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[Hiberno-Britannic Politics] - Tories Dropping like Johnson's Flies

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    Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    My grandad recently waited over 2 hours for an ambulance when he woke up unresponsive and unable to move. He lives right next to Poole.

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    jaziekjaziek Bad at everything And mad about it.Registered User regular
    Solar wrote: »
    I work with those clinics quite a lot in terms of feedback and I don't think there's a single GIC in NHS England and Wales which isn't looking at a waiting list measured in years.

    There isn't, and it is getting exponentially worse. The clinics that are treating new patients publish waiting times according to how long the most recent new patient they saw have been waiting, but they process significantly fewer people than there are people being added to the waiting lists, so that waiting time is only ever going to increase. Currently the average waiting time is around 4 years, I.e. they're treating people referred in 2017, but if you're referred today, based on the current speed at which they're getting through referrals vs the number of people being referred, you're looking at a 25 year wait.

    I think. to get to the core of it,
    in this country, being trans is still considered to be a mental illness / disease, and transitioning is something that needs to be avoided at all costs. When someone wants to transition, the existing system is in place to try and stop them, rather than help them, and only give them the medication they need as a last resort.
    until that mindset changes, nothing will get better.

    Steam ||| SC2 - Jaziek.377 on EU & NA. ||| Twitch Stream
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    Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    I'm on the waitlist for the Exeter GIC. I should probably get transferred but I feel like I should leave whatever hypothetical space I would take for someone who isn't able to start the process privately like I did.

    All I need is for the NHS to agree to take over monitoring my treatment. They already prescribe it. I just still have to pay hundreds of pounds a year to a private clinic for them to say "Yes keep prescribing it." To think it will take me over a decade to get to the point where the NHS will agree to no longer need that is surreal.

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    CasualCasual Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Flap Flap Flap Registered User regular
    Before covid the clinics were stretched to breaking point, after covid they're totally broken with no possible hope of meeting demand without massive investment and expansion. Being trans is absolutely considered a mental health condition and transition is the most extreme treatment, as such doctors only prescribe it as a last resort. The NHS is still struggling to become a service that treats mental as well as physical health, it's a fairly recent thing that people have come round to the idea it should. It hasn't been given the resources it needs to take on this massive expansion of its remit and as a result mental healthcare (including trans healthcare) is still in the stone age.

    It goes without saying until the "healthcare is your own problem" austerity Tories go it won't improve.

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    Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    I submit that if it is possible for someone to transition in the UK at all, that will be considered as "too easy" by the usual suspects.
    The number they want is zero, if not negative.

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    jaziekjaziek Bad at everything And mad about it.Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I submit that if it is possible for someone to transition in the UK at all, that will be considered as "too easy" by the usual suspects.
    The number they want is zero, if not negative.

    You're absolutely right of course. They want us wiped off the face of the earth. But they're far too milquetoast to actually do it themselves, so they'll just gradually make our lives so unliveable and isolated that we do it for them.

    jaziek on
    Steam ||| SC2 - Jaziek.377 on EU & NA. ||| Twitch Stream
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    BethrynBethryn Unhappiness is Mandatory Registered User regular
    Casual wrote: »
    The NHS is still struggling to become a service that treats mental as well as physical health, it's a fairly recent thing that people have come round to the idea it should.
    Resources are one thing, but we - and every other country in the world - simply do not have the numbers of people with requisite psych degrees and training for staffing mental healthcare right now.

    ...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
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    Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    Bethryn wrote: »
    Casual wrote: »
    The NHS is still struggling to become a service that treats mental as well as physical health, it's a fairly recent thing that people have come round to the idea it should.
    Resources are one thing, but we - and every other country in the world - simply do not have the numbers of people with requisite psych degrees and training for staffing mental healthcare right now.

    One, that's resources, two, the majority of trans health care isn't mental health. Therapists can be useful, sure, but HRT is better.

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    BethrynBethryn Unhappiness is Mandatory Registered User regular
    Phoenix-D wrote: »
    Bethryn wrote: »
    Casual wrote: »
    The NHS is still struggling to become a service that treats mental as well as physical health, it's a fairly recent thing that people have come round to the idea it should.
    Resources are one thing, but we - and every other country in the world - simply do not have the numbers of people with requisite psych degrees and training for staffing mental healthcare right now.

    One, that's resources, two, the majority of trans health care isn't mental health. Therapists can be useful, sure, but HRT is better.
    Yeah, I'm not suggesting it as an alternative. But doctors aren't resources you 'give' a health service: you give the health service money to hire staff and expand hospital buildings or hire space for use. We could throw a lot of money at the NHS, but that wouldn't linearly speed up the creation of mental health services, because we busted up our pipeline for importing pre-existing talent via the EU with Brexit, and our universities can only get so much throughput for degrees.

    ...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
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    Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    jaziek wrote: »
    I submit that if it is possible for someone to transition in the UK at all, that will be considered as "too easy" by the usual suspects.
    The number they want is zero, if not negative.

    You're absolutely right of course. They want us wiped off the face of the earth. But they're far too milquetoast to actually do it themselves, so they'll just gradually make our lives so unliveable and isolated that we do it for them.
    I finished Fallout 3, Fallout NV, and Fallout 4. Let them bring it. Being somewhat Enby, and therefore privileged; I can take it. But I shouldn't have to, and you shouldn't either. :(

    Obviously, No Trans* person on this planet should. :heartbeat:

    But I am preaching to the choir, here on this forum. Out on the street(s), day to day, a whole other story is happening and will, very sadly, keep on happening. :(

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    Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59232736

    Well, there we go then. A direct, and clear, statement of intent. They want us dead. :(

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    Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Zilla360 wrote: »
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59232736

    Well, there we go then. A direct, and clear, statement of intent. They want us dead. :(

    A slight bright spot (for BBC staff, at least):


    BBC are instead joining INvolve's broader diversity and inclusion workplace programme. They're a good organisation who also further trans inclusion and unequivocally support trans rights. Why wasn't that mentioned in the press release?

    Joey is some guy, but is referring to the Forbes article

    So they're aware that their workplace needs a diversity programme, but they don't want a "controversial" one

    So this will suffice until the GCs start making INvolve "controversial", and until then the story is just going to be "BBC severs ties with Stonewall so there must be something dodgy about them"

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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    Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    Ah. I think this is their correct URL?

    https://www.involve.org.uk/

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    Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    It turns out that very obvious corruption for the personal benefit of government MPs os in fact the public's breakong point.



    Daily Mail journalist

    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
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    TroggTrogg Registered User regular
    For everything negative I've ever said about the Labour party, if they can actually defeat the Tories in an election... it would make a lot of things better for a lot of people.

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    Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    Managed to recover a video from last Saturday I thought I had lost forever. Rallying together to get ready to march through the streets of Leeds:



    It was an experience that I shall never forget.
    There are good people in this country, they just need leadership that inspires hope, trust, and basic human decency, instead of utter, relentless, abject fucking despair at the hands of Tory scum-bags.
    IMO, of course. I can't speak for anyone else.

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    tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    It turns out that very obvious corruption for the personal benefit of government MPs os in fact the public's breakong point.



    Daily Mail journalist

    Don't worry, soon someone in labor will slice ham the wrong way or something, or take a free can of coke at a union rally and we'll be back to both sides are the same.

    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
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    MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Zilla360 wrote: »
    Managed to recover a video from last Saturday I thought I had lost forever. Rallying together to get ready to march through the streets of Leeds:



    It was an experience that I shall never forget.
    There are good people in this country, they just need leadership that inspires hope, trust, and basic human decency, instead of utter, relentless, abject fucking despair at the hands of Tory scum-bags.
    IMO, of course. I can't speak for anyone else.

    Gonna say, a little triggered by this.

    One elderly lady at 17s is wearing a chin diaper, otherwise, not a single mask in sight.

    According to some searches, only 70% fully vaccinated, 30K daily cases, 200 daily deaths. I get people want this to be over, but it still freaks me out that large crowds of maskless still happen.

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    japanjapan Registered User regular
    Leader of the Scottish conservatives, Douglas Ross, who you may recall from such hits as "Sturgeon must resign if found to have breached the ministerial code" and "Johnson must resign if found to have breached the ministerial code" has referred himself for failing to declare £30k in outside earnings.

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    Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    japan wrote: »
    Leader of the Scottish conservatives, Douglas Ross, who you may recall from such hits as "Sturgeon must resign if found to have breached the ministerial code" and "Johnson must resign if found to have breached the ministerial code" has referred himself for failing to declare £30k in outside earnings.

    Whilst hilarious and just so on brand for the walking disaster that is wee Dougie it is just failure to declare all of his linesman income. Not an actual serious issue.

    Alistair Hutton on
    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
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    Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    tbloxham wrote: »
    It turns out that very obvious corruption for the personal benefit of government MPs os in fact the public's breakong point.



    Daily Mail journalist

    Don't worry, soon someone in labor will slice ham the wrong way or something, or take a free can of coke at a union rally and we'll be back to both sides are the same.

    The important thing is we are still in the "zone" for transient event polling.

    The rule of thumb is it take 3 days before a transitory event makes an impact on poll numbers and then after 10 days the impact dissipates. With field work on the 11th-12th of November this poll is basically in the prime spot for impact. The test as to whether this is a genuine shift or not is in 10 days time when the impact should have dissipated if it is transitory.

    I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/

    I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.

    Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
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    BurnageBurnage Registered User regular
    MorganV wrote: »
    Zilla360 wrote: »
    Managed to recover a video from last Saturday I thought I had lost forever. Rallying together to get ready to march through the streets of Leeds:



    It was an experience that I shall never forget.
    There are good people in this country, they just need leadership that inspires hope, trust, and basic human decency, instead of utter, relentless, abject fucking despair at the hands of Tory scum-bags.
    IMO, of course. I can't speak for anyone else.

    Gonna say, a little triggered by this.

    One elderly lady at 17s is wearing a chin diaper, otherwise, not a single mask in sight.

    According to some searches, only 70% fully vaccinated, 30K daily cases, 200 daily deaths. I get people want this to be over, but it still freaks me out that large crowds of maskless still happen.

    If you think that's bad you should see what the trains are like on my daily commute.

    We've been pretty shit at mask wearing as a country for the entirety of the pandemic and at this point it's a real rarity to see anyone wearing them at all.

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    Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    Leeds train station isn't even pretending anymore - they've removed all of the social distancing floor markers

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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    JazzJazz Registered User regular
    Richard Ratcliffe is ending his hunger strike after 21 days.

    The sheer contrast between that man's humanity and dignity and our so-called leaders is incredibly stark.

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    CasualCasual Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Flap Flap Flap Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    japan wrote: »
    Leader of the Scottish conservatives, Douglas Ross, who you may recall from such hits as "Sturgeon must resign if found to have breached the ministerial code" and "Johnson must resign if found to have breached the ministerial code" has referred himself for failing to declare £30k in outside earnings.

    Whilst hilarious and just so on brand for the walking disaster that is wee Dougie it is just failure to declare all of his linesman income. Not an actual serious issue.

    I admit that failing to declare a few grands worth of linesmans work is not in the same league of sleaze as using your office to advance your six figure lobbying job but to be honest it still raises questions a lot of MP's desperately don't want you to ask. It would be good if someone sat down and codified how many hours we expect MP's to devote to the role. I'd have thought at the very least its a 40+ hour a week job? Certainly whenever the question of MP's pay comes up we hear how hard they work all hours in an all consuming job, but at the same time it apparently is easy enough you can have numerous other jobs at the same time?

    Then you have Ross who wants to be an MSP and an MP at the same time which gets another big "hmmmm" from me. I know from a conservative standpoint it's a win-win, you really drive home the inseparability of UK and Scottish governance and get to treat the Scottish parliament like an irrelevance with a representative that will no doubt spend all his time in Westminster. Personally I want my elected representative to spend their time representing me in the capacity they've been elected to do so, be that in Holyrood or Westminster. I'd be quite unhappy to have a representative that splits their time between the two, thus giving me half the amount of representation of someone whose MP/MSP doesn't do that.

    It also goes without saying how crazy it is that it's even a question that MP's holding "consultancy" (i.e. lobbying) roles while in office is a conflict of interest. Paterson didn't get sacked for using his MP status to lobby in exchange for money, that technically is possible to do with in the rules. He got busted for breaking specific rules, like using his literal constituency office to hold business meetings and using House of Commons headed paper.

    I honestly cannot see any reason not to totally ban second jobs for MP's, there is literally no way for an MP to hold paid consultancy jobs for businesses that operate within their constituency, or even just within this country, without it potentially being a conflict of interest. When the food conglomerate that gives an MP six figures a year wants to build a slaughterhouse in a constituency and the residents are against it, are we really expected to believe that MP is objectively representing their interests?

    Casual on
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    MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    Leeds train station isn't even pretending anymore - they've removed all of the social distancing floor markers

    I'm sure there will be no consequences to the hubris of just ignoring this.

    I mean, everything that the Johnson government has done in the last couple years, Covid and otherwise, has turned out peachy, with no complications.

    Nope. I mean the other thing. :huh: :eh:

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    klemmingklemming Registered User regular
    Casual wrote: »
    I honestly cannot see any reason not to totally ban second jobs for MP's, there is literally no way for an MP to hold paid consultancy jobs for businesses that operate within their constituency, or even just within this country, without it potentially being a conflict of interest.
    The reflex counter-argument is what about MPs who are doctors and nurses, wouldn't you want them to be able to work the occasional shift to help our dear NHS? then they shift the goalposts a little bit more each time until you back down.
    Leaving aside the fact that if I visited my GP and it was my local Former Former Disgraced Former MP Liam Fox, I'd ask for a second opinion before hearing the first one.
    (incidentally, either Former Former Disgraced Former MP Liam Fox owns a Tesla with the license plate LI4M FX, or else last week I was stuck behind some other driver who wanted people to think they were Former Former Disgraced Former MP Liam Fox.)

    The answer to that usually boils down to Yes But That's Different, but it boils down to the 'I know it when I see it' definition. Coming up with a concrete rule is more difficult than that, especially when you've got to get MPs to agree to it before you can enforce it.

    Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
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    BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    No second jobs that pay more than ten grand unless they’re in public service or charity work.

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    klemmingklemming Registered User regular
    Bogart wrote: »
    No second jobs that pay more than ten grand unless they’re in public service or charity work.
    The problem is that those kind of rules are fairly easy to circumvent on technicalities.
    "Yes, I took a low-paid consultancy job, just to help them out. Co-incidentally, after I retired as an MP they hired me on a six-figure salary and paid me a lot of bonuses."

    Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
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    tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    tbloxham wrote: »
    It turns out that very obvious corruption for the personal benefit of government MPs os in fact the public's breakong point.



    Daily Mail journalist

    Don't worry, soon someone in labor will slice ham the wrong way or something, or take a free can of coke at a union rally and we'll be back to both sides are the same.

    The important thing is we are still in the "zone" for transient event polling.

    The rule of thumb is it take 3 days before a transitory event makes an impact on poll numbers and then after 10 days the impact dissipates. With field work on the 11th-12th of November this poll is basically in the prime spot for impact. The test as to whether this is a genuine shift or not is in 10 days time when the impact should have dissipated if it is transitory.

    I believe it has made a genuine dent in the popularity of the conservatives. It’s a major scandal, which plays to the lack of trust their base has in government and reminds their expanded support from the poor and misled that they are just a bunch of rich toffs who don’t care about them. In addition covid remains a strain on many, and additional instability from inflation, goods import and the like leaves the country angry with those in charge in a very real way.

    My point is that “fizzy drink-gate” in three weeks time will also leave labor with genuine problems, as the man in the street sees that not only did they get a free can of coke, but it is was full sugar coke (angering the left), and came in one of those thin cans making them look a bit silly while they drank it (causing big tough men to doubt their ability as a leader)

    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
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    AlphaRomeroAlphaRomero Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    You shouldn't be allowed a second job at all. A) they're highly paid and can expense everything to a ridiculous degree, B) why would any of them need or want a second job unless it's because it's an overpaid position explicitly designed for the purposes of corruption and C) How could they ever actually undertake this job without doing it on the clock at their main job?

    No MP is ever doing a sidegig at McDonalds because they need extra cash, it's always something that is paid an average annual salary for 6 hours work.

    AlphaRomero on
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    klemmingklemming Registered User regular
    Like I said, some (mostly backbenchers who don't get mentioned in the news or noticed at all) do the occasional GP or nursing shift, and that gets used as the you want to put more strain on the NHS you monster argument.

    The numbers involved mean a blanket ban wouldn't make that much difference, though.

    Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
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    MorganVMorganV Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Bogart wrote: »
    No second jobs that pay more than ten grand unless they’re in public service or charity work.

    Also, make it required that it be declared as such?

    I don't think it unreasonable that voters know that a politician is intending to work (and where), when they're supposed to be representing their constituents.

    If it's as a doctor/nurse/teacher/whatever, it's unlikely to be an issue. If it's a consultant for CompuGlobalHyperMegaCorp, the constituents deserve to know.

    And no, you don't get to start a job if it wasn't declared prior to an election. Don't like it? Resign your public office.

    MorganV on
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    CasualCasual Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Flap Flap Flap Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    klemming wrote: »
    Like I said, some (mostly backbenchers who don't get mentioned in the news or noticed at all) do the occasional GP or nursing shift, and that gets used as the you want to put more strain on the NHS you monster argument.

    The numbers involved mean a blanket ban wouldn't make that much difference, though.

    I don't really have a problem with costing the NHS a couple of doctors and nurses in exchange with getting rid of second jobs for MP's. To be totally honest, I think MP and Doctor/Nurse are all professions that require your full attention anyway.
    Bogart wrote: »
    No second jobs that pay more than ten grand unless they’re in public service or charity work.

    I don't even see a great argument for a Charity exception. The paid side of charity work is as rife with grift as the private sector. If an MP wants to do charity work they can do what normal people do, volunteer on their own time.

    Any exception you try to work in there is just going to be gamed.

    Casual on
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    BethrynBethryn Unhappiness is Mandatory Registered User regular
    klemming wrote: »
    Bogart wrote: »
    No second jobs that pay more than ten grand unless they’re in public service or charity work.
    The problem is that those kind of rules are fairly easy to circumvent on technicalities.
    "Yes, I took a low-paid consultancy job, just to help them out. Co-incidentally, after I retired as an MP they hired me on a six-figure salary and paid me a lot of bonuses."
    I feel like MPs have already gotten that part in addition to the while-MP job.

    ...and of course, as always, Kill Hitler.
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    Rhesus PositiveRhesus Positive GNU Terry Pratchett Registered User regular
    New plan: mandate second jobs

    They're all now hospital porters making minimum wage

    [Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
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    Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    MorganV wrote: »
    Gonna say, a little triggered by this.

    One elderly lady at 17s is wearing a chin diaper, otherwise, not a single mask in sight.

    According to some searches, only 70% fully vaccinated, 30K daily cases, 200 daily deaths. I get people want this to be over, but it still freaks me out that large crowds of mask-less still happen.
    @MorganV Yeah. I was wearing my mask. If it's any consolation it was a bright yet somewhat windy day.

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    fedaykin666fedaykin666 Registered User regular
    2024 is a long way away and there are plenty of reprehensible reprobates ready to replace Johnson. Presumably someone like Raab or Hunt would be equally atrocious in terms of food banks, dead poor people etc. but look slightly less obviously corrupt and criminal and cause less international humiliation.

    It is good news to see them losing support, but I for one won't be happy until ( And I'm starting to think it will never happen) Starmer comes out and says, look at all these specific problems Brexit is causing, we are also the pro EU party and plan to fix them by applying to rejoin. Would that really be such a shot in the foot? Their support would surge at lower age and higher education demographics.

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    ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    Casual wrote: »
    klemming wrote: »
    Like I said, some (mostly backbenchers who don't get mentioned in the news or noticed at all) do the occasional GP or nursing shift, and that gets used as the you want to put more strain on the NHS you monster argument.

    The numbers involved mean a blanket ban wouldn't make that much difference, though.

    I don't really have a problem with costing the NHS a couple of doctors and nurses in exchange with getting rid of second jobs for MP's. To be totally honest, I think MP and Doctor/Nurse are all professions that require your full attention anyway.
    A bit of an aside, but doctors and nurses are some of the professions that are easiest to step in and out of at the drop of a hat.

    Part of that is the nature of the work - consultations are on the order of 15 minutes (depending on your doctor) and the vast majority are for acute, transient issues that don't require any previous knowledge or follow-up.

    It's also set up systematically more than almost any other profession, due to all being part of the NHS (so the higher level business processes are identical), the documentation requirements to be able to pass patients between shifts or specialists, and the fact that medical issues and their treatments are pretty much the same wherever you go.

    If there's any profession where you can just step in for an hour or two and then step out seamlessly, it's primary healthcare. It's so common there's a term for it - "locum".

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    JazzJazz Registered User regular
    The Queen having to miss Remembrance Day, of all things, is only reinforcing what I've been feeling for a while now - that she is (and has been) rather more unwell than the palace is letting on.

This discussion has been closed.