Theresa May 3

"Day6, I have no truck with the 'I vote for the party which will benefit me' mentality."

What a strange thing to say Anniebach.

You vote for the party/candidate that best suits your beliefs, surely?

Are you trying to say you cast your vote for others and not yourself?

Surely whoever you vote for is going to serve your best interests/lifestyle/outlook - or are those who think that way just selfish in your book?

The day has long gone when Labour or Conservatives represented the working man/business man. Those divisions have vanished. Being on the left does not give you the monopoly on compassion. Being on the right does not mean you have money and are miles removed from the working class. Some people like to hold on to these notions.

The fact that my father wore a flat cap and cycled to work doesn't mean I ally myself forever more to the system set up to look after him and the poorest in society, because that party has long since vanished. Old Labourites will be turning in their graves. My Dad worked hard so that his children might get on in life. I vote for the party that recognises effort whilst appreciating getting on is more difficult for others. Having aspirations is at the heart of my philosophy...we raise people up, not keep them down, or create false divisions. We don't destroy the fabric of society by pandering to limited groups. How is that fair?

You may want to portray yourself as a martyr who self-flagellates so that others might use you to get on, but that doesn't wash with me. I imagine others can see through that as well.

Compassion is not the preserve of one party.

The PM did not impress this constituent

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/my_brawl_over_brexit_with_prime_minister_theresa_may_1_4807899?platform=hootsuite

I wonder if the LibDems will target Maidenhead in the next election.

May has a 30,000 majority, but it hasn't always been like that. The LDs used to be in a respectable second place until not so long ago and Maidenhead voted Remain.

Interesting times! Maybe that could be one reason May is holding back from holding a GE. The Conservative Party itself would almost certainly win with a landslide, but there could be some high profile losers.

Is that why Farage was on QT at Maidenhead last night? Sounding out the residents/hostility factor.

Farage has probably done a BOGOF deal with the BBC...or maybe it's book Farage and get Louise Mensch for free.

My son works in media/ politics and says Farage is quite cheap to hire for a panel, a few months ago he charged £1.5k for an evening. Ed Balls, since Strictly , is £10k.

So I wasn't that far wrong!? He's all the BBC can afford since they had their budget cut.

I think I read somewhere that George Osborne has earned £500,000 (or something ridiculous) since he was sacked.

PS. I'm only a tenner and still nobody wants me :-(.

Is that on top of expenses, though, daphne?
Maybe it costs more to get you there in that limousine. Farage is already hanging around outside the studios.

George Osborne's £500,000.

t.co/mjJxjcT06f

Enough to support a habit, as one comment says.

Cheer up daphnedil Come and speak at our virtual Christmas Party, Lord and Lady Rosesarered are more than happy to slip you a tenner, plus you get to party, and even stay the night.
(terms and conditions may apply]

Hmmppphhh! You'd probably heckle or throw bad eggs at me.

Compassion Day6 may not be the preserve of one party but there is real evidence that one party takes better care of the NHS. How can the current mess be reconciled with the promises, made but not kept, of the party in power?,

It's not just the NHS, trisher. There's a certain mindset which runs through politics of supporting certain groups of people. The Conservative Party supports those who have done OK and doesn't care about the collateral.

I'm all for aspiration, but people need a more equal start. Over the last decade or so, that's become more difficult - not because we have no grammar school (yawn!), but because wealth and assets have increasingly become more than most people can earn. These become concentrated in individual families, who are doing just fine thank you very much.

I'm not very tolerant of people who feel entitled, but that also includes people who are quite wealthy, not just the alleged benefit scroungers. By all means, Day6, be proud of what you've achieved, but I believe we are all part of a society and we should not judge our achievements without looking out for those who have been less fortunate.

trisher

The problem is there are some of us who had a bad time under the Labour years and could totally equate with the findings of the Francis Inquiry Report.

Albeit the Inquiry was focused on Mid Staffs it was a broader picture of the NHS at that time and Labour were in power. I was not alone on GN finding the then Labour Health Minister Andy Burnham an equally irritating minister as some find Jeremy Hunt today.

It's time the NHS becomes a true Cross Party issue as it will always be a thorn in the side of any government of any colour and if they have a shred of common sense they will make such a monolith as the NHS a shared problem.

To counteract your 'bad time' POGS (if you're just talking about the NHS), I felt that I was treated well during those years.

I have two ongoing conditions, diabetes and chronic depression, so I've had quite a bit of low level treatment over the years. I've really noticed the deterioration since 2010.

It's quite obvious that there are staff shortages. Mental health has been outsourced and my nearest unit is 15 miles away (even for routine appointments). Diabetes care is also outsourced and fragmented. I don't get to see a GP unless I make a fuss, which means that medication and treatment aren't reviewed properly.

NICE guidelines state that depression and diabetes care should be co-ordinated, because both can affect the other, but I don't get to see anybody who has sufficient knowledge of both, so I have to manage my own care and really push for what I need. This used to be done by my GP, who took early retirement, because he got fed up with cuts and targets. Since then, the GP's surgery has gone downhill. There's a high turnover of staff - mainly trainees and part-time, temporary salaried staff.

I gave birth to both my children during the Thatcher years and I can honestly say that the conditions in the maternity hospital were third world. It didn't even have individual rooms for women to give birth, but wards with six beds, each only separated by a curtain. It was a former Victorian workhouse and had been on the priority list for redevelopment for years. It was one of the first hospitals to be rebuilt using PFI.

My father died in 2007. Before he died, he had about three years of bad health and I couldn't fault anything about the treatment he received. In the end, he died in his own home (which he'd always wanted to do) and was prepared for the end, but the excellent care he received from his GP, the outpatient units he visited and district nurse ensured he spent his last few months in relative comfort and dignity. I know people who have died recently, who weren't nearly so fortunate, because the services aren't there - unless you can pay for them. My mother is going through it now, so I can see what's happening first hand.

I expect you know that the minimum staffing levels which were criticised after Mid-Staffs have now been ignored. We're back where we were, but it's worse because the NHS has less funding when inflation and increasing demand are taken into account.

One of the biggest scandals is the way social care has been offloaded to local councils. This was supposed to save the NHS money, but councils weren't given the funding to provide care. In practice, vulnerable people are being admitted to hospital and blocking beds for conditions which could have been prevented.

I could go on...

I could counterbalance your post equally daphnedil but it would just degenerate into a who has what and how we find the NHS. I have my position and you have yours.

My point is no government has nor probably will in the future escape the disgruntlement of the public , especially partisan views. It is sensible to put the NHS into a Cross Party Agenda and stop the persistent squabbling.

Oh god it is so bloody depressing.

There is a cross-party agenda called the 'Health Select Committee'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Select_Committee

It's current Chair is a Conservative and former GP, who agrees that the NHS is underfunded.

daphnedil

I know that but you're missing my point!

Never mind. We all view things differently.

Not only does Sarah Wollaston say that the NHS is underfunded, so does the health committeee, which has a majority of Conservative members.
Shame that not all Conservatives care about the NHS as much.

There was supposed to be a meeting about pharmacies on Tuesday, but it has been postponed as the pharmacy committee is going to take Hunt to court for not involving it in his negotiations.

psnc.org.uk/our-news/psnc-seeks-judicial-review-of-consultation-on-community-pharmacy/

Pogshow can you compare the inadequacies of one trust with the huge problems country wide that now exist? It is simply trying to excuse the real damage being inflicted on the NHS by this government. It wouldn't be possible to have a Cross-party Agenda for the NHS when one party patently does not believe in it.

Daphnedil the Select committee has no power, other than to call the government to explain itself.
NHS too big and too complicated to be perfect. However the statistics show that it is currently getting worse, not surprisingly. Cut the money in the face of rapidly growing demand due to ageing population. Hole in one.

Just watching Kerry's speech on the Middle East/Israel/Palestine - trying to imagine Johnson making a similar speech in such an articulate manner - failed miserably. Johnson is an utter embarrassment.

Have you seen this about the book that Anthony Barnett is writing?
It's been fully funded on the publishing site.

unbound.com/books/brexit

I am halfway through reading a book called A Country of Refuge, from the same publishers. It's a collection of fiction, poetry, memoir and essays about refugees, not all modern and wanting a home in the UK. It's very powerful, and some of the stories you can't forget.