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AND HERE WE GO - THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTION THREAD

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SwingsitlikeHogan said:
I'm really not sure that most folks appreciate the cost of Private Medical/Health Insurance were the NHS over time to head down a 2-Tier route - where private health insurance provides better/earlier access to services and drugs - as it does now in some areas. Note that even today private insurance often covers access to drugs that the NHS does not.

So for instance I enquired with Axa/PPP (my companies health insurance provider) about the cost of taking out insurance for my wife whilst we were travelling and my company health insurance was suspended. With her existing (fairly common - 1:8 women suffer) condition covered it was to be £520/month with a £1000 excess.

Of course I could get that down by increasing the excess to many ££££s. But having never asked that question before I was, quite frankly, shocked. I had no idea that it would be anything like that.

So just in case anyone out there is pretty sanguine or relaxed over the risk of NHS privatisation, and a possible future need to take out their own private health insurance...maybe just ask that question.
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Can you point out where a risk of privatisation is mentioned in any of the political parties manifesto's or are you scaremongering or lying in your assessment. Or possibly one of your normal trumped up posts.

You and Doom working in tandem
 
Speaking this morning with my son over what he's going vote - he'll be voting Labour in his north Sheffield constituency - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

His understanding from talking with and listening to many locals (as comes with his job and his girlfriend is from there) is that many will be voting Conservative or The Brexit Party on the basis of Leaving the EU - and what he hears is that the local Leave vote was solely based upon immigration - they will vote in the GE on that basis without much consideration - if any - of other social or economic matters.

Great...what have we done...:(
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Speaking this morning with my son over what he's going vote - he'll be voting Labour in his north Sheffield constituency - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

His understanding from talking with and listening to many locals (as comes with his job and his girlfriend is from there) is that many will be voting Conservative or The Brexit Party on the basis of Leaving the EU - and what he hears is that the local Leave vote was solely based upon immigration - they will vote in the GE on that basis without much consideration - if any - of other social or economic matters.

Great...what have we done...:(
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He's obviously influenced by his barber or has he discussed this and got the facts straight from the horses mouth or, like you, he's making things up.
 
Old Skier said:
Can you point out where a risk of privatisation is mentioned in any of the political parties manifesto's or are you scaremongering or lying in your assessment. Or possibly one of your normal trumped up posts.

You and Doom working in tandem
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I am not.

I simply said that if anyone is totally relaxed about NHS privatisation; consider the risk of that to be low, and trust what the parties are saying on it. Then fine. Don't bother asking critically about the plans the parties might have for the NHS.

However, if you become aware of the cost of any Private Health Insurance you think you might need in the future, you might choose to not simply accept without much question mantras such as 'No Privatisation of the NHS under the Tories'.

As I said. £520/month to cover my wife's existing condition is no Project Fear - it is very, very real.
 
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Old Skier said:
He's obviously influenced by his barber or has he discussed this and got the facts straight from the horses mouth or, like you, he's making things up.
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Yes - he's making things up. I don't live there and I don't know his barber - so cannot verify what he says, but I have no reason to not believe him. He has lived in poorer parts of Sheffield for seven years, he knows the people and the place pretty well. However feel free to keep your head in the sand over the part immigration played in the Referendum vote and that it will play in the GE.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Yes - he's making things up. I don't live there so cannot verify what he says, but I have no reason to not believe him. He has lived in poorer parts of Sheffield for over four years, he knows the people and the place pretty well. However feel free to keep your head in the sand.
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Or just accept that he has the opinions of a FEW people.
 
Old Skier said:
Or just accept that he has the opinions of a FEW people.
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Of a LOT of people - people he has no reason to doubt their being quite representative of the constituency. BTW - there are some Sheffield lads on here - they will tell you what Shirecliffe/Southey Green area is like. It is a decent enough area but it is struggling.
 
Private health insurance gets even more expensive as you get older. For the over 80s it is prohibitively expensive, and makes £550/month look a bargain.
 
patricks148 said:
thing is though they might not privatise all of it, only the bits they can make a lot of money from and as with all the other things the Tory's sold off, we were told.. it will be better, more choice more investment.... cheaper... how did that work out with Water and the Railways for example??
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I'm not old enough to remember privatised water and railways, but I remember my Dad telling me that the railways were horrendous and very badly run by government. So perhaps it was a boil that needed lancing.

However I really can't accept that we can allow public services to have profit built into them and they can genuinely be run the same or better with no extra cost and less risk. It is poor management.

Also I think it's fair to say that on the whole the NHS is actually run pretty well. Currently the funding has reduced and this needs to be put right to improve services and of course there will always be pinch points where targets are missed and certain standards fall below where they should be. I do think a few stories are blown completely out of proportion and the vast majority of people who might not use the NHS much assume it is a complete shambles due to a few headlines here and there. My experiences over the past few years have been very positive.
 
Old Skier said:
In respect of the votes cast in Sheffield describe a LOT
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My son was at university in Sheffield - Sheffield Hallam - not Uni of...so met a lot of ordinary Sheffield lads and lassies.

Since then he has worked in a call centre in Sheffield and for the last few years doing music gigs and DJ'ing in the pubs and clubs of Sheffield - including some of the biggest in the city. He has been assistant manager of one of the main nightclubs in Sheffield and walks the streets of Sheffield City Centre doing promotions works for the clubs. He has always lived in the poorer parts of the cities - though for a while we paid for him to live in Ranmoor :rolleyes: He knows and likes a lot of South Yorkshire folks but finds 'difficult' the views that many express about immigration.
 
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murphthemog said:
Private health insurance gets even more expensive as you get older. For the over 80s it is prohibitively expensive, and makes £550/month look a bargain.
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sssh - don't tell anyone.

My £520 a month is more than 3/4 of the individual state pension! And what sector of the population is likely to be dependent upon the state pension as their sole source of income? Yup - the poorest. But let's not think that such a 2-tier system will come to pass - rather let's just be very aware what it could mean.
 
Grant85 said:
I'm not old enough to remember privatised water and railways, but I remember my Dad telling me that the railways were horrendous and very badly run by government. So perhaps it was a boil that needed lancing.

However I really can't accept that we can allow public services to have profit built into them and they can genuinely be run the same or better with no extra cost and less risk. It is poor management.

Also I think it's fair to say that on the whole the NHS is actually run pretty well. Currently the funding has reduced and this needs to be put right to improve services and of course there will always be pinch points where targets are missed and certain standards fall below where they should be. I do think a few stories are blown completely out of proportion and the vast majority of people who might not use the NHS much assume it is a complete shambles due to a few headlines here and there. My experiences over the past few years have been very positive.
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My wife is disabled, son born premature and has numerous health problems, currently caring for terminally ill mother-in-law.
Probably involved with the NHS every week for the last 30 years, it really isn’t stories being blown out of proportion, it isn’t only the tory party responsible (they only currently hold the baton) the NHS has been allowed to decline over various governments via cuts, mismanagement etc.
Ask the guys who wives partners work in the NHS if it’s got worse or better, I can give you horror stories and uplifting stories but I’m on the outside.
If it wasn’t in trouble why is it at the top of almost everbodies agenda.
Like myself and others have said, it should be ringed fenced, protected and invested in, I believe it’s the jewel in the crown and they need to stop using it as a political football.
Thank god we have the staff that continually keep the NHS going despite all its issues.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Speaking this morning with my son over what he's going vote - he'll be voting Labour in his north Sheffield constituency - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

His understanding from talking with and listening to many locals (as comes with his job and his girlfriend is from there) is that many will be voting Conservative or The Brexit Party on the basis of Leaving the EU - and what he hears is that the local Leave vote was solely based upon immigration - they will vote in the GE on that basis without much consideration - if any - of other social or economic matters.

Great...what have we done...:(
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'WE' haven't done anything it is simply people expressing their own opinions and voting how they wish, that's how democracy works .So IMO it fine that they have a choice to exercise !!
 
Grant85 said:
I'm not old enough to remember privatised water and railways, but I remember my Dad telling me that the railways were horrendous and very badly run by government. So perhaps it was a boil that needed lancing.

However I really can't accept that we can allow public services to have profit built into them and they can genuinely be run the same or better with no extra cost and less risk. It is poor management.

Also I think it's fair to say that on the whole the NHS is actually run pretty well. Currently the funding has reduced and this needs to be put right to improve services and of course there will always be pinch points where targets are missed and certain standards fall below where they should be. I do think a few stories are blown completely out of proportion and the vast majority of people who might not use the NHS much assume it is a complete shambles due to a few headlines here and there. My experiences over the past few years have been very positive.
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they were but compared to todays shambles...Brish Rail was run like a finely honed peaces of precision engineering:ROFLMAO:

that will be music to DFT ears NHS scotland is devolved:LOL:
 
Grant85 said:
I'm not old enough to remember privatised water and railways, but I remember my Dad telling me that the railways were horrendous and very badly run by government. So perhaps it was a boil that needed lancing.
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I am old enough, and state run concerns were badly neglected, being starved of money and run by the unions. They were sold off quite rightly, made money when they were, and are, much better now than at the point they were sold. I cant see the owners selling them back without a fight in the courts.
 
SwingsitlikeHogan said:
Speaking this morning with my son over what he's going vote - he'll be voting Labour in his north Sheffield constituency - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

His understanding from talking with and listening to many locals (as comes with his job and his girlfriend is from there) is that many will be voting Conservative or The Brexit Party on the basis of Leaving the EU - and what he hears is that the local Leave vote was solely based upon immigration - they will vote in the GE on that basis without much consideration - if any - of other social or economic matters.

Great...what have we done...:(
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Failed people by not consulting with them or considering how their lives may be affected by the social engineering of the liberal Elete. No matter how some may consider others lives have been enriched by our fabulous diversity many dont like the way it has changed the way they live for what they consider the worse.
 
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