Wish list for Britain

I agree Moved

Ivanhoe The Labour party had plenty of time to change anything they didn't like of Mrs T's and so have the Conservatives. Any remaining legacy is down to all politicians since her time and they should take responsibility for it. It is a cop out to blame her.

Movedalot , Mrs T's policies remain running this country. Mr's T's legacy is all around us.

David Cameron is finishing off what Mrs T started.

Mrs T again! It was so long ago that surely it is no longer relevant?

MargaretX. In the 80's the Thatcher Government cut income tax and NI contributions for all British workers, thus putting the onus on people to fend for themselves re- the private pension.

Margaret Thatcher also broke the State pensions link with British prosperity and then linked the State pension to inflation, and she brought in free market policies to lower inflation, so our pensioners have suffered a diminished State pension for over 30 years, yet most have spent their working lives funding for such a State pension, and they were lead to believe their taxes and contributions would look after them from cradle to grave.

Coming back to British workers, their contributions and taxes were cut in the 80's, but in my view the British not being politically interested or motivated, have taken this on the chin and enjoyed their tax cuts.

Now the British are paying the price for less NI contributions and taxes for over 30 years.

I agree with the one who said it is wrong for us to poach medical staff from third world countries, they need them more than we do. I understand that we send people out to recruit them which imo is completely wrong. If however they approach us and want to come and live and work in the UK to improve their own standard of living I would not deny them that as long as their English is good enough to do the job.

i think there is a lot of misunderstanding/prejudice about the very rich. If they gave 100% of their earnings to HMRC it would only be a drop in the ocean of the UK economy.

It is attitudes we need to change. Those of the workers who only do the minuimum. Those of the people who use the services to stand up and refuse to accept sub-standard education, healthcare etc. Those of the people who can't be bothered to vote etc. However, when we get good service we should say so - loudly. When you tell someone you appreciate what they have done it not only makes them happy it also encourages them to continue their good practice. We need both carrot and stick and a lot less complacency.

There is only so much money to go round and throwing it at a particular section of public service is probably not the answer. We should be looking at ways of reducing waste and improving productivity. Why for example do we need televisions in hospital waiting rooms?

anno so you had to become personal! I think ivanhhoe has added to this debate and like us all has his views and maybe sometimes biased. BUT so are you and the others who object to him.

We who get pensions abroad have worked in the UK and paid into the system
When I worked in Stockport 20 years ago, and saw just how little NI contributions were, compared to what Germans pay out of their monthly salaries, it was obvious that the system must break down one day.

We had this argument in Germany about the Turkish population and it was found out that the workers among them had paid more into the system than the Turkish sick or unemployed, were receiving.

No government wants to pay for language classes but from what i have heard the Dutch give a lot of help. Their primary school system is the best in Europe.

Thank you for your explaining it all so clearly to my poor little old lady's addled brain Ivanhoe.

Now, I think we all know your political views whether or not we agree with them, Ivanhoe. Do you have a life?

absent, This is the price we all pay for voting for free market capitalism since the 80's where the top always take a largest slice of the cake, and the ordinary people are means tested.

Its because the top create the wealth, and we are all meant to be grateful to them.

Thank you vampirequeen for saying it as it is.

Immigrants make good scapegoats, and there is an awful lot of untrue propaganda out there, against them. Of course, some cause bother and use the system, and it is easy for the populist press to find such people and highlight them.

I'm an immigrant myself - to Australia - ( I'm a refugee from Thatcher the year she was elected - 1979) and I looked up the statistics about immigrants 'stealing' jobs. Over here, we create slightly more jobs than we take, and I suspect it is the same in the UK.

I read about the UK in the online papers, and have come to the conclusion that multiculturalism needs to be tempered with some assimilation, and to that end, English language lessons should be easily available to immigrants. It is OK for pre-puberty children: they pick up the local language as if by osmosis!

POGS

vampirequeen I think we probably all agree with you and want the same thing. Not sure about Ivanhoe!!!

A couple just flew past my window, absent!

I should like to see a dramatic reduction in the gap between the richest 10% in Britain and the rest. I suppose, first of all, I should like to see this gap cease to grow and then start shrinking. I should like to see chief executives of large companies earning no more than 10 times the median wage of their workers instead of more than 100 times.

And there goes another flying pig…

Whatever our political views and allegiances I think we'll all agreeing on certain things. We just see different ways of resolving the issues.

No one person is to blame for the current state of the NHS and education......not even Maggie the demon queen. The systems have been messed up by generations of Whitehall tinkerers.

Instead of listening to teachers, doctors and nurses etc, Whitehall mandarins have made not only financial but also organisational decisions based on statistics and cost effieciency. Unfortunately what may look good in theory doesn't always work in real life hence we end up with 5 year olds being taught nine different subjects rather than concentrating on reading, writing, number, social and language skills and developing their motor skills and understaffed hospital wards.

Maybe it's time to draw a line in the sand and decide what we really want from our institutions. Do we want children who can read, write and calculate or do we want children who are so swamped with subjects that they don't have the time to assimilate and practise the skills they need.? Do we want wards that have a small number of highly trained nurses or do we want to return to a hierarchial system with a few highly trained nurses, some less trained nurses and nursing auxilaries which allowed more staff to be in place to care for patients?

Of course it couldn't happen overnight and the people listened too should be at the chalkface or on the wards not some Dame or knight who is the head of an academy or health authority.

But this is just a pipedream because it would take years to implement, would need all political parties to be in agreement and would require those who make the decisions to actually listen to and implement the ideas of those who do the job. Also it would cost a lot of money....another tax rise. Political suicide.

Ivanhoe here you are talking about extra funding, on another thread you wanted to abolish some taxes/ways of collecting money to fund things. (I can't be bothered at this time of night to search to find it)

To use a cliche, you cannot have your cake and eat it.

POGS , How long is a piece of string ?

Ivanhoe

I will ask you then, what facts are not being investigated?

""susieb755 , As usual Ivanhoe and vampire queen have summed up my feelings, if only people investigated the facts , instead of relying on the media""

If only, sum it all up.

New Malden and into Raynes Park does have the highest number of Sth Koreans outside Sth Korea! I grew up in New Malden.

apparently the ambassador/ Consul of SK rented a property in the area and subsequently other officials moved to the area, local property companies specialised in renting to the Korean community and the community grew and built local business to meet the needs of the Koreans. Like may ex-pat comunities. Many do come on short term contracts but most are now British/Koreans.

PS i am with you Ivanhoe..we need a socialist party out there and not faux Labour!

Susieceb

Which facts are you talking about?. What posts have relied on the media for their information without being investigated factually.?

Ivanhoe

Your last post is so beyond ridiculous.

You have the hide of a rhino and if you can brush under the carpet the points I raised then there is no alternative than to asume you have no intention of considering you, your politics[ of what ever nature] can possibly be wrong.

So sod the patients who died of lack of nursing care and pathetic management from the Health Secretary down, after all Labour do say the man at the top has to accept responsibility don't they, that is until it is a Labour Minister. You are in denial if you do not accept it was not funding that caused 400 - 1200 patients to possibly have died due to lack of good NHS care. There are more hospitals in the frame but good old Labour was the NHS saviour according to your established doctrine that all that is good is left wing, all that is bad is right wing.

As usual Ivanhoe and vampire queen have summed up my feelings, if only people investigated the facts , instead of relying on the media

We should never have tried running the NHS as a market economy - if you pay peanuts as they say...... and privatising the cleaning for instance led to lower paid staff,to make a profit for the owners, staff with no loyalty or pride, and has led to hospitals falling prey to superbugs like MRSA which has cost the country far more than any spurious savings made.

Each ward used to have its own cleaners, on duty all day - when I visited my sister after her hysterectomy, their was an upturned sick bowl covering faeces on the floor, that had been there for THREE hours - my sister was in tears, as she was having to smell it, and as she was on a drip, was unable to move away....

We should also stop recruiting nurses from developing countries like Malawi, it is an absolute disgrace that we expect these countries to invest in trying to develop their health services and then poach their staff

Again POGS.

""The only way to improve the NHS is to increase funding, which means UK workers paying more income tax, but UK workers wont like that, so we suffer the consequences of an underfunded NHS.........

Funding went down under Thatcher, and New Thatcherite Labour didtnt increase
income tax funding either.

Managers arent the answer. More nurses is the answer. More money. More investment. And the return of the Matron.