Dawlish Discussion

Philip Hammond 'labels Michael Gove a liar' during furious row over Brexit NHS promise

Chancellor Philip Hammond has reportedly stunned colleagues by calling his Cabinet colleague Michael Gove a liar in a row over Brexit.

Brexit department worst in Whitehall for responding to Freedom of Information requests

The Department for Exiting the EU has the worst record for responding to Freedom of Information Requests in Whitehall.

Chris Grayling: Replace local buses with ‘Uber-style’ rides

The future of local buses is a more bespoke, ‘Uber-style’, service, according to the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.

David Cameron takes charge of $1bn investment initiative

Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron has been appointed to lead a new investment initiative between the UK and China.

Somemore to wet your appetities.

Theresa May: I will not be derailed on Brexit

Theresa May has insisted she will not be “derailed” in her mission to deliver Brexit.

Boris Johnson: Britain must not become a vassal state after Brexit

Boris Johnson has warned the UK could become a “vassal state” if it fails to reject EU laws after Brexit.

Theresa May condemns abuse of MPs after Tories face death threats

Theresa May has urged voters to stop launching abusive attacks on MPs after a string of Conservatives said they had faced death threats.

Government set to roll out workplace pension scheme to include 18-year-olds

The workplace pension scheme will be extended to include 18-year-olds unless they choose to opt out, David Gauke has announced.

Defence cuts could make new military equipment unaffordable, MPs warn

The military may not be able to afford necessary new equipment as it struggles to take on further budget cuts, MPs have warned.

Damian Green 'could face second sex claim probe'

Damian Green may face a second probe into claims of sexually inappropriate behaviour, according to a report.

David Davis accused of wasting money after spending almost £50,000 on RAF plane travel around Europe

David Davis has been accused of wasting almost £50,000 on RAF planes to get to Brexit meetings.

Never ending.

Is Corbyn going to keep on extending the time frame for when he will "probably" be Prime Minister?  I feel confident in saying his "probably" is going to be a "never".

Council tax is interesting.

Theresa May set for embarrassing climbdown over Brexit date amendment
Theresa May is set for a humiliating climbdown on her promise to stamp the Brexit date into UK law as scores of MPs line up to back a rival amendment.

Theresa May fails to raise Britain First retweets in call with Donald Trump
Theresa May did not raise her concerns about Donald Trump's endorsement of anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right British group in her first conversation with him since the row broke.

Brussels ‘preparing to back down’ over EU fishing quotas
EU negotiators are preparing to compromise over controversial fishing quotas, it has been reported.

Bank of England moves to reassure European firms with post-Brexit offer
The Bank of England is reportedly set to announce new rules that will make it easier for European banks to operate in the UK after Brexit.

Tory MPs blast Government over major council tax hike
Council tax bills are set to soar by £100 on average after ministers handed town halls the power to hike rates further without asking the public.

Government grants free childcare for foster families after Labour campaign
The Government announced a climbdown on its free childcare policy yesterday after sustained pressure from Labour’s Lisa Nandy over the exclusion of foster children.

Ministers accused of 'abject failure' on homelessness
Ministers must end their "light touch" approach to combatting homelessness if they are to halt its "shameful" rise, MPs have warned.

Treasury Committee Chair Nicky Morgan warns over access to cash from ATMs
Vulnerable people could struggle to access cash if proposed changes to the ATM network go ahead, chair of the powerful Treasury Select Committee Nicky Morgan has warned.

Well i am still trying to decide Scotland or The Lakes for new year.

From the Guardian -

The minister also announced that 10 councils – Berkshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Kent & Medway, Leeds, Lincolnshire, Solent, Suffolk and Surrey – would be involved in a pilot scheme allowing them to retain 100% of business rates raised locally, along with new powers for police and crime commissioners to raise council tax.

And I am sure there will be a lot more new year surprises. I note that the crime commisioner is thinking about adding a little bit more to the council tax.

If you want better services more Police Officers etc,etc then we are going to have to pay for it and for one i would not mind paying more if services improved.

Reading the paper this morning the Government have advised councils across the country that they can raise local council tax up to 6% as they have now realised that the police service along with other services which are truly underfunded. But you bet your bottom dollar it will be raised to the maximum %. Sorry Flo I had just read your post didn't mean to duplicate your post.

leatash There are so many services provided, out of all of them which would you like to see improved the most and why?

Just to let everyone know, politicians don't lie - do they?

Theresa May has sacked Damian Green after a probe found he lied about porn being found on his Commons computer.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!!!!!!

And he was her deputy.

What a naughty boy!

No presents from Santa for him then! 

TV doc Lord Robert Winston backs free hospital parking for patients and families
TV doctor and peer Lord Robert Winston has backed calls for hospitals to offer free parking for patients and their visitors.

I’ve had cause to visit relatives in hospital and also attend appointments myself this year. For the service and care provided, for 2 of those instances it was quite literally life saving care that was provided, the amount I paid in parking that ultimately goes to the hospital to give them more money is - I feel - a tiny thankyou for what they did for my family this year. If paying for parking enables the hospital to provide a tiny percentage of extra care to someone it is a very small price to pay.

I have a lot of friends in the US and what they pay for medical treatment scares me.  We never have to make those kind of financial choices. I see my contribution towards parking fees as no different to paying at a heavily subsidised NHS dentist or for my heavily subsidised NHS prescriptions. 

I accept that others are likely to have different opinions, but that is mine.

DJ you are spot on if the Hospital loses the money raised in parking charges will the government match it pound for pound i doubt it.

@DJ

The "heavily subsidised" prescriptions, dental charges and all other health care costs are paid for from our extortionate taxes, you make it sound like we get all this for free.

As our public services (eg NHS, state schools, social services, police) are paid for by taxation we either have to pay collectively for those services or if we don't want them provided from public funds then we will have to pay for them privately. Private health care, private schooling and the like.

That's okay for those who have enough wealth to be able to afford to do that and who, incidentally, will become even richer if they pay less taxes, but not so great for those who do not have enough wealth/income to afford to pay privately.

I am concerned about the extremists in both the Conservative Party and in the Labour Party especially as in both instances they appear to now be in control of their respective parties. They have a common denominator in that they wish for the UK to leave the EU as they see it as an opportunity to impose a different economic/taxation system.   The hard right wing tories would seek to reduce taxes (and thus the provision of public services). The hard left see it as an opportunity to raise taxes and turn the UK into a state controlled socialist entity.

Ask yourself this. If you were to have lower taxes could you afford private health care? private schooling? 

or would you be prepared to pay higher taxes and have, for example, health care and education provided by the collective body via taxation?  

Or would you prefer a system somewhere in between those two extremes?

I’m glad we don’t have a system where a company like Virgin can sue the NHS for millions and then soon after be awarded yet another contract worth billions...

In fact, it makes you wonder what the connection is between Richard Branson and the government elite, what with Virgin also being handed a cheque for hundreds of millions of our money to bail them out of the East Coast Rail franchise. 

burnside Folk know that our health care is not free but i have often wondered if the taxes we pay would cover a serious illness. A relative of mine who lives in Australia was diagnosed with a very aggressive prostate cancer his treatment has cost over $100,000 and is as yet not finished, his retirement fund is a lot lighter.

Well said Leatash. Sadly, such real-life stories are never printed in the Daily Mail, That’s why so many people are blind to the hell that the Tories and their fat cat cronies are leading them towards. 

I hope your relative makes a full tecovery. 

Health care in this country is a post code lottery, if you live in the right area you will get adequate care.  Unfortunately that cannot be said of this area. 

So if health care in this country (do you mean England or the UK?) is a post code lottery, why is that?

What do you think is wrong with this area's health care provision? How do you think it could be rectified?  

and here are some links giving info on Virgin suing the NHS  to which DM referred in their post above

• Virgin Care sues NHS after losing Surrey child services deal

  https://www.ft.com/content/297e7714-089f-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b

  Virgin Care sues NHS after losing Surrey child services deal. Virgin Care, part of Sir Richard Branson’s business empire, is suing the National Health Service after the healthcare group lost out on a contract to provide children’s services in Surrey.

   

• NHS pays out after Virgin threatens to sue after losing ...

  www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/28/nhs-pays-virgin-threatens-sue...

  Virgin Care Services started High Court proceedings against NHS England, Surrey County Council and the CCGs in November last year, after its bid failed. It said there were “serious flaws in the procurement process” which had left it “so concerned” that it had launched the proceedings.

   

• Richard Branson and Virgin Care: return the NHS’s money ...

  https://www.change.org/p/richard-branson-richard-branson-and...

  Richard Branson and Virgin Care: return the NHS’s money, and never sue the NHS again

   

• Virgin Care just sued the NHS for a fortune - but it's the ...

  https://leftfootforward.org/2017/12/virgin-care-just-sued-the-nhs...

  Virgin Care just sued the NHS for a fortune – but the Tories and Lib Dems made it possible

   

• Virgin Care to Sue NHS Over Children’s Community Services ...

  https://healthcaretimes.co.uk/virgin-care-to-sue-nhs-over-children...

  Virgin Care has begun legal proceedings against against eight NHS commissioners. The Private provider lost out on an £82 million children’s community services ...

   

• Richard Branson didn't get his own way, so now he's suing ...

  https://www.thecanary.co/discovery/2017/03/15/richard-branson-didn...

  Richard Branson didn’t get his own way, so now he’s suing the ... Because its actions could plunge the NHS deeper into debt. Virgin is throwing its toys out of ...

   

• Virgin Care: Richard Branson wins lucrative NHS ... - Metro

  metro.co.uk/2016/01/14/privatisation-of-nhs-continues-as-hospital...

  Richard Branson's Virgin Care, which beat Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust to the lucrative deal, will be able to run health services in the hospitals for ...

   

• NHS for sale :: Virgin Care

  nhsforsale.info/.../private-provider-profiles-2/virgin.html

  The ultimate owners of Virgin Care and Virgin Group Holdings Ltd include trusts registered in the British Virgin ... thus allowing them to sue the NHS if they do not ...

   

• It's Virgin on the obscene for Richard Branson to sue our ...

  www.mirror.co.uk/news/its-virgin-obscene-richard-branson-11702129

  It's Virgin on the obscene for Richard Branson to sue our ailing NHS. Almost 90,000 people have signed a petition which points out that cuddly old Beardie, with an ...

   
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In England the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) decides what drugs and treatments will be funded by the NHS, but just because a drug is on the NICE approved list it doesn't automatically mean you will receive it, some NHS Trusts arbitrarily decide not to fund some treatments. 

Healthcare is a devolved issue so Scotland and Wales do their own thing, but the situation in Wales is so dire that patients are crossing the border to seek treatment in England. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2800815/patients-mass-exodus-england-labour-blocks-international-inquiry-crisis-hit-welsh-nhs-thousands-cross-border-life-saving-treatment.html

As for local health care, the old adage "doctors bury their mistakes" couldn't be more true.

What!?  All those foreign Welsh people coming over 'ere and using our English NHS?

Time for a Wexit?

Well I never!

Don't they do anything else?

More than 24,000 attempts have been made to access pornographic websites in parliament since June’s general election, new figures reveal.

A total of 24,473 attempts to access the material from devices connected to parliament’s network were made up until October 2017 – totalling around 160 a day on average.

The data, released after a freedom of information request by the Press Association, showed attempts peaked at 9,467 in September.

Here’s the rest of the article that you pasted from:

However, parliamentary authorities say most of the attempts are not intentional.

The figure for the majority of 2017 is also a notable decrease on recent years, with 113,208 attempts blocked by parliament's filtering system in 2016 – down from 213,020 in 2015.

A Parliamentary spokesman said: "All pornographic websites are blocked by Parliament's computer network.

"The vast majority of 'attempts' to access them are not deliberate. The data shows 'requests' to access websites, not visits to them.

"There are 8,500 computers on the parliamentary network, which are used by MPs, peers, their staff and staff of both Houses."

How does that really add to what I pasted cocky? Who are the parliamentary authorities cocky that would make that statement?

" FOREIGN AID - RIP OFF ? " a video sequence recently produced by myself, not permitted on Facebook.

If this is of interest please view the video, under that title, on YouTube

Hi majorp, I thought that readers would like to see the whole story. I’m sorry that you think that’s not allowed on here. 

One sentence was missed off the end of the article you pasted from:

“This data also covers personal devices used when logged on to Parliament's guest Wi-Fi.”