The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[Eggs]

....lots of people work in the Public Sector and I don't see many of those voting Conservative. It's not only because of the 'hit' on pay, pensions and conditions but also because of the reduction in the service offering to the public.

 

[Coach]

 

[Coach]

 

[Bruce Wayne]

LOL. You have no evidence for this whereas I have provided the evidence for the exact opposite. The NHS is the most cost effective healthcare system in the world according to the latest research.


Where do they express this view? Certainly not in that link.

I was on the way to a language lesson so couldn't provide examples right at that moment. Probably the most well known is the work of Devi Shetty. He's a heart surgeon (trained at Guy's no less) who has built a chain of hospitals in India, very much along the lean principles highlighted above. Open heart surgery costs around 1/50th the price of similar procedure in America, with the success rate between the two very comparable. He also uses the fees from the wealthy to offer practically free treatments to the poor.

He's a pretty well known example, as is the famous Aravind eye hospital, which can perform eye operations for around 1% of the cost of the NHS.

There is a lot of innovation coming from the 'bottom of the pyramid', as CK Prahalad called it. For instance GE have developed an ECG machine that sells for just $100, which is half of the normal cost, and offers tests for just $1 each. They've done this by making it simpler, with just the core functions provided.

But this is not just between countries. Sir John Oldham has suggested previously that if you brought the costs of the more spendthrift hospitals down to the average across the NHS, that alone would save around £15bn. You had the report by the National Audit Office that suggested that £500m could be saved if trusts bought things collectively rather than individually.

Re the NHS link. It talks about lean as a process improvement method. It's exactly what Shetty and his ilk use. Charles Leadbeater probably explains it better than me. He was one of the architects of the digital economy under Blair so is probably going to be guilty by association, but hey ho.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-d...29/charles-leadbeater-healthcare-india-mexico

 

[Bruce Wayne]

An interesting concept has been trialed by Google in the past week. They're putting in a link to open a video chat with a doctor against certain medical search queries. Interesting stuff.

Also the interesting study published this week into lung cancer and how it doesn't appear to be picked up very well by GPs. Bit of a curious one as to why that should happen. Maybe that's the kind of scenario where a Watson style diagnosis aid would be of value.

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/clinica...ancer-diagnosis/20008179.article#.VDzSuRY6l08

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Nice stuff here

 

[rascal]

Our Prime Minister there, using his tragically deceased disabled son at a time of bother again, this time during PMQs when asked about Lord Freud's encouragement of paying disabled workers £2 p/h.

The prime minister said the comments by Freud, who suggested that some disabled people could be paid as low as £2 an hour, did not represent the view of the government. But Cameron showed anger when he alluded to his severely disabled late son, Ivan, as he told Miliband that he would take no lectures on disabled people.

The angry exchanges came as Miliband disclosed the remarks by Freud in answer to a question at the recent Tory conference in Birmingham about paying the minimum wage to disabled people. The Labour leader quoted Freud as saying to his questioner at the fringe meeting: “You make a really good point about the disabled. There is a group where actually, as you say, they’re not worth the full wage.”
Asked by Miliband whether that was his view, the prime minister said: “No, absolutely not. Of course disabled people should be paid the minimum wage and the minimum wage under this government is going up and going up in real terms. It is now at £6.50. We will be presenting our evidence to the low pay commission, calling for another real terms increase in the minimum wage.”

Miliband then quoted further from Lord Freud, who added that he was looking at “whether there is something we can do if someone wants to work for £2 an hour”. Amid cries of “outrage” and “shame” from the Labour benches, Miliband said: “Surely someone holding those views can’t possibly stay in his government.”

Cameron said: “Those are not the views of the government, they are not the views of anyone in the government. The minimum wage is paid to everybody, disabled people included.”

With his voice rising in anger, the prime minister added: “Let me tell you: I don’t need lectures from anyone about looking after disabled people. So I don’t want to hear any more of that. We pay the minimum wage, we are reforming disability benefits, we want to help disabled people in our country*, we want to help more of them into work. And instead of casting aspersions why doesn’t he get back to talking about the economy.”

*= demand they get back to work even if they are on their deathbed.

 

[Eggs]

Our Prime Minister there, using his tragically deceased disabled son at a time of bother again, this time during PMQs when asked about Lord Freud's encouragement of paying disabled workers £2 p/h.




*= demand they get back to work even if they are on their deathbed.

.....regarding Lord Freud's comments, do politicians never learn? Supposedly intelligent people talking in a forum where there is a risk that somebody is recording. Saying that, if its an indication of what they genuinely feel its little wonder the public are turned off.

 

[Kanye]

There's literally a scene from the Thick of It where a story about disabled child is used to push through unwelcome reforms.

 

[AndyC]

No words necessary...

 

[Brennan]

Our Prime Minister there, using his tragically deceased disabled son at a time of bother again, this time during PMQs when asked about Lord Freud's encouragement of paying disabled workers £2 p/h.




*= demand they get back to work even if they are on their deathbed.

What a [Poor language removed] of a thing to say.

 

[rascal]

What a [Poor language removed] of a thing to say.

Are we meant to remain passive whilst he uses it as a get out of jail free card? It is the second time in two weeks that he's tried to use him for his political gain.

It is disturbing.

 

[Mrk]

Our Prime Minister there, using his tragically deceased disabled son at a time of bother again, this time during PMQs when asked about Lord Freud's encouragement of paying disabled workers £2 p/h.

He was actually suggesting that if disabled people can only earn £2 an hour, the state should top up that £2 with universal credit...

Clearly he's a monster.

 

[The Esk]

Are we meant to remain passive whilst he uses it as a get out of jail free card? It is the second time in two weeks that he's tried to use him for his political gain.

It is disturbing.

I agree.

No one, including his political opponents, will deny the personal tragedy and suffering he and his family have been through both before and after the passing of his child.

However to use it as a means of deflecting criticism of the Government's treatment of those with disability or more generally in need of care is cowardly in my opinion.

 

[roydo]

I agree.

No one, including his political opponents, will deny the personal tragedy and suffering he and his family have been through both before and after the passing of his child.

However to use it as a means of deflecting criticism of the Government's treatment of those with disability or more generally in need of care is cowardly in my opinion.

Or, to put it another way, using personal experience to respond to a pretty cowardly attack made my Milliband.