General Election 2015

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Pre Hereford, ie election night 1997, I stayed up to watch the coverage, back then both my kids were under 5 years of age, and I watched Tony Blair on TV that night and thought he was really going to make a difference to me but more importantly that of my young family.

He turned out to be one of the biggests shysters this country has ever produced, not only did he go back on most of what he promised, but he let all those young people go out and fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and in a lot of cases lose their lives, for what?

In short whatever rossette they wear, are they all as bad as each other?

I tore up my Labour Party membership card within a month of the election result when it became apparent New Labour was actually Blue Labour. Tony Blair wouldn't have looked out of place wearing something from Maggie's wardrobe.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I wasn't looking for a messiah, but like a lot of people on here, my circumstances changed. In 1997 with young children for the first time I was interested in the NHS (my lad had health issues at that time) and education. I didn't want loaves and fishes but I really thought Blair was different after over a decade of Tory rule, and all their apparent mistakes.

Maybe at 50 I've become ultimately cynical because we haven't even got a 'Tony Blair' figure to get excited and inspired about amongst the party leaders this time around.

Which elements of Labour's NHS and education program did you feel let down by?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Which elements of Labour's NHS and education program did you feel let down by?

While I wouldn't dream of putting words in Lenny's mouth - Labours downfall in the NHS and education can be summed up in three letters .... P ..... F ..... I.

As an example ( and there are plenty ) go and ask the then Head how much and how long it took to get a simple bulb changed .... over two weeks each time and £200. Jarvis raked it in while the school budget was decimated.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Which elements of Labour's NHS and education program did you feel let down by?

Sam (Harty Jnr) had an eye condition that needed surgery. Initially they said it would get done in 3 months, that became 6 then 12 before the surgeon sat us down at Worthing Hospital and said its going to be at least 18 months but I can do it at the Sherbourne (Private hospital in Chichester) in a fortnight for £1,500.
At that point with a 4 year old in need of vital surgery they have you over a barrel, thankfully my parents and my outlaws chipped in £500 each.

As for education, put the Jeremy Kyle Show on series link and you will get the picture.

 

[Ernest]

Sam (Harty Jnr) had an eye condition that needed surgery. Initially they said it would get done in 3 months, that became 6 then 12 before the surgeon sat us down at Worthing Hospital and said its going to be at least 18 months but I can do it at the Sherbourne (Private hospital in Chichester) in a fortnight for £1,500.
At that point with a 4 year old in need of vital surgery they have you over a barrel, thankfully my parents and my outlaws chipped in £500 each.

As for education, put the Jeremy Kyle Show on series link and you will get the picture.

How better are things now after 5 years of Tory rule ? NHS waits are considerably more as I know and when you do get seen you get as brief an appointment as they can get away with and often you see a locum now as Doctors move on to better paid roles.

 

[sherbert]

Which elements of Labour's NHS and education program did you feel let down by?

The bit were I am currently running a small company and the calibre of youngsters wanting an apprenticeship is woeful .... they are 16 years old and there education started under Labours guardianship and they had been in a while when these lads started school .... They have let these kids down beyond anything and its almost as though they wanted them downtrodden so they spite the so called "Tory Toffs" and vote Labour for ever more .... I would rather the Greens run this country than have to run a business under Labour .... So tell me all these failed kids are that I see that are desperate for a job but can hardly string a coherent sentence together they are the ones that are let down

 

[sherbert]

Which elements of Labour's NHS and education program did you feel let down by?

The bit were I am currently running a small company and the calibre of youngsters wanting an apprenticeship is woeful .... they are 16 years old and there education started under Labours guardianship and they had been in a while when these lads started school .... They have let these kids down beyond anything and its almost as though they wanted them downtrodden so they spite the so called "Tory Toffs" and vote Labour for ever more .... I would rather the Greens run this country than have to run a business under Labour .... So tell me all these failed kids are that I see that are desperate for a job but can hardly string a coherent sentence together they are the ones that are let down

 

[Westdene Seagull]

The bit were I am currently running a small company and the calibre of youngsters wanting an apprenticeship is woeful .... they are 16 years old and there education started under Labours guardianship and they had been in a while when these lads started school .... They have let these kids down beyond anything and its almost as though they wanted them downtrodden so they spite the so called "Tory Toffs" and vote Labour for ever more .... I would rather the Greens run this country than have to run a business under Labour .... So tell me all these failed kids are that I see that are desperate for a job but can hardly string a coherent sentence together they are the ones that are let down

 

[Hampster Gull]

The NHS could suck all of the tax revenue by itself. Not a criticism but just the nature of medicine and an ageing population. As a society we need to decide how much we are willing to fund and then manage to that

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Case in point for the western part of Worthing as Sir Peter Bottomley is an excellent constituency MP.

His other half (of Worthing) Loughton states that youth unemployment has fallen from 490 to 150 in the constituency & unemployment overall is down from 3.9% to an extraordinary 1.5%, both since 2010

 

[Machiavelli]

While I wouldn't dream of putting words in Lenny's mouth - Labours downfall in the NHS and education can be summed up in three letters .... P ..... F ..... I.

As an example ( and there are plenty ) go and ask the then Head how much and how long it took to get a simple bulb changed .... over two weeks each time and £200. Jarvis raked it in while the school budget was decimated.

Hard to argue with this. You led yourself into that one, HT.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

While I wouldn't dream of putting words in Lenny's mouth - Labours downfall in the NHS and education can be summed up in three letters .... P ..... F ..... I.

As an example ( and there are plenty ) go and ask the then Head how much and how long it took to get a simple bulb changed .... over two weeks each time and £200. Jarvis raked it in while the school budget was decimated.

Women are right - we men can't multi-task ! While trying to get my dinner ready I left off some detail, I meant to say 'go and ask the then head of Dorothy Stringer'.

 

[8ace]

We’re Forecasting The 2015 U.K. General Election | FiveThirtyEight

 

[Vegas Seagull]

We’re Forecasting The 2015 U.K. General Election | FiveThirtyEight

No forecast & admission that got all 3 main parties wrong last time. Great!

 

[Titanic]

Latest YouGov poll (08 - 09 Mar):
CON - 35% (+1)
LAB - 31% (-2)
UKIP - 14% (-1)
LDEM - 8% (-)
GRN - 6% (+1)

 

[Simster]

Which elements of Labour's NHS and education program did you feel let down by?

I don't like the way Labour use the NHS as a political football. If Labour are going to have a pop at the Tories for wanting to break up the NHS, then how about THEY fix the issues properly? And that means not pouring more and more money into it whilst failing to address the appalling management failings that they would never get away with in the private sector.

 

[Surf's Up]

I don't like the way Labour use the NHS as a political football. If Labour are going to have a pop at the Tories for wanting to break up the NHS, then how about THEY fix the issues properly? And that means not pouring more and more money into it whilst failing to address the appalling management failings that they would never get away with in the private sector.

Actually what Labour consistently do when they're in power is massively increase the bureaucratic infrastructure of the NHS by creating new tiers of administration and regulation which add nothing to the quality of care provided to patients. In the Blair/Brown years they also privatised some medical services and went abundance on the complete private sector rip-off Private Finance Initiative for building new hospitals. In the interest of balance, the Tories introduced the concepts of service privatisation and PFI as well as the forced merger of hospitals into much bigger, and frequently completely unmanageable, organisations to save create economies of scale. So, IMHO, the NHS is not safe with either of the main parties.

 

[Brovion]

Actually what Labour consistently do when they're in power is massively increase the bureaucratic infrastructure of the NHS by creating new tiers of administration and regulation which add nothing to the quality of care provided to patients. In the Blair/Brown years they also privatised some medical services and went abundance on the complete private sector rip-off Private Finance Initiative for building new hospitals. In the interest of balance, the Tories introduced the concepts of service privatisation and PFI as well as the forced merger of hospitals into much bigger, and frequently completely unmanageable, organisations to save create economies of scale. So, IMHO, the NHS is not safe with either of the main parties.

100% spot on. My wife works as an NHS nurse and has done since the mid-1980s so she's seen it all. The stories she can tell you about bureaucracy and administrative waste would make your hair curl. The Tories started the rot with their ridiculous 'internal markets' and Labour, despite having 13 years to put it right simply made things worse. Then they panicked under Brown and threw more money at it - which did nothing.

It's a bit like the England cricket team. The simplistic answer for the cricket is 'sack the manager'. The simplistic answer for the NHS is 'increase funding'. Both are far too simplistic and neither will work as they don't go to the core of the problem - the organisation. My wife says (and she's only semi-joking) that for every £100 of increased NHS expenditure that is announced only £1 will be spent on front line services and £99 on the delivery mechanism. Then for every £100 of cuts announced £99 are taken straight from front line services, because, after all, you've got to spend money on the re-organisation and the staff needed to implement the cuts.

Sadly I endorse your point that the NHS isn't safe with either party. So if some idiot knocks on your door and says they intend to save the NHS by increasing funding and stopping cuts - shut the door in the simpleton's face.

 

[Triggaaar]

Sadly I endorse your point that the NHS isn't safe with either party. So if some idiot knocks on your door and says they intend to save the NHS by increasing funding and stopping cuts - shut the door in the simpleton's face.

So what should they do instead?
(I don't disagree with your point)

 

[Brovion]

So what should they do instead?
(I don't disagree with your point)

That, my friend, is a ****ing good question. It's one (but only one) of the reasons that people are disillusioned with all main parties - none of then seem to have the answers.