Wow let's put the economy into a permanent tail spin - house repossessing would be at collossal levels and virtually every retailer would be out of business.

You are definitely living in the wrong country. You could have all that in Russia, bit chilly this time of the year, plus life expectancy is a bit on the low side. But you can’t have everything. Unfortunately you are too late for Venezuela looks like after having years of free stuff they have run out of money.

Fiscal harmonisation would ensure all profits generated in a country would be taxed in that country that would see a huge increase in CT take as there would be no benefit in unrealistic transfer pricing or management charges or licencing fees etc.

I also suggested a relationship between the top earners and the mean in any business. Encouraging the very rich to give away their fortunes etc.


It seems to me your idea is through some form of state intervention "Social democracy" is to make humans behave differently to their natural state. Restrict the really clever, dumb everything down so the lowest have the same opportunities - yes in my view its completely unrealistic you have to cannot ignore the human desire to progress and beat other humans.

On Brexit I am for leaving - this is a unique country filled with very talented people the idea that it is suddenly going implode because we stop giving billions into a club over which we have very little influence doesn't make sense to me. Will we have short term pain, more than likely, will we come back stronger definitely.

Does state ownership really increase prices and reduce quality of service?? In my experience the complete opposite.

CT - need to place restrictions in interest relief and encourage financing via share capital.

Wealth tax - could start by extending the ATED tax to all dwellings and commercial property held by non-UK entities and individuals.

How about a quick comparison of the UK and Cuba. Cuba been a poor developing country, the UK the 5th richest in the world, we should compare very favourably.

In the UK there are 320,000 homeless people. 62% of people own their own home, around half of these via a mortgage, many of these mortgages are massive with eye watering amounts to be repaid. There is virtually no homelessness in Cuba, and 85% of Cubans own their homes. Mortgage payments may not exceed 10% of a household's combined income.

In the UK to go to university people borrow around £50,000. In Cuba university education is free.

In the UK we are unable to train enough doctors and nurses with 100,000 vacancies across the nhs.
According to the World Health Organization, Cuba is "known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need". There are around 50,000 Cuban-trained health care workers aiding 66 nations. Cuba became the first country to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Now I am not saying we should copy Cuba’s economic polices, but having homeless people, unaffordable housing and massive debts for getting a university education is a choice we have made, it doesn’t have to be like that.

I thought this made rather interesting reading. https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09 ... e-correct/

I thought this made rather interesting reading. https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09 ... e-correct/

Commie propaganda.

Quote ="Miro"I thought this made rather interesting reading. https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09 ... e-correct/'" Interesting piece, Tax planning in large corporations goes into the initial structure and into subsequent planning around acquisitions especially in any PE environment. It makes common sense, raise taxes when times are good lower them when you want to to encourage investment - Maynard-Keynes knew that in the 1930's. The key to any form of taxation system to work is it has to be seen to be equitable - increasing NI to invest in the health service would be acceptable to most. The problem with the last increase is that Labour simply used 50% of the additional revenue to increase existing salaries significantly. If the government said we are putting up NI 1% and this will be invested in more hospitals/equipment additional clinical staff, better software and operational waste was going be reduced by 5% a year happy days.

Quote ="Miro"I thought this made rather interesting reading. https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/01/09 ... e-correct/'" Interesting piece, Tax planning in large corporations goes into the initial structure and into subsequent planning around acquisitions especially in any PE environment. It makes common sense, raise taxes when times are good lower them when you want to to encourage investment - Maynard-Keynes knew that in the 1930's. The key to any form of taxation system to work is it has to be seen to be equitable - increasing NI to invest in the health service would be acceptable to most. The problem with the last increase is that Labour simply used 50% of the additional revenue to increase existing salaries significantly. If the government said we are putting up NI 1% and this will be invested in more hospitals/equipment additional clinical staff, better software and operational waste was going be reduced by 5% a year happy days.

The biggest positive impact you could have on the NHS would be to fill all the existing vacancies for frontline patient facing posts and then recruit additional staff for the most under pressure services (this is all of them but some are in a more dire state than others).

The difficulty you have at the moment with filling these vacancies is that they require staff that are trained to a high standard. They’re not only nurses but specialists too like radiographers, OTs, physios etc. Then there’s the medics. There’s a real shortage of trained pharmacists, doctors consultants, psychologists etc. If one leaves it’s a huge challenge to recruit someone else. The kind of people that want these jobs are pretty special. They take years to train. They need to be paid better and as country we need to make training for these roles much easier so they aren’t dissuaded by student loans, ridiculously long hours, physical or verbal abuse. The removal of busaries has had a massive effect on nurse recruitment. If we want a decent NHS then we have to be prepared to pay for it. I’ve worked in it for a while and the past 8 years have seen huge cuts. My trust has cut over £3m from its budget in the past 3 years. This has had a big knock on effect on patients. The experienced staff are retiring and their posts are remaining vacant.

There simply aren’t any more efficiency services left.

One fairly simple solution, although the training takes time, would be to make every medical degree/ training course free, thereby encouraging a greater take-up from students who "dont really know what they want to do" and then of course, reward the personnel properly once they have qualified.



I konw it will blow the minds of some but, perhaps schools and colleges should be trying to guide youngsters into careesr where there are greater opportunities / vaccancies.
We live in a free world (nearly) and it's great that kids have a choice of what thet want to pursue after leaving but, where there are gaping holes in the workforce, there should be some additional "help" for those willing to train.

Until the early 90s they were free – there were 100% maintenance grants for students – not loans, and certainly not tuition fees. I would say the needs are so great that this should be brought back for those qualifications that are needed for the vacancies we need to fill.

With the reduction in applicants we’ve seen over the past couple of years this is a dire situation that needs remedying. It won’t be helped if EU citizens decide to go home too.

Quote ="Bullseye" With the reduction in applicants we’ve seen over the past couple of years this is a dire situation that needs remedying. It won’t be helped if EU citizens decide to go home too.'" The NHS has been hit by a double whammy. One is the conservatives not properly funding the NHS, the other is the drop in EU applicants for vacant posts following the Brexit vote. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... h-40248366

Quote ="Bullseye" With the reduction in applicants we’ve seen over the past couple of years this is a dire situation that needs remedying. It won’t be helped if EU citizens decide to go home too.'" The NHS has been hit by a double whammy. One is the conservatives not properly funding the NHS, the other is the drop in EU applicants for vacant posts following the Brexit vote. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... h-40248366

Are you seriously suggesting that the NHS is as lean as can be or just your NHS trust?

One of the biggest gains the NHS can get is to stop the abuse of its services by its patients - whether its patients not turning up for appointments or patients turning up at A&E when that is not appropriate.

Quote ="Sal Paradise"Are you seriously suggesting that the NHS is as lean as can be or just your NHS trust? One of the biggest gains the NHS can get is to stop the abuse of its services by its patients - whether its patients not turning up for appointments or patients turning up at A&E when that is not appropriate.'" The NHS is the most efficient health system going https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... h-40608253

Quote ="Sal Paradise"Are you seriously suggesting that the NHS is as lean as can be or just your NHS trust? One of the biggest gains the NHS can get is to stop the abuse of its services by its patients - whether its patients not turning up for appointments or patients turning up at A&E when that is not appropriate.'" The NHS is the most efficient health system going https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... h-40608253

Quote ="Sir Kevin Sinfield"The NHS is the most efficient health system going https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... h-40608253'" Does that mean there is no waste in the NHS which could be eliminated which was the question?

Quote ="Sir Kevin Sinfield"The NHS is the most efficient health system going https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc. ... h-40608253'" Does that mean there is no waste in the NHS which could be eliminated which was the question?

The best way to help the NHS and avoid early death would be to adopt healthier lifestyles and take better care of ourselves.

Very good point

Yes I am pretty much. I get around a lot of Trusts of all different kinds. They've all been cut to the bone.



Any ideas how? I mean new ones. It's not like this hasn't been looked at before.

Until very recently average life expectancy has increased year on year – so on average we are doing that.

Some interesting reading and discussion here. Regarding the NHS and how lean it is. I am sure that further savings can be made. One especially for Emergency Services. I'll give an example, outside Warrington Hospital, there is a Spar shop with a fuel station attached. Quite often, there is an ambulance on the forecourt filling up. Yes it's easy, however with the prices being ~10p a litre higher than other petrol stations. I would have thought quite a large saving could be made on fuel?

Most Ambulance services already hold bunkered stocks of diesel. However these stocks are at the main ambulance depots and these aren’t always within a suitable travelling distance given that the number of vehicles is stretched, the number of calls is massive and they have to be deployed geographically to cover wide areas, not to mention the targets of being at an emergency within a set time. It might in the example you give an idea to put a fuel bunker in at each Acute hospital. However I would expect that to be too expensive. I know Trusts that have a complete ban on any capital expenditure at the moment. Some even have bans on buying new things over £500. One I know isn't able to replace the broken projector and screen in their main meeting rooms due to costs.

It all boils down to the NHS living on the absolute edge costs wise. Unless it gets a big injection it can’t address things long term.

How much of that is driven by advances in clinical practises and drug development?

Hard to say. I imagine quite a bit. However people don't tend to smoke as much nowadays so that's one influence.

Also people having less dangerous jobs and living in cleaner environments also an impact.

Hard to measure.

Agreed - whatever anybody says its still one hell of a service.

I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.

It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.

According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.