Labour’s (I think) shadow Health Sec being interviewed on R4 this AM - evasive, weaselly, noncommittal, seemingly devoid of substantive policies, robotically repeating her learned-lines, and wholly unwilling to directly criticise Tory policies.
This latter in particular seems to be a Play with Labour politicians now - WTF? Never has a goal been more wide-open, yet there’s Labour: at the other end of the pitch, practising keepie-uppies.
Is it any wonder people still vote Tory even in the face of them running cuntry like a 3rd-rate crime syndicate - at least the cunts sound like they believe their own bullshit…
Labour’s air time is limited. What they do get is often spent impersonating a goldfish - Where is the passion / charisma / intelligence / challenge / straight talking no nonsense communication? I would prefer this to the long trail of non committal shite left dangling in their media wake.
It was Rosena Allin-Khan (shadow minister for mental health). Mostly on Today she was being pressed not to criticise Tory policies but to support (or not) her boss, Wes Streeting (shadow health minister). He has been talking about a need for NHS reforms in return for a Labour government spending more money on the service. The suggestion of reforms seems to have pissed off the unions, in particular the BMA, and it’s fairly clear that Allin-Khan is siding with them. She is still a practising doctor, so perhaps that’s not surprising.
If I’ve understood her Wiki entry correctly she still works occasional shifts in St George’s A&E during parliamentary recesses.
Do the BMA represent GPs? If so not surprised they object to reform, it might mean the majority of them on the rather easier contract might have to change to one of the other two contracts that have targets to meet in exchange for money.
I’ve got a lot of time for Mick Lynch. So far I haven’t seen him get flustered in interviews or be presented with questions he can’t answer in a straight forward and sensible or logical way.
He is a lefty and they do seem to be a rather brexity bunch, fuck knows why
The relevant bit of Stu’s link starts at 41:10 and lasts 5 minutes or so. If I’ve understood him correctly he believes that the future of state-owned entities (including the NHS, and a possible re-nationalisation of the railways) is threatened by the EU’s insistence that all these services must be open to external competition. He feels that if the people of the UK disagree with that then they stand a chance of achieving what they want by electing a (presumably Labour) government here, which could run an NHS or railway free from external competition as long as we are outside the EU. If we were in the EU it wouldn’t matter what government we elect because (presumably) it wouldn’t carry enough weight to change the EU’s overriding preference for the private sector.
Doesn’t seem to cause the French or Germans any issues. Plenty of state owned entities in both countries - France just took EDF back into full ownership didn’t it? I think part of the issue is we Brits think a rule is a rule, but the continentals (esp the french) treat it as guidance.
That’s an argument I’ve never understood, there’s nothing in the EU rules stopping a govt from “nationalising” a service. Look at Germany with DB and Deutsche Post (which owns DHL) where the state owns 90% of DP via state owned proxies etc.
If it wanted to the UK govt could have easily nationalised energy and railways etc whilst in the EU
