Westministenders: Can you tell your Rs from Elbows?

[RedToothBrush]

This week Mark Sedwill has resigned (or was he pushed?) and David Frost (chief brexit lead) was appointed National Security Adviser in a move that enraged Theresa May. The former prime minister felt that his appointment was unprofessional and that was a political appointment not an independent one and that he lacked experience. Of course in terms of national security we still haven't had that report on Russia and I don't believe The Intelligence and Security Committee has yet been named (not sat since Johnson was appointed as PM).

We have passed the deadline for extending transition and we have now apparently said that negotiations on the end of transition will finish at the end of September.

The bill ending Free movement of people has been signed, amongst much fanfare by the Conservatives saying they have delivered on the Referendum promise. However we might have up to 3million Hong Kongers who we are willing to allow into the country which might not go down too well with those who were unhappy with 'unrestricted EU immigration'.

We also have the demonstration of utter incompetence, outsourcing and lack of coordination and communication from central government and local government in the covid-19 crisis. A national scandal that isn't being properly reported by the press and leave you with the very large question of who is this government serving? If its contract with Deloittes over testing didn't require them to report positive tests to Public Health England, what was the point in the testing? How can this be consistent with 'The Government’s new approach to biosecurity will bring together the UK’s world-leading epidemiological expertise and fuse it with the best analytical capability from across Government in an integrated approach.' and will provide real time analysis and assessment of infection outbreaks at a community level, to enable rapid intervention before outbreaks grow.?

The growing feeling that Brexit is being exploited by this government for personal interests and those of big business at the expense of the general public is one which was feared and grows harder to argue against by the day.

The lying just never stops. Now number ten have said “ He added: "The PM was pointing out that nobody knew what the correct procedures were because the extent of asymptomatic transmission was not known at the time." Absolute bollocks. They knew SARs was transmitted by the asymptomatic and evidence was cookout of China throughout January and by the end of it from Japan and Germany too. WHO and Fauci were warning about it. People I knew working in social care Kew full well at the start of March they were seeding the virus into care homes via untested patients coming out of hospital but they couldn’t stop it because their safeguarding powers had been taken away.

Apologies for the typos, fat fingers on the phone.....

Roy Meadow’s tragic mistake was to consider the deaths of two children in the same family as independent events, whereas a short period of reflection (by anybody) should have led to the understanding that in a family where two babies die unexpectedly there might well be some underlying inherited medical cause. As it was, their mother Sally was accused of killing them, based I believe on a faddish interpretation of particular signs and symptoms at that time.

Re the story in The Times, being able to see the same GP and build up an understanding of a patient's medical history as well as developing a trusted and therapeutic relationship over time is essential for a patient's health.

It will be entirely about the GP's convenience and preference and nothing to do with what's better for the patient's health if we can no longer book a f2f appointment with the GP of our choice going forward. Not to mention that there are doctors I would and would not choose to see from my GP's practice based on past experience.

I haven't seen my GP for well over 10 years. Given up trying - usually get seen by a locum instead.
But I only go about once in 5 years so guess it's not too surprising !

I have mixed feelings about the proposed ban of Huawei from the 5G network. I don't think it's good to be over-reliant on one organisation but on the other hand, this doesn't sound like an independent decision, this sounds like copying Trump for the sake of it.

I wish these right wingers could get it into their thick heads that the USA is considerably bigger than the UK, with more natural resources at its disposal by virtue of geography. We are now a group of small islands - the Empire is gone.

I also can't remember the last time I saw my GP. I think it was when I had mastitis. The practice made a big show of having parents with buggies see him on the ground floor. Seems that only applied for Y1 of dd's life as I then got some old duffer up on the top floor who hadn't heard of the depo injection and had to get a book off a dusty shelf (book was dated 1999) to "look it up". Funnily enough I didn't feel confident he understood that me asking about whether it was safe with my family history of strokes got a very well considered answer...

Peregrina I suspect we are being pulled towards US with the 5G stories and pushed away by the food standards petitions (although obviously we can't equate food regulations with China! Sums up the futility of the petitions IMO). People can't seem to understand that Brexit has put us into a position where we have to choose between the two.

I missed the Newsnight about antibodies.
In a weird place with the COVID news atm as if I get to into it; looking at research, I want to work in the field and I know I can't. At the moment for my sanity I'm just reading the bare minimum and pretending I have a degree in education for dd instead . Today we are going to learn how to put new inner-tubes in (finally found someone who has correct tools) and then about dog friendly beaches and discover whether the inflatable unicorn will survive with said dog. I suspect not for more than 10 minutes at least then I don't have to keep finding somewhere to store it.

@DrBlackbird

Re the story in The Times, being able to see the same GP and build up an understanding of a patient's medical history as well as developing a trusted and therapeutic relationship over time is essential for a patient's health.

It will be entirely about the GP's convenience and preference and nothing to do with what's better for the patient's health if we can no longer book a f2f appointment with the GP of our choice going forward. Not to mention that there are doctors I would and would not choose to see from my GP's practice based on past experience.

I have a medical reason why any appointments I have need to be face to face. Telephone appointments have previously proved impossible and traumatic due to anxiety. I only hope that it's actually written on my notes or I am going to find myself unable to access health care. This is a long standing issue and has proved problematic before when they have tried to say they will only do mental health assessments via telephone in my area.

Dh was offered an interview in health it not too long ago about computerising GPS to have remote appointments. I persuaded him to not take it because of who it would marginalise.

There been research on this subject and it has a really negative affect on the health of some people because they are less likely to access health care.

I certainly think it raises some questions about disability accessibility.

I am extremely worried about where this is headed. Its crucial for me to see a doctor.

It also disproportionately affects women Red, as not only do we use the service more than men for personal use but also for our children and elderly as we become carers. Then you think how many women's DV gets picked up when they are allowed out only to see a doctor with some unlikely story...

My husband and I are generally early adopters of tech. But I think online GP appts are bad medicine - for many reasons already mentioned, but also because of a bad experience we had in NYC when DS got a spider bite. Short version - saw our fabulous GP on the Friday - he was prescribed antibiotics. Saturday morning v concerned as red patch getting bigger. Our GP was not on duty for out of hours . On duty GP kept on getting us to send photos - which we were saying didn't show the extent of the redness. New antibiotics on sat night. She was essentially being fucking lazy. Sunday morning- we said we were starting to see a red line going up his leg. She still tried to fob us off. We insisted he saw someone so she sent us to A&e . Thank god we insisted as we were very close to it going in a nasty direction. The only thing that made me feel slightly better was the complete bollocking she got from my GP.
So tech is great and all - but not in primary healthcare. A relationship with your primary health care professional is so important, and completely under rated in this country.

Poulet that's an excellent point about how many DV cases might go completely under the radar and I agree with you Red that anything related to MH is so much more difficult to discuss over the phone.

Makes me so suspicious the whole 'but we've surveyed and patients love the new system'. Bollocks. We know how much how the question is framed can lead to the desired answer ('Do you like how you get to talk to a doctor over the telephone on the same day you called?'). IF they offered you either a telephone call OR f2f appointment, then I can see there is merit in that, but still like Poulet mentioned, there's a good chance many patient's health issues won't get picked up.

I've often thought how little GPs like to actually physically exam any more. You just sit in a chair and they ask 'what can I do for you today'. That question gets on my nerves. It's all about time mangement, getting the patient in and out in the requisite 10 minutes. However, those approaches / targets are the logical outcomes of what the gov't pays GPs to do (or not).

Makes me so suspicious the whole 'but we've surveyed and patients love the new system'. Bollocks. We know how much how the question is framed can lead to the desired answer ('Do you like how you get to talk to a doctor over the telephone on the same day you called?'). IF they offered you either a telephone call OR f2f appointment, then I can see there is merit in that, but still like Poulet mentioned, there's a good chance many patient's health issues won't get picked up.

I wouldn't respond to a question like that because I'd avoid using the system to begin with because of how it would cause stress.

MrsL yes such changes are likely to be overcome by those with confidence and/or some medical knowledge to insist on what's right for themselves and their family. There are a whole lot people that will be left of that equation. Likely to disproportionally impact those with less income and the elderly for sure.

Men's mental health is better online (I set my dad up with online therapy after reading how much more men engaged when it was anonymous) but this doesn't work as well for women.

One of my worries is that we will end up with a computerised algorithm for a triage effect. We know where that leads.

about the proposed ban of Huawei from the 5G network. I don't think it's good to be over-reliant on one organisation

There are currently four 5g network providers in the UK - all of them use some hauwei kit, none of them are using wholly hauwei, nor had they planned to and in any case uk had constrained them to a 35% share.

Hauwei kit was being chosen because its a 5g leader and is cheap.
Spying level security is a non-argument because of the way hauwei have opened their codebase to inspection

The current stories saying security is now at risk are based on us sanctions possibly constraining hauwei capability to build/repair/patch - because of lack of US chips - ie security of resilience - trump et al seem to be be unaware just how many chips are actually made in China.

The stories about a hidden Chinese pro-hauwei campaign are also suspiciously timed - I hate the feeling that I'm being manipulated by my government - its come to something where I trust statements from this government less than from foreign governments. (US excepted of course.)

Is there a serious (not Dyson-esque) alternative to Huawei kit ?

Sorry to bring things down to earth with a bump, but if there was a non Huawei alternative then it would be in place by now.

If the US (and by association UK) really don't want Huawei kit, then they are at liberty to create their own independent infrastructure for designing, developing and manufacturing 5G equipment. At 100x the price of Huawei kit. But I bet they don't.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/aldi-message-chlorinated-chicken-stores-18554257
Aldi issues important message about the chicken it stocks in stores
The supermarket giant's CEO has reached out to shoppers

Aldi UK’s CEO Giles Hurley has vowed that the supermarket will only ever sell fresh chicken and beef from British farmers.

Aldi has also ruled out selling chlorinated chicken or hormone treated beef, regardless of any future trade deals.

Giles Hurley, CEO of Aldi, said: "Aldi is one of the biggest supporters of British suppliers and we want to make it clear that will always be the case. We are a signatory to the NFU Back British Farming Charter and our entire core range of fresh meat and milk is from Red Tractor-approved farms in the UK.

"We will never compromise on the standards or specifications of our products, and that includes a commitment to never selling chlorinated chicken or hormone injected beef.

"Britain has some of the highest food quality standards in the world, and our commitment to only source chicken and beef from this country means our customers know they are always buying high quality Aldi products at unbeatable value."

I hope others follow suit, as it would make a difference - at least in the short term. And make it difficult for politicians to ban supermarkets from marketing on this basis too.

5g suppliers:
Ericsson and Nokia cover most areas between them, in the US cisco and I believe at&t have kit. Certainly a year or so ago hauwei led all of these on features, delivery and price - not sure now.

Both cisco and at&t kit are assumed to have NSA backdoors - given cisco's position in the Internet backbone that's always been troublesome.

I think qualcom chips may be the ones trump is threatening to block - except these are actually made in Taiwan, Korea and China with some limited 'homeland' fabrication - its why I'm dubious about this new security concern - the West is far more dependant on chips (and boards) coming out of Asia than anything going the other way.

I'm always surprised when I see people complaining about the quality of Aldi meat on threads on MN, as I find it as good as or better than other suppliers. As I live on my own and only occasionally have a family member around for Sunday lunch, I particularly appreciate their small free range chickens for just under a fiver. In true MN spirit, I make one last a week or so.

Well someone in BrexitLand isn't happy ... but it's remainers fault.

Apparently.

Remainers (and Corbyn!) might have been held to account before, but now, since Johnson won the election, it's firmly their responsibility. Of course, Covid-19 will be a good excuse for a few months, but wasn't the deal 'Oven Ready'?

Aldi and Lidl are both German owned
German food standards have always been notoriously strict and vigorously enforced
Aldi and Lidl are cheap because they keep overheads low, own most of their own freeholds and restrict range

I always remember in a WholeFoods in California being bemused by ANY store would need to sell 40 types of tinned asparagus

and in the supermarket in DC, HUGE packs of mince that clearly had food colouring in it

I always remember in a WholeFoods in California being bemused by ANY store would need to sell 40 types of tinned asparagus

It remains an eternal mystery to me why most UK supermarkets have a fetish about shadowing brand names, rather than using own-brand to expand the choice.

(There are a few notable exceptions, but DW has sworn me to silence for fear that if they realise they are the only place you can get something, they'll stop it "because there's no demand").

Funnily enough, these past months, shopping at Sainsburys felt like shopping at Lidl, with the reduced choice. There was a weird vibe, especially by the Polish products. It felt like a cold war theme park.