't see the bigger picture - and they can't see that everyone makes a contribution to a functioning society - and their tax helps.

Maybe you have to be self centred to get to be as successful as @Xenia

@Alsohuman

Our taxes also cover maintenance of the highways, my DH is a bridge engineer. Millions that costs in keeping them safe for us to drive on.

Couldn’t agree more @MarieQueenofScots. I was really hoping people like Xenia would have the decency to pipe down with their offensive views for a bit. But, no - tone deaf as well as almost sociopathically self centred.

Taxes also pay for the scientists who do the research into the diseases that people get - such as Covid -19

And they help the education of those scientists

@xenia

I am sure more people could explain to her how her taxes and the NHS and education help her live her life in the comfort that she is used to.

I suppose I don’t understand the religious attachment because I didn’t grow up in the UK. I find it weird to be so sentimental about (essentially) a government service that can be pretty mediocre

There may be better systems - but the NHS is cherished and much loved institution in the UK.

@RunningAwaywiththeCircus. In the papers a few says ago, a dr in italy said in his hospital, none of those ventilated survived.
However, this may have been just his experience, (at that time) as the papers here, have many stories of those on ventilators who have survived.
No health system in the world (private or state controlled) can keep hundreds (or thousands) of empty beds in case of a pandemic, so there is always going to be a need for 'pop up hospitals'. Before the conference centres were announced, I was assuming they would co opt a hotel, or similar.
Similarly, it is not possible to keep thousands of ventilators, or PPE unused, just in case there is a pandemic, as they are likely to degrade over time, and be out of date ( designs change, etc).
The question is, how quickly can popup hospitals be created, and how quickly equipment can be produced, procured and delivered to the right areas - hospitals, surgeries, care homes, etc ( as appropriate)

Because it's all we've known and it's there for us, free of charge and it's in our DNA

How on earth do you work that out? Please don’t confuse “the NHS” with “healthcare”. More than one model is available and many have benefits over the NHS (and no, I don’t mean the US one, which is worse

Where did your husband train? If it was in the UK, the NHS trained him. He would have no private practice without a successful track record in the NHS. The after effects of this will leave everyone with less money, including big business so I can see health insurance being an early casualty, less private work. And we all know NHS consultants are paid £100k+, your tax bill wouldn’t be six figures (I think you may have added a 0 there) without that salary.

If I need emergency care its NHS I will turn too.

Non emergency care- I may go Private as I have the luxury, but more to free up capacity in the nHs than wanting to go Private.

The NHS is a force for good. It always has been. It's a victim of it's own success and as a result if years of Tory cuts is no longer as good as it once was.

Bit I am still grateful to live in a country where we have such a provision for healthcare. I pay more than many in NI contributions and I happily do so.

I rarely use it but when I do we always get the care we need.

And I will do what I can do to Protect it.

You wouldn’t have any income to pay tax on without the NHS. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

What a silly thing to say. Do you think 1945 was some sort of Year Zero in the UK, before which neither medicine nor any other aspects of civilisation functioned?

Hope you feel better after that rant @RunningAwaywiththeCircus. So you emigrate to access a frankly obscene level of income, enabled by an institution you despise and throw your toys out of your pram because, however much money you’ve got, it doesn’t buy your way to the top of the queue. OK.

Who rattled your cage Cendrillon?

I also don't understand the uncritical praise of the NHS.

The nurses and doctors and other health care workers etc , yes, but the outdated, badly managed, underfunded, collapsing NHS, no.

We need to look at our European neighbours and see their health care systems. The only comparison this country seems to make is with the US.

Let's learn from e.g. Germany and Belgium.

Then let's also look further afield and learn from e.g. Japan and South Korea.

I also don't understand the uncritical praise of the NHS

I have never, ever even seen uncritical praise of the NHS!

I have heard people, many people, praising the care they received. I don't think thats ever extrapolated out to suggesting the NHS has no faults

I may resent paying over £100k towards it in a year in which I was unable to access even basic help for my DS

Unless you’re paying a cool half a million a year in tax, you aren’t paying 100k to the NHS.

If you ARE wealthy enough to be paying half a million a year in tax then count your lucky stars you’re in such a fortunate position.

Going private would have meant one less thing for it to do, but we can’t have that in our communist fantasy land, so we’ll languish on the waiting list for 37 weeks waiting to see the consultant I saw privately a year ago. That efficient - said nobody, ever

I think its a common misconception that (a) there are always massive waiting lists and (b) that private practice is always better. I can guarantee without a shadow of a doubt that when I needed extensive medical care 2 years ago, it wouldn't have been any quicker or better to go private!

Going private would have meant one less thing for it to do, but we can’t have that in our communist fantasy land, so we’ll languish on the waiting list for 37 weeks waiting to see the consultant I saw privately a year ago. That efficient - said nobody, ever.

What a ridiculous statement.

When I was considering private for an operation for my child, they didn't want to know.

It was a bit tricky so no way were they interested.

I may resent paying over £100k towards it

You don’t. Your tax isn’t exclusively devoted to the NHS, it pays for a whole raft of other services. You say you don’t despise it but your contempt oozes out of every post. I find your attitude totally repellent.

Of course the NHS could be run better. Anyone with half a brain could see that but fundamentally it’s the only fair way of ensuring that anyone who needs health care gets it regardless of wealth. For a start we could stop newly NHS trained doctors from emigrating to other first world countries, thereby writing off their student debt.

Hopefully this awful episode in our history will lead to many changes in our society and a root and branch review of the NHS will be one of them. It’s badly needed - but perhaps not for the reasons you might imagine.