Coronavirus

[teamsaint]

If the AA is correct in predicting that more working from home will reduce car and train travel, is it too much to hope that the virus will kill off those ambitious road-building plans and HS2. (Thinks: where might all that money and those construction skills be useful when the present crisis is over?)

Which ambitious road building plans are those ?

[Count Boso]

If the AA is correct in predicting that more working from home will reduce car and train travel, is it too much to hope that the virus will kill off those ambitious road-building plans and HS2.

I am less opposed to HS2 than some, particularly because high speed train travel is likely to be used by those who would otherwise get into their cars, and possibly head for their nearest airport. But it has to be in the context of a more systematic public transport policy. Certainly, cut back on any more big road-building projects.

Meanwhile, on coronavirus, the Guardian satirist had this headline: "Words I thought I'd never write: thank God for Matt Hancock".

Not having seen the performance, I don't know. Has he just been duped? Sometimes, just sometimes, it must be possible for this government to get things right. Surely?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/words-i-thought-id-never-write-thank-god-for-matt-hancock

[MrGongGong]

I haven't read all the details (nor do I have the inclination to when there are spuds to plant) but i'm slightly puzzled how the government can
"write off HNS debt".... ?

I bought myself a bottle of whisky
I own the whisky
So I thought I would "write off" the debt to myself ?

I thought the NHS belongs to us all ?

There is probably a simple explanation .... is this money the NHS is owed by others ?

[oddoneout]

I haven't read all the details (nor do I have the inclination to when there are spuds to plant) but i'm slightly puzzled how the government can
"write off HNS debt".... ?

I bought myself a bottle of whisky
I own the whisky
So I thought I would "write off" the debt to myself ?

I thought the NHS belongs to us all ?

There is probably a simple explanation .... is this money the NHS is owed by others ?

Yes I wondered about that. It won't be the invoices for outsourced services to private health companies I'm guessing as that would have an impact on 'interests to be protected'. Perhaps it is, in part, the money that should be paid by those not entitled to NHS care but which isn't.

[MrGongGong]

Yes I wondered about that. It won't be the invoices for outsourced services to private health companies I'm guessing as that would have an impact on 'interests to be protected'. Perhaps it is, in part, the money that should be paid by those not entitled to NHS care but which isn't.

Given the way that our politicians "aren't very good" at maths (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpcY...&frags=pl%2Cwn) I wonder what that really means?

[oddoneout]

Just seen this in the local press - my bold. I'm hoping this is incorrect reporting but I fear on this occasion it isn't.
Words fail me...

Attending the ceremony in person will be health secretary Matt Hancock, who recently came out of isolation after recovering from the virus, Professor Charles Knight, chief executive of NHS Nightingale, and representatives from the Ministry of Defence, contractors and volunteers.

HRH Wales is doing a remote link from Scotland, so why not the rest? One presenter, a bank of screens, and someone filming it is surely all that's needed.

[LezLee]

I haven't read all the details (nor do I have the inclination to when there are spuds to plant) but i'm slightly puzzled how the government can
"write off HNS debt".... ?

I bought myself a bottle of whisky
I own the whisky
So I thought I would "write off" the debt to myself ?

I thought the NHS belongs to us all ?

There is probably a simple explanation .... is this money the NHS is owed by others ?

The NHS has to import drugs from all over the world, specially the USA, which of course charges as much as it can get away with. Perhaps there’s still a lot owing which the government will repay.

[Dave2002]

Maybe now is not the time, but heck, why not? Has anyone else noticed how many of the serious articles on the spread of Coronavirus and similar even by British workers have been funded either wholly or in a significant part, by the EU?

Of course we don’t need to have anything to do with that now, do we?!

[Cockney Sparrow]

I haven't read all the details (nor do I have the inclination to when there are spuds to plant) but i'm slightly puzzled how the government can
"write off HNS debt".... ?
I bought myself a bottle of whisky
I own the whisky
So I thought I would "write off" the debt to myself ?
I thought the NHS belongs to us all ?
There is probably a simple explanation .... is this money the NHS is owed by others ?

I suggest it means Hospital Trusts are able to spend money on items/services necessary to meet the crisis with less concern for their already large deficit on previous years budget's that have been carried forward. The NHS budget controllers (with the Treasury knioves behind their backs) would at some point have to demand cuts in spending to recover the "overspending" incurred in previous years. (Or use devices such as burying the reduced spending in "re-organisation to improve service delivery" .... at lower level".

So, some hospitals can for example order PPE equipment direct from the small manufacturers starting up production in the UK (BBC1 10pm news, last night) instead of relying on the mythically adequate stocks that are " in the supply chain" from the NHS stockpile.

[eighthobstruction]

....All Jared Kushner needs is a red lined cape and a pair of fangs....

[johnb]

I haven't read all the details (nor do I have the inclination to when there are spuds to plant) but i'm slightly puzzled how the government can
"write off HNS debt".... ?

Sorry if I am writing the blindingly obvious but...

The government allocates a certain amount of money to the NHS.

The hospitals cannot provide adequate care on the monies allocated so they choose to go exceed their budget rather than letting people suffer unduly or even die. The difference between the amount the government allocates and the actual expenditure is the "debt" and this accumulates year by year

The government writes off the debt (i.e. the accumulated amount by which the hospitals, etc have overspent their allocated budget). Doing so is nothing more than increasing the amount the government allocates to fund the NHS.

IMO it was a non-statement. It is blindly obvious that the NHS is incurring massive costs and will continue to do so over the months ahead. In these circumstances the NHS deficit becomes meaningless - it will have to be funded by central government in any case.

[oddoneout]

I suggest it means Hospital Trusts are able to spend money on items/services necessary to meet the crisis with less concern for their already large deficit on previous years budget's that have been carried forward. The NHS budget controllers (with the Treasury knioves behind their backs) would at some point have to demand cuts in spending to recover the "overspending" incurred in previous years. (Or use devices such as burying the reduced spending in "re-organisation to improve service delivery" .... at lower level".

So, some hospitals can for example order PPE equipment direct from the small manufacturers starting up production in the UK (BBC1 10pm news, last night) instead of relying on the mythically adequate stocks that are " in the supply chain" from the NHS stockpile.

Or perhaps staff will now be able to record actual hours worked if fines to trusts for breaches will be cancelled.

[eighthobstruction]

Sorry if I am writing the blindingly obvious but...

The government allocates a certain amount of money to the NHS.

The hospitals cannot provide adequate care on the monies allocated so they choose to go exceed their budget rather than letting people suffer unduly or even die. The difference between the amount the government allocates and the actual expenditure is the "debt" and this accumulates year by year

The government writes off the debt (i.e. the accumulated amount by which the hospitals, etc have overspent their allocated budget). Doing so is nothing more than increasing the amount the government allocates to fund the NHS.

IMO it was a none-statement. It is blindly obvious that the NHS is incurring massive costs and will continue to do so over the months ahead. In these circumstances the NHS deficit becomes meaningless - it will have to be funded by central government in any case.

....but it does allow the govt (who just love to talk of records ) to say "We have given record £'s this - this has been done in record time etcetc"....

[johnb]

Meanwhile, on coronavirus, the Guardian satirist had this headline: "Words I thought I'd never write: thank God for Matt Hancock".

Not having seen the performance, I don't know. Has he just been duped? Sometimes, just sometimes, it must be possible for this government to get things right. Surely?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...r-matt-hancock

It is usually worth getting The Guardian for John Crace's alone.

It comes to something when Matt Hancock can be thought of in those terms. But then he does follow on from Dominic Raab, Michael Gove and the other forgettable chap - all things are relative.

I watched the press conference - beginning with the three hour speech by MH. It probably didn't last three hours in scientific time - it just seemed to go on that long. 95% puff and waffle - he had obviously been jotting down all the lines he could use while he was self isolating and came determined to use every one of them. Another hour of my life wasted - but it was (slightly) better than cleaning the bathroom.

It was good to learn that the testing was on target and going to plan. Even better to hear that all NHS workers who needed to be tested would be tested by the end of the month.

The new target of 100,000 by the end of April (replacing the 25,000 and 250,000 targets) would include both antigen and antibody testing ... and if there were no antibody tests the target will still be met with antigen testing alone .... "honest, gov, would I lie to you".

(Didn't PHE or the government say they had ordered 3.5 million antibody tests that would be available within days. That worked out well.)

It doesn't really matter anyway as we now live in a surreal world where there will be new targets next week, new puff, new obfuscation. new truths.

(If Labour was in government it would probably be no different. Come back John Major or Gordon Brown .... even Teresa May ... or even, perish the thought, Tony Blair or Thatcher.)

[LMcD]

Which ambitious road building plans are those ?

'Chancellor announces £27bn for roadbuilding in budget ....to include 4000 miles of new roads'
(The Guardian 11/3/2020)