On Tue, 6 Jul 2021 11:51:16 +0100, BrritSki
<***@gmail.com> wrote:
<snip>
Post by BrritSkiHmm, not sure I agree with either the GC or "Royal" status. I have no
doubt that the front-line staff of the NHS - the doctors, nurses, care
assistants, cleaners, porters, caterers etc. - as well as similar people
in the care sector all deserve our wholehearted thanks and appreciation,
but I personally think we'd do better to give them - or at least the
lower paid - a substantial increase in pay rather than waste money on
lockdowns with concomitant expenses for furlough, EO2HO schemes etc.
I don't see it as an either/or (GC or Pay) situation and I feel that
some of the memes such as the doctor at the front of the supermarket
checkout queue holding open an empty purse and asking "Do you accept
GC?" are disingenuous at best.
As a nation we should pay people better. Nobody deserves to work a
full week and have to fall back on the state to top up their earnings
in order that they have enough to live on. I think the last eighteen
months have taught us that drivers and checkout assistants are
essential workers too and they deserve to be rewarded as such. As for
the NHS, whilst I might argue that the wastage and the proliferation
of high paid managers and business consultants at the top end is not
entirely the fault of the NHS, dissatisfaction with the organisation
is no reason to withhold a decent reward to the people at the sharp
end of the system.
Post by BrritSkiAt the same time I think that the NHS as a service has let us down
badly. It's easy to say that Gov'ts of all types have not funded it
properly and there's some truth in that, but the waste that goes on at
the top is legendary and the way it is organised is just wrong.
But the way it is organised is a result of it being pushed into the
state it currently is by legislation from governments of every
persuasion which have been determined to erase the ideology of the
prior administrations and impose their own.
Post by BrritSkihttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/06/nhs-hasnt-earned-george-cross/
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/time-to-admit-we-can-do-better-than-the-nhs-3hfsljqqs
I think I'm repeating stuff I've already said before elsewhere. The UK
is not alone in being one of the wealthiest countries in the world yet
one which fails to require all its citizens to be treated decently.
Other, more modest countries without aspirations of being dominant,
global and world-beating, manage to educate, pay and care for their
people better than we do and we could do the same if ideology didn't
stand in the way.
There are rumours that a quirk in statistics could lead to state
pensioners receiving a windfall increase next season and already
commentators are saying the money ought to be spent on other things
instead. The pensions expert and Conservative peer, Baroness Ros
Altmann has admitted that the UK State Pension is " the worst state
pension in the developed world "[1] so paying the windfall would only
make it a slightly better worst state pension instead. We need to pay
state pensioners better, pay ordinary people better and pay the people
in the NHS and beyond who give so much of themselves much, much
better.
"The nation can't afford it!" goes the cry. But other, poorer
countries can afford it and do afford it so in my opinion the only
arguments standing in the way of gtreating people better are the
ideological arguments of both left and right. Instead of expecting the
world to model itself on Great Britain, we would do well to take a
long, hard look at how and why other countries do so much better than
ourselves in so many ways that bring real benefits to their citizens.
In my opinion, of course.
Nick
[1]<https://inews.co.uk/opinion/triple-lock-rishi-sunak-pension-credit-poorest-pensioners-1062959>