Labour are saying that one of their greatest achievements since coming in has been 'slashing' NHS waiting times, and that there has been a 'massive increase' in NHS appointments.
However, newly released data shows that there has been a slow down in NHS activity since they came in, and new appointments are increasing at a significantly slower rate than when Sunak was PM.
They just say anything and hope no one will notice.
We still have no idea of true poverty in this country. None of us were alive at the time.
In the late Victorian London, poverty was so severe that even sleep came at a price. The "four-penny coffin" offered the homeless a wooden box to lie in, while the cheaper "two-penny hangover" let people sleep upright on a bench, slumped over a rope. Though often linked to the term "hangover," the word actually originated from unfinished business, not this sleeping practice.
Digger I appreciate your point but times have moved on since 1901. Poverty in these days of big business and more billionaires than ever b4 is not having enough to eat or pay bills. Being homeless is rightly considered intolerable and I don't understand how we call the west civilised when people are sleeping on streets. But it's a case of priorities, spend money on AI and give actors millions for a film or help the homeless. Trump is making world poverty far worse. Labour had to cut the aid budget to pay his tariff. But if you are suggesting we are not tough enough to endure homelessness in modern times and view that as a failing I don't agree.
Anonymous said
May 25 10:08 AM, 2025
I do empathise with the feeling some people have that they no longer recognise their own country. Some religions that repress women are on a collision course with western ideals and they do not make an attempt to integrate. The women are not allowed to. I recall many years ago a teacher wearing a Niqab was dismissed as the cloth covered her face except her eyes. The press claimed this was prejudice and unjust but for once I was not in agreement. She taught young children who needed to see their teachers face to feel at ease and her mouth to learn. These facial coverings are not required in the Qur'an, only the hair is to be covered so it's a man made construct. Instances such as these show why immigration causes conflict so I am not entirely 'woke'. Also, the white paper Starmer has created is ensuring less non Islamic skilled medical workers live here when we are in dire need of them. Nor does it address the only legitimate concern, those who may perish trying to get here on small boats. An own goal.
Syl said
May 25 12:11 PM, 2025
The vast majority coming here on small boats are men, hardly any women or children. They have passed through safe countries (even if they were unsafe from where they started out from) They are economic migrants, with no papers or passports to prove who they are, where they originate, or what their intentions are.
Digger said
May 25 12:23 PM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
Digger I appreciate your point but times have moved on since 1901. Poverty in these days of big business and more billionaires than ever b4 is not having enough to eat or pay bills. Being homeless is rightly considered intolerable and I don't understand how we call the west civilised when people are sleeping on streets. But it's a case of priorities, spend money on AI and give actors millions for a film or help the homeless. Trump is making world poverty far worse. Labour had to cut the aid budget to pay his tariff. But if you are suggesting we are not tough enough to endure homelessness in modern times and view that as a failing I don't agree.
One can endure anything if there's no other choice. That photo depicts times when there was no safety net of either NHS or benefits. If you were poor and starved and died, it was tough shit. That doesn't happen now on anywhere near the scale it did then. When was the last time you saw a skeletal starving person on our streets that wasn't a crackhead? Obesity levels are on the rise. 1 in 8 kids in the UK are now obese.
As for sleeping on the streets, most prefer that to the hostels on offer which are terrible places more dangerous than you'll ever know. But never mind, we spend billions a year on housing migrants in hotels, giving them phones and driving lessons, food and money and free gym membership.
As for foreign aid, the UK is bound by treaties and agreements to pay a percentage of its gross national income, despite the fact that we are currently in debt to the tune of £2.8 trillion. Don't kid yourself it's exclusively done out of charity and kindness either.
Do you honestly think that we can sustain our current societal structure if we keep letting in migrants who offer us fuck all in return for all the benefits and resources they can milk from us? Why do you think they refuse to stay in safe countries like France?
If things carry on, there won't be anymore 'free' healthcare. No more benefits or housing, nothing left for anyone to scrounge off. Already we have 52 percent of our population drawing more in benefits than they pay tax. The mega rich who pay a lot of taxes are leaving in droves. 30K of them since 2014.
We've got councils going broke because of bad management. Hounslow council spent almost £50,000 on a "rainbow junction". Other instances, like the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, spent £11,000 on four rainbow crossings. Richmond council also spent approximately £8,230 for two crossings. What kind of insanity is that?
Then we've got the Nightingale Debacle.
The figures show Birmingham Nightingale — set up at the National Exhibition Centre — was the most expensive hospital to create at £66.4m. This hospital never treated any patients throughout the pandemic.
London’s Nightingale, believed to have treated a few hundred patients in total, cost £57.4m to set up. Hundreds of the beds bought for Nightingale wards were sold for as little as £6, despite being bought for £2,500 each.
So, paying peanuts to Trump kind of withers in the face of our own ineptitude when it comes to squandering public money and getting ourselves into debt.
Anonymous said
May 26 12:08 AM, 2025
The people who run the country certainly seem inept, in every government. Your post gave me food for thought Digger. My only caveat would be homelessness is rife in many UK city centres especially London, the line of tents and their occupants visible near affluent shopping centres. This caused a stir when a Tory MP said these homeless people should be arrested for smelling bad when mingling amongst shoppers. The lack of empathy was startling. Also those addicted to crack are living in a tyranny imposed on them by their own bodies and circumstances they can't control. I don't look down on them or think they are any different to entitled celebs who go to rehab. The only difference between the two is money yet the celeb addicts are not labelled 'crackheads'. Life in high rise tower blocks where knife crime and poverty go hand in hand is grim. These are the places that need government funding for people to feel safe. People living in such conditions don't have the luxury to worry about immigrants.
Digger said
May 26 10:49 AM, 2025
Anonymous wrote:
The people who run the country certainly seem inept, in every government. Your post gave me food for thought Digger. My only caveat would be homelessness is rife in many UK city centres especially London, the line of tents and their occupants visible near affluent shopping centres. This caused a stir when a Tory MP said these homeless people should be arrested for smelling bad when mingling amongst shoppers. The lack of empathy was startling. Also those addicted to crack are living in a tyranny imposed on them by their own bodies and circumstances they can't control. I don't look down on them or think they are any different to entitled celebs who go to rehab. The only difference between the two is money yet the celeb addicts are not labelled 'crackheads'. Life in high rise tower blocks where knife crime and poverty go hand in hand is grim. These are the places that need government funding for people to feel safe. People living in such conditions don't have the luxury to worry about immigrants.
Taking drugs is a choice. It's not imposed on anyone. No matter how shitty life gets there's always choices. I have more respect for those who turn their lives around. I have zero respect for eternal victims. I haven't lived in a tower block, but I have lived on a rough council estate and I've known real poverty. I've been in the situation where I had nothing, and I mean, nothing, to feed my baby on. I had to go to the corner shop and buy a tiny tin of Carnation milk and water it down to feed her. I never thieved. I never shoplifted. I never took drugs. I didn't even drink. I knuckled down and got on with it, got through it, and worked like a dog to make things better. Back then there was no state financial help like there is today. No food banks. And no fucking sympathy. The only bonus I got was free child care in a state nursery so I could work. They were hard times.
And I've been homeless. When I was 17.
There's been Government funding since whenever. It's not all about money, it's about addressing social disparities and systemic inequalities. Wages in this country are too low. There's not enough affordable housing. It's not so much those on benefits who struggle but those working in low paid unskilled jobs. And that's where it's really unfair. You can sit on your arse all day and knock out half a dozen kids, get full benefits and family allowance, afford your Sky package and your fags and your mobile phone, and dress little 'Charlene' in designer togs but some sap who tries to work for a living is entitled to fuck all and that is a massive part of the poverty trap.
And if you think I'm exaggerating about this, I know someone personally who has four kids by different fathers, lives entirely on benefits and lives a life of Riley. She was a relative of a friend of mine. I'll never forget seeing the contents of her fridge. Rammed with booze and ready meals. The kids had no bedding on their beds and there wasn't a stick of furniture apart from a single couch that she slept on in front of her 50 inch TV with full Sky package. But she had the money to get her nails and hair done and have the latest apple iphone. Her and the kids were all obese. So there's something seriously wrong with the way benefits are doled out.
Again, all about choices. She chose to spend her benefits on the above. Someone in a tower block might choose to spend their benefits on drugs. But a hard working person earning a low wage has no choices at all. They have to get on with it. And that's how it was years ago for me. I got on with it and made the right choices.
Syl said
May 26 5:40 PM, 2025
My mother was very similar to you. Left to bring two girls up, ages 5 and 7...no benefits, an absolute pittance in alimony, she worked three cleaning jobs and never asked anyone for a penny that she didn't earn.
Digger said
May 26 8:09 PM, 2025
Car mows down Liverpool fans. Police say 53 year old white male is responsible.
My mother was very similar to you. Left to bring two girls up, ages 5 and 7...no benefits, an absolute pittance in alimony, she worked three cleaning jobs and never asked anyone for a penny that she didn't earn.
I had a job working in a bar/club and I did a 70 hour week at one point.
Red Okktober said
May 26 9:44 PM, 2025
Digger wrote:
Car mows down Liverpool fans. Police say 53 year old white male is responsible.
Hard to tell age and race from that clip as it's so short. If I had to guess an age from that split second I would say he was in his 30s, or a gym fit man in his 40s. Not pale skin, possibly latin blood or suntanned.
The police are quick off the mark to point out that he's white though. They could have avoided so much trouble in the aftermath of Southport if they had been so detailed then, rather than said nothing before eventually saying the killer was 'Welsh'
Syl said
May 26 11:52 PM, 2025
Horrendous scenes. The latest news is... "Four children are among the dozens of people injured after a car ploughs into a crowd at the Liverpool FC parade
Twenty-seven people were taken to hospital, and two suffered serious injuries - including one child, the North West Ambulance Service says
A 53-year-old white British man has been arrested and is believed to be the driver of the vehicle, Merseyside Police say
"The incident is not being treated as terrorism,"
Digger said
May 27 8:02 AM, 2025
Syl wrote:
Horrendous scenes. The latest news is... "Four children are among the dozens of people injured after a car ploughs into a crowd at the Liverpool FC parade
Twenty-seven people were taken to hospital, and two suffered serious injuries - including one child, the North West Ambulance Service says
A 53-year-old white British man has been arrested and is believed to be the driver of the vehicle, Merseyside Police say
"The incident is not being treated as terrorism,"
When you watch the footage of the driver slowed down, there's no way he's 53.
Syl said
May 27 11:44 AM, 2025
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
Horrendous scenes. The latest news is... "Four children are among the dozens of people injured after a car ploughs into a crowd at the Liverpool FC parade
Twenty-seven people were taken to hospital, and two suffered serious injuries - including one child, the North West Ambulance Service says
A 53-year-old white British man has been arrested and is believed to be the driver of the vehicle, Merseyside Police say
"The incident is not being treated as terrorism,"
When you watch the footage of the driver slowed down, there's no way he's 53.
He doesn't, and 'white British' could mean anything, wasn't the Southport murderer of those little girls described as Welsh ?....that's the story that they are sticking with so far.
Anonymous said
May 27 12:52 PM, 2025
“ A man serving life in jail for ordering the murder of his niece in a so called 'honour killing' is suingITVover claims he also allowed her rape.
Banaz Mahmod was aged 20 when she was killed on the orders of her father Mahmod Mahmod and uncle Ari Mahmod after she left an abusive arranged marriage.
Other family members and friends were recruited to carry out the murder and she was raped by three of her cousins before being strangled.
Uncle Mahmod, 69, is now suing over a 2020 drama called Honour, starring Keeley Hawes, and a 2012 documentary on the killing.
He claims that in his Iraqi Muslim culture, 'honour' murders are acceptable but accusation of rape have destroyed his reputation, the Sun reports.
While representing himself, he told the High Court that he been attacked in jail and that his family were victims of reprisals.
'In my country murder is normal — after served time you have a new opportunity,' he said speaking via videolink from HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire earlier this month
The police have set a precedent by stating race and nationality so quickly. I'm in favour of it if they do it for all races and nationalities, and not just when it's a white suspect.
People start sharing videos and comments on social media pretty much as soon as something happens - sometimes false info as with Southport - and I don't see any purpose in police witholding info when the suspect's ID will come out anyway at some point. Just get on with it and avoid needless rumours.
I remember when non-white suspects would be described by the BBC as something like - "police have said the man is dangerous and do not approach him - he was last seen wearing a dark top, jeans and trainers"
Red Okktober said
May 27 3:17 PM, 2025
I just saw a different clip and while there are no excuses for what he did, he seems to be trying to escape a baying mob.
They surrounded his car and started kicking and punching it, and someone smashed his rear window in.
Could be he was in fear of his life and panicked.
It's a miracle that no one was killed, but you have to think that if it was his intention to kill, he would have driven faster into the crowd than he did.
The Liverpool bloke? Police have just said he was on drugs…couple that with a drink or two (eye witnesses claim they saw him coming out of a pub) so he may have been off his head.
He was tailing an ambulance (hoping to get through I suppose) but the ambulance stopped to help their, possible, heart attack victim and he carried on through the sea of people. Feckin’ idiot.
However, newly released data shows that there has been a slow down in NHS activity since they came in, and new appointments are increasing at a significantly slower rate than when Sunak was PM.
They just say anything and hope no one will notice.
news.sky.com/story/labour-say-theres-been-a-massive-increase-in-nhs-appointments-this-begs-to-differ-13372714
Doubts are also creeping in as to whether Starmer will be able to reverse WFA. It could be a double U-turn (S bend?)
news.sky.com/story/starmers-winter-fuel-cut-u-turn-claim-not-credible-13372837
We still have no idea of true poverty in this country. None of us were alive at the time.
In the late Victorian London, poverty was so severe that even sleep came at a price. The "four-penny coffin" offered the homeless a wooden box to lie in, while the cheaper "two-penny hangover" let people sleep upright on a bench, slumped over a rope. Though often linked to the term "hangover," the word actually originated from unfinished business, not this sleeping practice.
One can endure anything if there's no other choice. That photo depicts times when there was no safety net of either NHS or benefits. If you were poor and starved and died, it was tough shit. That doesn't happen now on anywhere near the scale it did then. When was the last time you saw a skeletal starving person on our streets that wasn't a crackhead? Obesity levels are on the rise. 1 in 8 kids in the UK are now obese.
As for sleeping on the streets, most prefer that to the hostels on offer which are terrible places more dangerous than you'll ever know. But never mind, we spend billions a year on housing migrants in hotels, giving them phones and driving lessons, food and money and free gym membership.
As for foreign aid, the UK is bound by treaties and agreements to pay a percentage of its gross national income, despite the fact that we are currently in debt to the tune of £2.8 trillion. Don't kid yourself it's exclusively done out of charity and kindness either.
Do you honestly think that we can sustain our current societal structure if we keep letting in migrants who offer us fuck all in return for all the benefits and resources they can milk from us? Why do you think they refuse to stay in safe countries like France?
If things carry on, there won't be anymore 'free' healthcare. No more benefits or housing, nothing left for anyone to scrounge off. Already we have 52 percent of our population drawing more in benefits than they pay tax. The mega rich who pay a lot of taxes are leaving in droves. 30K of them since 2014.
We've got councils going broke because of bad management. Hounslow council spent almost £50,000 on a "rainbow junction". Other instances, like the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, spent £11,000 on four rainbow crossings. Richmond council also spent approximately £8,230 for two crossings. What kind of insanity is that?
Then we've got the Nightingale Debacle.
The figures show Birmingham Nightingale — set up at the National Exhibition Centre — was the most expensive hospital to create at £66.4m. This hospital never treated any patients throughout the pandemic.
London’s Nightingale, believed to have treated a few hundred patients in total, cost £57.4m to set up. Hundreds of the beds bought for Nightingale wards were sold for as little as £6, despite being bought for £2,500 each.
So, paying peanuts to Trump kind of withers in the face of our own ineptitude when it comes to squandering public money and getting ourselves into debt.
Taking drugs is a choice. It's not imposed on anyone. No matter how shitty life gets there's always choices. I have more respect for those who turn their lives around. I have zero respect for eternal victims. I haven't lived in a tower block, but I have lived on a rough council estate and I've known real poverty. I've been in the situation where I had nothing, and I mean, nothing, to feed my baby on. I had to go to the corner shop and buy a tiny tin of Carnation milk and water it down to feed her. I never thieved. I never shoplifted. I never took drugs. I didn't even drink. I knuckled down and got on with it, got through it, and worked like a dog to make things better. Back then there was no state financial help like there is today. No food banks. And no fucking sympathy. The only bonus I got was free child care in a state nursery so I could work. They were hard times.
And I've been homeless. When I was 17.
There's been Government funding since whenever. It's not all about money, it's about addressing social disparities and systemic inequalities. Wages in this country are too low. There's not enough affordable housing. It's not so much those on benefits who struggle but those working in low paid unskilled jobs. And that's where it's really unfair. You can sit on your arse all day and knock out half a dozen kids, get full benefits and family allowance, afford your Sky package and your fags and your mobile phone, and dress little 'Charlene' in designer togs but some sap who tries to work for a living is entitled to fuck all and that is a massive part of the poverty trap.
And if you think I'm exaggerating about this, I know someone personally who has four kids by different fathers, lives entirely on benefits and lives a life of Riley. She was a relative of a friend of mine. I'll never forget seeing the contents of her fridge. Rammed with booze and ready meals. The kids had no bedding on their beds and there wasn't a stick of furniture apart from a single couch that she slept on in front of her 50 inch TV with full Sky package. But she had the money to get her nails and hair done and have the latest apple iphone. Her and the kids were all obese. So there's something seriously wrong with the way benefits are doled out.
Again, all about choices. She chose to spend her benefits on the above. Someone in a tower block might choose to spend their benefits on drugs. But a hard working person earning a low wage has no choices at all. They have to get on with it. And that's how it was years ago for me. I got on with it and made the right choices.
Car mows down Liverpool fans. Police say 53 year old white male is responsible.
https://x.com/WorldByWolf/status/1927070787694944689
Now, watch this footage you get to see the driver of the car. He's doesn't look 53 but is he white?
https://x.com/AnnaMcGovernUK/status/1927078213232033822
I had a job working in a bar/club and I did a 70 hour week at one point.
Hard to tell age and race from that clip as it's so short. If I had to guess an age from that split second I would say he was in his 30s, or a gym fit man in his 40s. Not pale skin, possibly latin blood or suntanned.
The police are quick off the mark to point out that he's white though. They could have avoided so much trouble in the aftermath of Southport if they had been so detailed then, rather than said nothing before eventually saying the killer was 'Welsh'
Horrendous scenes.
The latest news is...
"Four children are among the dozens of people injured after a car ploughs into a crowd at the Liverpool FC parade
Twenty-seven people were taken to hospital, and two suffered serious injuries - including one child, the North West Ambulance Service says
A 53-year-old white British man has been arrested and is believed to be the driver of the vehicle, Merseyside Police say
"The incident is not being treated as terrorism,"
When you watch the footage of the driver slowed down, there's no way he's 53.
He doesn't, and 'white British' could mean anything, wasn't the Southport murderer of those little girls described as Welsh ?....that's the story that they are sticking with so far.
“ A man serving life in jail for ordering the murder of his niece in a so called 'honour killing' is suing ITV over claims he also allowed her rape.
Banaz Mahmod was aged 20 when she was killed on the orders of her father Mahmod Mahmod and uncle Ari Mahmod after she left an abusive arranged marriage.
Other family members and friends were recruited to carry out the murder and she was raped by three of her cousins before being strangled.
Uncle Mahmod, 69, is now suing over a 2020 drama called Honour, starring Keeley Hawes, and a 2012 documentary on the killing.
He claims that in his Iraqi Muslim culture, 'honour' murders are acceptable but accusation of rape have destroyed his reputation, the Sun reports.
While representing himself, he told the High Court that he been attacked in jail and that his family were victims of reprisals.
'In my country murder is normal — after served time you have a new opportunity,' he said speaking via videolink from HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire earlier this month
'In my culture the main things they react against me was the rape allegation.' “ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14751849/murder-man-jail-nieces-honour-killing-sues-ITV-rape.html
You really couldn’t make this shit up.
People start sharing videos and comments on social media pretty much as soon as something happens - sometimes false info as with Southport - and I don't see any purpose in police witholding info when the suspect's ID will come out anyway at some point. Just get on with it and avoid needless rumours.
I remember when non-white suspects would be described by the BBC as something like - "police have said the man is dangerous and do not approach him - he was last seen wearing a dark top, jeans and trainers"
They surrounded his car and started kicking and punching it, and someone smashed his rear window in.
Could be he was in fear of his life and panicked.
It's a miracle that no one was killed, but you have to think that if it was his intention to kill, he would have driven faster into the crowd than he did.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c9dq6jj0l9do
The Liverpool bloke? Police have just said he was on drugs…couple that with a drink or two (eye witnesses claim they saw him coming out of a pub) so he may have been off his head.
He was tailing an ambulance (hoping to get through I suppose) but the ambulance stopped to help their, possible, heart attack victim and he carried on through the sea of people. Feckin’ idiot.