Blimey

I know that today is going to be an utter drag (man). We hoofed a little more of the amber nectar last night than we intended and whilst not drunk, managed to have enough to leave us wan and washed out this morning. I have a busy day, too. I am not sure that my preferred option of sneaking out shortly after four this afternoon is viable. Oh well, I have coffee in copious quantities so I daresay that I shall manage.

One memory of today that I shall treasure, however, is the sight of a highly discomfited Creepy Swedish Guy at Euston, sitting in a carriage trying to read, whilst surrounded by a large group of large, pink women sporting tattoos and deely boppers.

Watch out London; there’s a Hen Party in town for the weekend.

Blimey

I know that today is going to be an utter drag (man). We hoofed a little more of the amber nectar last night than we intended and whilst not drunk, managed to have enough to leave us wan and washed out this morning. I have a busy day, too. I am not sure that my preferred option of sneaking out shortly after four this afternoon is viable. Oh well, I have coffee in copious quantities so I daresay that I shall manage.

One memory of today that I shall treasure, however, is the sight of a highly discomfited Creepy Swedish Guy at Euston, sitting in a carriage trying to read, whilst surrounded by a large group of large, pink women sporting tattoos and deely boppers.

Watch out London; there’s a Hen Party in town for the weekend.

No longer-care

I have been following the debate over healthcare American style vs healthcare UK style with detached interest. Initially I thought it would grab my attention, particularly when I read the rather bizarre editorial in the Investors’ Business Daily that suggested that Professor Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have stood a chance if he’d had to live in the UK and be treated by the NHS. This editorial has now been amended , but it still reads as a rather alien argument to European eyes.

A lot of emotional energy has been expended by American conservatives in attacking ‘socialised medicine’¹ and British supporters defending the NHS and the surprising thing is how little information there is in the argument. It is all contention; neither system is anything like as bad as its opponents imagine and neither are they as wonderful as their proponents would paint them.

Trying to make sense of it all has left me bewildered; I can’t find an account I can understand, much less a source I trust on the pros and cons of either system that isn’t soaked in dogma and rhetoric. I conclude from this that people would simply rather argue than face up to the realities that it all needs reforming in each country and that, unpalatably, someone somewhere is going to have to pay for and administer it. The only clear contention is that no-one seems to think they can afford what they think their citizens are entitled to.

Today’s Times has an interesting opinion piece. It’s the finances of the situation that scares everyone, apparently.

There was an excellent cartoon in yesterday’s Times that pretty much summed it up. I have just managed to find it by devious means...

No longer-care

I have been following the debate over healthcare American style vs healthcare UK style with detached interest. Initially I thought it would grab my attention, particularly when I read the rather bizarre editorial in the Investors’ Business Daily that suggested that Professor Stephen Hawking wouldn’t have stood a chance if he’d had to live in the UK and be treated by the NHS. This editorial has now been amended , but it still reads as a rather alien argument to European eyes.

A lot of emotional energy has been expended by American conservatives in attacking ‘socialised medicine’¹ and British supporters defending the NHS and the surprising thing is how little information there is in the argument. It is all contention; neither system is anything like as bad as its opponents imagine and neither are they as wonderful as their proponents would paint them.

Trying to make sense of it all has left me bewildered; I can’t find an account I can understand, much less a source I trust on the pros and cons of either system that isn’t soaked in dogma and rhetoric. I conclude from this that people would simply rather argue than face up to the realities that it all needs reforming in each country and that, unpalatably, someone somewhere is going to have to pay for and administer it. The only clear contention is that no-one seems to think they can afford what they think their citizens are entitled to.

Today’s Times has an interesting opinion piece. It’s the finances of the situation that scares everyone, apparently.

There was an excellent cartoon in yesterday’s Times that pretty much summed it up. I have just managed to find it by devious means...