bridge too far

I found the chart at the bottom of this page quite interesting. It shows levels of public debt in the UK since the early 80s. Not as cut and dried Labour v Conservatives as one might have supposed! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8059861.stm Obviously the forward projections are a bit suck it and see but the same would be true for whichever government was in power / any developed economy at the moment.

Sorry about the stairlift deviation there, Bungle and Wilko. I'm not sure that an election is the best way to get rid, however. Now that, apparently, there is cross-party concensus of a sort on what to do immediately coupled with the apparent willingness of some of the parties to encourage some of their incumbent MPs to resign at the next election, I think the country should allow a good 6 months to a year for the dust to settle and see how things are panning out. I do believe that there is the will now for a root and branch reform of politics signified by GB's reference to getting rid of the 'old boy' culture. A good start would be to introduce sensible working hours so that more mothers / fathers of young families can be encouraged to put themselves up for election. Get rid of the ridiculous braying and waving of Order Papers and start debating in an honest and intelligent way. I also think, actually, that David Cameron would be cra**ing his pants right now if an election was called as I don't think that he and his party have a clue about how to deal with the global economic crisis. Anyway, according to the IMF, GB is doing a first-rate job on that front. I'd like GB to have a cabinet of 'all the talents' - I'd like Vince Cable to be Chancellor. Interesting views in the Guardian today about reform etc. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/politics-and-reform

In the last month, we have tried to sell the following: One wheelchair - used twice One rise and fall armchair - hardly used One adjustable bed - used half a dozen times ABSOLUTELY NO TAKERS AT ALL!!!!!! Going off at a tangent, you want to talk about waste? I went with Mr TF to his bank the other day (one of the 'big four' ). I was appalled to see that it was having another refit - only 12 months after a previous refit. I wonder who pays for that refit? Mr TF amongst others in bank charges / ridiculous interest rates etc. etc. Thank goodness I don't bank with one of these wastrels. Yep waste is wrong - of course it is - but it's what keeps global economies ticking over.

Should we also factor in that they could see attendances were dropping and therefore that it was unlikely that any 'recovery plan' would fail all the time RL was in charge?

Aah we did the stairlift before didn't we. I can now tell you from first hand experience that I contacted my local authority when we no longer needed a stairlift in my house for when my mother visited. They do not take second hand stairlifts for a number of reasons. However, the main reason is that grants for mobility aids are given directly to the end user (it's called enabling people to make their own decisions). It also SAVES on administrative costs. However, most end users prefer to buy new - as I found to my cost when I advertised our stairlift locally, nationally and on eBay. New stairlifts come with maintenance and repair guarantees which second-hand ones don't. In the end I found a good home for our lift - I wasn't interested in making any money really and I was happy to find someone who could use it.

I did - and I lolled too FWIW. I wonder if your chum RL has offered to 'rehouse' Viggers' ducks from the 'floating island' you and I paid for. However - back on topic ...........

Yeah whatever happened to him? Did he put his hood on the wrong way (eyes in the back of his head, so to speak) and fall off a cliff?

Any more metaphors for us, Nick? :smt058just teasing

The Guardian is running an insert today 'A New Politics'. Makes for interesting reading.

The cuts I refer to were in late 1997 - 1999, shortly after the end of 13 years of a Conservative government. HTH

Do you have any REAL examples of this wastage? I ask because, a few years ago, the Gershon Report was published. Google it and read it. Simply put, all local and national governments were set targets to achieve percentage savings year on year. Every year, Best Value Performance Indicators are published for these councils and departments. You can find the reports on the councils' websites. Most councils achieve these savings. If they don't, they are penalised. So real efforts are being implemented to achieve savings. When I worked for the NHS as a Procurement Manager, I had to achieve 6% savings year on year on non-pay expenditure and I did and I wasn't unique.

Wouldn't want to be in front of him, then :oops:

Is it? It is, is it?

Try suing Steve Grant then

How spooky is that! Mr TF is about to make me an umlaut for my tea!

As in 'yes you're right'? :shock:

Hey! Join the club! If we're being uber pedantic (and, before you say, I can't do umlaut) [ ] are square brackets.

Or a Greek tragedy?

The question is 'is it Jamie Redknapp?' The further question is 'do I win [if my guess is Jamie Redknapp]?' Forgive me for omitting the parentheses.

Jamie Redknapp? Do I win?

I guess I think so too because the electorate are disquieted. However, since it's a shoe-in that Cameron will win, I'm quite scared about how he will manage the recession. Big cuts in education and health, I suppose.

Ruthie Henshaw

Every NHS Trust has a Complaints department. Write to the Chief Executive and it will get forwarded to the right person. It used to be the case that they had to respond to you within 14 days, but I don't know if that's still true. Have a look here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HealthAndWellBeing/HealthServices/PractitionersAndServices/DG_10036902 towards the bottom of the page

Perhaps he likes living here / his family don't want to move?

19C doesn't do enlightenment - only diatribe and invective.