David Brice

The NHS has come in for some stick recently, especially from the USA where a big debate is raging about their healthcare system. The NHS was brought into the debate when Americans began to say that the NHS is rubbish.

I know quite a few people who work for the NHS and whilst it undoubtably has its problems, in my opinion, the NHS does a brilliant job. It employs 1.8 million people and eats up billions of pounds but it is there when you need it for most things anyway.

Of course, the NHS is not perfect, far from it. There are too many managers and not enough front line staff and treatment targets don’t tell the full story. There is also a problem with the cost of drugs for specialist treatments meaning that there is a post code lottery for some treatments.

Personally I would like to see a hybrid system whereby private healthcare is mixed with the NHS and it’s possible to opt out, but overall I think the criticism coming from the USA is unjustified.

DavidB My Grumpy Opinions the NHS

What a few days I have had ! I have visited 3 different hospitals in 4 days because I was struck down with kidney stones. I have to say, however, that I have nothing but admiration for the NHS staff I encountered and whilst sometimes I had to wait several hours without anything happening the overall service I had I can’t fault.

It all started on a Thursday morning and I was driving down the M1 motorway. I had stopped at Wooley Edge Services near Wakefield when suddenly I was hit with really bad pains around my kidneys and stomach. After 10 minutes the pain had got even worse so after taking advice from my wife, who is is in the medical profession, I agreed that she would call an ambulance. I did attempt to put on the brave manly face but deep down I knew that I couldn’t drive and I needed help. If you ever have the misfortune to have kidney stones then you will probably need medical attention quickly and you will need pain relief urgently.

Anyway, the first response paramedic arrived and hooked me up to lots of equipment and carried out some basic tests. At this point the pain was so bad that I was throwing up in the car park but I was oblivious to anything going on around me !

Five minutes later an ambulance arrived and I didn’t take much persuasion to get into the ambulance. On the way to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield I was given gas and air as pain relief but it barely took the edge off the pain. I arrived in the A & E department and there was no hanging around I was given some pain relief and after about 30 minutes I was pain free and felt ok. The doctor said I needed an x-ray so off I went for that. Later on I was told I needed an IVU (Intravenus Urogram). This I was told is where  a dye is injected into you and then x-rays are taken at various times throughout the process and it is possible to see any blockages with might be caused by a stone. This took about an hour but when the results were checked there was no sign of any problems.

Later that day I was discharged but after two more bouts of pain I admitted myself to the A & E department of Leeds General Infirmary and again I was given pain relief. LGI is a teaching hospital and I can tell you that it pays to live near to a good hospital because LGI has a CT Scanner and I was put on the list for a CT Scan. This is a futuristic looking machine that only takes about 2 minutes to scan the affected area. The results of the CT Scan showed that I had a 3mm kidney stone, so I can say that the CT Scan is far more powerful and accurate than an IVU x-ray !

I was then taken to the specialist urology department of St Jame’s Hospital in Leeds and stayed there overnight. After more pain and pain relief I managed to get rid of the stone naturally which is great because I did not fancy any surgery !

All in all it was a painful experience but I have to say that all the staff I encountered from paramedics, A & E staff, doctors, nurses and even the tea ladies were great. I can’t fault them at all. They were thoughtful, caring and they made me feel special. So, well done and thanks to the NHS.

In the UK we do have an excellent health service …. I can vouch for that as I saw 3 different hospitals in 4 days !

DavidB Personal Stuff kidney stones

I watched most of Eurovision last night. Eurovision is normally painful to watch but it somehow draws you in and I feel that I need to watch it just in case the UK entry manages to get more than one point. Every year I curse at the blatant political voting which seems to have got much worse over the last few years. Even Terry Wogan had had enough and had handed over the reigns to Graham Norton.

This year the voting rules had changed and the UK entry by Jade Ewan had been touted around Europe over the last few months, however, despite the song writing skills of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber the UK entry only managed 5th place, which for a mediocre song was a vast improvement on previous years. It looks like the rest of Europe took pity on us !

This years Eurovision winner was the Norwegian entry which wasn’t a bad song and was quite catchy but one that once you had heard it a few times will prove to be very irritating.

This years contest, however, was good from the point of view that it was a more serious contest with some reasonably good songs and not so many ridiculous costumes, although there were still some acts who had acrobats when they should have had backing singers ! They should should remember that Eurovision is a song contest not a travelling circus !

Iceland managed to afford the airfare for their entry and actually I quite liked it. They finished second.

I must admit that I did miss some of Eurovision as I ended up flicking over to ITV to watch some of Britain’s Got Talent which provided much better entertainment. Still, I suppose I will be watching again next year.

DavidB Interesting news stories Eurovision song contest

The expressions on the faces of the MP’s who were brave enough to appear on BBC Question Time on Thursday night said it all ! They all looked highly embarrassed apart from Margaret Beckett who decided she would try and defend herself. She failed miserably, however, to convince the outraged audience.

What is becoming clear is that there are two types of MP’s in this saga. Firstly, there are those MP’s who submitted expense claims for items they had purchased for their so called second homes. Many of these MP’s had sought guidance on whether they could claim and many claims were passed by the people charged with administering the scheme. Secondly, there are those MP’s who seem to have been deceitful. For example, several MP’s have claimed for alleged mortgage payments made on houses that had actually no mortgage.

Whilst the first scenario is milking the system the second scenario is the most serious and is probably fraud. It’s the MP’s that have perpetuated fraud that I think should feel the force of the law against them.

There is no doubt that our political system has been badly damaged. It’s not going to be easy for MP’s to regain trust from us, but a start would be for all those found to have committed a fraud to either resign or be sacked as MP’s and secondly for the whole expenses system to be re-written and administered properly.

What we also need to know are the details of all the MP’s who have played within the spirit of the rules. It’s easy to think that our whole political system is corrupt but so far we have only been told about those MP’s that have made outrageous claims and it may well be that the vast majority have not played the system.

DavidB Interesting news stories mp's fraud

The Daily Telegraph’s exposure of MP’s expenses makes excellent reading. The impression is that nearly every MP is claiming as much as they possibly can. Even if the rules say that they can make the claims, the question is whether making claims is within the spirit of the rules. My opinion is that MP’s should be ashamed of themselves. In times of economic recession, when ordinary people are trying to make ends meet this sort of expense claims culture is nothing short of disgraceful.

If the newspaper article is accurate then it appears that MP’s are claiming for such things as household repairs, TV’s for several homes, clothing, chocolate, security that is not needed, stays in luxury hotels, the list is endless.If these people were working for a private company these people would have been sacked.

I don’t know who set the rules for MP’s expenses but I suspect MP’s themselves had a big influence. An MP is there to serve the people. They should be honoured to be in a position to make decisions that improve all our lives. It seems, however, that MP’s see this as not the main reason that they do the job. They appear to see the job as a good little earner where they can get away with things that they know they wouldn’t get away with if they worked somewhere else.

This whole episode will only damage the image of politics even more. The whole political system may end having to change because of this and many politicians exposed as milking the system should do the honourable thing and not contest the next election.

DavidB Interesting news stories MP's expenses

I have been looking at a very interesting website called Optimum Population Trust. The website is full of very interesting facts about the UK’s and the World’s population and in particular about what they feel is an over populated planet Earth.

Lets look at the UK facts. In 2008 the population of the UK reached 61 million people. That’s a six fold increase since 1800. The projected population of the UK is expected to be over 69 million people by the year 2050. In 2007 the UK population increased by an amazing  434,700 people, and that is the equivalent of a city the size of Cardiff in just one year ! If this trend continues then the UK population will reach a staggering 100 million people by the end of the century.

The amount of land available to each inhabitant of the UK – to provide for our ecological needs and to absorb the waste products of our consumption – has shrunk to nearly a tenth of that available in 1750. The UK is slightly smaller than Oregon, a single state of the USA. We have a surface area of 24 million hectares of land and inland water to absorb the environmental impacts of all our consumption – that’s less than half a hectare (one acre) each – and this environmental space is shrinking every year.

Clearly, we need enough land and resources to sustain a population of this size but the UK doesn’t have the resources, which means that we have to take resources from other parts of the world. Very soon the UK will have an environmentally unsustainable population.

What’s causing the population explosion?

The Uk’s rise in population is caused by two main factors. Firstly, there are more births than deaths and secondly net migration (more immigrants than emigrants). As medical science advances at a rapid rate we are all going to live longer and also in 2007 there were 237,000 more people entering this country than leaving, and this is just one year as an example.

On the face of things the UK has a lot of open spaces, but it’s not spare land that is the problem it’s our  needs for additional housing, energy and power supplies, reservoirs, schools, hospitals, transport, shops, waste disposal, prisons – and all its impacts in the form of waste and emissions.

What is the government’s attitude to over population ?

Up until very recently no government has tried to tackle the problem, but a government minister did say, in 2008, that the UK population would not be allowed to rise above 70 million.

After reading about the facts of over population I am firmly of the opinion that something needs to be done to limit the number of people in the country. It needs to be done in such a way that the population decreases over a period of time. I don’t know what the solution to the problem is but it must involve limiting the number of people who come into this country in one way or another.

If you want to read more information about this very interesting subject take a look at this website Optimum Population Trust

DavidB Interesting news stories over population

In Germany new car sales have increased it is reported by 40% in the month of March. As part of their economic stimulus package the German government is paying old car owners 2,500 euros towards the purchase of a new car and about 1 million car owners have taken advantage of the scheme so far.

This is obviously good news for German car manufacturers but it is not so good news for car repairers, used car dealers and scrap metal dealers who have all seen a dramatic downturn in business.  So, whilst the car makers are feeling pretty smug about things other trades have been hit.

My opinion is that the car scheme is a good idea. It makes more sense to pump money direct into the economy rather than give it to banks who are still not lending money like they should. So, why choose the car makers to throw money at rather than other industries ? Well, I’m no expert but it’s probably because the car industry employs a huge number of people and if car manufacturing was to disappear then it would be very difficult to get it back.

I like the idea of incentives to buy cars but why can’t it be extended to other products. How about £50 for an old fridge towards the purchase of a greener new model ? Or how about £300 towards a new combination boiler or £100 for a new oven ? The list is endless but at least it gets trade going again and also it helps reduce co2 emissions !

I say lets have a cash for cars, boilers, fridges and ovens scheme here in the UK !

DavidB Interesting news stories cash for cars scheme

Hardly a day goes by it seems  without a scandal breaking out in this Labour government. Now, they have resorted to underhand smear tactics to try and rubbish the Conservative Party and its leaders. Damien McBride an advisor to Gordon Brown has now resigned over his leaked emails to a political blogger. These e-mails were, it is reported, suggestions on ideas for trying to smear the Tory leadership with untrue allegations.

Gordon Brown it is said knew nothing of these emails but it is fair to ask the question – Has this sort of thing being happening for a while ? – Politics is in such a mess at the moment with MP’s expenses being a major issue. The political process needs to be in the best interests of the people that MP’s serve. That’s us ! At the moment, it does not feel like that.

It feels like MP’s want to milk the system for all it’s worth and that they will do nearly anything to make sure that they hang onto the reigns of power. This episode will further erode confidence in the whole political process.

DavidB Interesting news stories damien mcbride, email smear

I last posted about Somali pirates back in November 2008 but the problem is still going on. Hopefully now though, they  may have bitten off more than they can chew as they are up against the US navy. Ship captain Richard Phillips is being held hostage in a boat along 4 Somali pirates and there is a US warship close by and several others are on their way.

These Somali pirates must either be very brave or very stupid. If I was afloat in a small boat surrounded by US warships with guns trained on me from all sides I think I would be just glad to get out alive and back to dry land. It’s reported though that the pirates are demanding a ransom for their hostage so it will be interesting how the whole episode pans out.

Knowing the Americans and how trigger happy they can be if would be good if the US navy just blasts them out of the water once the hostage is freed !

DavidB Interesting news stories somali pirates.us hostage

Bob Quick the UK anti terror chief has resigned this morning. Good on him for being quick to do so over what was a monumental mistake.

It turns out that one of those men arrested was in fact Rashid Raul who is  an al queda suspect who has been implemented in other terror plots. He was thought to have been killed in a US drone missile attack in Pakistan, but obviously he wasn’t !

Also, it is thought that the targets of these Pakistani suspects were shopping centres and nightclubs. The Trafford Centre is thought to have been one of their high profile targets.

I have to say that I am amazed that militants like this can get into this country. What happened to the governments policy of tighter border controls ? Or is it the case that we can’t prevent them entering the UK because we are in breach of their human rights !

I have no problem with any body living in this country peacefully and in accordance with our laws. The laws and culture in this great country have evolved over the last 1,000 years and we don’t want them destroyed and as long as everybody who lives here agrees to abide by its laws and culture and also speak English then we can welcome them with open arms.

It must be a matter of the utmost urgency that we tighten the UK’s border controls. The government promised to do that but it has obviously failed to do a good enough job, just like it has failed in many other aspects of its job as well. Please can someone get a grip of this country before it sinks !

DavidB Interesting news stories bob quick, terror plot