No 'top-down reorganisation' of the NHS at No. 10

"Boy, Oh boy!" Arturo said, "you know something, mi old pal - we're living with Humpty-Dumpty. Remember what he said, do you?

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

And that's just what 'Boy David' Cameron has been doing with words on the NHS!"

So - I looked up to find out just what Cameron had said about the NHS - when he hoped to catch people's votes.

Mr Cameron called the NHS one of the 20th Century's greatest achievements.

"Tony Blair explained his priorities in three words: education, education, education," he told Tory activists in Bournemouth.

"I can do it in three letters: NHS."

These sentiments were quoted by the BBC in 2006 - before Cameron attained power. In the same speech, the BBC reported

He promised "no more pointless and disruptive reorganisations". Instead, change would be "driven by the wishes and needs of NHS professionals and patients".

This was part of a speech in which:

The Tory leader also hit out at those accusing him of peddling spin rather than substance.

In an attempt to refute these accusations:

He said: "I want to deal with this issue about substance. Substance is not about a 10-point plan, it is about deeper things than that. It is about knowing what you believe, it is about sticking to your guns.

"It is about taking time to think things through, not trotting out the easy answers that people want to hear.

"It is about character, and judgement, and consistency. It is about policy, yes. But it is about developing policy for the long-term."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5403798.stm

So - the NHS is 'one of this country's greatest achievements', is it? It WAS! But - 'Baby, look at it now!'

So - 'substance' is about 'knowing what you believe, it is about sticking to your guns' Well - let's look at the evidence.

Some guns!! Cameron with the help of the LibDems have done a demolition job on the NHS - couldn't do that with just a Colt 45, could he?

What else did this man of substance do about the NHS? He embarked on a radical plan of re-organisation almost as soon as he became Prime Minister. The reorganisation was under the guidance of Hatchet-man Lansley. The King's Fund had this to say:

The Health and Social Care Bill represented the biggest shake-up of the NHS since its inception...

http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/topics/nhs-reform/health-and-social-care-bill

Protests were rife - this was not what Cameron had pledged. Not at all. So - ever the PR man, he set to work to keep the masses happy. He didn't quite ask them to 'eat cake' - but almost! He told them he would have further consultations and would listen! I bet, he did!

After that, Emily Fox in 2011 wrote in The Express

David Cameron admitted ministers had “learnt a lot” in recent weeks and insisted that many people had changed their minds about the proposals.

In a speech to NHS staff in London, the Prime Minister admitted there were areas of the reforms that needed to change.

He said: "Hospital doctors and nurses - not just GPs - would now be involved in commissioning, clinical senates would bring together healthcare professionals to oversee the integration of care over wide areas and the health regulator Monitor would have a duty to promote integration."

Acknowledging widespread concerns about the Health and Social Care Bill, Mr Cameron promised there would be no “selling off” of the NHS, that waiting times would be kept under control and that competition would only be used as a means to improving services.

The Prime Minister said there had been an “important debate” over the past two months which had led to “a whole range of people” changing their views.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/251349/Cameron-NHS-is-safe-in-our-hands

Nothing daunted and with the LibDems' sycophantic help, the Health and Social Care Act was passed. Last year, Cameron was still uttering his mealy-mouthed words. ITV reported:

David Cameron said the NHS was "completely safe" in the Government's hands after 11 failing hospitals were placed under "special measures" management.

Speaking after Sir Bruce Keogh's damning review of hospitals, the Prime Minister said: "I think everyone can have confidence in the NHS and everyone can have confidence that their local hospital either is a good hospital or is being turned around and being made into a good hospital.

The man obviously thinks he is in 'Alice in Wonderland'! ITV went on to report Cameron's musings:

"There is much to celebrate in our NHS and I love our NHS, and I never want to do it any harm, but we don't serve our NHS by covering up problems and difficulties and clearly there are some hospitals with too-high mortality rates."

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-07-16/cameron-nhs-completely-safe-in-coalition-hands/

Sadly, we are not in the fantasy world of 'Wonderland'; we are in the here and now. So, let's see what the present situation really is.

According to the headline written by Mark Gould in The Guardian:

GPs braced for shutdown after 'toxic mix' of loss of funds and high demand: At one of 98 GP surgeries in England under threat of closure there is despair that NHS reforms could kill off good care

The article continues.

"Give it a year and I think we will have to close," says Naomi Beer, a frustrated and angry GP who works in a surgery (Jubilee Road) which has been providing care to a largely poor and deprived area since the start of the NHS in 1948. In February, NHS England admitted that 98 surgeries could be under threat of closure as a result of what doctors' leaders have described as a "toxic mix" of a flawed funding system and seemingly uncheckable demand for medical care. ...

But, due to changes in the labyrinthine system of funding general practice, Jubilee Street faces the loss of many hundreds of thousands of pounds, which Beer and the equally angry practice manager, Virginia Patania, say will soon make it financially unsustainable.

"We are now eating into practice savings to continue providing a quality service. But we are planning for a 'red button day' when we will have to dissolve the practice," says Patania, who gives a detailed breakdown of their financial crisis. "I have been raising our concerns with NHS England since Christmas and I get no satisfactory answer. I want to know sooner rather than later because I'd rather dissolve at six months than wait 12 and face even higher losses."

The article continued:

The practice hits all the government's quality targets, has a 94% patient satisfaction rate, and has introduced internet-based consultations, appointments, repeat prescriptions, and while-you-wait phlebotomy. And it is the only surgery in Tower Hamlets that has received the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Quality Practice Award – for excellence in training and for the quality of its care.

Mark Gould gives details of the consequences of this catastrophic situation for the NHS. It is not just this practice, as he makes clear:

Dr Richard Vautrey, the deputy chair of the British Medical Association's GP committee, fears the Jubilee Street situation could be repeated in several hundred practices, not just the 98 identified by NHS England as at severe risk. "This is the tip of the iceberg," he says. "Practices are struggling with workload and funding and many GPs, although they love general practice, are seriously considering retiring early. The knock-on effect of losing high-quality general practice and cutting its funding will be more pressure on hospitals. We need concrete action from NHS England and that requires more financial resources."

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/apr/16/gps-surgeries-shutdown-loss-funds-high-demand-nhs

Of course, this is only one small bit of the story! We don't know the full picture of what's happening in our hospitals - apart from the fact that many are closing! Also - there's the little matter of privatisation! But - we can only whisper about that! Otherwise Cameron might have apoplexy - then where would he go to be treated!

So, after all the Cameron rhetoric, this is the state of the NHS in 2014. Just read what he pledged in a speech at the Royal College of Pathologists on 2 November 2009:

"With the Conservatives there will be no more of the tiresome, meddlesome, top-down re-structures that have dominated the last decade of the NHS."

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/11/pre-election-pledges-tories-are-trying-wipe-internet

The present parlous state of the NHS throughout the country is really bad timing for our 'Safe in Our Hands' Coalition of Tories and LibDems - the European Election is looming and there's to be a General Election next year! Let's hope that like elephants, the voting people of the UK have long memories!

Arturo said, after a little while, "Of course, mi old pal, you have to recall the whole of the Humpty-Dumpty quotation to get the full picture. Let's see, if I remember it correctly, it is:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's all."

http://iheartquotes.com/tags/lewis_carrol

"That, of course is the problem here in Downing Street," Arturo hissed, "Humpty-Dumpty rules OK. He's certainly the 'master' of verbiage in these corridors!"

Arturo and I felt more than a little queasy after all this malarkey - so it's just a little dim sum for us tonight!

Bye

How do you solve a problem like Maria? at No. 10

I was padding along the corridor when Arturo ambushed me. He waved a sheet of song lyrics in front of my nose.

"It's from the 'Sound of Music'" he said. "The lyrics are perfect for our shenanigans here and in Parliament - you know - What to do about Maria Miller! Maybe, we need some nuns to solve the PM's problem with her!!"

To my dismay, I was then treated to Arturo's discordant caterwauling ...

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her

Many a thing she ought to understand

But how do you make her stay and listen to all you say

He continued ...

When I'm with her I'm confused, out of focus and bemused

And I never know exactly where I am

Unpredictable as weather, she's as flighty as a feather

Finally, I made out the words ...

She'd out pester any pest, drive a hornet from its nest

She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl...

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/rodgers_and_hammerstein/how_do_you_solve_a_problem_like_maria-lyrics-213832.html

"Oh! Do shut up!" I heard myself saying. Arturo just grinned.

He stopped 'singing' and fixing me with a beady eye, he said: "Our Maria Miller, Member of Parliament for Basingstoke, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities, is not a happy bunny at the moment. Or hadn't you noticed?"

Of course, I had noticed - how could I NOT have noticed! It's Maria here, Maria there - Maria everywhere but not where she should be! For those of you who haven't been following the sorry story - let me fill you in.

The Observer reported that:

... the commissioner for parliamentary standards, Kathryn Hudson, recommended that Miller repay £45,000 in expenses for a house she shared with her parents and had wrongly claimed was her "second home". The rules say second homes must be used exclusively for parliamentary purposes that would not include using them to accommodate parents. The cross-party House of Commons standards committee, which adjudicated on the report, overruled the watchdog and decided she only needed to hand back £5,800 in overclaimed mortgage interest. Miller was ordered to apologise to the Commons for failing to co-operate fully with the inquiries, which she did in a statement whose brevity shocked MPs.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/05/maria-miller-support-ebbs-away

The article was written by the paper's political editor Toby Helm. He gave a thorough account of the plight in which Maria Miller now finds herself. He wrote:

The former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, Sir Alistair Graham, said he was shocked at Miller's behaviour. "The degree of lack of co-operation and the attempt to divert the commissioner from addressing the issues concerned both seem fairly exceptional.

"I think particularly for a senior cabinet minister, who you expect to show a leadership role in co-operating with whatever expenses system is around, it is pretty shocking.

"I think the public will be very shocked that the committee did overturn one of the key recommendations about how much should be repaid back, when there is a real possibility that the minister made a capital gain with the help of public funds."

Tut! Tut! I thought that this Coalition Government claimed to make their future expenses claims whiter than white! In 2009, Andrew Sparrow, writing in The Guardian commented on 'Boy David' Cameron's statements about MP's' expenses:

Cameron also said he had told members of his shadow cabinet to publish more information about what they are claiming.

From 12 May, they have been publishing their expenses claims online.

But, from today, they also will have to publish "significant correspondence" relating to their expenses and their receipts on the internet.

"This is a large but necessary task," Cameron said. "All MPs must explain their past errors and account for them.

"But I am determined that, from this point on, myself and my shadow cabinet will do all we can to be as transparent as possible. Only then can trust between the public and their politicians begin to be rebuilt."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/jun/19/gordon-brown-david-cameron-expenses-transparency

Well - blow me down! So - transparency was the order of the day back in 2009 - what about in 2014? Just read what Maria Miller was quoted as saying in the Telegraph by Peter Dominiczak, Claire Newell, Holly Watt and Christopher Hope

When asked to explain details about her mortgage, Mrs Miller wrote an email which said: “I am not sure I am able to assist further. The matter was over six years ago and I’m reluctant to speculate without attempting to locate any documents on the subject if I still have any”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/conservative-mps-expenses/10743455/Maria-Miller-expenses-report-MPs-conspired-to-save-Culture-Secretary.html

Some transparency! Some cheek! However, all may not be lost for our little Maria. She may have found her very own Georg Ludwig von Trapp. Who might this be, do I hear you ask? Well none other than that delightful Clown of the House of Commons who enjoys his own beer and bingo - yes - you've guessed it:

Apple Schnapps Shaps

who was quoted in The Mail

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said it was time to ‘draw a line’ under the controversy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2597821/British-public-want-David-Cameron-axe-shamed-Maria-Miller-Culture-Secretary-expenses-dodge.html

As I pondered all this malarkey, I heard Arturo caterwauling - for the umpteenth time:

She'd out pester any pest, drive a hornet from its nest

She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl...

A right old can of worms, if you ask me. And Arturo says we ain't seen the end of it yet! It's hungry work all this listening to caterwauling - I'm off to the Italian pizza parlour round the corner. Maybe - if Arturo sings loud enough, the opera loving chef will give us some scampi just to get rid of us!! Some hope!.

Gentlemen prefer Bonds @ No. 10

"What's with this 'gentleman's agreement' that they were talking about during PMQs?" Arturo asked.

"Whatever it was - it doesn't sound as though they kept to it." I replied.

"Go and dig up some dirt on it, mi old pal." Arturo said. And that's what I am about to do!

UK Reuters reported:

Prime Minister David Cameron came under pressure in parliament on Wednesday over his government's sale of Royal Mail with the Labour party accusing him of selling the firm off too cheaply to a handful of rich London investors.

The government's handling of the sale of a 60 percent stake in the 500-year-old state postal operator last October at 330 pence a share has come under renewed scrutiny after the country's spending watchdog concluded the government had set the price too low.

Labour has seized upon the flotation, and the quick profits made by big banks and City investors, to reinforce one of its central arguments ahead of next year's general election - that Cameron's government is out of touch with ordinary voters.

"He sold at 330p and this morning the price was 563 pence," Ed Miliband, Labour's leader, told parliament. "It is basic maths. Not so much the Wolf of Wall Street more the dunce of Downing Street," he quipped, referring to the street where Cameron has his office.

"A third of the shares were sold to just 16 city investors and there was a gentleman's agreement that those city investors wouldn't sell the shares," Miliband said.

I say! I say! I say! Miliband certainly came up with a good one-liner: Not so much the Wolf of Wall Street more the dunce of Downing Street. Arturo will like that turn of phrase. I researched a bit further into the Reuter's article.

"What happened? Within weeks half of those shares had been sold and they had made a killing worth hundreds of millions of pounds. In other words 'mates rates' for his friends in the City. This is a sale nobody wanted and nobody voted for - a national asset sold at a knockdown price to make a fortune for the few."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/02/uk-britain-royalmail-cameron-idUKBREA310WB20140402

Some agreement! Some gentlemen! I decided to look up the definition of the phrase 'gentleman's agreement'. Here is what I found:

gentleman's agreement

An arrangement or understanding which is based upon the trust of both or all parties, rather than being legally binding:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gentleman%27s-agreement

So this 'agreement' that they 'wouldn't sell the shares' was based on trust. Dodgy thing that! Who can you trust these days? Particularly anyone involved in finance! I ask you - gentlemen! So - who were these 'gentlemen'? Maybe the Business Secretary, Give-him-a-big-hand, 'InVinceable' Cable himself would know the answer. After all he was organising the 'deal'.

Simon Jenkins in The Guardian wrote:

There was only one loser in this Royal Mail privatisation: the taxpayer: The Treasury was badly advised on the sale, relying on firms accused of unethical practices and corporate greed

Jenkins gave details about the negotiations.

A chief executive was hired, and by May last year the business engineered a 60% surge in profit. It was clearly being gold-plated. So why was it sold as tin? Cable chose Lazards, Goldman Sachs and five other banks to advise on the sale. As anyone who has witnessed these events will attest, they are carnivals of cash.

Privatisation fees alone totalled £12.7m, according to the National Audit Office report. Since the banks advising on price are also placing shares with clients, Chinese walls are put in place to separate "sellers from buyers" within offices. But is this really possible in the City of London, where Chinese walls are most likely made of rice paper? Don't commissions and fees have money dripping from meeting rooms and wine bars, as bankers and lawyers sniff out the nearest and deepest trough?

Yet more neat phrases: 'carnivals of cash' and 'in the City of London, where Chinese walls are most likely made of rice paper'. It certainly doesn't sound a place to find 'gentlemen!

Jenkins continued:

Within weeks of the sale, Goldman Sachs's own analysts were predicting a price of 610p, almost twice what the "advisers" had been advising. The government had been shockingly ill-advised. As the price went up past 600p, Cable kept dismissing it as "irrational exuberance, froth, speculation". He indicated everyone should wait until the price came down. It is now 562p. Worse, he had allocated bundles of shares to 16 City institutions on a "gentleman's agreement" that they would hold them as "a core of high-quality investors who would be there in good times and bad". Within weeks, over half this stake had been sold, and to precisely "the hedge funds and other speculators" that Cable had pledged to keep out. Just four of the 16 are still big shareholders.

Cable was massively naive. On Tuesday he protested that he was merely showing caution against "risk of failure". I can hear the City laughing. As the head of the NAO, Amyas Morse, points out, had Cable been prudent when warned of an undervalued sale, he would have held back 49% of shares for the Treasury, as opposed to just 30%. Indeed, he might have held out for postponement and upped the price. As it is, he valued Royal Mail at £3.3bn – it should have been nearer £5.5bn.

So - InVinceable Cable ain't quite as invincible as we all hoped!! What more did Jenkins have to say?

Cable was spending millions on advice from firms such as Goldmans and Barclays that have been widely accused of unethical practices and corporate greed. This was not cautious but reckless. As the NAO's Morse said on Tuesday: "The price was borne by the taxpayer."

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/01/royal-mail-privatisation-taxpayer-loser

A dog's breakfast you might say! I'm sure that's what Arturo would say! And we all know how he feels about dogs and 'gentlemen'! Certainly, we'll be keeping our eyes open for more gold-plated Porsches and empty bottles of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin floating around the place. Meanwhile our dear old Postie is stuck with his shares! He and his mates can't sell them for years - unlike the 'gentlemen'.

"C'est la vie!" Arturo said, when I showed him the various news items, I'd found. "So - it's 'Gentlemen prefer Bonds', is it, mi old pal? Never trust 'gentlemen' like this lot! After all..." Arturo paused for effect. "After all - what is politics but institutionalised lying?"

So it would seem! Never trust a gentleman! We're going to nip into the kitchen of the Athenaeum tonight - just to see what's cooking!

Bye

Cats Out of Hell Rule OK at No.10

Cats here! Cats there! Cats everywhere! Arturo was in seventh heaven - and so was I. For once, cats have their place within the UK media. Yesterday and today - there are ginger toms in all the best papers. Let me explain.

The Independent put the 'cat among the pigeons' - if that isn't too indelicate a phrase to use - in their columns about Jock V1. Who's Jock, do you ask? Well take a look at this:

Winston Churchill's home gets new rescue cat called Jock VI

Kasmira Gander wrote:

Now, almost 50 years after Churchill died, a new kitten has moved into the ex-Prime Minister’ former country home to honour a request made by him and his family.

The cat was named after one of Churchill’s private secretaries, Sir John “Jock” Colville, who gave the former statesman the pet for his 88th birthday in 1962.

Jock was so dear to Churchill and his family that they asked that a marmalade-coloured cat named Jock with a white bib and four white socks would always live at Chartwell, Kent.

See how some people admire their cats! 'Boy David' Cameron and 'Georgy' Osborne - take note!

The article went on

Previously known as Malley, Jock IV was rescued by Croydon Animal Samaritans before being adopted by Chartwell's house and collections manager, Katherine Barnett.

Trust officials said he takes afternoon naps, eats tuna and lounges on Persian rugs at Chartwell, which has a green cat-flap approved by an historic buildings inspector.

Ms Barnett said: "Jock VI has had a difficult start to his life, but as the saying goes, a cat will always land on its feet. I'm delighted with Jock.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/winston-churchills-home-gets-new-rescue-cat-called-jock-vi-9182404.html

So - Jock VI takes afternoon naps, eats tuna and lounges on Persian rugs! I ask you! Where did I go wrong in one of my nine lives? Never had anything like that - nor has poor old Arturo!

Then more publicity! In 'The Telegraph, more about this fortunate moggy, written by no less than Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent!

The cat was so dear to the former Prime Minister that it was rumoured that meals would not start until Jock was at the table.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10688068/Churchills-wish-upheld-as-new-cat-welcomed-to-Chartwell.html

Can you imagine that! The cat was so dear to Winston Churchill! And here are me and Arturo struggling in the cellars of Nos 10 and 11 to catch rats to keep body and soul alive! It tears at your heart-strings, doesn't it?

Cats were also in the news about their place in Government in 'The Independent'. In an article by Felicity Morse

An army of cats are poised to descend on Westminster to help rid Parliament of vermin.

Battersea Cats and Dogs Home have drawn up a list of their top mousers that could help solve Parliament's pest problem after yet another MP complained about mice. However a spokesperson told The Independent that they as many as 160 cats available

For those who work in Parliament, sightings of mouse colonies are common and MPs have reported mounds of droppings as well as nibbled corners on official documents.

The article went on to discuss the relative merits of Larry - Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office and Freya, who is George Osborne's cat. Can you credit the wording 'Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office'!!!

More was to follow - not only are 160 cats to descend on Westminster - without a mention of Arturo or me - but the word is that :

With troubles at the top, it is perhaps only a matter of time before there will be a new set of whiskers prowling the green benches. Battersea has suggested three possible candidates: Jill, Finn and Bloom.

According to Battersea, three-year-old Jill “hopes to tackle mouse immigration” while four-year-old Finn “would like to promote equal rights for cats and dogs in the long standing debate for equality.” Bloom, the baby of the bunch, is a one-year-old and “has been sharpening her claws on global economic policies ready to show just how it’s done.” It is not clear how their "policies" were ascertained.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cats-poised-to-descend-on-parliament-to-help-rid-westminster-of-vermin-9090838.html?origin=internalSearch

We trust that Cameron, Osborne, Hague and Hunt etc etc are forewarned of what might be let loose on them!! They should listen to 'Cat Out of Hell' by Lynne Truss on BBC Radio 4. Chilling! You can't imagine! But as Tom Cox says of the novel, in The Guardian

Lynne Truss's new novel does nothing to quell the fears of those who believe that all felines are plotting our downfall.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/06/cat-out-of-hell-lynne-truss

Cameron et al - be afraid - be very afraid! You know not what lurks below the stairs! Us felines could easily get our bums on your seats. We might even do a better job than you've been doing!

After so much catty attention, me and my buddy, Arturo, are off to find some 'tuna' and a Persian rug! Why should a kitten have all the fun?

'Bye'

Schlubs come in the front door at No.10

"Well the schlubs are here in Downing Street!" Arturo said gleefully.

"What exactly are schlubs?" I asked. I knew full well that Arturo had spent sometime perusing the Oxford English Dictionary. I knew he was about to regale me with the definition.

"For your education, my dear old pal. A schlub is: a talentless, unattractive, or boorish person. You'll find the definition on the web at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/schlub." He looked exceedingly pleased with himself at this display of technological nous!

He'd obviously been reading The Observer article by Will Hutton headlined:

The public sector isn't perfect but at least it doesn't fleece us

In the article, Hutton comments on the way people and the media seem to be ignoring the way the bankers, engineering contractors, service companies, amongst other Private Sector entities, are behaving. At the same time, the media is full of stories castigating the Public Sector. He writes:

Lloyds Bank casually announced last week that it was setting aside another £1.8bn to meet potential claims from customers after knowingly selling them expensive insurance policies they could not need nor use. The grand total of provisions it has made is now nearly £10bn for claims from up to 700,000 people – a stunning indictment of its business practices.

Hutton continued:

Lloyds is not alone: the other banks have earmarked another £10bn for mis-selling similar products. Their investment bank arms are engulfed with charges of colluding to rig interest rates and foreign exchange markets on a global scale, along with more record-breaking fines. Meanwhile, the average customer's experience remains dismal.

Not a pretty situation - as Arturo would say 'they sound like a right load of schlubs!'

Hutton's article proceeded to show the 'disgraceful behaviour' of Bombardier. He went on to highlight:

Then there are Serco and G4S, with their litany of failures as holders of government contracts. The root of their difficulties is, whatever their original virtues, both have built a culture in which exploiting, rather than serving, the customer comes first – whether it's Serco charging the state for electronically tagging prisoners who did not exist or G4S woefully underproviding security guards for the Olympics. The same dynamic – transient, greedy owners and pay systems that over-reward short-term financial success and cutting corners – produces the same result.

Another cartload of schlubs!

Hutton then berated the proposals for the Probation Service:

Now large parts of the probation service are to be run in the same way by the same kind of company, with the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, absurdly promising more " reform" and "efficiency".

His final section commented on the Public Sector:

The public sector is imperfect: it is run and operated by fallible human beings. There are spectacular failings, ranging from the BBC's wasted £100m on its digital media initiative to the unfolding IT disaster over universal credit. But what it does not deserve is universal castigation because a priori it must be useless. It is accountable. It does not loot its users. It is pretty efficient. It is humane.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/08/britain-private-sector-public-sector-ethics-customers

On 18 February, BBC Radio 4's 'File on Four' had a programme entitled 'Repeat Offenders'. It commented:

Probation staff are currently being told where they will be working under a radical reform of the service. The government is transferring the management of low and medium risk offenders to private companies and high risk cases will be handled by a national probation service.

The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, says the reforms are necessary to cut reoffending rates and save money which will be ploughed back into providing support to all prisoners who have served less than 12 months.

But opponents claim the reforms are being rushed in and will put the public at risk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vf0f7

There was hardly a single person, on the programme, who thought that the proposed new regime whereby

new private providers will only be paid in full if they achieve a reduction in reoffending

could possibly work.

The Government has put back the start date to these probation service changes from May till July! Big deal! They are just postponing the inevitable disintegration of a once valued Public Service. Meanwhile, well qualified and experienced Probation Officers are leaving their jobs in droves. Who will replace them? If the fiasco of G4S and the Olympics is repeated - then heaven help both released prisoners and the general public.

Remember the Care Homes travesty a couple of years ago? Most of them had been handed over to the Private Sector but were in such financial difficulty and had been so badly managed that several homes were forced to close. It was the public sector that had to step in to try to find homes for many of the elderly residents who had nowhere to go. Remind you of the banking fiasco, does it?

In 2011 Jeff Taylor writing in 'The Economic Voice' said:

The number of care homes that have gone bust is more than double the number of last year’s says a top accountancy firm.

Over the 12 months to September 30th 2011 73 care homes went bankrupt compared to the previous year’s 35, which equates to a 109% increase says the Top 21 accountancy company Wilkins Kennedy.

Local authority cutbacks, says Wilkins Kennedy, is putting pressure on care homes struggling with high debt and increasing rental obligations.

Partner at Wilkins Kennedy, Restructuring & Recovery, Anthony Cork, said “The care sector has gone through a long period of expansion during the boom years with many companies taking on large debts to fund growth. This worked fine as long as local Government funding kept increasing, but with the recession and the cutbacks that ensued, many care homes found themselves unable to service their debts. In a growing economy, they could have sold their property assets for redevelopment to reduce their debt levels, but this wasn’t an option because there are no buyers in the current market.”

Some care homes went into sale and leaseback deals so as to free up money for expansion schemes. But now they are faced with having no property and guaranteed annual rent increases, which are above market rates in this depressed property environment.

http://www.economicvoice.com/care-homes-under-pressure-and-going-bankrupt/50025685/

It was a litany to make even a rampant capitalist weep! They've privatised water! They've privatised energy! They've privatised almost anything and everything that was once considered an asset for the people of this country. What next, one wonders?

Schlubs at the door or not, Arturo and I are going out for a stroll in Downing Street! We saw a couple of rats running through both No.10 and No 11. They'll make a tasty snack, if we can catch them!

Bye

Let's get dredging at No.10

"So," Arturo said, "it seems that 'dredging' is now the flavour of the month!" He indicated the screen of his new iPad.

There I read the headline:

David Cameron vows to start dredging rivers to tackle flooding crisis in the Somerset Levels

The article in The Mirror was written by Tom McTague. He went on to quote from 'Boy David' Cameron's answers to questions in the House of Commons:

Mr Cameron said: “We now need to move more rapidly to the issues like dredging which I think will help to make a long-term difference.

“It is not currently safe to dredge in the Levels.

“But I can confirm that dredging will start as soon as it is practical, as soon as the waters have started to come down.” ... “We are urgently exploring what further help the Government can give local residents to move around and I rule nothing out in the days ahead to get this problem sorted.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/somerset-levels-flooding-david-cameron-3091207#ixzz2squEk2LD

"Funny that!" Arturo said. "Not so long ago, 'Boy David' Cameron was saying that Environment Secretary, Owen Patterson,'was doing an “excellent job”'. Our PM certainly likes to keep the right side of public opinion. He'd jump through hoops of fire if he thought it would give him good press. He's not forgotten his days as a PR man!"

Of course, Arturo is right! The Somerset Levels were far from Cameron's mind 18 months ago according to Simon Wright in The Mirror:

A furious farmer who predicted the floods SIX MONTHS ago has told how the Prime Minister snubbed his pleas for help dredging neglected rivers.

Edwin White, 73, wrote to David Cameron warning of the disaster as long ago as August, and begging for a government to match a self-help fund raised by villagers to clear the waterways in the Somerset Levels.

The PM failed to respond, passing it on to then floods minister Richard Benyon – who dismissed the idea.

Last night Mr White from Wells in swamped Somerset said: “It was a disaster waiting to happen and I told Mr Cameron so.

“I know the rivers and how they’ve been neglected over the years. It makes my blood boil now to see the misery that has been caused.

“It’s also hugely frustrating to think of how much it will now cost the whole country to clear up.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/farmer-warned-david-cameron-floods-3127229#ixzz2srF07uMs

Oh dear! That's something our 'Boy David' Cameron would like to forget 'failed to respond', did he?

Now, however, he's putting some real weight behind the problem. Never one to do things by halves, this time he's looked around and come up with an answer to his PR woes. And what is this, do I hear you ask? Well ... the answer lies in the form of one 'Bagpuss' Pickles - no less!

Communities Secretary, Eric 'Bagpuss' Pickles has stepped up! Since Patterson was by now on sick leave, there was a vacuum at the core of Government Policy on flooding. To fill that vacuum - as only one man could - 'Bagpuss' Pickles casting caution to the wind said:

"We made a mistake, there's no doubt about that and we perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice," Mr Pickles told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show. "We recognise that we should have dredged and I think it is important now that we get on the process of getting those people back into their houses once we are able to really do some serious pumping."

That was reported in Antonia Molloy's article in The Independent under the headline:

Eric Pickles: Government made 'mistake' in taking the advice of the Environment Agency

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/eric-pickles-government-made-mistake-in-taking-the-advice-of-the-environment-agency-9117340.html>

Meanwhile, Cameron is chairing COBRA! Personally, I never had him down for a snake charmer! In fact, I never had him down as any sort of charmer! Shows how wrong one can be!

Arturo and me got fed up with all this talk of dredging. So we're going out to have a real good helping of Mississippi Mud Pie!!

Tasty lookin'! Sure is!

'Bye from Arturo and me!

Clegg's 'Fine Mess' ... @ No. 10

"That 'Wailing Lad' Clegg chap, the one who looks as if he's found 10p but lost a quid - you know what I mean about his face?" I nodded to Arturo, fearing to interrupt the flow of thoughts "He couldn't organise a childrens' party in a playground! Is there one single thing that he's ever got right?" Foolishly I nodded again, instead of shaking my head. Arturo pounced. "So what was there?"

"I meant - I agree with you."

"I should jolly well hope so!" Arturo shoved the latest newspapers in front of my nose. "Take a gander at those, if you need convincing. Then cast your mind back to the various travesties last year and the year before."

I decided to start at the beginning. You may recall that one of 'Wailing Lad' Clegg's election promises was that he did not want student tuition fees to be increased. In a 2009 interview with Salman Shaheen in The Third Estate, Clegg is quoted as saying

One of the party’s most popular policies amongst students of all backgrounds has been its opposition to tuition fees. “I believe tuition fees are wrong, I believe they need to be abolished,”

http://thethirdestate.net/2009/10/an-interview-with-nick-clegg/

Yet in 2012, Iain Martin, felt obliged to write in the Telegraph commented

Nick Clegg's apology cannot excuse his contemptible conduct on student tuition fees

Martin went on to say:

Nick Clegg has apologised for the Lib Dems. Sorry, no he hasn't. The Deputy Prime Minister has restricted his apology to the question of the Lib Dems making a promise not to raise tuition fees, which they then broke. You may remember that this pledge was one of the twin pillars on which the party's general election 2010 effort was built. The other was Clegg's sanctimonious observation that it was "time to say goodbye to broken promises".

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin1/100181903/nick-cleggs-apology-cannot-excuse-his-contemptible-conduct-on-student-tuition-fees/

So - Cleggo was already in deep trouble for hypocrisy and cant as far back as 2012.

The picture did not and still does not get any better! Remember the Health and Social Care Bill furore, also in 2012? Well - you should! The LibDems under the leadership (leadership????) of 'Wailing Lad' Clegg covered themselves in muck - to put it politely - over the NHS.

There were many rank and file LibDems who were opposed to the Bill put forward by 'Silver Fox' Lansley. They tried to get a debate on the issue at the LibDem Conference. Laura Donnelly writing in the Telegraph stated:

Campaigners against the NHS changes won enough support to have their "kill the Bill" emergency motion debated on Sunday at the party's spring conference in Gateshead.

But, under the party's alternative vote system, the attempt failed on second preferences.

The article went on:

Speaking before the vote on Saturday, leader Nick Clegg ... said: "I think there is a big gap between what people think the Bill is going to do and what it actually says, I think when people actually see that they will be quite comforted."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/liberaldemocrats/9135890/Liberal-Democrats-reject-vote-on-NHS-reforms.html

'Comfort' is not exactly the word that the 'Kill the Bill' LibDem supporters felt at the time. Many rank and file members saw the Bill as the beginning of the privatisation of the NHS and were desperate to get the Party to debate the issue. Now they feel considerably discomforted - to put it mildly. All their worst fears have been realised.

2014 is not starting out well for the NHS and its supporters will not easily forgive the LibDems for their part in pushing through the Health & Social Care Bill. The NHS Support Federation stated:

Private firms win 70% of NHS contracts The NHS Support Federation analysed contracts for clinical services awarded between April and December 2013 and found that 70% of them were awarded to private firms. This is not surprising. The NHS is not in the business of contract winning, it's a publicly-run universal healthcare system...or perhaps was intended to be! It isn't skilled at marketing, that would be a waste of money. CCG's are now presented with slick presentations by commercial organisations making wonderful promises keen to get their hands on NHS funds; it's now a competitive market.

http://www.nhscampaign.org/news-and-views.html

In January 2014, Charlie Cooper in the Independent wrote:

The NHS Support Federation, which campaigns against the marketisation of healthcare in the UK, claimed that, from a sample of 57 NHS contracts awarded between April and December 2013, more than two thirds had gone to the private sector – at a total value of £450m.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/two-thirds-of-contracts-for-nhs-services-in-england-awarded-in-the-last-eight-months-have-gone-to-the-private-sector-9062353.html

Any remaining 'Kill the Bill' LibDem supporters will be tearing their hair out, Mr Clegg!! Will you be posting another discordant I'm Sorry video on YouTube? If not - why not? Maybe you should also try putting on sack-cloth and sprinkle a few ashes on your head at the same time. Much of this is YOUR fault, Mr Clegg.

Now yet another 'fine old mess' for 'Wailing Lad' Clegg. Maybe, quite soon, he won't have a LibDem party to lead. That is if one 'Brer' Rennard isn't allowed to step aside from the limelight! It has emerged, that despite being found not culpable of sexual harrassment, there are some LibDems who want an apology from him to the women concerned. Bright boy Cleggo - ever the insightful creature with a nose for the politically possible (note the irony, please) has called for such an apology before 'Brer' Rennard sets foot again on the LibDem benches, in the jolly old House of Lords! Now that is a hostage to fortune since 'Brer' Rennard's influential friends have advised him not to apologise.

Steven Swinford and Georgia Graham on 16 January in the Telegraph wrote:

Nick Clegg should “man up” and take action over evidence of sexual misconduct by a senior Liberal Democrat peer, one of his alleged victims has said, as the Lib Dem leader was warned he faces a revolt from female party activists.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/10578349/Nick-Clegg-should-man-up-over-sex-row-says-peers-victim-Susan-Gaszczak.html

The Independent's Oliver Wright, also in January 2014, wrote:

The Liberal Democrats’ calamitous handling of the Lord Rennard sexual harassment allegations looks set to be arbitrated by the courts after the peer’s supporters indicated he would if necessary take legal action to retain his position in the House of Lords.

On Friday, under huge internal pressure, Nick Clegg announced he would instruct the party in the Lords to remove the whip from Lord Rennard unless he apologised for alleged inappropriate behaviour towards female party members.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lord-rennard-will-sue-party-if-lib-dems-withdraw-whip-over-sexual-harassment-allegations-9070664.html

No wonder 'Wailing Lad' Clegg looks so miserable. He must have eaten Eton Mess for lunch. One wonders what further calamity the coming days and weeks will bring to his door? How 'Boy David' Cameron must be laughing up his sleeve! And - it's still only January!

Just saw Arturo peering out of the window to get a good view of Downing Street. If the coast is clear we're having a Chinese tonight. Yum Yum!

Bye