Keir Starmer

[Jack2jack]

Rockin’s topics were a bit generic. We all want to be richer blah blah. To be more precise about it:
1. Strengthen the NHS, but not just by chucking more money at it; there must be radical reform that results in accessibility for everyone.
2. Simplify the taxation system.
3. Reform of the benefits system and state pension (the latter will never happen unfortunately)
4. Implement a skills plan for 16-21 year olds that boosts skilled labour through modern apprenticeship schemes, at same time killing off universities who promote useless degree courses that only line the pockets of the backers.
5. Review or foreign aid policy, use it proactively to reduce the impact that is getting debated on here.

I’m not overly pro independence, I’m yet to see strong financial arguments that justify it.

#votecooperman

 

[Smurph]

Yes

Wow, really don't know how to respond

 

[monmouth]

Rockin’s topics were a bit generic. We all want to be richer blah blah. To be more precise about it:
1. Strengthen the NHS, but not just by chucking more money at it; there must be radical reform that results in accessibility for everyone.
2. Simplify the taxation system.
3. Reform of the benefits system and state pension (the latter will never happen unfortunately)
4. Implement a skills plan for 16-21 year olds that boosts skilled labour through modern apprenticeship schemes, at same time killing off universities who promote useless degree courses that only line the pockets of the backers.
5. Review or foreign aid policy, use it proactively to reduce the impact that is getting debated on here.

I’m not overly pro independence, I’m yet to see strong financial arguments that justify it.

Not a dig at you, because I agree with you, but everyone loves these words, like motherhood and apple pie. they are in every consultant's report and always lead precisely nowhere. It always ends up in the 'too difficult' box when it comes to actually changing anything, at least, for the better. People always somehow manage to change things for the worse. It's like saying 'sort out the MoD and defence spending efficiency', which has been said since I was at Worthy Down in 1985 and still hasn't happened.

Also, I was one of two folk working at the coal face in the NHS 'Value for Money' unit in the 80s and, when push comes to shove, 70% of spend was on Salaries and Wages (probably 90% now as we had no management layers then). I have a lot of scars. Digressing further down that rabbit hole, the hard truth is, we cannot afford free care at point of use for everyone for everything (probably couldn't in 1987), nor the ridiculous lawsuits as if healthcare carries no risk. That said, we would have had more money if we hadn't participated in stupid US wars, where there always seemed to be enough unlimited money. To add to the impossibility we don't have many doctors and those we do obviously prefer private work. The supply issue imposes serious constraint. My wife's surgery can get neither doctors, nor properly trained nurses.

Anyway, as a start, I would like cross party serious expert analysis and prioritised time driven (I can do consultantspeak) recommendations for the 'reform' you are suggesting for main areas (I would add in public ownership and funding of strategic assets - like water, power, steel, and defence spending as mentioned) that would span multiple parliaments and any change of government, fully costed and fully binding. So, like the non-Cardiff centric WAG I mentioned in another thread...not happening.

Oh, and on "Universities who promote useless degree courses that only line the pockets of the backers." What are these Universities? For what it's worth, I would go back to Universities (Research based and critical thinking), Polytechnics (Highly skilled training allied with critical thinking) and Tech colleges (trades and skills). No hierarchy, just different roles. Making everything a university was, for my money, one of those changes for the worse.

 

[Glyn1]

I don't understand what you're saying. We should only take refugees from our nearest neighbours (e.g. Ireland?), we shouldn't take any at all?

I don't understand why you think we should not take any. Perhaps our biggest mistake was to teach the world to speak English.

 

[Cooperman]

I don't understand why you think we should not take any. Perhaps our biggest mistake was to teach the world to speak English.

First sign of madness that, Glyn.

 

[monmouth]

Wow, really don't know how to respond

That's easy. Don't ever vote Deform.

 

[J_B]

I agree with Monmouth. Health and education for starters are too important to be left to the current whim of whatever political party is in office. There should be long term plans set in place for both involving everyone who has a stake in their running. Politicians are only interested in getting elected and then staying in power so their plans run for 5 years at most.
We need a national adult conversation about what the NHS can do and do well and, crucially, what the country can’t afford it to do.

 

[Cooperman]

Not a dig at you, because I agree with you, but everyone loves these words, like motherhood and apple pie. they are in every consultant's report and always lead precisely nowhere. It always ends up in the 'too difficult' box when it comes to actually changing anything, at least, for the better. People always somehow manage to change things for the worse. It's like saying 'sort out the MoD and defence spending efficiency', which has been said since I was at Worthy Down in 1985 and still hasn't happened.

Maybe I’m a little bit hardened by years of private sector, where you are only as good as the result of last year, and if you don’t change things you will be changed.

 

[Swanjaxs]

I don't understand why you think we should not take any. Perhaps our biggest mistake was to teach the world to speak English.

They made half the world speak English by taking it with force.

 

[Darran]

I agree with Monmouth.

 

[monmouth]

Maybe I’m a little bit hardened by years of private sector, where you are only as good as the result of last year, and if you don’t change things you will be changed.

I worked in banking and insurance for 30 years for big blue chips up to board level and saw exactly the same issues. The private sector isn't so different. It just pretends it is. Politics always gets in the way, one way or another.

 

[Darran]

I don't understand why you think we should not take any. Perhaps our biggest mistake was to teach the world to speak English.

I don’t understand why the fuck you’re talking to yourself.

 

[Cooperman]

Oh, and on "Universities who promote useless degree courses that only line the pockets of the backers." What are these Universities? For what it's worth, I would go back to Universities (Research based and critical thinking), Polytechnics (Highly skilled training allied with critical thinking) and Tech colleges (trades and skills). No hierarchy, just different roles. Making everything a university was, for my money, one of those changes for the worse.

We spent a lot of time with both of our children considering what was the right degree course for them. I attended countless open days which presented the opportunity to get into the detail with course owners, and was astonished by the volume of courses which offered eight or nine hours of lecture time per week, across a term which basically run from October to April. If this wasn’t bad enough, much of the learning from material readily accessible on YouTube. I am fully aligned with your views re the hierarchy; take it back to how it was fifty years ago!

 

[Smurph]

We spent a lot of time with both of our children considering what was the right degree course for them. I attended countless open days which presented the opportunity to get into the detail with course owners, and was astonished by the volume of courses which offered eight or nine hours of lecture time per week, across a term which basically run from October to April. If this wasn’t bad enough, much of the learning from material readily accessible on YouTube. I am fully aligned with your views re the hierarchy; take it back to how it was fifty years ago!

One of the lecturers turned up late for my daughters graduation last summer and wasn't allowed in to the ceremony and he thought it was hilarious that he didn't have the decent to make the venue on time to celebrate what was one of the proudest days of their young lives.

 

[Wing_Stand_Wood]

I worked in banking and insurance for 30 years for big blue chips up to board level and saw exactly the same issues. The private sector isn't so different. It just pretends it is. Politics always gets in the way, one way or another.

Can you name a single steel erecting firm, or construction outfit (You cant store 60 ft lengths of RSJ in the attic!) that is currently working from home? Has a sick note culture? Where incompetence gets rewarded with golden hand-shakes? And where idiots can get promoted way above their level? And where obscene money waste is not an issue? And where profit and loss does not matter?

"The private sector isn't so different"..... LOL!!!!