National News Election - Winter of Content?

[Essexyellows]

So lets bang in a poll and see how split we are!! Tactical voting is going to be huge this time IMHO.

 

[radicalox]

Given the yellows forum is clearly the intellectual elite of the UK, maybe they'll use the results of this poll as the as the official outcome and not bother with the election.

 

[Essexyellows]

Given the yellows forum is clearly the intellectual elite of the UK, maybe they'll use the results of this poll as the as the official outcome and not bother with the election.

Surprisingly it often provides a very realistic barometer of the UK as it attracts such an eclectic mix of folk united by one thing.... if I was a pollster I would just look on here myself.

 

[Gary Baldi]

Do we get the chance to have another vote if my side doesn't win?

 

[Manorlounger]

Do we get the chance to have another vote if my side doesn't win?

Only if my side doesn't win. Otherwise it's not fair. ?

 

[andystroud]

Surprisingly it often provides a very realistic barometer of the UK as it attracts such an eclectic mix of folk united by one thing.... if I was a pollster I would just look on here myself.

I know your comment was tongue in cheek, but I suspect it is rather white, male dominated to be a “realistic barometer”.

 

[Foley]

What a mess.
I really dont think that there should be a one issue election as this could put somebody in power for 5 years.
I may vote for a further referendum but there is no way that I would vote for Labour with Corbyn in charge.

 

[Essexyellows]

I know your comment was tongue in cheek, but I suspect it is rather white, male dominated to be a “realistic barometer”.

Where I live I`m an ethnic minority! ? ?

 

[ZeroTheHero]

The problem with this election is that it is going to be a de facto referendum on Brexit, but with even LESS clarity than there was first time around!

If you vote for the Tories, are you voting for the deal Johnson has 'negotiated' or for the no-deal he seems to want? If you want a no-deal should you be voting for the Brexit party? If you think the country needs a change from the Eton old boy network, should you be voting for Labour - even if they are themselves an absolute mess with a leader with as much get up and go as last months left-overs? If you vote for Labour - are they pro or anti Brexit? Or do you think the whole Brexit thing was a stupid mistake, vote for the LibDems/Greens and hope that enough other people do the same in this first past the post partial democracy to make that a meaningful rather than wasted vote? Or do you just hide until the whole sorry mess has gone away?

And which party actually wants to be in charge during this complete clusterf**k and it's following effects?

Personally I'll be voting for Plaid Cymru - I just hope they put up a condidate in leafy North Bedfordshire!

 

[Essexyellows]

The problem with this election is that it is going to be a de facto referendum on Brexit, but with even LESS clarity than there was first time around!

If you vote for the Tories, are you voting for the deal Johnson has 'negotiated' or for the no-deal he seems to want? If you want a no-deal should you be voting for the Brexit party? If you think the country needs a change from the Eton old boy network, should you be voting for Labour - even if they are themselves an absolute mess with a leader with as much get up and go as last months left-overs? If you vote for Labour - are they pro or anti Brexit? Or do you think the whole Brexit thing was a stupid mistake, vote for the LibDems/Greens and hope that enough other people do the same in this first past the post partial democracy to make that a meaningful rather than wasted vote? Or do you just hide until the whole sorry mess has gone away?

And which party actually wants to be in charge during this complete clusterf**k and it's following effects?

Personally I'll be voting for Plaid Cymru - I just hope they put up a condidate in leafy North Bedfordshire!

I`ve voted in the poll, however that could be tempered by who stands............... a strong Tory candidate could get in if they swing some of the working class areas against Labour. Also depends if Nigel comes to town!

 

[BristolOx]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1188934516653645824

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1188826772353245185

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1188711013799124992

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1189135019534700544

Literally cannot see why people would vote for the Tories. Imagine this’ll get shouted down so I’ll probs end up abandoning this thread as people rarely seem to want to change their stance regarding politics (not that that is wrong - just the way it is).

 

[Essexyellows]

@BristolOx the NHS has zero business accumen, that is the core problem. It would swallow all the money that is thrown at it.
We even outsource all our hip replacements to private hospitals to avoid "fines" for delays...
We do blood tests that we get paid £5 for that cost us £12 to do!

On the bright side the government approved us spending £450 million on expansion plans...... I don`t do Twitter full of sound bites and half truths.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

@BristolOx the NHS has zero business accumen, that is the core problem. It would swallow all the money that is thrown at it.

Isn't that an argument for making sure that the NHS become more 'business savvy' and efficient rather than just letting US companies take advantage of their incompetence?

 

[Paul Cannell]

@BristolOx the NHS has zero business accumen,

*acumen.

The same NHS that pays one-fifth to one-seventh of the price for US branded drugs paid to ppharma companies in the USA, and uses generics to reduce prices to the taxpayer?

Dispatches 28/10/2019 - US pharma wants to restrict rights of NHS to source drugs efficiently.

NHS practices in drug sourcing have saved more than £700m per year.

The Tory government can be trusted to do the right thing: (from Dispatches) -
"Reporter Antony Barnett discovers that “drug pricing” has been discussed in six initial meetings between trade officials from the two countries and learns of secret meetings between US drugs firms and British civil servants where medicine “price caps” have been talked about.
Dispatches was also told that British trade officials have been warned that the subject is so sensitive that they must not mention “drug pricing” in emails but use the term “valuing innovation”."

 

[Essexyellows]

Isn't that an argument for making sure that the NHS become more 'business savvy' and efficient rather than just letting US companies take advantage of their incompetence?

It is, but its too big to do that.

My former boss has been on "gardening leave" after the most recent "Management of Change", he`s on £90k a year and hasn`t been at work for 7 months and they can`t afford to pay him off because it wasn`t in the MoC "budget".

@Paul Cannell ..... the same NHS that provides & facilitates the research for said Pharma...... R&I is about the only income generating bit we have. How the income happens is a mix of direct capital and reduced prices on the drugs that work. Apologies for the extra *c.

Our Trust ( 3 hospitals) does 27 million blood tests a year, nobody has ever done a proper costing of the process until this year..... its the dripping tap that causes the floods.

 

[Paul Cannell]

So you agree that the NHS is a success in it's drug sourcing? After all (same link) "one of Trump’s closest allies, Republican congressman Mark Meadows who says that drug pricing has to be on the table in any trade deal with the UK. “It needs to be part of the negotiations …my aim is to have pharmaceutical negotiations being part of any international negotiation. Why should an American patient have to pay a thousand dollars for a drug when other countries can buy the same drugs at a fraction of the cost?” "

By the way I'm talking about pricing and the ability of the NHS to buy what drugs it likes from whom it likes in order to manage the prices it pays. Whether that partly exists because of it's research and assistance it provides is beside the point when it's cost-effective. Pretty unimpressive effort to change the subject with the blood tests, though - systems normal at your end.

 

[Jerome'SAle]

I know your comment was tongue in cheek, but I suspect it is rather white, male dominated to be a “realistic barometer”.

I'm a white male and im quite realistic, I find it rather racist and sexist to presume I'm not you cad

I am however also a tenor so your barometer comment may hold weight

 

[Essexyellows]

So you agree that the NHS is a success in it's drug sourcing? After all (same link) "one of Trump’s closest allies, Republican congressman Mark Meadows who says that drug pricing has to be on the table in any trade deal with the UK. “It needs to be part of the negotiations …my aim is to have pharmaceutical negotiations being part of any international negotiation. Why should an American patient have to pay a thousand dollars for a drug when other countries can buy the same drugs at a fraction of the cost?” "

By the way I'm talking about pricing and the ability of the NHS to buy what drugs it likes from whom it likes in order to manage the prices it pays. Whether that partly exists because of it's research and assistance it provides is beside the point when it's cost-effective. Pretty unimpressive effort to change the subject with the blood tests, though - systems normal at your end.

Hate to say it but the NHS does a bit more than buy & prescribe drugs from US pharma companies.
Matt Hancock was perfectly right to say such negotiations are confidential, and it is exactly that kind of hard ball the NHS needs to play in business deals.
It also needs to harness its buying power , that is improving (slightly) after the Carter report but that was published in 2016............... it speaks volumes that Carters suite of ideas remains to be fully implemented because of the complex nature of individual Trust contracts and punitive buy out clauses added my business savvy negotiators!
It has a lot to learn but "more money" is not the answer unless it comes with accountability rather than the traditional "blank cheque" approach.

If I had my way the NHS would have a 20 year budget strategy that was enshrined in law and wouldn`t be allowed to be used as a political football.......... but thats another debate!

 

[HampshireYellow]

Do we get the chance to have another vote if my side doesn't win?

Yeah the vote was only two years ago, that’s not long enough to do another one!!! Oh wait...

 

[Sarge]

Sharing this (below) which is doing the rounds on social media following Grenfell tower disaster chief Fire officers impending retirement ( and the fire officers being 'blamed' by some for the Grenfell disaster!!!) .....

JUST REMEMBER WHEN YOU VOTE.
In 2013 Boris Johnson was the Mayor of London he was responsible for closing 10 London fire stations, axeing 14 fire engines and removing 550 firefighter jobs including vital fire safety inspectors. His response to being accused by members of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority of lying over the consequences of the cuts was “oh get stuffed”. On the 14th June 2017 a fire engulfed Grenfell Tower and 72 people died, and now the Tories are blaming the fire fighters!