Cameron: "Cuts will change our way of life"

[Bobby Hundreds]

I remember when Gerry Adams voice wasn't even allowed to be broadcast, I was so eager to hear his real voice when they said its now allowed. Unfortunately it was exactly the same as the VoiceOver. I was hoping he'd be like that cabbaged lad from police academy.

[Section_31]

 

Why would you do that?

It was between him or a Tory. I should say allegedly too, the local police inspector recognised his voice on the phone and it got no further than that.

[Beansonafryup]

Locally who is the biggest sleaziest tory slime merchant in your area?

[Beansonafryup]

So trying to stop a march where people will promote nazi ideals and do nazi salutes is more nazi than the actual parade?

 

There is no democratic right to promote and incite racial hatred. Sorry, there just isn't.

I'm not defending their beliefs I'm just defending their right to their beliefs. If they act illegally they should be arrested just like anybody else. If not ...let them do their thing, at the end of the day they only make themselves look stupid and embarrassing they probably do more harm to themselves and their cause than any sort of counter march would.

[Section_31]

Locally who is the biggest sleaziest tory slime merchant in your area?

The councillors tend to be alright in fairness and often more approachable than the Labour ones and actually less arrogant. There's a Tory MP in part of the ward though who's a bit of a mentalist.

[Beansonafryup]

The councillors tend to be alright in fairness and often more approachable than the Labour ones and actually less arrogant. There's a Tory MP in part of the ward though who's a bit of a mentalist.

I live near northwich. The Tories in our council are stereotypical bastards. Lead by the biggest evil twat of them all. And He looks like kev from Derek

[Anubis]

I live near northwich. The Tories in our council are stereotypical bastards. Lead by the biggest evil twat of them all. And He looks like kev from Derek

 

Now is there any reason to be talking about RedRazor like that?

[Moctezuma]

Anyone else think the BBCs coverage of this has been pretty poor and totally obsessed with UKIP?

 

They’ve done well electorally as a minority party and maybe that will allow them (and their odious right wing, total privatisation views) to make in roads at the general election. There seems to be very little covering the fact that both the conservatives and Lib Dems have been hammered while Labour has made some decent gains.

 

Nick Robinson practically seems to be creaming himself over UKIPs rise but I would imagine that their views probably chime with his. Actually he really is the classic twat; from that well ensconced belt in Cheshire and leader of the young conservatives whilst wolfing down the prawn sandwiches in his executive box in M16*, I also find that his delivery style grates particularly badly.

 

This current incompetent government must be pissing themselves with how easy a ride their getting from the press pack, but then I suppose they have a fair few of them in their pocket. The overall narrative that the country should be utter thankful for becoming some free market, tax dodge, anti-EU bastion (which has been conflated in part with the difficulties immigration brings to working class communities) has allowed them to go unimpeded. The only minor negative for the Conservatives is that it has led to a rabid gang of lunatics gaining in the elections, on occasion at their expense.

 

*I’m sure he’s one of those types who on his way through Salford in his unnecessary 4x4 say “It’s a bit grim round here isn’t it, better park the car at LCCC so it doesn’t get nicked”.

[RedRazor]

Now is there any reason to be talking about RedRazor like that?

Complete bollocks. I don't look anything like Kev from Derek.

[Stu Monty]

Anyone else think the BBCs coverage of this has been pretty poor and totally obsessed with UKIP?

 

They’ve done well electorally as a minority party and maybe that will allow them (and their odious right wing, total privatisation views) to make in roads at the general election. There seems to be very little covering the fact that both the conservatives and Lib Dems have been hammered while Labour has made some decent gains.

 

Nick Robinson practically seems to be creaming himself over UKIPs rise but I would imagine that their views probably chime with his. Actually he really is the classic twat; from that well ensconced belt in Cheshire and leader of the young conservatives whilst wolfing down the prawn sandwiches in his executive box in M16*, I also find that his delivery style grates particularly badly.

 

This current incompetent government must be pissing themselves with how easy a ride their getting from the press pack, but then I suppose they have a fair few of them in their pocket. The overall narrative that the country should be utter thankful for becoming some free market, tax dodge, anti-EU bastion (which has been conflated in part with the difficulties immigration brings to working class communities) has allowed them to go unimpeded. The only minor negative for the Conservatives is that it has led to a rabid gang of lunatics gaining in the elections, on occasion at their expense.

 

*I’m sure he’s one of those types who on his way through Salford in his unnecessary 4x4 say “It’s a bit grim round here isn’t it, better park the car at LCCC so it doesn’t get nicked”.

 

The relationship between the media and politics is at the heart of the problems with democracy. The media and the political class being almost one and the same now is a deeply corrosive influence on the nation's well-being. This is only going to get worse. Cultural control is a massive objective for very rich people and the lengths they are going to over in the US will be almost certainly mirrored over here.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Media (newspapers, TV news, journalists, etc), politics and big business/very wealthy/bankers. That triumvirate is pretty dangerous. It needs somebody to cone and destroy it.

[Lee909]

Futurama summed up politics in this country

 

[Jairzinho]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27571474

 

First time the South West has had a Green Party MEP.

[Strontium]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27576626

 

27 May 2014 Last updated at 09:21

 

HMRC crackdown yields record £23.9bn in additional tax

 

The government has raised a record £23.9bn in additional tax for the year to the end of March as a result of a crackdown on tax avoidance.

 

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it had secured the money - the highest amount since records began - as a result of its investigations.

 

The figure is almost £1bn higher than the target set by Chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn Statement.

 

The extra money raised is in addition to regular tax receipts.

 

HMRC credited "increased activity" on unpaid tax for the figure.

 

"HMRC will pursue those seeking to avoid their responsibilities and will collect the taxes that are due," said Treasury minister David Gauke.

 

"The government is determined to tackle the minority that seek to avoid paying the taxes they owe," he added.

 

HMRC said that of the total amount it had raised, more than £8bn came from large businesses, £1bn from criminals and £2.7bn from tackling avoidance schemes in courts.

 

In total, HMRC has said it expects to secure £100bn between May 2010 and March 2015 as a result of its investigations into unpaid tax.

 

The "tax gap" - the difference between the amount of tax due and that collected - was 7% for the 2011-2012 financial year, the most recent figure available.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

[Section_31]

Bit of a fucked up Connery thing on the go there.

[Anubis]

^{Zero hours contracts not enough for our retail overlords? Meet the next big idea...}

 

 

^{http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/friends_without_benefits_job_creators_accrue_more_terrifying_power_20140531}

 

 

^{Friends Without Benefits’: ‘Job Creators’ Accrue More Terrifying Power}

 

 

^{Applying for a job you need but don’t really want is bad enough. But now “Zappos, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, is going to occupy the unemployed for months with (mostly futile) attempts to become virtual ‘friends’ with the online shoe retailer,” Noah McCormack writes at The Baffler.}

^{The Wall Street Journal reported May 26:}

Zappos, based in Las Vegas, plans to hire at least 450 people this year, but candidates won’t find out about those jobs on LinkedIn.com, Monster.com or the company website. Instead, they will have to join a social network, called Zappos Insiders, where they will network with current employees and demonstrate their passion for the company—in some cases publicly—in hopes that recruiters will tap them when jobs come open.

^{McCormack comments:}

Zappos has apparently decided it is no longer good enough to be a qualified hire who is interested in the job. An interested applicant must also spend unremunerated time pretending to engage in virtual social relationships with existing employees. The American economy has become so warped that it now appears reasonable to a subsidiary of a leading public company to require people who may never be hired to spent large amounts of time pretending to be friends with people with whom they may never work.

This represents the convergence of at least three disturbing trends in the current American economy: the long-term unemployment of large numbers of people and the consequent power given to any company which is hiring; the technology industry’s revival of old prejudices under catchy new names; and the way that technology increasingly erodes any sense that our work selves are merely a component of our lives, rather than the entirety of our existence.

As warped as this hiring system is, the Wall Street Journal could only find—or, more likely, only thought to seek—people who praised Zappos’s innovative spirit. Just one booster, the founder of a talent-acquisition consultancy that works with companies including Pepsi and Walmart, said that, while Zappos had made “a move in the right direction . . . it is unclear whether potential candidates will remain engaged with the company if months go by without job opportunities.”

 

 

[TheBitch]

Disgusting.

[stringvest]

'Dance, you unemployed scum.  Go on, dance'.

[Anubis]

Did they get the idea from Quantum Of Solace, or did Quantum Of Solace get the idea from them?

 

 

http://www.popularresistance.org/wall-street-mega-banks-are-buying-up-the-worlds-water/

[Jairzinho]

Freedom and Democracy.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

'Dance, you unemployed scum. Go on, dance'.

Gives that poor pony a break I suppose.

 

Every cloud and that.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Stronts 3 day week visoon is starting to take shape.

 

[lifetime fan]

Patients sectioned 'because of pressure on beds'

By Michael Buchanan

Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC News

3 hours ago

 

Pressure on mental health beds is so severe that some patients are having to be sectioned to secure necessary care, a survey of junior doctors suggests.

 

The Royal College of Psychiatrists questioned 576 trainees working in psychiatry across the UK.

 

The college said its findings suggested mental health services were approaching a "tipping point" and that the situation was "simply unacceptable".

 

Ministers said inpatient beds should be available for those who needed them.

 

The survey also suggests that critically unwell patients are being sent home because no bed can be found for them.

 

Children moved

 

Investigations in recent months by BBC News and the online journal Community Care have highlighted that more than 1,700 mental health beds have been cut and that patients are travelling huge distances to access care.

 

 

Sectioning someone under the Mental Health Act - denying them their liberty - should only be done when a person is a risk either to themselves or others.

 

But this survey of trainee doctors adds to concerns that mental health patients are being failed by the NHS.

 

The key findings include:

 

Some 18% said their decision to detain a patient under the Mental Health Act (section someone) had been influenced by the fact that doing so might make the provision of a bed more likely; 37% said a colleague's decision had been similarly influenced

One-in-four said a bed manager had told them that unless their patient had been sectioned they would not get a bed

Almost 30% have sent a critically-ill patient home because no bed could be found

A third had seen a patient admitted to a ward without a bed

And 22% had been forced to send a child more than 200 miles from their families for treatment

Doctors also reported sending adult patients long distances to access care and admitting people into a bed belonging to another patient who had been sent home for a period of trial leave.

 

'Very alarming'

 

One young psychiatrist, who did not want to be named, told BBC News that a patient had died as a result of not being able to secure a bed locally.

 

"The patient presented to us, they needed to be admitted, we couldn't admit them locally, they were admitted to a hospital hundreds of miles away.

 

"The care they received was not what we'd have done and they died."

 

The findings have been condemned by the college.

 

 

Minister Norman Lamb said the NHS should treat mental and physical health services equally

Dr Howard Ryland, who oversees its psychiatric training described them as "very alarming".

 

"People are beginning to recognise that there is a real crisis in mental health," he added.

 

"This survey shows a picture of the very severe pressure that frontline staff are under in terms of securing the care that people need.

 

"The NHS doesn't have the resources to cope with the ever increasing demand. The system doesn't have the services to provide everyone with the care they need."

 

'Vulnerable'

 

His comments were supported by the Prof Bailey, president of the college, who said: "This survey provides further evidence that mental health services are approaching a tipping point.

 

"Continued cuts to services can only result in further distress and discomfort for patients, many of whom are young, vulnerable, some of whom are forced to receive care far from home. This situation is simply not acceptable."

 

In a statement, care minister Norman Lamb said: "It is not acceptable to detain someone under the Mental Health Act purely because they need an inpatient bed.

 

"Decisions about detention must always be taken in the best interests of patients at risk of harming themselves or others.

 

"Inpatient beds must always be available for those who need them. We are scrutinising local NHS plans to make sure they put mental health on a par with physical health."

[Champ]

While I recognise the shortage of mental health in-patient beds, I dont see psychiatrists 'sectioning' patients to get them a bed because thats not how it works here and maybe in England and Wales too, I shall check. In Scotland,  at least, a psychiatrist needs the consent of a mental health officer to detain ('section') someone under the Mental Health Act.

 

What I have had experience of, though, is contemplating giving consent to a woman's detention as she was unwilling to be admitted on a voluntary basis to a hospital an hour's drive away, this being the nearest available mental health bed