Just in case anyone living in the UK though that there was any vestage of freedom of speech left.
Let’s all thank our lucky stars we are living in France
‘Let them eat cake!’
For some context, there are/were 250 French nationals living in Sudan mostly in Khartoum whereas the UK has 4000+ spread all over the country so getting them out quickly and safely is a logistical nightmare.
Every other country has advised their citizens to make their own way to the same airport or the coast so whilst Wallace’s comment sounds daft it might be the correct thing to do.
Aren’t these the same allegations that occured in 2012 (?) on delays in extracting personel from Tripoli,
.
Surely having a higher number of UK citizens in Sudan to repatriate is more of a reason to react quickly than slowly - especially as it was not guaranteed the ceasefire will be respected for the full 72 hours.
I think that’s the frustrating thing, the UK appears to have not been very reactive. Although Wallace does appear to take this more seriously than Raab did when the situation in Afghanistan was unravelling.
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It seems the government is now censoring people who have been critical on social media.
Free speech eh? Besides who needs experts?
Just when we thought we’d heard the last of Johnson…
The irony here being that if he’d paid for his own defence it would be subject to privilege and would not have been referred.
Karma’s a bitch sometimes 
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Title should say " how scary are uk governement///ssss…
They are all VERY scary… Nothing has improved in the last say twenty years and probably even further back… Things that needed sorting out way back then, are still in the swame mess now,k in fact much worse… bar the odd tweek to stuff, its the same old ““facia”” solutions, NOTHING is ever sorted out… New hospitals to be built is a joke… hows about making the one’s they have run more efficiently first. It’s all about what looks good.
Give me a run down building, no plaster on the walls, pipes showing, curtains that haven’t had a wash for years, doctor who probably rushed to get dressed due to keeping her surgey open until 9pm, chairs that aren’t always comfy to sit in…but an excellent, efficient, listening service that deals with the problem presented to them…etc etc… Will do for me, EVERY time…rather than the beautifully decorated, comfy chairs and everyone looking all uniformed and proper.but no service…
The governments (UK) need to visit some more countries to check out how its done… maybe then they will stop ranting on about how great the uk is and open their eyes to all the shit thats actually happening…
Rant over… and yep, ive had an absolulte crap day… does it show… lol 
Oh and the Tories - don’t get me started on that bunch of absolute joke baboons…and the joke that is ““BREXIT”” oh by the way, its done… yeah right… pmsl…LOL LOL LOL LOL
But if you have the former you won’t have the latter.
Working in a poor physical environment, especially for long hours wears people down and they will not be providing good service especially if regularly at work until 9PM the previous day.
Anyway it is clear that the Tories wish to destroy the NHS, how else do you explain their approach to negotiating with staff who have seen real world falls in their pay and working conditions?
I guess my thinking is how a building looks (governments always put cash into how things look) for me as long as the people working in there are allowed to do their job efficiently (which they are not, like you say, underpaid, low moral due to working conditions) and i dont think how a place looks matters if a doctor or nurse can just get the job done, they would feel much better if they could just do the job, not having to owrry about other things going on in their environment… the stresses come due to them not having enough staff, so are doing several folks jobs… If the government took time to sort out the service provided, then the people working in that service would be happy due to them being able to do the job they trained to do… but the uk governments do nothing to help this situation and in fact only expect more from the workers that work in it, like you said, giving them not enough pay or decent working conditions, etc… and its not just hosptials it all starts with just being able to get an appointment with a doctor, have enough time to tell them what the problem is, for them not to worry about sending you to be checked out due to the costs thats incurred… etc etc… so they give an educated guess at what the problem might be…and hope for the best… and send you on your way… several appointments later you might jsut get some ‘‘factual’’ results…
No one in the healthcare services get to enjoy their job, due to the pressures put on them, due to the lack of imput in ALL matters, totally neglected by said governements of the day…
sorry if this sounds rather disjointed… I’m just letting it out… lol
Somewhere, probably well over forty years ago, I imagine there was a hush-hush government meeting of the few on the topic of how to get rid of a sacred cow.
The NHS, totally free for all was always an idealistic dream that would come under terminal pressure via its own success in keeping more and more people alive for longer. Anyone with a calculator and knowledge of the increasing cost of medicines and medical treatments could foresee that costs would become astronomical, paid for by taxing an ever decreasing work force. And, any capitalist with a calculator could see that there were vast amounts of money making potential in healthcare.
One way to effect a change of what has become a socialist right enjoyed in a democracy by a voting public, is to get said public behind the idea that change is necessary because the status quo no longer effectively works. What better way to do that than by breaking off so many pieces that the service struggles to perform?
Or, wave an astronomical bill and tell the electorate that it will require enormous tax increases. No, no. Tax hikes are political career ending moves. Pouring ever increasing amounts of money into the NHS has to come from somewhere. If not more tax, then where? Looks like the secret decision was to be the knobbling. Pass the hammer, Chancellor!
UK society is now seeing the plot unfold. The NHS is unravelling. Not one step has not been planned and orchestrated by the government. How else could it have turned into such a mess that people on waiting lists are dying before they reach the top of the list? It is amoral what has been done and by whom but is the NHS now beyond the tipping point? Soon it will not only be the much maligned foreign immigrants watching doors close.
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Understand what you say… and yes it was an idealistic dream, one that might have kept working if other issues the intelligencia should have saw coming… aging population living longer is just but one…
It’s unrealistic for anyone to expect this type of system to work without a few tweeks here and there and at the least constant updating.
But sadly labour party just think by pouring money at it, this will solve the problem ( it never has) and the tories, they talk a good talk but achieve the same (absolutely nothing) oh they make things look nice… what I call "“A perfect lip service” scenario…
Ordinary people just want to have a service they can rely on when its needed and whatever it takes for this to be achieved, should be done…
I heard someone say a few years back "Perhaps all political parties should join together as far as health of the nation is concerned, without scoring political points on the subject and just all work together to provide a service that gives people what they need.
We hear folk complain about smokers (just one example, the only one i can think of right now) taking up places in the nhs, but every one should be treated the same. People should not have to choose or discuss who should have preference or who is given treatment…no one is better or worse than anyone… We all should be treated with consideration and respect…
If you have a health problem, it should be first looked at, diagnosed ( presumably by doing test, etc) then you are given the appropriate treatment needed…its just basic in my eyes… nothing too complicated and yes money is needed… but there is so much waste in all departments…
As i mentioned before, perhaps governemtns should care more about the service, instead of the surroundings…
I would rather walk into a building thats looking shabby and run down, but a building that has the proper machines to test for ailments, folk that arent down trodden who have to care about other things going on, rather than just being able to be nurses and doctors, with the right tools provided for the job they do. etc…
A good example is when you have a mamogram done… totally pointless… it sends you a letter to say this test does not show ALL cancers, so if you still have problems contact your GP… a total waste of everyones time, stress for all concerned, money staying off work due to several appointments, etc…
if they could check your breasts in the same (one) appointment and then if something is found, then to make an apt with the relevant consultant, etc…
No wonder folk who work in the nhs are fatigued, stressed and ready to leave to do a job that pays more, with less stress…
oh i could rant forever about this… but will pause there and make supper… I needed to let it out …
a bit like a good fart, as BIlly connelly would say… “Much better out, than in” lol
Glad I’m in the French system rather than the NHS, but it seem to me, writing as an art historian rather than someone with relevant specialist understanding of the situation is to create an intermediate tier of highly trained pharmacists, a a bit like they’re currently trying to do in France, but perhaps the level of training should be higher in order to be a really effective intermediate stage of clinical advice.
Related but not connected, is the suggestion that France could free up a huge amount of doctors’ time if they increased the interval for prescription renewal from three to four months
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Is this something being officially considered?
3 visits per year rather than 4 would be good.
Past experience in the UK of repeat prescription year after year without seeing doctor for a review was a joke.
Here it is very reassuring that a face to face appointment
Is required for repeat medication and as we get older and various niggles manifest themselves its good to know that your healthy, or not, state will be reviewed.
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When I lived in France a few years ago now, my doctor always gave me a prescription to do me over the winter months, just being practical I felt.
Not sure how it is now, but did find… You went with a matter of concern, you saw someone within the week, they did all the relevant tests, gave a diagnosis, gave prescribed treatment… sorted… and only two appointments were needed to achieve all the above… I think the chemists in France, while I was there had the power to give you medicines… but by the sounds of above statements, maybe this is expanded somewhat…
In fact think there was talk about doing this very thing in the UK. Not sure if I read somewhere or heared it on some news bulletin.
As far as getting a tablets review in the uk. I was on medication from France, when my move back to the uk and NOT ONCE was any of my medicines questioned. I choose myself to change them due to finding out what worked best long term.
…or even made getting repeat prescriptions easier and not require a full doctor’s appointment every time. Depending on the drug, several repeats depending on what the control interval needs to be for the doctor to actually see you to cover that same prescription stil needed.
I used to just phone for repeats in the UK, it would be collectable at the surgery or even directly sent by the surgery to my nominated pharmacy. Ongoing for at least a year just repeating. Eventually they would write 6 months at a time not just 3.
Here, doctor full up, refusing new patients, 6 weeks wait for appointments. Sad that for something quite simple it’s 1 repeat only then I’ll need to take up an appointment spot someone else could have used just to get a repeat of the same. Though that is an indicator of quality and care in another way, of course.
@kazza1 wastage in the NHS…Until they have a female strong enough to sort it, sad that so much money goes straight down the plughole. Over the years so many people working in the NHS told of wastage, inefficiency, too many managers managing nothing (not always their fault) etc.
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