Making the news today....

[Welshfred]

A

Reform UK puts teenagers in charge of vital public services | Reform UK | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Concerns raised about council appointments, including 19-year-old overseeing children and family services

 

Anyone think this is a good idea? Media stunt? Or just scraping the barrel? 

[Steven P]

11 hours ago, Mesterh said:

Yeah, it was never a dull day at their house! The lads did good though, one a paramedic and the other in the police force, CID. Ive not seen then for probably 30 years, time flys.

 

.. with a family like that I am not surprised one of them would be OK at first aid!

[Johnsond]

2 hours ago, sime42 said:

I make no apologies for questions. I prefer to pose questions as a starting point in a reasoned discussion aimed at establishing  truth or consensus . I think that's a better approach than simply stating tired rhetoric, in a repetitive dogmatic manner

I absolutely agree 👍 worse still I could just behave like you never asked them in the first place. Mind you 42 you do tend to kick the arse out of them a bit. 

 

2 hours ago, sime42 said:

Non should pose a challenge to a man of your intellect

Make your mind up 42, one minute it’s “ you just dont  get it” the next it’s praise regarding my intellect 🤔could it be you are not being very genuine 🤦😂

 

2 hours ago, sime42 said:

I trust you had a pleasant evening. What were the highlights of the local culture for you? What is the food like?

Jeez you love a question don’t you. 
Yeah good night 42, amazing vibe here at the moment what with carnival etc ( definitely a much happier less BS and rules, just get on with life type of place compared to the suffocating oppressive relentless regulation type environment we live under in the UK) 

Food if you want to be adventurous is good,  but I’m quite a plain eater  if I’m being honest so tend keep it simple. 
Anyway work beckons. 
Dont have the time to go into too much detail but at least I’ve endeavoured to answer your questions, hopefully SP takes notice. 

[tree-fancier123]

20 hours ago, Steven P said:

Anyway, as you were... NHS and Farage.

 

He is going to hunt high and low for efficiencies, waste, and savings. The same that the Tories have done for 15 years, the same that Labour are doing now and did before the Tories.

 

Do you think that if there is massive inefficiencies and waste they'd had found it in the last 20 years? If not it is well hidden... but no worries, Farage will find it. (to cross thread a bit, same a Musk in the US was going to find trillions of waste... he didn't).

 

Pretty much in all public services there is no waste, there is no budget for it. 'Waste' is another term for "Cutting stuff we don't like politically... but cannot say that outright".

seems the doctor put in charge of NHS England disagrees

[Steven P]

45 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

seems the doctor put in charge of NHS England disagrees

 

 

I won't hold my breath though that in the next year the NHS will 'save' or allocate to other things 6 billions, or even 1 billion. See my point is that if this waste is so obvious to all why hasn't it been fixed in the last 20 years or so? They have put some of the best managers in charge - far better than any of us at a keyboard, a whole government department, prime ministers with an interest in the politics of "We've saved billions", and the apparent waste is still there.. billions of it.

 

My opinion though, if you look at the NHS, what care we might receive today is heads and shoulders above what we had when we we children. I'll assume associated costs increase with it to provide that increased care. Politicians apparently see rising costs as a bloat in the system and put that down waste, something to be cut, to make political gains from. If the waste was so obvious to all then it would have been cut out years ago.

[Bolt]

Never really thought about it, but maybe getting rid of fearsome ward matrons, who ruled with a rod of iron, and replacing them with worthless, spineless pen pushers whose only objective is to meet imaginary targets, whilst creating employment opportunities for their worthless, spineless mates, is where the rot set in?

The care we receive today is so much the opposite of “head and shoulders above” the standards when I was a kid.

 

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Is there an example of privatisation of major national institutions that has been an unqualified success?

 

Trains and water being generally considered not to have been (a success)

 

[AHPP]

On 05/07/2025 at 17:08, Steven P said:

Pretty much in all public services there is no waste

[tree-fancier123]

59 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Is there an example of privatisation of major national institutions that has been an unqualified success?

 

Trains and water being generally considered not to have been (a success)

 

the trouble seems to be the private sector only know how to convert public sector waste into shareholder dividends

[Steven P]

1 hour ago, AHPP said:

 

 

Pretty much yes, take the NHS as an example, with its 190 Billion budget, sure you are going to find savings in there but not to the scale that the politicians think they are going to find. 1 Billion is a huge number for example but 0.5% of the entire NHS budget. Given that the politicians have been studying the NHS (and other services) for the last 20+ years to find waste as I say, I would be amazed if they find 1 billion wasted cash.

 

So yes, in relative terms, there is no waste in the NHS budget.