If you had been watching the 10 o'clock news on the BBC, you would have seen it too! There right behind the poor journalist, trying to tell his story, was Larry. He'd obviously got out - and I can tell you he wasn't out hunting rats! He'd eaten a bowl of tuna and cream only an hour earlier! But there he was trying to make his escape. It was bad luck that the TV cameras were switched on at that very moment. Then - blow me down - before he could make good his escape, he was lured back inside. Larry could never resist the prospect of a good nosh!
So, you ask, why should he leave the stinking - sorry - sinking ship?
Larry isn't daft. He knows, as well as the rest of us, that the Coalition Government's days are numbered. Why are they numbered? Because of the shenanigans going on around the Health and Social Care Bill. 'Silly Ass' Lansley and 'Boy David' Cameron have not been reading the runes! The game's up, as far as the country is concerned.
The problem is - 'Silly Ass' Lansley is as stubborn as a mule. Concession is not a word that exists in his vocabulary. And 'Boy David' Cameron did so many U-turns in the early days of the government, that he thinks he'll look stupid, if he does another. Have I got news for him!! If he doesn't do another big U-turn on the NHS Bill, he won't just look stupid, he'll have done for himself with regard to a political future! The Tories won't forgive him when they topple like nine-pins at the next election.
Of course, there's always 'Ridiculous Nicholas' Clegg! But since he's just a joke - why would anybody bother with him! Unlike Cameron, Clegg can always go back to talking his native language, Double-Dutch, in Brussels. So no one listens to a thing he says!
Some LibDems, however, are more thoughtful and put the welfare of their fellows before their own political careers. In today's Guardian Dr Evan Harris, vice chair of the Lib Dems' federal policy committee, has written an article in which he says:
Have the concerns of the party been met? In short, no. The bill does now offer improved transparency of decision-making in commissioning, tackles conflicts of interest, and rules out price competition. But it does not deliver on local democratic accountability. And it fails to provide the required safeguards against existing NHS services being destabilised by competition. The regulator, Monitor, is partly constrained from letting competition rip. But the bill is still framed so that a market-oriented regulator (which is what Monitor's personnel are bound to be) will be free to drive competition into the health service "in the patient's interest", as there is no reciprocal requirement to promote collaboration.
By 'party' he means the LibDems - at least those, unlike their leader 'Ridiculous Nicholas', who are still untainted by the love of power.
Dr Evan Harris continues:
... after the so-called "listening exercise", the government made the bill much worse by requiring GPs to promote both choice (and thus competition) and "innovation" above tackling the deep-seated problems of unfair access to healthcare and gross disparities in health outcomes. No Liberal Democrat should support a bill with that order of priority.
He concludes:
Unless there are more last-minute changes to deliver what the party required, at this weekend's party conference I urge Lib Dems to call for the plug to be pulled on this legislation – for the sake of the NHS.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/06/nhs-sake-lib-dems-ditch-health-bill?intcmp=239
Other thinking people such as Fellows of the Medical Royal Colleges, the BMA, the Royal Colleges of Nursing and Midwives - to name but a few - are also opposing the Bill. They value the NHS too much to sit idly by and just shake their heads.
Tonight there is to be a
Now Larry, not being as stupid as he's painted, has seen the writing on the wall. Come the day of reckoning, Larry knows he's going to be the first one out. Cameron won't be taking him to his nice country estate, no siree! It's back to the Cat Home for him. Being a wily old cat, he was hoping to set off to find a suitable place for himself, before he gets the chop along with 'Boy David' Cameron.
As for Arturo and me - we're off to join the Rally to Save the NHS. We may only be under stairs cats - but we know our way around!
'Bye'
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