Ne'er get thee stitched til Booris be ditched: UK General Election 2019

lol gyac

Wow, @davidgraeber. Wow.

Thank you for saying it.

Every. Single. Word.

Thank you. pic.twitter.com/2FHtnVd7M1

— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) December 3, 2019

Beware of Tories touting anything australian.

Australia always struck me as just a massive Essex with a desert in the middle, Ed, surprised someone as nice as you can stick living there, frankly.

Bit of a massive generalisation there!

Australian healthcare may be shitty in many respects but I'm not so sure it's worse than the NHS. I can see a GP the same day I need to and he's free - it's not hard to find a GP who only charges the Medicare reimbursement, if you're in a big city at least. And I don't know where Ed gets the idea that you have to have private health insurance over the age of 35. I don't have any private health insurance and I've been treated reasonably well by the system without too many out of pocket costs. That includes all night (non-emergency) hospital stays at little to no expense.

welcome to the thread Kate Andrews, knew you were hiding out there somewhere!

I haven't really experienced any healthcare system but the NHS tbf. But don't want anything more exporting from Australia when we've only just managed to plant Clive James. Have a deep suspicion there will be a sliding scale of how much worse the service gets by how poorer and more serious your health condition is. Also have a deep suspicion that Tories would cherry pick all the worse aspects of Australian Healthcare. Anything but a free at point of delivery system is not good.

the canadian healthcare system is a bit better than the nhs in my experience. i can actually get to see a doctor here lol. thought you have to pay for prescriptions unless you have some coverage through your job - which must be awful and financially crippling for the working poor with chronic illnesses

i.e. not better than the nhs!!

I don't know where Ed gets the idea that you have to have private health insurance over the age of 35.

This is re the Medicare levy right? (which is added to your tax bill over a certain level of earnings if you don't have private health insurance). So it's not strictly true that you have to have private cover, but it's certainly encouraged by the tax system.

Unless things have changed since I last paid attention.

the canadian healthcare system is a bit better than the nhs in my experience. i can actually get to see a doctor here lol. thought you have to pay for prescriptions unless you have some coverage through your job - which must be awful and financially crippling for the working poor with chronic illnesses

― #FBPIRA (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 3:16 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i.e. not better than the nhs!!

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 3:18 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"in my experience". though, i dunno, the inability to get to see a doctor is a big downside also

xpost

Yes, there is a levy in Australia if you don't have private healthcare and you earn over a certain amount. But it's way less than actually having private health insurance, unless you're earning a fortune. I think I paid $750 last tax year. But yes it's a very crappy idea to use taxpayer funds to incentivise people to have private health insurance.

I think I would prefer single payer universal healthcare free at the point of use please

exactly, change it to any other system and you'd have hell on getting it back again. No matter how much myopic mealy mouthed shite people talk about how other healthcare systems seem better in their studied opinion, if they aren't single payer free at the point of use, then they end up becoming better systems only for those that can afford it and then even more poor people die. Probably in the next Green party manifesto tbf!

thought you have to pay for prescriptions unless you have some coverage through your job - which must be awful and financially crippling for the working poor with chronic illnesses

If this is about the NHS, if an illness is chronic then you can get your prescription without paying.

I haven't really experienced any healthcare system but the NHS tbf. But don't want anything more exporting from Australia when we've only just managed to plant Clive James.

I LOLed.

always liked the hairy bikers pic.twitter.com/sYEMNGl4l6

— jack (@jrc1921) December 3, 2019

the bbc is good again

GEs not good for the MH lads. wildly swinging between spikes of hope and dread several times of day. lovely stuff

wonder if ed mili will be made environment minister (again) when we win. post should be one of the great positions of state under the next govt

I’ve always reckoned on Hairy Bikers (and their matching Ché Guevara tats) being old school Labour.

Fair and balanced:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/04/bbc-impartiality-precious-protect-election-coverage

This is why ye need to follow his Instagram for this kind of content!

Pfff xp

GEs not good for the MH lads. wildly swinging between spikes of hope and dread several times of day. lovely stuff

huge cosine on this post, alas

^

after the PIP talk yesterday I've been imagining scenarios post-Boris victory where they decide my wife has been terminally ill for too long so she must be fine now and cancel her PIP and take our car away

at least the election is the same day as my work xmas party so chances are I'll be too drunk to stay up ridiculously late watching the results come in

that BBC article is so disingenuous, and I note they left the comments off on that

I’m really undecided and yeah it’s fucking with my mh as well too. The 12th is going to be awful

Until surpassed by the 13th.

... Friday ffs.

big slagheap energy

https://i2-prod.somersetlive.co.uk/incoming/article3604856.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_EKnB_nAXYAEVkPo.jpg

A giant sign has appeared on a slag heap in Midsomer Norton which declares: 'Get Mogg Out'.

The sign appeared at the end of last week and appears to reflect the sentiment among some constituents towards the divisive character.

It is not yet known who is the behind this creation which sits atop the mound of waste soil.

Mr Boraston tweeted the photo and confirmed in another tweet that he was not behind messgae.

The picture has since been shared on Facebook in a number of local community groups - and the reaction in one Peasedown St John group has been mixed.

Josh Collins said: "Desperate times.. probably the Lib Dem’s. Their tactics are embarrassing! With their fake polls, constant lies and rubbish through the door! Everyone vote mogg to stay!"

Clive Parfitt said: "These people need to get jobs, way to much time on their hands."

John Davies said: "He'll be getting my vote."

CP OTM, that BBC article is terrible: disingenuous, complacent and grossly patronising.

in other words, perfectly of a piece with the bbc's election coverage to date

GEs not good for the MH lads. wildly swinging between spikes of hope and dread several times of day. lovely stuff

Def feeling this. Have been mostly positive until today and yesterday, but the swing between the two isn't based on anything (tho hmm idk I saw 2 mins of Owen Jones in Ashfield that prob didn't help). I'm sure it will swing back the other way

I don't believe in any polls regardless of whether positive or negative

Try not to believe them either but the Tories just aren't moving in any of the polls - which is largely down to the Lib Dems, BXP and SNP making no real inroads into their vote.

Down to the Labour Party to do so.

I don't disbelieve them either, but I don't pay any attention to them regardless and think its a mistake to take any optimism (or pessimism) from some change or other. Surprised we're still giving then so much credence

I mean I neither believe nor disbelieve, confusingly written!

The Ruth Davidson balloon has at least been burst, it was a rise/revival of hardcore Unionism that got Tories elected in Scotland, not her.

CON vote has a floor of 40%. LAB’s task is to GOTV to get over 40%

What is MH ?

BBC:

"We’re as disappointed as our audiences that the prime minister, unlike all his fellow leaders, has not yet confirmed a date for his Andrew Neil interview. The logistics of pinning down party leaders is highly complex; if we had to wait for confirmation of the date and time of every interview by every party before anyone appeared anywhere, hardly anything would get on air. But let’s be clear: we’ll clear our schedules and we’re ready at any time, and any place, for a half-hour interview in which Neil scrutinises Boris Johnson."

In other words, it won't happen, and you lied to the other party leaders, and are unashamed of this.

MH = Mental Health

xxp

I thought Ruthie can electrify a room with her presence or something, meh not even a qualified spark!

Some Extinction Rebellion protesters - dressed as bees - have ambushed Jo Swinson’s battle bus in Streatham, S London. This man has glued himself to the windscreen. And yes, it is the electric bus. pic.twitter.com/R7H74X1j6A

— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) December 4, 2019

that BBC article is so disingenuous, and I note they left the comments off on that

Don't you worry, your reaction is proof positive that they're doing something right!

Yeah speaking of mental health I bailed after a couple of paragraphs of that BBC bullshit to preserve mine

"the divisive character", "the mound of waste soil" - that whole slagheap story is a prime example of the "popular orange vegetable" style of journalism.

Hi ZZ!

Australian healthcare may be shitty in many respects but I'm not so sure it's worse than the NHS.

I know nothing about the system but I do know that Australian friends went back to Oz after they both got chronic illnesses, partly for warmer climate and being closer to family, but they thought the healthcare system would work better for them too (the wife has a serious condition that the NHS misdiagnosed for ages while it did a lot of organ damage, and they've both worked in a separate area of the NHS for many years, btw)

however my opinion remains that:
1. the NHS is bloody good or at least used to be when we funded it better and I would like to keep it, thank you
2. definitely do not want to let the Tories import their idea of what any other country's healthcare system might be like, nope nope nope

(also given what little I know of Australian politics I do not trust the idea of importing anything politics-adjacent from there, but that's just some kneejerk ignorance there really, I admit)

the NHS is definitely not good and I wish people would stop saying it is tbh. that doesn't mean I want to get rid of it - I want it fixed. pretending the NHS is this fantastic service makes it easier to claim it doesn't need any more funding than it currently gets because there's nothing wrong with it

a valid point and I will concede that I am lucky enough to have had not much to do with it for a decade so definitely rose-tinted etc. sorry CP, will think about better ways to phrase it in future

(and tbf it was v frustrating to deal with 15-18 years ago when I did spend a lot of time seeing the GP and being stuck on some very long waiting lists, which I know will be a hell of a lot worse now)

also everyone else OTM about that BBC story (ugh) and about GE-induced MH. so, so tired

though just existing in rainy fascist Brexity Borisland will be constantly tiring too, please let Mr Cordbean in to save me from the tiredness

(god knows what the right and our lovely press would serve up day after day to keep our exhaustion levels up in that scenario but it's still the only hope left)

Sorry didn't mean to have a go, kneejerk reaction, I know you meant well