Jaw, jaw won out over war, war last night in the House of Commons, thankfully. We will not now be rushing headlong into a conflict in Syria.
But while the nation gives a great collective sigh of relief, Mr Assad may now feel it is OK to go ahead and deal with his opponents, that is to say, the majority of his own people, in whatever way he sees fit, though judging by the fire-bombing of a school yesterday, he's pretty much doing that already. So it is left to America, the World's policeman, to go in there and kick some serious butt. Will they go in though? One can only hope DC's reversal in Parliament may give them some pause for thought.
For me this is one of the most interesting aspects of the current situation. For once we have not (as I am certain Blair would) kow-towed to their wishes and co-operated as soon as they asked us to. For once the state has seen the "Special Relationship" for what it is: a fantasy existing only in the mind of Winston Churchill, who coined the phrase back in the 1940s and representing perhaps the ultimate in wishful thinking. We have not, surprisingly, even been issued with a dire warning that we'd better get on message, or else, as George Bush certainly did with Blair in 2002.
So the Middle East is a slightly safer place than it was yesterday- except for the ordinary citizens of Syria, of course. Now they know that they must fight alone (for I believe that America too will step back from the brink of another foreign adventure). Our hearts should go out to them. Just not our missiles.
Friday, 30 August 2013
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Are GPs greedy bastards?
Unfortunately, some of them are, yes. News has broken today that many GPs charge princely sums (£130 has been quoted, which I confirm as the going rate for a lot of GPs) for helping patients appeal against decisions to remove their benefits, and some categorically refuse to help them at all. Even worse, some GPs will charge the full rate for their reports, but put them together in a shoddy and incomplete way, virtually guaranteeing that the patient's appeal will fail.
GPs are allowed to charge for any service outwith their NHS contract to supply "GMS", or general medical services to their patients free of charge. So if I am asked to sign someone's passport, for example, or give them a certificate confirming they are healthy to run a marathon, I will charge a fee, in these two cases either £10 or £20. But these reports for people mounting an appeal against the decision to remove their benefits are a different matter.
Whereas in the 2 examples I cited the paperwork takes no more than a minute or two to complete, compiling a report for an appeal can take 45 minutes or more and is difficult, demanding work. So one can see why they may charge a lot more for the work. In our practice we charge about £70. And importantly, we are being faced by an ever-increasing demand for these reports now that every other claimant is having their benefit cut or removed altogether by ATOS, whose doctors are (allegedly) offered bonuses for every person they can get off the benefits register
So at one level one can almost understand GPs being reluctant to have anything to do with these reports at any price, especially as each time someone's benefits are removed, it means that ATOS has ignored or contradicted the evidence offered by the GP in the first place when they issue a sick note stating that for medical reasons the patient is unable to work. That doesn't feel nice for us, as you can imagine. Add to that the fact that our reports, when they finally reach the appeals process, are often ignored a second time, then you can see why some GPs simply have no wish to go there. Meanwhile of course, the patients are caught in a trap: they're screwed if they don't appeal, and they're often screwed when they do. The fault is with the government who, quite unnecessarily, introduced these benefits cuts in the first place: this one.
GPs are allowed to charge for any service outwith their NHS contract to supply "GMS", or general medical services to their patients free of charge. So if I am asked to sign someone's passport, for example, or give them a certificate confirming they are healthy to run a marathon, I will charge a fee, in these two cases either £10 or £20. But these reports for people mounting an appeal against the decision to remove their benefits are a different matter.
Whereas in the 2 examples I cited the paperwork takes no more than a minute or two to complete, compiling a report for an appeal can take 45 minutes or more and is difficult, demanding work. So one can see why they may charge a lot more for the work. In our practice we charge about £70. And importantly, we are being faced by an ever-increasing demand for these reports now that every other claimant is having their benefit cut or removed altogether by ATOS, whose doctors are (allegedly) offered bonuses for every person they can get off the benefits register
So at one level one can almost understand GPs being reluctant to have anything to do with these reports at any price, especially as each time someone's benefits are removed, it means that ATOS has ignored or contradicted the evidence offered by the GP in the first place when they issue a sick note stating that for medical reasons the patient is unable to work. That doesn't feel nice for us, as you can imagine. Add to that the fact that our reports, when they finally reach the appeals process, are often ignored a second time, then you can see why some GPs simply have no wish to go there. Meanwhile of course, the patients are caught in a trap: they're screwed if they don't appeal, and they're often screwed when they do. The fault is with the government who, quite unnecessarily, introduced these benefits cuts in the first place: this one.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
Anybody fancy a holiday in Sharm?
You may not think that question would have many takers, but in fact nearly 50,000 Brits are in Egypt right now, most of them in the Red Sea resorts of Sharm Al Sheik and Hergada. Despite the obvious dangers of being in, well, almost anywhere in the Middle East just at the moment, people are still attracted by the cheap prices and guaranteed sunshine. So far, they have been lucky. But how long will their luck hold out?
It doesn't take some sort of political genius to work out that this perennially troubled region is in deeper shit than at any time since 1967. In Egypt, supporters of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood (what is about that name that immediately strikes fear into the average westerner's heart?) sought to bring him back from the political dead by mounting a second Arab Spring- "Arab Spring 2: this time it's really going to make a difference" and began to set up a protest camp in Cairo. But the military government weren't about to see everything (in their eyes) fall apart again and moved into the camps with an iron fist. You may have seen pictures of the camp after the army had roiled in like the Red Army going through Poland. Everywhere there were piles of shoes lying around, testament to the speed with which the inhabitants fled their tents in panic. Perhaps hundreds were killed. Perhaps that explains why they recently released Moubarak on bail. Remember, he was accused of killing dozens of protesters during the first Arab Spring, and I suppose it would look a bit hypocritical to keep him in jail after the army-led government had just done exactly the same thing.
500 miles to the north, evidence is emerging of the use of poison gas against civilians in the outskirts of Damascus. As so often happens in these situations, both sides are blaming each other for the atrocity, but at least both sides admit that something terrible did happen. What will Obama do? He called the use of neurotoxic agents a "red line" for him, though just what he meant by that is hard to say. Now that the red line has been crossed, will he mount an Iraq-style invasion and set everything to rights as his predecessor did so beautifully just a few years ago? Get real, man. There is no way the Americans are going to embroil themselves in a situation that is far more complex and dangerous than they faced in Iraq, for fear of lighting a fuse under the whole Mid-East region. They'll huff and they'll puff, but they ain't gonna do jack. Assad will go down fighting, but not against foreign troops. And there will be a lot more blood on the streets before that happens.
It doesn't take some sort of political genius to work out that this perennially troubled region is in deeper shit than at any time since 1967. In Egypt, supporters of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood (what is about that name that immediately strikes fear into the average westerner's heart?) sought to bring him back from the political dead by mounting a second Arab Spring- "Arab Spring 2: this time it's really going to make a difference" and began to set up a protest camp in Cairo. But the military government weren't about to see everything (in their eyes) fall apart again and moved into the camps with an iron fist. You may have seen pictures of the camp after the army had roiled in like the Red Army going through Poland. Everywhere there were piles of shoes lying around, testament to the speed with which the inhabitants fled their tents in panic. Perhaps hundreds were killed. Perhaps that explains why they recently released Moubarak on bail. Remember, he was accused of killing dozens of protesters during the first Arab Spring, and I suppose it would look a bit hypocritical to keep him in jail after the army-led government had just done exactly the same thing.
500 miles to the north, evidence is emerging of the use of poison gas against civilians in the outskirts of Damascus. As so often happens in these situations, both sides are blaming each other for the atrocity, but at least both sides admit that something terrible did happen. What will Obama do? He called the use of neurotoxic agents a "red line" for him, though just what he meant by that is hard to say. Now that the red line has been crossed, will he mount an Iraq-style invasion and set everything to rights as his predecessor did so beautifully just a few years ago? Get real, man. There is no way the Americans are going to embroil themselves in a situation that is far more complex and dangerous than they faced in Iraq, for fear of lighting a fuse under the whole Mid-East region. They'll huff and they'll puff, but they ain't gonna do jack. Assad will go down fighting, but not against foreign troops. And there will be a lot more blood on the streets before that happens.
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
An HS 2 far
It isn't very often I find myself in agreement with the leader writers of the Daily Mail and the notable looney tunes politician Nigel Farage, but when it comes to the proposed HS2 project we are, curiously, of one mind.
A vast undertaking, now priced at a cool £80 billion, the net benefit appears to be cutting half an hour off the London to Birmingham journey, and a whole hour to Manchester. This, the government believes, is worth the enormous ecological damage that will result from its building.
I travel by train from time to time, and find that most people manage to occupy their time quite productively, playing games on their mobiles, tapping away on their laptops and otherwise carrying out the business of their day. Personally, I like to read, and occasionally even stare out of the window at the world rushing by. What does it gain us to steal an hour from time when we risk unleashing untold damage on the countryside? Meanwhile the problems of overcrowding and overcharging on the rail network go unaddressed. To me (and here I think we may find my views and those of the Mail and Farage begin to diverge) the problems began in earnest with privatisation and the rush to turn a profit rather than running an effective and efficient system of rail transport.
There are many more important things on which to spend such a huge amount of taxpayer's money; flood defences (call it climate change damage control if you like), developing sustainable energy alternatives (vide supra) being just two that occur to me off the top of my head. But vested interests are far too powerful to stop this ugly juggernaut riding roughshod over the heartland of England. It may already be too late. Or is it? It is time to protest I say, or as a 90 year old lady put it to me during an anti-nuke rally some years ago:
"Don't just say something, stand there!"
A vast undertaking, now priced at a cool £80 billion, the net benefit appears to be cutting half an hour off the London to Birmingham journey, and a whole hour to Manchester. This, the government believes, is worth the enormous ecological damage that will result from its building.
I travel by train from time to time, and find that most people manage to occupy their time quite productively, playing games on their mobiles, tapping away on their laptops and otherwise carrying out the business of their day. Personally, I like to read, and occasionally even stare out of the window at the world rushing by. What does it gain us to steal an hour from time when we risk unleashing untold damage on the countryside? Meanwhile the problems of overcrowding and overcharging on the rail network go unaddressed. To me (and here I think we may find my views and those of the Mail and Farage begin to diverge) the problems began in earnest with privatisation and the rush to turn a profit rather than running an effective and efficient system of rail transport.
There are many more important things on which to spend such a huge amount of taxpayer's money; flood defences (call it climate change damage control if you like), developing sustainable energy alternatives (vide supra) being just two that occur to me off the top of my head. But vested interests are far too powerful to stop this ugly juggernaut riding roughshod over the heartland of England. It may already be too late. Or is it? It is time to protest I say, or as a 90 year old lady put it to me during an anti-nuke rally some years ago:
"Don't just say something, stand there!"
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Reflections in a Norwegian fjord
Fjord. The very name has become a loan word in almost every language in the world. What does the word conjure? An incursion of the sea far inland, enabled by the crushing weight of a trillion tons of ice, pressing and grinding the land into deep canyons in the granite landscape, that granite, hardest of rocks, pushed effortlessly aside by its tremendous weight and momentum. It gouged the classical"U" shaped valleys, the walls towering over a mile above the green waters, which extend down a further mile beneath the olive green ripples on the surface.
Much of Britain's topography is shaped by glaciers, but further to the north the dominion of the ice was even more powerful, creating one of the most extraordinary landscapes on Earth. On Monday, eschewing the narrow-gauge railway which has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in northern Europe, we took to our legs and walked, rather than rode, up into the mountains that tower above the fjord, beside which our hotel is located. A tiny unpaved road, ascending in a steady 8% incline, wound us up the mountain flank via a series of hairpins until, after nearly 12 kilometres, we at last passed the tree line and approached the permanent snow line, 1000 metres above the fjord. And such was the wonder of what we experienced on the walk, we hardly noticed the tiredness that gradually crept up on us as we climbed. The dramatic hanging valleys, the huge waterfalls, which could be heard miles away, the incredible sustain on the echos as the train, far below us, blasted its whistle into the crystalline air. Finally we called a halt and ate our packed lunch amongst a profusion of alpine flowers, even savouring a delightful dessert of wild strawberries and blueberries. An amazing day, even if it took us several days for our aching muscles and joints to recover.
It was a welcome interval of solitude, far away from the throngs of visitors from the far east who have taken over the little town of Flam, outnumbering its European contingent by four to one in the all-too-brief three month summer season. The train will cease to run and the cruise ships no longer pull up to its tiny, but very deep water harbour before the end of August. Is it partly because much of Norway is locked in an icy embrace for eight months out of the year that prices are so high? A cup of coffee can cost £6, a burger and fries (albeit a pretty good burger and fries) as much as 25 quid. Yet it is amazing how quickly one gets used to being fleeced like this; what a relief, though, to return home to more reasonable prices before all ones savings have been drained!
I shall never forget our sojourn in the land of the fjords, but it will be some time before I feel wealthy enough to attempt it again...
Much of Britain's topography is shaped by glaciers, but further to the north the dominion of the ice was even more powerful, creating one of the most extraordinary landscapes on Earth. On Monday, eschewing the narrow-gauge railway which has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in northern Europe, we took to our legs and walked, rather than rode, up into the mountains that tower above the fjord, beside which our hotel is located. A tiny unpaved road, ascending in a steady 8% incline, wound us up the mountain flank via a series of hairpins until, after nearly 12 kilometres, we at last passed the tree line and approached the permanent snow line, 1000 metres above the fjord. And such was the wonder of what we experienced on the walk, we hardly noticed the tiredness that gradually crept up on us as we climbed. The dramatic hanging valleys, the huge waterfalls, which could be heard miles away, the incredible sustain on the echos as the train, far below us, blasted its whistle into the crystalline air. Finally we called a halt and ate our packed lunch amongst a profusion of alpine flowers, even savouring a delightful dessert of wild strawberries and blueberries. An amazing day, even if it took us several days for our aching muscles and joints to recover.
It was a welcome interval of solitude, far away from the throngs of visitors from the far east who have taken over the little town of Flam, outnumbering its European contingent by four to one in the all-too-brief three month summer season. The train will cease to run and the cruise ships no longer pull up to its tiny, but very deep water harbour before the end of August. Is it partly because much of Norway is locked in an icy embrace for eight months out of the year that prices are so high? A cup of coffee can cost £6, a burger and fries (albeit a pretty good burger and fries) as much as 25 quid. Yet it is amazing how quickly one gets used to being fleeced like this; what a relief, though, to return home to more reasonable prices before all ones savings have been drained!
I shall never forget our sojourn in the land of the fjords, but it will be some time before I feel wealthy enough to attempt it again...
Sunday, 11 August 2013
Norway dispatch 2
4 days into our Scandinavian sojourn and the weather has broken. Today I drove 350 km north-west bfrom Oslo to Flam, an extremely expensive and, today, somewhat bedraggled resort on a branch of the Great fjord. And even though it is over 100 km inland, it is nonetheless visited daily by huge cruise ships that journey in with draughts of up to 1000 fathoms.
The drive here has been stunning, climbing up through vast glacial valleys adorned with lace-like waterfalls that plummet from above the clouds. Many tunnels have to be transited, some as long as 5 km, and some are not even lighted, causing panic when I entered one still wearing my sunglasses! On Tuesday we drive to visit an 8th century stave church made entirely of oak and ash- but the journey requires us to negotiate the longest road tunnel in the world- over 24 km. let's hope it is at least properly lighted.
Now we are ensconced in our hotel room (to my dismay, shy of a television) we find ourselves as Caucasians outnumbered by orientals: Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans and Singaporeans in the main, who appear less inhibited by the exhorbitant price of everything that characterises Norway today. Where do Norwegians take their holidays? Somewhere where their krona stretches a little further, I imagine. As for the far-easterners, I wouldn't mind so much, but they seem very cold and never, ever make eye contact. I suppose it's a cultural thing, but now I'm in the minority it feels a bit weird. But this is how the world has changed. There are over a billion people in the Far East with the financial clout to travel the world in style, and they're out there doing it, right now. So wherever you are, there'll be a coach party of Chinese there before you. Get used to it.
The drive here has been stunning, climbing up through vast glacial valleys adorned with lace-like waterfalls that plummet from above the clouds. Many tunnels have to be transited, some as long as 5 km, and some are not even lighted, causing panic when I entered one still wearing my sunglasses! On Tuesday we drive to visit an 8th century stave church made entirely of oak and ash- but the journey requires us to negotiate the longest road tunnel in the world- over 24 km. let's hope it is at least properly lighted.
Now we are ensconced in our hotel room (to my dismay, shy of a television) we find ourselves as Caucasians outnumbered by orientals: Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans and Singaporeans in the main, who appear less inhibited by the exhorbitant price of everything that characterises Norway today. Where do Norwegians take their holidays? Somewhere where their krona stretches a little further, I imagine. As for the far-easterners, I wouldn't mind so much, but they seem very cold and never, ever make eye contact. I suppose it's a cultural thing, but now I'm in the minority it feels a bit weird. But this is how the world has changed. There are over a billion people in the Far East with the financial clout to travel the world in style, and they're out there doing it, right now. So wherever you are, there'll be a coach party of Chinese there before you. Get used to it.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Norwegian dispatch
"I was walking with some friends across a bridge at sunset, and the sky seemed filled with angry red flames. I was seized at that moment by an intense feeling of anxiety and a great, unending scream of nature flowed through me."
The words of Edvard Munch, explaining how his famous "The Scream" came to him. Today in Oslo we have visited the eponymous museum and also the National museum, and basked in the strange, expressionist master's greatest works. Here we can find hundreds of his paintings, a body of work which establishes him among the great artists Europe has produced. Ever.
Yet nearby a genius of almost equal stature has set out his store in a series of over two hundred sculptures of the human form: the famous Vigeland sculpture park. All human life is here, in all its beauty, tenderness and compassion, as well as in its less exalted states of anger and misery. Internationally he is less well known than his illustrious contemporary, but the experience of wandering around the park, especially in the balmy conditions of a Norwegian high summer, was unforgettable.
Today the weather has turned; grey skies oozing a gentle, but continuous rain have replaced the warmth and soaring cumulus clouds of yesterday. Which explains our decision to explore museums rather than pounding the city streets. My wife's iPhone app assures us of more clement conditions on the morrow, and it is rarely wrong. Woo Hoo!
The words of Edvard Munch, explaining how his famous "The Scream" came to him. Today in Oslo we have visited the eponymous museum and also the National museum, and basked in the strange, expressionist master's greatest works. Here we can find hundreds of his paintings, a body of work which establishes him among the great artists Europe has produced. Ever.
Yet nearby a genius of almost equal stature has set out his store in a series of over two hundred sculptures of the human form: the famous Vigeland sculpture park. All human life is here, in all its beauty, tenderness and compassion, as well as in its less exalted states of anger and misery. Internationally he is less well known than his illustrious contemporary, but the experience of wandering around the park, especially in the balmy conditions of a Norwegian high summer, was unforgettable.
Today the weather has turned; grey skies oozing a gentle, but continuous rain have replaced the warmth and soaring cumulus clouds of yesterday. Which explains our decision to explore museums rather than pounding the city streets. My wife's iPhone app assures us of more clement conditions on the morrow, and it is rarely wrong. Woo Hoo!
Friday, 2 August 2013
Talks about talks: don't hold your breath
So a delighted John Kerry has brought the two opposing sides together for "talks" in the U.S. The Israeli and Palestinian spokespeople got together just for an hour or so this week and have gone back to their masters to report back prior to starting the "talks proper" in two weeks time.
We should remain calm, and totally pessimistic about the outcome. In the famous Paris peace talks of 1972 there were months of preamble before they finally got down to the meat of the discussions. According to myth and legend they spent over a week simply debating what shape the table should be.
Behind Tzipi Livni, the Israeli negotiator, who may stand to the left of the ruling Licud party at home, but who would find herself way out on the lunatic fringe of, say, the Tory party, is her boss, Binyamin Netanyahu, and he has made his own position abundantly clear. At a private meeting recently, he accidentally-on-purpose let it slip that he had a number of tricks up his sleeve to derail the peace process, while cunningly making it look like the Palestinians were at fault..
As for them, the diplomatic leaks revealed by Bradley Manning (who, like Mordecai Vanunu, will one day will be seen as a true hero of our time) showed that they were prepared to offer a number of wide-ranging concessions to the Israelis, but that at every turn the Israelis refused to move a single inch from their own position. All of which does not bode well for the ordinary citizen in the West Bank or Gaza. They will continue to be a marginalised people, denied their human rights on racial grounds while the Israelis continue to cite passages from the Bible to justify their policies, which bishop Desmond Tutu has described as "very similar to Apartheid" .
One of the levers used to bring down white rule in South Africa during the 80s was the sporting boycott: South Africans were, and are, sport mad, and the ban hurt them deeply. Economically they were on firmer ground, with both President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher happy to do business with that foul regime. But even so, the apartheid government eventually fell apart, as we can only hope will happen in Israel. However, while the US continues to regard Israel as one of its closest allies, and we consider Israel "our friend" as William Hague put it only last year, then I'd say the Palestinians will continue to be in a world of shit for some considerable time to come.
We should remain calm, and totally pessimistic about the outcome. In the famous Paris peace talks of 1972 there were months of preamble before they finally got down to the meat of the discussions. According to myth and legend they spent over a week simply debating what shape the table should be.
Behind Tzipi Livni, the Israeli negotiator, who may stand to the left of the ruling Licud party at home, but who would find herself way out on the lunatic fringe of, say, the Tory party, is her boss, Binyamin Netanyahu, and he has made his own position abundantly clear. At a private meeting recently, he accidentally-on-purpose let it slip that he had a number of tricks up his sleeve to derail the peace process, while cunningly making it look like the Palestinians were at fault..
As for them, the diplomatic leaks revealed by Bradley Manning (who, like Mordecai Vanunu, will one day will be seen as a true hero of our time) showed that they were prepared to offer a number of wide-ranging concessions to the Israelis, but that at every turn the Israelis refused to move a single inch from their own position. All of which does not bode well for the ordinary citizen in the West Bank or Gaza. They will continue to be a marginalised people, denied their human rights on racial grounds while the Israelis continue to cite passages from the Bible to justify their policies, which bishop Desmond Tutu has described as "very similar to Apartheid" .
One of the levers used to bring down white rule in South Africa during the 80s was the sporting boycott: South Africans were, and are, sport mad, and the ban hurt them deeply. Economically they were on firmer ground, with both President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher happy to do business with that foul regime. But even so, the apartheid government eventually fell apart, as we can only hope will happen in Israel. However, while the US continues to regard Israel as one of its closest allies, and we consider Israel "our friend" as William Hague put it only last year, then I'd say the Palestinians will continue to be in a world of shit for some considerable time to come.
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