I'm getting to like Ed Miliband. I actually much prefer him to Cameron.

Too soon to judge but he is better than Brown.

JK2006 wrote:
getting to like Ed Miliband....much prefer him to Cameron.


Like and much prefer - but why?

He comes across as honest and sensible; he is not yet talking in political cliches; I even suspect he may dare defy the media populist headline philosophy; which Cameron will never do.

Sadly, neither Ed nor Cameron will touch the NHS budget of c£110B - about three times the annual defence budget. Both of these are completely unsustainable, totalling £150B.

The world's third biggest employer - with 1.7m staff - the NHS, giving free health care to anyone in the country, must be curtailed. Is there anything similar anywhere else in the world?

But, both chaps know only too well that to meddle with it would be political suicide. Someone - soon - will have to take that route despite the consequences.

Ed seems a decent sort. Him and Alan Johnson would certainly make Labour more appealing to middle England. You might suspect that, like William Hague as leader of the Tories, Miliband will struggle, but I think Miliband has an easier task. Hague had to try to re-gain Conservatives who'd defected to New Labour. That was too great a task ideologically. If you look at the last election, not many Labour supporters actually defected to anyone - they just didn't vote. So Miliband has to reinvigorate the Labour support, not re-create it, so it's not impossible. I don't think the union issue will dog him for long. What's likely to be more of a problem is his Gore-like environmental obsessions and his vagueness on just about everything else. But the political culture will certainly be a slightly more humane place with Ed, rather than his android brother David, as one of the leaders.

Pearl wrote:
these are completely unsustainable, totalling £150B

Too true. But Ed will not upset the legacy of Aneurin Bevan (his hero).

Brought my pal to the local A&E recently (he fell off a ladder at work); although, in considerable pain, he was not seen for 7 hours! All the staff were working flat out - and stressed, but kind; there were about 200 people seeking treatment.

You would have to wonder where the billions are going - but the staus quo cannot continue. One (perhaps slightly radical) solution might be to outsort A&E visitors into genuine accident/complaint people and the others - drunks, smokers and druggies.

Lower priority would be given to the self-inflicted latter group, who would have to pay for treatment.

Simon wrote:
outsort A&E visitors into genuine accident/complaint people and the others - drunks, smokers and druggies.Lower priority would be given to the self-inflicted latter group, who would have to pay for treatment

Makes a lot of sense. My cousin works in a London A&E Department and tells me that the same faces are a regular feature on a Friday and a Saturday night.

About 90% would fall into the self-inflicted group.

In the Republic of Ireland (which has its own economic woes), a visit to the doctor costs about €60 plus medicine costs. As a result, waiting rooms are somewhat empty.

BR wrote:
Too soon to judge but he is better than Brown.

Anybody ... is better than Brown !

Re - Red Ed - interesting to see that he now tries to distance himself from the Brown government (even though HE wrote the Brown government's manifesto !)

Talk about principles (and the discarding of them when it suits) LOL !

I'm sorry but Ed will have to start growing on me. David on the other hand I found rather appealing. But I believe the latter will eventually become the PM. Not the former.

The Fat Controller wrote:
David on the other hand I found rather appealing. But I believe the latter will eventually become the PM. Not the former.

Not so, FC !

He was the Heir Apparent - and got most of the constituencies votes.
He's missed the boat - no wonder he is bitter with his brother stealing the ground from under him.

He'll have to wait at least five years, and by that time his opportunity will have gone.

Jenny wrote:
Simon wrote:
outsort A&E visitors into genuine accident/complaint people and the others - drunks, smokers and druggies.Lower priority would be given to the self-inflicted latter group, who would have to pay for treatment

In the Republic of Ireland (which has its own economic woes), a visit to the doctor costs about €60 plus medicine costs. As a result, waiting rooms are somewhat empty.
The problem with this idea is that the decision to treat has to be made on the spot by the people on the ground, not after weeks of form-filling overseen by some back-office function. Perhaps some version of that ROI system you mention, where a relatively small (but still off-putting to time-wasters) "excess" is paid for all visits might take some of the edge off, and could always be claimed back by the poorer users...?