For the first time in weeks I have no work this weekend, so I wanted to catch up with a couple of topics that I had written about previously, and which were finding their way back into the news. For those who follow such things my old pal the Jim Reaper has left Whitehall and … Read more
I found needles and ampules in my neighbourhood this week. I live very near a big hospital, which means that it was more likely to be medical rather than heroin, but I rang the Police nonetheless, being a concerned citizen. For those who don’t know Durham runs the most liberal drugs regime in … Read more
Apologies for the lack of blogging. I am on duty running the shop this weekend. If you would like to pop in and debate any of the issues in the blog, or buy Gin it would be great to see you. Especially if you want to buy Gin
Very very quietly a long era in NHS history might just be ending. I started writing a short history of NHS Management. My original jumping off point was this article from Warwick University Business School Warwick University offer a specialist healthcare management MBA which absolutely isn’t a conflict of interest with this research … Read more
The NHS is underfunded. This is such a widespread belief, that I don’t know anyone who would challenge that statement. Instinctively I believe it too, if only because over the last few years the Government has fibbed outrageously about how much it is putting into the NHS which they wouldn’t need to do if funding … Read more
Apologies that this blog is a week later than I intended. This is a bit ironic, as this blog is about waiting lists, specifically housing waiting lists, and the delay in publishing the blog is because of how long I had to wait to find out how long people have to wait for Social … Read more
I visited Cardiff earlier this year to see the Dr Who exhibition before it closed. On the Sunday morning we walked around the City to see some of the filming locations. It was like a horror movie. We came across people collapsed in the streets, comatose, or overdosed. Those who were moving were staggering … Read more
Nahendra Modi is the first world leader to have been a chai wallah. He is also a tea-total vegetarian, unmarried (although he was briefly married when he was younger), and by repute, celibate, possibly a virgin. Add to that some conservative social attitudes and you have the political equivalent of Morrissey. I had read a … Read more
The English language is full of loan words from Hindi and other languages from the Indian sub-continent. Shampoo, Veranda, Bungalow, Pyjamas, Bangle, Dinghy, Dungaree, Thug. Anyone who has Indian relatives will have this pointed out to them regularly. One of the most commonly used Hindi loan words in English is loot. Derived from … Read more
I’m not a massive fan of Jeremy Corbyn. People who know me won’t be surprised by that, as I haven’t taken any steps at all to hide my lack of enthusiasm for him. I do however know lots of people, very nice people, who do think very highly of him, and who often share things … Read more