S35_2o21

My OH had a lease care through work for a few years. The lease firm were a national company, I can't remember the name of them now. Whenever he needed a new tyre or some other small part (wiper blade etc.), the firm the lease care company used was Kwik Fit. It's a national chain, and presumably it was a big contract for Kwik Fit so I felt he would get a decent job done. For the service, he could choose where to book it. I always made sure he went to a dealer so he would get the proper service. He was doing 30-40k miles per year so I felt the car needed that. I wouldn't go to a kwik fit, I would always use a local independent.

It isn't only about the funding that the NHS receives. What has been the volume of service delivered in that period? What has the impact inflation had over that time? What is the proportion spent on what kind of treatments. How has the waiting list for procuedures changed in that time. The NHS is demand led, so, as the money has to stretch further, some people accessing it will receive less. I spoke to a good friend a month ago. She had a bad cold & was coughing. About 10 days after I saw her, she went to NGH A&E with chest pains and was sent away with Tamiflu. A day later she went back to A&E, and was admitted. She has been on a High dependency ward for 10 days now, and has pneumonia and pleurisy. She could have very easily died and will take weeks to recover. If she'd been prescribed Tamiflu when I saw her, this might have been prevented. I hope your wife recovers soon. I fear the ambulance driver is correct. It must be so frustrating for NHS staff.

Unless we have a drastic change, in government, or in the current NHS & social care model, I fear that we will have a managed decline situation. In some respects, this would be far far worse than a change to a paid for model.

How is a review of an album promoting violence? Or is it introducing an album to a wider audience who might appreciate it? When The Guardian reviewed the latest James Bond film, was that 'promoting 'violence? Or when it reviewed the Beyonce album, what was that 'promoting'? Grime/Drill music is not to my taste, so I choose not to listen to it. Neither is classical music. However, I do believe in free speech. Is it only right wing media that is allowed to tell us what to think??

I think the underfunding of the Police, is the responsibility of the Government. What can SCC do to prevent crime exactly? SCC is struggling to balance it's books and fund social care.

Having to try and sort this out could be seen as really daunting. It's difficult for people to get their heads around. Contacting solicitors isn't a common occurence in most people's lives. My OH has just been through a similar process with his siblings for their Mum and Dad.

When I split with my former partner, I remortgaged and removed him from the deeds. We had to get his signature verified on the LR1 form. We went to Taylor Emmet in town who charged us a fiver to witness and verify.

Age UK might be able to give him some advice.

Can we have the source please?

We went to town on Sunday, didn't make it to the Moor though. The containers on Fargate look okay, plenty of people were around & enjoying themselves. Division Street was busy with shoppers and people in the pubs. Hopefully the market stalls will be popular enough to want to return next year. It's different Christmas experience than the bland mall shopping offer at Meadowhell.

We give both our cats Dreamies very sparingly. A few years ago, we were getting help from our vets because my older cat needed to lose about 1.5 kilos. The nurse who was helping us, wasn't very impressed with Dreamies in terms of the quality of the ingredients. Since then, we barely use them.

16? I don't know. The principle of the age of consent is established in UK law. Lawyers- that's what the Guardian report is about, isn't it? The start of her case. The Home Office will have their opportunity & no doubt that will be reported in the Guardian as well.

The conspiracy theorist head on my shoulders thinks that the Home office knows that there is insufficient evidence against her for a trial.

All I can add is, that at 15, I wasn't capable of weighing up the consequences of my decisions. My parents made most of my significant decisions for me, and I came to no harm. I believe the contact from ISIS began when she was 13. Luckily I didn't have terrorists trying to persuade me to make a perilous journey to join what essentially is a death cult. I assume that the men operating ISIS mainly wanted her for sex. In the UK, the age of consent for girls is 16. If she is guilty of a crime, she should be allowed to return to the UK, and stand trial in a court. I think we need to consider the whole narrative around teenagers and children, and how much harm can be done to them. Why do we accept that the girls in Rotherham and Rochdale were groomed, but that this girl wasn't?

I'm quite looking forward to being the rude old woman, surprising everyone in the shop with bad language. I agree, older people should carry on being angry. It is positive that your community is looking out for you and your neighbours. It's good to know that happens.

To make any sense of this, the budgets over a number of years would need to be analysed and compared with actual expenditure. Social Care is demand led- the more people who are assessed to have statutory care needs, the money has to be found to meet these needs. So budgets have to be cut elsewhere.

I know. There was a debate on Jeremy Vine at lunchtime R2 about potholes. Council tax payers (who presumably don't receive funded social care) are already unhappy about the services they receive. Libraries are such as visible presence in the community and without them, it would seem as though Council's don't contribute much at all.. This is my worry. If the Labour party does get in, there has been such an erosion of public services, it's going to take years to put it all back together. This Tory government are so ideologically driven.

Enforcement of planning requirements must be a bit of a nightmare. There might be backlogs in the courts system as well.

That old 'public sector bad, private sector good' chestnut. Sigh. Start a new thread for that one! The County Council Network is pushing for a reduction in statutory services that Council's are obliged to provide. I can see why but it's a slippery slope.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-59249020- this is what Thurrock Council had to do. Basically sell off as many assets as possible, and services are cut to the bone. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/14/two-tory-run-councils-warns-pm-of-possible-bankruptcy- County Councils are urging the Government to reduce the services which Council's are staturily obliged to provide, such as libraries and transport.

The reality is that the Home Office will enter in to contracts with hotels for use as family accommodation, without consulting the Local Authority. We recently had the case of the 5 year old falling out of a hotel window in Sheffield (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/25/afghan-boy-5-fell-sheffield-hotel-car-park-roof-inquest-told) . This approach places the Local Authority in a difficult position of having to deal with any issues, along with the Police and other statutory agencies. Also as Tory backbenchers revolt against hotels being used in their area (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/02/tory-mps-councils-resist-home-office-plans-asylum-seekers-hotels), for political expediency, non-Tory areas will no doubt be used for accommodating refugees/economic migrants. The Home Office has a contract for sourcing accommodation for people in this situation. I'm guessing that a lack of affordable housing is driving this use of hotels and the overcrowding at Manston (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/03/manston-asylum-centre-not-operating-legally-concedes-minister) Underlying all of this is a lack of investment in the public sector, and issues with France caused by Brexit. Also, surely, our economy is in desperate need of people for jobs- why can't the skilled migrants be acknowledged as economic migrants and go to find work in our economy.

Has this been reported somewhere? I didn't think a decision had been made yet.

Children whose parents lack warmth more likely to grow up obese, study finds | Obesity | The Guardian- this has been published today. Obviously feel free to continue the right wing tropes and judgemental attitudes about how people spend their money. Feel free to take one example and generalise it across a whole population, the Daily Mail has become very powerful doing just that.

I think there are other important things to consider when selecting an MP. Such as how they will represent their constitutents! This is a question no matter what their gender is. It's a shame that this question wasn't asked when Miriam Cates was selected as the Tory candidate for Penistone & Stocksbridge. I have emailed her a number of times with key issues and she has never responded.

The last Housing Committee I watched, the Lib Dem representative suggested outsourcing the repairs function again. Immediately, there are TUPE costs, and a duplicated management and governance structure. As well as the years of tendering and procurement and getting the new provider in place. The repairs service was bought back in house for a reason. Outsourcing is always suggested as a bit of a sticking plaster, IMHO. The Council is already selling off surplus stock, check the auction listings regularly and you'll see the properties being offered for sale. Also, this is a 'one-off' sale, so how does this help generate revenue? I was a Council tenant in the late 90's, and the number of housing offices has massively reduced in number since then. At the end of the day, between right to buy, Government mandates to reduce the yearly inflationary rental increases, as well as people not paying their rent, there is less and less money to spend on housing management. Yes, Parks groups are brilliant but it needs people with the time and energy to commit to that.