Ghastly

[Serial_Apologist]

I heard this Lansley nonsense on "Today" this morning. I also heard about this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15822333

Sir Christopher Kelly, Chairman of The Committee for Standards in Public Life (we could certainly do with some!) thinks it would be a Good Thing for taxpayers to contribute compulsorily to political parties.

Another haud-me-back idea.

So, no, scotty, these brain-dead politicians and managers never get the message. You could not make it up.

That said, I do like the mooted idea of no political party being allowed more than £10k per election expenses. It would mean they would actually have to get out on the hustings and talk to people, instead of employing crap advertising agents to put across ditto messages. But it would have to be £10k nationally, per election - whatever the election.

[Serial_Apologist]

Laughter, the best medecine

'The former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn joked that Mr Lansley's hospital appearance was his "secret weapon" to cut hospital waiting lists.'


"Mark suffered major injuries to his brain and he was blind for four months after Hillsborough. He was in hospitals for several months and received visits from the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as Margaret Thatcher. The day that the Prime Minister arrived at his bedside was a surreal experience. Mark recalled: “She said: ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ and I thought it was someone joking or I was dreaming, so I said: ‘Give the people of Liverpool more jobs!’… and then they cut me off the camera!

Reminds me of RD Laing's story - probably not merely apocryphal - of the chief consultant doing his hospital rounds:

"And how are we today, Mr Smith?" he asks one patient. Unfortunately the latter can't reply, given that he has a tracheotomy, so the consultant repeats the question, "AND HOW ARE WE TODAY, MR SMITH?". Mr Smith points at his throat. The consultant asks one of his minions for a piece of paper, on which he writes, "And how are we today, Mr Smith?". He hands it to the patient. The latter takes the pen and writes below, "I'm not deaf".

[Norfolk Born]

Yes, and only a couple of weeks ago it's own managers, apparently, had been reporting 'really good trading' ... ?

It was announced some months ago that, following its merger with Cooperative Travel, Thomas Cook would be closing a number of shops. We have one of each in the high street, so I guess the staff at both must be understandably nervous, as I can't imagine both will survive. (Blame me - I either pop in to our very friendly, efficient local coach operator's office or book online/by phone!)

[aeolium]

I hope the European Rail Timetable will survive - definitely the best service Thomas Cook provides.

[Lateralthinking1]

"Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 3

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?... Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?... The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 5

"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself-anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime..."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 5

The Radio 4 presenters guffawed their way through the item like Ant and Dec on a cocktail of brandy and skunk weed. Landsley laughed a bit too while blaming it on his predecessor. He could apparently be turned off if patients switched on the radio. The radio on which Landsley in time would still be heard if less repetitively. The details about registration for TV services, any payment involved and the precise interaction of those services with Landsley Broadcasting were conveniently lost in all the idle kerfuffle. But in the just detectable hard-edged sobriety of interviewee one thing was very plain. An ego the size of several counties was not for turning. The ghoulish dictatorial intrusiveness is to continue every five minutes from now until it is ever run over by a car.

[Serial_Apologist]

Apparently if you have a poster deemed offensive by the police up in your home, they can come in and forcibly remove it, it was said on the Wright Stuff on CH 4 this morning.

[amateur51]

Reminds me of RD Laing's story - probably not merely apocryphal - of the chief consultant doing his hospital rounds:

"And how are we today, Mr Smith?" he asks one patient. Unfortunately the latter can't reply, given that he has a tracheotomy, so the consultant repeats the question, "AND HOW ARE WE TODAY, MR SMITH?". Mr Smith points at his throat. The consultant asks one of his minions for a piece of paper, on which he writes, "And how are we today, Mr Smith?". He hands it to the patient. The latter takes the pen and writes below, "I'm not deaf".

Good old Ronnie

[amateur51]

Apparently if you have a poster deemed offensive by the police up in your home, they can come in and forcibly remove it, it was said on the Wright Stuff on CH 4 this morning.

Do whattt?

Since when?

On what grounds?

[Lateralthinking1]

If it is just the poster that is removed, one is probably doing well. There would no doubt be the four police vehicles standing by to take you the nick. I can vouch for the fact that this was the number that attended an equally serious incident up the road from here. Someone's burglar alarm went off and, god forbid, he wasn't in his house as the authorities expected. Please also be careful with items. There was that matter of the elderly woman and a golly on a windowsill but let's not get into that one.

I really, really, dislike this Landsley thing. For a very long time, I have known how I would instinctively react if Price Charles, Yvette Cooper or David Beckham walked into my hospital ward. I would stick the blankets over my head and bellow out at the top of my voice in genuine distress. I imagine that this instinctive reaction would be an offence. It would probably also prohibit me from accessing the NHS ever again, however much I have contributed to it.

[amateur51]

If it is just the poster that is removed, one is probably doing well. There would no doubt be the four police vehicles standing by to take you the nick. I can vouch for the fact that this was the number that attended an equally serious incident up the road from here. Someone's burglar alarm went off and, god forbid, he wasn't in his house as the authorities expected. Please also be careful with items. There was that matter of the elderly woman and a golly on a windowsill but let's not get into that one.

I really, really, dislike this Landsley thing. For a very long time, I have known how I would instinctively react if Price Charles, Yvette Cooper or David Beckham walked into my hospital ward. I would stick the blankets over my head and bellow out at the top of my voice in genuine distress. I imagine that this instinctive reaction would be an offence. It would probably also prohibit me from accessing the NHS ever again, however much I have contributed to it.

His name is Andrew Lansley, Lat.

[Serial_Apologist]

Do whattt?

Since when?

On what grounds?

That was what was said, AMs. True or not, with an allegation of that kind, I'll expect follow ups on tomorrow's TWS: I'll be viewing.

[teamsaint]

well the title of this song says it all, even if the lyrics are about something more personal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCJVvZGvl_A

Great song ,too.

[Lateralthinking1]

Thanks Am. I normally check these things. It is a rare example of where I didn't have the inclination to bother.

[Flosshilde]

"Mark suffered major injuries to his brain and he was blind for four months after Hillsborough. He was in hospitals for several months and received visits from the Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as Margaret Thatcher. The day that the Prime Minister arrived at his bedside was a surreal experience. Mark recalled: “She said: ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ and I thought it was someone joking or I was dreaming, so I said: ‘Give the people of Liverpool more jobs!’… and then they cut me off the camera!

The joke during Thatcher's time was that as well as organ donor cards, one should carry a 'no visits from Mrs Thatcher' card, to avoid her turning up at one's hospital bed. She did seem to have a propensity for visiting victims in hospital.

[amateur51]

The joke during Thatcher's time was that as well as organ donor cards, one should carry a 'no visits from Mrs Thatcher' card, to avoid her turning up at one's hospital bed. She did seem to have a propensity for visiting victims in hospital.

I had one of those for years!