There is a disconnect between the media, politicians and the people of the UK. We are fed a daily diet of gloom. Hysterical millionaire 'experts' rant with messianic fervour. A plethora of experts, who helped cause the problem, seek to out do each other in their apoplectic zeal to blame others. It is as if they seek to reprise the late Jack Hawkins performance as Reverend Otto Witt in Zulu. "You're all going to die! Don't you realise? Can't you see? You're all going to die! Die! Death awaits you all!"
The problem with this is that roads are full as are shops. I do not make light of the current situation. Certainly groceries are more expensive. Like many others we have switched to Aldi and Lidle; plus we do bulk cooking and freezing. As a result, our grocery bills have gone down. Energy prices are very high and, despite a few raised sane voices pointing to the international causes, most seem intent on demanding the government 'do something'. Whether the government can or should save everyone is a subject for another discussion. What is obvious is that the Green agenda beloved of both politicians and the media has got us into this mess. It is this disconnect that is terrifying. The media and politicians seem to live on a different planet. It is an Alice in Wonderland world where words can mean anything and actions have no consequences.
Nothing illustrates the point better than the NHS. We are bombarded by dire warning of a breakdown and demands for more money. Overstretched hospitals are struggling to cope and ambulances, in some areas, queue around the block waiting for an A & E place. The reason? Money Money Money, claim the unions. Actually it's a twofold problem. Grotesque mismanagement and numbers that prove that too many cooks can ruin anything. Secondly, bone idle GP's who send people to hospitals rather than offering the service they are paid to deliver. On planet reality we all know this is true. People in the neighbourhood attest to it. Friends in different parts of the country report it, but on planet media/politico - not a word. The sacred cow, it seems, requires just endless expensive fodder because it is beyond criticism and therefore beyond reform.
Our primary duty is, apparently, to save the NHS. Why? We pay a great deal of money in the expectation that it will save us. Imagine that your house is on fire. You call the Fire Brigade. Eventually, someone answers. "We can't help you", he says. "Why not?" "It's dangerous, we might suffer injury." That is the position taken by most GP practices in this country. It seems the Blair reforms included GPs no longer viewing their work as a vocation, but as a money making business. As a result, people are suffering. Overworked hospital Doctors and Nurses, who do have a vocational ethic, have to work harder and longer. In the meantime GPs and NHS managers live the life of Riley at our expense both in terms of our health and finances.
Opponents of Brexit claim that it caused the problem. As salaries for Doctors and Nurses in the UK are higher than in many EU countries, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain and Portugal for example that seems unlikely. The reality is far more to do with Blair giving generous pay rises in return for much less work. So much less that in September 2021 only 24% of GPs worked full-time. Is there another job that allows that? There is a shortage of GPs in large part because 76% of them are paid so much they don't bother to do the day's work everyone else has to.
A year ago we moved. I was astonished to discover that different IT systems were in use. Transferring my records took months when in reality it should have been a few minutes (electronically). My suggestion to give the GP practice access to my hospital records has been met with the bizarre comment that the tests are limited and of no value. Factually untrue, but worse, a statement made without bothering to look at them. The GPs militant union, BMA, claims GPs have too much paper work. I can believe that, but as most practices have more administrative staff than practitioners (mirroring the NHS in general) one has to ask what all those people do.
Our new PM is faced with a mountain of problems. It will be a mistake to just concentrate on the obvious cost of living. The fact is that for decades the wisdom inherent in our democracy has been ignored. When finally we were allowed our say on the EU we voted out. That surprised those who believe that voters are stupid. It was no surprise to those who recalled that Maggie Thatcher won the fight with the unions because of the overwhelming support of ordinary people. The public, in its wisdom, knew that we had to change and supported boldness in doing so.
We are suffering from the result of decades of inept, sometimes, malign misrule. We should be the richest nation in Europe with our natural resources. That we are not is our tragedy. Today marks the start of what can be a renaissance. Surely the priorities, all interconnected, are simply stated.
Accept that it is not possible to engage constructively with the EU and serve notice to terminate the agreement in twelve months time. Failure to do this will leave the door open to those who want us tied to, or back in, the EU. Six years and more is enough time to scrap EU laws. Stop talking and do it.
Scrap the net zero Green monster and the 25% levy. Force distributors to average prices rather than paying all electricity generators the highest price. Put the health and wealth of the nation first by immediately altering the ridiculous law on seismic activity. The UK currently has a red-light threshold of ML 0.5. On the European Macroseismic Intensity Scale, intensity 1 is "Not felt, detected by seismic instruments only". Half that, which is what we have has been likened to the result of dropping a soda bottle. Get Fracking, open up new areas of the North sea. Reopen some of our coal mines and end the stupid idea that importing carbon is green.
Scrap the expensive large French/Chinese Nuclear power plants and pour that money and more into Rolls Royce. Their small modular power stations are proven technology. They are British and will employ thousands throughout the country in highly skilled well paid jobs to say nothing of the export potential. Allow and encourage a proper debate on climate.
Put a businessperson into the NHS and let him or her shake it by the scruff of the neck until its fit for purpose. We need someone like Beaver brook or Sir Ian Kinloch MacGregor to stop a failing health service draining tax pounds for little return. According to the NHS, a major cause for the lack of hospital beds is bed-blockers. People who, if discharged, have nowhere to go. Nightingale hospitals were built at a cost of some half a billion pounds. Why not use them? Every day we put illegal immigrants into expensive hotel accommodation, why not bed-blockers? None of this requires thinking outside the box. It simply requires politicians and civil servants to open the lid of their box and breath the same air as the other 99.5%. In a similar vein, why are we paying huge sums to Doctors running private businesses, but failing to do the job they are contracted for. Most seem to exist to refer patients to others. That is a job that can be done by a paramedic. Indeed, if we adopted the German model of allowing patients direct access to specialists we could do away with that too.
Society needs a reset. It needs to be freed from the suffocating idiocy of wokery. To that end we need committed and exceptionally tough reformers in charge of education and the police. Both have been subverted by people with perverted views who wish us harm. The public knows what's normal, fair and decent. It is high time that government cast the loud mouth minority adrift and gave this country back to the people.
