The New Cabinet

But the UK isn't going to be in the EU for much longer. While the EU and possibly the US decides to crack down on tax evasion, the UK will still be shuffling its bits of paper around, which isn't going to increase our tax revenues. More than ever, we need the British government to act, because we won't have anybody else doing it for us and many of the most important tax havens are under British jurisdiction anyway.

But the UK isn't going to be in the EU for much longer. While the EU and possibly the US decides to crack down on tax evasion, the UK will still be shuffling its bits of paper around, which isn't going to increase our tax revenues. More than ever, we need the British government to act, because we won't have anybody else doing it for us and many of the most important tax havens are under British jurisdiction anyway.

www.icij.org/blog/2016/07/new-eu-rules-tackle-money-laundering-and-tax-abuse

I doubt whether this would have happened if it wasn't for the Panama Papers.

Yes, but the media is saying that what Whyte and Mackay is doing is legal.

publicintegrity.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=8dc6eceed67f7f012462d0b12&id=5aa9411dea&e=98045e9077

Just received this email, daphne.

I don't think that was as a result of the Panama Papers (could be wrong). The US is very good at prosecuting people when other individuals lose out, as they allegedly have done with the HSBC case. However, they're not so good at prosecuting people for fraud when the whole country is the loser.

I suspect the Panama Papers will make loads of money for corporate lawyers, but I seriously can't see much making its way to the Treasury.

BREXIT is a blow to campaigners who wanted the whole of the EU to act together on tax evasion. The UK can't (and won't) act on its own, although many of the biggest tax havens are British sovereign territory. It could be that the situation becomes worse, if London becomes a tax haven in its own right. It's no wonder that some of the biggest hedge fund managers supported BREXIT.

As far as the NHS is concerned, one thing the government could do is buy up the PFI contracts. It's never been cheaper for the government to borrow money (by issuing bonds) and it would save billions in the long wrong.

The government could also invest in local government services, which would take some of the pressure off acute hospital services, but local authorities are facing cuts and don't want to make themselves even more unpopular.

The government could also make pension contributions subject to a flat tax rate, rather than giving away money to the wealthiest with tax savings. Apparently that would result in an £8 billion increase in tax income, but they won't do that either, because the wealthiest would kick up a stink.

One way or other, the NHS is about to implode. Blaming drunks, agency staff or sugary drinks isn't going to solve the problem of such a serious shortfall in funding. Hunt's staying at Health seems to show that May wants him to continue with what he's been doing - or else nobody else wanted the job.

Whyte and Mackay being looked into because of links with Panama Papers.

The thing about the Panama Papers is that they are international, so they could be looked into in the US, which has just charged two HSBC bankers with fraud. They do these things so much quicker in the US.

I wouldn't hold your breath that anything will be done as a result of the Panama Papers. I expect it will all be found to be perfectly 'legal'.

Over £100 billion to be gained from tax cheats. That would fill the NHS black hole.
However, I did read today that Cameron's commission set up to look into the Panama Papers has not yet been given them. Shades of Chilcot.

@varian and jessm

That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest (although I have no evidence). She comes across as somebody who really doesn't know what she's talking about in areas where she's supposed to have experience and expertise.

I really fear for the NHS. The crux of it is, dj, that NHS England has been told it will get an extra £10billion, but much of that money is coming from Public Health and training. Funding for training is being 'saved' by making student nurses take out loans for their courses.

Countries such as France and Germany spend 50% more than the NHS and even they are complaining that they don't have enough to deal with increasing demand. Trusts are being told to make efficiency savings and you can bet that the bulk of the savings will come from staffing cuts at a time when Hunt wants a 7 day service. Ha ha ha!

Jen - I think in essence there's not going to be enough money. Not even if the NHS/care interface (where most of the "efficiency savings" could be made) was to suddenly work like clockwork. Without a plan for getting there.
Or am I being too negative...?
Leadsom is an appalling choice to run DEFRA.
I can only hope that she comes unravelled in double quick time and is replaced by someone less dire.
www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/18/concerns-mount-over-andrea-leadsoms-suitability-for-environment-role

It looked like Leadsom stood down because of mummygate but aparently the real reason was the threat by the CEO of one of the firms she worked for to spill the beans about her fabricated cv

I think the poin t with Leadsom is that she is so useless that in fac t she is totally ineffectual.
She wasn't sure if climate change was real but was sure that God existed and one that disapproved of gay marriage.

Do they have a table, whitewave? I did not think that anyone could be worse than IDS.

See Leadsom has been reported as the worse most useless minister ever by civil servants who previously worked with her. The farmers must be concerned. Whose going to fight their corner? She believes in total free market economics. Idiot woman.

fullfact.org/health/spending-english-nhs/

Can anyone make sense of this? It's no wonder those in charge of CCG finance have problems.

When my daughter was travelling round Eire for a few months, she flew home for medical treatment, then flew back. Even though she had a EHIC and would have been entitled to free treatment, she found the service incredibly slow and inefficient. It was quicker to fly back to the UK.

Apparently, some people have a medical card which entitles them to free or subsidised treatment. If you don't have private health insurance, it's expensive and waiting lists are long. The Irish spend more per capita than the UK does.

Yes in S Ireland you do have to pay to see a doctor and, I think pay for all your prescriptions. Because it is so rural people have to travel very long distances to see consultants or get hospital treatment.

@Tegan

It costs 100 Euro to go to A & E with a doctor referral in Eire. There are also charges for GP visits and ambulances.

Apparently nearly half of Irish citizens have private health insurance.

PS. My son had his knee Xrayed the day he dislocated it and again at the end of last week. He's starting physio next week - all on the NHS.

But, Margaret, that's how private outsourcing works in the UK and what the government is encouraging. The NHS 'commissions' services for ambulance services, mental health, radiography, out of hours care, etc. Sometimes the NHS wins the contracts; sometimes private providers step in, but they're only interested in the acute, profitable work. The NHS picks up the cinderella services. Commissioning administrators cost over £2billion, which could go to patient care.

The NHS IS divided up into smaller regions, each with its own managers, policies and procedures. It hasn't operated as a national giant for years.

Sorry to say this again, but the real problem is money. The latest year for which comparable data seems to be available is 2013. Germany spent $4819 per capita, the UK spent $3235. Imagine what the UK could do with over fifty per cent extra funding!

You can only have a private provider is he doesn't pick and choose. The government has to make a law about it

When there are more of them then the work will be spread out
6 weeks for an XRAY! impossible. The staff levels sound to be dangerously low.

Other countries can do it. I had a tiny inflamed gland on my back. It got worse when I was in Austria in a mountain village. The GP told me to get onto the couch, lay on my stomach, and he cut it open and removed it, bound it up and sent me back to our holiday flat where I lay down and recovered. I went three times in all that week, and it healed well no antibiotics.

In 1000 metres high he can't send patients anywhere except by helicopter so he did it all. Another patient told me he set broken bones in the ski season. Fantastic.
It cost me nothing as in the EU there is an agreement.

To be honest the NHS is too large it is unmanageable. It should be divided up.

What system does Southern Ireland have? I seem to remember friends having to pay a small amount to see a Dr.

No, it's not good. Private providers also employ locums. With commissioning of services to outsourced providers, quality of care is unlikely to improve and there is even less likely there will be continuity of care.

The real issue is that over 40% of the NHS budget is spent on the over 65s. When the NHS was founded in 1948 average male life expectancy was only just over 65, so about half of all males died before they retired.

Infant mortality was 34 per 1000 (it's now 5 per 1000). That's an amazing improvement, but some of those babies will have disabilities or conditions requiring lifelong care, which is expensive.

No private provider is going to pick up work with difficult births, the disabled or diseases of the elderly, because it's not profitable. If we want a truly first class health service, we have to pay for it. That means raising taxes or charging people for visits. I'm not in favour of charging for visits, because I know that I, for one, would put off seeing my GP if I found something worrying until it was maybe too late.