NHS again

I was in my local hospital yesterday afternoon having bloods taken. I was shocked to see the state of the (specialist) chairs in the department. They were very tatty and at least one if them was split.

My mum attends a state of the art dialysis unit at one of our biggest hospitals and has to take her own pillow with her as there are none there. Apparently they keep getting "stolen" and taken to other parts of he hospital.

Surely there is something seriously wrong somewhere and I don't blame any one political party. I blame

The NHS should be taken out of politics altogether.

Talking about the chaos of the NHS, this makes interesting reading.

www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/the_carnival_of_incompetence

Rather long, but too much of it is important to just quote from it.

POGS Rosequartz has said that the words I attributed to you - "The NHS should be taken out of politics altogether" - were in fact hers. Since, as she says, your views are similar, I must have got what you have said mixed up - for which I'm sorry. It seems to be a common theme as in July last year gillybob used exactly the same words also.

The fact that I have misquoted you on that point does not negate what I was saying. You have until now given the impression that your attitude to party politics is "a plague on all their houses". This didn't accord with the frequent pro-Conservative/anti-Labour comments that you made. You now acknowledge that you are currently intending to vote Conservative.

Like durhamjen I also don't understand why "ordinary" people would ever vote for the Conservative Party. The clue to what it stands for is in its name - its purpose is to conserve the status quo, and it has on almost every occasion strived to maintain the power of the wealthy and privileged by opposing virtually all socially progressive policies.

I much preferred the principles of "Old" rather than "New" Labour which now seems to be only a slightly less draconian version of the Conservative Party. For that reason, I'm unlikely to vote for Labour at the coming election as I think the Green Party is more committed to social justice.

However, I think it is a gross misrepresentation to imply that Labour did nothing of any value during its tenure. As I've said before, most of us will remember the absolute chaos in the NHS, and the dilapidated state of schools and hospitals, when the Conservatives were in power. And, as predicted, we're back there again, according to the overwhelming view not just of "left wing" newspapers but of those working within the NHS and the education system.

I didn't think saying that I am not so stupid as to vote Tory was name calling.

My parents knew what we thought of their politics. We argued about it a lot. My mother actually enjoyed it. It was one of the things that kept her going.
As my brother was in the army, she also had his vote by proxy and he voted the same and knew what I thought.
We did not shy away from politics in our house.
My parents kept DM articles to show me that they knew would annoy me.
If we did not have an argument, they wondered if I was ill. So sorry, you cannot get at me that way.
Perhaps you ought to read back a bit and see what people on this site have called me.

(in reply to rosequartz's previous post, I hasten to add)

I'm sure he sometimes wishes he'd taken that path...

And don't we all?

I am just not so stupid as to have voted Tory.

I thought it was against GN rules to name call - posters who have stated that they will vote conservative at the next election are now being called stupid! Along with anyone who says they have voted conservative in the past. I am sure a certain poster's parents would be mortified to think that their child thought they were 'stupid'. I would never have called my parents stupid for having minds of their own and voting how they wished - or for any reason.
I suppose if you can be nasty about your parents you can be equally nasty to people you don't know.
Par for the course I suppose (I have been called 'silly', 'crass', 'uneducated' because I do not agree with some posters' views!).

I will keep my voting intentions to myself - after I have decided that is.

Reasoned debate has flown out of the window.

A great number of voters were conned by Tony Blair - he was (and still is) a consumate showman.
Such a great loss to the Royal Shakespeare Company showbiz

I was quite surprised to see on Facebook today that the Greens have more actual members than UKIP. Perhaps I must start taking the Greens seriously as I thought they were more or less dead ducks now.

Of course I've voted for more than one party. I've said so lots of times. It's just you who thinks I have entrenched views, so do not read what I say.
I am just not so stupid as to have voted Tory.

Latest news; the debates are likely to include the Green Party and the SNP. At least someone can see sense.

durhamjen

So you have voted for more than one party. What was the meaning of your post 20.47.

That's okay, POGS. I do not expect a debate from someone with views as entrenched as yours.

I think it's quite funny, Gracesgran, that Osborne has challenged Labour to rule out a power sharing deal with the SNP after the next election.
I think about 15 Libdem MPs have Scottish constituencies.

My parents never ever had any socialist views. The fact that they voted for Blair, and they specifically said Blair, was because they thought he represented their views, which means he most definitely did not represent my views. I never voted for his party when he was in power even though I had always voted Labour before. So I do not assume that the policies that each party offers are constant.

Do you remember Cameron saying vote blue, get green?
He was lying about that as well as the NHS having no top down reorganisation.

durhamjen

Your response to my reply to Eloethan is very muddled .

If you don't understand there are some people who vote as they find at the time of an election then that is hardly an issue worth commenting on as you obviously have a rigid stance on the matter and any amount of debating the subject would be a total waste of time .

It looks as if the best bet for the NHS in England may be to encourage the Scots to vote SNP

You are assuming that the policies each party offers are constant and that those who would generally support a particular party support all its views. I don't think that is true durhamjen and if what is most important to you us better represented by another party at some point why would you not vote for them. ... and there is tactical voting, of course.

(in response to durhamjen's last post - didn't see yours, POGS)

You said that your parents were conned by Tony Blair, and that was why they voted Labour. A great number of voters were conned by Tony Blair - he was (and still is) a consumate showman.

I thought that by saying that, you understood why they changed the habits of a lifetime.

rosequartz

That's interesting!

However Eloethan having made the statement and naming another poster I am positive she will be able to comply with my request to give me the details of any post where I have written the words that have been attributed to myself.

I am sure Eloethan would not have named me in person unless it was a post that can be confirmed as being my words. I am very keen to read my post and see in what context I made that comment to be honest.

I have never voted any way because my friends do. I never ask my friends how they vote. I do not know of anyone who has voted because of that, so I do not understand that, either.

No, I never understood why they did it. It went against all their arguments for voting Tory.

So you can understand, then.

Better than just blindly voting for a certain party because you always have, or your parents have, or because that's what your friends do.

I have voted Conservative, Labour and (once!) Liberal.

I cannot understand how people can have voted both Labour and Conservative. Having said that, I know my parents did once, having been Tory all their lives. They were conned by Tony Blair, so I do not consider that changing their political allegiance. Lots of people were.

I am not sure why you state I have said 'The NHS should be taken out of politics altogether'. Have I? I would be grateful if you could give me the post day and time as I have no recollection of ever saying that.

POGS and Eloethan
I have said that, and at least one other poster who I can recall (male) so perhaps we are being confused with POGS.

Certainly I have posted about my father's trade union background with which he became disillusioned, just as POGS has posted about her father. Perhaps that is where some confusion arose.

(I am still thinking about how to vote in May.)