UK British News Megathread - aka CWCissey's news thread

https://news.sky.com/story/row-over-new-greggs-vegan-sausage-rolls-heats-up-11597679 (https://archive.ph/5Ba6o)

A heated row has broken out over a move by Britain's largest bakery chain to launch a vegan sausage roll.

The pastry, which is filled with a meat substitute and encased in 96 pastry layers, is available in 950 Greggs stores across the country.

It was promised after 20,000 people signed a petition calling for the snack to be launched to accommodate plant-based diet eaters.


But the vegan sausage roll's launch has been greeted by a mixed reaction: Some consumers welcomed it, while others voiced their objections.

View image on Twitter


spread happiness@p4leandp1nk
https://twitter.com/p4leandp1nk/status/1080767496569974785

#VEGANsausageroll thanks Greggs

7
10:07 AM - Jan 3, 2019
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Cook and food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe declared she was "frantically googling to see what time my nearest opens tomorrow morning because I will be outside".

While TV writer Brydie Lee-Kennedy called herself "very pro the Greggs vegan sausage roll because anything that wrenches veganism back from the 'clean eating' wellness folk is a good thing".

One Twitter user wrote that finding vegan sausage rolls missing from a store in Corby had "ruined my morning".

Another said: "My son is allergic to dairy products which means I can't really go to Greggs when he's with me. Now I can. Thank you vegans."

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pg often@pgofton
https://twitter.com/pgofton/status/1080772793774624768

The hype got me like #Greggs #Veganuary

42
10:28 AM - Jan 3, 2019
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TV presenter Piers Morgan led the charge of those outraged by the new roll.

"Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns," he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Morgan later complained at receiving "howling abuse from vegans", adding: "I get it, you're all hangry. I would be too if I only ate plants and gruel."

Another Twitter user said: "I really struggle to believe that 20,000 vegans are that desperate to eat in a Greggs."

"You don't paint a mustach (sic) on the Mona Lisa and you don't mess with the perfect sausage roll," one quipped.

Journalist Nooruddean Choudry suggested Greggs introduce a halal steak bake to "crank the fume levels right up to 11".

The bakery chain told concerned customers that "change is good" and that there would "always be a classic sausage roll".

It comes on the same day McDonald's launched its first vegetarian "Happy Meal", designed for children.

The new dish comes with a "veggie wrap", instead of the usual chicken or beef option.

It should be noted that Piers Morgan and Greggs share the same PR firm, so I'm thinking this is some serious faux outrage and South Park KKK gambiting here.

 

[PunkinMan]

Hello Brits, I wanted to come to this thread to ask if I'm in the right place to ask if brits politics and Canada's politics have any overlap as of recently of this year, I could just be autistic so don't be mean ok chips aren't fries, Margaret thatcher is a bitch, etc.

 

[Otterly]

His leadership will likely not last longer than 12 months afterwards.

I dont think it will matter - whether they oust several PMs in a row or not, NOBODY in power is committed to making anything better at all.

 

[Rusty Metal Skull Gun]

I don't remember him campaigning to reform (read: gut and sell off) the NHS.

This was one of the few things that they did campaign on (sort of). It's known that Wes Streeting plans some sort of NHS reform.

But a large part of his userbase will dribble the "buh 350 million nhs brexit bus", while the service is turned into an American stlye private system.

Lol, why does everybody always assume that the only choice is between "our NHS" and "devil take the hindmost"? If they do reform the NHS, which I doubt because of all the vested interests, it'd be more likely to be something like the Continent, or Australia, or Canada.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

This was one of the few things that they did campaign on (sort of). It's known that Wes Streeting plans some sort of NHS reform.

Exactly. Sort of. Reform to most means "they will make it better for us", the reality of this government is "they will make it better for them". Labour didn't commit to specifics for a reason.

Lol, why does everybody always assume that the only choice is between "our NHS" and "devil take the hindmost"?

Because there's nothing new under the sun.

 

[Otterly]

Lol, why does everybody always assume that the only choice is between "our NHS" and "devil take the hindmost"?

Because the entirety of the post 1965 political push has been to put policies in place that make things worse for us all.
There isn’t going to be a nice Swiss or German style system with minor copays and clean efficient private providers making things efficient and safe. It will be dismantled and sold off and everything will continue to get worse.

 

[Coolio55]

I just want someone to clarify what they mean when they describe "The NHS becoming private" because no way in hell will they ever stop the mandatory tax payments to it.
That's its secret sauce. It doesn't have to compete because you are legally required to pay for it.

 

[SirCliveSinclairdabbing]

I just want someone to clarify what they mean when they describe "The NHS becoming private" because no way in hell will they ever stop the mandatory tax payments to it.
That's its secret sauce. It doesn't have to compete because you are legally required to pay for it.

As in yes you can queue but all the family and friends of NHS staff get to go in front of you in that queue and if you ever want to be seen you have to pay for this private scheme we just setup.

 

["Not" Count Dankula]

I just want someone to clarify what they mean when they describe "The NHS becoming private" because no way in hell will they ever stop the mandatory tax payments to it.
That's its secret sauce. It doesn't have to compete because you are legally required to pay for it.

My retarded little understanding was that it would be chunked up and sold off in those chunks in much the same way that the USSR infrastructure was in the 90's, so major pharma and medical companies will buy out their facilities/infra/services and maybe receive a stipend from the govt to carry out the duties of their NHS equivalents for a few years

You guys seem vaguely more balanced than /pol/, so could you please explain why we couldn't try a less universalised version of the NHS' "free" service? Meaning

* If you have a net wealth of >£1m and use NHS services, you are liable for the full costs up to a maximum of 2% of your personal wealth per year
* If you use the NHS as a non-citizen, you are liable for 50% of the cost of your non-essential treatment (meaning anything non-life threatening or related to serious injuries), and this will be taken from your wages as a second layer of national insurance
* Make private healthcare contributions count against taxable income, to encourage other options

I dunno, lads, just spitballing really and those percentages are definitely up for debate, but if we could reduce the pressure from boomers, healthcare migrants and rich people who can just use BUPA, we could probably save the thing

 

[Overdrive]

Having had to depend on the NHS a lot the last few years and comparing it to some other country's health services I've used during the same time, I don't think there's much worth saving. It needs a complete rethink from the ground up.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

A private NHS would still look and operate like the NHS, still paid for by the tax payers, except there would be a Gold-Tier service, where you get quicker access and better treatment, with the money going to private contractors.

Think of it like 1st class on a train, fast-pass at Alton Towers or VIP lounges at the airport. You still get to travel on the train, ride the rides and wait for the plane like the rest do, but you pay a little bit more to have a better, more comfortable experience.

 

["Not" Count Dankula]

A private NHS would still look and operate like the NHS, still paid for by the tax payers, except there would be a Gold-Tier service, where you get quicker access and better treatment, with the money going to private contractors.

Think of it like 1st class on a train, fast-pass at Alton Towers or VIP lounges at the airport. You still get to travel on the train, ride the rides and wait for the plane like the rest do, but you pay a little bit more to have a better, more comfortable experience.

You'll still die at the end of it with a nurse twerking over your deathbed, but if you subscribe to RNHS-Goldstein, she'll be white!

 

[teriyakiburns]

This was one of the few things that they did campaign on (sort of). It's known that Wes Streeting plans some sort of NHS reform.

Streeting appears to be in the gender crit bloc and has said he wants to make the puberty blocker ban permanent, among other such things, so I'd be willing to hear his proposals.

 

[Otterly]

The nhs does need reform. It’s a mess. Other countries manage a public private partnership deal OK, but what they mean by privatising it isn’t a scandi style ‘this private company provides a high quality walk in minor injuries unit’ they mean a two tier service and flogging off bits to make a profit. Dentistry for example - nhs dentists are like gold dust, and most of us have to pay for dental care, which is pretty expensive. Can’t pay? Well you may or may not get treatment at all.

 

[JPG]

* If you have a net wealth of >£1m and use NHS services, you are liable for the full costs up to a maximum of 2% of your personal wealth per year

You think people with a net wealth of over £1million are "rich people"?

If you live anywhere close to London, that's a very standard house price.

Charging those people £20k/year to use the NHS is insane. Especially because at this level of wealth they're often the PAYE pigs who are already getting raped on tax.

Actual rich people won't use the NHS aside from A&E emergency.

* If you use the NHS as a non-citizen, you are liable for 50% of the cost of your non-essential treatment (meaning anything non-life threatening or related to serious injuries), and this will be taken from your wages as a second layer of national insurance

Problem is we have so many foreigners in the country who don't earn proper money, if at all. So they'd still get free treatment.
The fix is to stop importing unproductive stabby people into the country, so they don't have access to the NHS.

* Make private healthcare contributions count against taxable income, to encourage other options

Fully onboard with that.

 

[Inquisitor_BadAss]

And thus concluding what Blair started.

Though they'll dress it up differently.

The moment they start charging for healthcare it will make the summer riots look like a practice run.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

The moment they start charging for healthcare it will make the summer riots look like a practice run.

Who would dare to riot if a police dog bite or stray bottle would leave you bankrupt?

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

I wanted to come to this thread to ask if I'm in the right place to ask if brits politics and Canada's politics have any overlap as of recently of this year

There will be some overlap. the most noticeable ones I've noticed recently was people who gathered to boo Trudy when he visited after crushing the Trucker's protest and Canada's shitshow of MAID being brought up any time it's thought about here.

There will be others but I don't follow it as closely. Canada, much like Sweden, is kind of falling out of favour as a country to point to and say "why aren't we more like them" because of how hard those policies are failing those countries.

News time

"Fuck the Jews" says NHS followed by rapid backtracking

https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/nhs-apologises-after-official-memo-tells-staff-not-to-attend-inappropriate-antisemitism-training-xsy9714u#

Yet another antisemitism scandal engulfed the NHS this week when staff were told “not to attend” an official antisemitism training session that was deemed “inappropriate” by some employees.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust sent an “important notice” to staff in its weekly bulletin warning them against a virtual training session led by the Antisemitism Policy Trust (APT).

The memo sent by email on Monday said: “We have become aware of concerns regarding the antisemitism training that was recently advertised to staff. We have determined that this training and its content may be inappropriate.

“We advise all staff members not to attend this training.”

The warning followed a handful of complaints about APT made via the Black Minority Ethnic (BAME) network.

The chief executive of the trust, Claire Murdoch, apologised for the email, which she said was sent in error.

Interrupting her holiday to telephone the head of APT, Danny Stone, Murdoch apologised for "poor process and error on our part”.

In an email seen by the JC, Murdoch told all staff at the trust: “I want to apologise for the communication which did not go through our usual sign off processes. I have asked that colleagues look into how such a message was communicated in error and we will get to the bottom of it.”

She said staff were “still encouraged” to attend the NHS-sponsored APT training, which is available to all staff in the NHS and went ahead as planned on Thursday morning.

Murdoch added that staff were also encouraged to attend an Islamophobia training session later this month.

The chief executive of the trust, Claire Murdoch, apologised for the email, which she explained as 'poor process and error on our part.' (Photo: NHS)
The chief executive said that the “concerns” about APT came from “some individuals and via the BAME network” and told colleagues that these concerns “will be properly investigated”.

She added, APT “is an experienced provider of training to the NHS and there is no cause to pause the training while the investigation is ongoing”. She said that Stone has “graciously accepted my apology and has emphasised his personal commitment to look at any complaint with due seriousness and understanding.”


The APT has run the 90-minute training session for NHS England twice before and has not been aware of any such warning sent to staff before the memo on Monday.

Presented via an online webinar, APT has also delivered the session to the UK’s main political parties, as well as the BBC, the Royal Court Theatre and numerous other large corporations.

During the training, APT aim to educate people about the “modern manifestations” of antisemitism, which includes discussion around the situation in Israel and Gaza and anti-Zionism.

An APT spokesperson said “We are pleased that the Trust has now endorsed our training and encouraged its members to attend, and we were grateful for the apology we received.

“We are proud to have run educational events for organisations large and small, across different sectors and to have received consistently positive feedback… As anti-Jewish racism continues to rise, it is vital that people have the tools to identify and challenge it.”

In a statement, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust said: “A message in our staff bulletin was sent out across the organisation on Monday 2 September concerning Antisemitism training which is sponsored by NHS England and provided by the Antisemitism Policy Trust. The Trust apologises for this communication which was sent in error and did not go through our usual sign off processes”.

“We will be working with our BAME network and colleagues to ensure that our training and awareness offers on antisemitism, islamophobia and all kinds of racial, cultural and religious intolerance, is of a high quality across the organisation to help maintain the highest possible quality of patient care in our communities”.

Police in Scotland know a career ending investigation when they see it so are trying to get the prosecutors to tell them to do their jobs so they have an excuse

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2ejw4vlj5o

Detectives investigating Nicola Sturgeon over the SNP's finances have asked prosecutors for directions on the next steps in their inquiry.
The update is understood to be about the former first minister and ex-SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, who have remained under investigation after being arrested and released without charge last year.
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, Ms Sturgeon's husband, was charged with embezzling party funds in April.
Police have sent prosecutors details of what they have uncovered in an "advice and guidance report" on Operation Branchform and are seeking formal advice on what they should do next.

Peter Murrell, who is married to Nicola Sturgeon, was chief excecutive of the SNP
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "On 9 August, we presented the findings of the investigation so far to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and we await their direction on what further action should be taken."
The Crown Office said the police report is under consideration.
A month after Mr Murrell was charged, Branchform detectives sent a standard prosecution report to the Crown Office concerning incidents said to have taken place between 2016 and 2023.
Senior Crown Office lawyers are considering whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Murrell and whether it would be in the public interest to do so.
Ms Sturgeon has denied that her decision to resign as first minister and SNP leader in March last year was influenced by the police investigation.
She said she would fully co-operate with the inquiry and has done nothing wrong.

BMA sicken everyone by continuing to whine about the Cass review. However it lets the Guardian allow one of the in-house TERFs out.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/07/bma-stance-on-cass-review-of-transgender-care-has-damaged-its-reputation

The British Medical Association has threatened the reputation of all UK doctors by rejecting the findings of the landmark Cass review of transgender healthcare, a leading member of the BMA has told the Observer.

Dr Jacky Davis claims that the doctors’ union’s stance on the Cass review is “irrational”, has created a “fracture” between its leadership and the grassroots doctors it represents and left the medical profession “in an uproar”.


The BMA refused to endorse the findings of Dr Hilary Cass, whose review was published in April and was widely welcomed. It claimed the review contained “unsubstantiated recommendations” and its council called on members to “publicly critique” it. Last month, the BMA also called for the ban on prescribing puberty blockers for under-18s to be lifted.

The BMA is the only medical organisation in Britain to not accept and to find fault with Cass’s findings, which were accepted by the last government and its Labour successor. It has said that it wants to carry out its own evaluation.

Doctors on the BMA’s ruling council who have dared to challenge its criticism of the Cass review have been subject to “abuse” and its decision-making body is now shrouded in “a climate of fear and intimidation”, Davis claims.

Writing in the Observer, Davis, who has been a member of the association’s council for 18 years, says: “The BMA now finds itself isolated in its opposition to Cass, and with its reputation and integrity damaged.”

Other council members, talking on condition of anonymity, have shared similar concerns about the organisation’s standing, and the potential harm it could suffer over its internal strife on trans issues.

The “toxic atmosphere” around BMA council debates has left some of its 69 members fearful of speaking up to share their views on the issue, Davis says. Its refusal to endorse Cass’s findings means the reputation of the entire medical profession is now “threatened”, she adds.

The BMA’s position, decided at a council meeting on 17 July, has led to around 1,500 doctors, including former heads of medical royal colleges, signing a letter of protest and some longstanding members resigning.

The union has adopted its position on Cass because a campaign group called DoctorsVote, which has led the junior doctors’ pay strikes, has used political “entryism” to gain a significant influence over the BMA and dictate its policy, Davis alleges.

Davis, an NHS consultant radiologist, challenges the union’s leadership to “embrace democracy” and put its stance to a consultation of its estimated 185,000 members. “If it fails to do this, one would be forced to conclude that it is afraid of the views of its wider membership,” she writes.

She also claims in her piece that those driving the union’s “anti-Cass” policy “are sincere in their beliefs [but] have no hard evidence for their opposition”, and that the union is in danger of undergoing what one critic describes as “descent into madness”.

(follow up to above since I know the Farms loves infighting)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/29/witch-hunt-bma-tries-to-identify-who-leaked-planned-opposition-to-cass-review

The British Medical Association (BMA) has been accused of undertaking a “witch-hunt” to try to identify which senior figure leaked that it was set to oppose the landmark Cass review on transgender healthcare.

It has warned its ruling council’s 69 members that whoever tipped off the media about its stance should own up or face their non-cooperation being seen as “an act of dishonesty”. Critics said its action is “disgraceful”, “Orwellian” and “witch-hunt-like”.


The BMA has been heavily criticised by key medical figures since it voted on 17 July to in effect reject Dr Hilary Cass’s report. It is the only medical organisation in the UK to not accept and find fault with her findings, which were accepted by the last government and its Labour successor.

The union has been in turmoil ever since. Its dismissal of the report as “unsubstantiated” has led to a serious split, resignations and huge tension within the body that represents about 195,000 doctors – a large majority of the UK medical profession.

The New Statesman revealed on 16 July that the BMA’s council was going to discuss a motion recommending that the union “disavow” the Cass review when it met the next day. That disclosure led to the motion being reworded, with the new version no longer using the word “disavow” and instead committing the BMA to “publicly critique” the findings.

Rachel Podolak, the union’s joint chief executive, has added to what some leading BMA figures have said is “a climate of fear” within it over the “toxic” subject of Cass by telling council members that an investigation into the leak had been launched and that the culprit should reveal themselves.

In a message posted on the council’s message board the day after the motion was passed, Podolak scolded whoever had leaked details of the two Cass-related motions and made clear that, because the confidentiality of council proceedings had been breached, “we are investigating further”.

She asked anyone who had shared information about the move to dissociate the BMA from the Cass report to contact her so that she could decide what purposes that had been done for.

Then, in language which some council members found threatening, she added: “Legal advice received confirms that failure to admit breach of confidentiality may be regarded as a denial, which in turn could be viewed as an act of dishonesty if/when responsibility is established.”

Dr Clare Gerada, an ex-BMA council member and ex-chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “I think the BMA are blaming the messenger, not themselves.” She questioned why it had adopted such a controversial position on such a sensitive subject without asking members for their views first. She is among an array of leading doctors who have signed a letter voicing serious concern at the BMA’s stance.

The BMA defended its actions. A spokesperson said: “The BMA treats very seriously any breaches of confidentiality, especially so where they include a breach of personal data.

“Leaking confidential information as well as that which contains personal data and then failing to declare it when asked, is likely to be a serious breach of our conduct and governance rules.

“In addition, the law contains restrictions on processing personal data and on disclosing confidential information which must be respected.”

It has set up a “task and finish” group to examine and “produce a critique” of Cass’s research and conclusions, which took four years to collate, including a focus on claimed “weaknesses in the methodologies used”.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which brings together doctors’ professional bodies, has criticised the BMA’s refusal to accept “the validity of the evidence and consequently the findings of the independent Cass review of gender identity services for children and young people.

“Our view is that further speculative work risks greater polarisation on this matter, which is not helpful.”

The BMA has also been criticised for decrying the government’s ban on puberty blockers. Cass warned that the drugs were not based on sound medical evidence and could cause harm.

Green Party member says there isn't a trans genocide. Calls to lynch her commence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c624em4d1r1o

The Green Party of England and Wales has suspended its health spokesperson on the eve its largest-ever conference for calling reports of rising LGBT+ hate crimes "mischievous".
At a general election hustings in June, Pallavi Devulapalli said she had "yet to meet anyone" who denied a person’s right to "dress" and "be addressed as they please".
Ms Devulapalli told the BBC "there is no trans-hate in society in general".
According to government data, there has been an 11% increase in reported hate crimes against trans people in the year 2022-23.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68250071
The Greens suspended Ms Devulapalli two days before the party's conference got under way in Manchester on Friday.
The party has not given any explanation. A spokesperson said it "does not comment on individual disciplinary cases".
But the BBC has obtained party documents showing Ms Devulapalli was placed on an emergency suspension pending a code of conduct investigation.
Ms Devulapalli ran as the Green Party candidate in South West Norfolk.
Speaking at a hustings event hosted by Friends of the Earth during the campaign, she was asked to respond to reports on rising LGBT+ hate crime, as well as her opinion on single-sex spaces and where the Green party stood on that issue.
She told the meeting: "I’ve yet to meet anyone that actually says somebody should not have the right to be addressed as they please, and to dress as they please.
"I really think there is something mischievous in the air - to make those out to be an issue."
She went on to say: "The confusion arises when people start conflating sex with gender."
"Biology is a real thing - it is not a belief" she said, calling for the government to adopt the Cass Review recommendations, external on gender care in full.
Government data shows 4,732 hate crimes against trans people were recorded in 2022-23, up from 4,262 the previous year. Hate crimes against gay, lesbian and bisexual people have fallen 6% over the same period to 25,639.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Devulapalli claimed her comments reflected her thoughts that hate crime against LGBT+ people was "being politicised" and "most people weren’t aware of the issue".
She said she condemned anti-LGBT+ hate crimes, and claimed her suspension was part of a broader Green Party effort to "silence" dissent.
Cade Hatton, co-chair of the LGBTQIA+ Greens group, said Ms Devulapalli's comments at the hustings were "just the most recent thing in a long list of things that have made people uncomfortable".
Mr Hatton said he believed Ms Devulapalli was trying to have a debate about trans rights but had "not gone about it in the right way".
He added that Ms Devulapalli's suspension was an example of the Green Party's disciplinary system "working a little more efficiently".
The party's rights and responsibilities policy states "trans men are men, trans women are women, and that non-binary identities exist and are valid".
The party also supports making it easier for trans people to change their legal status without the need for a Gender Reassignment Certificate (GRC).
But there remains some tension within the membership.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay has not specifically commented on Ms Devulapalli said free speech was "a fundamental cornerstone of democracy in the UK and of all political parties".
He has also denied people with gender critical beliefs, which include those who believe that people cannot change sex, were banned from expressing their views at the Green Party conference.
Last week, the Green Party launched a review of its disciplinary processes to ensure they align with the law.

 

[Otterly]

One of the quickest wins to sort even one issue out with the NHS would be minor injuries units. There’s a big bottleneck at both GPs and an and e - say you trip and hit your wrist and you’re not sure if it’s broken. It’s not life threatening but it’s painful. Other countries have walk in minor Injury units. The ER is too acute, your GP doesn’t have space for two weeks.
We do have minor injury units but not enough. They should be everywhere and if that’s private then fuck it - do what other euro countries do and have a 30 quid company to see someone and make them otherwise government funded but privately run.
So much gets bottlenecked at ER. If you go to your GP or call 111 with certain symptoms you just get sent to ER and sit there for hours. Loads of elderly end up there. It’s a focal point for triaging people elsewhere and that would be fine if it had the capacity but it doesn’t. More minor injuries/low grade urgent care and walk in would take a massive strain off. Better social care would too. The elderly are bed blocking a lot becasue there’s nowhere to discharge them. We used to have cottage hospitals, most closed now.
The few times I’ve been in the ER I’m struck by how inefficient it is. Triage obviously but there’s a point where maybe you should have diffeeent streams and be knocking out the quick easy wins fast. a lot of people there could be out fast with something very quick.
And foreigners need to pay 100%. If I got injured in America I’d have to pay. Zero free treatment on the nhs for non citizens. Buy insurance on entry.

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

One of the quickest wins to sort even one issue out with the NHS would be minor injuries units. There’s a big bottleneck at both GPs and an and e - say you trip and hit your wrist and you’re not sure if it’s broken. It’s not life threatening but it’s painful. Other countries have walk in minor Injury units. The ER is too acute, your GP doesn’t have space for two weeks.
We do have minor injury units but not enough. They should be everywhere and if that’s private then fuck it - do what other euro countries do and have a 30 quid company to see someone and make them otherwise government funded but privately run.
So much gets bottlenecked at ER. If you go to your GP or call 111 with certain symptoms you just get sent to ER and sit there for hours. Loads of elderly end up there. It’s a focal point for triaging people elsewhere and that would be fine if it had the capacity but it doesn’t. More minor injuries/low grade urgent care and walk in would take a massive strain off. Better social care would too. The elderly are bed blocking a lot becasue there’s nowhere to discharge them. We used to have cottage hospitals, most closed now.
The few times I’ve been in the ER I’m struck by how inefficient it is. Triage obviously but there’s a point where maybe you should have diffeeent streams and be knocking out the quick easy wins fast. a lot of people there could be out fast with something very quick.
And foreigners need to pay 100%. If I got injured in America I’d have to pay. Zero free treatment on the nhs for non citizens. Buy insurance on entry.

I remember when walk-in centres were just that, you could just walk in and wait a bit to be seen for less urgent stuff than A&E, but more urgent than a GP appointment in a weeks time. There was even one near where I lived, went a few times in the past.
Then overtime it became appointment only, then not even that, I'm not sure what it is now, but I never see many people going in anymore.
Was in A&E myself a few weeks back, waited for around 9 hours before I got seen properly. Also had to get a lift there off family, as 999 told me an ambulance would take up to 5 hours (I was having squeezing tight chest pain and shortness of breath, but I guess that's not urgent enough). I'm okay-ish now, but never again, staying at home would have been less of a time waste, as by the time they saw me, everything had calmed down, so they dismissed me.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

University cancels Anglo-Saxon ‘to decolonise’ the curriculum
Craig Simpson 31 August 2024 • 4:02pm

Anglo-Saxon king and warriors
The term Anglo-Saxon is being replaced by Early Medieval English Credit: PRISMA ARCHIVO/Alamy
The term Anglo-Saxon has been removed from a University’s module titles to tackle “nationalist narratives”.

Spoiler: article text

The University of Nottingham offers leading courses in Anglo-Saxon history and literature and is the only university in the country to offer a Viking Studies course.

But in a move to “decolonise the curriculum”, professors have renamed a masters course in Viking and Anglo-Saxon Studies as Viking and Early Medieval English Studies.

A module within the programme titled “Research Methods in Viking and Anglo-Saxon Studies” has also had the “Anglo-Saxon” term removed in favour of “Early Medieval English”.

It follows a similar move in the United States, where academics in particular have campaigned against the term “Anglo-Saxon” because it suggests a distinct, native Englishness.

The terminology of “Early mediaeval England” is the preferred replacement for “Anglo-Saxon” by academics concerned that the latter has become a phrase used by racists surrounding white identity.

These have largely been based in the US, where the term has been used to describe those descended from white early settlers.

The university has also said it is seeking to “problematize the term ‘Viking’” in its tuition.

Nottingham University campus
Nottingham is the only university in the country to offer a Vikings studies course
An English literature module “A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great” was also renamed “Early mediaeval England from Bede to Alfred the Great”.

It comes amid concerns over the connections of “race, empire, Nazism” to Norse culture and mythology.

The Nazis made use of Norse runic figures in their iconography, including the stylised “S” figures of the SS.

The move follows a pledge made in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests to decolonise the curriculum, a term denoting a move away from Western-centred material and the dominance of “white voices” in academia.

Teaching staff at Nottingham also ensure that module content aims at “undercutting nationalist narratives” and “essentialist ideas” about nationality, meaning the belief that English identity is distinct and confers fundamental characteristics.

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In 2023, it was revealed that the University of Cambridge, home to a leading Anglo-Saxon department, was teaching students that Anglo-Saxons did not exist as a distinct ethnic group as part of efforts to undermine “myths of nationalism”.

As part of efforts to make teaching more “anti-racist”, courses aimed to explain that the Anglo-Saxons, Scottish, Irish and Welsh ethnic identities were not “coherent”.

In 2024, Cambridge University Press’s long-running academic publication, Anglo-Saxon England journal, was renamed amid the ongoing debate about the nationalist overtones of Dark Age ethnonyms

The press said the new name would better reflect “international, interdisciplinary and rapidly evolving nature of research in this field”.

Viking warriors storming ashore
Population changes associated with Viking invasions mean 'Anglo-Saxon' is an inaccurate term for the period, some academics argue Credit: Lorado
The term “Anglo-Saxon” typically refers to a cultural group which emerged and flourished between the fall of Roman Britain, and the Norman conquest, when Germanic peoples – Angles, Saxons, and Jutes – arrived and forged new kingdoms in what would later become a united England. This was also the period of Old English epics such as Beowulf.

However, in 2019, the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists voted to change its name to the International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England, “in recognition of the problematic connotations that are widely associated with the terms “Anglo-Saxon”.

This was triggered by the resignation from the society of the Canadian academic Dr Mary Rambaran-Olm, who has since written that the field of Anglo-Saxon studies is one of “inherent whiteness”.

While some have argued that a single term like “Anglo-Saxon” is inaccurate as the Dark Ages were a period of population change, including the Viking invasions, others maintain that the term remains useful historically and archaeologically.

A statement signed by more than 70 academics in 2020 argued that the furore over the term “Anglo-Saxon” was an American import, with an open letter stating: “The conditions in which the term is encountered, and how it is perceived, are very different in the USA from elsewhere.”

Source : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20.../?ICID=continue_without_subscribing_reg_first

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