Prof Willy, year 2030

[Willy The Londoner]

Closer to to your "old" home, incompetence  leads the way
" Almost £1 billion a year is being forfeited by the NHS because hospitals are spending their cash treating patients with private medical insurance who could be paying for their care"

Th UK National Health Service is the best in the World. Everyone can get the treatment they need regardless of whether they have money or not.  If someone paying for private health treatment decides to go to a NHS hospital that is up to then. They have paid for Private Treatment BUT they have also paid for NHS treatment with contributions over the years.  There is choice.  Luckily in my 70 years I have only ever visited a doctor no more than half a dozen times and never had to use a hospital service but I paid my dues every month by way of my national insurance contributions. Now I enjoy the pension that was included in that monthly payment.

But I know that living where I do I can quickly get a to Hong Kong and a plane to London where I can go to any hospital and get any treatment should I have any future need for it. 

So private patients are not taking advantage they are just making use of what they paid for.

What you may be refering to is the number of medical tourists that get to the UK for treatment.   No one is ever turned away from a UK Hospital - they are of course expected to pay if they are not a member of the European Union but many do not.  But none the less no one is ever turned away from a hospital.    But the doctors are more concerned with treating those in need rather than checking on the ability to pay for those from outside the EU.
Willy

[Willy The Londoner]

but its nothing compared to the financial irregularities in your "new"  one party home
(Wen Jiabao's family has accrued at least $2.7 billion)

Your not suggesting that there are actually politicians in this world that take advantage of their political appointment?

Willy

[Philip]

[

Th UK National Health Service is the best in the World. Everyone can get the treatment they need regardless of whether they have money or not. 

Second that. I have never had a day off work sick in my whole working life. But unlike in many other countries, I didn't need to be born with a silver spoon in my mouth to be able to afford to be unwell. Most health workers, like my two sisters who are nurses, choose to work in the NHS, rather than private. They have a vocation. Going private gets you privileges, but most dedicated healthcare staff work in the NHS. The French system isn't too shabby either.
Just maybe, investing in the health of your country's citizens might benefit the health of the country as a whole, more than lining the pockets of banks and corporations and creating a large impoverished underclass.

[David E]

I think our friends in Australia have the same problem.

Thank goodness for a one party state I say.  No hassle no waste of 2 billion dollars and more  (Just think how many tens of thousands of start up businesses could be helped with the money spent on one election.)  How many jobs would that created in the long term.

Willy

Wake up UK and get rid of the worst idea ever - a coalition government.  How can these two parties survive the next election.  How can you be in bed together one minute and then at each others throat the next. 

I think our friends in Australia have the same problem.

Willy

Willy

We have 2 types of Coalition here....firstly the Coalition between the Liberals and the Country Party...this is a long standing arrangement and is typically an alliance between Liberal/Capitalist ideologies, one from the Metropolitan electorates and the other more representative of the Rural (Country) folk.  These two parties have existed in Coalition for ages and it seems to work.

The other type of Coalition is the unholy and unworkable balls -up that the current Government is struggling with and that is a "coalition of expedience" where Gillard was unable to form a Government in her own right and formed an Alliance with the Greens and 3 disgruntled Liberal MP's. Thus this coalition is an alliance based on mutual hate and distrust and was formed for the sole purpose of being able to form a Government and allow the Governor General to swear them in.

As you would imagine, this has been a precarious relationship, the Greens really control the Country...and with only 10% of the popular vote it is an amazing state of affairs.

Now that Gillard and the Greens have fallen out (inevitable) she remains in power at the whim of 3 rogue Liberal Senators who between them have a similar IQ to a lettuce (with due repect to lettuces who would probably be offended to be compared to these 3 clowns)....!!!

So now our Country is controlled by the manic wishes of 3 lunatics who are Political pariah's who will never get elected to office again.

Oh what they do to get a bit of power.......!!!! The right thing to do was for Gillard to declare she could not form a majority Government and go back to the Electorate for a mandate (or otherwise)...but when ever did a Politician do the right thing ...in ANY Country.

[Willy The Londoner]

Which just goes to show that it is not just my adopted country that wants to control the internet.
Willy

Actually Willy, your adopted country cannot hold a candle to your native country for the desire to control 

This from
http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Countries-Weve-Ever-Invaded/dp/0752479695
"Of 193 countries that are currently UN member states, Britain has invaded or fought conflicts in the territory of 171"

That's close on 90% of the globe over 2000 or so years

We are mostly familiar with the first and second opium wars but this??
" On the 14th of September 1793, Lord Macartney was introduced to the Chinese emperor, Ch’ien-Lung.  The wonders of the British export trade were displayed: a planetarium, optical and magnetic instruments, Irish poplins, Birmingham metalware and Wedgwood dishes. The embassy was received with polite condescension, then taken through a succession of pavilions filled with far superior products, and finally  brusquely dismissed. Macartney recorded in his diary that ‘Our presents must hide their diminished heads’.  Yet within half a century perfidious Albion had turned the Chinese world upside down."

Countries NOT (yet)  invaded by the British:
Andorra   Belarus   Bolivia   Burundi    Central African Republic  Chad   Congo, Republic of    Guatemala    Ivory Coast   Kyrgyzstan  Liechtenstein
Luxembourg   Mali  Marshall Islands  Monaco   Mongolia    Paraguay   Sao Tome and Principe   Sweden   Tajikistan   Uzbekistan   Vatican City ...
However, the US is working hard to catch up 

This was written by man named  Laycock and included countries not only where wars were fought but included those where they invited or paid to attend and also includes all UN duties AND it includes countries where the British Navy pursued Pirates.  As GB was the most popular country in the World they received a lot of invites!

Willy

PS. According to this book the British ventured in Vietnam in 1774 - yet another one the Americans were slow to follow us in. 

[JohnB]

ProfWilly,
So much for the “Sun Never Sets”. Ancient history. Looking forward. The “New”, as in China.

Just curious of the Chinese in the next bunch of years. It seems as if they eagerly want to engage the rest of the world in whatever fashion works. I do not think any other country in the world has contributed foreign investments so much in so little time as the Chinese. The trade fuels the China economy. Even with most world economies stressed, the Chinese economy showed strength in October, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323894704578110000989870258.html Maybe things are slowly turning for the better. 

Then again, there is the increased Chinese military spending; also, the related sovereignty claims of multitude islands in the S.China Sea basin. I do not think all things stop there. I liken the present day situation to an international “chess game” (latest being Obama visits Burma). It will be interesting to see future China engagements, whether it be diplomatically or militarily, given the enormous amount of  foreign investments, international trade, monetary surpluses that hang in the delicate balance, and most importantly, just being a good neighbor.