Left field 2023

[p.pete]

Interesting to see Pat Cullen included too - the RCN seem to have been a bit of a shit-show in the last few months.  Not exactly united with the other unions, seemed to be doing extra bargaining on the side to get more for the nurses at the exclusion of other unions representing non-nurse health workers on the same pay system; an internal witch hunt against anyone suggesting they should reject the first pay offer (always reject the first offer); and then openly rejecting any notion of collaboration with doctors unions.

I think the time-period of their mandate for strike action is just about expired and the government will be proceeding with adding the rejected pay offer on to pay packets regardless.  Interesting to see what brilliance the RCN come up with next.

[p.pete]

6 minutes ago, stuie said:

Glad it wasn't just me that thought this.  Being the first day back to work after BH weekend I was a little busy to enter into political debate this morning but I very much agree. 

I think most people that work in the NHS would agree that reforms are essential going forward but reform absolutely categorically does not mean privatisation. 

Tbh I think money does need to be poured into hospitals.  They are in many cases falling apart.  Maintenance, estates etc budgets have suffered decades of neglect - the only cash injection in the last 20 years being any hospitals that signed up to crippling debt to get things done, thank you Labour.

I think Wes Streeting's (latest) big idea is to take money from hospitals and give it to GPs (which in many cases effectively would be taking money out of the NHS to funnel into private) on the assumption that you can stop people getting sick at the point of primary care then they won't need hospitals.  I'm a massive fan of upstream healthcare and managing things before they deteriorate (a stitch in time and all that) but tbh every part of the MH system needs massive investment in addition to any clever 'reform' ideas there might be. 

[Olshansky]

lots of love for Big Joanie 🙂

[Blisterpack]

I like Streeting and Milliband. Politics is about values in my view and they have them in spades. Converting them into policy is a balancing act that few left/centre left politicians can manage because of the conflict between global economic realities (‘the markets’) and the expectations of those they wish to represent. Centrist Labour governments will always ‘care’ about the NHS more than the Tories but will always disappoint many core supporters. That’s the weird thing: old Tories will see a better health service (shorter waiting times etc) and will give Labour credit. The criticism will come from the left. 

[p.pete]

I hope the NHS doesn't have to be resolved in terms of a left/right lens.  I think the tories policy of 40(?) new hospitals, although complete bullshit, was actually not a bad one.  Maybe it doesn't need to be all new ones, that seems ridiculous to me, but shitloads of investment is needed in the infrastructure.  The main inefficiencies at this point is that they are trying to operate with decaying facilities.  Where's the money coming from?  I don't give a fuck - tax rich people to fuck or invite more privatisation (as the only things getting built in the last 10 years have been via that route) just don't implement things in a way that prioritises profits over services and leaves things worse off in ten years time (e.g. what Labour did).

[Blisterpack]

PFI had many failings but the main ‘pro’ was always the transfer of financial risk to the private sector. That went down the pan of course when the global economy crashed, but strangely the NHS has benefitted from known prices at a time of rising interest rates and mad energy costs. Gets back to the ‘values’ thing though. Labour built shedloads of schools and hospitals that the Tories wouldn’t have dreamed of building. Proof of that was the post economic crash: Obama, Merkel etc built stuff left right and centre while interest rates were practically zero. The Tories went for austerity. 

[p.pete]

18 minutes ago, Blisterpack said:

PFI had many failings but the main ‘pro’ was always the transfer of financial risk to the private sector. That went down the pan of course when the global economy crashed, but strangely the NHS has benefitted from known prices at a time of rising interest rates and mad energy costs. Gets back to the ‘values’ thing though. Labour built shedloads of schools and hospitals that the Tories wouldn’t have dreamed of building. Proof of that was the post economic crash: Obama, Merkel etc built stuff left right and centre while interest rates were practically zero. The Tories went for austerity. 

Oh absolutely - while I may think Labour are a bag of fuckwits they are certainly better than the other lot.  I wouldn't quite agree that Labour's shit smelt of roses though.  Pre economy crash when things were going brilliantly rather than spending money they somehow managed to find a way of resourcing things at the 'risk' of private enterprise - we see now what that risk actually means - yes your local hospital may have no money to fix its sewage leak but the PFI contract still gets paid (first and) fully to ensure that the walls are painted over and over again, or whatever other brilliant thing they signed up to 15+ years ago.  

[Ayrshire Chris]

A real eclectic mix of acts as usual. And I would expect a few surprises added. One year Ralph McTell and Beans on toast appeared who weren’t advertised. 

[Butterz]

Playlist updated.  Left Field is about 2/3 through, after Croissant Neuf.

 

[SighMo]

Yay, Big Joanie. 

[MrZigster]

Really must get 'round to catching Sir Billy of Bragg again. It's been years. Always a good set. 

[Beerqueen]

45 minutes ago, Ayrshire Chris said:

A real eclectic mix of acts as usual. And I would expect a few surprises added. One year Ralph McTell and Beans on toast appeared who weren’t advertised. 

I remember being very emotional listening to Streets of London.  Not something I'd expected tbh!

[Beerqueen]

Just now, MrZigster said:

Really must get 'round to catching Sir Billy of Bragg again. It's been years. Always a good set. 

He's always great but I don't think he'll every surpass the atmosphere in that tent in 2016 on the day Brexit was announced.   Electric!

[bennyhana22]

3 hours ago, p.pete said:

I hope the NHS doesn't have to be resolved in terms of a left/right lens.  I think the tories policy of 40(?) new hospitals, although complete bullshit, was actually not a bad one.  Maybe it doesn't need to be all new ones, that seems ridiculous to me, but shitloads of investment is needed in the infrastructure.  The main inefficiencies at this point is that they are trying to operate with decaying facilities.  Where's the money coming from?  I don't give a fuck - tax rich people to fuck or invite more privatisation (as the only things getting built in the last 10 years have been via that route) just don't implement things in a way that prioritises profits over services and leaves things worse off in ten years time (e.g. what Labour did).

Except that the 40 new hospitals was a f@cking lie for several reasons:

1. The definition of 'new' includes just adding a, as yet absent, new service to an existing, dilapidated hospital - E.g. opening a diabetes service etc. 

2. There was only vague funding for FIVE new hospitals at any point. For the other '35' there was only seed funding to explore a development. Utter bullshit. 

3. It was an entirely disingenuous bullshit pledge to attract votes that they never, ever believed they could (or would have to) achieve. 

I challenged The Saj™️ about this at hustings in 2019, got a massive round of applause from the audience, and made his Nibs very cross indeed. Sadly, with the cowardly worm scuttling off after this Parliament to make millions (more) in business, I'll not get the chance to have a pop at him about his blatant lying before the next GE. 

Ben

[Blisterpack]

3 hours ago, p.pete said:

……whatever other brilliant thing they signed up to 15+ years ago.  

Most PFI contracts had/have periodic review clauses. Not many are volunteering to cut their fees obviously but most of the ‘good’ contractors (and there are a few, they aren’t all Carillion) agree to sensible maintenance and facilities management adjustments. 

Still: fuck the Tories. 
 

[SighMo]

3 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

I remember being very emotional listening to Streets of London.  Not something I'd expected tbh!

Me too. He played before Louisa from She Drew the Gun. 2017 I think.

[Beerqueen]

5 minutes ago, SighMo said:

Me too. He played before Louisa from She Drew the Gun. 2017 I think.

That sounds right. It was the first time I'd heard her and it was enough to make me traipse all the way to the Park to watch them first on stage on Sunday. Seen them a number of times since and they're always good.

[SighMo]

1 minute ago, Beerqueen said:

That sounds right. It was the first time I'd heard her and it was enough to make me traipse all the way to the Park to watch them first on stage on Sunday. Seen them a number of times since and they're always good.

Yes, I'd seen them a couple of times but knew I'd get all emotional when she did 'Poem' after already having a wobble during Ralf. Didn't Jeremy make an appearance just after too?

[anditmakesmesmile]

Leftfield playlist. Two tracks per artist. Most recent and most played (on Spotify)

[Breeze]

5 hours ago, p.pete said:

Oh absolutely - while I may think Labour are a bag of fuckwits they are certainly better than the other lot.  I wouldn't quite agree that Labour's shit smelt of roses though.  Pre economy crash when things were going brilliantly rather than spending money they somehow managed to find a way of resourcing things at the 'risk' of private enterprise - we see now what that risk actually means - yes your local hospital may have no money to fix its sewage leak but the PFI contract still gets paid (first and) fully to ensure that the walls are painted over and over again, or whatever other brilliant thing they signed up to 15+ years ago.  

Biggest stroke of genius with PFI was the private sector own the facility at the end of the deal so can charge what they want for it. Very clever - for the fat cats. 

[Ayrshire Chris]

4 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

I remember being very emotional listening to Streets of London.  Not something I'd expected tbh!

We wandered into the tent just as he was starting singing it, as you say it was very emotional. One of those lovely unforgettable Glastonbury moments.

[Beerqueen]

2 hours ago, SighMo said:

Yes, I'd seen them a couple of times but knew I'd get all emotional when she did 'Poem' after already having a wobble during Ralf. Didn't Jeremy make an appearance just after too?

Yeah you've got a good memory.  It was a good year in Leftfield that year, I spent a lot of time there, I think I did in 2016 too.  

[Blisterpack]

2 hours ago, Breeze said:

Biggest stroke of genius with PFI was the private sector own the facility at the end of the deal so can charge what they want for it. Very clever - for the fat cats. 

That is factually incorrect. The asset returns to the full ownership of the commissioning authority (Govt dept, NHS trust, local council etc.). Many are due to expire shortly and I know of several first hand where ‘discussions’ are taking place on the condition of buildings. There are big compensation provisions available if they haven’t been well maintained. 

[p.pete]

9 hours ago, Breeze said:

Biggest stroke of genius with PFI was the private sector own the facility at the end of the deal so can charge what they want for it. Very clever - for the fat cats. 

Apparently that's 'factually incorrect' dear chap.  Fact is, risk or otherwise, unless they figure they are going to make a mint on the venture these fat cats don't touch healthcare with a barge pole.  The fact that a lot of them don't actually make much money is that healthcare is actually difficult, the NHS just (used to) makes it look easy, and that the PFIs caused a stampede of pretty shoddily run companies falling over themselves to 'help'.

'Fuck the tories' is a lovely rhetoric, but that shouldn't give Labour a free pass as they've been shit in the past.  As far as I can tell tories, unbelievably have lurched massively right-wards in the last 12 years and Labour in recent years have been falling over themselves to keep up with them but still remain on the right side of 'we're better than them'.  

I think there's an expression - mend your roof while the sun is shining - when the economy was great rather than doing anything difficult themselves Labour gave us PFIs.  Undoubtedly when they seize power again they will be better than the tories have been, but will that be better or worse than Labour of 20 years ago?  My hunch on the title of the Leftfied debate is nah, it's fucked.

[stuie]

12 hours ago, bennyhana22 said:

Except that the 40 new hospitals was a f@cking lie for several reasons:

1. The definition of 'new' includes just adding a, as yet absent, new service to an existing, dilapidated hospital - E.g. opening a diabetes service etc. 

2. There was only vague funding for FIVE new hospitals at any point. For the other '35' there was only seed funding to explore a development. Utter bullshit. 

3. It was an entirely disingenuous bullshit pledge to attract votes that they never, ever believed they could (or would have to) achieve. 

I challenged The Saj™️ about this at hustings in 2019, got a massive round of applause from the audience, and made his Nibs very cross indeed. Sadly, with the cowardly worm scuttling off after this Parliament to make millions (more) in business, I'll not get the chance to have a pop at him about his blatant lying before the next GE. 

Ben

See also: 20,000 new police officers.

They never stop lying.  The day we get rid of these dirty bastards will be a great day indeed.