Not Dead Yet - Forum

Is Everybody happy with the way our country is running, in whichever direction it is  ::) ::) ::)

Another one down the drain!!-- Where is Everybody  ::) ::)

Whoever I talk to Pheonix about the state of the country I get the same answer, that is, this country is in a mess.
Crime,NHS,immigration,are the most quoted.
A sad state of affairs when you cant walk safely at night.Go into to hosps. now not to get well but to catch a bug.
There are too many people coming to this country and living off the state. The police come under fire too, they are reluctant to turn out for anything less than murder, and drunk drivers of course.I cant see any ghange for the better in the forseeable future.

All one has to do is look back, 5/10/15/20 years?? can you actually see that our country has been sliding downhill and gathering speed!!--No one I speak to has a good word to say either!! -- All Services, are 'Stretched' to their Limit and just cannot cope and the powers to be?? Are Still Blind to it all!! -- Them and Their Advisors  ??? ???
Overpaid and Incompetant says it all??  I still maitain The Country, needs a Brand New Party (Non Political) Capable to govern Its own people, fairly and Honestly!!

Folks often talk about the good old days. Because we only store up the good things we remember from them.. To be honest the old days were not all that good. LOl no way i would want to go back to outside toilets, dirty coal fires, hot water bottles that often leaked lol.. having to set traps to get rid of the plague of mice in your house... having to put a shilling in the meter to get a light and going to bed early when u had no shillings left..leaving school at 14 or 15 to end up in a dead end job... Men would walk for miles hoping to get a days work only to find 2 dozen men had got there before you, having to have a bath just once a week in a tin bath in front of the fire and in dirty water because five others had used it before you, wearing hand me down clothes and shoes with holes in. having to go to Sunday school so your parents could get a bit of peace lol. If you look further back it gets worse ... 16 families living in a cellor of a house..children no older than 8 working in factories, in the early victorion times there was a drink problem far greater than today when the drinking water was that bad most people drank Gin and it was just has bad going out alone at night, you could get murdered for a penny...If that was the good old days...well you can keep them for me...this life is not perfect but it's a darn site better that in my grand parents Day

Hum!! Looks like you are going back, to the times 'before' most of us was Born?? What with The depression, shortly followed by The 2nd. world war!! They was very hard times for our Parents!!-- In my relating to 'The Good Old days' I am relating to The 50/60s. As previously stated!!! Those were The Good Old Days -- Period!! Our days of growing up and providing for 'our' Families!!-- To compare the life of Today?? Which would you prefer?? Taking into consideration, The Standards, Respect and The Disipline. I know which I prefer??

My philosophy in life is my cup is always half full...whilst others see theres has half empty.

If our country is so bad why is half the world trying to move here lol. When was the last time you saw anyone dying of starvation in the Street, when was the last time you saw anyone walking about with leprosy. when was the last time you saw someone washing there clothes in a river... People are living longer than ever before, more folks have got cars than ever before, more folks are in work than for a long time.

I like looking back at nostolgia but would i want to go back to the old days ..Not likely lol

Hum!! I think, half of the world wants to move here to receive all the freebies that are going. Why else would people move halfway around the world, when there are many other countries they have to cross??  It is not so much as seeing people dying of starvation on ones streets etc?? As being totally ashamed of so many Young persons, living on our streets and being ignored??  Nobody should be Homeless in this country!! Charity begins at Home!!

The health and safety brigade has struck again !
with the result that many towns cities and villages will have no christmas illuminations this year !
Thank goodness this didnt exist during WW2 or we would have celebrated victory in the dark,and Hubert Gregs popular song ` I`m gonna get lit up when the lights go up when the lights go up in London ` would probably have been banned !

Pleased to say we still have our lights in Skegness this year

David Cameron will today make his first big speak on immigration.He thinks numbers are too high.
His aides insisted last night that the speech was not a sign that the tories were about to return to tough anti-immigration policies. ( shame why not)
It was predicted that by the end of the decade there will be
65 million people in the UK,an increase of 5million.
I wonder what the true figure will be.
Either way its very scary !

Hi Mac, Talk is Cheap and we have hears it ALL before!!
Nobody can make a 'Promise'and Keep it. We would all br more 'confused' IF they did?? -- Ah!! By the End of the decade you say ?? Don't worry, WE won't be Here!!

News!! Good/Bad/Indifferent:
Petrol now going to £1 per Litre ??
Many more Homes = Repossesed and Increasing ??
Extra costs for 'excess' rubbish Removal ??
More people coming to Britain ??
More strain on our services = cannot cope ??
More people at the 'Top' on Too High a Salary ??
Too much Coffee is Good/Bad for you ??

In spite of all this !! "Be Happy in the face of ever increasing, Opposition !! -- Or just 'Smile' and ignor ??

looking back over this last ten year's. What problems there have been ?? The poor olde people of this country are sure getting their 'backsides' ------- Kicked!!
Mostly By Incompetance, lack of Skills and lack of Training --- And lack Of CARE!!

Thought I should have a look at some old Postings. There is so many Problems, I just don't know where to Start??
So?? I will leave it out for now. Makes for some Heavy Going ???

Senior Citizens Required!! Work involved is to Check Every incoming Container, for the illegals?? and to ensure their-- Return to where they came from, without any undue -- Harassment?? -- The officials are not allowed to do their full job?? Without ASKING the illegals - Permission  ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::
Work undertaken by our Senior's will be on a Volutary Basis, equats to no pay, as you will 'naturally' enjoy your work??

Was this an advert phoenix ?

Mac, Sorry!! No Advert!! -- I just feel that 'Senior Citizens' would carry out a much more through job. Yes!! Even if it was Volutary!!  =  The pleasure would be enough 'Reward' To show their capabilities of doing a Proper job?? ----- Well Done!!

Just think?? There are over 11 million Senior's out there, With past Skills, capabilities and expetise, heatherto, Not Known in Today's Enviroment?? -- That also don't cheat, lie or steal!!

Well i guess there is nothing to stop them doing that

Mac, Nothing to stop them?? Quite right!!

There was a man on here a while ago, that wanted support to 'TRY' to do just that!!-- The problem would be to 'Unite' those Seniors ?????

In Germany we "had" a party for senior citizens, but somehow it didn't work as they expected it would. Now we have nearly in each town a "Senior Citizen Council" and they do really a good job. They often make available their skills and experiences to the young generation or they do volunteering work with other senior citizens that are no longer so well off.

Hi Teri, Seems much the same as here, in relation to Senior Citizens. There are many groups around the country, that work very hard to increase the pensions, but their 'cry' falls on Deaf Ears!! -- Even with the main annual meeting, M.Ps. Fail to turnup. This came about in 1979 with Maggie Thatcher, Removing income related pensions.
Our increase in April, is said to be 3.2% which is taken in the first incoming main Bill. That is why I state that our 'Purchasing Power' of ouir Pensions, goes Down Every year!! A number of senior's work in Charity Shops on a voluntary basis, to help where possible and do a very good job:

They,the powers that be,have decided muslim men with more than one wife can come here with all of them,up to four mind,not hundreds.......
Does this mean we now allow poligamy ?
or is that rule only for others.
A man with 4 wives and 2 children to each would need a very big house !

Don't worry, Be happy?? -- It must be right as this government say's IT IS?? -- Don't Worry??  They will not be 'overcrowded' -- They will of course receive a large house, to 'home' them 'comfortably!!
Just means the english 'patriots' will have to dig deeper into their pockets, to help??????????

Same in Germany. I've worked for some time in the welfare department and sometimes muslim family fathers touched a lot of money for their numerous family members every month.On the other side Germans don't like to have any more more than one child or two.

Is that good for the Countries Social and Economic way of life, for their own people that is ?????

same here Teri,thats why the world is or will be mostly muslim

... or Africans, Mac. Since the time when Africans were caught and sold as slaves and only few people remained on the African continent, the population of this continent is the fastest growing one of the whole world - at least per German TV.

I think you are right Teri,when you think of the droughts and all the people it kills every year,yet there are still millions left,I did hear that they start to breed very early on in life,this might be something to do with it.

So why do 'they' breed as they do ??
Why have children and bring them up into that sort of life?? -- Contraception has been tried out there, with Zero Results -- What next to help??
Yes, I do know it happens here with the youger generation too, just to get housing accommodation!!

Phoenix, some years ago when I was in Turkey I talked to a young couple in honeymoon. We spoke about childen - I thought of all the money such children cost - they thought of the fun they will have with them when they grow up.
That's the difference!

I was refering to Africa Phoenix
and the girls there dont all have choices
the men say when they will marry,and start to breed.
I dont know it they have contraceptives there either,and if they do it will cost,and they have no money.
Maybe John can inform us.

Hi Teri,  When couples (married)decide to have children, I would not have thought 'they' place a price on having them?? Yuk!! -- Children help make a Happy family, that is what life is all about!! -- We had terrific Fun, with our Touring Caravan and Sailing Dingy. They certainly was -- 'Fab' Times!! -- Sure, there are times, when they are Babies, or teenage and they get hurt. Then you do all in your power, to take that Hurt Away. -- That is just a part of being a family!! -- Not counting Costs;

Mac, We cannot Interfere with another Countries, Culture/Laws!! -- It's bad enough that 'They' want to live Here, and change our's ??

I think it might be something to do with our interferance thats caused all this !

Phoenix you are right, but on the other side at least in Germany a child costs a lot of money - starting from the lack of places in the Kindergarten, so mothers must stay at home and can no longer work, to education, above all if they choose to go to university. Usually German couples have one or two children.If they have five or six and all want to go to university it may get expensive. One of my friends has 5 daughters and nearly all went to university.
To be honest, I wouldn't have missed my children - a life without children unimaginable, but young couples nowadays think different, they see the fun (advantages), but they see also the disadvantages (things you can no longer afford).
As to Africans, their standard of living is much lower than ours and in a way children are their "security for old age".

Hello Teri,  I cannot understand just how some people can put a 'price' on having children ?? -- One either decides to have children, or Not to!! -- Shall we have a family??  Can we afford a family?? =  Simple deductions!!---
 Here there are so many 'girl' single parents (just to get housing) That the old standards have disapeared!!

Phoenix, times have changed. Young people nowadays expect much more from life than we did, i.e. one of the reasons - in my opinion - why many couples separate after a certain time. In Germany we also have many single mothers - as we call them - and often the fathers of the children are not willing to pay for their children.
You know in the UK it's a bit different - but in Germany we don't have full-day schools, i.e. our children are usually at home in the afternoon and often single mothers have to work full-day - so what about the children? And to be honest, today, if you marry it's possibly no longer for the whole life!

Teri,  Sadly, Times have changed for the worst?? I don't think that Germany is any worse than The UK.  Families are continually -- Breaking up!! maybe because some people will not accept their responcibilities, as we were brought up to believe in?? -- Marriage ?? -- "WHY SPOIL A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP, BY MAKING IT PERMANENT"  ::) ::)

What Does a Piece of Paper Really Mean, to Each One ??????

That's true - but if you have children or should I say decide in favour of children, it's much better to have the paper. Fortunately laws in Germany have been changed in the past, so that children of unmarried couples have the same rights as those of married couples.
In Germany many families are breaking up because women are no longer as adaptable as before and much better educated. They are no longer dependent on their husband - they can earn their own living, if necessary.

This is a good thing Teri
we were subservient for too long.
Even in my day my hubby went to work and so did I after taking the kids to the childminder,(me) and picking them up too.
but he expected his tea on the table and it was,so,he could do it too !!!...............if I can so can he lol

Maybe you miss The Point?? -- I agree Adults should be married, Is they want to raise a family, as it is only 'fair' to The children. -- Just do no think that ALL Men, leave everything to their Wives??  Housework and looking after their children, should be 'shared'-- AS DID I!! -- Men should be and are quite capable, IF?? they want to be, part of the family?? -- Now, Retirement ?? My Point Is?? -- If a couple are Not married, they receive, a seperate pension each -- Their Entitledment!! (as we do)
 If Married, they only receive a married couples Pension!!
Which is quite a bit Less?? WHY??  Can a married couple Live Cheaper than  a couple Not Married?? -- Please Remember!! There should be Equality, between Men and Women?? Housework should be SHARED!! -- I DO!!

Good one about the pensions Phoenix
apart from the 25% for living alone (rates)   I pay the same gas electric water phone pc server,tax,and we all know you can feed two  as cheap as one.
If thats the case with the married peoples pensio then the answer is dont get married ! there is no incentive is there,this country is mad !

Mac, in Germany senior citizen mostly also stay together and don't marry - the reason a widow or a widower gets a pension form his man/wife and if they marry this pension is no longer paid - so why should they marry?
However, in my case it would be unimportant if I marry or not, i.e. it's my own decision - my pension will always be the same.

Mac, Quite True!!  My Eve has said that if I was not with Her, all She would receive is the 25% off council Tax!!
 AND -- That She could Not manage the upkeep of her Bungalow and would possibly have to live with Her Son and His Wife. Yes, They would do that if anything happened to Me!!

Teri, Seems it is the same in Germany!! Why should a Couple living together, give up even More Cash to the councils/government?? -- Pensioner's are the only section of The community that have Paid in Full -- A Lifetime of Taxes - and Still They Want MORE??

Two councils have actually left the the taxes the same as last year in this neck of the woods.....................so why havent STOCKPORT !

Perhaps they have 'learnt' NOT to waste othere peoples Money ?? -- If that is correct?? Why don't other Councils just TRY IT?? -- Roll on April??  The Increase here is the same as our pension.   Increase Gone in The First Bill!!

Now let us see ??  What can WE cut down on  ::) ::) ::)

Anybody Watched,  Mr. Enoch Powell and his Speech Tonight ?? -- I found it 'rivetting'!! -- There was a man with some 'Foresight' but never lived to see just how right he was!!

Do you think that is one of the reasons why they put it on ?

Mac, Yes!! I think that is the reason. No one is saying that He was perfect?? -- Nobody is!!-- It is certainly Not common for anyone to have such 'foresite'-- Consequently!! He was a very brilliant man!! -- Wish we had More like him?? Possibly, there would not be so many problems?? ---
 Prevention is far better than Cure (or trying to) ::) ::)

There certainly are No great Men or Women of Today, as 'they' all seem to sit on the fence  ::) ::) ::)

Enoch was not well liked at the time by any party,wonder why ?

Hello Mac, Possibly because He looked at the situation, in a different light?? -- He had a vision, of just how 'things' would develope in 1/2 decades -- He was quite Right!! -- Can You think of anyone else, that would stand up and 'Project' what the Future would bring?? I Cannot!!
Why do 'those' persons feel so 'terrible' that it is a Major Crime to be Wrong ?? Everybody is Human and we all make mistakes -- just a part of Life!! -- How about His 'Boss' Taking us into The E.E.U in 1972 ?? ---
 What a Shambles?? Heath by name, and bog heath by nature??
 36 years later and just what progress has been made??
 I wish that I could find,some difference between them all, I Just Cannot  ::) ::) ::)

Having just received an email about Returning 'Armed Forces' to their own country of Canada I was 'Gobsmacked' at 'Their' reception?? In Showing Deep Respect!! -- I have sent this email out to ALL my Contacts!! -- WHY ??????

Simply Because of The Verbal Abuse OUR Armed Forces are receiving from Other Cultures ???  Here In Peterborough!!

All 'Decent' English People should be Totally Ashamed, that such as these Deplorable 'Standards' are Permitted??
 Do Not Dare To Offend The Other Cultures  ::) ::) ::) ::)

I heard about that phoenix who was it that was giving the abuse I thought it was the brits in their hoodies ?

It has been said in the papers that the verbal abuse was carried out by muslims ??  possibly because of our 'forces' fighting in their country??
Our local paper has been full of this -- 'foul play' and just Why ?? it should have been Tolerated!! much more has been said!!

Our Country is in a mess because we British are largely a politically docile nation, immigrants/asylum seekers/the homeless, single parents mothers, are not to blame, these people are merely being used as scapegoats for a dilapidated
system.

Since Margaret Thatcher's era, Britain has adhered to market forces and profiteering, these policies have left us without council housing, and as a result house prices have soared.

The role of the British state has been allowed to erode, in favour of Britain's Communities being devolved from central Government funding via national income tax, onto local council tax which was initially poll tax.

Income tax no longer increases to fund our local services UK wide, local council tax does, and it hits the poorest people in our communities the hardest, namely the elderly, and the low waged.

Our leading politicians have got it made while we all stand as a nation and say, and do, nothing, and even if we were to stand and be counted, while we moan and blame those on the fringes of our Society, because we cannot "think" any further than that, our policians again are laughing their heads of, at us, because devide and conquer is the oldest political trick in the book.

Hello Michael, Glad to see you are back!! -- I am sure that we would agree, that this once wonderful country of our's, is now in a much worse state than last year??
I agree with much of which you say. Few, will stand and 'Speak out' against the system ?? -- So the majority will not 'Rock The Boat'?? -- This Country is in one hell of a mess, but just how many are really interested?? For those that do speakout, is akin to talking in the wilderness -- Goes unheard?? -- For those in power?? what can one say?? Busy lining their own pockets, at othere's expence?? - Where Is The begining and where is the end ??
 There is so much to discuss, but can also make one quite irate!!

Hi Phoenix,  Yes I agree, and ive been up to my neck in pensioners issues for 20 years, up against the media, the press, and public apathy, all rolled into one, and the most apathetic in my experience are the richer pensioners to their poorer counterparts, there is that kind of Thatcher arrogance, dismissive, typically British, centred on class, is it any wonder we have the politicians we do, some people just cannot see themselves.

Wow,out of order Michael
Pensioners rich (as you say)or  poor should all get the same

Mac that wouldn't be just - at least in Germany - some pay more in the pension institution when they are working and others less.

Teri,same here we all  get the same pension,but if you worked you get more (earnings related)and you actually get less for  paying it in because you are taxed !and the ones that didnt pay in will get subsidised with their rates etc
What is the point in paying into pensions to be worse off ?
My friend gets his rates paid (£1300) and there is only a £5 diffences in our pensions,so for that £5 I have to pay for everything,which in effect costs me more ?
We have a crazy system here Teri made up of crazy people !!!
not offence to anyone just me opinion.

Mac, Read my posting again. 

I also believe that pensioners ( rich or poor ) should get a decent state pension linked to national prosperity through the earnings link.

What im saying is that many richer pensioners, particularly here in the South West, are apathetic to their poorer counterparts.

Michael
My husband and I didnt fritter our money,we thought that was the best thing to do at the time,some of my friends had a good lifestyle,and a life too for that matter,now they are looked after and we suffer for it !this is why they are apathetic !
All I can say is I will never trust a politician again !

Mac, in Germany if you fritter your money and you don't have any money left when you are old or you must go into a home for old people, the government, i.e. all Germans, have to care for you - if you get a small pension you can apply for an extra support (to get the same amount as people receiving income support) and if you must go in a nursing home the government has to pay for you.
That's not really just, but it's legal.
I have worked in the department dealing with income support for two years.

Teri,do they have to sell their houses to pay for all this too,thats is if you didnt fritter it away and had a house or savings.Wish I could turn the clock back !

Last Year!!  Senior citizens, going into 'care homes' had to sell their homes to pay for their keep??  40,000 Homes was thus Sold. These persons had already paid their full taxes throughout their lives!! -- Whilst 'othere's' coming IN - Receive everything, Totally Free of any charge!!

Phoenix, When Tony Blair was in opposition and the Tories were in Government, Tony Blair said that he did not want his children growing up in a country where elderly people were forced to sell their homes to pay for residential care, what im saying is that Thatcher stared all this off.

Regarding outsiders.  Britain has long held it's hand of friendship out to other countries, it is why we are refered to as "Great Britain".

Personally I do believe that charity should begin at home, but what politically party is going to stop our benevolent's
to everyone else ?

mac, It is called the welfare state.  This may sound a stupid question, but what is it that is making you suffer, and that welfare claiments arent. ?

Sorry Michael but you asked for it
I am bitter that i have paid into all that they say i should pay into to make my old age better,and they conned me !and my dear husband who never got anything.
I would have been better off if i had not paid in and got all the benefits.Do you know that some of my friends are just £2 over the limit for benefits,and they really struggle,to make ends meet.They say to the DHSS keep it !!! but they wont do that. I  am  better off  without it and thats true they would be,their rates would be paid at a saving of £1300.00.

Most of the welfare claimants are of working age,but choose to have babies instead which is a meal ticket for them,but  I do understand that some men walk away knowing that the family will be taken care of by the tax payer.All this and the genuine person (who pays it)_is forgotten !

Michael,The Welfare state, is only for those that 'chose' not to work, for those that 'chose' to have babies, and for the great influx of othere persons!! -- It now 'pays' Not to own one's own Home??  We Suffer, because of unfair payments and low pensions!! --I am aware that mrs. thatcher did away with 'Index linked pensions' and also included the 'wives' working income, to 'assist' in buying a home?? What she may not have envisaged, is the Taking back of the home, when a family comes along?? --- Blair, in all his innocense?? could have altered all that -- In His TEN Years ?? --- All Pensioners should receive the same Pension, comparable to Those living in europe!! IF?? We are Supposed to be ALL EQUAL!! Think I had better Stop, though I could say so much more, in The defence of The Senior Citizens that Receive A Pension!!

Asked for what Mac ?, You have said nothing that I have'nt heard a million times in my 20 year search for "rights for the elderly".

Everthing you describe began "as a matter of policy" under the Thatcher/Major years, there is no getting away from this, it just did, and New Labour have embraced it.

Our Social welfare system is devisery, it is meant to be devisery, it is meant to devide people, the young from the old, the old from the young.  It is an arrogant system.

It is what the late and former, whom I refere to, as a decent one nation Conservative, Ted Heath, used to say was " the unacceptable face of capitalism", that of the pure greed that is running this country, but in my view most people just have not seen it coming because we are not a political interested, or motivated nation.




 

Phoenix, Thatcher also stopped building council houses, and introdced a low waged economy, and the welfare state is for everybody who finds themselves unemployed, of which there are many today due to our jobs constantly moving over seas in the global economy.

Jobs in Britain are now short term, low waged , and insecure, they were not in our day, when I left school in 1963 aged 15, I got work and went from job to job, just like that, no problem, today there are far too many peopl out of work, and far too few jobs, plus housing costs ect are too expensive to come out of the avaliable wages, hence means tested housing benefit if you have no other recourse.

Phoenix, Blair came in on the Thatcher ticket, and there New Labour have stayed under Gordon Brown.

Its the politicians who are greedy ! most of them are on the fiddle !!
You should ask yourself  why in twenty years you have achieved no seat in parliament its all down to whom you know !

I joined the Labour party in the early 1990's for the first time, I joined as an activist to help bring a Labour Government to power and uphold state pensions for the elderly by restoring the link with earnings, but in 1997 when Blair and Brown embraced Thatcherite economics, I withdrew my membership and Labour where I live, folded, the rest is history.

Last piece for tonight??? blair and thatcher was/are as different as chalk and cheese. The main 'Theme' is that blair had ten years to correct, any 'misgivings' and failed to do so, after all -- he had his 'Armour Plated car to protect himself --- From What  ::) ::) ::)

Phoenix, Blair came in on Thatcher's right wing policy, and there New Labour have stayed.

So ?? We all know blair did not change anything!! -- Took him 10 years to do even that!! -- How about Moving forward to make everything ----- Better!!

Here here !

 IF ONLY

 
If only things could be better

Remember how life used to be

Standards were good and morals high

And now it seems ~ our lives are a lie

 
Who do we put our trust in ?

To guide us on our way

To live the life that we should live

And not just pay and pray

 
The promises we've been given

Have been broken ~ more than once

To think with our experience

Are we taken for a 'dunce'

 
That life can be better

I know can be true

A little trust is what we need

For me and yes for you

 
Then we could make this world of our's

A better place ~ for all

If we could work together

Let's start ~ to overhaul.

David D. Dighton

nice one phoenix

Hi Mac,  Thank You!!   I was over joyed when my poem was published in 2002. Just had to buy the book, to actually believe it. --- I have written a few, but not to publish.
My Longest comprises, 23 verses, relative to my meeting Eve and I still have the recording on my reel to reel tape. Not perhaps a Poem??  More a true story of my life and meeting  "My Queen" -----

Phoenix, what about restarting writing poems and stories and putting them into the internet?

Hi Teri, That is a good Thought!! We could ALL have a go, at poems and stories, even if only for our forums amusement??? -- Everything is Possible?? May well give a laugh too ::) ::) ::)

 June 3rd. 2008.  There are so many National issues we could Discuss.  Reading the daily Mail, as we do and giving our 'thoughts' to those Issues, could make for so many Items to talk about  ::) ::) ::)

August 6th. Our Country is getting in a much Worse situation!! Now our hospitals are getiing Infestation ??
I believe it's TOO MANY PATIENTS ????????

The hospital situation is certainly getting worse. Mt son told me he had to wait 3 hours on a trolly in a corridor waiting for an x ray.

In Germany they reduce the hospital staff to be in a position to work economically. For financial reasons many public hospital have been sold in the meantime. 

Same here Teri,they just close them down and let more and more poeple into the country ?????
its all about making money here,how much the trust can save ???????
but it was never meant t be that way,its just capitalism gone mad !

Yes and no, Mac. Technology advances and modern hospital equipment is rather expensive, then you need specialists to operate it and they, too, have their price. Moreover, at least in Germany doctors and nurses are of the opinion that they don't get enough money for their work and last but not least people get older and need more hospital treatment - think of all those artificial hips, knees, cardiac pacemakers etc. etc. Many hospitals write "red figures" as we say and the towns don't dispose of the money to support them any longer, so the towns sell their hospitals.

Its a little different here Teri,we the population pay for our health service,and there are very many of them,workers and pensioners still paying long after they retire.
The NHS is not a money making machine like they have it now,its paid for by the people,for the people,but this is all forgotten now by the capitalists.Hospitals now have to make a profit and to do this people suffer.I really believe we should not cut back on health,its the most precious thing we have.This is what makes people here think they are spending too much on other services like unmarried mothers flats,single parents allowances,etc etc etc.and dare I mention migrants children who live abroad !

Mac, I just read a comment in our today's paper. In Germany they are reforming the health service and they intend to create a "health fund". What's strange is that the health insurance companies will get extra money for each seriously or chronic ill person. The writer of the comment wrote that it is to be expected that the companies will check the data of every person to find out whether there is a possibility of getting this extra money for as many insured people as possible.

Teri,the word reform here means,more money to pay out,more money for them coming in,less on services !
Your new proposed scheme doesnt sound good at all to me especially if you are sick.

Hi Mac, How right you are!!  REFORM??  normally means?? more money to payout and Less Service!!  We are so used to hearing of these 'New' idea's, that we have to pay extra for?? -- We are now going to have the £100 'Fine' for our 'wheelie bin' lids not being Closed ??  and for putting the bin out --- The day Before ?? ----
Is there anything else You can think of ?? that would bring the council, More Income ??  Please do not hesitate to 'Advise' them  A.S.A.P. -- ER!!  Forgot to ADD??
Keep an eye on yer Wheelie bin ?????????

Ah!!  Am sure everybody has 'read' that the Drugs for cancer patients, is NOT Allowed, on the grounds of COST??
We all know this as we all have to DIE sometime, as our friend (with Terminal Cancer) was told by a consultant!!
 She, is on 'Morphine'  JUST FOR PAIN!!   NO OTHER TREATMENT HAS BEEN GIVEN ????????????????????????????????

We dont have a wheelie bins Phoenix,we are supplied with 52 blue bags that are see through,and you cant put papers or glass or card or tins or bottles in it.
We have to take the bag out on the day at 7am or be fined,if you are ging on hols well tough !!!!
if you are ill well tough!!!!!
they will not take it unless you drag it out for them.
They will want us to load it on the cart next lol

 What a state of Confusion ???
 Councils have different Standards??
  N.H.S   have different Standards ??

  ALL??  Depending on where The person Lives ???
  Are We Not ALL Living in The very Same Country ??
  Why are we all 'Divided'???
  Wheelie bins, seem to be a good idea, as long as we know what to put into The Correct Bin????

  MAC, How is it that in your area, you still have to use 'BAGS'??  How can you 'RECYCLE' Correctly ????
At least The 'Bin Lid' closes??  NO  £100    Fine !!

The daft thing is Phoenix,we can still put black bags out as well !!!
we put papers in carry bags,and tins and bottle in other bags stupid init,then we drag them outside and put them out for them !its not easy for some especially the ones who live on the first floor,its enough they can get themselves up and down stairs !

Our country is 'supposed' to have a Caring Society ??
There is NOT a lot of evidence to support this statement ??
Perhaps we should all consider ourselves -- Lucky??
it is as good as it is. The 'powers to be' must believe that is so, otherwise, why should there be so very many --
Restrictions and petty rules coming out??

I thought the idea of having 'Wheelie Bins' was Not only better for collection, but also better for ALL Residents, Taking into consideration, those Living Above the ground floor, as a Priority  ::) ::) ::)  In this, I must be Mistaken ::) ::) ::)