I have long been a fan of the National Health Service (NHS), especially as so many members of my extended family have worked or are still working in it. My mother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, two of my sisters, sister-in-law and three nieces have all treaded or continue to tread the wards of the NHS.
My early years experiencing the health service were good and straightforward. When required, one picked up the landline telephone, spoke to a receptionist at any time of the day and made an appointment with either the doctor or dentist, at a time that suited. However, and sadly, my experience recently has left me thinking that it is time for a different approach to the way we treat the health of the nation.
I am a 60-year-old man with a health problem common in men over 50, prostate enlargement. In the U.K. one in three men suffer from enlarged prostates, whilst one in six are diagnosed with prostate cancer. My route to my operation started routinely. I recognised the problem, managed to call my local GP surgery and made an appointment with a doctor and a nurse for a full medical. As a result I had to have a scan on my bladder, and this also happened in a timely manner.
However, my experiences of the NHS took a dive once I received a phone call from my doctor, one Friday evening requesting that I urgently attend the Accident and Emergency department to have my bladder drained of urine, as the amount that I was holding and unable to release was starting to impact on my left kidney. I arrived in the A&E department at 8:30pm; the unit was packed. Where have all these people come from and what were they doing here? Eventually, I was seen, catheter fitted, and taken up to a ward at 3am. I was informed later that a wait of six hours in A&E was “a short one”. The following afternoon I was discharged, having been told by the consultant that my left kidney was fine, there was no sign of cancer in my prostate, but I would require an “urgent” operation to reduce the size of my prostate.
An urgent prostate operation on the NHS, I was initially informed, is 24 weeks, so I braced myself for the wait. I absolutely hated wearing the catheter, it prevented me from doing so much, and the thought of having it attached to my leg for the next six months wore me down mentally. I waited six weeks before I called the Urology Department, just to make sure that I was on the waiting list. The receptionist confirmed that I was, but my wait was now 58 weeks, some 64 weeks after my initial visit to hospital, and 40 weeks longer than I was initially informed. Remember, I was told that my case was “urgent”. I was informed that if I wanted to challenge the length of time that I had to wait for my operation, I had to contact my GP.
The following morning I called at 8am – you now can only call first thing in the morning if you want an appointment to see a doctor. I waited 40 minutes on my mobile, only to eventually get through to be told that there were no appointments available and I had to call back the following morning, which I did, with the exact same outcome.
This is the point that I decided to go against my principles and have my operation privately. My operation took place mid-February 2024, some 12 weeks after my November visit to A&E. The period between November and February dealing with the NHS was mixed. As mentioned, I failed to get through to the GP’s surgery. I had to call 111 on a couple of occasions. One time, after eventually getting through, my GP practice in Eastbourne was not listed on the NHS computer, so we spent several minutes going around the houses as I explained that the GP practice that was listed had closed several years ago and I had been transferred to a new one. I also had a second visit to A&E at the request of the 111 service. It turned out that I had a bout of pneumonia, diagnosed after another six hours wait. The community nursing team was brilliant, arriving at my home when that said that would.
The surgeon who carried out my operation was the same man who would have done it on the NHS. What was it Aneurin Bevan said in 1948, “I stuffed their mouths with gold”, referring to doctors and consultants being able to continue with their private practices if they accepted NHS patients.
During my time of recovery I spent a bit of time researching various aspects of the NHS and not a lot of this research filled my heart with joy. In England we spend £181.7 billion on the NHS annually. Twenty-five million working days are lost each year due to staff sickness. £136 million is spent on giving away medicines that can be purchased over the counter at any pharmacy or supermarket. 7.7 million people are waiting for an operation. 19% of NHS staff come from abroad, whilst 5,000 doctors left the NHS in 2022 to work in different parts of the world.
So much has changed since the National Health Service started way back in 1948. We can now expect to live, on average, 13 years longer, the population has grown by 17 million people and the diseases that our forefathers once died of are now treatable.
Taking everything into consideration – my own experiences, those of my family and friends who currently work int the NHS, the publicly available facts and figures – I feel that it is time a massive overhaul of the way we care for the U.K.’s population. I predict that the main political parties will be falling over themselves during the upcoming general election to ‘Save the NHS’ or ‘Invest in the NHS’, but none will promote the idea of a different approach like the social insurance models that work so well in other countries or consider the idea of privatisation.
I am no expert in medical matters, but what I do know is that £180 billion that is currently being spent is not delivering a service that is fit for purpose for the 21st century.
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As CO2 increases in the atmosphere, nature causes plant growth to increase via photosynthesis which is an endothermic (cooling) reaction. Therefore, there is not a uni-directional ‘heating’ process from CO2. For every pound of biomass formed some 10,000 Btu are removed from the atmosphere. CO2 is absorbed, and oxygen is produced. Further, a doubling of CO2 will increase the photosynthesis rate by 30 to 100%, depending on temperature and available moisture. Improving the output of oxygen is hardly a ‘crisis’ or a reason to de-industrialise.
The climate cult has also violated the second law of thermodynamics by saying a cooler atmosphere can warm a warmer earth. We heard this for 2 decades with the ‘coming Ice Age’. You still hear it today when there is a cold winter. The cult will say, ‘of course the changing or warming causes it to be colder’, by referencing the endothermic aspects of CO2 interacting with the atmosphere. This seems rather inconsistent with the ‘climate hell’ of massive heating which the cult also proclaims. In general there is no ‘greenhouse’ ceiling as given by the propaganda. Heated particles can rise and escape the upper atmosphere. There are complex systems of positive and negative feedback loops giving lie to the simplistic idea that a linear relationship exists between Co2 and temperature.
We can argue all day about greenhouse gasses, positive feedbacks, Climate sensitivity, urban heat islands, the tropical hotspot, and any other so called science of climate change, but the problem is that this is and never was about “science”. While we all discuss and argue about the “science”, the globalist world government people are busy getting on with the “official science” and taking all our freedoms and prosperity away
Indeed, political spin.
But countering the made up claims one at a time is what people of integrity will do, its all we have.
As Biden said, there’s no point freedom loving pro-2A people saying they need their arms to protect themselves from a rogue government, they’ll need F-15s not AR-15, as if it was a line straight out of Goodfellas.
Quite correct.
And never forget: –
(1) “Settled Science” is an Oxymoron. Anyone stating “The Science is Settled” is a malicious charlatan.
(2) No computer model ever produced reliable, unbiased, genuine data.
(3) Follow the Money. And the political Control.
Great analysis, simply, reasonably and rationally put. But this is not about reason, rationale and science but about the dogma that Mankind is not a feature or part of Nature but a foreign body which needs to be ejected and eliminated.
As for the last line: it is not just simplistic, but quite absurd for just one variable among multiple, inter-reacting variables in a chaotic, unpredictable, non-linier system be promoted as being the exclusive agent for any change, over-riding all else – and not all of it either, only that C02 produced by Human activity.
The Climate Change politics is based on the idea that humans should have ZERO impact on the planet. It is this fanciful idea that we can go back to some mythical pristine environment that in reality never existed. The world is a brutal place where without cheap abundant energy life expectancy would return to half of what it currently is. People would die young of preventable disease, after a short life of back breaking labour. We always hear about the risks of using fossil fuels but never about the risk of NOT using them. The benefits of fossil fuels far outweigh their negative impacts.
File that paper in the misinformation category and never let it near mainstream media.
Oh. So what they taught me in primary school must be correct, that plants take water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to make… OXYGEN!
But in secondary school they told me carbon dioxide was going to end life on earth.
I am SO CONFUSED.
I think they got confused with Carbon Monoxide.
What I can guarantee you is that while the climate lobby think that tinkering with the CO2 levels is going to bring about a perfect climate, none of them have considered if they are tweaking the wrong knob, the wrong way, that they are doing immense harm to the climate and Gaia. Getting angry about everything and fiddling about with one input parameter on a chaotic system doesn’t seem terribly measured as a response. Like kicking the cat if your broadband goes down.
“I think they got confused with Carbon Monoxide”
I think they were very confused about lots of things. I think I am pleased to have learned to read and write and count. But the rest… Well, put it this way, I am glad I no longer entrust the education of my own two kids to the City Council and their comrades in the Local Education Authority.
‘I think they got confused with Carbon Monoxide.’
Inhaling it more like, causing irreparable brain damage.
I think all they want is some oxide, preferably one that’s really difficult to avoid, in order to get states to create regulations to help them sell stuff nobody would want or need otherwise. In the 1980s, nitrogen dioxide was suppose to lead to a general souring of the environment and cause acid rain. Hence, catalytic converters were mandated for cars which caused them to emit carbon dioxide instead. Nowdays, the sell-styled environmental lobby claims that they already knew in the 1960 that it was really carbon dioxide which is souring the environment leading to …. the exact same pictures of dead trees used on the 1980s to sell catalytic converters (among a host of other, purported irreversible environmental damages).
Excellent article thank you. It is amazing how many people now seem completely convinced that the World is heading for climate Armageddon, all based on what they have been told by the climate experts. Climate-change/net-zero is a huge band wagon and will not be stopped easily and so every article like this is one more step to injecting some reality into this issue.
It’s one of the new religions.
Back in the day people believed the devil was a constant and persistent danger against which we needed defending with, among other things, the burning at the stake of the non believers.
We haven’t really progressed too much. I suppose we don’t burn people any more.
Just their careers and professional reputations…?
The real cimate experts tell a differnt story, but few are listening. Track down the Canadian Patrick Moore and William Happen to find out what is really happening.
“Climate Experts”?????? —-You mean “Designated Experts”? ——-All non conforming experts are ignored.
If you look a graphs showing co2 levels over millions of years you’ll see mention of extinction events, tens of them! each seems to coincidence with a rise in co2!
But extinction means an end of, total iradication! Just like when you extinguish a fire it is out! That’s the meaning of the word.
So why is the earth so abundant with life even to this day if life when extinct? You don’t get semi extinct! So quite frankly they were not extinction events at all, just naturally re balancing of the earth’s systems.
If manking pushes that balance then expect us to be rebalanced one way or another!
And such events took place over tens of thousands of years. But extinction of one or more species means opportunity for new species to emerge.
It’s called Evolution, and the result is 99% of all species which ever evolved, became extinct and made way for all the species present today, most of which over time will become extinct and be replace.
Spot on! Life itself, in whatever form,never goes extinct
But wait a minute. Don’t UN and WEF bureaucrats ably assisted by their lackeys in all western governments (except the Trump one) control the global temperature of the earth with their big CO2 knob? Many many people busy with work and family life who really have no time to investigate all manner of issues and rely on what they assume to be Investigative Journalists on their main TV news programs to do that for them are being seriously let down. On the issue of climate change there is basically no Investigating done. The bought and paid for globalist media regurgitate pronouncements from the World Government in waiting at the UN and WEF as if it were all some kind of ultimate truth. But in reality it is a manufactured crisis for which no empirical evidence exists. The politics of Sustainable Development and what its goals really are is not really something the vast majority of people understand, and unless they do so in large numbers and very quickly they are going to be controlled totally by an unaccountable technocratic elite that started out wanting to fob us off with expensive unreliable energy to “save the planet” but which now seeks control over every aspect of our lives, because all human activities involve the release of some CO2 and so all human activities must therefore be controlled.—–Wake up people you are being played.
Great news Chris thanks.
Twice in a month I’ve been presented with the authority that is the Carbon Almanac, a slick propaganda piece akin to todays Protocols of Elders of Zion.
Its very dull refuting its claims. Anyone know of a critical blog/book of it?
Any body that appears to be fronted by a middle aged bald man in orange framed glasses, and uses quotes featuring the considerable wit and wisdom of Bette Midler should be laughed at.
Wheres the guy that posted pandemic logic, which he should make into a pdf or book or something.
I picture an American movie trailer voiceover:
From the people who brought you having no symptoms is the main symptom, in 2023 get ready for… global cooling can be global warming
Followed by hard-hitting emotional imagery, and a subliminal slide of Yuri Bezmenov for kicks.
So… ‘decarbonisation’ is Planticide.
What s surprise. The real risk just now is the development of policies built on myths, and perhaps the exploitation of relatively poor education for a large number of people. Many just believe what they’re told (and where did we see that recently?) rather than studying it a bit more to make a reasonable decision.
Incidentally, I think that it has long been the practice of artificially increasing the CO2 level inside greenhouses for certain crops (by making use of gas heating exhaust, e.g.) so as to increase the yield and the relevant cash flow. Not sure if that still happens, given the price of gas.
Apart from the topic of carbon dioxide concentration, there must be many other factors related to local effects – say in certain urban areas – due to other air quality matters. E.g at present, in central southern England, we’ve got a stonking high pressure on top, with a lot of low cloud and limited solar input, on account of how the jet stream is behaving. This is a complex subject (and a source of revenue for some), but it’s being grabbed hold of in a simplistic process by some.
Hence the adoption of ‘climate change’ to replace ‘global warming’. ‘Climate change’ means every bit of bad weather can be blamed on human beings, from a rainy July day on Dartmoor to an excessively hot one on the runway of Heathrow Airport!
Imagine we do have a war with Russia and China; the runways at various military airports will be so hot that they’ll be able to claim the climate apocalypse is here!
So we could have saved billions on supercomputers, dedicated power stations for those supercomputers and staff costs by just running a copy of James Lovelock’s Daisy World on a Raspberry Pi. Scientific welfarism at its worst.
The “cure” for nonexistent Covid (the jab) is now killing far more people than even the faked deaths of Covid ever did. The “cures” for non existent climate change (wind turbines, solar panels) are killing the environment far more that the faked stats on CO2 ever will.
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“Stop Press: Scottish Power has admitted that 71 of its wind turbines are powered by diesel generators.”
Well blow me down with a feather (pun intended).
The well educated folks on here seem to think that the establishment is competent. Just look at the Covid hoax and response and the Keystone Cops currently protecting the so called law. People see right through it thanks to the information network we live in. Ever since the Middle Ages, conquering hordes have tried to subdue us and they have all failed. Nothing to see here.
This is what the Canadian Patrick Moore has been saying for years, but few people seemed to take notice, including a whole crowd of ignorant world leaders and many scientists who rely on funding from supporters of the crazy Climate disaster models.
A solution, if there is one, is for the ‘Green’ advocates to create their ‘Net Zero’ utopia first among themselves, and if it’s actually that great the rest of us will voluntarily switch from fossil fuels.
Let the ‘Green’ advocates create their own ‘Net Zero’ society first without using fossil fuels, and not disturbing the environment.
The rest of us can watch.
True real science is based upon free open debate without one side being censored or demonized.
True science is based upon free speech, and any and all ideas and theories being subject to scrutiny and criticism.
If anyone says the ‘the science is settled’ you know they are talking about ideology and not true science.
If clmate models are based upon true science and work reliably, and they know enough of the earth’s climate with all its numerous inter-related variables, then they should be able to predict the earth’s future climate.
They should make a detailed accurate prediction (not generalities) for each small section of the earth for a near-future date (2025?).
At that point then we can determine the accuracy.
Otherwise it’s only speculation without proof.
In other words, make a hypothesis and then prove it.
That’s real science.